Multiple blasts struck Texas refinery

Another update on the Texas Refinery Blast. "Multiple blasts struck refinery," from AP, with thanks to Bob:

HOUSTON - Federal investigators said Thursday that several explosions rocked a Texas City refinery last month in an eruption that killed 15 people, injured more than 100 and filled the sky with black smoke.

"We believe that there were a number of distinct explosions in rapid succession, possibly as many as five," said U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board member John Bresland.

Investigators still aren't sure what ignited the explosions at the BP refinery March 23.

Lead investigator Don Holmstrom said there may have been multiple ignition sources, and that some of the board's 10 investigators were conducting blast modeling to figure out the size and possible causes.

Now to my untutored eye, multiple ignition sources suggests at least the possibility that these explosions were not accidental. So why was the FBI so quick to deny it could be terrorism -- even before agents had visited the site? After all, we know the site was photographed by a "Middle Eastern man." I am not saying this was an act of jihad terrorism; I am saying, however, that this investigation is starting to smell worse and worse.

Egypt: Bomber duo on the run

"Bomber duo on the run: Egypt," from Reuters, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

CAIRO: Egyptian investigators have identified two more suspects from a deadly Cairo bombing this month and said they may be planning more attacks, a newspaper said yesterday.

The daily Al-Gomhuria reported both men had “embraced the ideas of jihad (holy war)” and were on the run, bringing to three the number of suspects evading capture for the blast that killed three tourists and the bomber on April 7....

Ah. More Misunderstanders of Islam. It's amazing that this kind of thing can be reported day after day after day and yet Islamic apologists and their allies still insist with a straight face that jihad is a spiritual struggle and that any military application of it is secondary, remote, and rare, if it exists at all. How did so many Muslims get a wrong idea of jihad? They don't answer that one, except to blame the bad old Wahhabis -- which outrages the amply documented historical fact that jihad warfare has been waged from the beginning of Islam, and by the Prophet Muhammad himself, long before Wahhabism was even a gleam in Wahhab's eye.

Al-Gomhuria published pictures of the three fugitives and named the latest two as commerce graduate Ihab Yousri Yassin and teacher Gamal Ahmed Abdul-Aal.

It said Abdul-Aal had left a letter for his family, later handed to police, saying he was leaving for “jihad”....

The ministry previously said the bomber, Hassan Raafat Bishindi, was part of a jihadist group and was tricked into thinking he had five minutes to escape after setting a bomb made from about 3kg of explosives and nails....

What is "Islamophobia," anyway?

In an article yesterday, the journalist and Islamic apologist Stephen Schwartz defined "Islamophobia" this way:

Notwithstanding the arguments of some Westerners, Islamophobia exists; it is not a myth. Islamophobia consists of:

• attacking the entire religion of Islam as a problem for the world;

• condemning all of Islam and its history as extremist;

• denying the active existence, in the contemporary world, of a moderate Muslim majority;

• insisting that Muslims accede to the demands of non-Muslims (based on ignorance and arrogance) for various theological changes, in their religion;

• treating all conflicts involving Muslims (including, for example, that in Bosnia-Hercegovina a decade ago), as the fault of Muslims themselves;

• inciting war against Islam as a whole.

While there may be by this definition some Islamophobes in the world, the definition actually obscures more than it reveals. Does the labeling as “Islamophobic” the practice of “attacking the entire religion of Islam as a problem for the world” mean that it is Islamophobic to focus attention on the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet as motivations for terrorist activity? If so, then jihad terrorists worldwide are themselves “Islamophobic,” for as we have seen, they routinely point to jihad passages from the Qur’an and Hadith to justify their actions. Nor is a frank discussion of the doctrine of Islamic jihad equivalent to saying that the “entire religion of Islam” is a “problem for the world: no one is saying that tayammum (ablution with sand instead of water) or dhikr (a dervish religious devotion) or other elements of Islam pose a problem for the world.

Defining as “Islamophobic” the condemnation of “all of Islam and its history as extremist” is similarly problematic — and not just because of the sloppy imprecision of the word “extremist.” Jihad and dhimmitude are and always have been part of Islam. Yet no religious commandment of any religion has ever been uniformly observed by its adherents, and no law has ever been universally enforced. Jews and Christians in Islamic lands were able at various times and places to live with a great deal of freedom; however, this does not contradict the fact that the laws of the dhimma always remained on the books, able to be enforced anew by any Muslim ruler with the will to do so.

Likewise, it may be “Islamophobic” to deny “the active existence, in the contemporary world, of a moderate Muslim majority,” but this also is beside the point. The existence of a moderate Muslim majority is not a question of “Islamophobia” or lack thereof, but of fact. But it is a fact that is very hard to ascertain with certainty -- not least because of the problem of definition: it’s useless to affirm that there is a “moderate Muslim majority” without clearing up the meaning of the word “moderate.” What makes a moderate Muslim? One who does not and never will engage in terrorist acts? That would make moderates an overwhelming majority of Muslims worldwide. Or is a moderate one who sincerely disapproves of those terrorist acts? That would reduce the number of moderates. Or is a moderate Muslim one who actively speaks out and works against the jihadists? That would lower the number yet again. Or finally, is a moderate Muslim one who actively engages the jihadists in a theological battle, trying to convince Muslims on Islamic grounds that jihad terrorism is wrong? That would leave us with a tiny handful.

Notwithstanding that fact, however, it would be silly for anyone to treat “all conflicts involving Muslims…as the fault of Muslims themselves,” or to incite “war against Islam as a whole.” To go to war with Islam as a whole — grizzled sheepherders in Kazakhstan and giggly secretaries in Jakarta as well as bin Laden and Zarqawi — would be absurd and unnecessary. But what does Schwartz really mean by saying that those who would advocate “war against Islam as a whole” are “Islamophobic”? Would that include among the Islamophobes those who recognize that Islamic jihad has been declared against us and advocate resistance to that jihad?

All this indicates that “Islamophobia” is virtually useless as an analytical tool. To adopt it would be to allow oneself to submit to the most virulent form of theological equivalence, and to affirm, against all the evidence, that every religious tradition is equally capable of inspiring violence. It would be to deny the very sensible observation of the eminent atheist (and, late in life, theist, but not Christian) philosopher Antony Flew (thanks to Daniel): “Jesus is an enormously attractive charismatic figure, which the Prophet of Islam most emphatically is not.” To recognize this is not base theological one-upmanship, but a step toward the recovery of realism in the analysis of Islamic jihad, and of a sense that in Western civilization there is something worth defending.

Even worse than all this, however, is the way the charge of “Islamophobia” is used to silence opponents of the jihad ideology -- as has been illustrated abundantly at Jihad Watch and Dhimmi Watch.

Jihad Watch's Robert Spencer guest hosting the Laurie Roth Show tonight

That's right: Jihad Watch will be on the air tonight on the Laurie Roth Show. You can listen at the Laurie Roth Show website, as well as on many stations around the country. I'll be hosting the show from 7PM to 10PM Pacific Time; that is, 10PM to 1AM EST.

I hope to hear from you. The call in number is 1-800-837-9680.

Global terror attacks tripled in 2004

Not that anyone in power would like you to know. From the Christian Science Monitor, with thanks to Jihad Watch News Editor Rebecca Bynum:

Terror attacks around the world tripled in 2004, rising from 175 in 2003 to 655 last year, according to statistics released by the US government's National Counterterrorism Center (NCC) Wednesday. The figure includes the children killed in the Beslan massacre in Russia, and the victims of the Madrid train bombings.

Terror attacks in Iraq - 198 - were nine times the previous year's total. The numbers did not include attacks on US troops.

The US State Department held a briefing Wednesday on its global terrorism report (formerly called 'Global Patterns of Terrorism,' now called the Country Report on Terrorism) Wednesday, but did not include the statistics on actual attacks, on the order of Secretary of State Condelezza Rice, the Washington Post reported. Ms. Rice had said she wanted US terrorism officials to decided whether or not to release the figures.

The Herald of Scotland, however, reports that the NCC released the statistics after it was pressured to do so by several congressmen. The Herald also reported that former senior counterterrorism official Larry Johnson said the State Department balked at releasing the data because "it might lead to the public perception that America is losing the global war on terror."

"Last year was bad [said Mr. Johnson]. This year is worse. They are deliberately trying to withhold data because it shows that as far as the war on international terrorism is concerned, we're losing."
A spokesman for the State Department admitted that there had been a "dramatic uptick" in terrorism, and said the government will provide the public with "all the information it needs for an informed debate."...

That'll be the day. Let's see the government hold a seminar featuring an honest and open discussion of the role of Islam in today's global terror, the policy implications of this, and positive ways this can be dealt with in a way beneficial to both non-Muslims and Muslims.

Bloomberg News quotes the report as saying that "an increasing number of terrorist groups are seeking weapons of mass destruction."

"Although Al Qaeda remains the primary concern regarding possible WMD threats, the number of groups expressing interest in such material is increasing, and WMD technology and know-how is proliferating in the jihadist community," the report said.

The Washington Post reports that the actual number of terror-related incidents may in fact be higher than even the total released by the NCC Wednesday. The counter terrorism organization is working on a new list, to be released in July, that aims to use "new, more realistic, definitions of terrorism."

As an example of the rules under which the State Department, and his center for the listings distributed Wednesday, have operated, Brennan said the report lists only one of two Russian airliners that suicide bombers blew out of the sky last year. The one that counted had an Israeli aboard. The other had all Russians, which made it a domestic incident.

"It makes no sense to have the definition of terrorism depend on checking the nationality of all the victims," Brennan said.

Indeed.

Speech by ex-leader of neo-Nazi group at Islamic gala appears to be on, again

William Baker update. From the Palm Beach Post, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

To the disappointment of Jewish leaders, a speech by the former chairman of a neo-Nazi group will go on as planned.

A day after a lawyer representing an Islamic group said William Baker probably would not appear at a gala Saturday night, Mohammad Jawad Al-Qazwini said Wednesday he didn't plan to cancel Baker's speech.

"The decision made on our behalf to bring Mr. Baker was not against the Jewish community," said Al-Qazwini, the imam of the Boca Raton-based Assadiq Islamic Educational Foundation. "He will be strictly speaking about the prophet Mohammed. He will be strictly speaking about the Islamic faith."

Al-Qazwini said he is continuing to investigate Baker's background and might decide to cancel the speech at the celebration of the birthday of Islamic prophet Mohammed at the event at the Boca Raton Marriott Hotel.

"It's still not certain if he's coming or not," he said. "We're still in the process of due diligence."

However, those familiar with Baker said they can't imagine why a background check would take so long.

"A two-minute Internet search would have revealed who they were dealing with," said Rafael Medoff, director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies in Melrose Park, Pa. "Mr. Baker has a long track record of extremism, anti-Semitism and associating with Holocaust deniers."

Texas: man sentenced for aiding jihadists

Mark Robert Walker update. No mention here that he is a Muslim or may have been motivated by the jihad ideology, although it is pretty clear from his actions. "Man sentenced for aiding terror group," from the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

(April 29, 2005) — A 19-year-old with Irondequoit ties was sentenced to two years in prison Thursday for aiding a terrorist organization.

Mark Robert Walker, whose family moved to Irondequoit from Washington state in June, pleaded guilty to "attempting to make a contribution of goods and services to a specially designated terrorist organization."

The plea came in federal court in El Paso, Texas, where Walker, who had been a college student in Laramie, Wyo., was detained Nov. 6 at the Mexican border. Prosecutors determined Walker, who also used the name "Abduallah," was an administrator of an Islamic Web site that supported the terrorist group Al-Ittihad Al-Isiami.

The group was placed on the list of specially designated global terrorist organizations on Sept. 24, 2001, by President Bush.

Iran military journal eyes nuclear EMP attack on U.S.

From WND, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

WASHINGTON – In the latest evidence Iran is seriously planning an unconventional pre-emptive nuclear strike against the U.S., an Iranian military journal has publicly considered the idea of launching an electromagnetic pulse attack as the key to defeating the world's lone superpower.

Congress was warned of Iran's plans last month by Peter Pry, a senior staffer with the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack in a hearing of Sen. John Kyl's subcommittee on terrorism, technology and homeland security.

In an article titled, "Electronics to Determine Fate of Future Wars," the journal explains how an EMP attack on America's electronic infrastructure, caused by the detonation of a nuclear weapon high above the U.S., would bring the country to its knees.

"Once you confuse the enemy communication network you can also disrupt the work of the enemy command- and decision-making center," the article states. "Even worse today when you disable a country's military high command through disruption of communications, you will, in effect, disrupt all the affairs of that country. If the world's industrial countries fail to devise effective ways to defend themselves against dangerous electronic assaults then they will disintegrate within a few years. American soldiers would not be able to find food to eat nor would they be able to fire a single shot."

WND reported the Iranian threat last Monday, explaining Tehran is not only covertly developing nuclear weapons, it is already testing ballistic missiles specifically designed to destroy America's technical infrastructure.

Terror Convention in Iran

From the VOA, with thanks to Skeetstreet:

The group called the Committee for the Commemoration of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign held a registration meeting recently in Iran's capital, Tehran. The group's aim is to boost its roll of volunteers willing to carry out suicide attacks in Israel and Iraq.

The Committee for the Commemoration of Martyrs is often described as "a shadowy group" with no official Iranian government backing. But the Reuters news agency says that "the presence of President Mohammad Khatami's adviser on women's affairs and a representative of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei leant some official backing" to the group's latest meeting.

A so-called religious decree by Ayatollah Hossein Nuri Hamedani was read aloud at the meeting. Echoing previous statements by Supreme Leader Khamenei, the decree said that suicide attacks are "permitted and relevant in the holy war for the good of Allah."

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says that recruiting suicide bombers in the name of Islam violates the fundamental tenets of "a great world religion." This violent cause "has nothing to do with Islam," says Ms. Rice:

"Islam is a peaceful religion. And so the notion that somehow flying airplanes into buildings or strapping a belt on yourself and blowing up other people is in the service of Islam is something, I think, that clearly perverts the religion and is resented by most respected Islamic scholars for very good reason. By the way, I think probably rejected too by most people, because who wants that to be the future for your children?"

When even the "reformist" Qaradawi has endorsed it, I wonder which respected Islamic scholars she has in mind.

President George W. Bush envisions a far different future for the people of Iran than signing up for missions of death:

"I believe that the Iranian people ought to be allowed to freely discuss opinion, read a free press, have free votes, be able to choose among political parties."

"I believe," said Mr. Bush, "that Iranians should adopt democracy; that's what I believe."

Terrific, George. Now if you would speak realistically about why they might oppose democracy, as being against the will of Allah and his command to implement Sharia law, and about how you intend to combat that point of view, we might be getting somewhere. Call me, will you?

Workers Charged With Taking Payoffs for IDs

Of course, this has nothing to do with terrorism — you can gather material for pipe bombs and put pictures of Osama bin Laden and Iraqi beheadings on your wall and it will still have nothing to do with terrorism. But what is to have prevented jihad terrorists from obtaining some of these licenses? From AP, with thanks to EPG:

WASHINGTON — Thousands of illegal immigrants have obtained driver's licenses in three states, federal authorities said Thursday, highlighting a security hole that the Sept. 11 hijackers exploited.

Three employees of Florida's motor vehicles agency were among 52 people arrested in a bribery scam that put driver's licenses in the hands of at least 2,000 illegal immigrants, officials said. The case, announced Thursday, follows similar arrests in Michigan and Maryland over the past week.

"With a valid driver's license, you establish an identity," said Michael Garcia, assistant secretary of the Homeland Security Department.

"There's no way to identify whether that identity is valid — that you're not on a terrorist watch list, that you're not a criminal. It gives you a bona fide," said Garcia, who heads the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency that coordinated the arrests.

He said the cases do not appear to be related and there was no evidence of any terrorist connection.

Akbar Sentenced to Death for Grenade Attack

He's really sorry now, but last month he stabbed an MP. Oh, never mind: that was just an "opportunistic stabbing." From AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — A military jury sentenced a soldier to death Thursday for a grenade and rifle attack on his own comrades during the opening days of the Iraq invasion, a barrage that killed two officers and that prosecutors said was driven by religious extremism.

Sgt. Hasan Akbar, who gave a brief, barely audible apology hours earlier, stood at attention between his lawyers as the verdict was delivered. He showed no emotion....

The sentence will be reviewed by a commanding officer and automatically appealed. If Akbar is executed, it would be by lethal injection.

"I want to apologize for the attack that occurred. I felt that my life was in jeopardy, and I had no other options. I also want to ask you for forgiveness," Akbar told the jury before it deliberated in the sentencing phase.

His life was in jeopardy. But it was in jeopardy from the Iraqis and other Muslims he thought he was defending, not from his fellow Americans.

Five Misunderstanders of Islam held in France for recruiting Iraq fighters

"Five held in France for recruiting Iraq fighters," from AFP, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

PARIS, April 28 (AFP) - Five suspected Islamic militants have been detained in France by intelligence agents who believe they were part of an operation to send volunteers to fight against the US army in Iraq, officials said Thursday.

The four suspects arrested Sunday in the Paris area and a fifth detained Monday in the southern port of Marseille were placed in preventive detention, sources close to the investigation said.

One of the five suspects, 39-year-old Moroccan national Said Al-Maghrebi, had been sought for months by several police forces across Europe.

They were arrested as part of an anti-terrorist investigation launched last September after evidence emerged of a so-called "Iraqi network" recruiting Islamic militants to fight US forces there.

Jihadist website: ‘Bin laden dead’

This is a curious story. Why would they announce his death if he is not dead? If he died, and the death were verified, there would certainly be displays of mourning from the tiny minority of extremists worldwide -- and if the media cared or dared to notice these displays, we would get some idea of how tiny that minority really is. ‘Bin laden dead,’ from Ynet News, with thanks to Gabrielle Goldwater:

The London-based newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported on Friday that the site Minbar Ahl al-Sunnah wa-al-Jama'ah declared, “We now report that the al-Qaeda organization has announced the death of Osama Bin Laden.”

One of the writers on the site, working under the pseudonym “The Mujahiddin’s Pen,” added: “Osama Bin Laden is dead... Where are the mourners? Where those who sent themselves into the towers and tall buildings?”...

Well, sir, they're, um, dead. But anyway, I thought Mossad and the CIA pulled off that particular caper. It is getting so hard to keep all this straight.

Omar Bakri, a radical Islamic leader in London, told the newspaper that the style of the announcement seemed authentic. However, he thought it was a forgery designed to cause tumult.

Dr. Hani al-Sibai, head of the al-Maqrizi Center for Historical Studies, said, “If Bin laden was really dead, the name of his replacement, Ayman al-Zawahari, would have been announced.”

The Egyptian Islamist Yaser a-Sari told the newspaper that Bin Laden is alive and will soon put out a new videotape. A-Sari said the purpose of the report was designed to prepare followers psychologically for the al-Qaeda leader's death – something that could happen at any moment.

UPDATE: See also this from Reuters: "No evidence bin Laden 'dead'" (thanks to Jeffrey Imm for the link).

Al-Qaeda threatens Europe from Balkans

Good thing "there are not now and never have been, in recent times, 'Muslim militants' in Kosovo, aside from a handful of individuals and some Saudi and other Gulf Arab-state cells operating through relief agencies." "Terrorism: Al-Qaeda Threatens Europe from Balkans, say Experts," from AKI, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

Belgrade, 28 April (AKI) – A group of prominent right-wing American analysts, supported by several Serbian academics, have claimed that the greatest terrorist threat to Europe comes from the Balkans, particularly from Bosnia and Kosovo which still maintain links to al-Qaeda and other Islamic terrorist organisations. The experts were delegates at a two day conference, sponsored by the Belgrade University, that attracted terrorism specialists from the region, the United States and Europe.

Yosef Bodansky, the director of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Conventional Warfare in Washington, said that the Balkans was a “springboard for Islamic extremism” in Europe and that Iran was the main driving force behind it.

According to Bodansky, Iran was among leading countries that finance and support Islamic terrorism directed against the United States and Europe. “The final goal of Islamic terrorist groups and organizations is to turn America into an Islamic republic and to secure world domination through it,” Bodansky told the meeting.

Mauritania: Jihad is over, if you want it

"Mauritania: Terrorist cell said linked to Al Qaeda dismantled, police," from IRIN, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

NOUAKCHOTT, 28 April (IRIN) - The government of Mauritania claims to have arrested the leaders of a terrorist cell that the US military has linked to Al Qaeda.

The detainees are allegedly part of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), close to the outlawed Armed Islamic Group (GIA) that has operated in neighbouring Algeria for more than a decade, said a government statement issued this week.

"The dismantling of this structure has entered a new phase with the arrest on Monday ... of the main leaders of the organisation," read the statement.

The statement said seven people had been arrested but police sources said 18 suspects had been placed under arrest in two days of raids against alleged Islamists.

Journal prods: Kill Americans

From the Chicago Tribune, with thanks to Skeetstreet:

CAIRO - An Internet journal purportedly issued by Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia appeared for the first time in several months Wednesday and asked why Muslims on the Arabian Peninsula have not heeded a call to hunt down Americans.

The magazine Sawt al-Jihad, or Voice of Holy War, said its reappearance was one of the last orders of Saud Homood Obaid al-Otaibi, a wanted militant killed in a battle with security forces in a Saudi town April 3.

"Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula," the name used by the Saudi branch of Al Qaeda, posted the journal on an Islamic Web site known as a clearinghouse for militant statements.

The opening article of Wednesday's issue refers to the fighting in Iraq and Saudi Arabia and asks: "Those who weren't able to respond to the call of jihad, what deters you from hunting down Americans, killing the enemies of God, the crusaders and apostates in the Arabian Peninsula and other countries?"

Let's see. What should deter them. Maybe...human decency?

Jihad jinx: Jammu-Kashmir militants bankrupt

This is the sort of problem the Saudis have been quite happy to fix in other places -- and with their money comes their ideology. "Jihad jinx: J-K militants bankrupt," from the India Monitor, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Friday April 28, 2005,New Delhi:The militants are going through a rough patch in the Valley of Jammu and Kashmir. In a recent interception of communication between the outfits by the security agencies, its been discovered that the outfits are going through a crunch situation at present.

Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Hizb-ul-Mujahhiddin (HM) are facing manpower, money, weapon and ammunition crisis. And they have started communicating the urgency for these to their people across the border.

"The militants are in a very desperate situation currently. They are sending SOS messages to their people across the border to help them out," said BSF DIG K Srinivasan from Srinagar.

In the latest interception a fortnight back, LeT cadres in the Valley sounded desperate as they asked for ammunitions and weapons.

Jihad set to resume in Gaza

From the Washington Times, "Army says fighting likely after pullout"

...In an interview in Tel Aviv this week, a senior military source told United Press International that the militant Palestinian groups' leaders and operational commanders assume the calming-down period -- or tahadiyah in Arabic -- will not last long...

Members of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade "whose commitments are conditional" want to resume fighting, the source said.

The groups are arming, recruiting, training and planning for the next round of fighting, the senior officer said.

Thousands of guns, including Kalashnikov assault rifles and handguns, are smuggled from Egypt into the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Prices have dropped, indicating some of the demand has been met.

Other weapons include rocket-propelled grenades, explosives, anti-tank rockets and probably Strella anti-aircraft missiles, the source said.

Some go to the Gaza Strip and some are smuggled across Israel's Negev desert to the West Bank. They are sold to individual Palestinians or to groups that store them. Hamas has its own smuggling system, the officer said.

Egypt and the Palestinian Authority are making "a greater effort that in the past" to stop the traffic but are not doing all they can, he said.

They know who the smugglers are but instead of going after them, they try to seal the tunnels that pass under the narrow Israeli strip at the southern edge of Gaza.

In some instances, Israel provided the Palestinian Authority with the smugglers' names.

"They promised to take care of it, and I have not seen that done," the source said.

Instead, Palestinian security officials warned smugglers that the Israelis were on their trail, he said. The Egyptians, too, "could do much more to stop the smuggling. They know the smugglers quite well," he added.

The second major Palestinian militant effort is directed at developing rockets that can hit the Israeli town of Ashkelon, north of the Gaza Strip. The town of 100,000 is near strategic sites such an electric power plant.

Palestinian rockets have a range of 5.6 miles, and because militants cannot fire from the Israeli-controlled boundary line, they are working to extend the rockets' range and conduct "very many" test firings into the sea, the source said.

Iran Continues Pushing for Nukes

From Reuters, "Iran Says Will Restart Enrichment if Talks Fail"

THE HAGUE - Iran will restart its uranium enrichment program if talks with European Union heavyweights France, Britain and Germany fail on Friday, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said on Thursday.

"If there is no agreement and negotiations collapse, there is no choice but to restart the program," Kharrazi told reporters in The Hague after talks with his Dutch counterpart Bernard Bot.

Iran is due to hold talks in London on Friday with Britain, France and Germany, who want Iran to give up uranium enrichment in return for incentives such as trade deals...

"Iranian people fear a delay. They believe it is their inalienable right to have access to this technology for peaceful purposes," Kharrazi said.

In a related story from Reuters, "Putin Hardens Line on Iranian Nuclear Program"

JERUSALEM - Russian President Vladimir Putin, hardening his line toward Iran's nuclear program, said on Thursday Tehran needed to do more to assure the world it was not trying to build atomic weapons.

Putin, at a news conference in Jerusalem, said Tehran's agreement to return spent nuclear fuel to Russia -- which agreed to supply the material to Iran's Bushehr plant -- "does not seem to be enough."

He said that in addition, the Iranians should "abandon all technology to create a full nuclear cycle and also not obstruct their nuclear sites from international control."...

Al Qaeda Suspect had Saudi Envoy Passport

It seems the Saudis have still more explaining to do. From the UK Financial Times, "Al-Qaeda suspect 'had envoy's passport'"

A Swiss-based businessman accused by the US Treasury of providing financial help to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda carried a Saudi diplomatic passport, according to copies of documents contained in a book published today in Paris.

The documents include a letter from the US Treasury to the Swiss authorities, which says that al-Qaeda and its leader received financial assistance from the businessman, Ali bin Mussalim, “as of late September 2001”. They also include a copy of Mr bin Mussalim's diplomatic passport.

The disclosures, contained in Al-Qaeda Will Conquer (Al-Qa'ida Vaincra), by the author Guillaume Dasquié, will be uncomfortable reading for the Saudi government, which has disputed any suggestions of official complicity in the attacks of September 11 2001.

The January 2002 letter from George Wolfe, then the US Treasury's deputy general counsel, says Mr bin Mussalim “has been providing indirect investment services for al-Qaeda, investing funds for bin Laden, and making cash deliveries on request to the al-Qaeda organisation”.

The letter links him to the now defunct Bank Al-Taqwa and its founder, Youssef Nada. Both have been named by the US and United Nations as providers of terrorist finance.

The existence of the letter has been previously reported by some news organisations, but Mr bin Mussalim's diplomatic status was not emphasised.

According to the book, Mr bin Mussalim was found dead in his residence in Lausanne last June, a month after reports of the US Treasury letter first emerged....

Other documents cited in the book include a flight manifest of the so-called bin Laden flight, in which members of the bin Laden family were flown out of the US in the days after the September 11 attacks.

The manifest shows 29 people aboard the flight that flew to Le Bourget airport from Boston on September 20, after originating in Los Angeles and then flying to Orlando and Washington Dulles airport. This contradicts the number cited in the report of the 9/11 Commission published last year, which said there were 26 people aboard....

Zarqawi Laptop Yields al-Qaeda Secrets

From the Scottsman, "Laptop yields al-Qaeda secrets"

COALITION forces in Iraq have seized a laptop computer thought to belong to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaeda’s area leader, providing them with vital intelligence on the insurgency which is continuing to wreak havoc across the country.

Air Force General Richard Myers, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has masterminded the "global war on terror", trumpeted the intelligence coup in a Pentagon briefing as proof that US troops were "winning" in Iraq, despite the recent upsurge in attacks that have killed more than a dozen westerners and scores of Iraqis in the past two weeks.

US intelligence chiefs were able to download several leads from the computer’s hard drives, which also contained digital photos of the Jordanian-born al-Qaeda operative.

The intelligence led to raids being mounted on a number of "safe houses" and several lieutenants of Zarqawi being captured, along with bomb-making equipment.

But General Myers admitted the rate of insurgent attacks - currently at 50 to 60 each day - is now back up to 2004 levels after a drop following January’s election, which had led some Pentagon chiefs to suggest that the US could begin withdrawing its troops...

And seeking to offer some positive information on the battle against the insurgency, General Myers said his troops were "close" to capturing Zarqawi when they seized his laptop.

Pentagon officials said Zarqawi appeared to have eluded a team of covert US special-forces troops dispatched to arrest him. When the al-Qaeda operative and his party approached a checkpoint near Ramadi he became nervous and sent a car carrying associates ahead of his own pickup. When US troops stopped the first car, the trailing lorry turned around and fled.

The capture of Zarqawi’s laptop is not the first time US intelligence has gained access to the digital secrets of al-Qaeda. In 2003, US and Pakistani forces captured a laptop computer used by al-Qaeda’s operational planner, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.

It was claimed at the time that the intelligence coup yielded a list of at least half a dozen hiding places along the Pakistan-Afghan border used by Osama bin Laden and his supporters...

The deepening security crisis in Baghdad was highlighted this week when it emerged that the British government has dispatched two RAF Puma helicopters to fly diplomats around the Iraqi capital, because it is considered too dangerous to use the roads for fear of insurgent bombs...

Insurgents regularly fire on the British helicopters, but to date none has been hit.

Canadian Killed in Iraq

News from Canada's CBC, "U.S. troops may have killed Canadian in Iraq: reports"

OTTAWA - Foreign Affairs is investigating whether U.S. troops killed a Canadian on the weekend in Iraq.

A Foreign Affairs spokeswoman confirmed to the CBC on Tuesday that a Canadian, whom she did not identify, died on Saturday.

A source told Broadcast News that Ali Alwan may have died after U.S. forces "tracked" a target, using a helicopter gunship.

The source, who did not want to be identified, said the family asked the Canadian government to look into the circumstances of his death.

Dan McTeague, the parliamentary secretary responsible for Canadians abroad, told the Canadian Press that the government is still trying to sort through conflicting reports of how the man was killed...

Saudi Judge Admits Statements

In an update on this story. Mainstream media correspondent Lisa Myers at MSNBC reports, "More evidence of Saudi doubletalk? Judge caught on tape encouraging Saudis to fight in Iraq"

WASHINGTON - Sheik Saleh Al Luhaidan, seen in video seated to the right of the crown prince, is chief justice of Saudi Arabia's Supreme Judicial Council. His sermons and words carry great significance.

In an audiotape secretly recorded at a government mosque last October and obtained by NBC News, Luhaidan encourages young Saudis to go to Iraq to wage war against Americans.

"If someone knows that he is capable of entering Iraq in order to join the fight, and if his intention is to raise up the word of God, then he is free to do so," says Luhaidan in Arabic on the tape.

He warns Iraq is risky because "evil satellites and drone aircraft" watch the borders. But he says going is religiously permissible.

"The lawfulness of his action is in fighting an enemy who is fighting Muslims and came for war," says Luhaidan.

The sheik also says those donating money to the fight in Iraq should be sure it actually helps the cause.

"This statement shows the real face of the Saudi government," says Saudi dissident Ali Al-Ahmed of the Saudi Institute, based in Washington.

Al-Ahmed says that while Saudi officials — including Sheik Luhaidan — publicly oppose jihad in Iraq, privately some send a different message.

"He is telling Saudis it's OK to go to Iraq and kill Americans and Iraqis and they won’t be punished for doing that," says Al-Ahmed.

A Saudi spokesman twice denied the tape was authentic, claiming Saudi intelligence analysts determined it was "a crude fake." So NBC News called Luhaidan himself, in Saudi Arabia, and played the tape.

Luhaidan confirmed those were his words, saying in Arabic, "Yes, this is my voice."

But the sheik said what he really meant was that it's not worth it for young Saudis to go to Iraq and that the Iraqis are capable of fighting on their own...

Let's see now, not translated correctly? No. Taken out of context? No, can't say that either...Oh, I know, what I meant to say was...

Iraqi woman MP Assassinated

From Reuters, "Iraqi MP Killed; No Government Announced"

BAGHDAD - Gunmen assassinated an Iraqi woman member of parliament Wednesday in a fresh shock to politicians whose failure to form a government three months after elections has allowed violence to thrive unchecked.

Iraqi police said Lame'a Abed Khadawi, a member of caretaker Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's political party, was shot dead outside her house in eastern Baghdad. She is the first person in the 275-seat National Assembly to be killed.

Allawi himself survived a suicide car bomb attack on his convoy this month. Khadawi was one of around 90 women elected to the assembly on Jan. 30. By law, a third of the candidates on party lists had to be women.

Pressure has mounted on Iraq's politicians to end months of post-election bickering. America's top general urged them on Tuesday to form a new government quickly to combat an insurgency he said was as strong as it had been a year ago...

Hopes of announcing a government have repeatedly been dashed during three months of squabbling over the distribution of ministries to rival sects. Politicians had hoped the election would lead Iraq to stability and economic recovery...

Madrid: Chief 9/11 Suspect Denies Bin Laden Links

More denials from Yarkas From Expatica, "9/11 chief suspect denies Bin Laden links," with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

MADRID — A man accused of helping plot the 9/11 attacks on the United States told a Spanish court he did not support Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden and had never met him.

The Syrian-born Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, also known as Abu Dahdah, admitted he did back Islamic holy war as a "self-defence concept".

He is accused of organising a meeting where plans for the 2001 attacks in the US were finalised, and of running an Al-Qaeda recruitment unit in Spain since 1995.

"I am not a supporter of Bin Laden's doctrines, and I have never met him," he told the court in Madrid on the third day of a major trial involving 23 other defendants.

"But I acknowledge that I fully support, morally and emotionally, Muslim peoples who defend themselves against their aggressors," he added, quoting conflicts in Bosnia-Hercegovina and the Russian republic of Chechnya.

When pressed by the chief magistrate to explain what he meant by "jihad," or holy war, Yarkas replied: "It means defending oneself. Self-defence."

The 41-year-old has denied all links with the plotters behind the 9/11 attacks. His cross-examination began on Monday.

If found guilty, Yarkas faces the prospect of a prison sentence totalling more than 60,000 years — 25 years for each of the 3,000 lives lost...

Lakhani Guilty

From Reuters, "British Businessman Found Guilty in U.S. Weapons Case"

NEWARK, N.J. - A British man was found guilty of trying to provide material support to terrorists on Wednesday for selling a shoulder-launched missile to an undercover FBI informant posing as an Islamic militant seeking to attack the United States.

Hemant Lakhani, 69, a British citizen born in India, was found guilty of five criminal charges by a U.S. District Court jury in Newark, New Jersey, that began deliberating on Tuesday.

Lakhani was arrested in August 2003 after a two-year international sting operation and charged with trying to provide material support to terrorists, unlawful arms sales, smuggling and money laundering. He faces 25 years in prison.

Prosecutors provided videotapes and taped telephone conversations of Lakhani making the deal with an undercover FBI informant posing as an Islamic militant.

But while the prosecution depicted Lakhani as an enthusiastic broker eager to supply a terrorist group, the defense said he was a victim of overzealous law enforcement in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

What could the defense say? He was "trying to smuggle shoulder-held missiles into the United States and offering to obtain a radioactive "dirty bomb" for terrorists." Other than that, he was a wonderful man.

Jihad in Brooklyn: Firefighters stumble onto photos of Osama, Iraq beheadings in supermarket back room

Oh, and material from which to make pipe bombs (it's in the airbags). But of course, authorities assure us that this has nothing to do with terrorism. From the New York Post, with thanks to LGF:

April 27, 2005 -- Firefighters found more than 200 vehicle airbags believed to be stolen in the back room of a Brooklyn supermarket, where newspaper clippings about Osama bin Laden and beheadings in Iraq covered the walls, authorities said.

The firefighters from Ladder Co. 123 conducting a routine inspection, discovered the air bags — which sell for about $750 to $1,000 each — at the Superior Food Market at 1503 St. John's Place in Crown Heights....

Authorities, however, did not believe they had stumbled onto a terrorist cell, even though the room contained some materials that could be used to fashion pipe bombs, sources said.....

Audeh Hamdan of Brooklyn owns the three-story building, which has 11 outstanding code violations on file with the city, records show.

Hamdan, 53, of Brooklyn, served jail time in the late 1970s and early 1980s for arson, reckless endangerment, weapons possession and conspiracy, according to the records. He could not be reached for comment.

If he ends up being charged with anything, you can be sure that we will hear how quiet, pious, and devout he is, and how inconceivable it is that he could have been involved with anything remotely resembling terrorism -- and that it is only the racism and hysteria of the American authorities that is causing all his troubles.

Saudi chief justice urges fighting U.S.

Bush may have held hands with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, but maybe he shouldn't ask him to go steady just yet. The Saudi double game continues. From WorldNetDaily.com, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Is Saudi Arabia an ally or enemy of the United States in the war on terror?

The question is raised with the disclosure of secretly recorded comments from the kingdom's chief justice encouraging young Saudis to travel to Iraq to wage war against Americans.

"If someone knows that he is capable of entering Iraq in order to join the fight, and if his intention is to raise up the word of God, then he is free to do so," says Sheik Saleh Al Luhaidan in Arabic on the October audiotape from a government mosque, obtained by NBC News.

While Luhaidan warns Iraq is risky because "evil satellites and drone aircraft" watch the borders, he stresses making the trip to fight Americans is religiously permissible.

"The lawfulness of his action is in fighting an enemy who is fighting Muslims and came for war," says Luhaidan.

Guilty Verdict in Al-Timimi Jihad Case Angers Muslims

The predictable charges of discrimination and claims that the accused -- Al-Timimi in this case -- is a saint. "Prosecution Called 'Overzealous': Guilty Verdict in Terror Case Angers Muslims Who Know Lecturer," from the Washington Post, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

Ali al-Timimi is a native Washingtonian, a prolific reader with about 4,000 books in his personal library who grew up among Irish Catholics. His parents worked at the Iraqi Embassy and sent him to a Jewish school known for strong academics.

He had little Islamic education until he parents moved to Saudi Arabia when he was 15. Inspired by a teacher there, he began a lifelong study of Islam. He returned to Washington when he was 17 to attend college, receiving degrees from George Washington University and the University of Maryland, and late last year, a doctorate from George Mason University in computational biology with a focus on cancer and genes.

Yesterday, after he was found guilty in U.S. District Court in Alexandria on charges that he encouraged followers to join the Taliban and fight U.S. troops, members of the Muslim community said Timimi was a victim of "overzealous prosecution."

"Ali never opened a weapon or fired a shot," said Shaker El Sayed, a member of the executive committee of the Dar Al Hijra mosque in Falls Church, "and he is going to get life imprisonment for talking. What kind of country are we turning the United States into today?"

Sayed said that the jury must not have been able to distinguish between the lectures Ali delivered and charges against him. "The government alleged Ali incited people to buy arms and take them overseas to fire against people, but they never presented anything at the trial to show any facts relevant to any evidence. They only relied on Ali's lectures."

Timimi was a frequent lecturer at the Center for Islamic Information and Education, also known as Dar Al-Arqam, in Falls Church. He recorded more than 500 hours of his lectures and seminars, according to the biography of him posted on a Web site founded by his supporters....

Khwaja Hasan testified that in a meeting five days after the attacks, Timimi ordered the window blinds drawn and the house phone turned off in the event that it was being used by the government as a listening device. Hasan said Timimi urged the men at the meeting to join the Taliban and fight the United States....

Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, said that Timimi's conviction "bodes ill" for the First Amendment.

"What he said was perhaps repugnant and inflammatory, but was it really his intent to have people go and take his words and translate that into going and killing other human beings, specifically Americans?" Bray asked.

If that was not his intent, what was? Mahdi Bray calls himself just a poor old country Muslim from Norfolk, Virginia, but he is a master at clouding issues and creating confusion. This is a prime example. The First Amendment has never protected sedition.

America's Homegrown Jihadist

Islamic loyalty is paramount among jihadists. Here is another article showing how even converts to Islam can imbibe this sentiment. Josh Lefkowitz and Lorenzo Vidino on Ahmed Abu Ali and some other American jihadists in FrontPage (thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist)

In late February, federal authorities indicted yet another American citizen for working with Al Qaeda, alleging that Ahmed Abu Ali, in conjunction with a number of Saudi Al Qaeda operatives, had conspired to assassinate President Bush. Abu Ali is only the latest example of homegrown American jihadis.

Indoctrinated in extremist Islamic schools and mosques--just as Abu Ali was at the Islamic Saudi Academy and the Dar al-Hijrah mosque, both in Virginia--these young men are taught a virulently anti-Western and anti-Semitic world view that fosters a ferocious hatred for America. Oftentimes, this radical ideology is imparted by mentors seeking to advance the agenda of militant Islam.

One such mentor was Omar Bayoumi, who emerged as a central figure in the 9/11 investigation due to the considerable assistance he provided two of the hijackers. In his book, Intelligence Matters, Senator Bob Graham – head of the Congressional Joint Inquiry on 9/11--labeled Bayoumi a Saudi intelligence agent. Moreover, according to The Joint Inquiry, Bayoumi had “connections to terrorist elements.” That report further noted that an “exhaustive translation of his [Bayoumi’s] documents made it clear that…he is providing guidance to young Muslims and some of his writings can be interpreted as jihadist.”

One young Muslim who crossed paths with Bayoumi was Clayton Morgan.

A former motorcycle racer raised by a wealthy family, Morgan--a fifth generation American--once entertained lofty goals. In 1998, as he stood first in line to hear Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr testify in Washington D.C., he proudly declared, “I want to be President of the United States…There’s no higher calling than public office.”

But Morgan’s life soon took a far different course. After the US bombed Iraq in 1998, Morgan converted to Islam and adopted two names: Isamu Dyson and Cayson Bin Don. While living in California, Morgan spent time with Bayoumi, as well as 9/11 hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Midhar.

On February 1, 2000, Morgan and Bayoumi drove from San Diego to Los Angeles to visit the Saudi consulate. During that trip, the two men stopped to eat at a restaurant in Culver City. At the restaurant, according to Bayoumi, he overheard al-Hazmi and al-Midhar “speaking in…Gulf Arabic and struck up a conversation,” during which he offered to help them settle in San Diego. The 9/11 Commission struggled mightily to assess this interaction with the hijackers, noting uncertainty about “whether the lunch encounter occurred by chance or design.” Nonetheless, the Commission commented that Morgan’s recollection of parts of the day is “spotty and inconsistent.”

Shortly after the restaurant meeting, al-Hazmi and al-Midhar followed Bayoumi and Morgan to San Diego. Bayoumi immediately helped the two Saudis by finding them an apartment, co-signing their lease, and providing a certified check for the deposit. Then, to welcome them to the community, Bayoumi also organized a small gathering at their apartment, which he instructed Morgan to videotape.

Following this get together, Morgan’s activities are difficult to trace.

