UK: Third terror cell on loose

And there will be more after that one as well, until the ideology that motivates those in such cells is confronted and defeated. From the Times Online, with thanks to The One Who Must Not Be Named:

A THIRD Islamist terror cell is planning multiple suicide bomb attacks against Tube trains and other “soft” targets in central London, security sources have revealed.

Intelligence about a cell with access to explosives and plans to unleash a “third wave” of attacks was the trigger for last Thursday’s unprecedented security exercise. The operation saw 6,000 police, many armed, patrolling across London.

Senior police officers say that there was “specific” intelligence from several sources that an attack was planned for that day. The disclosure contradicts official statements by Scotland Yard that Thursday’s security exercise — the biggest since the second world war — was simply a precaution aimed at reassuring the public.

Youth wing of UK Muslim group calls for jihad

Here I go again, reporting on what jihadists are saying and doing. Don't I know that calling attention to such activity makes moderate Muslims angry?

I anxiously await Sir Iqbal Sacranie's response to this, and his unveiling of a comprehensive program to convert jihadists to Islamic moderation. I am confident that we will be getting this any day now -- right, Iqbal? Iqbal? Anyone?

From The Independent via the New Zealand Herald, with thanks to Designnut:

Children as young as 11 are being targeted by radical Muslims who appear to have infiltrated a mainstream Muslim website, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. Literature aimed at children between 11 and 18 on the youth section of the Islamic Society of Britain (ISB) website calls on them to "boycott those who openly wage war against Allah".

The article containing that quote, entitled "Imam Hassan al-Banna on jihad", goes on to say: "Jihad is a powerful invigorating yearning for Islam's might and glory ... which makes you cry when looking at the weakness of Muslims today and the humiliating tragedies crushing him to death everywhere. "

Jihad is to be a soldier for Allah. When the bugle calls ... you should be the first to answer the call to join the ranks for jihad."

Other articles on atheism and secularism appear to be against integration. One article is entitled "Zionism, a black historical record", and another, "Israel simply has no right to exist". The ISB immediately disowned this content after being informed of it by the IoS, and promised to remove it.

Mmm hmmm.

A note from a moderate Muslim

This afternoon I received this identical email 108 times, each with an obscene, unprintable subject line. The same person attempted to subscribe to the Daily Digest 113 times, using a non-working email address. Apparently he did both in order to try to shut down our system. (It didn't work, as you can see.) Judging from his IP address, I have heard from this gentleman before, and this is not the first time he has indulged his taste for repetition.

Here is the message:

you evil racist, hell is definetly your abode, when will you stop the work of satan, I am a muslim but I am against terrorism and extremism, you are turning average muslims into angry muslims, please stop this.

One thing I think is worth observing about this: "you are turning average muslims into angry muslims."

How am I doing this, if I am really doing it at all? Presumably by shedding light on jihadist activity, and on how jihadists use the Qur'an and Sunnah to justify their actions and make recruits. If this man is really against terrorism and extremism as he says, he should not be angry at me for reporting about this, but at the jihadists who are actually committing acts of terrorism in the name of Islam. And he should direct his energies to more worthwhile activities than filling up my inbox with abusive, obscene junk -- he could, say, try to formulate a comprehensive Islamic refutation of the jihadists, if he really believes that what they are doing is against Islam. I won't be holding my breath.

Spencer: The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)

Don't forget to order your copy of Robert Spencer's new book, "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)" if you haven't already. In fact, get a couple of copies so as to have one on hand to loan to friends.

U.S. evicted from air base in Uzbekistan

U. S. loses a strategic air base. From the Washington Post, with thanks to JS.

Uzbekistan formally evicted the United States yesterday from a military base that has served as a hub for combat and humanitarian missions to Afghanistan since shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Pentagon and State Department officials said yesterday.

In a highly unusual move, the notice of eviction from Karshi-Khanabad air base, known as K2, was delivered by a courier from the Uzbek Foreign Ministry to the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent, said a senior U.S. administration official involved in Central Asia policy. The message did not give a reason. Uzbekistan will give the United States 180 days to move aircraft, personnel and equipment, U.S. officials said.