That is until he showed up in the most unlikely of places: Portland, Maine, the launch point for hijackers Mohammed Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari on 9/11.

Toiling in obscurity as a janitorial supervisor in Portland prior to 9/11, Morgan quickly gained notoriety after the attacks. According to The New York Post, three days after the Twin Towers collapsed, Morgan voiced his support for the atrocity to two Portland police officers during a meeting at a local mosque and told them that he would never tip authorities off if he knew of an impending attack.

Then, on September 26, 2001, he attempted to purchase an assault rifle and a handgun from a Portland gun shop. Thankfully, his effort failed; a Portland newspaper reported that a background check revealed Morgan’s ex-wife had filed a temporary restraining order against him.

But these incidents paled in comparison to what happened on October 15. That day, Morgan became public enemy number one in New York after the front page of The New York Post labeled him a “Traitor.”

With a curved gold-handed dagger and a three-foot sword on his belt, Morgan, identified in the piece as “Isanu Dyson”, told The Post: “I would consider it more noble for me to go and get myself out of the country, renounce my citizenship, end up in Afghanistan, pick up a gun and fight alongside everyone else against the enemy - American soldiers.” In Morgan’s estimation, he was “a Muslim-American, not an American-Muslim” and thus had “a greater obligation to them than to anybody.”

Read it all.

Pipes on border security

Daniel Pipes has an interesting article in the NY Sun descibing "American Border Secrets":

What steps should Western border agencies take to defend their homelands from harm by Islamists?

In the case of non-citizens, the answer is simple: Don't let Islamists in. Exclude not just potential terrorists but also anyone who supports the totalitarian goals of radical Islam. Just as civilized countries did not welcome fascists in the early 1940s (or communists a decade later), they need not welcome Islamists today.

But what about one's own citizens who cross the border? They could be leaving to fight for the Taliban or returning from a course on terrorism techniques. Or perhaps they studied with enemies of the West who incited them to sabotage or sedition. Clearly, the authorities should take steps to find out more about their activities, especially given the dangerous jihadi culture already in place in many Western countries, including Canada.

This question arose in late December 2004, after a three-day Islamist conference, "Reviving the Islamic Spirit," took place in Toronto. The event, boasting a host of high-profile Islamist speakers such as Bilal Philips, Zaid Shakir, Siraj Wahhaj, and Hamza Yusuf, alarmed the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), America's new border agency.

Spokeswoman Kristie Clemens explained that her agency had information on how events such as the one in Toronto "may be used by terrorist organizations to promote terrorist activities, which includes traveling and fund raising." Ms. Clemens later added that the CBP has "credible, ongoing information that these types of conferences have been used and are being used by terrorist organizations to not only transport fraudulent documents but to mask travel by terrorists." Terrorists imagine, she pointed out, that if they travel in a large group, "we're going to be less restrictive and try to expedite the processing."

Her explanation hints at why the CBP decided to detain nearly 40 Muslims, many of them American citizens, as they returned to the U.S. by car from the Toronto conference. The travelers report they spent long hours at the border near Buffalo, N.Y., and none too pleasantly. One woman said she was asked whether the wire in her underwire bra was a weapon. Another, seven months' pregnant, reported that border agents lifted her blouse to make sure she really was pregnant. A third traveler quotes himself asking a border guard, "If I refuse to give my fingerprints, what will you do?" to which he got a terse reply: "You can refuse, but you'll be here until you do."...

Five of them are suing -- with CAIR's help, of course.

Were the plaintiffs to prevail in this case, attending religious conferences would instantly become the favored method for terrorists and other Islamists to cross the American border without hindrance. Such a malign implication means this lawsuit needs to be tossed out by the courts.

Federal Jury Convicts Islamic Scholar

Justice for Al-Timimi. From AP, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A prominent Islamic scholar was convicted Tuesday of encouraging followers in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks to join the Taliban and fight U.S. troops.

Jurors reached their verdict in their seventh day of deliberations in the trial of Ali al-Timimi.

Al-Timini faces a mandatory maximum sentence of life in prison, federal prosecutors said.

Prosecutors have said al-Timimi was a respected scholar who enjoyed "rock star" status among his followers and that he used that influence to guide them into holy war against the United States....

Al-Timimi's lawyers have said he only counseled young Muslims after Sept. 11 that they might be wise to leave the United States because it would become difficult to practice their faith in this country.

Al-Timimi's lawyers also announced that the bridges they have been selling are now available for substantially reduced prices. Everything must go!

Taliban drug dealer nabbed entering US

"Afghan heroin king nabbed entering U.S.," from UPI, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Drug Enforcement Administration agents reportedly arrested Bashir Noorzai, an Afghan national, Saturday as he tried to enter the United States. Noorzai made an initial appearance in a federal court in New York Monday, but did not enter a plea, and will appear again Wednesday.

Noorzai was charged with conspiring to import more than $50 million worth of heroin into the United States and other countries. If convicted, he faces a minimum prison sentence of 10 years, with the possibility of a life term.

U.S. Attorney David Kelley said Noorzai provided weapons and troops to Afghanistan's former Taliban regime in exchange for protection, the Australian Web site SBS reported Monday. Noorzai allegedly has led an international trafficking ring based in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Al-Arian Defense Wants Statements Blocked

Al-Arian walk watch: "Defense Wants Statements Blocked," from the Tampa Tribune, with thanks to Teri:

TAMPA - A Sami Al-Arian co-defendant wants statements from more than 100 unindicted alleged co-conspirators blocked from use in the defendants' upcoming trial.

Those statements are hearsay unless the government proves the people were part of a criminal conspiracy and that the statements advanced that conspiracy, wrote M. Allison Guagliardo, an attorney representing Hatim Naji Fariz.

Al-Arian and Fariz are scheduled to go on trial May 16, along with Sameeh Hammoudeh and Ghassan Zayed Ballut, on charges they helped organize and finance the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a terrorist organization that has claimed responsibility for numerous suicide bombings in Israel....

Guagliardo wrote that the government should have to prove that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad was responsible for suicide bombings and other attacks. It is not enough, she maintained, that the organization issued statements claiming responsibility.

``Claims may be made for purposes of boasting, political posturing, and any number of other motives, or they may even be based on mistaken information,'' she wrote.

But they certainly show the beliefs and priorities of the organization making them, no?

Official: Zarqawi Eludes Capture; Computer Discovered

Let's hope the computer contains valuable information. From ABC News, with thanks to Kemaste:

Apr. 25, 2005 - Jordanian rebel Abu Musab al-Zarqawi -- Iraq's most wanted fugitive -- recently eluded capture by American troops, but left behind a treasure trove of information, a senior military official told ABC News.

On Feb. 20, the alleged terror mastermind was heading to a secret meeting in Ramadi, just west of Fallujah, where he used to base his operations, the official said.

Task Force 626 -- the covert American military unit charged with finding Zarqawi -- had troops in place to grab the fugitive, and mobile vehicle checkpoints had been established around the city's perimeter. Another U.S. official said predator drones were also in flight, tracking movements in and around the city.

A source who had been inside the Zarqawi network alerted the task force to the meeting. Officials deem the source "extremely credible."...

What the task force did find in the vehicle confirmed suspicions that Zarqawi had just escaped. The official said Zarqawi's computer and 80,000 euros (about $104,000 U.S.) were discovered in the truck.

Finding the computer, said the official, "was a seminal event." It had "a very big hard drive," the official said, and recent pictures of Zarqawi. The official said Zarqawi's driver and a bodyguard were taken into custody.

The senior military official said that they have since learned Zarqawi jumped out of the vehicle when it passed beneath an overpass, presumably to avoid detection from the air, and hid there before running to a safe house in Ramadi.

Malaysia 'no' to UN secretary-general's plan on terrorism

Indicating anew that the problem is not terrorism. It is jihad. From the Malaysian StarOnline, with thanks to Nicolei:

NEW YORK: Malaysia has made it clear it cannot support the United Nations secretary-general's recommendation on the definition of terrorism as it did not clearly differentiate between terrorism and the legitimate struggles of people fighting for their right to be free of colonial and alien domination, foreign occupation and their right to national liberation.

Its Permanent Representative to the UN Datuk Rastam Mohamed Isa said it also did not address the root causes of terrorism.

"We have noted the important elements on terrorism that are missing in the secretary-general's report, as pointed out by the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and are willing to discuss these further with the view to ensuring that they are given adequate attention," he said.

Rastam was speaking at the informal thematic consultations of the General Assembly on the report of the secretary-general entitled In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All on Friday.

He said Malaysia had taken note of the comprehensive strategy on terrorism and would study it further.

"For the moment, we see some parts of the strategy as inadequate.

"For example, it fails to address the root causes of terrorism, political grievances, economic and social marginalisation, regional conflicts and foreign occupation.

All those have occurred many times in the past to non-Muslim peoples without causing terrorism. Now why is that?

"Root causes of terrorism are not founded simply on the belief that the use of terrorist methods can achieve an aim," he said...

Hasan Akbar stabs MP

Last Friday I wrote that "Hasan Akbar's jihad has reached its conclusion." That seems to have been premature: it has now come to light that he stabbed an MP last month, and I suspect he will go on looking for opportunities to kill. But Judge Stephen Henley is unmoved; it was, after all, just an "opportunistic stabbing."

An "opportunistic stabbing"? What the heck does that mean? What about Akbar's stated motives, priorities, and values? I suppose 9/11 was just a case of "opportunistic building destruction."

"Judge won't allow evidence of fight in Akbar sentencing," from AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

FORT BRAGG, N.C. The judge in Sergeant Hasan Akbar's court-martial says he won't admit evidence of a fight that Akbar had last month with an M-P in the restroom at Fort Bragg's legal building.

Prosecutors had asked that they be allowed to introduce evidence of the March 30th fight to show a pattern of behavior. The prosecutors wanted to use it during the sentencing phase where a jury will decide whether to sentence Akbar to death or life in prison.

Judge Stephen Henley said he didn't think what he called an "opportunistic stabbing" two years after the attack inside the Army camp in Kuwait showed a pattern.

Akbar took a sharp item from an office where he was meeting with lawyers and attacked the M-P who was assigned to escort him to the men's room.

What's that? "Jihad," you say? Never heard of it

When did Imad Yarkas misunderstand Islam, and how much did he misunderstand it?* "Al-Qaida's Suspected Leader in Spain Denies Founding Cell That Helped in Sept. 11 Attacks," from AP, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

MADRID, Spain (AP) - Al-Qaida's suspected leader in Spain denied Monday that he founded a radical Muslim cell accused of helping plot the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States. Imad Yarkas, a 42-year-old Syrian, said he had never heard of a group called Soldiers of Allah until he was arrested in November 2001 and read about the group in Spanish news reports.

"It is an invention," Yarkas said as he took the stand in the trial of 24 suspected al-Qaida members. "I have never heard of it, only in this investigation."

Yarkas is accused of directing a terrorist cell that allegedly provided logistical cover for Sept. 11 plotters, including Mohamed Atta, who is believed to have piloted one of the two hijacked planes that destroyed the World Trade Center towers....

Judge Baltasar Garzon has said the group was formed at a Madrid mosque in 1995, was led by Yarkas and affiliated itself with al-Qaida, eventually helping organize the suicide airliner attacks in the United States.

Yarkas was peppered with questions from prosecutor Pedro Rubira about his contacts with other defendants in the trial and suspected militants abroad. Yarkas insisted he knew them only as acquaintances who attended the same mosques.

*Yes, this is sarcasm.

24 jihadists seized in Algeria

You can reduce the number of the Tiny Minority of Extremists Who Misunderstand Islam in Algeria by 24. "24 suspected terrorists seized in Algeria," from UPI, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

Algiers, Algeria, Apr. 25 (UPI) -- Algerian security forces arrested 24 terror suspects and the army had surrounded up 20 Islamic gunmen in the mountains, it was reported Monday. Security forces in Algiers arrested four Tunisians who allegedly planned to join the Islamic fundamentalist Salafi Group for Daawa and Fighting, which is largely responsible for terrorist activities in Algeria, the newspaper al-Khabar reported.

"The Tunisian terrorists were uncovered after they were betrayed by an Islamic gunman who was in charge of transporting them to one of the Salafi group's hideouts in remote mountains," a source told the newspaper.

Al-Qaida Issues Warning To Those Who Participate In US-Installed Iraqi Government

Note the religious emphasis of the argument: they are trying to convince Muslims that Islamic loyalty demands they oppose the government. From the pro-jihad site Jihad Unspun, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Al-Qaida organization in the Land of the Two Rivers has issued a stern warning in response to those who take part in so-called Iraqi government while claiming to belong to Ahlu asunnah (the party that follows the teaching and practice of the messenger of Allah, Muhammad, peace be upon him.)

Here is their statement, uncut and uncensored, as translated by JUS....

Statement From Al-Qaida In Response To Those Who Take Part In The Government Of Cross Worshippers And Apostates And Claim To Belong To Ahlu Asunnah [People of the Tradition, i.e., orthodox Sunni Muslims]

In The Name Of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds. Final victory is on the side of the believers, and no aggression except on those who transgress all bounds. Peace and prayers be on the Imam of Mujahideen, our prophet, Muhammad, his family, and his companions.

News about attempts by some who claim to belong to Ahlu asunnah, to join the fake political process and share in power with the cross worshippers and apostates, have been circulating in various news media.

Those losers could not be farther from the sunnah of all prophets and the Imam of messengers, our prophet, Muhammad, (peace and prayers be upon him), who mandated the implementation of the Sharia (Islamic Laws of Allah), establishing Islam as the religion on land, and fighting those who reject the Lord of the Worlds.

Those claiming to belong to Ahlu asunnah, race to be in the arms of the Jews and Christians, for sake of positions, social status, and for love of this life over the hereafter. Not long ago, they were racing to harm the true sunnah and its party. Here they are again, doing what they do best, offering their allegiance and services to every tyrant, the curse of Allah be on them! How are they deluded (away from the truth)!

In their heart is a disease and deviation.

{Those in whose hearts is a disease- you see how eagerly they run about amongst them, saying: “we do fear lest a change of fortune bring us disaster.” Ah! Perhaps Allah will give you victory, or a decision from Him. Then will they regret of the thoughts which they secretly harbored in their hearts.}, [Qur'an] 5:52

We announce to the entire world that we are clear of you and whatever you worship besides Allah: we have rejected you, and there has arisen, between us and you, enmity and hatred forever, unless you believe in Allah and Him alone.

Annie Jacobsen Gets a Visit from the Feds

Annie Jacobsen is the author of "Terror in the Skies." Here she recounts a visit from the Feds. From Women's Wall Street, with thanks to Jimmy The LGFer:

The four federal agents showed up exactly on time, in a rented green mini-van, carrying briefcases and wearing suits (it was 75 degrees). They came to discuss the events of Northwest flight 327, the now notorious Detroit-to-Los Angeles plane trip I took last June. My husband led them to our house through the garden and, from where I sat in my kitchen, I could hear their comments: nice garden, pretty plants, too bad palm trees don't grow in Chicago. So, I thought, federal agents are people too.

In truth, I was excited that I hadn't gone into labor before the meeting. I was, after all, meeting with the big boys (actually three men and one woman). In the nine months that I've been working on this series, my access to the government has been through mid-level bureaucrats and agency mouthpieces. So here I was, suddenly meeting with agents who have real access to the truth -- and at their request.

On the telephone, the agents explained to me that the Department of Homeland Security, Office of the Inspector General, has been investigating flight 327 and flying DHS agents around the country to talk to various parties -- the flight attendants, pilots, federal air marshals and the passengers. They had saved me for last.

Here's what I find fascinating: while one arm of the government (the Federal Air Marshal Service) has vehemently maintained all along that "nothing happened on flight 327," the other, more muscular arm (the Department of Homeland Security) has been conducting a rather large investigation about it. Based on my 4 ½ hour meeting with the agents, I can tell you that not only have they been investigating what did happen during the flight, but they've also been investigating who botched the subsequent investigation as well as how it got botched.

So what do you say to four federal agents at your kitchen table on a bright Tuesday morning? The first thing I clarified for the agents was that, prior to my experience on flight 327, I had never heard of a "probe" or a "dry run." For the record, I explained, I had never heard of the James Woods incident either. [In case you're not aware, the actor James Woods flew on an American Airlines flight from Boston to Los Angeles one month prior to 9/11. Alarmed by the behavior of a group of four Middle Eastern men, Woods summoned the pilot and told him that he was "concerned the men were going to hijack the plane." A report was filed with the FAA on Woods' behalf but, tragically, no one followed up with Woods or the men. A few days after 9/11, several federal agents showed up in Woods' kitchen. Woods can't talk about what was said -- he believes his testimony will be used in the trial of the supposed 20th hijacker, Zacarias Moussaoui-- but, in an interview with Bill O'Reilly, Woods revealed that his flight "was a rehearsal [for 9/11] with four men."]

Standing in my kitchen, one of the agents said, "What I can tell you is this: Mohammed Atta was one of the passengers on that flight with James Woods." (Apparently, this information has never been made public.) With that, the agent pulled out his chair, opened his notebook and started in with his questions for me (at which point the other three agents opened up their notepads almost simultaneously).

During my meeting with the agents, what was not said was often as revealing as what was said. Naturally, the agents "were not at liberty" to tell me anything about the 13 Syrian men aboard flight 327, but they asked a lot of questions regarding my "intuition" about the situation: Intuition told me something was not right. Intuition is why I began noting the men's actions from the get-go. And it was exactly these details in which the agents seemed most interested. One of the agents commented on the fact that I took a lot of hits in the press -- that I was called a racist and a bigot simply for sticking with my gut instinct. To me, the agents' story that Mohammed Atta had been on James Woods' flight was a wink and a nod to the fact that it's fine to trust your intuition. If you're wrong, you can always stand corrected.

Read it all.

Iraq suicide bombings kill 23, Pakistani hostage released

We may be seeing a new tactic from the Zarqawi group in Iraq in favor of twin suicide car bombs. From AFP, "Iraq suicide bombings kill 23, Pakistani hostage released"

BAGHDAD - At least 23 people died and more than 80 were wounded in a series of bomb attacks near a mosque in Baghdad and outside a police academy in the north of the country, security officials said.

Amid the violence, Islamabad said a Pakistani hostage held since two weeks had been released, while in Washington controversial politician Ahmed Chalabi said delays in forming a government were playing into the hands of insurgents.

Two explosions Sunday evening in a mixed Shiite-Sunni district of the Iraqi capital apparently targeted an area close to the Shiite Hussayniah al-Beit mosque, killing 16 and wounding 50.

"A bomb exploded and, when people ran out near the Hussayniah al-Beit mosque, a car driven by a suicide bomber ploughed into them," an interior ministry official said.

Earlier, two suicide car bombs went off outside a police academy in Tikrit, killing at least seven people and wounding 37. Police casualties accounted for five of the dead, police and hospital sources said.

The mosque bombing was the latest in a series of attacks on Shiites, with a suicide car bomb exploding outside another Shiite mosque during weekly prayers on Friday, killing nine people and leaving 26 wounded.

The majority Shiites won control of parliament in January 30 elections, while the Sunni Arab minority, which dominated the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein and all previous Iraqi governments, largely boycotted the poll.

The insurgency that has raged in Sunni areas since Saddam's ouster in 2003 has seen a growing resort to sectarian attacks.

Militants loyal to Al-Qaeda's Iraq frontman Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for the twin Tikrit attacks in an Internet statement, the authenticity of which could not be verified...

Islamist Militias Patrolling Basra

"Islamist Militias Patrolling Basra" from the Pittsburg Post-Gazette, with thanks to Saturnine:

BASRA, Iraq -- Sheikh Assad al-Basri says there's no need to worry that he and his Islamist militiamen might recreate a repressive Iranian-style theocracy in Iraq.

That's because the Islamic Republic of Iran is far too liberal, according to Basri, the leading local representative of rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

"Only 5 percent of Iranians abide by real Islamic laws," said Basri, who boasts that he and his cohorts already have blown up most of Basra's liquor stores, punished "decadent picnickers" and imposed Islamic dress codes on women. "The rest of Iranians are corrupt. Look, there are drugs and girls who don't wear hijab [covering] well in Iran."

Iraq's new Shiite-led national government vows it will respect and tolerate all of the country's religious and ethnic groups and will create a model democratic constitution for a region gripped by Islamic fervor.

But on the streets of this once-liberal port city -- which years ago featured a row of casinos and bars along its waterfront -- Islamist militias already have begun imposing a harsh version of Islamic law that has shocked many residents.

"They have managed to impose a republic of fear," said Yasser Qassim, a local journalist who publishes stories under a pen name out of fear for his safety.

Moderate Islamists -- which include Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jafaari's Dawa Party -- won 37 of 41 local council seats during the Jan. 30 elections, with secular former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's party getting only four...

Basri claimed 12,000 local Sadr militiamen have been trained for combat and "are ready to mobilize in case of a crisis." Residents say they already are mobilized...

"They are everywhere," said Muhamad Nassir, a physician who heads Basra Maternity and Pediatric Hospital. "Some of them recently visited our hospital to try to convince us to forbid male doctors from curing female patients."

His colleagues from a nearby hospital -- renamed Sadr Hospital after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime-- complained that Sadr's followers have hung posters of the young cleric inside the wards.

"They watch us," said one doctor, who requested anonymity to protect his safety. "I have received a few death threats. I am afraid to talk. To protect myself, I bought a pistol, which I hide under my shirt."

Basra officials concede the militiamen are creating problems, but they are hesitant to crack down.

"We are going through a sensitive time and we must be cautious and careful," said Muhamad Saadoun al-Ebaadi, the chief of the new provincial council and a member of a moderate Islamist group.

Fear is palpable on the streets. One day three months ago, a female student from Basra University's college of sciences was ordered to cover her hair. She refused to comply. Three days later she was found dead on the road to her house, said her classmates and professors...

Iraq Copter Downing Suspects Nabbed

Four more makes 10 nabbed so far, from AP, "Iraq Copter Downing Suspects Nabbed"

BAGHDAD, Iraq — U.S. forces arrested four more suspects in Thursday's downing of a civilian helicopter north of Baghdad, bringing the number apprehended so far to 10, the military said Sunday. All 11 passengers and crew were killed, including one shot by insurgents.

U.S. soldiers from Task Force Baghdad, working with Iraqi security forces, detained the suspects during the past 24 hours, a military statement said.

Iraqi civilians helped U.S. forces locate the first six suspects, who were captured early Saturday, the military said.

The Russian-made Mi-8 helicopter was shot down about 12 miles north of Baghdad. The dead included six American bodyguards for U.S. diplomats, three Bulgarian crew members and two security guards from Fiji, officials said.

Two militant groups claimed responsibility for the attack and released video to back their claims. In one video, insurgents are seen capturing and shooting to death the lone survivor, identified as a Bulgarian pilot...

Syria Nears Final Pullout from Lebanon

Power vacuum alert from AP via Fox News,"Syrian Withdrawal From Lebanon Almost Done"

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian troops burned documents and dismantled military posts in their final hours in Lebanon Sunday, before deploying toward the border and effectively ending 29 years of military presence in the country.

A few score Syrian troops will remain in Lebanon for a farewell ceremony Tuesday that the Lebanese Army plans to hold in a town close to the Syrian border.

In Damascus, the Syrian capital, a government official said: "Within the next few hours, all the troops will be out of Lebanon."

"What will be left are those who will take part in the official farewell" on Tuesday, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity...

"Tomorrow everything will be over," a Lebanese military officer said Saturday, speaking on condition of anonymity, as is typical for military officials here.

On Tuesday, Lebanese troops at a base in Rayak, few miles from the Syrian border, will conduct a ceremony to pay tribute to the Syrian Army's role in Lebanon, a Lebanese military officer said.

Afterward, the token Syrian force will leave, and there will not be a single Syrian soldier left in Lebanon. The Syrians entered Lebanon in 1976, ostensibly as peacekeepers in the year-old civil war. After the war ended in 1990, 40,000 Syrian troops remained in Lebanon, giving Damascus the decisive say in Lebanese politics...

Secretary-General Kofi Annan said last week he was delaying until Tuesday the release of a report to the Security Council on Syria in Lebanon so he could confirm the full withdrawal.

Pakistani Sacrifices Wife and Four Children to Mark Birthday of Muhammad

From the Pakistani Daily Times, "Man sacrifices wife, 4 children on Eid Milad in Karachi"

KARACHI: A schoolteacher, Nadeem Ahmed, who was arrested for allegedly killing his wife and four children said on Friday that he sacrificed them to mark the birth anniversary of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH).

The man was caught hiding in the bathroom of his house in Karachi, where police found the bodies of his family with their throats slashed. Those killed included his 36-year-old wife Shah Jehan and his four children 12-year-old Hasib, 11-year-old Fasih, 8-year-old Hamza and one-year old-Fawad. The wife of the accused was also a teacher at a government school.

Police said they suspected he killed his family because he thought his wife was “having illicit relations with a lover,” said local police officer Khalid Bashir. Police said he bought knife from a store a day before the incident. But the accused told reporters from a police detention cell that he sacrificed his family members in the name of Allah to mark the Prophet’s birthday.

“I had no complaints or suspicion against my wife. I loved her and my children. It’s a gift on this great day. I also wanted to kill myself. I will soon join my family,” he said. “He seems to be a psychologically disturbed person,” police officer, Amjad Rashid said. agencies

Islamists Win Big in Saudi Arabian Elections

"Islamists Dominate Saudi Arabia Elections" from AP:

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia - Candidates backed by conservative clerics dominated the final stage of Saudi Arabia's landmark municipal elections, according to results announced Saturday.

In the kingdom's commercial capital of Jiddah, the seven winning candidates were those whose names appeared on what was dubbed the "golden list" — the picks of fundamentalist clerics.

Five of the six winners in Buraydah, capital of ultraconservative Qassem province, also received a clerical nod, and the holy city of Medina also saw Islamist candidates finishing well. Many Islamists also won seats in municipal council polling elsewhere in February and March.

The three stages of voting were the first nationwide elections in this monarchy. The municipal council posts have little power except for at the local level, but many Saudis jumped at the chance to have even a small voice in politics.

The Saudi monarchy, a longtime ally of Washington, has been under U.S. pressure to make some democratic reforms. But the limited experiment in democracy — only men could vote and run for seats on the half-appointed councils — also appeared to be an attempt to deflate the militant Islamic movement by bringing some Islamists into the system.

The government can balance the makeup of the councils by naming liberals to the portion of seats reserved for government appointees...

"We are an Islamic country and we are Islamists. We will stick to our Islamic values in fulfilling our duties according to the book and al-Sunnah," said winning Jiddah candidate Bassam Jamil al-Khadher, referring to the Quran and sayings of Islam's founding Prophet Muhammad.

Al-Khadher denied there was any coordination or formal list, which would have been illegal under Saudi election rules. However, the list of names was widely circulated on the Internet and through mobile phone text messages. ...

Nabil Qamlu, a liberal lawyer who lost to one of Jiddah's "golden" candidates, accused the powerful clergy of interfering in the elections. Some losing candidates were expected to lodge complaints with the election commission, which largely ignored such complaints made before the vote.

"This is neither democracy nor equal opportunity," Qamlu said. "Who has given them such power to determine whom should the electorate choose.

"For the next election, I must grow a beard in order to get elected."

Abdel-Rahman al-Yamani, who secured the most votes in Jiddah — nearly 12,000 of the 55,000 cast in the municipality — attributed the Islamists' success to popular support rather than a well-organized clerical campaign.

"We are religious people by nature and secular people are not accepted by the society," he said.

In Buraydah, a city known as a hotbed for Islamic militancy, only one of the six winning council members was not among the clerics' recommendations — that was a businessman with strong tribal backing...

CAIR, ACLU Sue Gov't over Border Scrutiny

"Border searches spur legal action by Muslims" from the IndyStar with thanks to Nicolei:

American Muslim and civil liberties groups have filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming that Muslims who attend religious conferences outside the United States are subject to increased and unfair scrutiny upon their return to the country.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, was brought by five American citizens who are Muslim.

In January, they were detained, interrogated, photographed and fingerprinted when returning to the United States from an annual conference, called "Reviving the Islamic Spirit," in Toronto.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed the suit Wednesday on behalf of the five complainants.

The five plaintiffs, all of whom have valid U.S. passports, were among dozens who were stopped at the Buffalo border crossing.

They were questioned, some of them for as long as 61/2 hours, and had their cell phones confiscated when they tried to contact lawyers or the media, the complaint states.

The suit, which names Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff as well as customs and border officials, claims that the men and women "were subjected to this treatment solely because they had attended the conference."

The complaint asks the court to issue a declaration that the border officials acted unlawfully, as well as an injunction against repeating the practices around other conferences.

After the January episode, CAIR set up a hot line in case similar incidents occurred when Muslims returned from hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca...

Australian Lawyer: Muslims de-humanized like Jews before WWII

from the Australian The Age, "Muslims 'vilified and dehumanised'"
with thanks to Nicolei:

Muslims in Australia suffer vilification comparable to that directed towards Jews under the Nazis, according to the former lawyer for released Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib.

Stephen Hopper, who was sacked by Habib earlier this month, told a seminar at RMIT yesterday that the public discourse surrounding terrorism served to dehumanise Muslims in the same way Nazis dehumanised Jews before World War II.

"All of the world seemed to be against Jewish people 100 or so years ago," Mr Hopper said.

"Today, it seems like the whole world is against the Muslim people and the same sort of language and the same sorts of techniques are being used to dehumanise Muslim people . . . We should be aware of the consequences of where that will lead us."

Mr Hopper fought to secure Mr Habib's release from Guantanamo Bay, the US military base in Cuba. Mr Habib was held there until January for suspected links to al-Qaeda.

It is believed Mr Habib sacked Mr Hopper because he was upset with the tax that would be charged on $140,000 paid to Mr Habib by current affairs program 60 Minutes as payment for telling his story.

Another speaker at the seminar, Islamic Council of Victoria executive committee member Waleed Aly, was quick to say it was "immoral" to equate the genocide perpetrated by Hitler's Germany with the problems of Muslims in Australia.

"For a Muslim to stand up now in Australia and say 'we are the modern-day Jews in Nazi Germany' would be not only offensive but untrue," Mr Waleed said. Six million Jews died in German concentration camps during World War II...

Palestinians: U.S. forcing Christianity on Muslims

"Palestinians: U.S. forcing Christianity on Muslims" from WND, with thanks to Nobody:

The Palestinian Authority's presentation of the U.S. as an enemy of Islam continues despite Washington's political and financial support of new chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

This week, a religious leader whose salary is paid by the PA added a new accusation, preaching that the U.S. war effort in Iraq and elsewhere, including "Palestine," attempts to force Muslims to convert to Christianity, according to Itamar Marcus of Israel-based Palestinian Media Watch.

The cleric said U.S. actions today were crueler than those of a "Christian Caesar" who, according to Islamic tradition, dipped a Muslim into boiling oil in order to force his conversion to Christianity.

In addition, an old accusation was repeated in an article in the official PA daily this week, Marcus said.

The writer states the true enemy of the Arabs is not Israel but the U.S. and that Israel is merely an arm of the U.S. in its "imperialist wars."

In the article, the U.S. is accused of "grinding the bones" of Palestinian children and "devouring their eyes."

Marcus pointed out the "inflammatory sermon," by Sheikh Ibrahim Mudayris, comes only a few weeks after PA leadership announced it would review the Friday sermons to remove incitement and hateful content.

Mudayris claimed Palestinian prisoners are subject to torture and "exposed to conversion to Christianity, to abandoning religion, [as it was] in the distant past and recently. Yes, our prisoners are forced to curse Muhammad; our prisoners are forced to curse the religion of Allah, our prisoners are forced to curse the essence of divinity."

He continued: "Haven't you heard of our prisoners [of war] in Palestine, have you not heard of our prisoners in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and all over the world, who are exploited and imprisoned, and are offered conversion to Christianity?"...

The article from the PA daily, Al Hayat Al Jadida, April 16, said, "Seventeen years (since the assassination of the fighter Abu Jihad) that the murderous millstones of America have been turning, grinding the bones of our children and devouring their eyes. Not Israel! There is no such thing called Israel! It is America repeating upon us, the Arabs, the tragedy of the Indians [sic] from the dawn of her [American] history that began with this first crime of genocide."

Caged by glass: the men facing Europe's biggest al-Qaeda trial

Prosecutor aims to expose network of jihadists living quiet lives while recruiting footsoldiers for the 9/11 attack and other attacks. From the UK Times Online, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

EUROPE'S biggest trial of al-Qaeda suspects allegedly linked to the attacks of September 11, 2001, opened yesterday in a specially built court in Madrid.

No one has been successfully prosecuted for a direct role in the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. If convicted, Eddin Barakat Yarkas, the Syrian-born alleged ringleader of a Spanish cell, faces some 60,000 years in jail - 25 for each person killed.

Mr Yarkas, also known as Abu Dahdah, is said to have helped to fund the operation and set up a meeting at a Spanish resort attended by Mohammed Atta, the presumed leader of the hijackers, and couriers sent by Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda's leader, to finalise plans for the US attacks....

All but one defendant, Tayssir Alluni, sat behind bullet-proof glass. Mr Alluni, a journalist with al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based cable news channel, who interviewed Mr bin Laden after the attacks, is accused of being a member of the terrorist network.

The prosecution is expected to accuse some of the key figures of using trips to Britain to smuggle money to al-Qaeda agents across Europe. Mr Yarkas, 41, is alleged to have visited Britain more than 20 times, often bringing young recruits to meet leading militants, including Abu Qatada, the London-based radical cleric.

The alleged recruits included some of the men accused of planning and taking part in last year's bombing of four trains in Madrid. Baltasar Garzón, the prosecuting magistrate, is expected to give details of some of Mr Yarkas's visits, including one where he is alleged to have handed over $11,000 (£5,750) to Abu Qatada, who the Spanish judge described as "al-Qaeda's spiritual ambassador in the EU"....

Mr Yarkas is also said to have stayed at mosques and at the homes of other terrorist suspects, including that of Zacharias Moussaoui, the so-called 20th hijacker who pleaded guilty in an American court yesterday. Also in court in Madrid yesterday was Ghassub al Abrash Ghaylun, who is said to have taken detailed films of the twin towers and the Pentagon.

The tapes were then allegedly passed on to "operative members of al-Qaeda and would become the preliminary information on the attacks against the twin towers", the indictment said...

Prosecutors will attempt to prove that some of the accused are linked to the September 11 attacks and the Madrid train bombings. The trial is expected to last for two months and was adjourned until Monday.

As it was getting under way yesterday, another al-Qaeda suspect was being extradited from Switzerland to Spain. Mohamed Achraf's group of
Spanish-based extremists is suspected of plotting to bomb the National Court in Madrid.

"God curse America!"

"Moussaoui Tells Court He's Guilty of a Terror Plot," from the New Duranty Times:

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person facing a trial in the United States in connection with the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, pleaded guilty on Friday to participating in a broad conspiracy by Al Qaeda to fly planes into American buildings.

Mr. Moussaoui, wearing a dark-green prison jumpsuit, stood before Judge Leonie M. Brinkema of the Federal District Court here and said that he was forgoing a trial on the facts and that he understood that his guilty plea meant he might be executed.

But Mr. Moussaoui, 36, a Frenchman of Moroccan heritage who was arrested in August 2001, offered a surprise. He said that despite his guilty plea he had nothing to do with the Sept. 11 attacks.

Instead, he said, he had been planning to participate in a separate undisclosed plot to fly a plane into the White House at a different time.

In a rambling discourse, he said his role was part of a plan to force the release of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, a blind Muslim scholar who is serving a life sentence for conspiracy to blow up New York bridges and tunnels and other landmarks in 1993.

"I am guilty of a broad conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction to destroy the White House," he said, offering a new account of his role in plots that is at odds with the different versions government prosecutors have put forward....

The statement also said that Osama bin Laden "personally selected Moussaoui to participate in the operation to fly planes into American buildings and approved Moussaoui's attacking the White House. Bin Laden told Moussaoui, 'Sahrawi, remember your dream.'"

Sahrawi, Mr. Moussaoui had told the court, was his name for jihad, or holy war....

Mr. Moussaoui offered his guilty plea to all six counts over the objections of his assigned defense lawyers. In a meeting on Wednesday with Judge Brinkema, he also said that he would not contest the death penalty. On Friday, he said that he had changed his mind....

Judge Brinkema, a soft-spoken judge who has been in charge of the case from the start, offered evidence of familiarity with him and his habits as she questioned him closely about whether he fully understood the implications of his plea. She flattered him with compliments on his sophistication about the law, and added that Mr. Moussaoui, who has advanced business degrees from a college in England, "is extremely intelligent with a better understanding of our legal system than some of the lawyers who have appeared in court."

Mr. Moussaoui told her, "I know I cannot expect any leniency from the Americans."

As marshals led him out, Mr. Moussaoui shouted: "Allah akhbar! God curse America!"...

Leading Iranian mullah: "Fight the Jews and Vanquish Them"

"Ayatollah Nouri-Hamedani: 'Fight the Jews and Vanquish Them so as to Hasten the Coming of the Hidden Imam,'" from MEMRI, with thanks to Rebecca Bynum:

The official Iranian news agency Fars, which is close to the conservative circles in Iran, recently published a statement by Ayatollah Hossein Nouri-Hamedani, one of the Iranian regime's leading religious authorities, in which he advocates fighting the Jews in order to prepare the ground and to hasten the advent of the Hidden Imam, the Messiah according to Shiite belief.

It should be noted that the Fars news agency took the report off its web site several hours after its publication, and other Iranian media outlets close to the conservatives refrained from citing it...

Prior to the Advent of the Hidden Imam, Arrogance and Colonialism Rule the World

"Fars news agency: Ayatollah Nouri-Hamedani, discussing [Shi'ite] religious texts, said: 'One should fight the Jews and vanquish them so that the conditions for the advent of the Hidden Imam be met.' According to the Fars news agency's report, Ayatollah Nouri-Hamedani met with members of the Mahdaviyat Studies Institute. He praised the institute's work and demanded that the religious seminaries in Qom also do more to research religious texts and hadith concerning the Hidden Imam...

"Nouri-Hamedani said that the texts concerning the end of days are rife with allusions and hidden meanings. He asked the researchers to devote their efforts to elucidating these texts. He noted: 'In the texts it is told that the Hidden Imam will remove the yoke of humiliation from mankind's neck. Therefore it is clear that prior to the advent of the Hidden Imam, Arrogance [a common epithet for Western powers, especially the U.S.A.] and colonialism rule the world.'

The Jews Have Hoarded All the Wealth in One Place, and All the World are Their Slaves

"According to this religious authority, 'at present the Jews' policies threaten us. One should explain in the clearest terms the danger the Jews pose to the [Iranian] people and to the Muslims. Ever since Islam's appearance, the group that expressed fierce opposition to Islam - and still acts in this fashion - were the Jews. They were involved in the Khaybar, Uhud, and Ahzab wars.' He added: 'Already from the beginning the Jews wanted to hoard the world's goods in [their] greed and voracity. They always worked in important professions and now they have hoarded all of the wealth in one place. And all of the world, especially America and Europe, are their slaves.'"...

"The revelation of the culture of Jihad and martyrdom in the country [Iran] struck world Arrogance [i.e., the U.S. and the Western powers] with dread. The existence of such a spirit among our youth led to world Arrogance's not daring to infringe on our borders... History shows that every people that lost the culture of Jihad and martyrdom were brought down."

Nigeria: Jihad Threat Worries Christians

From All Africa, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN), has called on the Federal Government to take extra security precautions to protect law abiding Nigerians, following threats of Jihad by Northern Muslim leaders.

The call was contained in a communiqué issued in Jos yesterday, signed by COCIN President, Reverend Pandang Yamsat, and Secretary-General, Reverend John Audu, after a two-day executive meeting of the body.

According to them, "Council expresses grave concern over the shouts of marginalisation by Muslim leaders in the north, followed by threats of jihad if the Federal Government does not reverse what they perceived as unfair distribution of national offices.

"The cry of marginalisation sounds very strange, even provocative, coming from the same people who are unrelenting in marginalising Christians, including their indigenes, in Sokota, Katsina, Zamfara, Kano, Kebbi, Jigiwa, Yobe and Bauchi states, and treating them like second class citizens in the land of their birth."

Strange, but not surprising. In doing research for my forthcoming book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and the Crusades (Regnery) I have discovered that the rhetoric of victimization has been used by Muslims at least since then. They commit aggression against non-Muslims. Then the non-Muslims retaliate, and the Muslims act as if they are committing unprovoked aggression. The retaliation by non-Muslims becomes the new pretext for renewed violence. You can see this in Iraq and Israel and elsewhere today.

The council said the threat of launching a jihad is "a crude and uncivilised way of settling disagreements in a democratic dispensation in the 21st century."

Indeed.

Kaufman: Florida "peace" group on the attack

A provocative new piece from Joe Kaufman:

Middle East expert Dr. Daniel Pipes is being attacked for his acceptance of controversial measures taken in response to acts of terrorism, but look who’s attacking him!

Pipes writes, in his December 28, 2004 column Why the Japanese Internment Still Matters, “For years, it has been my position that the threat of radical Islam implies an imperative to focus security measures on Muslims.”   He further states, “…especially in time of war, governments should take into account nationality, ethnicity, and religious affiliation in their homeland security policies...”

With respect to this, Pipes cites and lauds one author’s defense of internment camps.

Evidently, this was not taken well by some.  These individuals and/or groups have gone out of their way to malign Pipes for what they call his exhibiting hatred towards Muslims.  One of the most recent attacks has come from a South Florida entity that goes by the name of JADA or Jewish Arab Dialog Association.

On January 27, 2005, a piece entitled An Open Letter to Mr. Daniel Pipes, written by JADA co-founders Souheil Elia and Jack Lieberman, was published “for JADA” by the American Muslim Association of North America (AMANA).

In the article, Elia and Lieberman describe Dr. Pipes with severe terms like:  “racist,” “warmonger” and “hatred promoter.”  They write, “Mr. Pipes, in his blind hatred for Muslims and Arabs, does not realize the fact that both the Arab and Muslim communities in the US, according to police records, boast an enviable record as to absence of violence.”

And then Elia and Lieberman go that much further and equate Dr. Pipes’ views with that of a Nazi.  They write, “The only possibility for Mr. Daniel Pipes’ ideas to find acceptance in the US is for America to repudiate its constitution of liberty and justice for all and develop a mirror image of Hitler's Nazi regime.”

An attack such as this doesn’t make much sense for a group like JADA with its declared mission to “engage all relevant parties in frank and honest discussions aimed at finding resolutions to the Middle East problems, through dialog and exchange of ideas, rather than through violence and wars.”

But then again, past statements and affiliations made by the members of JADA totally contradict every bit of its mission!

As the group’s name implies, JADA is comprised of both Jews and Arabs.  Notwithstanding this group’s outward appearance of all inclusiveness, JADA is nothing more than a mouthpiece for radical Islam.

An Open Letter to Mr. Daniel Pipes is not the only article AMANA has published.   In one entitled The Call for the Unity of Religions – A False and Dangerous Call, it is written, “The Christians and Jews want the Muslims to be like them.   That is why they support this deceptive call for ‘unity.’”  And in another entitled Homosexuality is not O.K., it is written, “Whenever you find in a society the act of homosexuality you will find disease and death… [If homosexuals don’t try to ask for forgiveness], they should keep low profile about their abnormal human activities.”

This is important not just because Elia and Lieberman chose to have such an organization publish their material, but because AMANA is actually headed by a Board and Steering Committee Member of JADA itself.  His name is Sofian Abdelaziz-Zakkout, and he is credited with having been the past Vice President of the Health Resource Center for Palestine (HRCP), a group affiliated with the HAMAS front, the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP).  HRCP was closed down, shortly after it was brought to light that the group had admitted to raising funds for “shuhada” (i.e. suicide martyrs).

In addition, Abdelaziz-Zakkout showed up in support of Adham Amin Hassoun, at Hassoun’s August 2002 court hearing.   Hassoun was indicted by the United States government “with seven charges stemming from a scheme to conceal from federal officials his activities in recruiting fighters and raising money to support global jihad.”  At the hearing, Abdelaziz-Zakkout stated, “They don’t have anything against him… The guy is clean.”

Souheil Elia or S.E. Elia, as he is more widely known, co-founded JADA with Lieberman in the summer of 2003, yet his journey on the subject of the Middle East started long before then.

In an article published by the Miami Herald, dated November 1, 2003, entitled A quest for peace in Mideast, Elia relates a story about how he and his family became refugees in Lebanon, in 1948.  He talks of a massacre against Arabs and states that “his parents became frightened of the escalating violence,” so they left Israel for Lebanon.  “They thought we would be gone for two weeks,” he said.

This is indicative of the fable that many in the Arab community have created concerning why they left Israel in 1948.

As stated in Samuel Katz’s BATTLEGROUND: FACT & FANTASY IN PALESTINE:  “The Arab refugees were not driven from Palestine by anyone.   The vast majority left, whether of their own free will or at the orders or exhortations of their leaders, always with the same reassurance – that their departure would help in the war against Israel… Their victory was certain, they claimed, but it would be speeded and made easier if the local Arab population got out of the way.  The refugees would come back in the wake of the victorious Arab armies and not only recover their own property but also inherit the houses and farms of the vanquished and annihilated Jews.”

When Souheil Elia reached adulthood, he sought higher education in the United States.  He later returned to Lebanon to teach at American University in Beirut (AUB).  Elia then made his way back to the States in the early to mid eighties, around the time when Hezbollah terror fighters kidnapped one AUB president and murdered another, and scores of American military and U.S. Embassy personnel were being blown up by Hezbollah in Beirut.

This most probably had an influence on Elia’s life, as he would, in 2001, help found the South Florida chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), a national organization that has had a number of statements made record of in support of Hezbollah, from June of 1996 through June of 2000.  This includes a May 2000 quote by ADC spokesman Hussein Ibish to the Los Angeles Times.  Ibish stated, “Everywhere Hezbollah fighters, derided by the Israeli and U.S. governments as ‘terrorists,’ conducted themselves in an exemplary manner... [They are] a disciplined and responsible liberation force.”

The ADC has a record of making numerous anti-Jewish statements, as well.

Elia would serve as the Chairman of the local chapter.

The two groups, ADC and JADA, have worked together in the past, most recently co-sponsoring a November 2004 event held at Nova Southeastern University, in Ft. Lauderdale.  The event (“THE PRESENT HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY TO USE NON VIOLENCE FOR THE RESOLUTION OF THE ISRAELI – PALESTINIAN CONFLICT”) included panelists Sofian Abdelaziz-Zakkout [see above] and Altaf Ali, the Executive Director of CAIR-Florida.   CAIR or the Council on American-Islamic Relations was created by the IAP [see above] and has been cited for having numerous other ties to radical Islam.  The ADC and JADA also both participated in a CAIR sponsored ‘Interfaith Press Conference,’ that took place in May of 2004.

At a previous JADA event (“Road Map to Peace – Reality or Illusion?”), held in Miami on October 2, 2003, which also featured Abdelaziz-Zakkout, Elia made a number of disturbing statements concerning the subject of suicide bombers.  He stated, “They have turned to suicide, because we have robbed them of every reason to live.”  Making the point that suicide is the Palestinians’ only means to defend themselves, Elia said, “They don’t have Apache helicopters or tanks.  Their bodies are the only weapons they have.”  And “We have nothing to fight with, except with our lives.”

He echoed this feeling about suicide bombers, in the November 2003 Miami Herald article.  He is quoted as saying, “You have to give them a reason to live.  You don’t want to give them a justification to die.”

The other co-founder of JADA is Jack Lieberman, a man best known for being the former president of the Southeast region of the American Jewish Congress.

To compliment his fellow comrades in JADA, Lieberman is an honorary member of the anti-Israel far left.

In August of 1999, Lieberman was named to the board of directors of Americans for Peace Now, a Washington, D.C.-based anti-religious group that advocates giving up large parcels of Israeli land with the intent of creating a Palestinian state.

To prove his allegiance to the principles of Peace Now, he signed a petition created in May of 2003 by Brit Tzedek v’Shalom – Jewish Alliance for Justice & Peace to throw Israeli Jews out of their homes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.  Or as Brit Tzedek v’Shalom put it, “to remove a major obstacle to peace.”  The petition (‘A CALL TO BRING THE SETTLERS HOME TO ISRAEL’) goes on to solicit contributions from the European Union, the United Nations and others, for the express purpose of a “massive relocation effort, irrespective of whether the Israeli government is ready to participate.”

In February of 2004, Lieberman had the dubious distinction of having his name placed on Masada 2000’s ‘SELF-HATING and/or ISRAEL THREATENING LIST.’

Besides being anti-Israel, Jack Lieberman is also anti-war.  Under his alter-ego “Jolly Jack,” he has posted numerous messages to the internet calling on persons to join protests against the war in Iraq.

Through the Broward AntiWar Coalition, Lieberman participated in “regular monthly protests against the war.”  According to him, one of the protests was held in New York City “against the Republican National Convention and the whole Bush agenda!”

Furthering his war against the “Bush agenda,” in November of 2004, Lieberman posted his phone number to the internet calling for volunteers to assist MoveOn, the ultra-left group which was working to get Senator John Kerry elected President of the United States.

Lieberman has, in the past, posted his political commentaries on Marxist websites.  In one post of a letter he had written to convince people to help free imprisoned Haitians, he addresses his readers as “Comrades and Friends.”

Jack Lieberman, with all of his posting, has also found time to be a bit of an entrepreneur.  In March of 1997, he used a Marxist site to sell computer software featuring audio commentaries, video footage and essays of and/or by convicted cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal.  Lieberman described it as an “excellent CD ROM program” and an “excellent educational program.”

Today, the term “peace” has become synonymous with those persons and/or groups that disagree with the way we fight against the enemy.  This allows a group like JADA to profess its ‘peacefulness,’ while striving towards the complete opposite.  JADA members’ statements and affiliations prove this to be the case.

Elia and Lieberman’s attack on Dr. Daniel Pipes does not represent a “frank and honest discussion” at all or any type of “dialog and exchange of ideas.”  At best, it represents a close-minded, disrespectful attitude towards those that take positions that stray from their own.  At worst, it assists the enemy and gives furtherance to the enemy’s cause.

Joe Kaufman is the Chairman of Americans Against Hate and the host of The Politics of Terrorism radio show. Beila Rabinowitz, Director of Militant Islam Monitor, contributed to this report.

"Carry out God's verdict"

What kind of God? "Video Shows Crash Survivor Was Executed," from Fox News:

BAGHDAD — A crew member on board the helicopter that crashed north of Baghdad apparently survived, only to be shot to death by insurgents, a video shows.

The video, purportedly shot and posted online by the Islamic Army in Iraq, tracks the helicopter as it turns into a fireball and careens toward the ground as gunmen run toward the crash site. The group claimed responsibility for shooting down the Mi-8 chopper, on which all on board — six Americans, three Bulgarians and two Fijians — were killed.

The video begins with an unseen cameraman breathing heavily and running with the camera toward burning wreckage. Two bodies are visible, one of them severely charred, nearly all its clothes burned away.

"Look at that filth," someone says in Arabic....

The video then shows a man in a pilot's uniform — presumably one of the Bulgarian crewmen — lying on the ground, arms outstretched and asking for help.

One of the insurgents begins barking orders at the injured man, yelling in accented English, "Stand up! Stand up!"

"I can't, it's broken," the man pleads, holding up his hands.

It appears the militants help pull him to his feet.

"Weapons?" the gunmen shout at him in Arabic.

The cameraman tells the crewman, whose face is visible, to step back.

"Go! Go!" he shouts.

The man eventually begins walking away. Moments later, the insurgents say something to make him turn around.

"Carry out God's verdict," one of the gunmen says.

The insurgents open fire on him, shouting "Allahu akbar!" or "God is great!"

In their Web statement, the Islamic Army in Iraq said it killed the surviving crewman "in revenge for the Muslims killed in the mosques of Fallujah." It apparently referred to the Nov. 13 shooting of a wounded Iraqi by an American soldier in a Fallujah mosque during a U.S. offensive in the city....

When no news is bad news

Things not going so well? Well, maybe we could reexamine our basic premises in fighting the war on terror, and deal more forthrightly and thoroughly with the role of Islam in inspiring jihad violence. Maybe we could reconfigure our global alliances and foreign aid distribution based on a pro-jihad/anti-jihad division. Maybe we could stop playing up to domestic terror supporters and their fellow travelers in order to win votes.

Naaaah -- let's just stop telling people that things aren't going well. That'll fix it. From "Bush administration eliminating 19-year-old international terrorism report," a Knight Ridder report (thanks to Special Guest):

WASHINGTON - The State Department decided to stop publishing an annual report on international terrorism after the government's top terrorism center concluded that there were more terrorist attacks in 2004 than in any year since 1985, the first year the publication covered.

Several U.S. officials defended the abrupt decision, saying the methodology the National Counterterrorism Center used to generate statistics for the report may have been faulty, such as the inclusion of incidents that may not have been terrorism.

Last year, the number of incidents in 2003 was undercounted, forcing a revision of the report, "Patterns of Global Terrorism."

But other current and former officials charged that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's office ordered "Patterns of Global Terrorism" eliminated several weeks ago because the 2004 statistics raised disturbing questions about the Bush's administration's frequent claims of progress in the war against terrorism.

"Instead of dealing with the facts and dealing with them in an intelligent fashion, they try to hide their facts from the American public," charged Larry C. Johnson, a former CIA analyst and State Department terrorism expert who first disclosed the decision to eliminate the report in The Counterterrorism Blog, an online journal.

I've been called a lot of things, but...

This email brings a new one: the writer apparently thinks that I am a Somali Muslim who has "strayed from the true path of ISLAM." Now, how does this person know that I am a Somali? I don't know -- maybe he or she saw my picture here and knew. You can just tell.

I dont want to get in an arguement with u or nothing. But i just want to put my thoughts forward just as much as u r. 1stly...Walaahi it really sickens me when i see a fellow somali who has strayed from the true path of ISLAM.Alhamdulilah i dont come across them often. But when i do i just do my duty and remind them of the truth. Shaydaan is 4eva working his upmost best to keep all of mankind from the str8 path. Dont let him succeed.

This email went on at some length, but since I am neither Somali nor Muslim, I was somewhat at a loss as to how to respond.

Akbar Convicted of Murder in Grenade Attack

Hasan Akbar's jihad has reached its conclusion. From AP, with thanks to Rebecca Bynum:

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — An Army sergeant was convicted Thursday by a military jury of premeditated murder and attempted murder in a grenade and rifle attack that killed two of his comrades and wounded 14 others in Kuwait during the opening days of the Iraq war.

Hasan Akbar, 34, now faces a possible death penalty, which the 15-member jury will consider at a hearing that begins Monday.

Prosecutors say Akbar told investigators he launched the attack because he was concerned U.S. troops would kill fellow Muslims in Iraq. They said he coolly carried out the attack to achieve "maximum carnage" on his comrades in the 101st Airborne Division....

Defense attorney Maj. Dan Brookhart countered that Akbar was concerned the invasion of Iraq would result in the deaths of Muslims and that U.S. soldiers would rape Iraqi women.

He said the prosecution's depiction of Akbar as a cold-blooded killer ignored that the defendant was sufficiently mentally ill — though not insane — to be confused and fearful about the impending invasion of Iraq.

The defense lawyer scoffed at an Army psychiatrist's testimony that Akbar suffered merely from "the blues" — not any serious mental problems.

"It doesn't make any sense. This guy doesn't have the blues," he said. "He is mentally ill."

Although that's the conclusion many people reach concerning jihad motivated killings, that doesn't make it true. He was motivated by the same teachings as the 9/11 hijackers and all the other jihadis worldwide. They can't all be insane.

Brookhart said Akbar's actions after the initial attack showed he wasn't intent on achieving maximum destruction. He said Akbar stopped his attack with a nearly full clip still in his M-4 rifle and three more grenades. He also noted the defendant didn't try to flee during the chaos following the attack....

During Thursday's arguments, relatives of the victims cried when prosecutors showed pictures of the bodies on a large TV screen. When a prosecutor pointed at Akbar, nearly yelling that he was responsible, Akbar sipped from a coffee mug....

Al-Arian Prosecutors Want His Beliefs Kept Out Of Trial

Al-Arian Walk Watch: the prosecution is trying to convince us that his motives don't matter, and that what he believes about jihad and related things doesn't either. Of course, they wouldn't even attempt this were it not for the PC mantras about the Religion of Peace that still dominate the media and government. From the Tampa Tribune, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

However, prosecutors on Thursday filed a series of four motions asking U.S. District Judge James Moody to prohibit the defense from asserting political claims or injecting into the trial issues of war and peace in the Middle East. The motions all sought to bar the defense from proceeding under different legal theories that amounted to possible justifications for the violent actions of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad or explanations for the defendants' motives.

``This trial is not the appropriate forum for conducting a referendum on international law, the legality and morality of the existence and boundaries of Israel, or the plight of ethnic Palestinians,'' prosecutors wrote. ``To open the doors to a debate about the merits of extraneous political and religious issues would only serve to divert the jury's attention from the only relevant issue in the case, which is the defendants' innocence or guilt of the charged offenses.''

The specific charges are providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, racketeering and conspiracy. Prosecutors, through the motions filed Thursday, are apparently trying to limit the defendants to evidence relating to whether they did what was alleged in the indictment.

``Allowing the defendants to present evidence, and argue to the jury, the merits of their beliefs about the conflict would only serve to inflame and politicize the trial, while directly embroiling the court in a complex, intractable and unnecessary political debate,'' the prosecutors wrote.

Among the motions was one asking the judge to bar the defense from arguing that they or the organization were ``lawful combatants'' in the conflict in the Middle East and, therefore, not subject to criminal convictions.

In that motion, the government asserted that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad is not covered by the protections provided by international treaties, such as the Geneva Convention, partly because it is not a recognized government and its members do not abide by international law governing combat.

The prosecution also argued in its motion that Israeli actions don't matter in the trial. ``It is irrelevant to the determination of lawful combatant status whether the actions of the combatants are philosophically, morally or ethically justified or noble.''

In a direct shot at Al-Arian's claims to be a peaceful human rights advocate, prosecutors wrote, ``Persons who covertly support or manage a violent terrorist organization, while masquerading as scholars and civilians or purporting to direct a humanitarian charity, are not entitled to the special protections afforded to lawful combatants under international law.''

Weapons Belonging to Terror Suspect Found

Hooo doggies! Way down yonder on the Chattahoochee, authorities have found a jihadist weapons cache. From Fox News, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

The FBI believes it found weapons belonging to a terror suspect who trained at the same Atlanta flight school as two of the Sept. 11 hijackers and who was recently detained but has since been released, FOX News has learned.

Zayead Christopher Hajaig, a Nigerian-born Briton, was arrested in London on April 8, shortly after the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force issued a worldwide alert for him. Sources at the bureau told FOX News that Hajaig was questioned and released; authorities believe he is still in Britain.

FBI sources told FOX News that a person linked to Hajaig contacted the FBI's Atlanta bureau and turned over a number of weapons said to have been owned by the suspect.

The tipster also told authorities that two other weapons were dumped into the Chattahoochee River at Hajaig's behest. One of the weapons described was recovered in a search of the river by the Cobb County dive team on Tuesday.

It was unknown if the weapons had been used in any crimes or were intended for use in a future plot.

An FBI spokesman would not comment on Hajaig's whereabouts or why he was released by British authorities. An investigation by the bureau and Immigration and Customs Enforcement was ongoing, a press release said.

Hajaig, 35, had aroused suspicions of flight instructors at Gwinnett County Airport, where lead Sept. 11, 2001, hijacker Mohamed Atta and fellow hijacker Marwan al-Shehhi had trained. Hajaig was living in the United States illegally but was still able to obtain a pilot's license from the Federal Aviation Administration in April 2002, authorities said.

Hajaig apparently pushed to have his pilot rating upgraded despite being underqualified. The Joint Terrorism Task Force warning said he became "aggressive and attempted to have the flight school accelerate his training."...

US Invokes Cold-war Tactics to Defy Islam: Report

From IslamOnline, with thanks to Skeetstreet:

CAIRO - Dusting off Cold-War tactics, the US administration has adopted a modified strategy to influence not only Muslim societies but Islam itself, a leading US magazine has reported.

IslamOnline thinks so. I doubt it. Government officials won't even admit that Islam has anything to do with jihad terrorism -- why would they try to influence it?

From military psychological-operations teams and CIA covert operatives to openly funded media and think tanks, Washington is spending tens of millions of dollars to get the job done properly via the White House's Muslim World Outreach strategy, the US News & World Report said in its 25 April edition.

The "Hearts, Minds, and Dollars" report said the US government has embarked on a campaign of political warfare unmatched since the height of the Cold War.

Realizing that it poorly reached out to the Muslim world through drawing up tens of plans and hundreds of ideas to win Muslim hearts and minds, the US administration is eyeing now third parties in the Muslim world, who share values like democracy, women's rights, and tolerance.

"You provide money and help create the political space for moderate Muslims to organize, publish, broadcast, and translate their work," Zeyno Baran, a terrorism analyst at the Nixon Center, who advised on the US strategy, told the weekly.

Although US officials say they are wary of being drawn into a theological battle, the magazine said, many have concluded that America can no longer sit on the sidelines as radicals and moderates fight over the future of a religion with over a billion followers.

America may not be able to sit idly by, but this is overstated in any case. Radicals and moderates fight over the future of the religion? Look: Free Muslims Against Terrorism is holding a March Against Terror soon. But how many Islamic groups have endorsed it? Only a handful: most of the endorsing groups are non-Muslim or at least have non-Muslim leadership. That speaks volumes about the strength of moderates in this alleged fight over Islam's future. The texts are not on their side, the imams are not on their side, and the Saudi billions are not on their side. Some fight.

Who is Moderate?

The strategy, however, failed to cite names of figures it considers as "moderates," whether they are liberal- or -conservative-minded figures.

A key, but unsurprising, omission.

But it was crystal clear in naming certain Muslim schools it wanted to uproot like Saudi Wahhabism.

It said that the Saudis are estimated to have spent up to $75 billion since 1975 to expand "their fundamentalist sect, Wahhabism, worldwide."

"The kingdom has funded hundreds of mosques, schools, and Islamic centers abroad," it said.

The strategy, meanwhile, recommends making peace with Muslim groups that eschew violence and are at odds with Al-Qaeda, like the Muslim Brotherhood.

Unbelievable. Where did the besotted, benighted, befogged careerists at State get the idea that the Muslim Brotherhood, the forefather of Hamas and Al-Qaeda, is a cuddly civic-minded Rotary Club?

"I can guarantee that if you go to some of the unlikely points of contact in the Islamic world, you will find greater reception than you thought," Milt Bearden, whose 30-year CIA career included long service in Muslim societies, told the US magazine.

"The Muslim Brotherhood is probably more a part of the solution than it is a part of the problem."

Thirty years at the CIA and long service in Muslim societies, and it doesn't look as if he picked up even the most basic principles about Islam and the Ikhwan -- the Muslim Brotherhood. Milt, I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but you might want to take a look at the pages of Jihad Watch sometime. Or maybe you might want to read a little overview of the history and goals of the Brotherhood in Onward Muslim Soldiers.

The weekly further revealed that US intelligence officers have been meeting not only with Muslim Brotherhood members, but also leaders of other likeminded groups.

Cold-war Style

As it did during the Cold War, the US administration has fielded a worldwide network of propagandists, publicists, and payoff artists.

It is convinced that using music, comics, poetry, and the Internet is the best way to get across America's views to the Arab world.

The administration kicked off major new initiatives in foreign broadcasting--Radio Sawa, a pop music-news station in 2002, and Alhurra, a satellite-TV news network in 2004, both aimed at Arab audiences.

The US weekly cited reports that US officials have peddled fake video news reports and paid columnists to boost policies "here at home".

The aim is to break off moderate Muslims from radicals as it did during the Cold War when it pitted moderate socialists against hard-core Communists.

"That's how we're thinking. It's something we talk about all the time," Peter Rodman, the Pentagon's assistant secretary of defense for
international security affairs, told the weekly.

"In those days, it was covert. Now, it's more open."

An administration official admitted that the current ideological war was more difficult than the Cold War.

You can say that again.

"The Cold War was easy. It was a struggle against a godless political ideology. But this has theological elements," he said.

"It goes to the core of American belief that we don't mess with freedom of religion. Do we have any authority to influence this debate?" he asked.

Yes: terrorists are and have been operating under the cloak of freedom of religion. Islam must be acknowledged as having a political element so that they will no longer be able to recruit terrorists in mosques.

"You do it quietly," answered Zeyno Baran.

Politicized Aid

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) features high on the strategy.

Records reveal that several projects were funded by the US aid in as many as 24 Muslim countries like Egypt, Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Also being funded: media of all sorts, from book translations to radio and TV in at least a half-dozen nations.

Great. If you guys want to fund the translation of Islam Unveiled into Arabic, I have a translator ready to go. Contact me at director@jihadwatch.org.

That is, if you can spare some of the funds left over after paying for the Arabic version of Sesame Street:

An Arabic version of Sesame Street has become one of the most popular shows on Egyptian TV, and along with lessons on literacy and hygiene, the program stresses values of religious tolerance.

In Bangladesh, USAID is training mosque leaders on development issues.

In Madagascar, the embassy even sponsored an inter-mosque sports tournament.

Well! That will stop the jihadists in their Nike-shod tracks!

In no country is the effort more pronounced than Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation.

Working behind the scenes, USAID now helps fund over 30 Muslim organizations in the country, the weekly said.

Among the programs: media production, workshops for Islamic preachers, and curriculum reform for schools from rural academies to Islamic universities.

Chaotic, Not Working

Despite the surge of activity, Washington's efforts to win hearts and minds remain chaotic and anti-Americanism now reaches across every strata of the Muslim world, the weekly said....

It isn't working because they refuse to recognize and address properly the source of the problem.

The Washington Post said Monday, April 18, that one of the main reasons that led to the "chaos" was that the US government has not tapped into its own Muslim minority as part of the global outreach.

According to the paper, Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the United States and is expected to become the second-largest religious bloc in the country in the next few years.

Despite this, the administration has put only two US Muslims in top jobs...

We have already seen the results of the unseemly rush in Washington to find and play ball with moderate Muslims: two of the biggest players, Al-Arian and Alamoudi, sit in prison at this moment. Are we going to do it again, or make sure that they're dealing with people who are trustworthy? But they can't do that, of course, without asking them tough questions about Islam and jihad.

"Allah be praised, every passing day the peoples' hatred festers"

From MEMRI TV, some excerpts from Anti-American Sermons in Iran:

The TV channel of the district of Kerman aired this sermon on April 17, 2005:

Hojjat Al-Eslam Yahya Ja'fari: As you know, the biggest problem of the Islamic world today is global Zionism and the Great Satan - America.

They are our enemies, especially the enemies of the Islamic Republic of Iran. They do not understand [the language of] reason, they do not follow international law, nor do they follow moral and humane laws. They have no religion and they do not accept God. They are a bunch of profane people, but seemingly, some are called Christians and some are called Jews. If the prophet Jesus were among us, would he justify the criminal measures America takes today in the name of promoting democracy and freedom? Would he justify these criminal measures?

Allah be praised, every passing day the peoples' hatred festers, especially among the youth in Islamic countries. This hatred of the Great Satan and global Zionism constantly intensifies.

Our senior officials, our delegation to the negotiations [with the EU], our president, and everybody else should know - the Europeans, Americans, and Israelis do not understand and will not accept any language but the language of force.

The following are excerpts from a Friday Sermon at Tehran University by former Iranian President and the head of the Iranian Expediency Council, Hashemi Rafsanjani. Channel 1 of the Iranian TV aired this sermon on April 8, 2005.

Rafsanjani: The teachings of Jesus do not exist in the Christian world today. They cannot serve as popes and spread the teachings of Jesus, and at the same time disregard the crimes that America commits all over the world. It's true that they opposed the war in Iraq, but America's crimes aren't limited to that. What America does all over the world in the name of the war on terrorism, the way in which it plunders the resources of peoples in needy and backwards countries, its aggression in international organizations, which belong to all of the world's peoples, and the inflammatory propaganda it uses in order to undermine other countries - all of these certainly contradict the spirit of the teachings of Jesus. Jesus compared the money-grubbing oppressors of his time to man-eating vipers and confronted them, so how can the Pope's functionaries remain indifferent when they see the oppression committed by the international arrogance? Therefore, a heavy responsibility lies on their shoulders. They should raise a great outcry against America. They should say to the Americans: Through the crimes you commit you disgrace Jesus, because you use the names of Jesus and the church to win over many votes in the American public. Crowd: Death to America

Death to America

Death to America

Death to America

Death to America

Report: Zarqawi a nuke threat

More from our Department of Homeland Insecurity, via WND, with thanks to Mediawatch:

The chief al-Qaida terrorist in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has acquired or is preparing a "dirty bomb" for an attack, according to U.S. officials citing recurrent intelligence reports.

For several months, intelligence agencies have been receiving the classified reports, which indicate Zarqawi has been storing the radiological explosive in Afghanistan, the Washington Times reported.

The officials say, however, analysts are unable to gauge the reliability of the information's sources. The Times reported the intelligence is being questioned because analysts believe al-Qaida would already have used a nuclear device if it had one.

Last month, a German intelligence official said Zarqawi was believed to be planning a chemical-weapons attack on the European continent.

"We in Europe have been afraid that a big bang is coming sometime and that Zarqawi is planning it," an official at Germany's BND federal intelligence service told the April edition of the political monthly Cicero.

A summary of the report by Agence France-Presse indicated the Jordanian terrorist has been seeking arms components in Russia's volatile north Caucasus region and in Georgia, but it was unclear if he had been successful....

Jihad incitement in Kyrgyzstan

News from Kyrgyzstan in "A New Wave of Migration?" from TOL, with thanks to Effractor:

OSH, Kyrgyzstan - As Kyrgyzstan's new leaders try to maintain stability ahead of presidential elections, concern is growing over rising numbers of non-Kyrgyz seeking to leave the country.

Russia's ambassador in Bishkek, Evgeny Shmagin, said that the number of Russian-speakers who want to leave their birthplace has jumped fivefold since the unrest of late March that led to the ouster of former president Askar Akaev and his regime.

Shmagin pinned some of the blame on nationalistic, anti-Russian flyers that have begun appearing on the streets of the capital, Bishkek....

The leaflets call for a jihad - or holy war - against Russians living in Kyrgyzstan. "Muslim brothers, do not buy apartments and houses from Russians and Koreans because in any case they will give them away," the flyers said, implying that they will soon leave the country in any case....

UK: Jihadist mob threatens Galloway with gallows

See also here; it's hard to tell if this was the same incident or not. In any case, it was Omar Bakri's crowd, threatening Muslims who dared vote rather than work to institute Sharia in Britain. And you remember George Galloway. He's the British pol who made news before the Iraq war coming under suspicion for taking bribes from Sadaam in return for his anti-war stance. "Islamist 'mob' threatens Galloway with gallows," from the TimesOnline, with thanks to all who sent this in:

A mob of young Islamist extremists allegedly threatened to hang anti-war campaigner George Galloway last night as as the country's most bitter election battle spilled into violence on the streets of the East End.

The Respect candidate, who is fighting Labour's Oona King for the Bethnal Green and Bow seat in East London, was meeting locals in a tenant association's room last night with his daughter, Lucy, when a 40-strong group of militants burst in, his spokesman said today.

Locking the door behind them, the mob allegedly held Mr Galloway and his daughter captive for a few minutes and made threats.

"They said he was a false prophet and that was punishable by death," spokesman Ron McKay told Times Online. "They said for him that would be the gallows - that was presumably a play on his name."

Mr Galloway was only rescued by the arrival of two police constables, who escorted him outside to the car of his son-in-law Jay, who had called the police when he saw the gang arrive at the building on Globe Road in Bethnal Green.

Last night's incident was the second of the day involving young Islamic radicals out to disrupt the general election campaign. Earlier, a mob of protesters believed to be followers of the radical cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed stormed into the Regent's Park mosque in central London and disrupted a press conference by the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB).

Chanting slogans in English and Arabic, they stood on chairs and shouted insults at Iqbal Sacranie, the secretary-general of the MCB, accusing him of apostasy in urging people to vote. They then handed out leaflets which read: "Voting for any political party ... will guarantee your seat in hellfire forever."

The leaflets carried photographs of Tony Blair, Michael Howard, Charles Kennedy and George Galloway, describing them all as "shayateen (devils), crooks, criminals and false gods". An internet address was provided for the Saviour Sect, but an announcement was later posted on the website denying any involvment in the incident.

Police were called to the fracas at the Regents Park mosque, during which one protester seemed to throw a punch at Mr Sacranie. A 25-year-old man was arrested.

Mr McKay said that he believed the same group, the now disbanded El Muhajiroun, was responsible for both incidents.

"We believe it was the same group, the same people that actually carried it out," he said. "It was clearly a concerted plan to cause as much disruption and get as much publicity as possible.... It was the language of El Muhajiroun, the language of bigotry."...

Mr Bakri Mohammed, a Syrian-born hardliner, has been touring the country promoting the message that voting is un-Islamic and sinful, attracting hundreds of Muslim youths still angry at the invasion of Iraq and anti-terror laws which are perceived as anti-Muslim.

Saudis in Talks on Nuke Loophole Agreement

More ominous activity from our friends and allies. From AP, with thanks to Twostellas:

VIENNA, Austria -- Saudi Arabia has quietly begun talks on a U.N.-sanctioned agreement that could curtail any outside probe of its atomic intentions -- a move that heightens concerns in a region already edgy about rival Iran's nuclear program.

The Saudis deny any plans to develop nuclear weapons, and diplomats close to the International Atomic Energy Agency told The Associated Press that the U.N. nuclear monitor has no firm evidence that would cast doubt on the Saudi assertions. Phone calls to the Saudi representative to the IAEA or the government in Riyadh for comment were not returned.

But the diplomats say that past Saudi nuclear interest is heightening worries, as is the timing of the efforts to sign on to the IAEA's small quantities protocol that would exempt the country from most of the agency's control authority.

Born of more trusting days, the agreement has been joined by dozens of countries, most of which have never experimented with nuclear weapons. But the protocol is now viewed with suspicion within the agency, after revelations of other loopholes that have allowed prewar Iraq, Iran, Libya and other countries to work secretly on known or suspected nuclear weapons programs.

The protocol frees countries from reporting the possession of up to 10 tons of natural uranium -- or up to 20 tons of depleted uranium, depending on the degree of enrichment -- and 2.2 pounds of plutonium. It also allows them to keep silent about work on nuclear facilities secret until six months before they are ready for operation. And once a protocol is signed, the country's word is normally not questioned....

Canadian Hosted Hamas Internet Site Advocates Killing Israeli Prime Minister

Misunderstanders of Islam target Sharon -- from Canada. From American Daily, with thanks to Kemaste:

The terrorist group Hamas is displaying graphics on its web site that openly praise martyrdom and advocate the killing of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

The Hamas site is hosted by the Canadian-based hosting company UB Hosting (www.ubhosting.net).

Asked about the Hamas site, UB Hosting's Hussain Baig said in a telephone interview that while he is a Muslim he is not a supporter of terrorism or the Hamas, and he was unaware that his company was hosting the site.

"I provide web site hosting and I run a business," Baig said. They are one of my customers (but) I didn't know what kind of site they were hosting. (For example). Back in November last year I sold a server to a guy, and he had 40 phishing sites. Because of him the FBI shut down all my servers (and) I moved to Canada. I guess these guys are targeting (small people like me).

Baig said he would remove the Hamas site, but at the time of writing it was still on line....

Taliban Return to Afghanistan's Air Waves

Just when you thought the world was safe for democracy, the Misunderstanders of Islam are back on the air in Afghanistan. From Reuters, with thanks to Teri:

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Afghanistan's Taliban guerrillas launched a clandestine radio station on Monday, broadcasting anti-government commentaries and Islamic hymns from a mobile transmitter.

Called "Shariat Shagh," or Voice of Shariat, after the station the Taliban ran while in power, the broadcast can be heard in five southern provinces, including the former regime's old power base of Kandahar.

"We launched the broadcast today through a mobile facility," said Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi.

"It goes on the air between six and seven o'clock in the mornings and same time in the evenings," he said by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Hakimi said the Taliban, fighting an insurgency in the south and east of the country since they were driven from power in late 2001, needed their own voice because the world's media were pro-American.

Many Afghans listen to the BBC and Voice of America which broadcast in the country's two main languages, Pashto and Dari. In addition to government-run radio, numerous small, private stations have sprung up, many funded by aid donors.

As well as Islamic hymns and anti-government commentaries, the Taliban station also criticized U.S. and other foreign troops operating in Afghanistan since the Taliban were ousted.

Asked what the Taliban would do if U.S. forces detected and destroyed their transmitter, Hakimi said they would set up another...

Of course. As far as they're concerned this is a war that has been going on for 1,400 years. They're not going to give up easily. This is clear from even the most cursory understanding of the motives and goals -- although the learned analysts discount the importance of knowing anything about all that.

Pakistan's pro-jihad is threatening its very existence

"Pak's jihadi policy threatening its own existence: ICG," From India's 123bharath, with thanks to Skeetstreet:

[World News] Washington, A recent report published by the International Crisis Group (ICG) has said that the Pakistan government's policy of supporting the country's religious and fundamentalist sections of the country to counter the civilian opposition has reached such an alarming proportion that the religious extremism has started to threaten the very foundations of its existence.

The Daily Times quoted the ICG report as saying that the co-option and patronage of religious parties by successive military governments has led to the country's Islamisation and the subsequent marginalization of the country 's democratic, with the result that jihadi groups and madarsaas have started flourishing like never before.

"Instead of empowering liberal, democratic voices, the government has co-opted the religious right and continues to rely on it to counter civilian opposition. By depriving democratic forces of an even playing field and continuing to ignore the need for state policies that would encourage and indeed reflect the country's religious diversity, the government has allowed religious extremist organisations and jihadi groups, and madrasas that provide them an endless stream of recruits, to flourish," the paper quoted the report as saying.

The report states that the Constitutional provisions to Islamise laws, education and culture and the official dissemination of a particular brand of Islamic ideology not only militate against Pakistan's religious diversity, but also breed discrimination against the country's non-Muslim minorities.

It states that allowing Islam to be used as a political tool not only promotes an aggressive competition for official patronage between the various Shia, Sunni factions, but also leads to a scenario with the clergy of the major sects and the sub-sects fighting among themselves to build up their political parties, raise jihadi militias, expand madrasa networks across the country.

The report states that the Musharraf administration has also like all other military governments weakened the country's secular and democratic forces. It says that the crackdown against jihadi organizations in Pakistan has failed to dismantle the terror infrastructure and all banned extremist groups persist with new labels, adding that not only is jihadi media flourishing, but leading figures of extremist Sunni organisations are freely preaching jihad...

Link found between Pearl's killers, Muslim charity

Misunderstanders of Islam operate Muslim charity in Pakistan, murder Daniel Pearl. From Pakistan's Daily Times, with thanks to Concerned Citizen:

KARACHI: Pakistani investigators have found a definite and irrevocable link between a Muslim charity and one of the four suspects believed to be involved in the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in February 2002.

A 'Trust Deed', retrieved from at least two banks where Al-Akhtar Trust International outlawed by the American Treasury Department in 2003 for having links with Taliban and Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network has it accounts, shows that Saud Memon is one of the eleven trustees of the trust, highly placed sources told Daily Times on Monday.

The sources said the name of Saud Memon, who owns the shed where Pearl's remains were found, appeared at number nine (9) on the list of the 11-member Board of Trustees. Saud Memon, an industrialist, had been named by several arrested members of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen Al-Almi as their chief financial backer....

Several police officers, who have been involved in the investigations into the murder of Daniel Pearl, believed that Saud Memon was the man who had driven three Arabs to his estate in North Karachi, where Pearl had been held till the day of his slaying....

According to the CID Red Book updated in December 2004, Saud Memon was responsible for receiving funds from Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network and distributing them among almost all jihadi outfits operating in Pakistan....

U.S. fears terrorist base in Bangladesh

More jihad news from Bangladesh from The Hindu, with thanks to Fanabba:

DHAKA: The Pacific Commander of the U.S. Army, Admiral William J. Fallon, has expressed the fear that some international terrorist groups might have gained a toe-hold in Bangladesh, taking advantage of the situation on the ground.

He offered U.S. assistance to the Bangladesh Government to deal with the challenge "so that these outfits do not have a foothold and use the environment to spread their ideas".

Gosh, we hate to break this to you, Admiral, sir, but those "ideas" come right along with Islam. All Muslim Bangladeshis are plenty familiar with them already.

Admiral Fallon, who took charge of the Pacific Command six weeks ago, made the remarks to mediapersons after nearly an hour-long meeting with the Foreign Minister, M. Morshed Khan, at his office. Asked about any evidence that the U.S. may have to justify his apprehension, he pointed to the several arms recoveries recently in Bangladesh. He said the arms were probably meant for some radical groups. "Well, there have been several seizures of arms. There were some arms shipments. They were not going to the military; they were not going to any group that is up to do good."...

U.S. Frees 17 Afghans, 1 Turk from Guantanamo Jail

From Reuters, with thanks to Mediawatch:

WASHINGTON - The United States has sent home 17 Guantanamo prisoners to Afghanistan and another to Turkey, and some of the Afghans said upon arrival in Kabul on Tuesday they had been mistreated by their American jailers.

"They used extreme type of tyranny against us," said Abdul Rahman, who appeared to be in his mid-30s and was among three men allowed to speak to reporters after being handed over to Afghan
authorities.

Alas, the poor wretched fellow! Extreme tyranny, no less! I wonder what that means? Were they restricted from attacking the guards? Maybe they were oppressed by having to eat three times a day and pray five? Maybe they suffered the extreme tyranny of being given a Qur'an to read but not being able to fight jihad? What could have been more frustrating?

Some said they had been in detention since the 2001 fall of Afghanistan's former Taliban rulers in a U.S.-led invasion.

The 18 who were released in the largest single exodus from the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since last September were among 38 detainees who the Pentagon had decided no longer were considered enemy combatants.

Maj. Michael Shavers, a Pentagon spokesman, said another 15 detainees who also no longer were classified as enemy combatants remained at Guantanamo awaiting transfer to their home countries. Five others previously were released.

The United States still holds approximately 520 prisoners at Guantanamo after freeing 167 to their home countries and sending 65 more to their home governments for continued detention, the Pentagon said. Many detainees have been held for more than three years.

Human rights activists have accused the United States of condemning Guantanamo prisoners to indefinite detention in a "legal black hole," and note that some former detainees have said they were tortured by U.S. personnel at the base...

Torture allegations, of course, are right out of the Al-Qaeda playbook.

Suspected Muslim grenade attack in Kashmir kills two, injures 17

Kashmir jihad attack. Note that the people killed were in a market. Remember this one the next time the talking heads start telling you that Islam forbids killing innocents. In certain places, there are no innocents. From AFP, with thanks to Twostellas:

SRINAGAR, India - Suspected Muslim rebels in Indian Kashmir killed two civilians and injured 17 in a grenade attack in a busy market, police said.

The attack took place in Sopore, 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Srinagar, summer capital of Indian Kashmir where a deadly revolt against New Delhi's rule has raged for 15 years, claiming tens of thousands of lives....

The attack came two days after Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf ended a visit to India during which the nuclear-armed neighbours pledged to reach a "final settlement" on Kashmir over which they have fought two of three wars.

The attack also came a day ahead of the second run of a historic bus service linking the Indian and Pakistani zones of the region that is claimed in full by both South Asian countries...

UK Ricin plot informant faces trial in Algeria

What made him give this information? Unfortunately, the story doesn't say. "Ricin plot informant faces trial in Algeria," from Reuters, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

ALGIERS - A suspected al Qaeda agent who divulged a plot to attack Britain is due to go on trial on terror-related charges in Algeria on Wednesday, officials said.

Mohamed Meguerba, 37, was arrested in Algeria in December 2002 after jumping bail in Britain, where he had given police information in the biggest British terrorism case since the September 11 attacks in the United States.

Information he gave interrogators led to the arrests of 100 people in an anti-terrorism sweep in Britain. One of them, Kamel Bourgass, was convicted last week of a plot to launch chemical and bomb attacks.

Meguerba faces accusations of being a member of a terrorist organisation operating abroad and of one active in Algeria. He also faces charges of using fake documents and other more minor crimes....

Fearing extradition, Meguerba told Algerian authorities that plotters in Britain were keeping deadly ricin poison in a skin-cream jar and planned to smear it on door handles. British police did not find the poison but found recipes to make it.

"After his arrest, he eventually gave information about a terrorist plot in England, in which he admitted playing a part," said prosecutor Nigel Sweeney in Britain....

Book calls Norwegians 'Satan's sons'

Another one for our overworked Shocked! Shocked! Department: the mask slips in Norway. From Aftenposten, with thanks to the Norwegian Kafir:

A book that's quietly being distributed within Norway's Muslim community refers to Norwegians as the sons of Satan. The book, written by an anonymous author, has been turned over to police by Oslo's Anti-Racism Center.

In addition to associating Norwegians with the devil, the book lashes out at Norwegian ethics and morality. The author, believed to be a mullah or other Muslim religious leader living in Oslo, claims that Norwegians don't have legitimate children. "They're conceived here and there," claims the author.

But although the condemnation of Western immorality and association of unbelievers with the devil (cf. Qur'an 58:19-20, which says that "those who oppose Allah and His Messenger" are "the Party of the Evil One") are common among Muslim preachers, Muslim spokesmen in Norway are shocked, shocked!:

Several local politicians who themselves are Muslims say they're appalled by the book. "I can't accept that this author pretends he's speaking on behalf of all Muslims or Pakistanis," Kamil Azhar of the Labour Party told newspaper VG on Tuesday. "The book's content is ridiculous and far from reality."