If Uzbekistan follows through, as Washington expects, the United States will face several logistical problems for its operations in Afghanistan. Scores of flights have used K2 monthly. It has been a landing base to transfer humanitarian goods that then are taken by road into northern Afghanistan, particularly to Mazar-e Sharif -- with no alternative for a region difficult to reach in the winter. K2 is also a refueling base with a runway long enough for large military aircraft. The alternative is much costlier midair refueling.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld returned this week from Central Asia, where he won assurances from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan that the United States can use its bases for operations in Afghanistan. U.S. forces use Tajikistan for emergency landings and occasional refueling, but it lacks good roads into Afghanistan. Kyrgyzstan does not border Afghanistan.

"We always think ahead. We'll be fine," Rumsfeld said Sunday when asked how the United States would cope with losing the base in Uzbekistan.

In May, however, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman called access to the airfield "undeniably critical in supporting our combat operations" and humanitarian deliveries. The United States has paid $15 million to Uzbek authorities for use of the airfield since 2001, he said...

New imam decries calls to reform Islam

Shaker Elsayed is still repeating his line, "The call to reform Islam is an alien call," at one of the largest mosques in our country. From AP, with thanks to Daryl and Andy.

The voice of the new imam at one of the largest mosques on the East Coast rang loud from the pulpit during Friday services recently: "The call to reform Islam is an alien call."

People who do not understand Islam are the ones seeking to change it, said Shaker Elsayed, the new spiritual leader at the Dar al-Hijrah mosque in the Northern Virginia suburbs. "Ignorance comes from outside circles who know nothing about us."

Though his role as the mosque's religious leader is a new one, Mr. Elsayed is well known as a civic activist in a large Muslim community that has been subject to sharp scrutiny ever since the September 11 attacks. His face is a familiar one at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, where he has lent support to area Muslims who have been prosecuted for everything from immigration violations to soliciting treason. He has been vocal in support of Muslims he believes are the victims of a federal witch hunt.

Mr. Elsayed, who assumed duties as imam on June 1, also has served as secretary-general of the Muslim American Society. Some federal authorities and U.S. Muslim leaders suspect the advocacy group has links with the Muslim Brotherhood, a seminal anti-Western group that has inspired other hard-line Islamic organizations.

Mr. Elsayed, however, said he is not a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.

He also has served as an unofficial spokesman for the family of Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, who is accused of joining al Qaeda while studying overseas and plotting to assassinate President Bush. Ali grew up in Falls Church, and worshipped at Dar al-Hijrah.

With all his activities, it's perhaps not surprising that Mr. Elsayed's sermons seem to carry political overtones. On a recent Friday, preaching to more than 500 men and women -- with the sexes worshipping separately as is customary -- he said without mentioning specific nations that: "Islam forbids you to give allegiance to those who kick you off your homeland, and to those who support those who kick you off your homeland. We do have license to respond with all force necessary to answer our attackers."...

Terror attacks spur soul-searching by Egyptians

From AP, with thanks to Daryl.

CAIRO -- Stunned by terror attacks in a Red Sea resort, Egyptians are in a remarkably frank debate about whether mainstream mosques and schools -- and the government itself -- should be blamed for promoting Islamic extremism.

Even some in the pro-government press say authorities have created a climate in which young people are turning into radicals and suicide bombers.

"There is no use denying. ... We incited the crime of Sharm el Sheik," ran a bold red headline of a lead editorial by Al-Musawwar's editor in chief, Abdel-Qader Shohaib.

The bombers "didn't just conjure up in our midst suddenly, they are a product of a society that produces extremist fossilized minds that are easy to be controlled," Mr. Shohaib wrote in Wednesday's editions.

In a country more used to hearing general condemnations of terrorism, critics on Wednesday were angry -- and specific -- hammering at instances when they say the government let state press and mosque preachers, including many appointed by the government, promote intolerance...

Official kidnapped, 11 killed in Iraq attacks

From CNN, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Insurgents in Iraq struck again on Saturday, whisking away an Iraqi government official at gunpoint and killing at least 11 people in various bombings and ambushes, including one that again targeted foreign diplomats.

Meanwhile, Iraq government officials worked furiously on a draft of a new constitution. Officials have by Monday to determine whether they need a six-month delay or will have the document completed by an August 15 deadline.