Azhar joined other Muslim politicians and the Anti-Racism Center's efforts to get the book labelled as illegal, on the grounds it violates Norwegian law against racist expression.

A Norwegian lawyer who specializes in free speech issues said the book, called "Satan's son," appears to teeter on the edge of legality. Turning it in to the police, however, isn't a good idea, says lawyer Kyrre Eggen.

"I believe Muslims have the same right to freedom of expression as Norwegians do in relation to Muslims," Eggen said. "The best response is open debate, not to go to the police."

The book, written in Urdu, was published by a group called the All Pakistan Muslim Society. The group isn't registered in Norway.

The author calls Norwegians "barbarians" and "poisonous snakes" who have poisoned humanity. "These white men have set off a devilish spiral in the whole world... to plague people," according to the book...

ACLU, CAIR decry anti-terror efforts

"Islamic group slams feds for detaining Muslims returning from Canada," from WND, with thanks to EPG:

The American Civil Liberties Union and Council on American-Islamic Relations are teaming up today to decry what they see as a federal screening process that discriminates against Muslim Americans.

The two groups, along with the New York Civil Liberties Union, plan simultaneous news conferences today "to announce action against the Department of Homeland Security over the practice of targeting American citizens participating in religious conferences outside the United States," said a statement.

According to the release, in December, dozens of American Muslim citizens were detained, interrogated, fingerprinted and photographed at the Buffalo-Canadian border as they returned home from an annual Islamic conference in Toronto.

CAIR members have been linked with terror and the funding of terrorism on several occasions. As WorldNetDaily reported, a founder of the Texas chapter of the group was found guilty last week of supporting terrorism.

Those facts and many more reported here from time to time about CAIR suggest what may really be behind CAIR's opposition to anti-terror procedures of this kind.

Spencer on Europe and Pope Benedict XVI

The good folks at FrontPage gave this one the title "Pope Benedict XVI: Enemy of Jihad." I think that might be a trifle strong. Then again, I hope it isn't.

In choosing Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger to succeed Pope John Paul II as Pope Benedict XVI, the Catholic Church has cast a vote for the survival of Europe and the West. “Europe will be Islamic by the end of the century,” historian Bernard Lewis predicted not long ago; however, judging from the writings of the new Pope, he is not likely to be sanguine about this transition. For one thing, the new Pope seems to be aware of the grave danger Europeans face: he has called upon Europe to recover its Christian roots “if it truly wants to survive.”

For while his predecessor kissed the Qur’an and pursued a consistent line of conciliation toward the Islamic world, despite numerous provocations and attacks against Catholics in Muslim countries, the new Pope Benedict XVI, while no less charitable, has been a bit more forthcoming about the reality of how Islam challenges the Catholic Church, Christianity, and even the post-Christian West. He has spoken up for the rights of converts from Islam to Christianity, who live under a death sentence in Islamic countries and increasingly live in fear even in the West. He has even spoken approvingly of Christians proselytizing Muslims — a practice that enrages Muslims and is against the law in many Islamic countries.

The new Pope has criticized Europe’s reluctance to acknowledge its Christian roots for fear of offending Islam’s rapidly growing and increasingly influential presence in European countries — a presence which, as historian Bat Ye’or demonstrates in her book Eurabia, has been actively encouraged and facilitated by European leaders for over three decades. “What offends Islam,” said Cardinal Ratzinger, “is the lack of reference to God, the arrogance of reason, which provokes fundamentalism.” He has criticized multiculturalism, “which is so constantly and passionately encouraged and supported,” because it “sometimes amounts to an abandonment and disavowal of what is our own.”

He contrasts the modern-day resurgence of Islam with the enervation of Europe. In old Europe, he has said, “we are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as definitive and has as its highest value one’s own ego and one's own desires.” Islam, on the other hand, is anything but relativistic: “The rebirth of Islam is due in part to the new material richness acquired by Muslim countries, but mainly to the knowledge that it is able to offer a valid spiritual foundation for the life of its people, a foundation that seems to have escaped from the hands of old Europe.”

In line with his call to Europeans to recover their own spiritual heritage, the new Pope opposes Turkey’s proposed entrance into the European Union: “Turkey,” he has declared, “has always represented a different continent, always in contrast with Europe.” But his objection is not simply geographical — in fact, he opposes the geographical oversimplifications that underlie Turkey’s EU bid: “Europe,” he has explained, “was founded not on a geography, but on a common faith. We have to redefine what Europe is, and we cannot stop at positivism.” A Europe newly defined as in some sense a Christian entity may outrage secularists, but a secular and relativist Europe has so far proved powerless against the Islamization of Europe — despite the fact that that Islamization threatens cherished Western notions of the equality of rights and dignity of all people.

Europe, the new Pope has written, “appears to be at the start of its decline and fall.” It may be too late, as Bat Ye’or believes, to arrest that decline and fall. However, the first thing a physician does when he treats a disease is identify the problem. No healing can proceed from a misdiagnosis. It is heartening to see that Pope Benedict XVI has already, in various speeches and writings before his accession to the papacy, dared to speak more clearly about the threat that Islam poses to Western civilization than his predecessor — for all his many and remarkable gifts — ever quite managed to do.

Late in 2003 the semi-official Jesuit magazine La Civiltà Cattolica departed from John Paul II’s policy toward Islam and published a scathing criticism of the mistreatment that Christians suffer in Islamic societies. It represented the first indication that any Catholic officials recognized the dimensions of the religious conflict that jihadists are waging against Christians and others around the world. La Civiltà Cattolica pointed out that “for almost a thousand years Europe was under constant threat from Islam, which twice put its survival in serious danger.” Now, through jihad terrorism and demographics Islam is threatening Europe’s survival yet again — and it looks as if now there is a Pope who has noticed. Maybe in Europe the resistance is just beginning.

Sina: Is Political Islam Fascism?

Our good friend Ali Sina of Faith Freedom has sent us this article about political Islam. It is a thought-provoking analysis from someone who was born into Islam, raised in an Islamic society, and now, as an ex-Muslim, works to enlighten both questioning Muslims and interested non-Muslims as to the nature of Islam.

Also, there is an ongoing gnat infestation in my email box: a steady stream of messages from people either insulting Ali Sina and demanding I denounce him, or insulting me and saying that Ali ought to denounce me. Ali pointed out in an earlier article that divide and conquer is a tactic of war preached by the Prophet Muhammad. As a continuing indication to the senders of those messages that their campaign is not working, I am happy to put this up.

Islam is a religion with a very political agenda. The ultimate goal of Islam is to rule the world. But what kind of government an Islamic state would have?

It certainly won’t be democratic. Islam is not compatible with democracy. Amir Taheri, an Iranian born author/journalist in a debate on Islam and democracy argued that in fact the word democracy does not exist in any of the languages spoken by Muslims. “To understand a civilization,” Taheri said, “it is important to understand its vocabulary. If it was not on their tongues it is likely that it was not on their minds either.”

Democracy implies equality. But equality is unacceptable in Islam. Un-believers cannot be equal to believers and women are not equal to men. Even the non-Muslims are not deemed to be equal. The People of the Book (Jews and Christians) are accepted as second class citizens and allowed to live in an Islamic state provided they pay the protection tax; Jizyah. But the pagans, atheists and idolaters are not regarded as fully humans. According to the Quran, the idolaters are to be killed wherever they are found. (9:5)

In the April 9, 2002 issue, The Wall Street Journal published the concept of blood money in Saudi Arabia. If a person has been killed or caused to die by another, the latter has to pay blood money or compensation, as follow.

100,000 riyals if the victim is a Muslim man
50,000 riyals if a Muslim woman
50,000 riyals if a Christian man
25,000 riyals if a Christian woman
6,666 riyals if a Hindu man
3,333 riyals if a Hindu woman

According to this hierarchy, a Muslim man's life is worth 33 times that of a Hindu woman. This hierarchy is based on the Islamic definition of human rights and is rooted in the Quran and Sharia (Islamic law). How can we talk of democracy when the concept of equality in Islam is inexistent?

Of course killing the idolaters "where ye find them" was not always expedient. What would the Muslim rulers in India gain if they killed all the Hindus? Over whom would they rule? So pragmatism often prevailed and the Muslim rulers would exert some degree of tolerance towards their pagan subjects. Furthermore, it is hard to find a Muslim ruler as ruthless as Muhammad himself. Muslim rulers killed whenever profit dictated and since live subjects were more profitable than dead ones, the extermination was not total as was intended by Muhammad. Nonetheless this tolerance was out of political expediency and not a right of the pagan. Muhammad's butchery of his victims on the other hand, was psychopathological. He would massacre entire populations simply because they rejected him or hurt his humongous narcissistic ego.

The Christians and the Jews, the so called People of the Book, had some conditional rights. They had to pay Jizyah and buy their protection. Nonetheless they lived in a state of religious apartheid and were subject to humiliating treatments. For example, they were considered najis (impure) and were not allowed to go out on rainy days, lest their impurity may rub to a passing Muslim, make him “impure” and annul his prayer. The Jews and Christians were required to dismount from their donkey or horse if they met a Muslim in their way and they were supposed to greet the Muslim humbly and show submissiveness towards him. The Dhimmis were not allowed to build their houses taller than those of their Muslim neighbors and in some cases they were not allowed to build new churches and synagogues and needed permission to repair the existing ones.

Taheri said: “To say that Islam is incompatible with democracy should not be seen as a disparagement of Islam. On the contrary, many Muslims would see it as a compliment because they sincerely believe that their idea of rule by God is superior to that of rule by men which is democracy.”

One Islamic site explains: “In Western democracy, the people are sovereign; in Islam sovereignty is vested in Allah and the people are His caliphs or representatives. The laws given by Allah through His Prophet (Shari ‘ah) are to be regarded as constitutional principles that should not be violated.”

Taheri quoted several Muslim thinkers who expressed their disdain and disapproval of democracy.

“Ayatollah Khomeini called democracy "a form of prostitution" because he who gets the most votes wins the power that belongs only to Allah.
Sayyed Qutb, the Egyptian who is credited to be the ideological mentor of Safalists, spent a year in the United States in the 1950s and wrote: " America is a nation that has forgotten God and been forsaken by Him; an arrogant nation that wants to rule itself."
Yussuf al-Ayyeri, one of the leading theoreticians of today's Islamist movement, published a book ( available on the Internet) in which he warned that the real danger to Islam did not come from American tanks and helicopter gunships in Iraq but from the idea of democracy and rule by the people.

Maudoodi, another of the Islamist theoreticians now fashionable, dreamed of a political system in which human beings would act as automatons in accordance with rules set by God.
He said that God has arranged man's biological functions in such a way that their operation is beyond human control. For our non-biological functions, notably our politics, God has set rules that we have to discover and apply once and for all so that our societies can be on auto-pilot so to speak.

The late Saudi theologian, Sheikh Muhammad bin Ibrahim al-Jubair, a man I respected though seldom agreed with, sincerely believed that the root cause of all of our contemporary ills was the spread of democracy. “Only one ambition is worthy of Islam,” he liked to say, “the ambition to save the world from the curse of democracy: to teach men that they cannot rule themselves on the basis of manmade laws. Mankind has strayed from the path of God, we must return to that path or face certain annihilation.””

So what kind of government Islam is proposing?

Democracy means the rule of people. This is unacceptable in Islam. The Quran is empathic that “to Allah belong all Dominion and power” (2.165, 35:10, 35:13, 64:1). The words “No judgment but God’s” (la hukm illa li-llah) is based on several Quranic verses (esp. 6.57; 12.40, 67 etc.) This power is vested on His regent known as Khalifat al-Allah.

The Khalifa cannot legislate. He can only interpret the Law given in the Quran and the sunnah and apply it. Naturally, since the Quran is not a clear book, this allows for a wide range of interpretations and this explains why there are so many Islamic schools of thoughts and sects. “But the bottom line is” says Taheri, “that no Islamic government can be democratic in the sense of allowing the common people equal shares in legislation.”

Common people are called awwam, and as the saying goes: al-awwam kal anaam! (People are like animals).

It is up to the “experts” of the Law to interpret the Sharia and let the awwam know how they should live their lives. This endows the “expert” ruler, all the power and allows him to act as the deputy of God on Earth. There can be no opposition to the ruler. You can’t oppose God by opposing his representative.

In democracies people’s beliefs are irrelevant. They can belong to any religion or no religion and still manage to govern themselves in a secular state. This is not the case in monotheistic societies where God is the lawgiver. Christians and Jews have managed to separate the Church from the State. This evolution in Islam is not possible. The concept of Church (with capital C) as understood in Christianity does not exist in Islam. There is no authority like the Vatican or the Church of England in Islam. The Mullahs and Imams are average Muslims who through their knowledge of the Quran and Sharia gain reputation among the ummah and their own peers. You can't separate the Islamic "Church" from politics, because there is no such thing as the Islamic "Church". Every Mullah can interpret the Sharia in his own way. But he can't redefine the explicit teachings of Islam.

Presently Muslims do not have a khalifa. But even if they had, the khalifa would not have been able to deviate from the Quran and announce the separate Islam from politics.

Islam’s main goal is to give the dominion of this world to its "rightful" owner, Allah. No authority on Earth can change that. Impeding Islam to achieve this goal is denying its raison d'être and it is tantamount to blasphemy. Islam by definition is imperialistic.

It must advance, conquer and reclaim the dominion of all Earth or there is no reason for it to exist.

Democracies are pluralistic. People have different faiths and are free to criticize, not only each other’s religions but also their own. Islam does not tolerate that. Anyone who dares to criticize Islam faces severe punishment including execution or assassination. Islam is regarded as The Truth, the Only Truth and the Absolute Truth. Defying this truth is the same as defying God and that cannot be tolerated. Challenging the authority of the representative of God is like challenging God himself.

On May 27, 1999 Rafsanjani, one of the ruling Mullahs of Iran said: "If the Islamic nature and fundamental pillar of the state and the velayat-e faqih (Shiite version of khalifa) are undermined, nothing would be left around." The same day, Khatami, the so called “reformist” president of the Islamic Republic said in the city of Qom: "Society's parting with religion and the clergy is the beginning of our fall." Khatami in July 5, 1998 said: “velayat-e faqih is the axis and pillar of the state," he reiterated, "velayat-e faqih is the raison d'être of our state. As such, opposing it... is to oppose the fundamentals and pillar of the state….No state would tolerate assaults on its principles and pillars," he said. [Iran Zamin News Agency]

In a commentary, iran-bulletin.org defines the concept of velayat-e faqis which is not distinct from that of khilafat: “In the theory of velayate faqih none of us can tell the difference between good and bad and, indeed, the whole edifice of the clerical rulership has been constructed to cope with our “ignorance”. The supreme clerical leader is our custodian (qayyem), and we are like sheep that if separated from our shepherd would surely be lost. The velayate faqih embodies every rights and the rest of us are only to carry duties. At its most pithy definition, the system of velayate faqih is the expression of this ignorance and absence of rights on our part in contrast with the all knowing, all powerful, clerical ruler."

Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader explained the concept of velaya-e faqih, the position that he himself is occupying, with an uncanny frankness when he said: “the leadership means that point where the insoluble problems of government are solved at his hands. His person lights up the truth for the people and exposes the conspiracies of the enemy.” [ibid]

In the Islamic state religion is preeminent and God serves as the only legitimate source of legislation. Temporal rulers merely implement the laws of Islam as dictated by God.

The following article titled “Essential Features of the Islamic Political System” explains the concept of khilafat as understood by Muslims.

“The political system of Islam is based on three principles: Tawhid (unity of Allah), Risalat (Prophethood) and Khilafat (vicegerency).
Tawhid means that only Allah is the Creator, Sustainer and Master of the universe and of all that exists in it organic or inorganic. The sovereignty of this kingdom is vested only in Him. He alone has the right to command or forbid. Worship and obedience are due to Him alone, no one and nothing else shares it in any way. Life, in all its forms, our physical organs and faculties, the apparent control which we have over nearly everything in our lives and the things themselves, none of them has been created or acquired by us in our own right. They have been bestowed on us entirely by Allah. Hence, it is not for us to decide the aim and purpose of our existence or to set the limits of our authority; nor is anyone else entitled to make these decisions for us. This right rests only with Allah, who has created us, endowed us with mental and physical faculties, and provided material things for our use.

This principle of the unity of Allah totally negates the concept of the legal and political independence of human beings, individually or collectively. No individual, family, class or race can set themselves above Allah. Allah alone is the Ruler and His commandments are the Law.

The medium through which we receive the law of Allah is known as Risalat. We have received two things from this source: the Book in which Allah has set out His law, and the authoritative interpretation and exemplification of the Book by the Prophet, blessings and peace be on him through word and deed, in his capacity as the representative of Allah. The Prophet, blessings and peace be on him, has also, in accordance with the intention of the Divine Book, given us a model for the Islamic way of life by himself implementing the law and providing necessary details where required. The combination of these two elements is called the Shari ‘ah.

Now consider Khilafat. According to the Arabic lexicon, it means ‘representation’. Man, according to Islam, is the representative of Allah on earth, His vicegerent. That is to say, by virtue of the powers delegated to him by Allah, he is required to exercise his Allah-given authority in this world within the limits prescribed by Allah.

A state that is established in accordance with this political theory will in fact be a human caliphate under the sovereignty of Allah and will do Allah’s will by working within the limits prescribed by Him and in accordance with His instructions and injunctions.”

This definition makes clear that the rule of Islamic system of government is not limited to Muslims but to every “organic or inorganic” thing that exists in this universe. This of course includes the non-Muslims. In an Islamic state everyone must live according to the dictates of Islam.

What we learned so far is that khilafat or the velayat-e faqih are not dissimilar to fascism.

The Columbia Encyclopedia, defines fascism as: “A totalitarian philosophy of government that glorifies the state and nation and assigns to the state control over every aspect of national life.”

Characteristics of Fascist Philosophy:

“Fascism, especially in its early stages, is obliged to be antitheoretical and frankly opportunistic in order to appeal to many diverse groups. Nevertheless, a few key concepts are basic to it. First and most important is the glorification of the state and the total subordination of the individual to it. The state is defined as an organic whole into which individuals must be absorbed for their own and the state’s benefit. This “total state” is absolute in its methods and unlimited by law in its control and direction of its citizens.

A second ruling concept of fascism is embodied in the theory of social Darwinism. The doctrine of survival of the fittest and the necessity of struggle for life is applied by fascists to the life of a nation-state. Peaceful, complacent nations are seen as doomed to fall before more dynamic ones, making struggle and aggressive militarism a leading characteristic of the fascist state. Imperialism is the logical outcome of this dogma. Another element of fascism is its elitism. Salvation from rule by the mob and the destruction of the existing social order can be effected only by an authoritarian leader who embodies the highest ideals of the nation. This concept of the leader as hero or superman, borrowed in part from the romanticism of Friedrich Nietzsche, Thomas Carlyle, and Richard Wagner, is closely linked with fascism’s rejection of reason and intelligence and its emphasis on vision, creativeness, and the will.”

Let us compare that to Islam. Islam is opportunistic par excellence. It is extremely deceptive and despite being a doctrine of war it portrays itself as the religion of peace. It wants to have a universal appeal. It subjugates women and Muhammad was a misogynist of the worst kind but its apologists present him as the champion of women’s rights. The Quran is an asinine book of nonsense, yet its defenders claim that it is a miracle which contains scientific facts. It opposes knowledge and technology, yet it is presented as the religion that encourages learning. Muslims are fond of reminding others that Muhammad said “seek knowledge even if it is China” But the fact is that any knowledge that is perceived as contradicting the Quran is regarded satanic and is to be destroyed.

The Royal Library of Alexandria in Egypt was once the largest in the world. It was founded at the beginning of the 3rd century BC during the reign of Ptolemy II of Egypt . It stored at its peak 400,000 to 700,000 scrolls. In 640 AD Muslims took the city and upon learning of "a great library containing all the knowledge of the world" the conquering general asked Khalifa Omar for instructions. Omar has been quoted as saying of the Library's holdings, "they will either contradict the Quran, in which case they are heresy, or they will agree with it, so they are superfluous." And to be on the safe side he ordered the library to be destroyed and the books burnt.

This is how Muslims try to portray a false image of Islam so it can have a broad appeal.

However, the most important feature of Islamic polity is the glorification of Islamic state and the total subordination of the individual to it.

Just like in fascism, the Islamic state is defined as an organic whole to which individuals must submit. In Islam “freedom” is in submission to Allah and his messenger. The very word Islam, which Muslims deceptively translate as peace, means submission. What is good for Islam and the Islamic state is good for Muslims and what is bad for Islam and the Islamic state is to be spurned and regarded as bad for the Muslims too. Islam and the establishment of Islam’s dominion is the greater good and the ultimate goal that every Muslim must strive for.

The Islamic site muslim-canada.org writes: “The highest organization in society is the state. Islam has given to the world the practical form and ideals of statehood. Therefore, the question of how religion should inspire, inform and discipline life, is naturally related to the question of how should it be related to the highest organization of society (i.e. the state).”

The other ruling of Islam is the concept of Jihad and the necessity to struggle in order to advance the Islamic dominance. The motto that “Islam is a religion of peace” is a preposterous slogan that is part of the strategy of the Islamic “Game of Deception”. Islam does not mean peace, it does not preach peace, it has never been peaceful and it will never be. Islam has advanced through aggressive militarism and regards Jihad and martyrdom as the most meritorious acts. Islam is militant and imperialistic by its very nature.

Fascism is elitist. Islam is also elitist. The Khalifa or the velayat-e faqih is the ultimate authority on Earth. He is the one who can read the scriptures and the only one who can understand them properly. His word is the ultimate undisputable decree. However theoretically, just as in communism, anyone can aspire to become Khalifa. The Khalifa in Sunni sect is elected by the populace while the velayate-e faqih in Shiism is nominated by a body of the ruling Mullahs called: “The Assembly of Experts”. Whether this ruler is elected or nominated, just like in other totalitarian regimes, he occupies his seat for life and responds to no human authority.
Another similarity of Islam and fascism is the disdain of reason and intelligence in both ideologies. In Islam, the emphasis is on faith and unquestioning obedience to the mandates of God. Reason is rejected as a fallacy. Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali, (1058 - 1111 CE) is arguably the greatest Islamic scholar ever. In his book "Incoherence of the Philosophers" he bitterly denounced Aristotle, Plato, Socrates and other Greek thinkers as non-believers and labeled those who employed their methods and ideas as corrupters of the Islamic faith. He took aim at Avicenna for being a rationalist who drew intellectually upon the Ancient Greeks. By emphasizing on the incompatibility of faith and reason, and by asserting the futility of making faith subordinate to reason, Ghazali gave validity to unreasoned faith and thus glorified stupidity.

Watt says: “The early period of Islamic thought is dominated by the conception of the unchangeability of true religion and the special Arab and Islamic conception of the nature of knowledge. Knowledge that is important for the conduct of life – and this is knowledge in the fullest sense – is obtained in the revealed words of God and in the sayings of prophets and other specially gifted men. From this conception of knowledge it follows that the work of the scholar is to transmit accurately the revealed text and other wise sayings”. [The Formative Period of Islamic Thought, p.63]

It is important to note that when Muslims talk about knowledge, they are talking about the "revealed" knowledge and not the secular scientific knowledge that has given birth to our civilization. The word science in Arabic is Ilm. The people, who possess this Ilm, are called Ulama. But Ulama does not mean scientists. It means religious scholars. Ilm is religious science. Islam does not encourage the learning of science. Islamic languages don't have even a proper word for it. Islam encourages religious learning. This is what Muhammad meant when he said "seek knowledge". Seeking knowledge in Islam, means memorizing the Quran and the hadith.

Inspired by the Quran various Muslim groups have employed sectarian violence to achieve political ends. The first group was Kharijiyya. The Kharijiyya insisted on two things. First, that the Islamic community must be based on the Quran. The second point emphasized the ascendancy of the Islamic state over the individual rights. Motivated by many verses of the Quran (32.13, 76:29-31, 3:39, 3:159, 16:93, 2:6-7, 4:88, etc.), they maintained that God’s will, must supersede men’s will and claimed the community is the bearer of the values that constitutes meaningfulness, in other words men’s life has meaning only if he belongs to Muslim community. This is how fascism defines the position of the individual vis-à-vis the state. These ideas were based on the Quran and were eventually adopted by the rest of the Muslims.

The Islamic rationalists such as Mutazilis placed reason above revelation. But their school was vehemently opposed by more fervent Islamists and became extinct. They were attacked by a group called Ashariyya to which al-Ghazali and the celebrated poet Rumi belonged. Rumi mocked the rationalists and in a catchy verse that left its mark on the psyche of the gullible masses said the rationalists stand on "wooden legs".

The Ashariyya glorified irrationality and remained faithful to the Quran. They rejected the rationalists whom, in their view, had forsaken religion and had detracted from God and his revelation. Thus rational objectivism was quashed with mockery and violence, the books of rationalists such as Zakaria Razi were destroyed and they themselves had to hide for their safety. The Ashariyya won because they had the backing of the Quran, the rationalists did not.
With Ashariyyah’s unconditional embrace of the authority of revelation, and their glorification of irrationality, rationalism was nipped in the bud and most likely the Renascence that was about to be born 1000 years ago, did not. We shall never know the extent of the harm that these celebrated religious zealots caused to mankind’s civilization.

In an article titled: Is Rumi What We Think He Is? Massoume Price quotes Dr. Shaffiee Kadkani who wrote: “unfortunately the emergence of geniuses such as Rumi and other Urafa (religious mystics) who unconditionally supported Ashariyya did not give freedom of thought a chance”. He concludes, “If it wasn’t because of Ashariyya our history might have evolved differently”. [Creation and History, (Afarinesh va Tarikh, p.50)]

Price contends: “It is not a coincidence that in Mathnavi, Rumi attacks all thinkers including atheists, naturalists and philosophers etc…. When Ibn Khadon [Khaldun] troduction (Mogadameh) [Muqaddimah] t Africans are black because of geographical and environmental conditions, it was the Ashariyya who ended such scientific observations by declaring people are black because God created them as such. When Physicians tried to find the connection between the brain and hand’s movements, it was Imam Muhammad Ghazali who mocked scientific inquiry and stated “hands move because God wants them to move” (Alchemy of Happiness, Kimiyaya Saadat). It was Ashariyya who imposed inquisition culture that still exists today and haunts us even in North America.”

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, (Third Edition. 2002) says: “As a rule, fascist governments are dominated by a dictator, who usually possesses a magnetic personality, wears a showy uniform, and rallies his followers by mass parades; appeals to strident nationalism; and promotes suspicion or hatred of both foreigners and “impure” people within his own nation, such as the Jews in Germany.”

In Islam, the Khalifa does not wear a showy uniform. On the contrary, in accordance to Muhammad’s sunnah, he exerts himself to make a public “display of modesty”. Modesty is just a show and a hallmark of Islam. The more modest you dress, the more pious you look. But the Friday prayers and the hajj are the Islamic version of mass parades that are designed to impress the believer, give him a sense of pride and belonging and make him firm in his belief that Islam is strong.

This parade to Muhammad was so important that in one hadith he is quoted saying:

“I thought that I should order the prayer to be commenced and command a person to lead people in prayer, and I should then go along with some persons having a fagot of fuel with them to the people who have not attended the prayer (in congregation) and would burn their houses with fire. [Muslim4,1370; Bukhari1,11,626]

Islam also promoted suspicion and hatred of the unbelievers. Muhammad said that the unbelievers are impure (najis) 9:28 and instilled in them the hatred of the Jews, saying God transformed them into apes and swine. 2.65, 5.60, 7.166

Clearly Islamic system of government is fascistic.
• It is marked by centralization of authority under a supreme leader vested with divine clout.
• It has stringent socioeconomic control over all aspects of all its subjects irrespective of their faith.
• It suppresses its opposition through terror and censorship.
• It has a policy of belligerence towards non-believers.
• It practices religious apartheid.
• It disdains reason.
• It is imperialistic.
• It is oppressive.
• It is dictatorial and
• It is controlling.

Islam, like fascism, appeals to people with low self esteem and low intelligence. Both these ideologies are irrational. They disdain reason, and hail devotion and submission to a higher authority. Like fascists, Muslims are triumphalists. They seek power, domination and control. They pride themselves in their strength of number, in their mindless heroism, in their disdain for life and in their willingness to kill and die for their cause.

Islam is political and political Islam is fascism.

"Allah is the only legislator; there is no law but his"

I told you so update from Britain, via AFP (thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist):

LONDON (AFP) - Radical Muslim protesters disrupted a press conference where leaders of Britain's main Islamic group, the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), were discussing the country's May 5 general election.

Some 15 men, most of them in the late teens and early 20s and two of them hiding their faces with headscarves, burst into the event on Tuesday at the Central London Mosque, where the council was unveiling a voting guide for the estimated one million British voters who are Muslims.

Council secretary general Iqbal Sacranie suspended the press conference for 15 minutes as one of the protesters shouted: "We are here to condemn you and your organisation."

The protesters, who said they were from a group called the Saviour Sect, distributed leaflets declaring that leaders from all of Britain's political parties were "shayaateen (devils), crooks, criminals and false gods".

"Voting is an act of apostasy," one organiser in his 20s, who declined to give his name, told AFP.

"Allah is the only legislator; there is no law but his," another man declared.

Jihad comes to Small Town, USA

An enormously important and unfortunately unsurprising piece from Laura Mansfield in WND (thanks to all who sent this in). Mansfield, who speaks Arabic, describes what happened when she sat in on an Arabic-language session in an American mosque. She got an invitation to an English-language session about family values, but arrived early:

I checked the mosque schedule on the Web, and discovered there was going to be an Arabic language session an hour before. So I showed up an hour early. The imam met me at the door, and told me that the presentation didn't start for an hour, and suggested I come back in an hour. Fortunately, I had anticipated this. I explained that since I had quite a bit of reading to do for a class I was taking. "Can I just sit here and read?"

He hesitated a moment, then agreed. I sat in the back of the room, with my book open, and made a mental note to remember to turn the pages every so often, as I listened to the speakers in Arabic.

The first speaker was the head of the Muslim Students' Association at the nearby university. Although I missed the beginning of the discussion, I caught up quickly. He was talking about the problems he had encountered on a recent trip, when TSA flagged him for extra screening. He joked about the fact that they had stopped him for extensive screening. He had anticipated that he would be screened and he had filled his carryon luggage with printouts of the Quran from the Internet, and had 15 or 16 CDs labeled in Arabic, and he had a notebook computer with him.

As he expected, he was delayed – he thought it was very amusing that while several TSA personnel were scrutinizing his personal belongings that his classmate from Jordan was able to walk through security, along with his American girlfriend, without any problems whatsoever.

One of the men said, in Arabic: "Blonde Americans are good for something!" Another man advised him to be cautious, since there was an American woman in the room. The imam spoke up and told everyone I didn't speak Arabic.

At that point, another student took the podium. His name was Khaled, and he began to recount his recent trip to New York City. Khaled and three of his companions had gone to New York for several days in January. He told of how uncomfortable his trip up to NYC had been. He felt like he was being watched, and thought he was the victim of racial profiling.

Khaled and his friends were pretty unhappy about it, and while in New York, they came up with a plan to "teach a lesson" to the passengers and crew. You can imagine the story Khaled told. He described how he and his friends whispered to each other on the flight, made simultaneous visits to the restroom, and generally tried to "spook" the other passengers. He laughed when he described how several women were in tears, and one man sitting near him was praying.

The others in the room thought the story was quite amusing, judging from the laughter. The imam stood up and told the group that this was a kind of peaceful civil disobedience that should be encouraged, and commended Khaled and his friends for their efforts.

He pointed out that it was through this kind of civil disobedience that ethnic profiling would fail.

One of the other men, Ahmed from Kuwait, gave a brief account of his friend Eyad, who had finally gone to Iraq. Ahmed was in e-mail contact with Eyad, and hoped by the following week to be able to bring them more information about the state of the "mujahideen" in Iraq.

As the meeting drew to a close, the imam gave a brief speech calling for the protection of Allah on the mujahideen fighting for Islam throughout the world, and reminded everyone that it was their duty as Muslims to continue in the path of jihad, whether it was simple efforts like those of Khaled and his friends, or the actual physical fighting of men like Eyad.

Don't fail to read it all.

Pipes: "The Hell of Israel Is Better than the Paradise of Arafat"

Daniel Pipes writes in the spring Middle East Quarterly (thanks to Rebecca Bynum) about the surprising attitudes of Palestinians living in Israel:

In the Palestinian Authority's (PA) elections that took place in January 2005, a significant percentage of Arab Jerusalemites stayed away from the polls out of concern that voting in them might jeopardize their status as residents of Israel. For example, the Associated Press quoted one Rabi Mimi, a 28-year-old truck driver, who expressed strong support for Mahmoud Abbas but said he had no plans to vote: "I can't vote. I'm afraid I'll get into trouble. I don't want to take any chances." Asked if he would vote, a taxi driver responded with indignation, "Are you kidding? To bring a corrupt [Palestinian] Authority here. This is just what we are missing."

This reluctance—as well as administrative incompetence—helped explain why, in the words of the Jerusalem Post, "at several balloting locations in the city [of Jerusalem], there were more foreign election observers, journalists, and police forces out than voters." It also explains why, in the previous PA election in 1996, a mere 10 percent of Jerusalem's eligible population voted, far lower than the proportions elsewhere.

At first blush surprising, the worry about jeopardizing Israeli residency turns out to be widespread among the Palestinians in Israel. When given a choice of living under Zionist or Palestinian rule, they decidedly prefer the former....

Pro-Israel expressions fall into two main categories: preferring to remain under Israel rule and praising Israel as better than Arab regimes....

After a detailed discussion Pipes concludes:

In word and deed, then, even Palestinians acknowledge Israel as the most civilized state in the Middle East. Amid the gloom of today's political extremism and terrorism, this fact offers wisps of hope.

Read it all.

Two Saudis on watch list cause KLM flight diversion

An update on this story: "Mystery Flight," from Newsweek, with thanks to Mediawatch.

It's part of the routine for air travel since 9/11. Fifteen minutes after KLM Flight 685 took off from Amsterdam for Mexico City on April 8, Mexican authorities forwarded the names of all the passengers to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The reason: the flight was scheduled to pass through U.S. airspace after making a long swing over Canada. The information was then passed on to the U.S. National Targeting Center, based at a secret address in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. That's when the routine became extraordinary: by the time the Boeing 747 had finished its three-hour crossing of the Atlantic, Homeland Security screeners were on high alert. The names of two Saudi passengers aboard the KLM flight had begun producing "hits" on the screening center's lists of 70,000 suspect foreigners....

Some counterterrorism officials worry that the Saudi brothers could be living double lives. One of the Saudis lived in the United States for at least 14 years and took an engineering degree at Arizona State University. A former neighbor of his in Tempe remembers him as "really nice." But another former Arizona neighbor recalls that a day or two after 9/11, the normally self-contained Saudi was behaving oddly. "He was wearing a wide grin. He said, 'Hi, Neighbor, isn't it a great day?' It seemed inappropriate." Other intelligence officials say if the two were indeed part of a Qaeda operation, it is no surprise their destination was Mexico City. U.S. officials fear that Latin America, and more particularly Mexico-with its porous U.S. border-may become a staging ground for Al Qaeda. The big question is, wherever the next threat comes from, will authorities be able to spot it in time?...

Read it all.

Is this really the time for an amnesty for illegal aliens?

From "Harvesting Illegals" by Mark Krikorian in the Center for Immigration Studies (thanks to Rebecca Bynum):

More than 1,500 of our soldiers in Iraq have given their lives to ensure America’s safety. An emergency military spending bill to keep their comrades supplied with bullets and gasoline passed the House of Representatives last month with the addition of several important domestic security measures, including national standards for state driver’s licenses.

The Senate will debate the bill next week, and is considering an addition of its own: amnesty for illegal aliens.

I am not making this up. For several years now, Sen. Larry Craig has teamed up with Sen. Ted Kennedy to relentlessly push the AgJobs bill (the Agricultural Job Opportunity, Benefits, and Security Act, currently S. 359), which would grant amnesty to most illegal alien farmworkers, and their families (plus admit many, many more through a harmful “temporary” worker program). Estimates are that as many as three million illegals could take advantage of this amnesty....

There’s so much wrong with this it’s hard to know where to start. Firstly, regardless of the merits of bill, it’s simply irresponsible to hold up an emergency spending measure for an extensive debate on something as momentous as an illegal alien amnesty – and equally irresponsible to pass such an amnesty without extensive debate....

Among the hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens who were fraudulently legalized was one Mahmoud “The Red” Abouhalima, an Egyptian illegal alien cabbie in New York. It was only after he got his green card in the 1986 amnesty that he had the ability to travel to Afghanistan for terrorist training and then return to help plan the first World Trade Center attack, for which he is serving life in prison. Do we really want to find out what kinds of bad guys the next amnesty will legalize, enabling them to work and travel freely, preying on our society?...

The irony is exquisite. The same measure that would enable our soldiers to defend the borders of a newly free Iraq would also undermine our own borders. Mahmoud the Red is laughing from his prison cell.

Moussaoui Planning To Admit 9/11 Role

"Twentieth hijacker" update, from the Washington Post, with thanks to Rebecca Bynum:

Zacarias Moussaoui has notified the government that he intends to plead guilty to his alleged role in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and could enter the plea as early as this week if a judge finds him mentally competent, sources familiar with the case said yesterday.

Moussaoui's plan to plead guilty comes over his attorneys' objections and still has several obstacles -- including Moussaoui's own whim. The French citizen, the only person charged in the United States in the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, tried to plead guilty in 2002, claiming an intimate knowledge of the plane hijackings. But he rescinded his plea a week later. His mental state has been an issue in the case ever since, and U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema in Alexandria is scheduled to meet with Moussaoui this week to determine if he has the mental capacity to enter a plea now, the sources said....

"I don't think the guy is crazy,'' said Andrew McBride, a former federal prosecutor in Alexandria who has followed the case. "Certainly, his comments in court to date indicate that he doesn't think like us and has a certain hostility toward the United States. But he's a fairly erudite guy. He speaks Arabic, French, English fairly well. He is an educated man.''...

...in 2002, Moussaoui fired his attorneys and began representing himself. In his motions, Moussaoui insulted those lawyers, who were appointed standby counsel; taunted the Justice Department; and called Brinkema everything from a "death judge" to a would-be Nazi SS officer. Brinkema later restored Moussaoui's attorneys to the case, and they are now arguing that he is mentally incompetent to enter a plea, sources said.

Spencer: Response to Khaleel Mohammed

My response to Khaleel Mohammed's attack on me at FrontPage yesterday is in the same publication today:

In his sustained attack on me and my work published in FrontPage yesterday, Khaleel Mohammed warned that “within Islam and its current crisis, there are authors who are so blatantly apologetic that their words are often an insult to anyone with average intelligence.” That is true, and Khaleel Mohammed himself is Exhibit A. “Once it can be proven,” he continues, “that there is misinformation or a crass ignorance on the part of the author of any article, then reason would dictate that such a person be disregarded as an authority.” While he was directing that statement at me, I am confident that by the end of this article, any fair-minded reader who is truly interested in fostering moderation and reform in Islam will, on the basis of his own criteria as stated here — “misinformation or a crass ignorance on the part of the author of any article” — disregard Khaleel Mohammed as an authority, both now and in the future.

Khaleel Mohammed says that I have manifested “an unforgivable ignorance of the study of religion concerning law and interpretation,” primarily by citing ahadith, or traditions (sunna) of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad (ahadith is the plural of hadith, which word means “news” or “report,” and refers to those traditions in their aggregate). The hadith is, says Khaleel Mohammed, “very problematic. It does not have the authority of the Qur'an and was made up long after Muhammad died.” He asserts that “any student of Islam, within the first week, knows the difference between what Muhammad is supposed to have said, and what the Qur'an says. Spencer seeks to hide this issue.” He also informs us that he is “an observant Muslim” who believes “that the Qur'an militates against hadith.”

In fact I have never sought to “hide” the issue of the authority of the hadith, or the difference between its authority and that of the Qur’an. I discuss all this at some length in my books Islam Unveiled and Onward Muslim Soldiers. Khaleel Mohammed asserts that “the Qur’an militates against hadith.” Actually, while it is true that many ahadith are inauthentic and that there is a whole theological science in Islam whereby Muslims judge various ahadith to be authentic or not, the authority of the hadith is generally accepted by Muslims. Since it is the words and deeds of Muhammad, the authority of the hadith is founded on the Qur’an itself: the Qur’an repeatedly exhorts believers to imitate Muhammad, since he is “is neither astray nor being misled” (Qur’an 53:2). Muslims are to “obey Allah, and obey the Messenger” (Qur’an 4:59). For “verily in the messenger of Allah ye have a good example (uswa hasana) for him who looketh unto Allah and the Last Day” (Qur’an 33:21). Those who disobey Muhammad are headed for hell: “And whoso opposeth the messenger after the guidance (of Allah) hath been manifested unto him, and followeth other than the believer's way, We appoint for him that unto which he himself hath turned, and expose him unto hell - a hapless journey's end!” (Qur’an 4:115). Muhammad is in Islamic theology al-insan al-kamil: the Perfect Man.

Of course, at this point Khaleel Mohammed might protest that he thinks the “Qur’an militates against hadith,” not against Muhammad. But how is a modern-day Muslim to follow Muhammad’s example? By obeying the ahadith deemed authentic. So I was perfectly justified in quoting ahadith in my article about Musdah Mulia to show that her positions went against traditional and mainstream Islam. Is the authority of the hadith something I cooked up in my fiendish laboratory of Islamophobia? You be the judge: The learned Muslim convert and scholar Ahmad Von Denffer says that “there is agreement among most Muslim scholars that the contents of the sunna are also from Allah.” Those contents are found largely in the hadith. The New Encyclopedia of Islam says that the hadith are “the basis, second only to the Koran, for Islamic law (shari’ah).” Islamic apologist Sayyed Hossein Nasr has called the hadith a “basic aspect of the whole structure of Islam” and blamed the questioning of its authority on that ever-handy bogeyman, “Western Orientalists.” Another Islamic apologist popular in the West, Akbar S. Ahmed, explains that “so great is the respect and affection the Prophet commands that his very sayings, hadith, are the source of wisdom and social practice in the Muslim world.”

I suppose the New Encyclopedia of Islam, Von Denffer, Nasr, Ahmed, and the myriad others who affirm the authority of hadith are ignorant of Islam? Does Khaleel Mohammed not know that the authority of the hadith is normative for almost all Muslims, or is he hoping we don’t know? I will not stoop to his level and charge him with dishonesty, as he charged me; however, at very least he might have informed his readers that his dismissal of the hadith was a distinctly minority view in Islam. We might have had a genuinely fruitful dialogue if he had acknowledged that most Muslims accept the hadith and explained how he proposed to convince his coreligionists that they should set it aside. Instead, he wrote a piece that leaves the impression that most Muslims reject hadith, and that I was dishonest in citing it. Why, Khaleel? Was it “misinformation or a crass ignorance”?

Khaleel Mohammed doesn’t stop there. He claims that “the Qur’an (24:31, 33:59), as any good scholar will tell you, is NOT incipiently ordaining the hijab--but simply telling the women HOW the head covering is to be worn--that it is to be drawn over the breasts. The Qur’an is addressing a society where the head covering is obviously a norm. If time and place have changed, or ‘if the reason is no longer there, the ruling is obsolete’ (in the words of the jurists), then such as Mulia’s ilk have the right to view the hijab as no longer needed.”

Once again, our great Islamic eminence brushes aside the traditional Islamic understanding of these passages, as if with a snap of his fingers or a nod from his “good scholars,” Muslims worldwide will suddenly realize that women need not cover their heads. What I was doing in my piece on Musdah Mulia that so enraged Khaleel was explaining why it will not be so easy for Islamic reformers, because the interpretations they are fighting are deeply rooted. In this case, take the renowned (and still respected and widely read) Qur’anic commentator Ibn Kathir (1301-1372). Von Denffer calls his Qur’an commentary one of the “better-known” and “more valuable books of tafsir [commentary],” and notes that it is “of greatest importance to Muslims.” On Qur’an 33:59, which directs women to “draw their veils (khumur) all over their bodies (juyub),” he explains: “khumur (veils) is the plural of khumar, which means something that covers, and is what is used to cover the head.” In other words, Ibn Kathir sees the Qur’an as ordaining head coverings. Clearly in Saudi Arabia, Iran, and all over the Islamic world, this is how Muslims understand the Qur’an. Khaleel asserts that the burka and chador “are not mentioned in the Qur’an nor in the hadith. Yes, Muslim women do wear them in certain cultures, but that is the interpretation of their culture--the words are not even Arabic.” But he doesn’t tell us that these garments were developed with mainstream understandings of the Qur’an and hadith in mind. Once again, Khaleel Mohammed sketches out a minority view, doesn’t tell us it’s a minority view, and accuses me of dishonesty for not portraying it as a majority view. Again, which is it, Khaleel? “Misinformation or crass ignorance”?

On the issue of polygamy Khaleel Mohammed’s arguments grow even more bizarre. In response to my quoting the Qur’an’s verse permitting polygamy (4:3) he huffs: “Did the Qur’an initiate polygamy, or are the verses of the Qur’an meant to LIMIT the number of wives a man may have to four? And did the Qur’an specify that ‘if you fear that you cannot be just...and you can never be just, then only one’? And did the Jews, Christians and other cultures of seventh century Arabia not practise polygamy?”

Of course the Qur’an didn’t initiate polygamy. I never said it did. Of course others practiced polygamy. Of course the Qur’an set a limit on the number of wives a man could have, and tells a man to take only one if he can’t treat them all fairly. But we aren’t actually talking about seventh century Arabia. We are talking about today, when Musdah Mulia is trying to get polygamy outlawed. I was pointing out that she will face opposition from Qur’anic literalists. Would Khaleel Mohammed have us believe that she will not? (Which is it, Khaleel? “Misinformation or crass ignorance?”) And for him to bring up Jews and Christians in this context is a common tactic of Islamic apologists: to try to call attention to the alleged misdeeds of other groups to divert attention from the real problems within Islam. But is this really a constructive procedure? Maybe seventh-century Jews and Christians did practice polygamy, although this would have been against the laws of the Church; in any case, only in Islam (and Mormonism) is it an issue today. Why try to distract people from this? Why attack someone who speaks honestly about the difficulties Musdah Mulia will face in trying to outlaw polygamy? Khaleel, are you anxious that people not be aware of how widely accepted polygamy is in Islam? Why? Why not be realistic about the herculean task reformers face? Would you prefer that people not know the realities of Islam today? Why?

It’s the same thing with the inequality of inheritance laws. Khaleel tells us that “at least the Qur’an speaks of women having some right to inheritance. That the other scriptures of the Abrahamic religions do not have such laws speak volumes about the status of women at that time. They were not even allowed to inherit and by the process of gradualism, the Qur’an sought to give women a share of inheritance. No one will argue that those laws, by today's enlightened values, are equal. But they are certainly far better than anything that any Abrahamic religion had until then.” Great. But somehow the other Abrahamic religions seem to have gotten around this problem. Notice that Khaleel says nothing whatsoever about how exactly to bring Islamic inheritance laws in line with “today’s enlightened values.” And fulminating about those bad old other Abrahamic religions won’t do this job. Which is it, Khaleel? “Misinformation or crass ignorance”?

Khaleel says that I interpret the Hadith “with malicious prevarication,” but this is yet more pot-and-kettle namecalling. He sneers that, according to me, “Ayesha is supposed to have said that ‘she had not seen any woman suffering as much as the believing women.’” Then, with consummate chutzpah, he alludes to the fact that “in early Christianity the concept of suffering, as in Judaism, was a virtue,” as if this hadith is suggesting that women are virtuous because of their suffering. But Khaleel doesn’t retell the whole story, so I will now:

Narrated 'Ikrima: Rifa'a divorced his wife whereupon 'AbdurRahman bin Az-Zubair Al-Qurazi married her. 'Aisha said that the lady (came), wearing a green veil (and complained to her (Aisha) of her husband and showed her a green spot on her skin caused by beating). It was the habit of ladies to support each other, so when Allah's Apostle came, 'Aisha said, "I have not seen any woman suffering as much as the believing women. Look! Her skin is greener than her clothes!" When 'AbdurRahman heard that his wife had gone to the Prophet, he came with his two sons from another wife. She said, "By Allah! I have done no wrong to him but he is impotent and is as useless to me as this," holding and showing the fringe of her garment, 'Abdur-Rahman said, "By Allah, O Allah's Apostle! She has told a lie! I am very strong and can satisfy her but she is disobedient and wants to go back to Rifa'a." Allah's Apostle said, to her, "If that is your intention, then know that it is unlawful for you to remarry Rifa'a unless Abdur-Rahman has had sexual intercourse with you." Then the Prophet saw two boys with 'Abdur-Rahman and asked (him), "Are these your sons?" On that 'AbdurRahman said, "Yes." The Prophet said, "You claim what you claim (i.e.. that he is impotent)? But by Allah, these boys resemble him as a crow resembles a crow." (Bukhari, Volume 7, Book 72, Number 715.)

This is not a story about redemptive suffering. It’s about divorce law. In Islamic law a divorced woman cannot remarry her ex-husband until she consummates a marriage with another man and is divorced by him. This lady came to Muhammad after having been beaten by her second husband, AbdurRahman, telling him she wants to go back to the first, Rifa’a. She has large bruises from AbdurRahman’s beatings — and that is the context in which Aisha says: “I have not seen any woman suffering as much as the believing women. Look! Her skin is greener than her clothes!” But the Prophet says absolutely nothing about her bruises, and tells her she must stay with AbdurRahman until he has sex with her and divorces her.

So this hadith teaches about women bearing suffering as a virtue, eh, Khaleel? The only way you could get people to believe that would be if they had not read the story and didn’t know what was in it. Which is it? Misinformation or crass ignorance?

Khaleel Mohammed concludes his diatribe by asserting that “Spencer portrays himself as a scholar of Islam, and that he is not.” If he had actually troubled to do any research, he might have found this statement at my website: “I draw no conclusions of myself. Pick up my books Onward Muslim Soldiers and Islam Unveiled, and you will see that both are made up largely of quotations from Islamic jihadists and the traditional Islamic sources to which they appeal to justify violence and terrorism. I am only shedding light on what these sources say.” This article is an example of how I always work: in it, I have quoted Qur’an, hadith, Ahmad Von Denffer, the New Encyclopedia of Islam, Sayyed Hossein Nasr, Akbar S. Ahmed, and Ibn Kathir. Khaleel Mohammed’s real disagreement is with them, not with me. Meanwhile, he is the one setting himself up as an Islamic scholar, if not THE Islamic scholar, for in his attack on me he refers to nary an authority but his own pristine judgment. Yet after all his distortions, obfuscations, half-truths and worse, here and elsewhere, he is not an authority that any sensible and reasonable person, Muslim or non-Muslim, should take seriously.

Khaleel also charges that I misquote “verses of the Qur'an,” although he gives no examples. He can’t give any, because I don’t misquote the Qur’an. In the Musdah Mulia article I quote only one Qur’an verse (4:3), in the translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali. That is a translation made by Muslims for Muslims. Anyone can see that I quoted the verse verbatim by checking here. He also has the gall to say that I take things “out of context,” despite his outright mauling of the context of Aisha’s statement that Muslim women suffer more than other women. He even resorts to the basest mudslinging, charging that I “shamelessly lie,” although here again he produces no examples, and cannot.

This magnanimous Islamic scholar finally declares that “anyone who knowingly lies about the sources and beliefs of a religion commits not only a sin (the religious term) but an intellectual crime.”

Thus you condemn yourself, Dr. Mohammed. I don’t actually know if you are “knowingly lying” in writing this mendacious, misleading, and malicious attack, but it’s one of two choices, as you yourself have said: misinformation or crass ignorance. At very least you have revealed that you are not a trustworthy voice in the all-important search for genuine Islamic moderation.

Fitzgerald: Madame Secretary, take some time out for reading

Jihad Watch Board Vice President Hugh Fitzgerald comments on Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice's most recent comments on Islam:

"I think Islam, the Muslim world, is indeed going through an evolution, and as with any evolution there are both potential negative outcomes and potential positive outcomes. The negative outcome would be the continued rise of extremism and those who would hijack the great world religion to a cause that clearly has nothing to do with Islam. Islam is a peaceful religion..."

In order to make this statement, Condoleeza Rice either 1) would have to have studied Islam -- not for years, not even for months, but a solid week would do; or 2) rely on staff members to supply her with accurate summaries of the belief-system of Islam, which would necessarily have to get beyond the "one of the world's great monotheisms," "one of the abrahamic faiths," "the Five Pillars of Islam are shahada, zakat, salat, Ramadan, and hajj."

It is very likely #2 and not #1. But probably those staff members are not deeply versed in the geopolitics of Islam and have not spent a long time reading and re-reading and thinking about the history of Islamic conquest, or about the immutability of Islamic texts, or the way in which those texts are now distributed far and wide, or the use of Islam as a Total Explanation of the Universe — a point of repair and solace that, alas, also provides a ready-made object of blame in the Infidel. Nor have they likely thought about the ways in which, far beyond terrorism, and far more effectively than terrorism, Islam can be promoted and spread.

If Condoleeza Rice really believes that Islam "is a peaceful religion" then she has not read the history of Islamic conquest, has not studied the treatment of non-Muslims -- all non-Muslims, Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, Hindus, Buddhists -- living in lands subjugated by Muslims, and has failed to fully grasp the nature of that supposedly benign "protected-people" status of Christians and Jews that, in the full panoply of what it demanded of those "People of the Book" (ahl al-kitab) was onerous, and relentlessly cruel in a way that rhetoric should not be allowed to conceal.

If she meant the quoted remarks, then she is a grave disappointment. And neither she, nor anyone else who thinks in the same vein, is likely to be able to comprehend how much vaster is the problem than anything bringing "democracy to Iraq" will solve.

Let us stick only to Turkey, since Rice raises it as an example. Indeed, Turkey is an example. But of what? The historical record shows the following:

1) Kemal Ataturk was a war hero and strongman who took full control of Turkey -- which was not a democracy at the time -- in order to save his country from what he regarded as further disaster and possible dismemberment (it had already lost its possessions) in 1924.

He instituted a series of measures designed to limit the power of Islam in political and social matters. These included:

a) the Hat Act. This abolished the wearing of the brimless fez which made praying easier and insisted on Western caps to go with such Western, non-Islamic dress as coats and ties.

b) giving women the right to vote.

c) having the Qur'an translated into Turkish -- to break the cultural hold of Arabic -- and even supplying a special tafsir, or commentary in Turkish.

d) ending the use of Arabic script and adopting the Western alphabet.

e) monitoring the mosques and creating a Ministry of Religions Affairs entrusted with composing the khutbas delivered at Friday Prayers -- carefuly vetted by government officials so that they would not contain any dangerous material.

f) forbidding conscripts in the army from rising in the ranks if they demonstrated any detectable signs of religious fervor, such as reading the Qur'an too much.

g) forbidding the wearing of the hijab in any government office or at any official function.

h) cracking down on any newspapers that offered articles deemed "pro-Islamic."

i) making the army the bastion and protector of Kemalism.

And much more.

Note that Ataturk did not try to change the text of Qur'an. Nor did he try to revise Bukhari or Muslim, or to de-authenticate dangerous ahadith. Nor did he try to re-write the life of Muhammad. (In some ways the cult of Ataturk, now the national cult of Turkey, was a kind of replacement for Muhammad.) He realized that this was impossible, but that in order to bring Turkey kicking and screaming into the modern world (Turkey was poor, Turkey was on the ropes, Turkey needed a Strong Man and as a war hero he fit the bill perfectly), he and those who supported him had to force through all these constraints on Islam.

Ataturk was the most successful example of the quasi-enlightened despots who alone have been responsible for whatever constraints on Islam have been put in place in the Islamic world. In Iran, the Shah tried to emphasis the pre-Islamic origins of the Iranian state, just as his regime had tried to avoid mistreating non-Muslims -- in defiance of the laws of sharia and the particular fanaticism with which the Infidels were regarded as "unclean" or "najis." The Shah’s was an uphill battle: even into the 1970s Mary Boyce found Zoroastrians treated as "unclean." Laurence Loeb, who spent a year living in Iran, noted that Jews could still be beaten to death for going out in the rain (it was believed that rainwater, if it touched a Jew's skin, and then subsequently splashed onto a Muslim, could endanger that Muslim with this drop or two of horrific uncleanliness). Then there was Mohammed V of Morocco, who was protected from Islamic attack as a sherifian monarch (i.e., direct descendant of the Prophet). There was Bourguiba of Tunisia and his One-Party (Destour) Rule that still, through a police-state, has managed to limit the Islam-based mistreatment of women, and even allows some space to very guarded and gentle, but nonetheless noticeable, criticism of Islamic practices, if not untouchable and immutable doctrines.

The entire history of Islam shows that while the doctrines cannot be changed, a strong man, by dint of relentless pressure, can work to constrain Islam.

2) Turkey offers another lesson, one that Rice and others who will be around after Rice is gone should think about: Kemalism requires constant vigilance for it to be maintained. Even though a secular class has been created in Turkey, that class has been insufficiently aware of how tenuous its position is, and of how it is constantly in danger of being chipped away at, and undermined, by the determined "Islamic" element in Turkey. Erdogan is not an example of someone admirable, but of someone exceedingly cunning. He is able to use the E.U.'s requirements to hobble the army, the sole guarantor of Kemalism

The undermining of Kemalism in Turkey offers a salutary lesson: that Islam is a powerful force, and cannot be changed, only constrained, as Kemal Ataturk did. And to the degree that any country becomes more Muslim, to that same degree that country will -- no matter how long or close its seemingly heartfelt alliance with the United States has been -- pull away from that alliance, forget all that was done for it, and become hostile to the United States, as it would be to any Infidel power practicing muscular self-defense. The same is true of Pakistan, which has received every possible aid over decades, just as Turkey as. Neither country can be trusted to be on America's side, no matter how plausible some Turkish generals in Ankara may seem (or may be) to their American counterparts, or how many ramrod-straight Sandhurst graduates in Karachi manage to impress, or at least try to make us overlook, how Pakistani generals were in up their neck in supporting the Taliban and the extracurricular activities of that remarkable man, A. Q. Khan.

3) The example of Turkey shows that Islam can only be constrained by a strong man rather than by "democracy" -- for a "democratic" state where the people are almost entirely Muslim will inevitably redefine everything in terms of Islam. Whatever is bad -- i.e., corruption -- will simply be defined as "Infidel" and therefore to be opposed. Whatever is desirable will simply be labeled in the spirit of Islam -- and this will happen everywhere that head-counting is the accepted definition of democracy, and not head-counting plus the rights enshrined in the First and Fourteenth Amendments, or the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The government needs desperately a cadre of people who are willing to study what the defectors from Islam can tell us -- such people as Ibn Warraq, Ali Sina, Azam Kamguian, and hundreds or thousands of others. It needs people who can see right through Esposito and his ilk, and who will learn about Islam by going to the dozens of Western scholars whose work has been deliberately ignored. They should begin with the pioneering scholarship (and synthesis of others' scholarship) by Bat Ye'or, and such books as Ibn Warraq's "Why I Am Not a Muslim," and then go back to study Joseph Schacht, Arthur Jeffery, C. Snouck Hurgronje, Antoine Fattal, Edmond Fagnan, Vryonis and Vakalopoulos and Dadrian and Ivo Andric and a dozen others on non-Muslims under Ottoman rule, and K. S. Lal and Sarkar on Hindus under Muslim rule, and Mary Boyce on Zoroastrians in Muslim Persia, and many others now in the process of being published within the next six months.

She has been misled. That is not her fault. Many people have been misled about Islam. But at some point they must begin to realize that the evidence of their senses suggests that they have fed an incorrect analysis, a "theory" or "model" of Islam that does not explain all the data we have collected over 1350 years, nor seems to have much explanatory value for what is happening now, not only in Iraq and with Israel, but in the Sudan, in Nigeria, in Pakistan, in the Philippines, in Indonesia, in Bangladesh -- where Christians, Jews, Hindus, Confucians, Buddhists all suffer from Muslim persecution or Jihad.

At this point anyone who speaks of Islam as a "religion of peace," when a good many Americans (and others in the Western world) have figured out that they must learn about Islam on their own, since those whose solemn duty it is to instruct them instead offer only pieties and bromides, invites ridicule. And that ridicule will come also from the soldiers who have been to Iraq and have seen Islam from up close, and who, despite the propaganda they are forced to parrot from time to time, have a better sense of the rumors and lies and nonsense that are the daily stuff of life in Arab Islam, and furthermore have been fully aware of the widespread hostility, rooted in Islamic doctrine, even to Infidels bearing gifts costing tens of billions of dollars.

Perhaps the entire political class in this country is guilty -- Republicans and Democrats alike -- of failing to learn about Islam, and failing to offer imaginative and intelligent means to resist it. These means do not require vast invasion forces on the ground. Nor do they require the spending of hundreds of billions of dollars in Iraq and tens of billions more, apparently, in Afghanistan -- not to mention the continuation of American aid, for no good reason, to Egypt, to Jordan, to Pakistan, and of course to the shock-troops of the relentless and essentially endless Arab Jihad against Israel, the local Arabs renamed the "Palestinian people."

We can deplore the 5th graders, and the 8th graders, and the 12th graders who do not know history. Editorialists rightly wring their hands at those in colleges who haven't a clue as to why 1803 was important in American history, or 1649 in English history, or 1453 in the history of Western Christendom. But when it comes to those who create policies that will determine the safety and wellbeing of the entire Western, world, but who have failed to study the history of Jihad-conquest, or the dhimmitude that was the most gentle fate for those non-Muslims who were subjugated, this kind of ignorance has real consequences, real costs, and real dangers.

The only antidote is to become rooted in a real knowledge, unfoolable and unflappable, not only of Qur’an, Hadith, and Sira, but of how those canonical texts are used and of how they have served to fashion the Sharia -- and of how, in the 1350 years of Islamic history, there has been an observable and remarkable consistency in how Muslims from Spain to the East Indies have behaved, prompted by the same texts, toward non-Muslims.

One would love to know what Condoleeza Rice knows, or has been told (and by whom) about Islam. Does the Treaty of al-Hudaibyiia mean anything to her? Does the description of Muhammad in the Qur'an as "uswa hasana"? Does she know what Khomeini, that learned Shi'a theologian, wrote, or why he reduced the marriageable age of girls to nine years? Does she think that the problem with Islam is a "handful of extremists"? If so, why does she believe that? Or does she believe the problem is those "Wahhabi" Muslims? If so, what does she make of the behavior of Muslims toward non-Muslims in the thousand years before Wahhabism appeared? What does she know about the 60-70 million Hindus who were massacred under Mughal rule? What does she know about the Bumiputra system in present-day Malaysia, and why it has been called a disguised jizyah? What does she know about the treatment of Christians under Ottoman rule in the Balkans and elsewhere in eastern Europe? What does she know about the real treatment of Christians and Jews in Andalucia? Does she know why so many have taken to mocking the "myth of Andalucia" created by such writers as Chateaubriand and Irving? What does she know about demographic trends in Europe? About Geert Wilders and Ayaan Hirsi Ali? What does she know about those religiously-sanctioned doctrines in Islam, of dissimulation about the faith of Islam and about the Believer's own beliefs, variously known as "taqiyya" and "kitman"?

These are some of the questions, the answers to which might enlighten us, and make us feel less insecure and alarmed -- or more so.

Never before have we needed leaders willing to take the time to study, to return to their books, to be willing to jettison prefabricated phrases about "tolerance" and "peace" and to be willing to understand some very unpleasant truths. Never before have we so needed those who can calmly prepare, little by little, both other policymakers, and the still in-the-dark public, for what must be understood.

It is not asking too much of our leaders to ask them not to dismiss the dangers of Islam, and to request that they study not the apologists but the real scholars (a book or article on Islam written in 1920 or 1930 does not lose value, and because it was written at a time of much less inhibition, in a less guarded and fearful language, it is likely to be of far greater value than what is written today -- even if what is written today is by someone who is not an apologist, as so many non-Muslim scholars are if they want to succeed in academic life and need to be wary of offending Muslim colleagues, or potential or actual Arab or other Muslim donors).

Fais un petit effort. Intelligence and imagination will allow you to come up, very easily, with a dozen ideas that will help to weaken Islam, to exploit its natural fissures, to visibly limit its present and future economic power, and to support, within Europe, those who are now thoroughly alarmed and intent on stopping the spread of a belief-system that is totalitarian in its Total Regulation and Total Explanation of the Universe.

Surely that is something that can be understood by some in the army and in the civilian administration -- and can percolate not downwards, but upwards -- from those who still have the time to do their own studying, and do not have to rely on 2-5 page summaries prepared by aids.

Long live the colonels who educate the generals. Long live the staff aides who educate the Senators and Congressmen And long live all those who take the time to read, study, and think.

It is they who will rescue us.

Military Report on Guantanamo Highlights Danger of Al Qaeda

Info on Al-Qaeda and vampirean sentiments from jihadists at Gitmo. From the LA Times, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

According to the report, captives have described how Al Qaeda trained them to spread deadly poisons, and at other times armed them with grenades stuffed inside soda cans, bombs hidden in pagers and cellphones and wristwatches that could trigger remote control explosions on a 24-hour countdown.

The report also showed that not all those being held were suspected of being front-line soldiers and that 1 in 10 of the captives were well-educated — often at U.S. colleges — in fields such as medicine and law.

What was that again about education solving this problem?

More than 20 detainees have been positively identified as Osama bin Laden's personal bodyguards and one as his close "spiritual advisor," according to the report. Another is listed as the "probable 20th 9/11 hijacker" — a Saudi man named Mohamed al-Kahtani who made it to Orlando, Fla., before being deported just a month before the Sept. 11 attacks.

One detainee vowed to his captors that U.S. citizens in Saudi Arabia "will have their heads cut off." Another prisoner, this one with strong ties to Bin Laden, the Taliban and the Chechen mujahedin leadership, said of Americans everywhere: "Their day is coming…. One day I will enjoy sucking their blood."

Here is more about how US schools are educating those who would destroy us:

And more than 10% of those housed at Guantanamo Bay, it turns out, have college degrees, many from U.S. schools, and were educated as physicians, pilots, engineers, translators and lawyers.

One detainee, who "has threatened guards and admits enjoying terrorizing Americans," studied at Texas A&M University for 18 months and also took courses in English at the University of Texas in Austin, the summary said.

Another, identified as an Al Qaeda weapons supplier, studied at the Embry-Riddle flight school in Arizona and earned a graduate degree in avionics management.

Before Sept. 11, the FBI had picked up indications that Bin Laden was sending flight students to Arizona to learn how to commandeer U.S. aircraft.

The summary also weighed the risk of releasing detainees, pointing out that "we have been able to identify at least 10 by name" who were sent home before hearings even began last fall, only to rejoin the fight against the United States.

Still more detainees remain eager to break out of Guantanamo Bay, and have told guards "all Americans should die." One warned guards that one day he would "come to their homes and cut their throats like sheep." He said he would use the Internet to "search for their names and faces."

Hamas Political Head: Calming Down is Just a Trick Within the Resistance Plan; Hamas Does Not Object to the '67 Borders as an Interim Solution

The mask slips in Al-Ahram. From MEMRI, with thanks to Rebecca Bynum:

A convention held by the Egyptian newspaper "Al-Ahram," which was attended by writers and experts on Palestinian affairs following the Palestinian Cairo agreement on calming down the situation [ Tahdiah ], also hosted the head of the Hamas political bureau, Khaled Mash'al....

"Hamas controls its military wing... and despite that fact that it is one of the largest factions of the resistance, it is highly capable of keeping its men disciplined. Tahdiah means Tahdiah [and when you talk of] escalation, there is escalation. There is a commitment and it is honored... In the eyes of Hamas, Tahdiah is a trick within the resistance plans, [but] in the eyes of the [Palestinian] Authority, Tahdiah is a step on the way out of the resistance plan... but we still give it a chance... we can be patient and suffer, but not from the perspective of those who want to be free of the Intifada..."

"... Regarding the nature of the struggle, we know and understand that the international arena does not accept harming civilians... but the existence of the occupation requires resistance... Hamas is not in power and it operates according to the public's state of mind. If the public would shun the resistance, Hamas could not uphold it. We respect the public, for if not, why would we have accepted this Tahdiah now?...

"... Hamas's project is the resistance. [History] has not seen an occupation end without resistance... every negotiation devoid of resistance is useless... Hamas will become a political body only after an independent state is established. As long as there is occupation, it [Hamas] will combine the resistance with political activity...

"... I cannot be satisfied with the 1967 borders alone and see them as a permanent solution... A Palestinian might say: 'Who gave you the right to forego the rights of Palestinians?' So Abu Mazen himself says, in his talks: 'I cannot forego the right of return.' It will be his political suicide, for there are 5-6 million whose problem must be solved. However, Hamas has no objection to accept the 1967 borders as an interim solution.

"... Is there ambiguity about Hamas's position regarding the future of the Palestinian state? [Does Hamas want] a democratic state or a bi-national one? We want a democratic state... in the religious aspect, we will not impose anything on the people, and we do not want fanaticism or extremism. As for a bi-national state, I understand the concept, but the meaning of a bi-national state is that you, the weaker side, ask for equal rights. I can ask for this for one hundred years, and we already have experience with the 1948 Palestinians [Israeli-Arab citizens]. A bi-bational [state] is not a practical solution and in the end [Palestinians will be annexed] to an occupation state..."

When Israel Withdraws From Gaza, There Will Be a Period of Rioting Over the Loot

"... There is concern that a conflict will break out over the loot [in the settlements that Israel will withdraw from in Gaza]. The main fear isn't from the public at large, but from the PA personnel – those who are supposed to be the guardians [of the assets] are themselves the thieves. All those who took land [without a permit] and built shacks on them on the beaches of Gaza are men from the [Palestinian] Authority and the [Palestinian] security forces. Therefore, there is an agreement among all Palestinian bodies that the Fatah or the PA will have no sole right on these lands. I fear that if Israel withdraws from Gaza, and it must, there will be a period of rioting or problems resulting from a conflict over the loot and control [and the question] of who will fill the void... Hamas will not be part of this conflict, but it will not let the decision in Gaza be a monopoly of one body. It will insist on being a partner with others..."

In Muslim countries, he said, ''Islam is the source of all law"

I told you so update from Boston. "Issues in Mideast hit close to home," from the Boston Globe, with thanks to Skeetstreet:

Many area residents with close ties to the Middle East are closely watching events taking place in their homelands, from Iraqis voting in a democratic election, to Lebanese citizens demanding the end of Syrian influence, to Palestinians electing a new leader, to Egypt promising a legitimate presidential election.

President Bush last month called them ''landmark events in the history of freedom," but some local observers with a vested interest are reluctant to credit American policy for what is happening....

American support for Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak is typical of Western governments' ambivalence toward the Middle East, Shalaby said. ''They want democracy, but not our democracy. They want American democracy," he said. In Muslim countries, he said, ''Islam is the source of all law."

Mujahedin strike fuel tankers in Afghanistan

"Terrorists Strike Fuel Tankers in Afghanistan," from AP, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Suspected Taliban rebels set off a bomb next to a fuel tanker parked outside the main U.S. military base in southern Afghanistan early Sunday, setting off a chain of large explosions that destroyed five tankers and injured three drivers, officials said....

"The Taliban perpetrated this terrorist activity," the general said.

By midmorning Sunday, black smoke still billowed from the charred hulls of the tankers.

Taliban rebels have kept up a drumbeat of attacks, particularly in the
south, but have failed to launch any major uprising in recent months. On Saturday, the top U.S. general in the country predicted they might try to pull off a "high-visibility attack" in an effort to reverse their waning fortunes....

It could also be that these folks want to drive up the price of oil in order to harm the United States. If they can keep making trouble in Afghanistan and Iraq and drive up oil prices, they may be able to elect a dhimmi President next time around -- not just one who kowtows to the Saudis and CAIR, but one who sees all anti-jihad resistance as racism or American imperialism.

DC Watson: OKC: No Mideast connection? Not so fast

Jihad Watch reader and contributor DC Watson gathers some provocative new information on the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995:

In a follow up to addressing the joust between CAIR’s Ibrahim Hooper and Rocky Mountain News columnist Vincent Carroll, additional evidence has been produced in regard to who else may have actually been involved in the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

http://religion.upi.com/view.php?StoryID=20050412-124811-1156r
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_3697983,00.html

Were Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols the only perpetrators of this atrocity? For years, that’s what we’ve been told. However, with the nation marking the ten-year anniversary of this cowardly act, new or at least newly publicized evidence points out that these two America-hating domestic terrorists had some very unsavory associations with those who are tied to Islamic terrorism.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,153635,00.html

There’s also the issue of John Doe number two, the all-elusive accomplice that more than two dozen witnesses say they saw in the Ryder truck with McVeigh. He has never been captured. There were two composite drawings made of this individual.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,153644,00.html

The first composite was that of a thuggish looking man with a dark complexion.

http://www.greatdreams.com/john-doe-2.htm

The second composite, which has proven to be nearly as elusive as John Doe number two himself, was said to have been that of a white man, and looked absolutely nothing like the thug in the first composite.

On June 14, 1995, the Justice Department announced that it had all been a big mistake. One of the witnesses, Eldon Elliot of Elliot’s Body shop, had been confused when he gave his description of John Doe Two. He had mixed him up with a completely innocent, burly army private who came to the office a day later.

Back to the first composite drawing -- which many have stated bears a strong resemblance to dirty bomb suspect and Muslim convert Jose "Ibrahim" Padilla.

http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/crime/terrorists/jose-padilla/
http://www.greatdreams.com/john-doe-2.htm

4/17/2005: Fox News ran a program involving the OKC bombing. The show detailed incriminating phone records, which included repeated calls from the home of Terry Nichols to a place called Star Glad Lumber in the Philippines.

Star Glad Lumber is operated by a man whose brother and cousin were both notorious terrorists, involved in "splinter groups of the Abu Sayyaf terror group in the Philippines."

Nichols also repeatedly called a boarding house in Cebu City, an establishment that has been linked to 1993 World Trade Center bombing mastermind Ramzi Yousef. For the record, the same kind of ANFO fertilizer fuel bomb was used in New York and in Oklahoma City.

This may or may not come as a shock: Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, a brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden, who has been named co-defendant in a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of over 500 families of the 9/11 victims, also founded the Philippines branch of the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO), which has been designated a terrorist financing organization by the United States and other countries. There have also been some formerly classified Philippines investigative documents that have provided the basis for almost all major media reports concerning Khalifa's ties to al Qaeda and Abu Sayyaf.

Apparently, our government decided to deport Khalifa seven days after the Oklahoma City bombing, despite a jailhouse confession and documents relating to bomb construction. The entire story can be read at http://intelwire.egoplex.com/khalifa100603.html.

Although much of this information has been available since the OKC bombing, many questions remain unanswered. Are all of these ties simply coincidental? Is there some sort of government cover-up? Or should Islamic terrorist apologists postpone their claims that the idea that "Middle Eastern terrorists" carried out the OKC bombing was a "faulty assumption"?

Philippines: MILF panel willing to compromise with government

This could turn out to be a laboratory test case. Will the MILF really agree to a negotiated settlement and end its violence? Or will it agree for a few years and then take up arms again on some pretext, and again claim the whole of Mindanao—Sulu, Tawi Tawi and Palawan? It may take years to know the answer, but the answer will either prove that the Islamic apologists are correct, that jihad is only defensive and never aggressive, or prove that those apologists have been distorting things all along. "MILF panel willing to compromise with govt," from AP, with thanks to Nicolei:

THE separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front said on Saturday that it is willing to make a compromise with the government that would give control only over Muslim-dominated areas in the region.

The MILF rebels have waged a rebellion for decades to wrestle southern Mindanao island—including the southernmost regions of Sulu, Tawi Tawi and western Palawan province—from the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines.

Rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu acknowledged Saturday it would be difficult to take control of regions where Christian migrants have settled over the years.

“Originally, we wanted the whole of Mindanao—Sulu, Tawi Tawi and Palawan—but the reality is we no longer control all these areas,” Kabalu told The Associated Press by telephone. “There could be a compromise that would give us control over Muslim-majority areas.”

Government and guerrilla negotiators resume long-stalled peace talks on Monday in Malaysia, which has been brokering the negotiations. Both sides welcomed the talks’ resumption but were guardedly optimistic, acknowledging that they were still far from a peace accord.

Khaleel Mohammed slimes me

Islamic apologist Khaleel Mohammed, who got flustered and started name-calling in this FrontPage Symposium with me and Bat Ye'or some time ago, does it again in this malicious and mendacious FrontPage piece attacking my recent article on Indonesian feminist Musdah Mulia.

I have a great deal to say about this piece, and have submitted a reply to FrontPage which I hope they will run tomorrow. Until then, you be the judge.

Caucasus: Prayers grow into knife fight

Peaceful religion watch: Wahhabi and non-Wahhabi Muslims discuss their differences in Dagestan. From the Baku Sun, with thanks to Nicolei:

A dispute that began over whether ancient pre-Islamic rituals can be included in prayer ceremonies has thrown the Caucasus’ oldest city into religious chaos.

Hundreds of followers of two rival Muslim groups clashed over the weekend Derband, Dagestan, in what observers there said was ultimately a battle for control over the 7th-century Juma Mosque, one of the first in the region.

More than 20 people have been injured in a large-scale fight that took place after Saturday namaz (Mohammedan prayer) and lasted for an hour and a half, between traditionalists and members of the Wahhabite community, according to the Dagestani Interior Ministry.

Local ANS TV reported (from Derbend) that approximately 200 Wahhabites stormed in to the basilica-shaped Juma Mosque, Derbend’s largest place of worship, and tried to force the traditional Sunni prayers out. Meanwhile, the republic’s Interior Ministry press service told Interfax that approximately 300 supporters of the Wahhabite community seized the Juma Mosque. On the way there, they attacked passers-by.

The mosque was closed for several hours.

Afterwards, Russian TV footage from the mosque showed axes and bricks on the mosque floor.

Police detained 200 people, mostly Wahhabites, involved in the fight, in which 24 people, including four police officers, were hospitalized with knife wounds and other injuries.

Florida Islamic group under scrutiny for neo-Nazi ties

An update on the Boca Raton Islamfest: "Boca Islamic group under scrutiny for neo-Nazi ties," in the Boca Raton News, with thanks to Nicolei:

A new Islamic advocacy group in Boca Raton is under scrutiny for its ties to William W. Baker, a former chairman of the neo-Nazi political party of presidential candidate David Duke who was run out of town last year when he attempted to speak at Florida Atlantic University.

Local Jewish and civic leaders said Friday they were alarmed that the Assadiq Islamic Education Foundation, whose headquarters are listed at 831 E. Palmetto Park Road in Boca, had invited Baker back to Boca as featured speaker at an April 30 banquet at the Boca Marriott. Invited by Muslim students to speak at Florida Atlantic University in April 2004, Baker's first visit to the city was cancelled amid popular protest.

"I'd like to give [the Assadiq Foundation] the benefit of the doubt and say they got snookered, but this is the second attempt at getting Baker into Boca Raton, so they have to be aware of his reputation," said Bill Gralnick, southeast regional director of the American Jewish Committee.

Leaders of the Anti-Defamation League also protested last year's visit by Baker, on whom they have a long anti-Semitic file. Now head of Christians and Muslims for Peace (CAMP), Baker chaired the neo-Nazi Populist Party and organized its national convention in 1984.

"For me, it's alarm bells," Gralnick said. "Baker is in league with Islamicist elements that are probing the defenses of American Jewish communities. He makes money off them by being their white Anglo-Saxon
mouthpiece who says bad things about Jews."

Sayed Mohammad Jawad Al-Qazwini, listed on the Assadiq Web site as the group's Imam and founder, did not answer media inquiries Friday.

On the Assadiq Web site, a page titled "Audio library" features a graphic of dripping blood and a series of recorded talks by Al-Qazwini.

The titles of his talks, which could not be accessed, range from "The Perpetual Endeavor to Protect Islam" and "The Ingredients to an Eternal Revolution" to "Traits of an Ideal Leader for an Eternal Uprising."

Until recently, a notice for the April 30 banquet headlined by Baker also listed the mayors of Boca Raton and Coral Springs as "guests of honor" on the Web site.

But that reference was removed Friday after Coral Springs Mayor Rhon Ernest-Jones and Boca Mayor Steven L. Abrams, a Jew, received several
e-mails from constituents berating them for their participation in the
event.

Abrams called the group Thursday to say he was never contacted about the event. In response, he received a telephone message in broken English claiming that none of the event's 2,000 printed invitations included his name when they were mailed out.

"From what I can tell, this group appeared in January or February," Abrams said Friday. "I know that the banquet's featured speaker, William Baker, sought to speak at FAU last year. He's certainly entitled to his views, but I don't want anything to do with him."...

Baker's Populist Party is perhaps best known for its 1988 presidential nominee, former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.

Willis Carto, head of the now-defunct Liberty Lobby, founded the Populist Party in 1955. The father of American neo-Nazism, Carto also founded the Costa Mesa-based Institute for Historical Review, a group whose avowed purpose is Holocaust denial.

While Baker has claimed he never supported the views of Carto, he did advocate returning to segregation laws at the party's 1984 convention.

Critics have said Baker also articulated anti-Semitic views in a 1982 book on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, "Theft of a Nation."...

UK: stowaway on American nuke-powered aircraft carrier

What is Abdoul Masmoud Yessoufou trying to do? "Stowaway Boarded US Carrier," From Isle of Wight County Press, with thanks to Twostellas:

Abdoul Masmoud Yessoufou, 37, whose address was given at Portsmouth Magistrates' Court on Wednesday as East Street, Newport, admitted entering a prohibited area at Portsmouth Docks.

The court was told that Yessoufou was found on the USS Harry S. Truman at the weekend after he strolled past guards and hitched a ride out to the carrier on a boat used by sailors on runs ashore.
Yessoufou had previously appeared before Uxbridge Magistrates three times this year for entering restricted zones at Heathrow. He also reached the side of an aircraft at Southampton Airport in January.

UK: fresh terror warning

Tiny minority of extremists update. "Met Chief Issues Fresh Terror Warning," from SkyNews, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

Britain's most senior policeman has issued a new warning about the threat of al Qeada terrorists targeting the UK. Sir Ian Blair is calling for new laws to tackle terrorist conspiracies and has asked for the introduction of ID cards to be given further consideration. His comments come in an interview to be broadcast on the Breakfast with Frost programme.

And they follow the jailing of Kamel Bourgass for murdering a policeman and conspiring to cause a public nuisance after police unravelled an al Qaeda ricin poison plot.

Sir Ian told Sir David Frost: "There's real clarity now that al Qaeda affiliates are targeting Britain - that's the first thing.

"Secondly, I think we obviously have to mourn the death of Stephen Oake.

"Thirdly, the important point is to say this is one individual, not the whole Muslim community who are law-abiding and we have to work to support them."

Speaking on the BBC show, he added: "99.9% of Muslims and 99.9% of Asians are law-abiding people and we've got to support them in that and understand the difference.

"What is it that drives a tiny number of young men and women into extreme violence?..."

99.9%? What was it, then, that made Al-Muhajiroun, a group that openly supported Al-Qaeda and spoke freely of wanting to see "the black flag of Islam," that is, the flag of jihad, "flying over #10 Downing Street," Britain's largest Muslim group?

Stumbling into jihad in Memphis

My, Memphis has changed

FBI agents on an immigration marriage scam case stumble into something more sinister: jihad. "Cell Mates? While investigating a Memphis-Morocco marriage scam, FBI agents find hidden weapons, $34,000 in cash, passports, and a gruesome Arabic videotape," from the Memphis Flyer, with thanks to Miss Moneypenney:

On April 4th, nine FBI agents executed a search warrant at the Raleigh home of a convicted felon named Rafat Jamal Mawlawi, a Syrian with dual citizenship in the United States. Mawlawi is suspected of organizing a scam to illegally bring Moroccan men into the United States by arranging sham marriages and engagements to women from Memphis.

What the FBI found was much more troubling: a hidden stash of loaded weapons and ammunition clips, $34,000 in cash, two pictures of Mawlawi shouldering a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, a gruesome videotape of war casualties with Arabic text and voiceover, and more than 20 passports to Morocco, Syria, Iran, and other Middle Eastern countries....

Mawlawi, 54, is a naturalized U.S. citizen who served in the Navy for 12 years. He is also a citizen of his native Syria. He had a criminal record before being indicted last week. According to Memphis FBI spokesman George Bolds, in 1994, he was convicted on a felony count of fraud in California and did jail time. In 1993, records show he was arrested in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, but the charges were dismissed. Mawlawi failed to show up for an extradition hearing following one of his arrests and was picked up by authorities when he reentered the United States at JFK International Airport in New York. Records show that occurred in 1993.

It is not clear how long he has been living in Memphis. His one-story, brown brick house is on a corner lot three blocks from Craigmont High School. Since moving to Memphis Mawlawi had preached and conducted Muslim prayers with inmates at the Shelby County Penal Farm. He apparently came to the attention of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force because of an inmate named Andre Dotson, serving time on a charge of aggravated robbery. Dotson wrote the FBI that he had evidence of a marriage scam and said Mawlawi had tried to recruit him....

Agents also found two pictures of Mawlawi shouldering a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. In one of them, the end-cap is removed so that the weapon is ready to fire. Mawlawi said the pictures were taken when he was in Bosnia in 1996 and 1997 working as an English teacher.

Also found was a videotape which starts with the words "al Mujahadeen" and pictures of a firearm. The voiceover is in Arabic, Parker said. The word "mujahadeen" has come into common use in news reports since the onset of the war in Iraq. It is variously translated as "those engaged in jihad," "holy warriors," "Islamic warriors," and "soldiers of God." The video shows graphic images of dead people with injuries "that appear to be from combat wounds," Parker said. Mawlawi does not appear on the tape. Videotapes of war casualties, beheadings, and other gruesome scenes are readily available via the Internet....

Long distance information, get me Memphis, Tennessee...He did not leave his number but I know who placed the call...'Cause he took his rocket launcher and blasted out my wall...

Iraq: U.S.-led forces raid town searching for hostages; Sunni militants demanding all Shiites leave, officials say

From MSNBC, with thanks to Skeetstreet:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi and U.S.-led forces raided parts of an Iraqi town on Saturday searching for Shiite hostages threatened with death by Sunni rebels, an Iraqi minister told an Arabic television channel.

The city is now under the control of Iraqi and multinational forces....They are raiding areas where it is suspected that hostages may be," Kassim Daoud told al Arabiya television, referring to a standoff in Madain, just south of Baghdad.

Earlier Saturday, government officials and a Shiite political group said Sunni militants took about 70 Shiite males hostage in the central Iraqi town and threatened to kill them unless all Shiites left the town.

"There were about 100 masked men, riding in cars, roaming the city. They took hostages from the Shiite youth and old men, and demanded the Shiites leave the city," said Haitham Husseini, spokesman for the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution, Iraq's largest Shiite group. "The families contacted us yesterday and they asked for our help. There is a fear now among the women and children."

Husseini said insurgents who follow the fundamentalist Muslim brand of Sunni Islam called Wahhabism were trying to spark sectarian strife in the town. But he said Shiites would not retaliate.

In a mosque in eastern Baghdad, Iraqi police arrested a cleric in the influential Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars. Dia'a al-Jewari was detained on suspicion of having links with insurgent groups, Iraqi police officer Hamza Lazim said.

The arrest came a day after Ahmed Abdul Ghafour al-Samarrai, an important Sunni cleric in the association, urged Iraq's new president to buck U.S. pressure and free thousands of suspected rebels, a sign that the religious group most often associated with Iraq's insurgency might be willing to work with the new government....

Meanwhile:

Eleven detainees upset about their treatment by U.S. captors escaped Saturday from the military's largest detention center in Iraq by climbing through a hole in the fence....

"We decided to flee the prison because of the bad treatment and delay in investigations," 24-year-old Hussein Nima said....

Lt. Col. Guy Rudisill, a military spokesman, said officials confirmed that 11 prisoners were missing after discovering the hole. He denied allegations of mistreatment, saying the inmates get three meals a day, access to shower facilities, prayer rugs and a copy of the Quran....

Those Qur'ans really come in handy when you need to study up on jihad.

Hamas admits its gunmen shot betrothed woman in 'honour killing'

An update on this story from the UK Independent:

Hamas has mounted a desperate damage-limitation exercise after one of its units shot dead a 20-year-old Palestinian woman for "immoral behaviour" as she enjoyed a day out with her future husband.

Note that this "desperate damage-limitation exercise" comes now because their victim was a Muslim Arab. They have done the same sort of things to Israelis for years without so much as a whisper of damage limitation. In fact, on their old website they celebrated their murders of civilian non-combatants as victories.

Angry residents of Beit Lahia, close to Gaza City, have demanded - so far in vain - that the Islamic armed faction hands over three of the gunmen still at large to the Palestinian Authority after what the victim's family believes was a tragically unjustified type of "honour killing".

The masked Hamas gunmen shot dead Yusra Azzami as she sat in the front passenger seat of her fiancé's Mitsubishi after they had forced it to stop. They went on to beat up her fiancé, Ziad Zaranda, and his brother, Rami, before escaping in the victims' car. Yusra's terrified sister, Magdalen, who was engaged to Rami, ran away before she too was beaten.

Two senior officials from Hamas, which has admitted that members of the faction killed the woman, were turned away by her grief-stricken family this week when they visited to present their condolences. Both sisters and brothers were to be married this Friday in a joint ceremony....

A Hamas spokesman said the woman was shot because there was a mistaken "suspicion of immoral behaviour" by the couples. But it was not clear yesterday whether inter-factional rivalry had also played a part since Yusra Azzami was a Hamas member at the Islamic university while her fiancé was in Fatah.

Other factions have been quick to condemn the killing, and gunfire was exchanged between Hamas and Fatah at the victim's funeral last Saturday. Hamas also provoked outrage among some residents by claiming her as one of its "martyrs".

Wow. In a Religion of Chutzpah, this one really takes the cake. Kill her, and then claim her as a martyr of Islam. What's next? Osama claiming that he made 3,000 martyrs of Islam on September 11, 2001?

The faction, which seeks to enforce the strictest Islamic codes on alcohol consumption and pre-marital contact, has issued leaflets in the town saying the killing was a mistake, promising to punish the culprits and that its members will abide by "the law of God".

Of course, if they hadn't been married, then Hamas would still believe that their murderous brutality was abiding by the "law of God."

Both couples had exchanged married certificates after their betrothal. Although they were not yet living together, they were married according to Islamic law. Leaflets produced by angry locals named three of the five member gang - two of whom were arrested as they tried to escape - as members of the Daghmesh family, one of the most powerful in Gaza, and demanded that they be handed over for trial and punishment.

The Azzami and Zaranda families said the engaged couples had spent the afternoon shopping for the women's wedding dresses and then boughtshwarma (takeaway meat sandwiches). Because the weather was warm, the couples went to the beach and ate their sandwiches by the sea.

Rami had then decide to withdraw some cash from an ATM in the city before they headed for home in the Mitsubishi at around 9pm. They realised that they were being followed by two cars, one of which a Subaru. It suddenly overtook their car and forced it to stop.

Ziad Zaranda, 25, said: "Five men got out and started firing their guns at us. They shot about nine bullets at us. Two went through the window and one of these hit Yusra in the head." He said that as his fiancée slumped in the front passenger seat, fatally wounded, the men beat the two brothers with clubs.

The men then dragged Yusra's bleeding body from the car and made their escape in the Mitsubishi. Bystanders took the victims to the city's Shifa hospital where Yusra died half an hour later. Ziad required 18 stitches and Riad 27.

Yusra's sister, Magdalen, 17, said she had run away to her nearby house shouting "My sister, My sister" because she thought she too was being beaten. Magdalen said she did not know if they had been watched as they walked by the sea. "Rami was trying to touch my hand but I was saying 'let me eat my sandwich'. Even if we were not married Hamas does not have the authority to act like this."...

Ziad said: "Hamas is worse than Israel, worse than Sharon."

Mushira Masri, a Hamas spokesman, said last night that the gunmen had not known the couples were betrothed. "The brothers who did this made a mistake. There was suspicion of immoral behaviour."

Asked if they gunmen who fled were going to be handed over to the PA, he said: "If the families want to hand them over to the PA they can do that." He added: "Palestinian law allows crimes to happen like adultery and wine drinking. There have been recent increases in these crimes and no one is punished."

Jihadist activity in Jordan

This AP story, "A city at the centre of a storm," raises the curtain a bit on jihadist activity in "moderate" Jordan:

SALT (Jordan): This city – with its numerous churches, its liquor stores and its past as a cosmopolitan trading hub – was an unusual one to suddenly develop a reputation as a centre of Islamic radicals travelling from Jordan to fight in Iraq.

Jordanian officials say it is undeserved, the result of a series of misunderstandings. In fact, they say, the city is home to only a small handful of the Jordanians known to have joined the insurgency in Iraq.

More misunderstandings! Isn't it funny how, when it comes to Islamic jihad terrorism, everyone -- Muslim and non-Muslim -- seems to lose his bearings and powers of comprehension. Oh, what a staggering complexity is Islam! How few are those who truly understand it, even among those who call themselves Muslims! It is only a few piercingly insightful types, a convert to Sufism here, a scholar of the house there, who have attained to the true understanding of what it is really all about. But ah, if only they would share their secret decoder rings with the rest of us!

Nevertheless, all sides acknowledge the city of Salt has its share of disaffected Muslim youths dismayed by economic problems, angry at foreign troops on Muslim lands and vulnerable to messages of extremism. It was the city's custom of holding public wakes that brought publicity here. Specifically, it was the wake for a native son Raed Mansour al-Banna, who was accused of carrying out the biggest suicide bombing in post-war Iraq – an attack on Feb 28 in Hilla, south of Baghdad, that killed 125 people.

Even more specifically, looks as if al-Banna suited up as a suicide bomber and blew himself up at a health clinic in Al-Hilla, killing 132 people and injuring 120.

His family held a solemn three-day ceremony, which was erroneously reported by a Jordanian newspaper as a “celebration” to honour a “martyr”.

That outraged Iraqis. Thousands of Iraqi Shi'ites rioted against Jordan, assaulted its heavily guarded embassy in Baghdad and raised tensions between governments.

On March 20, Baghdad and Amman recalled their envoys for “consultations” in a tit-for-tat diplomatic spat.

Since then, the truth about the wake emerged – and the Jordanian government said evidence showed al-Banna had nothing to do with the Hilla blast.

Instead, he carried out an attack in which he died in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, where he was buried after the attack. The identity of the Hilla bomber remains unknown.

Ah, well, that makes it all better then. Al-Banna blew himself up somewhere else, killing other people, not Iraqi Shi'ites, but Iraqi Kurds.

The Jordanian charge d'affaires has taken up his post in Baghdad again, and Iraq has promised to return its envoy soon.

Jordan's King Abdullah II's disapproval of his ministers' handling of the dispute reportedly helped lead to the government's resignation on April 5.

Still, Salt – a city of 83,000 people spread over the hills 25km northwest of Amman – bears the burden of the reputation.

“Salt came to the attention of many because the customs of its tightly knit tribal community allows for wakes to be held, like that of al-Banna, unlike other areas in Jordan where suspected fighters were killed and buried quietly,” said Asma Khader, the spokesman of the government that resigned last week.

She said it was “inaccurate to accuse Saltis of militancy”, considering there were suspected fighters from other Jordanian cities, like Zarqa – the hometown of one of the top terror leaders in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi – and the wider phenomenon of militancy in other Muslim nations....

Keep passing the buck and sooner or later everyone can agree it was the Israelis who did it. And of course, it has nothing to do with Islam, no, no, no!

Palestinian girl hides gun in undies

If the strip-searches start, there will be international howls of protest. But what else can be done in the face of this? From YNET, with thanks to Gabrielle Goldwater:

NABLUS - Troops searching a West Bank house for a wanted Hamas gunman found his sister hiding his gun in her underpants, the army said, adding that it would consider renewing strip-searches among Palestinian women when searching and screening for potential terrorists.

The soldiers in the Balata refugee camp, a terrorist hotbed, found the gunman inside his house and ordered him to surrender his weapon. He refused, saying he didn't have it. After questioning, they found the man's sister had hidden it her underwear.

Troops then arrested the Hamas terrorist. They also found a gun holster and bullets inside the building.

An army spokesman said the incident raises serious questions about the need to search Palestinian women, mainly at checkpoints.

"Until now we have gone easy on women," a spokesman said. "Perhaps we need to reconsider that policy."

Bulgarian Police Official Warns Of Jihadist Threat

Jihad in the Balkans. But wait a minute: don't the learned pundits say that there is no significant threat there? "Bulgarian Police Official Warns Of Islamist Threat," from AP, with thanks to Nicolei:

SOFIA (AP)--Bulgaria's top police official warned Thursday that pockets of Islamic fundamentalism in the Balkans are creating a favorable environment for the establishment of militant groups.

Speaking at a regional police anti-crime conference, Gen. Boiko Borisov urged for "joint efforts to fight the global terrorism network."

He warned that despite the elimination of several al-Qaida bases the level of threat remains high.

"The Balkans as a part of Europe are a potential target, a possible ground for terrorists," he said. "Our countries are backing the anti-terror coalition and this makes them possible targets of attacks."

Germany: Police arrest jihadists and raid mosques

More misunderstanders of Islam arrested in Europe: maybe Jamal Badawi should grab a flight to Munich and explain Islam's peaceful teachings to these guys. (Yes, literal-minded readers, I am being sarcastic.) "Police arrest seven Islamists and raid 30 associated sites," from DPA, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

MUNICH - Police on Thursday arrested seven Islamic extremists and raided 31 mosques, homes and offices in this year's third crackdown in Germany on fund-raising for terrorism.

In months of surveillance, police discovered that two Munich-based activists had raised EUR 1 million between them to finance Islamist groups abroad. They are likely to be charged with money laundering and tax evasion....

A spokeswoman for Munich police said 12 premises, including two mosques, were searched in Munich alone, with the rest of the sites checked being located in other Bavarian towns and the states of Berlin, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bremen, Lower Saxony and Hamburg.

The sites checked in Brussels were publishers' offices....

The state of Bavaria also spearheaded this year's two earlier nationwide sweeps of Islamist fund-raisers.

"We'll step up the pressure on Islamist extremists even more and use every possible provision of immigration law to deport as fast as possible those who threaten us or preach hatred," said the Bavarian interior minister, Guenther Beckstein.

"Why do they call every pious person a terrorist? They (the family) only pray and read the Quran"

Why do they call "every pious person" a terrorist? Well, maybe it's little matters like this suicide bombing. From another Bashandi story: "Egyptian Police Arrest 30 in Cairo Bombing," from AP, with thanks to Lisa:

CAIRO, Egypt - Egyptian police have detained 30 people in last week's deadly bombing in a Cairo tourist bazaar, including the suspected bomber's mother, three brothers and 16 other relatives, prosecutors said.

Police arrested the family members after identifying the body of the bomber, who died in the blast that killed two French tourists and an American and wounded 18 others Thursday in Cairo's Khan al-Khalili bazaar. Among those arrested was an uncle who called authorities after seeing the suspected bomber's body in a newspaper photograph.

The suspect, Hassan Rafaat Ahmed Bashandi, was a student who became a religious extremist after his father's death, the Interior Ministry said....

In the tiny apartment, police found CDs containing data downloaded from the Internet on waging Islamic holy war and building bombs. At Bashandi's aunt's house, police found 43 fireworks from which the gunpowder had been removed....

Mamdouh Raafat, a neighbor who knew the family for two decades, denied that Bashandi was an extremist.

"Why do they call every pious person a terrorist? They (the family)only pray and read the Quran," he said. "They don't flirt with girls and they don't get involved in streets fights ... They don't even smoke."

Well! They pray and read the Qur'an! How could they have turned out to be terrorists! It's...unheard-of!

Note also the arrests of the mother, etc. But I thought CAIR told us during the Fox 24 flap that families weren't involved in jihad terrorism together. Can you folks explain that to us, please? Nihad? Omar? Ibrahim? Hussam? Arsalan? Rabiah? Anyone? Anyone?

The mild-mannered suicide bomber

Everyone is shocked that Bashandi could have become a suicide bomber. But of course! They're always shocked! Search the archives, and whenever a Muslim is arrested on suspicion of terrorist activity, you will find friends and neighbors saying how shocked they were, how pious he was, etc. etc. No one seems to look into that piety to see if possibly it was a motivation.

Anyway, here's another from our tired and overworked Shocked! Shocked! Department, from "Bomber described as mild-mannered" in Aljazeera, with thanks to Aranjuez:

Neighbours of the bomber who carried out a deadly attack against tourists in Cairo last week have described him as a quiet, soft-spoken young man.

On Monday, the Egyptian Interior Ministry identified the bomber as Hasan Rafat Ahmad Bashandi, 17, an engineering student at the Banha campus of al-Zaqaziq University and a resident of the relatively squalid northern Cairo district of Subra al-Khaima.

Several members of the Bashandi family had been rounded up over the weekend for DNA sampling analysis which eventually helped Egyptian investigative police identify the bomber's remains.

But neighbours and friends who knew Bashandi well are still grappling with the idea that the mild-mannered and generous young man could have taken his own life and in doing so killed three French tourists and an American and wounded several more.

Respectable family

They describe the Bashandi family as well-educated....

This means he couldn't have been the bomber? Quite the contrary.

Helmi said she never noticed anything out of the ordinary about the would-be bomber, and is shocked that someone from his background could allegedly commit such a crime. "He was a normal young kid like all his peers. He wasn't a Sunni extremist like people we see on TV. Yes, he used to pray but just like all young men in the area who go and pray in the mosque."

Said al-Sharif, who owns a shoe repair shop in the same building, said he saw nothing in Hasan Bashandi’s behaviour to indicate he harboured any violent tendencies.

"He was a normal kid, very polite but secluded. He didn’t mingle much with people, but all in all I would describe him as a typical young man. There was nothing that stood out in his behaviour," he said.

"We occasionally used to see him go pray in the mosque and come back. But this was just like all other young men in the street who gather in Friday prayers."

Disbelief

Neighbours and friends who knew the Bashandi family well are refusing to believe that someone they saw grow up over the years could be behind the deadly bombing.

"We still don't believe what happened. He is very well- mannered. Neither he nor any of his family smoke even," Helmi explained.

Oh, well, why didn't you say so earlier!! If they don't smoke, then he couldn't have been the bomber!!

She said the family celebrated life and pointed to one of the Bashandi brothers' wedding.

"[They] had music and even dancing. They even got a DJ to spin the turntable and deliver popular Arabic songs."

Al-Sharif vehemently denies Bashandi could have been involved in the bombing.

"I think he was there by coincidence and [the explosion] happened. For him to do such a thing is far from true. Just now I heard on TV that police found drugs and nails in his apartment," he said.

Father's death

But the Egyptian Interior Ministry paints quite a different picture, describing Bashandi as a man with almost no friends, who spent a lot of time in the mosques and was particularly affected by his father’s death in September 2004.

Investigative profilers say Bashandi spiralled deeper into his seclusion, which they theorise may have led to his final, deadly act.

Over the course of the eight months after his father’s death, they claim the 17-year-old began to change his philosophies. They allude to several CDs containing so-called "extremist" ideologies.

"Only now did we hear from the [television] broadcasts that his attitude changed after his father's death. We never felt that or noticed any changes in his attitude. We know the family as conservative and respectful. They also said on TV something we never heard before, that he recently started to tell his mother that TV is religiously prohibited," al-Sharif told Aljazeera.net....

US warns Philippines south could become "new Afghanistan"

What's that? The Philippines, you say? But I thought that "serious extremist movements are visible only in Saudi Arabia, Iraq (where they are imported, mainly from the south), Iran, Pakistan, regions of Nigeria and Malaysia, and a tiny number of war zones like Chechnya and southern Thailand." Hmmm. Maybe I should get a new batch of "experts." From AFP, with thanks to Romy:

MANILA - The United States has expressed concern about militant training activity on Mindanao in the southern Philippines, warning the rebellion-torn southern region could become the "next Afghanistan."

Joseph Mussomeli, the number-two official of the US embassy in Manila, urged its Southeast Asian ally to do more to stem the flow of Islamic militant recruits into Mindanao, which he alleged was becoming "the new 'Mecca' for terrorism."

These groups train in bomb-making in Mindanao and have actually conducted bombing campaigns in the country, he added.

"Personally, I'm worried that we're not worried enough. I think the real danger here, and the danger that has been here since the mid-90s, is that we're not focused enough on the threat here," Charge d'affaires Mussomeli said in an interview with Australia's SBS television.

The mission posted the transcript on its website in Manila.

"Its not the sort of threat that should be worried about coming here on a day-to-day basis. The threat is more long-term: that Mindanao is such a lawless -- certain portions of Mindanao -- are so lawless, so porous the borders that you run the risk of it becoming like an Afghanistan situation."

Mussomeli said both governments are aware that certain individuals or factions within the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is set to begin peace talks with Manila on Saturday toward a political settlement to the 26 year-old separatist rebellion, have links with both local and foreign militant groups.

Manila officials concede militant factions within the 12,000-member MILF are giving sanctuary and even training facilities to the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), the alleged Southeast Asian proxy of the Al-Qaeda militant Islamic network, as well as the Mindanao-based Abu Sayyaf group (ASG).

But Mussomeli said Washington has "firm" information that these camps were still up and running on Mindanao. He refused to elaborate.

"The threat remains and, frankly, in some ways, it is growing. The number of JI that are there, the links between JI and MILF factions and ASG may even be increasing."

Mussomeli denied that Washington was trying to derail the peace talks, saying: "We certainly do not believe or at least we dont have clear evidence yet that the MILF as an institution, as an organization, have links with the JI or ASG."

However, "it has to be a genuine peace process, and not a farce. There can't be real peace unless the links with JI and ASG are severed. That's the reality."...

Interesting. I would say the same thing here about US ties with the Saudis, Pakistan, Egypt, etc.

"I would say that there are, within the Philippine government, those who are more reticent to take action and those who feel that action against various targets should be done in a more definitive and quick way. This is, I guess, a problem in all militaries," he said.

Indeed it is, my good man.

"As Saleh sees it, her son's only crime was being a committed Muslim"

An intruiguing story about how one may set out to follow "the path of Allah" and end up doing things that Westerners don't ordinarily associate with religious fervor. "A House Divided," from Egypt Today, with thanks to JS:

Three brothers are in jail for plotting an aborted terror attack on Khan El-Khalili. Guilty or not, their fate has set mother against father.

Anyone Visiting El-Gozlani family's modest flat in Kerdassa is accustomed to hearing 60-year-old Aisha Abdel Salam Saleh sitting in her room, sweet-talking one of her three sons. She could be murmuring to Mohammed, her eldest, about God; to Essam, the middle child, about her fondest memory of him as a kid; or to Abdullah, her youngest, about why he can't decide on which faculty is best for him.

When she finishes with the boys, the tiny woman sometimes heads back to her large, sparsely furnished living room. The family doesn't get many guests, so that's where her husband, El-Hajj Nasr El-Din El-Gozlani, 70, spends his days in a large bed, his aluminum walker at his side.

Little conversation passes between the two. Instead, she sits on the floor near him, reading from an open mos'haf (Qur'an) on its wooden stand. El-Gozlani says he likes the fact that he receives as much sawab (blessings from God) just by listening to his wife recite as she receives for making the effort.

Later, when she tires of reading, Saleh retreats to her bedroom to sit on her prayer mat and have an even longer talk with God.

The only problem is that while God might be listening, her sons aren't: The three boys are split among two prisons, each serving time on charges of terrorism.

"God is my only companion these days after they snatched my sons from me one after the other," Saleh says. "Their punishment is more tolerable than mine, which is to face the possibility of death without any of them sitting at my bedside."

For Saleh and El-Gozlani, life as they knew it came crashing to an end when their three sons, all alleged members of the Egyptian-born extremist group Al-Jihad, were tried along with 57 others and sentenced to terms ranging from a few years to life in prison in a series of rapid-fire trials. Ayman El-Zawahri, now Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's number two, but then the undisputed leader of Al-Jihad, was sentenced in absentia to death by hanging in one of the proceedings that followed.

Some of those sentenced were charged with simple membership in a terrorist organization, others with plotting against the government of President Hosni Mubarak. Mohammed, Essam and Abdullah faced the additional charge of planning a bombing campaign against tourists in Cairo's fabled Khan El-Khalili commercial district.

Spend even a few minutes with them, and it's clear El-Gozlani and Saleh have almost diametrically opposed views of the world and of their sons' places in it. The pain they share is the single delicate thread that keeps their marriage together.

Saleh is convinced of her sons' innocence. El-Gozlani is equally certain the younger two boys were made scapegoats for the actions of Mohammed, denying him grandchildren to keep him company as his days on earth wind to a close.

In the meantime, El-Gozlani sits and wonders where things went wrong while his wife rages against what she says is the injustice of it all.

"Mohammed, my eldest, was arrested before," she admits. "They said he had burned down video-rental shops. But I swear he did nothing! He was just hanging out with those who did. Anyway, he was sentenced to three years in jail. Then, the security police started paying us regular visits, so the Old Man" as she consistently refers to her husband "feared for himself and came here to stay away from trouble. I joined him only when he got sick. I don't know what happened. We're peaceful people by nature; we mind our own business."

Peace was shattered in 1996, when State Security officers picked up all three El-Gozlani boys in quick succession, taking them to Lazoughly and Gaber bin Heyan police stations for questioning. Eventually, the three were charged with membership in Al-Jihad, a banned terror group, and of plotting to bomb Khan El-Khalili.

The arrest, El-Gozlani says, "was a complete shock to me. It was Mohammed, my oldest son, who led the others down this path. He's always been labelled as a jihadi. He was a lawyer and wanted to join up with the human-rights lawyers [active in the Islamist movement]. I told him, 'No, stay away from trouble. I don't want you to be arrested or shot.'

"But he didn't listen. His two brothers, though, are innocent. They had no idea about the plot, they weren't involved in anything."

All three were tried by a military court. Mohammed and Essam were sentenced to 15-year terms, while Abdullah, the youngest, was declared innocent, then promptly detained again, the family alleges, because State Security feared he was a threat to national security. Mohammed and Essam were first sent to Cairo's maximum-security Tora prison, then transferred to the even tougher Abu Zaabal, where they've remained ever since....

Over the course of our conversations, it quickly became clear that El-Gozlani is a moderate Muslim with a sharp sense of humor. Niqab is not a fard (religious duty) unless the woman is a "femme fatale," he says with a smile, like one of the knockouts of yesteryear, "maybe Brigitte Bardot or Sophia Lauren," he explains with a chuckle. Educated in Catholic schools, El-Gozlani says he has nothing against other religions or peoples and absolutely rejects violence as a means of social or political change.

State Security already knew that, he says with confidence, and he claims not to mind their watchful eyes.

"Actually, the State Security officers are really quite nice and decent. I'm not being sarcastic I mean it. They have never done anything bad or demeaned us. They investigate people before they do anything, so they know that I'm against any kind of illegal act. Had I known that any one of my sons was following a different path, I would have been the first to stand against him. I would have forced him back onto the straight and narrow."

Saleh will hear none of that. The only path her boys have ever followed, she cuts in, is that of Allah.

"What crime did they commit? What sin?" Fury flashes in her eyes as she continues: "But what can I say when their own father claims it's all because Mohammed led the other boys astray? People are confused: None of my sons have done anything! They're being jailed because of their intentions, and that's unconstitutional. Even the judge who tried them said theirs was a case in which not a single bullet was fired. There's no evidence against them!

"My eldest son told them he's not a qiyadi (a leader in the jihad). He told the court, 'I'm a person who wants to build, not destroy. We have a tourist district in our neighborhood and we've never hurt anyone there. Why would we want to bomb the Khan?' "

As Saleh sees it, her son's only crime was being a committed Muslim, teaching local children and teenagers from a book called Raheeq El-Makhtoum. (The Sweetness of the End)....

Yemen terror suspects hunted down

Hunting for jihadists in Osama's old haunts. From UPI, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

Sanaa, Yemen, - Yemeni security forces are hunting terrorists suspected of involvement in the bombing of military targets in Sanaa in the past two days, reports said Monday.

The pro-government daily September 26 quoted an official source as saying police had identified the suspects after a thorough investigation, and were currently searching for them.

"The authorities will strike with an iron fist anyone that tries to destabilize the national security and civilian peace," the source added.

Two separate bomb attacks on military vehicles in the capital Sanaa wounded at least four people in the past two days, including an army
officer.

Saudi Arabia confirms the killing of 15 including al-Qaida leader

House of Saud Double Game update. From Arabic News, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

Saudi Arabia confirmed today officially that its forces killed Saud al-Oteibi who is believed to be the leader of al-Qaida organization in the kingdom, and the Moroccan Abdul Karim al-Majati, who suspected to be the master mind for Madrid explosions, during the clashes in the north west of Riyadh.

A statement by the ministry of the interior said that the results of the clashes which erupted last Sunday and lasted for three days increased to 15 after finding another body on the site.

The statement added that al-Oteibi was invested by the organization as a successor for Abdul Aziz al-Mugarran who was killed by the security forces in June 2004. The reports talked earlier about the killing of al-Oteibi and al-Majati but the Saudi forces did not confirm this officially.

The statement disclosed the names of 10 persons out of 15 killed in the fighting including Adam, the son of al-Majati, while the others carry the Saudi nationality. The statement added that the identity of the other killed persons will be announced "as soon as related measures are completed."

The statement did not mention the killing of the main person wanted by the authorities, Saleh al-Oufi, who is believed to be the leader of al-Qaida organization, that the kingdom announced his killing earlier. It is also not clear whether al-Oufi is among those whose names have not been disclosed yet.

Both al-Oteibi and al-Majati are considered on top of the list of the 25 most wanted by the Saudi authorities....

Sgt. Hasan Akbar wrote in his diary about his plans to kill American soldiers

Hasan Akbar update: "Diary: Soldier Wrote About Killing Buddies," from AP, with thanks to Michelle Malkin and Miira. In Onward Muslim Soldiers I wrote about Akbar's attack in conjunction with postings on Muslim bulletin boards in which the posters discussed joining the American military, going to the Middle East, and switching sides. That may not have been Akbar's plan from the beginning, but it does seem as if his attack was premeditated.

And again, the gorilla in the living room in this case is the loyalty of Muslim soldiers in the American military, particularly when the foe is Muslim and the Qur'an says that believers who kill other believers will land in hell (4:92).

Akbar, a Muslim convert, is accused of ambushing his fellow soldiers in their tents at an encampment in Kuwait in March 2003, during the opening days of the Iraq war. Two U.S. officers were killed.

Prosecutors have said Akbar told investigators he was worried that U.S. forces would harm fellow Muslims in the Iraq war. They are seeking a premeditated murder conviction, which carries a possible death penalty.

In the entry dated Feb. 4, 2003, Akbar referred to mistreatment by his fellow soldiers:

"I suppose they want to punk me or just humiliate me. Perhaps they feel that I will not do anything about that. They are right about that. I am not going to do anything about it as long as I stay here. But as soon as I am in Iraq, I am going to try and kill as many of them as possible."

Another entry said: "I will have to decide to kill my Muslim brothers fighting for Saddam Hussein or my battle buddies. I am hoping to get into a position so I don't have to take any crap from anyone anymore."

Elsewhere, he wrote: "I may not have killed any Muslims, but being in the Army is the same thing. I may have to make a choice very soon on who to kill."...

Car bombs kill at least 18 in Baghdad

What will be the outcome of the ongoing jihad in Iraq? Either a Sharia state or a jihadist movement that is too weak to institute one. From AP:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A pair of car bombs exploded near government offices in the Iraqi capital on Thursday, killing 18 and wounding three dozen, and insurgent attacks against the nation’s nascent security forces left at least eight others dead countrywide, officials said....

Near Kirkuk, seven gunmen riding in two vehicles fired on a police station shortly after dawn Thursday, killing five police officers and one civilian, police Brig. Sarhat Qadir said....

Militant group Ansar al-Sunnah claimed responsibility for the police attack near Kirkuk, saying in an Internet posting that its “knights of Islam” attacked “renegade policemen doing their morning training.” The claim couldn’t be independently verified.

Ansar al-Sunnah also said it had teamed up with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s al-Qaida in Iraq group for an attack a day earlier in Kirkuk — an unusual mention of cooperation among Iraq’s disparate and sometimes competing militant groups....

CAIR Texas Chapter Founder Found Guilty of Supporting Jihad Terror

This story doesn't mention it, but Ghassan Elashi founded the Texas chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). You know, the group that controls what Americans must say and not say about Islam. "Brothers Found Guilty of Terrorism Support," from AP, with thanks to LGF:

DALLAS - Three Dallas-area brothers were convicted Wednesday of supporting terrorism by funneling money to a high-ranking official in the militant Palestinian group Hamas.

Ghassan and Bayan Elashi and their company were found guilty of all 21 federal counts they faced: conspiracy, money laundering and dealing in property of a terrorist. Basman Elashi, who faced the same counts, was convicted of three counts of conspiracy but acquitted of the other charges.

The brothers, all born in the Middle East, were convicted the same day jurors began deliberating, after nearly two weeks of testimony, and are to be sentenced Aug. 1. Prosecutors said each count carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence....

Ghassan Elashi, free pending sentencing, left without commenting.

"It's hard times for people of Middle Eastern descent," said his lawyer, Tim Evans.

Yeah. I guess it was his "Middle Eastern descent" that made him decide to raise money for a group that celebrates the wanton murder of civilian non-combatants.

Prosecutors said the men tried to hide a $250,000 investment by Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzook in their Richardson computer company by making it look as if it came from his wife. Payments were allegedly funneled to Marzook in return for the investment.

Then-Attorney General John Ashcroft announced the Elashis' indictments in 2002, calling the defendants "terrorist money men."

Marzook lived in Louisiana and Virginia until 1995, when the federal government labeled him a terrorist, which made it illegal for anyone in the United States to have financial dealings with him. Marzook was deported and is believed living in Syria.

Prosecutors said the Elashis' computer company, InfoCom Corp., continued to make payments to Marzook's wife until 2001....

Defense lawyer Michael P. Gibson vowed to appeal and said prosecutors had sensationalized the case.

"There is no evidence that money ever funded any terrorism," Gibson said. "This is not a terrorism case, it's a financial crimes case."...

If the money went to Hamas, I am not moved if it was used to fund day-care centers.

China 'Crushing Muslim Uighurs'

It is not impossible that there is jihadist sentiment among the Uighurs, although the Chicoms may be exaggerating it for their own purposes. From Arab News, with thanks to the Norwegian Kafir:

BEIJING, China is directing a crushing campaign of religious repression against Muslim Uighurs in the name of anti-separatism and counter-terrorism, a report by two US-based human rights groups said yesterday.

"At its most extreme, peaceful activists practicing their religion in ways that the party and government deem unacceptable are arrested, tortured, and at times executed," said the 114-page report by Human Rights Watch and Human Rights in China.

"The harshest punishments are saved for those accused of involvement in so-called separatist activity, which officials increasingly term 'terrorism' for domestic and external consumption."

The report, "Devastating Blows: Religious Repression of Uighurs in Xinjiang", is based on previously undisclosed Communist Party and government documents.

It also draws on local regulations, official newspaper accounts, and
interviews conducted in Xinjiang.

"Uighurs are seen by Beijing as an ethno-nationalist threat to the Chinese state," said Sharon Hom, executive director of Human Rights in China.

"As Islam is perceived as underpinning Uighur ethnic identity, China has taken draconian steps to smother Islam as a means of subordinating Uighur nationalist sentiment."

The report claims to unveil for the first time "the complex architecture of law, regulation, and policy in Xinjiang that denies Uighurs religious freedom, and by extension freedom of association, assembly, and expression".

"Chinese policy and law enforcement stifle religious activity and thought even in school and at home," it said....

"The worldwide campaign against terrorism has given Beijing the perfect excuse to crack down harder than ever in Xinjiang," said Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch.

"Other Chinese enjoy a growing freedom to worship, but the Uighurs, like the Tibetans, find that their religion is being used as a tool of control."

The report said half of the inmates in Xinjiang labor camps have been jailed without trial or judicial review, for allegedly engaging in separatist activities.

At a more mundane level, Uighurs face strict prohibition on celebrating religious holidays, studying religious texts or showing their religion at state institutions including schools.

Uighur government officials or workers in state institutions or state-owned enterprises are even prohibited from growing beards, a long-held Muslim tradition, it said.

The Chinese government also vets those who can be Islamic clerics.

The rights groups called on the international community to press China to repeal the regulations and end policies and practices of discrimination against Uighurs.

China rebutted the accusations yesterday, and insisted separatists colluded with international terrorists.

"I want to point out that all tribes in Xinjiang enjoy all the civil rights under the constitution, including religious freedom," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.

"East Turkestan forces colluded with international terrorist groups inside and outside China to create large quantities of terrorist acts, threatening the peace and stability of China and the region."

Shoair Choudhury: The Muslim media's culture of death

Shoair Choudhury was editor of the Bangladeshi magazine Weekly Blitz when he was arrested and accused of, but not charged with, supporting the State of Israel. He awaits trial in Cell No.15 of the Dhaka Central jail in Bangladesh. Choudhury, perhaps the world's only Muslim Zionist, writes in the Jerusalem Post (thanks to Iris):

Today, I stand before you perhaps as a living contradiction: a Zionist, a defender of Israel, and a devout, practicing Muslim living in a Muslim country.

Like you I believe in the justice of the Zionist dream. I also acknowledge this historical reality: that the world has endeavored to crush that dream and, yes, even destroy the viability of the Jewish people.

At the same time I live in an environment where people believe just as passionately in an opposing view that sees Israel as illegitimate and the Jewish people as evil incarnate. Witness the recent statement of outgoing Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohammed that "Jews rule the world."

A true culture of peace is far more than the cessation of hostilities. It includes justice and tolerance for all people. It allows each person to have pride in one's own faith, while respecting the pride that courses through the veins of those who follow other paths to God.

In Israel, you have any number of viewpoints being aired in any number of forums. You have Likud; you have Labor. You have Shas; you have Shinui. You have Peace Now; you have the Temple Mount Faithful. You have The Jerusalem Post; you have Haaretz.

Most of the Muslim world takes your diversity as a sign of weakness and disunity, a lack of resolve; we know it is your great strength. It's messy, to be sure. But the fact that you do not feel it necessary to control the flow of information to your people means you respect them far more than we do ours - from whom we keep the news and forswear open dialogue, especially when it comes to Israel and the Jewish people....

Choudhury goes on to appeal to the tradition of tolerance in Muslim Bangladesh, and to describe Bangladesh's increasing radicalization.

Children of prominent Bangladeshis now attend the madrassas, where they learn Bangla (our vernacular), Arabic, Urdu, English and, in some places, French, as well as other advertised subjects. But they also learn the theory and practice of guerrilla warfare. Old hates are taught as faith, and they learn to revere Bin Laden, Yasser Arafat, Saddam Hussein and the shahids. Innocent Muslim children are lured toward "jihad," taught to hate Christians and Jews and encouraged to kill them and destroy their property as a religious duty.

It so distresses me that we are allowing these children, the future leaders of Bangladesh, to be brainwashed with hatred and extremism. These institutions are surely breeding thousands of Bin Ladens and Arafats for the future.

I have listened to this filth since childhood. When I grew up, I turned my eyes to the Bible and many other books, had Christian and Jewish friends, and now am convinced that what the mullahs taught was not merely false, but also evil. That is clear not only to me but to many others in my country.

For there to be any chance of lasting peace, this must change. How can we have peace when most Muslims still believe Israel was behind the September 11 attacks on the US? How can we have peace when Muslims see their own leaders refusing even to recognize Israel's right to exist? How can we have peace when we neither hear nor read anything to the contrary?...

Certainly, our initial steps are tentative ones, but they are yielding the early fruits of success. In Bangladesh, amid the monolithic anti-Israeli rant, a few voices are coming forward questioning the wisdom of that position. Quietly, a few brave souls are questioning what was previously unquestioned doctrine.

But our efforts are feeble and tentative compared to the great noise heard day after day from the other media giants. Muslims need to hear more voices of dissent, of reason, of decency. And a democracy like Bangladesh just might offer us a beachhead to join this epic battle....

The mosques, madrassas, and Muslim media have had absolute power over our hearts and minds for too long. Rather than ascribe evil intent - which there is among some; or ignorance -which also exists, let us pierce the iron curtain of ignorance and hate with the greatest power on earth: knowledge, information and the full and open exchange of ideas.

Indeed.

UK: Muslim preacher tells his flock to rob banks

Speaking of that law-abiding majority: "Great Britain: Radical Preacher Incites Muslims to Rob Banks," from AKI, with thanks to Twostellas:

London - A Jamaican-born militant Islamic preacher has been giving 'jihad' or holy war a new meaning, by reportedly urging impoverished Muslims to take matters into their own hands and wage war on infidel institutions such as banks - by robbing them. "Are you poor? Don't cry about it, but wage jihad, also by holding up banks," London-based Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal, a well-known supporter of al-Qaeda, urged the faithful in a sermon. A report on the sermon was published by website globalterroralert.com

"Let's speak about jihad and how to obtain the spoils. Many Muslims complain about not having the financial means to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca," said al-Faysal. "Many are also sad because the women they want to marry rejects them because they are not wealthy enough," he added.

"Do you, like many, cry because you are poor? If so, wage jihad! Look at all the money stashed away in Swiss banks. There's bank in Brunei where King Fahd has deposited 30 million dollars," al-Faysal continued.

"If you are suffering from poverty, wage jihad and see the money pour into your hands," he exhorted.

Al-Faysal, who studied Sharia law in Saudi Arabia, has preached a number of sermons considered to have incited Muslim hatred towards Jews and Christians. The Simon Wiesenthal Centre has asked Britain to expel him on the grounds that his presence in Britain is a threat to public order.

This is not really a new interpretation of jihad. Plundering the infidels has been part of jihad from the beginning.

Killer jailed over poison plot

8 were acquitted, one was convicted. From the BBC, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

An al-Qaeda suspect who stabbed to death a policeman has been jailed for 17 years for plotting to spread ricin and other poisons on the UK's streets.

Kamel Bourgass, 31, is already serving a life term after being convicted of murdering Detective Constable Stephen Oake during a 2003 raid in Manchester.

Four other men were cleared last week of taking part in a conspiracy. A second trial has been abandoned.

Anti-terror chief Peter Clarke said a "real and deadly threat" was averted.

The BBC's Home Editor Mark Easton says the authorities in Britain believe there was a plan to co-ordinate chemical and biological attacks across Europe.

In London targets were to include the underground.

And in Paris the authorities suspect the Metro and Eiffel Tower could have been attacked.

In a statement, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Clarke said: "The impact on the public, if he [Bourgass] had succeeded in what he wanted to do, is incalculable."

And, paying tribute to DC Oake, he went on: "He died protecting the public from a vicious terrorist.

"It would be hard to underestimate the fear and disruption this plot could have caused across the country."

Cyanide poison

Anti-terrorist squad officers found a suspected chemical weapons laboratory when they raided a flat in Wood Green, north London, in January 2003.

They discovered castor oil beans - the raw material for ricin - along with equipment needed to produce it and recipes for ricin, cyanide, botulinum and other poisons, along with instructions for
explosives.

After the raid police launched a nationwide search to find Bourgass, who fled from London to Manchester, where he was captured on 14 January 2003.

It was there, during a desperate bid to get away, that he stabbed DC Oake to death with a kitchen knife and injured four other officers.

In June 2004 Bourgass was jailed for life for DC Oake's murder and told he must serve at least 20 years behind bars....

In his statement, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Clarke added: "We must also remember that this case was about a conspiracy between a small group of terrorists.

"I would like to make it absolutely clear, as I have in the past, that the police service knows that they are not representative of the overwhelming majority of the law-abiding Muslim community who have stated their total rejection of violence and terrorism."

Well, since the "overwhelming majority of the law-abiding Muslim community" have clearly "stated their total rejection of violence and terrorism," I guess that settles it then...but I do wonder: remember the openly pro-Osama, pro-jihad terror group Al-Muhajiroun? Before they disbanded, they were identified here as the UK's largest Muslim group. So what is Clarke's evidence for this "overwhelming majority"?

8 of 9 Acquitted in U.K. Ricin Trial

From AP, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

LONDON - Britain's yearlong case against nine North Africans accused of plotting to spread the deadly toxin ricin in the English capital resulted in only one conviction - an Algerian linked to Al Qaeda - with eight others either not brought to trial or acquitted, according to court documents released Wednesday.

Britain had forbidden reporting on the case until all trials were complete, and a judged lifted the prohibition after a court found four of the accused, all Algerians, not guilty Friday and dropped charges against four - three Algerians and a Libyan - on Wednesday.

The only conviction was against Algerian Kamel Bourgass, 29, who was sentenced in June to life in prison for stabbing a policeman to death during a raid in northwest England on Jan. 14, 2003.

When arrested, Bourgass had been on the run since another raid on a London apartment about a week earlier, where officers found recipes for ricin and other poisons.

Bourgass also was convicted on a charge of conspiracy to commit a public nuisance "by the use of poisons and explosives to cause disruption, fear or injury."

The conspiracy charge also had been leveled against the four other Algerians who were cleared Friday. Mouloud Sihali, David Aissa Khalef, Sidali Feddag and Mustapha Taleb had been charged after their fingerprints allegedly were found in the house where the toxin recipes were found.

Gareth Pierce, an attorney for three of the cleared men, said the charges were politically motivated.

"There was a great deal that this country was led to believe that in part caused it to go to war on Iraq, erected on the basis of an alleged major conspiracy involving ricin," Pierce said.

Ricin is derived from the castor bean plant and is one of the world's deadliest toxins. It has been linked in the past to Usama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terror network and Iraq. It has no known antidote and kills cells by preventing them from making proteins.

"This was a hugely serious plot because what it had the potential to do was to cause real panic, fear, disruption and possibly even death to the public," Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard's Anti-Terrorist Branch, said Wednesday after news of the verdict was released....

In the London raid, police found recipes and ingredients for poisons including ricin, cyanide and botulinum, and the blueprint for a bomb.

Although no ricin was found, government scientists said the evidence showed attempts had been made to make the poison. Scientists who followed the recipes produced enough ricin and cyanide to kill hundreds of people, prosecutors said.

"These were no playtime recipes," prosecutor Nigel Sweeney said in the trial. "These are recipes that experts give credence to and experiments show work. They are scientifically viable and potentially deadly."

The raid was staged at a time when British authorities were warning of a serious threat of terrorist attack, but the officer's killing was the first reported fatality in Britain linked to terrorism since the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States....

Spencer: Muslim Feminism?

Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer discusses the thought of Muslim feminist Musdah Mulia in FrontPage today:

The Toronto Star last week ran a gushing profile of Indonesian Muslim feminist Musdah Mulia, exulting that she “blames Muslims, not Islam, for gender inequity” in the Islamic world. This is closely related to a large-scale and continually growing problem: analysts attribute the actions of the global terrorist movement to a hijacking of Islam, without caring or daring to look squarely at what exactly it is about Islam that gives rise to fanaticism and violence.

Musdah Mulia, according to journalist Haroon Siddiqui, “wears the hijab but says it’s not Islamically mandatory, a position augmented by a big majority of Muslim women in Indonesia, indeed around the world, who don’t don it and feel no less Muslim.” Neither Siddiqui nor Mulia mention the Islamic tradition in which the Prophet Muhammad commands that “when a woman reaches the age of menstruation, it does not suit her that she displays her parts of body except…face and hands.” Nor do they mention, while noting that Mulia “wants polygamy banned,” that the Qur’an tells men to “marry women of your choice, two or three or four” (4:3).

Musdah Mulia, exults Siddiqui, “is no Westernized secular feminist. She is an Islamic scholar, with a PhD from the Institute of Islamic Studies” in Jakarta. “She teaches there part-time but her day job is director of research at the ministry of religious affairs, from where she needles the government. When her bosses issued a white paper last year updating religious laws, she wrote a 170-page critique that annoyed them and the conservatives.”

Mulia was not always such a gadfly. She is the “granddaughter of a cleric, went to an Islamic boarding school and grew up in a strict environment.” She offers one stinging memory of her childhood: “I could not laugh hard. My parents did not allow me to befriend non-Muslims. If I did, they ordered me to shower afterwards.” But then she traveled to “other Muslim nations” and realized that “Islam had many faces. It opened my eyes. Some of what my grandfather and the ulema (clerics) had taught me was right but the rest was myth.”

So what led to her transformation? It turns out that her parents, her grandfather, the clerics, everyone had Islam all wrong, and she, Mulia, had gotten hold of the real Islam: “the more she studied Islam, the more she found it modern and radical.”

So the hijab, the burka, the chador, the polygamy, the divorce that the man achieves by uttering a phrase three times, the unequal inheritance laws, the inability of women in many Muslim countries to leave the house without a male relative as escort, the ban in some Muslim countries on women even driving — all this is now, according to Mulia, un-Islamic. After all, Islam, she says, “had liberated women 1,400 years ago, well ahead of the West.”

The claim that Muhammad actually improved the lot of women is curious. It is based, apparently, on the supposedly terrible position of women in pagan Arab society. But did those conditions really improve with the coming of Islam? Even Aisha, Muhammad’s beloved child bride, said: “I have not seen any woman suffering as much as the believing women.”

So many fighters for women’s rights in Islam are like Mulia: they cannot admit to others or apparently to themselves that Islam itself contains the texts that are responsible for the continuing mistreatment of women: not only in the Qur’an, but in the “authentic” Hadith, and in the records of Muhammad’s treatment of and attitude toward women in the Sira. It is much the same with all too many Islamic reformers: they speak blandly of how the jihadists, or terrorists, or Wahhabis, or whatever is the villain group du jour, have hijacked Islam, without offering any coherent program for converting all these multitudes of violent misunderstanders of Islam worldwide into peaceful, tolerant pluralists.

The Islamic attitude toward women is properly reflected in the difficult position of women throughout Muslim lands — a position that is difficult to the precise extent that any country’s legal system approximates the theoretical ideal of Islamic law, the Sharia. Look at Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Sudan. It is only in those Muslim countries that are the least Muslim, either because they have managed to constrain Islam from within (Turkey, Tunisia) or because Islam has been constrained by outside powers that women have had a chance for a more decent existence.

Mulia does not explain how the “cultural traditions and interpretations” to which she objects arose in Islamic countries. What molds the “cultural traditions and interpretations” of Muslims if it isn’t Islam? After what did Muslims in Saudi Arabia and Iran model their laws and fashion their mores besides Islam? Beyond the basics of faith, Mulia says, most laws affecting women are man-made: “none of it came as a fax from heaven.” But those who legislate in Saudi Arabia, Iran, the Sudan, and Pakistan think that they are following a mandate from heaven. For what after all is the Qur’an itself, in the Islamic view of it as a series of dictations by Allah to Muhammad, if not a “fax from heaven”?

Like so many other self-proclaimed Islamic reformers, Mulia seems to be on the side of the angels, but she is actually helping to promote confusion about Islam. Ibn Warraq put it well: “There are moderate Muslims, but Islam itself is not moderate.” Too many Muslim reformers think they must defend Islam at all costs, whatever mental contortions they have to perform in order to do so — even if it means glossing over and refusing to face the elements of Islam that jihad terrorists use to justify their actions. It is only “bad Muslims,” we’re told — Wahhabis, or extremists, or what have you — who are responsible. Yet these very same “bad Muslims” seem to be those who most fervently accept, in every area of life, the actual teachings of Islam. The more relaxed, unobservant, and above all non-literal minded the Believer, the better his treatment of women and his commitment to pluralism and peaceful coexistence with non-Muslims.

That is something that even Ms. Mulia cannot hide from forever.

Kidnapped American in Iraq Shown on Video

From AP, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- An Indiana man, scared and clutching his passport to his chest, was shown at gunpoint on a videotape aired by Al-Jazeera television Wednesday, two days after he was kidnapped from a water treatment plant near Baghdad. The station said he pleaded for his life and urged U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq.

In LaPorte, Ind., a yellow ribbon was tied around a tree outside Jeffrey Ake's one-story brick house, and an American flag fluttered on a pole from the home. The U.S. Embassy said the man on the video appeared to be Ake, a contract worker who was kidnapped around noon Monday.

The video came on a day of bloody attacks, as insurgents blew up a fuel tanker in Baghdad, killed 12 policemen in Kirkuk, and drove a car carrying a bomb into a U.S. convoy, killing five Iraqis and wounding four U.S. contract workers on the capital's infamous airport road....

Al-Qaida in Iraq said in an Internet statement that it carried out Wednesday's deadly car bombing, which the military said damaged two sport utility vehicles and five civilian cars. The explosion left charred and burning rubble strewn across the highway.

"A member of our martyrdom seekers' brigade mingled in an American military convoy at the airport road and exploded himself, destroying the infidels," said the statement, which could not be independently verified.

The car bomb was among four explosions in central Baghdad early Wednesday, the military said. The second was a car bombing that didn't cause any damage, and the third was a "secondary explosion" nearby, the military said....

The Bush administration also moved Wednesday to freeze the finances of a Jordanian it says has provided financial support to al-Zarqawi. The U.S. government contends that Bilal Mansur al-Hiyari became acquainted with al-Zarqawi in Afghanistan in 1989.

And in Iraq, the U.S. military announced the April 6 arrest of Walid Jassim Muhammad Jurmat, an alleged member of the Saraya Al Jihad group, which has ties to al-Zarqawi. In a statement, the military said he was wanted for his connection to suicide car bombs, weapons and ammunition trafficking, as well as the organization of insurgent supply routes in and out of Ramadi.

Following up on clashes in the remote town of Qaim, on Iraq's border with Syria, the U.S. military said it had killed some 30 insurgents since Monday. The clashes included three car bombs - one using a fire truck - that tried unsuccessfully to ram into a Marine outpost in the city....

Why is Iraq proving so difficult to pacify? Why, indeed, were our forces not widely welcomed as liberators? The answers have to do with Islam -- which means that the State Department, the Administration, and the learned analysts are largely ignoring them.

Osama escaped through bribery

The head of German intelligence confirms what had already been widely reported: "Bin Laden Bribed Afghan Militias, German Official Says," from the New Duranty Times, with thanks to EPG:

BERLIN,- The head of the German intelligence agency, in an interview published here today, said that Osama bin Laden had been able to elude capture after the American invasion of Afghanistan by paying bribes to the Afghan militias delegated the task of finding him.

"The principal mistake was made already in 2001, when one wanted bin Laden to be apprehended by the Afghan militias in Tora Bora," the intelligence official, August Hanning, said in an interview with the German business newspaper Handelsblatt.

"There, bin Laden could buy himself free with a lot of money," Mr. Hanning said.

A spokesman for Mr. Hanning confirmed the accuracy of the German newspaper's account of the interview. She said that Afghan forces informed the leader of Al Qaeda that they knew his whereabouts and that he would be arrested, but they allowed him safe passage in exchange for a bribe.

So Osama can bribe them, but for a cool $25 million, we can't. I wonder if anyone in the Pentagon is thinking about why that might be. Maybe the New Duranty Times should describe the money Osama paid to the Afghans as more of a "working relationship based on common religious principles" than a "bribe."

In the past, other officials, including Gen. Tommy Franks, the commander of American forces in Afghanistan, have acknowledged that Afghan militias who fought on the side of the invasion coalition had allowed wanted Taliban and Al Qaeda officials to get away, but Mr. Hanning is the most senior intelligence official to suggest that Mr. bin Laden himself was among them.

Military experts in the past have also raised questions about the practice of relying on Afghan militias during the hunt for senior Qaeda and Taliban figures, saying that once the Taliban fell, the militias became more interested in gaining power in Afghanistan's many tribal regions than in fulfilling American political goals.

During the presidential campaign, John Kerry, the Democratic nominee, frequently criticized the Bush administration for what he called "outsourcing" the hunt for Mr. bin Laden, which reached its most active phase after the fall of the Taliban government when American and Afghan troops attacked Qaeda hideouts in the Tora Bora mountains on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

This "outsourcing" is another example of our military not having a clue about jihadist motivation or loyalties.

Defenders of the administration have responded that using local troops to fight al Al Qaeda and the Taliban was aimed both at minimizing American casualties and preventing the conflict from becoming an "American war."

But in the interview published today, Mr. Hanning was critical of that strategy as it applied to the goal of capturing or killing Mr. bin Laden, who, he said, was able to insulate himself inside a protective network of supporters after the early efforts to arrest or kill him failed.

"Since then, he has been able to create his own infrastructure in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area and has won many friends from the tribal groups there," Mr. Hanning said.

How hard was it for him to win those friends? Did they just love him for his money, or was their a small matter of their sharing the same view of the world, the same religious outlook, and the same goals?

The Fallacy of Extremism In Any Religion Or Culture Watch?

On March 11, I posted an email exchange with a Muslim gentleman who asked me if I "seek to promote understanding of Islam as a universal message for mankind, or perpetuate the current climate of fear and potential backlash among non-Muslims particularly in the U.S. whose perception of Islam and Muslims is molded by media, fanatical christian extremism, and anti-terrorism thinking." I asked him if those were my only two choices. He has written back a few times, and a few minutes ago I received this from him. He trots out some familiar tu-quoque arguments, as if the presence of evil outside Islam justifies evil perpetrated by Muslims. My replies are interspersed.

Sir:

I am sure this will probably the last exchange between us. I have
visited your site again, hoping to find in addition to the "jihadist"
orientation at least some reference to other "extremist" thought.

I did not see any reference to the recent capture of Eric Randolph -
the domestic terrorist who has admitted to the Atlanta Olympics
bombing and host of other domestic terror acts. Nor do I see any
reference to the so-called Christian Identity movement, which some
pondits state may be using Christianity to flavor white supremist
doctrine.

Look again at the masthead. This is "Jihad Watch," not "Christian Identity Watch."

Nor is the Christian Identity movement anywhere near the global threat that the jihad is. Nor is "Christian Identity" anywhere near the mainstream of Christianity, as the jihad is mainstream in Islam.

Or maybe you would mention the Jewish extremists who demostrated against the recent plans of the Sharon govenment to withdraw from the settlements in Palestine.

Look again at the masthead. This is "Jihad Watch," not "Jewish extremist watch."

Anyway, when these "Jewish extremists" start beheading Muslims in large numbers, write me again.

If I had noticed these references or similar references to extremist ideologies, then I could feel that there may be a desire to bring to light the fallacy of extremism in any religion or culture. Unfortunately, however that is not the case.

Correct. This is "Jihad Watch," not "The Fallacy of Extremism In Any Religion Or Culture Watch." Start such a group if you think there is a need, but any reasonable person will see that jihad is a far greater global threat than the other examples of "extremism" you adduce.

Yes, there are problems among the Muslims, just as there are problems among other religo-social groups in the world. And as Islam does have the solution to all the problems of society and mankind, there are those who, just like any other religion manipulate or mis-interpret religious tenets to secure specific interests usually at the consequence of other innocent people.

So you say. I do not share the view that the institution of a legal system that mandates stoning, amputation, and discrimination against non-Muslims and women is "the solution to all the problems of society and mankind."

However, Islam will be corrected by the Muslims using Islam - not re-defined by other. The misuse of the foundation of Jihad in Islam is being addressed and will be corrected throughout the Muslim world with Allah's help and the beauty of Islam will shine again to benefit the world.

Fine. Correct it, and I will applaud you.

But I do not have confidence in the approach that you are taking simply because it appears to perpetuate the paranoia or fear that Americans have been confronted with over history. It's the Muslim's turn now.

That's a lot of hooey. The Muslim's turn for what? Muslims have it better in the US than in many Muslim countries. They have full civil rights. They are not persecuted. Allegations to the contrary are paranoid fantasies, not borne out by the facts.

I pray Allah that there will be understanding among all peoples, not only the correction of extremist Muslims, but also correction of extremist Jews, Christians, Hindus and other groups who use spirituality to breed hatred. This is not God's way, as I am sure you will agree.

I trust you will address this same message to Omar Bakri, late of Al-Muhajiroun, who held a seminar last year entitled "The Obligation of Inciting Religious Hatred."

Maybe if I work to understand Islam better from the authentic sources and help spread that understanding among Muslims and non-Muslims and you work to understand your beliefs and help to bring about constuctive dialog, then perhaps Almighty God, in His infinite wisdom will foster peace among peoples as He sees fit.

Mmm-hmmm. I think if you look honestly at those authentic sources of Islam, you will find that they don't preach the message of peace you seem to think they do.

I pray for guidance to us all to the best in seeking God's pleasure in our lives and success in the hereafter.

Likewise.

Best regards and peace to you,

And to your spirit.

RS

"Washington hasn't leveled with us about the full scope and depth of the Islamic threat"

From an interview with Paul Sperry, author of Infiltration, in FrontPage, with thanks to Nosy:

FP: What inspired you to write Infiltration?

Sperry: My children. I wrote it in the hopes that my kids and their kids won't have to live under terror alerts. Washington hasn't leveled with us about the full scope and depth of the Islamic threat not only inside America but inside the government, just as it hasn't leveled with us about the true nature of Islam. We've been lulled into a false sense of security, and we're just inviting another 9/11. So I wrote this book to expose the elaborate fraud that's been orchestrated by our leaders in the Washington establishment and the leaders in the Muslim establishment, who are playing us all for suckers. Infiltration is 350 pages of cold hard politically incorrect facts the American people haven't heard since 9/11 and deserve to hear without the PC spin from Washington. At first some will feel mugged by the truth, but then it will make you hustle-proof about the Islamic threat, which is my goal -- to simply arm you with the facts. And unlike The 9/11 Report, I name names and hold people accountable, from Norman "No Profiling" Mineta and his civil-rights lawyer Sam Podberesky to Democratic congressman John Conyers to GOP powerbroker Grover Norquist. This is the 9/11 Report the 9/11 Commission was afraid to publish.

FP: Can you tell us a bit about how Islamic extremists disguise themselves as "moderates" and infiltrate our institutions?

Sperry: Well, we all know about the Muslim leaders who talk a good patriotic game and get into the White House, including those who have gone from the White House to the Big House like Abdurahman Alamoudi, who publicly condemned terrorism and privately complained to Muslim audiences that bin Laden hadn't killed enough Americans; and Ali al-Timimi, the supposedly peace-loving and respected religious leader who's now on trial here for inciting anti-American violence and praising the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster as a "good omen" for Islam. But it's much more than that. It's about Islamic spying and espionage, something Washington has yet to come to grips with in this war....

FP: Tell us what conclusions you have reached from your study of Islam.

Sperry: It is a religion of peace -- for Muslims. Everyone else is marked for punishment, as I explain in the chapter "Top 10 Myths of Islam," which your readers should read if they read no other chapter in Infiltration. Their holy book reads like a manual of war, and I've read two translations of it, including all the footnotes and commentary by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, the most widely respected Sunni translator and interpreter. Another big lie we hear told out of Washington is that the Muslim terrorists are "perverting" the teachings of the Quran, as if they haven't read their holy book. No, they've memorized it, and they're getting all this terrible stuff right out of it -- the violent jihad, self-immolation, even the beheadings we've seen in Iraq -- it's all right there in the Qur'an. It's our leaders in Washington prosecuting this war on Islamic terror who haven't read the Qur'an, violating the first principle of war -- know thy enemy and what motives him.

FP: Well Mr. Sperry, the bottom line is that we must also be shrewd. It would be absurd and self-destructive of us to wage war on the religion of Islam. That means going to war with 1 billion people, and this is foolish because there are surely many enlightened Muslims who are not interested in terrorism or extremism.

I am not saying that we ignore what is in the Qur’an and put our heads in the sand. We need to be honest with ourselves about the violent teachings within Islam and the consequences of those teachings. But there are many Muslims who subordinate those teachings for the larger goal of peace -- and those Muslims are our priceless allies....I am just saying that it is crucial for us to support and work with Muslims who are genuinely against terror and extremism.

It is indeed crucial for us to support and work with Muslims who are genuinely against terror and extremism. But "genuinely" is the key word in that sentence. Many times I have documented here that many much-balleyhooed "moderate" individuals and groups actually are not at all willing "to be honest...about the violent teachings within Islam and the consequences of those teachings." That in itself casts doubt, if not on their moderation, then at least on their usefulness in stemming the tide of jihadist sentiment in the Islamic community.

Now having said that, yes, naturally, as you point out, there is a dark side of Islam. In Infiltration you point to all the tricks that many apologists use to try to cover this up. You call them "white lies." Can you give us some examples?

Sperry: Muslim leaders play an elaborate word game to hide the dark side of Islam to gain wider acceptance in Washington. They condemn all acts of "terrorism against innocent people," but they don't necessarily view Americans or Israelis as "innocent" or acts of violence against us as "terrorism." Many secretly view it simply as justice. You'll never hear them condemn "all acts of violence against non-Muslims." So you have to carefully parse their words -- they're very slick. They also try to peddle this silly notion that jihad means internal struggle against sin -- such as quitting smoking -- and not warfare. And that the beheadings we've seen in Iraq aren't even remotely justified by the Quran. Both claims are demonstrably false, as I document in the "Top 10 Myths of Islam." If you are confused about the true meaning of the Qur’an, this chapter will be a real eye-opener for you.

FP: So yes, while we must support moderate and patriotic Muslims, we cannot deny that there is a serious problem in the Muslim community. . . .

Sperry: Make no mistake: INFILTRATION exposes terrorists and the people who support terrorists, who just happen to be in the Muslim community. Not the Italian community. Not the Sikh community. The Muslim community. No one wants to heap scorn on Muslims, but the unpleasant truth is they gave far more aid and comfort to the hijackers than Washington let on. They got help in seven mosques coast to coast, and some Muslims helped them even though they knew what they were up to. Some of the hijackers were welcomed and wined and dined as if they were celebrities. If we keep sweeping these unpleasant truths under the politically correct carpet, we're just inviting another 9/11. We have to penetrate the terror support network that just happens to be operating within the Muslim community, and permanently dismantle it.

FP: What about these Muslim pressure groups that form a protective shield around militant Islam?

Sperry: Yes, for Heaven's sake, sever all official ties to the Council on American-Islamic Relations and other terror-linked groups. We're just legitimizing and providing the enemy cover and protection by continuing to allow them a forum. Yet the FBI director has included CAIR in permanent working groups on Muslim rights, where they're allowed to mau-mau the FBI about its investigations of terror suspects in the Muslim community. Hello?! This is a group that's had terrorists on its payroll! And not only that, my investigation found that CAIR is bankrolled by two Arab governments tied to the Taliban and 9/11, yet it claims it gets no foreign support. In fact, the United Arab Emirates actually holds the deed to CAIR's headquarters located here in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol, as documented in the chapter, "The Dark Lair of CAIR." Your readers can check out the deed on sperryfiles.com. So you can't trust what CAIR says -- so why is anyone in Washington still listening to it, let alone letting it lecture us about how to run our terrorism investigations? And why in the world are we letting CAIR, a group trying to Islamize the American workplace, partner up with the EEOC to
solicit discrimination lawsuits from Muslims? That's right, EEOC has even sent its lawyers into mosques to solicit workplace-bias complaints, as detailed in the chapter, "Wudu in the Restroom."

Mr. Sperry, would you mind giving Rich Lowry at National Review a call? We have the number around here somewhere...

FP: But what can we as citizens do?

Sperry: You recall the NIMBY movement -- Not In My Backyard? Well, we need to apply it to the Islamic threat. Find out what kind of Islamic schools and mosques are being developed in your neighborhood. Check out the trustees, the preachers, the teachers. Are they Islamists? Are there any terrorist connections? Pull the county land records. Do Saudi-backed entities such as the North American Islamic Trust own the deed? Are any of the trustees members of the Muslim American Society, the U.S. front for the notorious Muslim Brotherhood? If so, lobby the local zoning boards to block their development. This is a hardline Wahhabi mosque that may serve as a base of operations for the bad guys. Arm yourself and your neighbors with the facts, and fight. Organize. Contact your local media. If protesting doesn't work, use local ordinances to block them.

Does the proposed minaret exceed height restrictions? Will the parking plan cause traffic congestion? Is the drainage plan to code? What textbooks are used at the schools? Alert the state accreditation boards. Also, notify local law enforcement and the FBI of any suspicious activity at the mosque or school. Are preachers inciting violence? For instance, there's a mosque going up in my own community in Fairfax County that I found out is tied to a Pakistani terrorist who gunned down CIA employees last decade. It took just a few days to look up the land records, and then research the trustees and find the connection....

Read it all.

15-year old Suicide Bomber Stopped by Israeli Soldiers

Those bad old Israelis have saved another child suicide bomber. "Another boy-bomber caught at Hawara," from the Jerusalem Post, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

A 15-year-old Palestinian carrying five pipe bombs was arrested by soldiers at the Hawara checkpoint outside of Nablus when he attempted to detonate one of the bombs near them.

Soldiers' suspicions were aroused when the youth reached the checkpoint wearing a coat despite the hot weather. The soldiers stopped him and asked him to remove his coat; he lit a match in an attempt to detonate one of the bombs but dropped it when a soldier aimed his weapon at him. Inside the coat soldiers found four other pipe bombs. The youth was handed over to the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) for questioning and sappers blew up the bombs.

The checkpoint has been the scene of numerous attempts to either smuggle bombs through to others waiting on the other side or blow up near soldiers.

Three Misunderstanders of Islam Indicted on Terror Charges in the US

Ibrahim Hooper, call your office: more Muslims keep thinking that Islam is commanding them to plot acts of violence. What are you going to do about it? (Sarcasm aside, I keep repeating this theme lately to emphasize the connection between the Qur'an and Islamic teachings and these acts of terrorism. The time for bland denials that Islam actually teaches Muslims to make war on unbelievers is long past. Now it is time to face the facts and act accordingly.) "Three Indicted on Terror Charges in U.S.," from AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

A four-count indictment unsealed Tuesday accuses Dhiran Barot, Nadeem Tarmohammed and Qaisar Shaffi of scouting the New York Stock Exchange and Citicorp Building in New York, the Prudential Building in Newark, N.J., and the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in the District of Columbia.

The three men, already in custody in England, were charged with three conspiracy counts and providing material support to terrorists.

U.S. officials claim that Barot is a senior al-Qaida figure, known variously as Abu Eisa al-Hindi, Abu Musa al-Hindi and Issa al-Britani, who scouted prominent financial targets in the United States at the behest of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Prosecutors say the men conducted surveillance on the buildings between August 2000 and April 2001, including video surveillance in Manhattan around April 2001.

Fitzgerald: Yes, yes to the Americans, No, no to Islam

Jihad Watch advisory board Veep Hugh Fitzgerald on the situation in Iraq. If you read no other article today, or even this week or this month, read this one:

From Anthony Shadid's story in the Washington Post about the demonstration:

"The cheers yesterday were for Sadr, interspersed with denunciations of the United States, Isarel and Hussein.

"No, no to the Americans," the crowd shouted. "Yes yes to Islam."

"We're defending our country, our people, our sacred places and our beliefs," said Ali Abboud, 21, standing atop a fence and waving an Iraqi flag. "We have one set of beliefs and the Americans have another. We won't let them stay."

The Administration, and some (but not all) of the enthusiasts about the current policy in Iraq (which now include those who were critical of the first stage of the Iraq war -- the sensible part) apparently cannot bring themselves to distinguish between disarming Iraq (legitimate and necessary) and the subsequent "Light-Unto-the-Muslim-Nations Project” that some in the Administration have convinced themselves will work — without much discussion or analysis of what Islam teaches or even of what Iraq itself is like. What studies convinced them that Iraq was just the place to build a nation-state? This reveals the refusal, or perhaps inability, to take an ideology seriously (unless it is called "Communism" or "Nazism"), as if the invocation of the magic word "religion" is a kind of apotropaic talisman, used to ward off the "evil" of critical scrutiny by Infidels.

Or what is worse, there is occasional reliance on learning just a bit about Islam from those who are apologists for Islam. A taxonomy of the four main groups of apologists is useful.

The first group consists of those born into Islam, but are unstated dissidents. Although they recognize the source of the problems, they continue, out of filial piety, or embarrassment, to refuse to state publicly what it is about Islam that causes Muslims to behave as they do, to perceive the world as they do, and to conceive of non-Muslims as they do.

The second group, the smallest, consists of Muslim "converts." They are, in the main, bizarre specimens whose own knowledge of Islam is imperfect, and who, if they came to Islam as the Last Stop on their Spiritual Search, are ill-inclined to get back on the bus: they will remain, from here on out, with Islam -- even if it is not the real Islam, not mainstream Islam, but an imaginary, willed construct, possibly what they encountered at a particular moment, in a particular place, where all the stars were in propitious alignment (say, in Bosnia in 1990, with local Muslims, already modified in outlook by decades of living in and around powerful non-Muslims, favorably inclined toward their recent American saviors). These carriers of My Own Private Islam, while comical, if they are able to persuade others that they (new to it, but sudden experts) "know all about Islam," can be a menace. And of course if the convert in question is given to portentousness, being a "Muslim convert" at this point may make one somehow more interesting, to oneself and to others. Or at least that is the expectancy and hope. Sometimes it works.

A third group consists of non-Muslim students of the Middle East who, through financial dependence and hope of future gain, have been bought, directly or indirectly, by Arab and therefore Muslim interests. If someone is paying for your well-endowed bottom to sit on a well-endowed chair, or has supplied the wherewithal for your Center for Muslim-Christian thisandthat, how likely is it that you will produce books that do not pooh-pooh the Jihad, but instead provide a coffee-table guide to Islam, heavy on the illustrations of ravishing mosques, tulip tiles, and turbaned Turks or gurgling fountains of Guadalquivir water in Córdoba?

A fourth group consists of those who know better, but have decided that they cannot tell the full truth about Islam because it "just won't work," so we have to pretend that it is otherwise. They shun Ibn Warraq and Ali Sina and plump up those whom, we allow ourselves to believe, at least are "moderates" who can be enrolled in the fight against the worst -- i.e., Wahhabi -- Muslims. But of course this does nothing to prevent the kind of folly we now see in Iraq, which is based entirely on the premise that the problem is not Islam, but only "Wahhabi" Islam, and that "democracy" is the cure for what ails Islam, and, and...."

A fifth group consists of those who (the very nice James Woolsey, for example) who have learned all about Islam from one man -- Bernard Lewis, who is Never Wrong (except on the Oslo Accords, except on his proposal for his friend Prince Hassan to become the new king of Iraq, except for his denial of the Armenian genocide, and except for his belief in the entire Iraq Light-Unto-the-Muslim-Nations venture, which J. B. Kelly tried to explain would not and could not work). They ought to be aware that Lewis has never made dhimmitude the object of study. His analysis of anti-Jewish activity in the Muslim world treats it almost exclusively as an import from the West, as if without European antisemitism the 1350-year treatment of Jews, as of other non-Muslims, as dhimmis was irrelevant. He has not helped Bat Ye'or, and finds her too "polemical" -- whatever that means. He is internally self-contradictory, and constantly. How can one who claims that there is really nothing wrong with Islam then worry aloud about the "islamization of Europe" which will be "inevitable" well "before the end of the century"? If Islam does not imply all sorts of grim things, then what's the worry?

But Lewis is, compared to those who have attacked him -- Said, Esposito, half of MESA Nostra -- so impressive that many tend to overlook those personal and professional ties (being lionized in Istanbul can go to anyone's head) that have caused him to mischaracterize Turkish treatment of non-Muslims, not least the Armenians, but also, for example, Jews in the Ottoman Empire (see, e.g., Joseph Hacker). In his mass-market survey "The Middle East," exactly 3 small paragraphs out of 400 pages are devoted to the treatment of non-Muslims under Islam. Two of the paragraphs are exculpatory.

Those are the main groups of apologists, or semidemihemi-apologists, or apologists who do not even know they are part-apologists but who refuse to see or delineate the full truth, or to put proper emphasis on certain aspects of Islam.

So here is what we now have:

Under Saddam the demonstrations organized by the government were called to denounce the demonized "United States, Israel, and Iran." The United States and Israel then represented the Infidel enemy -- that is, the most powerful or immediate parts of that world. Iran represented Shi'a Islam, enemy not only to Ba'athist Arabs but, underneath the Ba'athist veil, to the Sunni Arabs who used Ba'athism as the ideology to protect their continued position of dominance in Iraq (as the semi-syncretistic, and islamically suspect minority of Alawites in Syria have used Ba'athism to maintain their control).

And the word "Iran" stood not just for the external enemy, but for the Shi'a who opposed Saddam Hussein within Iraq, and who were crushed in the 1991 uprising -- that is to say, almost all the Shi'a of Iraq.

After more than two years of warfare, with 1600 dead and more than 10,000 seriously wounded, with great damage to American weaponry from desert wear and tear, or in some cases to supplies that seem to suffer a good deal of tare and tret, with other damage done to the citizen-army of Reserves and National Guard (my, silly of those Reservists to think that they were just that -- "Reserves" to be used in case of absolute National Emergency; how ridiculous of those National Guardmen to think they were to be on call to defend the home front, or to help out in times of disasters at home -- hurricanes, fires, terrorist attacks, civil unrest. Neither Reservists nor National Guardsmen realized that we were, apparently, in a World-War-like situation, and there was no way to "win the war on terror" (which has no end, and can't be "won" and is not on "terror" in any case) except through the prodigal use of the most expensive military operations.

And the $300 billion that is now being spent is being done so without many, or possibly any, at the top even trying to understanding, even thinking it might be worthwhile to understand or to create a cadre of aides able to understand Islam. And the only dissident voices are so silly and shrill, against the entire war, and against the very idea that there is any problem with the Muslim world or with the nice Muslims all over the world, that the opposition to the current campaign is led by those whom one finds even less informed than those who seem to think that a New Day is Dawning in the Middle East (it isn't and it won't) and that the Vast Majority of Peaceful Muslims will Win the Day (they aren't, they won't, not as long as the Infidel world does not embarrass them into doing something).

And that will happen only when a sufficient number of Infidels show that they have studied the theory and practice of Islam. That means, in turn, that those Muslim "moderates" who, objectively, further the jihad at present by continuing to mislead about Islam will and should be treated as part of the problem, and not the solution.

More people in the government need to be less prodigal in attempting to bribe Muslims into what can only be very temporary good behavior. The Jihadist impulse, and the hostility inculcated against Infidels, does not go away, and does not depend on the wealth or poverty of the Believers. It depends only on the strength and power with which the texts of Islam are received, distributed, believed. That's it.

If the hundreds of billions now being spent on foreign aid, direct or indirect, to Muslim countries, was instead spent on nuclear and solar and wind energy, on conservation measures, on figuring out how to appeal to and enlarge the fissures and resentments within Islam -- of non-Arab Muslims for Arab supremacist ideology within Islam, of Shi'a for Sunni oppressors in Pakistan and Iraq and Bahrain and Kuwait -- it would save -- oh, save enough to save Social Security, and give everyone in the United States a full scholarship to college, and a few other things like that.

Again one keeps coming back to what should be obvious: the ideology of Islam, not poverty or wealth, not democracy or despotism or variants on either, is for Infidels and Believers alike. It is the source of the Great, if sometimes seemingly intermittent (in those periods of quiescence when Muslims lack the wherewithal to act on their beliefs) and Permanent Divide. That Divide comes from immutable, canonical texts.

Those texts -- Qu'ran, Hadith, and Sira -- are now spread far more efficiently, in capillary fashion, even unto the farthest village, through the technology available for the Western world through a system of distribution -- audiocassettes, videocassettes, satellite television -- far more potent and therefore far more dangerous, than what has ever existed before. And out of ignorance and criminal negligence, Western governments allowed large numbers of Muslims into their own countries, to the now-obvious great distress of the indigenous Infidels, and damage to the civil institutions and way of life, of those Infidel lands. Among some Infidel populations, the dawning of comprehension, still imperfect, has come with some spectacular event (the killing of Theo van Gogh and attitudes revealed after it). In many countries, governments are working furiously to shield their Infidel populations from learning about, or discussing openly, the problems that need to be discussed. Self-censorship, so as not to offend the supposedly delicate sensibilities of Muslims, who play constantly upon this with a blend of smiling Muslim discussion of "peace," "tolerance," the "example of Andalucia," and "Dialogue" -- and with, at other times, threats that range from litigation to physical harassment to violent demonstrations in the heart of cities ("Death to France," Muslim rioters chanted in the middle of Paris last year), to threats of murder, to murder.

It appears to be difficult, or even impossible, for Western leaders, Western chanceries, and even those who for some reason present themselves as stout defenders of the West but too often are simply young and not-so-young men on the make in so-called "conservative" magazines and newspapers, to begin to comprehend the simplest matter: what people are taught to believe matters. And the more complete that system of belief, the more it attains to the condition of a Total Explanation of the Universe, with a division of that universe between Believer and Infidel, the more dangerous to the outsider, the enemy, the Infidel, that belief-system is and always will be -- whatever the nice visiting Americans do to improve the schools, the hospitals, the power grids, the bridges, the roads, the oilfields, and no matter how many toys, how many soccer balls, and how much candy they give away to the children, or how many contracts to clamoring locals. Gratitude, even if occasionally unfeigned (those children, still too young to have been completely brainwashed to hate the Infidels, probably are grateful for that candy and those soccer balls), is transient. Islam is, for these people who have little or nothing else in what thin spiritual or intellectual life they may be said to possess, the only thing going -- and it is permanent.

It is now mid-April 2005. About $10 billion a month is being spent on the military campaign of this "war on terror." Many other billions are being spent on security within the United States. Hundreds of billions more have been spent all over Europe on similar security.

Whatever it cost to destroy Saddam's weaponry was well worth it. But now? Why, especially when the price of oil has doubled, should American soldiers be risking their lives to keep the Iraqis from being at each others' throats (for when the Americans leave, at each others' throats they will be, sooner or later) when having them at each others' throats is not only to be expected in a country which was originally composed of three distinct Ottoman vilayets (Mosul, Baghdad, Basra), but in which, during more than half of its brief history, the regime has engaged in the persecution or even mass-murder, of Kurds by Arabs, of Shi'a by Sunni? The 10-year regency (with the British as the Regents) ended in 1932. The Hashemite monarchy lasted for 26 years, during which non-Muslims (the Christian Assyrians in 1933, the Jews in 1941 and again in 1948, with continued persecution and murder of the Jews who remained from 1948 on) were murdered. The country exhibits not one but both kinds of fissures within Islam that it is very much in the interests of the Western, Infidel world to do nothing to discourage, and certainly nothing to attempt to lessen: the clash of Arab and non-Arab (Kurdish) Muslims; the clash of Sunni and Shi'a. Yet the Americans continue to damage their citizen-army, to use up weapons, and to show continued inability within the army to tell the truth about Islam. What does it mean when one colonel has to take aside a few officers and discuss with them "privately" the nature of Islam -- and even to worry about news of this conversation getting out, when the nature of Islam, and the history of Jihad-conquest and dhimmitude, ought to be the subject of courses at West Point and the Army War College?

What were those January elections? Did Iraqis march off to cast their ballots not as "Kurds" or "Arabs," nor as "Shi'a" or "Sunni," -- but as "Iraqis," the free proud yeoman who had thoroughly internalized an understanding of democracy, and of guarantees for the rights of minorities, and of limits on power, and of the centrality of the rights of the individual -- all those things that make Western (i.e., "real") democracy more than a matter of mere head-counting? Or did they go off to see justice done, to get as much power for the "Kurds" or the "Shi'a" as they could, doing the bidding of some leader, voting as told, and of course proud to think that they had done something that was "just like" the democracy they have in the outside world. But it wasn't. It isn't. It won't be.
In the old days, they would denounce "America, Israel, and the Shi'a." And now? Now they denounce "America, Israel, and Saddam." What a difference two years makes. Shall we keep it up? Shall we stay, because the forces of Moqtada al-Sadr tell us to leave and we never ever want to do what one of our enemies tells us to do? Or shall we stay, until the Iraqi government is "good and ready" for us to leave -- putting our own soldiers' lives, our own limited wealth, our own attention, and our own policies in thrall to what Iraqis, for god's sake, want or think they want? If they want us around as their police force, while their soldiers remain with their training-wheels, to come in and rescue them in any and every operation, and if they want us around to leave even more American money on the table, on the ground, stuck to the walls -- and how they do -- well, it's understandable. In our refusal to cut aid to malevolent Egypt, in our continued bribing of Pakistan, in our belief that we should "economically develop" the unviable "state" of "Palestine" (there is no two-state "solution"; if one builds up "Palestine" one threatens Israel -- it is a zero-sum outcome, despite all the insistence that "both parties can live in peace and prosperity") we show the deleterious effects of the government-wide and society-wide refusal to look squarely at the realities of Islam.

The international jizyah -- disguised even from those paying it -- has got to end. And the demonstration yesterday was one more bit of evidence: "No, no to Americans. Yes, yes to Islam."

What did you expect?

But someone asked me, "Hugh - what do you propose, in lieu of the Bush administration's attempt to begin to defang Islam by creating a democracy in Iraq?"

The "defanging" took place when weaponry was seized and destroyed, and weapons were projects interrupted, and weapons scientists were arrested or brought to the West, along with all sorts of information about who was helping Iraq, and how and what and where. Iraq is now "defanged." "Democracy" follows upon the development of some rudimentary civil society. It also must be demonstrated that "democracy" will constrain Islam. In Iraq the opposite seems to be the case. The primitive and temporary "democracy" that has come about in this three-vilayets-under-one-flag misconceived state will do nothing to force those in Iraq to face up to the failures, political, economic, intellectual and social, of Islam.

And why are we staying in Iraq now? To build up the Iraqi army? Why? To make it more difficult to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities, by having soldiers held hostage to Iranian retaliation? In order to spend another $100 billion -- with about half-a-billion earmarked for the giant American Embassy alone? Because the Administration cannot say, publicly or even privately, that it should not really care if Iraq holds together, and that a free Kurdistan, and Sunni-Shi'a fighting, are not bad things, but possibly highly desirable things? We should constantly attempt to fixate on the fissures within Islam (that exist, that were not created by Infidel outsiders, and which Infidel outsiders should no nothing to discourage).

Educate the public, or the educable public, about the doctrine of Islam. An educated public will understand why Muslim migration to the Western world is ill-advised and dangerous. Attempt to bloc all Muslim powers and peoples from acquiring major weaponry. If they are supplied with anything dangerous, make sure whatever tanks or planes they get have been specially outfitted (as the super-computers supplied to the Soviet Union ) so that they can be sabotaged, if misused, from afar. Stop foreign aid to Muslim states. Instead, recognize that every bit of aid they get makes their own lives less devoted to scrambling constantly for their existence, and that time on their hands always ends up being devoted to Islam, and more Islam. And realize that a free-market ideology would not have enabled the Manhattan Project to proceed, or many other important projects requiring the kind of investment only governments can make, and the same is now true for energy projects.

There's more. But that's a start.

Uh oh

"Saudi minister: Ties with U.S. excellent," from UPI, with thanks to EPG:

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, -- Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz has hailed the oil-rich kingdom's relations with the United States, describing them as excellent.

Sultan was quoted Monday as saying that the scheduled visit of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah to Washington on April 25 "reflects the good relations and the will of cooperation between the two countries to serve Saudi interest first of all."

Hmmm. I wonder if he'll use those exact words with the President. Is there anyone in the Administration listening to what the Saudis are actually saying? Is the administration really listening to any Muslim leaders beyond those who tell them exactly what they want to hear?

Sultan added, "The Saudi crown prince represents the Arab nation as well as the Muslim world and every move he makes is in the service of Islam and Muslims."

Hear that, Mr. President? We hope so.

Jihadists may spread plague

"Fear bio-terrorists may spread plague: Diplomats pull out of Angola, ravaged by Ebola-like Marburg," from World Net Daily, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

While the death toll continues to rise in Angola from an outbreak of the deadly Ebola-like Marburg disease, there are intelligence reports that Islamic terrorists might deliberately infect themselves to spread the plague to the West, according to a report in the premium, online, intelligence newsletter Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

Information collected on the disease is behind a decision by a number of diplomatic delegations to pull out of the country, according to G2 Bulletin.

At least 200 cases of Marburg have been recorded, making this the worst ever outbreak. The death toll stands at 184.

Reports suggest the numbers are much higher in remote areas. Diplomats were advised not to travel into suspected Ebola areas.

Among the concerns is the possibility terrorists on a suicide mission might deliberately travel to Marburg-infested areas and then travel back to the capital of Luanda on their way to the West....

The Marburg outbreak has claimed a record number of lives, overtaking the earlier peak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola's neighbor.

Attacks on health workers have forced the United Nations to suspend essential work in a region of Angola devastated by an outbreak of the Marburg virus, an Ebola-like condition that inflicts deadly internal bleeding....

Egypt arrests three misunderstanders of Islam over Cairo bombing

We keep hearing about how Islam is being "misunderstood." Can we get Ibrahim Hooper over to Cairo to clue these guys in on the real thing? "Egypt arrests 3 Islamists over Cairo bombing," from AFP, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

CAIRO - Egyptian security forces have arrested three Islamists suspected of planning last week's suicide bombing in a Cairo bazaar which killed three foreigners, an interior ministry source said.

The source also revealed that the suicide bomber who carried out the attack which killed two French nationals and an American was identified as an Egyptian from the Nile Delta region of Qaliobya, north of Cairo.

The suicide bomber -- whose name is to be revealed at a news conference at an unspecified date -- planned the attack along with the three detained accomplices, the source told AFP.

The trio, who are said to have "Islamist tendencies and motivations", have already appeared before an investigating magistrate. Police are still examining the remains of the suicide bomber's body....

An Internet statement, whose authenticity could not be verified, issued on Friday by a previously unknown group called the Islamic Brigades of Pride in Egypt said it carried out the attack....

Sgt. Hasan Akbar's defense attorney grasps at straws

"Defense: Kuwait Attack Not Premeditated," from AP, with thanks to Teri:

FORT BRAGG, N.C. - An Army sergeant charged with a grenade attack that killed two U.S. officers in Kuwait went on trial Monday, with his lawyer trying to stave off a possible death sentence by arguing that his client suffered from mental illness.

But a military prosecutor said Sgt. Hasan Akbar knew exactly what he was doing, pointing to his detailed diary entries before the March 2003 attack and the fact that he stole the grenades and cut power to his camp just before striking.

Premeditation is the central issue in the court-martial of the 33-year-old Akbar, who confessed several times and allegedly told investigators he carried out the attack in the opening days of the Iraq war because he was worried that U.S. forces would harm fellow Muslims.

With the fact of the attack not in dispute, his lawyers hope to spare him a possible death penalty for premeditated murder by alleging a history of mental illness that stretched back to his teen years and was apparent to the military.

"The enemy was in Sgt. Akbar's mind, and had been there 15 years," defense lawyer Maj. Dan Brookhart told the military jury in his opening statement.

Brookhart said Akbar's mental illness stemmed from the sexual abuse of his sister by his stepfather, and as a teenager he was diagnosed with depression and an adjustment disorder. He also developed a sleep disorder and sometimes fell asleep while standing up. In the Army, his problems led to Akbar being demoted from a squad leader's position and being given menial duties in his combat engineer company.

"He was basically a failure as a soldier," Brookhart said. He noted that as the 101st awaited orders to invade Iraq in the spring of 2003, Akbar was panicked by talk among his colleagues about their plans to kill Iraqis and rape women.

Military prosecutor Capt. John Benson countered that evidence indicates Akbar did extensive planning. In diary entries and actions - which included stealing grenades and turning off a generator that lit the camp - Akbar laid the groundwork for his fatal attack.

The brigade was on alert for an enemy attack, Benson said, but "their enemy was already inside the wire."

Fourteen soldiers were wounded, either by the grenades or when Akbar opened fire with a rifle in the ensuing chaos....

The gorilla in the living room in this case is the question of Muslim loyalty in the U. S. military.

Juror Blasts Lynne Stewart as Traitor

It's gratifying to find someone willing to enunciate unpopular truths in this effete and fearful age. From the New York Post, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

Radical lawyer Lynne Stewart is a traitor to humanity who got what she deserved when she was found guilty of promoting terrorism, one of her jurors told The Post.

Juror No. 8, who resides near Ground Zero, staunchly defended the Feb. 10 guilty verdict as a civic duty.

"We were sending a message. We were intending to send a message," he said. "Do not break the law. Do not conspire with terrorists."

Juror No. 8 and his fellow panel members convicted Stewart of being a material witness to terrorism, fraud and filing a false statement while she represented imprisoned blind Egyptian terror cleric Omar Abdel-Rahman, the mastermind of the World Trade Center bombing in 1993.

Stewart, 65, faces up to 30 years in prison. Her sentencing date has been pushed back to September.

They also convicted two of her co-defendants, Egyptian natives Ahmed Sattar and Mohammed Yousry, of shilling for the sheik and touting terror.

Juror No. 8 described Stewart as a bad person whose criminal actions showed she was "socially amoral," "irresponsible and dangerous" and "indifferent to violence."

"She did things that would get people killed. She didn't do anything about it. She just didn't care," Juror No. 8 said.

It's the first time any of the 12 jurors in the historic case - one of the first terrorism cases tried since 9/11 - has publicly commented since the end of the eight-month trial....

He said he was compelled to comment after Stewart blamed her conviction on jurors who were biased by references in the trial to Osama bin Laden.

Juror No. 8 said Stewart's assertion, like much of her defense during the trial, was "insulting."

"Bin Laden didn't have anything to do with it," he said.

Abdel-Rahman was considered so dangerous that he has been holed up in solitary confinement, and the U.S. government imposed prison rules that barred the sheik from communicating with anyone except his wife and lawyers.

No messages were to be passed to or from Abdel-Rahman and his militant followers by anyone.

Stewart signed sworn statements vowing she would not do so.

But she did anyway - to promote terrorist attacks, Juror No. 8 said.

And remember, she did it, she says, to fight sexism and racism. She said that "to rid ourselves of the entrenched, voracious type of capitalism that is in this country that perpetuates sexism and racism, I don't think that can come nonviolently."

One day far in the future an incredulous historian will discover that some people thought of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and his deadly fellow mujahedin as champions of the struggle against sexism and racism. Today that sort of thing is reported with a straight face; however, I am confident that future chroniclers will not be so circumspect before the bizarre poster child for civilizational suicide that is Lynne Stewart.

American Contractor Kidnapped in Iraq

Still more attacks and kidnapping in Iraq, with an American victim this time. From VOA News, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

Insurgents in Iraq launched a wave of suicide attacks against U.S. forces and kidnapped an American contractor Monday.

A spokesman for the U.S. embassy says the contractor was abducted near Baghdad.

Earlier, suicide bombers blew up three vehicles at the entrance to a U.S. base in western Iraq. Three U.S. Marines and three Iraqi civilians were wounded. Insurgents in another vehicle opened fire on the base before a U.S. helicopter destroyed their car.

And in Samarra, a suicide car bomber killed three people and wounded 20 others when his vehicle exploded near a U.S. convoy.

Meanwhile, media reports say the U.S. Defense Department may withdraw tens of thousands of troops from Iraq by early next year.

Hizballah seeks legitimacy

The Party of Allah attempts a makeover. "Hezbollah Seeks Legitimacy," from AP, with thanks to Rebecca Bynum:

BEIRUT, Lebanon - As its Syrian backers leave Lebanon, Hezbollah is seeking to transform its image domestically and in the West - from guerrilla group condemned as terrorist by the United States to political party respected for playing a serious, productive role in Lebanese politics.

As part of this attempted makeover, Hezbollah sent a senior representative to a meeting in Beirut last month with American and British intellectuals, including former government and intelligence officials, to talk about the group, which Washington accuses of killing hundreds of Americans in terror attacks in the 1980s.

"It was an opportunity for us to present our views and break the stereotypical image that Israel has propagated of the group," said Nawaf al-Mussawi, Hezbollah politburo member in charge of international relations, who fielded questions for three hours at the meeting....

The decision to attend the meeting by Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim group whose name means Party of God, is part of the strategy to gain international legitimacy and domestic recognition as a major player in Lebanon's complex politics after decades during which the faction focused mostly on fighting Israel.

Jamal Khashoggi, media adviser to Prince Turki, the Saudi ambassador to London, who was present at the Beirut discussions, said the meeting offered the chance to "build tiny bridges" with factions the West rarely talks to, Khashoggi said.

"Nobody knows where it will lead," said Khashoggi.

Whether Hezbollah's attempt is genuine or just political opportunism remains to be seen. But even President Bush suggested Hezbollah could change its image when he called on it last month to lay down its arms and prove it was not a terrorist group.

But if Hizballah's jihadist goals remain the same, does it really matter what tactics they use to achieve them? So they're willing to use democractic tactics to achieve anti-democratic goals -- I should throw a party?

The U.S. government blames Hezbollah for numerous attacks since the 1980s, including the bombings of a U.S. Marine barracks and U.S. Embassy in Beirut. The group has also been accused of striking the Israeli Embassy and a Jewish cultural center in separate bombings in Argentina in the early 1990s that killed scores. Hezbollah denies the claims. In public addresses, Hezbollah's belligerent anti-Israel and anti-U.S. rhetoric has not abated. But away from a domestic audience, the group's shrewd, savvy leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, has said he is ready to discuss the current arrangement the party has had for years with the Lebanese army, a formula that has allowed it to continue bearing arms under the slogan of protecting Lebanon from Israeli aggression. "We don't carry arms as a hobby, but we feel responsible toward our country," Nasrallah said last month. One solution could be incorporating members of Hezbollah into the army and deploying them in the south - which could satisfy the U.N. call for disarmament while also retaining Hezbollah's firepower. Even Israel has noted a change in Hezbollah's tactics, with one Israeli security official saying recently that the militant group is scaling back its support of attacks against Israelis by radical Palestinian groups....

Great. But again: if the goals of Islamic hegemony remain the same, do the tactics designed to achieve this goal really matter?

In Lebanon and the Arab world, Hezbollah has gained hero status for driving Israel out after an 18-year occupation. But Hezbollah has been on the State Department's list of terror groups since the list's inception in 1997.

This reporter is repeating a historical lie perpetuated by jihadists. Hizballah did not drive Israel out of southern Lebanon. Israel withdrew voluntarily.

Washington has been pushing Syria to disarm the group, and a price for a rapprochement between the two countries - and indeed for an improvement of relations between Iran and the United States - could be the disarming of Hezbollah. Both Syria and Iran back Hezbollah, with Tehran reportedly providing the group with an estimated $10 million to $20 million monthly. The political turmoil that followed Hariri's death - including anti-Syrian protests, and the resignation of the government - has presented Hezbollah with an opportunity to project itself as a capable conciliator and an indispensable player....

Oh yeah. Iran wants to kiss and make up with the US; disarming Hizballah is the mullahs' big opportunity to do that. Why is our govenment so blinded by wishful thinking? Is no one in the Administration or State Department aware of the constant anti-US venom Iranian officials at all levels of government spew every day? Why are American newspapers and TV and radio networks not covering Iran's unrelenting message of total hostility? Do they think we're better off not knowing?

Jihadist killed in Algeria clash

Algerian jihad update. "Gunman killed in Algeria clash," from UPI, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

Algiers, Algeria -- Algerian troops clashed with Muslim fundamentalist gunmen in southern Algeria, killing one while the rest managed to escape, reports said Monday.

The daily al-Khabar quoted security forces as saying an army patrol, which had spent two days searching for a group of four gunmen in the province of Baskara, 500 kilometers (312 miles) southeast of Algiers, managed to take them by surprise as they were buying food supplies from a farmer.

A clash ensued in which one of the gunmen was killed while the other three escaped to the rugged mountains in the area, leaving their supplies behind. The troops refrained from chasing them into the hills.

Dutch question why US refused entry to KLM plane

From the Dutch Expatica, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

AMSTERDAM - Dutch justice authorities and opposition Labour MPs are raising serious questions after an incident in which a KLM plane on a direct flight from Amsterdam to Mexico City was refused entry to US airspace. A KLM spokesman said on Sunday morning the plane with 278 passengers left from Schiphol on Friday afternoon and was approaching Canada when the pilot was informed that US authorities had refused the plane permission to enter US airspace.

The pilot was told two of the passengers were considered to be a risk, apparently due to terrorism fears.

Landing and refuelling for a diverted flight to Mexico was not possible, forcing the plane to turn back to Schiphol.

KLM asserts it always inspects the passenger list for suspicious travellers. "Apparently our information differs from that of the American authorities," the spokesman said.

He said the weekend's incident was the first of its kind and stressed that it was a one-off occurrence. "We are curious how the Americans came across the information."

KLM and the Dutch public prosecutor's office (OM) said they will question the US authorities about the incident.

The Dutch airline said the US is not allowed to have insight into passenger lists for flights that do not land in US territory.

Why not?

Main opposition party Labour PvdA will also demand answers in the Dutch Parliament. MP Peter van Heemst is questioning whether agreements with the US are adequate and what the two suspected passengers were accused of.

Van Heemst has also questioned why the plane was allowed to fly back to the Netherlands. The MP will also demand to know why the passengers were not under suspicion in Europe and were released after their return to Amsterdam.

The suspicious passengers were not arrested at Schiphol because their names were not on any list held by the Dutch police. Prosecutors did not consider them a threat.

Upon their return to the Netherlands, the two passengers who were on the US no-fly list flew via England back to Saudi Arabia, their land of origin, where they were not refused entry either. ...

Why would they be refused entry into Saudi Arabia? The Saudis would only care if they had been planning some mayhem in Riyadh.

Iraq’s Sufis Form Jihad Squadrons To Carry Out Resistance Activities

Here is another one for the Islamic apologists who claim that Sufism is a peaceful, pluralistic, and tolerant form of Islam. From the jihadist site Jihad Unspun, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

While Sufism is often discounted as "Islam-lite" and their practices described as mystical, it appears that the Qadiri order that has long had a presence in Iraq of some importance can no longer ignore the occupation while contemplating the beauty of the universe as the oppressors spill the Muslim blood. On Saturday, The Sufi Jihadi Squadrons of Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Gilani announced their formation and the beginning of their military operations against the US occupation forces in Iraq....

The statement by the Sufi Squadrons reads in part:

“With the blessings of God the Exalted it has been announced in the capital of Harun ar-Rashid [Baghdad] today that the Jihadi Sufi Squadrons of Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Gilani have been formed to join the rest of their brothers on the fields of combat against the tyrant America, drawing inspiration from the life of the Messenger of God [Muhammad] – may blessings and peace be upon him – and his lessons and teachings, and marching along one line together with the rest of the Jihadi Resistance organizations until such time as your Lord decrees the expulsion of the occupier from the occupied territory of Iraq.”

Your brothers in the Squadron of ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Gilani have seized the day today to announce themselves as a combat force against the American occupation in Iraq, having previously limited ourselves to prayer and seeking guidance. It is God who is the source of success, before and after. He guides whom He wills to the path of the Mighty, Merciful God.”

U.S.-Iraqi Raid Nets Suspected Insurgents, but the kidnappings and killings continue

From AP, with thanks to Rebecca Bynum:

About 500 members of Iraq's police and army swept through buildings in the Rashid neighborhood along with a "couple hundred" American soldiers, detaining 65 suspected militants, said Lt. Col. Clifford Kent of the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division....

In the western town of Qaim, witnesses said insurgents hit the main gates of a U.S. military base with twin suicide car bombs Monday morning. At least three civilians were hospitalized with injuries, said Ammar Fuad, a doctor at the local hospital. U.S. military officials had no immediate comment.

On Sunday, the family of a Pakistani embassy employee kidnapped in Baghdad appealed to his captors to release him, and al-Qaida's ally in Iraq claimed to have kidnapped and killed a senior police official.

Malik Mohammed Javed, a consular and community affairs employee at Pakistan's embassy, went missing in Baghdad on Saturday after leaving home to pray at a mosque, officials said Sunday.

The previously unknown Omar bin Khattab group claimed responsibility for his kidnapping, and Javed called the embassy to say his abductors had not harmed him, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement....

Javed's son appealed to his father's kidnappers to release him.

"Everyone is crying here," Bilal Malik, 20, told The Associated Press by telephone Sunday. "My father has done nothing wrong. He was only going to offer his prayers. They are Muslims. They should release our father who is also a Muslim."

According to Islamic law, Muslims should never kill other Muslims (Qur'an 4:92), but of course, by cooperating with the infidels, this Pakistani Muslim became an apostate in the eyes of the jihadists. Thus he can be killed by the true believers without offending Allah, who, in fact, not only condones, but demands the death of apostates.

The kidnapping comes nine months after insurgents abducted and killed two Pakistanis working for a Kuwaiti company in Iraq. Their abductors had demanded that Pakistan promise not to send any troops to Iraq. Pakistan, a key U.S. ally in the war against terrorism, has refused to deploy peacekeepers and has urged its citizens to avoid coming here.

Also Sunday, the terrorist group al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed to have kidnapped and killed Najaf police Brig. Gen. Bassem Mohammed Kadhim al-Jazaari while he was visiting Baghdad. "After his confessions, God's verdict was carried out against him," said the statement, which could not be independently verified....

Boyohboy, we're making great progress in Iraq! As Rich Lowry of National Review recently said, this whole war with the global jihadists should be wrapped up "within four years." Oh yeah, no sweat, piece of cake. Democracy for all by 2009.

Witness testifies against Al-Timimi

The amazing story of Yong Ki Kwon, yet another convert to Islam who has misunderstood the religion. One would think, as long as we are being compelled by American Muslim advocacy groups and their allies in the media and government to swallow this farrago about how Islam is a peaceful religion that has been hijacked by "extremists," that at very least these advocacy groups would address this worldwide misunderstanding of Islam by the most pious Muslims. For here again, it is the Muslims who are most serious about Islam who are waging jihad, and those that are least devout and literal-minded who are staying home. Al-Timimi trial update, from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

FAIRFAX, Va. -- He never made it to Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban, but Yong Ki Kwon -- a Northern Virginia engineer who fled the United States nine days after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks -- said it wasn't for lack of effort.

Kwon, 29, is a South Korea-born graduate of Virginia Tech who is serving an 11-year prison sentence as a result of his guilty plea last year on federal conspiracy and weapons charges. He has emerged as the prosecution's star witness in the case against Ali Al-Timimi, an American Islamic scholar charged with recruiting soldiers for the Taliban just five days after Sept. 11....

Kwon, one of nine men convicted last year in the so-called "paintball jihad" network, told a chilling tale of the birth of an American jihad.

The holy war was conceived in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., in the dawn of the 21st century and was born at a meeting in his Fairfax, Va. apartment Sept. 16, 2001, when Kwon said he and several companions decided to heed the call of spiritual adviser Al-Timimi and to be trained to join the Taliban.

Four days later, Kwon was on a flight to Karachi, Pakistan.

The call to holy war took Kwon, who became a U.S. citizen in August 2001, to the mountain training camps of Lashkar-e-Taiba -- known as the LET -- a group that the U.S. placed on its terrorist list in December 2001.

Under the guidance of militants who trained holy warriors for battle in Afghanistan, Kwon honed his skills with semi-automatic weapons and learned to fire a grenade launcher.

Kwon, though, said he never was able to join the Taliban. He was simply too late. The border between Afghanistan and Pakistan closed as U.S. forces took control of Afghanistan shortly before Kwon completed his training at the LET camp.

He said his mentors offered him another option: Go back to the United States and gather information for the mujahadeen, or holy warriors....

Dressed in a dark-green prison jumpsuit, the tall, bearded Kwon told jurors how he first heard Al-Timimi speak in 1997 at an Islamic Assembly of North America conference in Chicago.

Born to Christian parents, Kwon converted to Islam in 1997 and quickly found scholar Al-Timimi lecturing regularly near his Northern Virginia home.

Al-Timimi was known in strict Muslim communities across the word for his taped and Internet lectures. Supporters point to well-known lectures calling for peace in the wake of the first World Trade Center attack in 1993.

Al-Timimi also was listed as an advisory board member of Assirat Al-Mustaqueem -- an international Arabic language magazine published in Pittsburgh from 1991 to 2000.

The magazine called for holy war against Christians and Jews. It also lauded the international army that Osama bin Laden assembled for the Taliban in Afghanistan. The magazine once featured an article lauding Shamil Basayev, the Chechen rebel who took credit for last fall's bloody Beslen school massacre in which more than 300 people -- many of them school children -- were slain.

Wait a minute. He called for "peace in the wake of the first World Trade Center attack in 1993" but stayed until 2000 on the advisory board of a magazine that "called for holy war against Christians and Jews" and "lauded the international army that Osama bin Laden assembled for the Taliban in Afghanistan"? Some Islamic apologists and their allies have criticized my use of the word "taqiyya" on this site, pointing out that taqiyya properly refers only to Shi'ites pretending to be Sunnis for fear of persecution. Very well. I won't call it "taqiyya" this time, although I am not going to be intimidated away from using a word that sums up very well the Islamic doctrine of religious deception. That doctrine allows Muslims to lie about their faith when under pressure (cf. Qur'an 16:106 and also 3:28) and when in battle (cf. Sahih Bukhari, vol. 4, book 52, nos. 268-270 and Sahih Muslim, book 32, no. 6303). Was al-Timimi practicing this deception that when he preached peace after the first WTC bombing? This is at least a question that prosecutors should investigate -- but they probably won't, because political correctness and fear will probably keep them from touching on any questions regarding Islam.

Kwon said he grew to know and respect Al-Timimi as he regularly attended lectures at Dar Al Arqam mosque in Falls Church, Va.

Al-Timimi's lectures on such topics as the purification of the soul and the new world order were only one side of Kwon's pursuit of Islam.

The other side played out among Kwon and a small group of Muslim friends on the paintball fields and target ranges ringing Washington. That side focused on jihad -- violent holy war. And that focus turned to an obsession among Kwon and his friends long before Sept. 11, 2001, Kwon testified.

The group, which included two U.S. military veterans and several engineers, gathered regularly, starting in early 2000, to talk about or prepare for jihad.

"Russian Hell" -- a jihad video that featured bloody clips of a Chechen Muslim rebel leader executing a Russian prisoner of war -- was a favorite among the videos that the group exchanged and discussed.

"They (the videos) motivated us. It was like they gave us inspiration," Kwon testified.

Martyrdom, too, was a topic.

"As a Muslim, it's something you aspire to," Kwon said, answering questions from assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Kromberg. "We talked about it. I don't know how realistic we were, but we talked about it because it was very noble," Kwon told the jury of nine men and five women before U.S. District Court Judge Leonie M. Brinkema.

Members of the group wanted to be ready to take up arms -- should the need to defend Islam arise, Kwon said -- and they began traveling to shooting ranges for target practice and to paintball fields to execute military maneuvers.

Al-Timimi never was a part of their games, Kwon said, but he and other witnesses said the man they characterized as a respected mentor was aware of them. Indeed, they consulted Al-Timimi when the FBI visited one of the members of their group with questions. Al-Timimi's advice: Be more circumspect about their activities, Kwon and others testified.

Kwon recalled driving Al-Timimi home from the mosque Sept. 11, 2001 after the terrorist attacks. He said Al-Timimi and another scholar argued, with Al-Timimi characterizing the attacks as a punishment of America from God, while his fellow scholar decried the attacks.

That night, as they drove from the mosque, Kwon said Al-Timimi had a request.

"He told me to gather some brothers, to have a contingency plan in case there were mass hostilities toward Muslims in America," Kwon said....

Then, Kwon said, Al-Timimi advised the group that the effort to spread Islam in the United States was over and that the only other options open to them were to repent, leave the U.S. and join the mujahadeen -- the holy warriors preparing to defend Afghanistan against the coming U.S. invasion.

Four days later, Kwon was on the plane to Pakistan, embarking on a jihad that would land him in prison.

"I made the decision to go, but (Al-Timimi) was a big part of my decision to go," Kwon said.

Al-Timimi was, of course, wrong in thinking that "the effort to spread Islam in the United States was over." He didn't realize that even several years after 9/11, American leaders would prate about the religion of "tolerance" and "peace," and that apologists for Islam would compile reading lists for American generals, and that editors of supposedly tough, no-nonsense "conservative" publications would -- without having bothered to study Islam themselves -- refuse to publish some of the most important writers on Islam today (most notably Bat Ye’or), remove advertisements for books under pressure from an American Muslim advocacy group that a U. S. Senator has identified as having ties to terror, and dismiss as attempting to "discredit Muhammad and Islam" those who think that it is reasonable, in discussions of terrorism, to discuss Qur'anic passages and events in the life of Muhammad that terrorists themselves point to as the justification for their actions. No, if al-Timimi had foreseen all that, he would have been quite optimistic indeed.

And dhimmitude for all

Alyssa A. Lappen reviews my new essay collection The Myth of Islamic Tolerance: How Islamic Law Treats non-Muslims in FrontPage today:

“A thing without a name escapes understanding,” warns preeminent Islamic scholar Bat Ye'or of jihad and dhimmitude—the Islamic institutions of, respectively, war and perpetual servitude imposed on conquered non-Muslim peoples. Both, Ye’or notes in an essay entitled “Historical Amnesia,” are in the process of globalization.

This is not the benign economic globalization that most Westerners laud. Islamic jihad and dhimmitude trade in every available means—military, political, technological and intellectual. And if the towering collection of 63 essays (including Ye’or’s) contained in the new book The Myth of Islamic Tolerance: How Islamic Law Treats Non-Muslims is to be believed, these specific Islamic processes are globalizing at a disturbingly rapid pace. The book, courageously assembled by JihadWatch director and FrontPage columnist Robert Spencer, provides historical and contemporary profiles of jihad and dhimmitude.

In six sections, the book delineates how Islamic ideology has affected non-Muslims both historically and in the contemporary world. The first three sections cover the myth vs. historical realities and Islamic law and practice regarding non-Muslims. The last three sections cover how the myth of Islamic tolerance has affected contemporary geopolitics, power politics at the United Nations and, finally, academic and public discourse. It is Ibn Warraq's forward and the latter 400 pages in which this book really shines. He explains:

Islam is a totalitarian ideology that aims to control the religious, social and political life of mankind in all its aspects; the life of its followers without qualification; and the life of those who follow the so-called tolerated religions to a degree that prevents their activities from getting in the way of Islam in any way. And I mean Islam, I do not accept some spurious distinction between Islam and 'Islamic fundamentalism' or Islamic terrorism'.

The September 11, 2001 murderers acted canonically. They followed Sharia, a collection of theoretical laws and ideals “that apply in any ideal Muslim community.” This body of regulations, based on divine authority, according to devout Muslims “must be accepted without criticism, without doubts and questions.” It sacrifices the individual's desires and good to those of the community.

“Expressing one's opinion or changing one's religion” are punishable by death. That apostasy is not today mentioned in the legal codes of most Islamic countries, Warraq notes, hardly implies freedom of religion for Muslims in those states; their penal codes are filled with Islamic laws. The myth of Islamic tolerance is defied by the massacre and extermination of the Zoroastrians in Iran; the million Armenians in Turkey; the Buddhists and Hindus in India; the more than six thousand Jews in Fez, Morocco, in 1033; hundreds of Jews killed in Cordoba between 1010 and 1013; the entire Jewish community of Granada in 1066; the Jews in Marrakesh in 1232; the Jews of Tetuan, Morocco in 1790; the Jews of Baghdad in 1828; and so on ad nauseum.

Ironically, despite Islam's immutability, the myth evolved through the Western propensity to criticize its civilization. In 98 CE, Roman historian Tacitus in Germania compared the noble simplicity of the Germans with the vices of contemporary Rome. Michele do Montaigne (1533-1592) in circa 1580 painted noble savages based on dubious secondhand information in order to condemn his own civilization.

Later writers substituted Islam for savages to condemn Christendom and materialism. In 1686-89, for example, Huguenot pastor Pierre Jurieu exclaimed that Christians had spilt more blood on St. Bartholemew's Day than had the Saracens in all their persecutions of Christians. Of course, Islam had claimed millions of lives—in 1399, Taimur killed 100,000 Hindus in a single day. But during the 17th century, and later the Enlightenment, writers perpetuated the “two ideal prototypes, the noble savage and the wise and urbane Oriental,” substituting Turks for Muslims, and Islamic tolerance for Turkish tolerance.

Read it all.

Violent clashes rock central Iran

It's a race to the finish: will the mullahs get nukes before they are toppled by their long-suffering people? From SMCCDI:

Violent clashes happened, this morning, in Darioon which is a suburb of Shiraz located in central Iran. Hundreds of protesters retaliated against the brutal attack of the Islamic regime's militiamen sent to smash their peaceful demonstration.

Hand made incendiary devices and pieces of stone responded to the militiamen use of rubber bullets, clubs and tear gas.

Slogans against the regime and its leadership were shouted by maverick demonstrators who closed "Shiraz-Kharameh" highway with enflamed tires and construction materials.

It ain't me, babe

Skeetstreet has called my attention to a post at FaithFreedom by a gentleman calling himself ia786, who I believe has also posted here:

I am a member of another forum, well a guy registered, he put his name as Robert Spencer. Well he challenged the God fearing brothers and sisters on the forum, well lets just say that the well structured arguments of my senior brothers and sisters were used to brutally assault the Zionist attack. The attack was completely vanquished and the fellow had to confess as to the what his real purpose was, Such is the glory of Islam. How great is the Glory of the Lord? Well although the forum is new and has a small (but rapidly growing) amount of members I felt that I needed to find out about this chap called Robert Spencer and his true agenda.

This fellow goes on to make some broad charges, smears and misrepresentations of me and my work. None are very interesting, although this one gave me a chuckle: "Robert Spencer has also manipulated Americans into believing Israel is like the 51st State of America." Such power I have!

Anyway, the thing that concerned me about this was that this guy alleges that I posted at a Muslim forum. If someone really registered in a forum using the name "Robert Spencer," it was not I. I don't have time or inclination to get involved in such things -- and I also know that it is becoming common for Internet creeps to pose as other people. There is a great deal of dishonesty out there: I have even had some of my emails posted, but selectively edited to make me look ignorant and incoherent. Caveat emptor. If you see "Robert Spencer" talking about Islam on some other Internet forum, it ain't me, babe.

"No, no to Satan!"

I told you so update: in Iraq, as all over the Islamic world, there will always be a contingent of people who believe that Sharia is the law of Allah, and that it is therefore much preferable to democracy, which is human-devised law. And they will resist democracy, and fight for Sharia.

I am told by two eyewitnesses that National Review's Rich Lowry, at NR's recent party for William F. Buckley, stated that because of President Bush's bold and decisive foreign policy of spreading democracy in the Middle East, "the radicals' whole house of cards could collapse within the next four years." This puerile prediction betrays a remarkable and hardly excusable lack of knowledge of the history and teachings of the Qur'an and Islam, and of the modern jihadist imperative as enunciated by people like Maududi and Qutb. What he doesn't understand (among other things) is that if this sort of demonstration really isn't happening in four years, which I think is doubtful, it will simply be biding its time until conditions are right for it again. Throughout Islamic history there are periods of quiescence and periods of jihadist fervor. We are in the latter after a long period of the former. The error that most modern analysts make is to mistake the proximate causes of the jihadist resurgence for its root causes, and to think that if those matters they have wrongly identified as root causes are addressed, the jihad will disappear. It will not disappear: it will only go underground, and that only temporarily. Rich: call me in 2009.

"Protesters Call for U.S. Pullout in Iraq," from AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Tens of thousands of supporters of a militant Shiite cleric filled central Baghdad's streets Saturday and demanded that American soldiers go home, marking the second anniversary of Baghdad's fall with shouts of "No, no to Satan!"

To the west of the capital, 5,000 protesters issue similar demands in the Sunni Triangle city of Ramadi, reflecting a growing impatience with the U.S.-led occupation and the slow pace of returning control to an infant Iraqi government.

The protest in Baghdad's famous Firdos Square was the largest anti-American demonstration since the U.S.-led invasion, but the turnout was far less than the 1 million called for by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr....

Sunni Muslim clerics also called on their followers to protest Saturday, and a large crowd gathered in the central city of Ramadi, a Sunni stronghold. Iraq's Sunni minority was dominant under Saddam and is believed to make up the backbone of the country's insurgency.

Sheikh Harth Al-Dhari, the secretary general of the influential Association of Muslim Scholars, praised both the al-Sadr protest, as well as the Sunni demonstration, telling Al-Jazeera satellite television: "We hail the demonstrations organized by the Iraqi people on the second black anniversary of their country's occupation."

Message Announcing the Preparation for Jihad to be Carried from Iraq to Saudi Arabia

From the SITE Institute, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

A message posted on the internet to an al-Qaeda affiliated website concerning the current preparations for mujahideen in Iraq to travel to Saudi Arabia to “clear the land of al-Haramain (Saudi Arabia) from al-Saud and their masters (the Americans).”...

According to the posting, “the country of the two rivers has plenty of the lions of the mujahideen…[to] clean our sacred country from al-Saud, the hypocrites and the masters, the crusaders.”

Praising the members of al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia the communiqué says “the mujahideen in Arab peninsula did their duty until their blood was shed in the sake of Allah and they were killed for keeping this religion and fulfilling what the Prophets have said.”...

Algeria roadblock gunmen kill 14

Roadblock jihad in Algeria, possibly courtesy "the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat," which seems to lay more stress on the latter than on the former. From the BBC, with thanks to Skeetstreet:

Suspected Islamic militants in Algeria have killed at least 14 people at a fake roadblock near Algiers.

A group of gunmen stopped cars near the town of Larba, about 30km (18 miles) south of the capital, forcing the passengers out and shooting them dead....

Thursday's attack came after President Abdelaziz Bouteflika told Algerians that security had been "largely restored across the country".

Beware politicians who tell you the strife is o'er, the battle's done against the global jihad. The jihadists consider themselves to be the latest warriors in a 1,400-year-old conflict. They are not likely to give up easily.

Officials believe the ambush may have been carried out by members of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) - which the authorities had previously described as defeated....

In recent years most attacks have been blamed on the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which is allegedly linked to al-Qaeda.

9/11 — a plan gone horribly wrong: French scholar

Gilles Kepel, who has been saying that jihad violence is on its way out for years, advances his thesis by asserting that Al-Qaeda's entire 9/11 project was a failure. From Pakistan's Daily Times, with thanks to Skeetstreet:

ISLAMABAD: Al Qaeda’s plan to galvanise jihad internationally and win the sympathies of the Muslim world through 9/11 attacks went horribly wrong and instead provided Washington an opportunity to attack Iraq and redraw the Middle East peace road map.

This was the crux of a lecture titled ‘War of Muslim Minds’, delivered by Dr Giles Kepel, professor and chairman of the Middle East Studies at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris.

The lecture was arranged by the Institute of Strategic Studies in collaboration with the French Embassy and the Alliance Francaise on Thursday. Kepel has specialised in Middle Eastern affairs with special focus on radical Islamic movements, which started in the 1960s and 70s and has also authored a book on the fallout of 9/11, titled ‘Jihad’.

Building his thesis on the 9/11 incident, Kepel said the attack was planned after almost a year of the revival of the Palestinian Intifada in 2000, to join the Muslim bandwagon at the world stage with a strong Arab backing and special focus on Palestine. However, he maintained that it was not clear who carried out the attack. He said radical Muslim movements had failed in Egypt, Bosnia, and Chechnya and more importantly in Algeria where they had come close to taking power. “They also failed to mobilise public support causing frustration among the ranks,” he said.

The failures perturbed ‘jihadis’ who ultimately resorted to suicide bombings like 9/11, Bali, Casablanca, Madrid and extreme actions like the Beslan School and Moscow Theatre incidents in an attempt to prove that they could strike anytime and anywhere in the world, he said.

And that is precisely why they are a focus of concern. I don't think they're going to realize their global agenda. But even small numbers of them can commit horrific acts of violence -- and many are out there still hoping to do so.

“The anytime and anywhere threat was Zarqawi’s idea and was disseminated through pamphlets ‘Knights under the prophets banner’, he said. “Zarqawi is the brain behind Al Qaeda while Osama Bin Laden is being used as a symbol in the war against the infidels,” he said.

The pamphlet was a message, teaching followers that wars were not only fought in battlefields but also in people’s minds, he said. He added that the 9/11 incident backfired and instead of helping Al Qaeda, it provided an opportunity to new conservatives called neo-cons in Washington DC to further their agenda in the Middle East, which was the most complex problem Washington faced before 9/11.

“The neo-cons exploited the opportunity to make changes in the Middle East peace process in favour of Israel and also built a case to attack Iraq under the garb of finding weapons of mass destruction,” he said. He said the neo-cons had been planning to kill Yasser Arafat and replace Saddam Hussain since 1990s, once a darling of the USA, with a “friendly” administration in Iraq.

So I suppose it was Wolfowitz or Perle who administered the poison pill to Arafat? Kepel is starting to sound as paranoid as a conspiracy sheikh.

The motive behind the Iraq War was not only weapons of mass destruction but also to convince the world that the US army was capable of carrying out significant operations independently, he said, adding that that this would not last long as such actions could not be taken unilaterally without popular public support.

“Americans are now trying to divide Iraqis into Shias and Sunnis. This jihad has been detrimental to the real cause in my view,” he said.

Kepel here again demonstrates the staggering ethnocentrism so common in Western Leftists: they assume that only Western powers are capable of acting, and that Third Worlders are only capable of passive reaction. The idea that Americans are trying to divide Iraqis into Shias and Sunnis, when they have done all they can to create a government that includes both, and when Shias and Sunnis themselves have been working rather energetically to divide themselves from one another, is just absurd.

Also, what is the "real cause"? According to traditional Islamic law and modern-day jihad theorists like Qutb and Maududi (and their present-day exponents like Osama and Omar Bakri), it is to impose Sharia upon Muslim states and then non-Muslim states. That cause seems to be advancing nicely in Iraq. In that sense, I must ask Dr. Kepel: has he considered the stated goals of jihadist movements inside and outside Iraq? For in light of them, it is hard to see how the post-9/11 jihad can in any sense be termed a failure at this point.

New pope will be assassinated: scholar

I don't give two hoots for the spurious "prophecies" of Nostradamus. But I do find interesting that the Daily Times of Pakistan thinks this kook's ravings are newsworthy, and I suspect that might be because of the "Muslim invasion of the West" part. But hasn't that already started (in earnest, in Europe)? From AFP in the Daily Times, with thanks to Skeetstreet:

The pope elected to succeed John Paul II will be assassinated and his death will spark a Muslim invasion of the West that will split the Roman Catholic Church, according to an interpretation of Nostradamus’ prophecies by a leading Colombian author.

“The next pope elected will be subsequently murdered in central Italy. Then comes pope number 112, who will flee Rome because of an attack by Muslims,” Gonzalo Echeverri, a Colombian investigating judge and author of a book on Nostradamus told AFP. According to Echeverri, the pope will base himself in Avignon, France and another pontiff will take control in Italy, splitting the Catholic Church in two.

Pope number 112? Um, Gonzalo, the next pope will be number 265.

“There is a very clear prophecy that says the holy father will move to another place, even warning that the French pope will not be able to stay in Avignon due to the Muslim invasion and will flee again to Lyon, where he will be attacked, according to Nostradamus,” Echeverri said.

CBS jihad?

Speaking of journalists getting too involved in the action, here's "CBS Cameraman Could Be Iraqi Insurgent," from NewsMax, with thanks to EPG:

A cameraman carrying CBS press credentials was detained in Iraq earlier this week on suspicion of insurgent activity, the U.S. military said Friday.

The cameraman suffered minor injuries Tuesday during a battle between U.S. soldiers and suspected insurgents, the military said. He was standing next to an alleged insurgent who was killed during the shootout, the statement said.

The military issued a statement then saying the cameraman was shot because his equipment was mistaken for a weapon.

But on Friday, the military said the cameraman was detained because there was probable cause to believe he posed "an imperative threat to coalition forces."

"He is currently detained and will be processed as any other security detainee," the statement said.

CBS News spokeswoman Leigh Farris said, "We're looking into the situation."

Girl Called Would-Be Bomber Was Drawn to Islam

An update on this story from the New York Times, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist. It's a strange case, and the Times in this story seems fairly sure there's nothing to it. Maybe there isn't, but their portrayal of the girl as such a deeply religious Muslim that even overhearing discussions by other teenagers about boyfriends offended her deeply is interesting: to the Times, probably, it is evidence that she couldn't possibly have entertained thoughts of being a suicide bomber.

However, Islamic religious motivations are used all over the world (yes, not just in Israel, but in Kashmir, Thailand, Indonesia, and elsewhere) to recruit suicide bombers. Is the Times, like so many others, assuming too much about the state of Islam today?

For years, the father said, he watched as his daughter, now 16, became more and more drawn to the family's Muslim religion. At 14, she began wearing a full-length veil and teaching religion classes at mosques around the city.

A year ago, she withdrew from her Manhattan high school because, a school official said, she felt uncomfortable with typical teenage banter. She told her family she wanted to go to an Islamic all-girls school, and when they could not afford to send her, she chose to study at home.

The father, a Bangladeshi watch salesman who describes himself as far more devoted to American education than to prayer after 13 years as an immigrant illegally in the United States, said he pushed for his daughter to return to public school.

Then last fall, the daughter he also describes as loving Bollywood soap operas and shopping with girlfriends startled him and her mother by seeking their approval to marry a young American Muslim man they had never met and whom she barely knew. The father refused the marriage overtures, which were made by the young man's father in a call from Michigan....

He is sure that his visit to the police set off the F.B.I. investigation that led to a chilling assertion, in a government document, that the girls are "an imminent threat to the security of the United States based on evidence that they plan to be suicide bombers." Family and friends call that absurd.

The document, provided to The New York Times by a federal agent on Wednesday, did not describe the nature of the evidence. Yesterday, after repeated inquiries, officials from several agencies involved in the investigation, includi