The most dramatic strike Saturday took place near the Iraqi National Theater, where people from the nation's civil community institutions were developing demands for the committee writing the constitution.

A suicide car bomb killed six people, including three police officers, and wounded 26 others.

In the kidnapping, gunmen in western Baghdad abducted Eman Naji Abdul Razaq, the Health Ministry's director general of the projects department. Four gunmen in two cars stormed Razaq's home in the Mansour neighborhood and took her during the early afternoon.

Continuing a trend of targeting foreign officials, insurgents attacked a British Embassy convoy with a roadside bomb. Two private security guards were killed and two children were wounded, the British Home Office said...

Italian police launch raids after bomb arrest

From Reuters with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

ROME - Police were carrying out at least 15 searches in Italy on Saturday stemming from Friday's arrest in Rome of a London bombing suspect, the government said.

Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu told the lower house of parliament that suspected bomber Osman Hussain evaded police searches with the help of contacts among Italy's Ethiopian and Eritrean immigrant communities.

"From the investigations, it has been possible to identify a dense network of individuals belonging to the Eritrean and Ethiopian communities in Italy, believed to have helped him cover his tracks", Pisanu said.

Pisanu said Hussain was born in Ethiopia, not Somalia, as the government reported on Friday. Hussain left London's Waterloo Station for continental Europe on July 26, he added.

Explaining the searches, Pisanu said Hussain had been in contact with East Africans in Milan and Brescia in northern Italy. He said the Ethiopian father of Hussain's girlfriend lived in Brescia...

Man Admits Role in Failed London Attack

Of course, he never meant to hurt anyone. He was carrying bombs, you say? Yes, but such little ones! After all, Islam is a religion of peace!

Actually, he says he wanted to "sow terror," as commanded in Qur'an 8:60: "Make ready for them all thou canst of (armed) force and of horses tethered, that thereby ye may dismay the enemy of Allah and your enemy, and others beside them whom ye know not."

London jihad update from AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

ROME - A suspect in the failed London transit bombings admitted Saturday to a role in the attack but said it was only intended to be an attention-grabbing strike, not a deadly one, a legal expert familiar with the investigation said.

Osman Hussain told interrogators he wasn't carrying enough explosives even to "harm people nearby," the expert told The Associated Press. The expert spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the ongoing investigation, which under Italian law must remain secret.

Hussain, 27, one of four arrested bombers from the July 21 attacks, is suspected of trying to bomb the Shepherd's Bush subway station in west London, two weeks after the four deadly attacks on the city's transit system that killed 56 people, including the four suicide bombers.

Hussain was arrested Friday in Rome at his brother's apartment after police traced calls he made from a cell phone as he traveled across Europe. Three other suspects were detained the same day in London....

Hussain was referring to Muktar Said Ibrahim, 27, one of the other bombing suspects captured Friday in a London raid, the newspaper said. Ibrahim is suspected of planting explosives on a London bus on July 21.

"Muktar urged us to be careful" La Repubblica quoted Hussain as telling his interrogators. "We didn't want to kill, just sow terror."

Hussain also said his cell was not linked to either al-Qaida or the cell that carried out deadly bombings July 7, Italian media reported....

"He doesn't consider himself a terrorist," Sonnessa told Italian TV. Asked about what line he took when interrogated, she declined to be specific, but said: "He defended himself with extreme calm, coherence."

He probably considers himself a mujahid, but that doesn't make the article.

U.S. Suspends Travel for Soldiers In Saudi

Now even American soldiers are not safe in our friend and ally Saudi Arabia. From Middle East Newsline, with thanks to Gabrielle Goldwater:

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- U.S. Central Command has suspended non-essential travel for American soldiers based in Saudi Arabia.

Officials said the decision was taken amid information that Al Qaida has planned an attack in the Saudi kingdom. They said Al Qaida has sought to target Westerners, particularly Americans, to demonstrate that the movement remained a threat amid Saudi counter-insurgency efforts.

"The American Embassy in Riyad advises all American citizens living in Saudi Arabia that, in response to continued indications of operational planning for a terrorist attack or attacks in the kingdom, U.S. military personnel stationed in Saudi Arabia have been instructed to suspend all non-duty related leisure travel outside of their work or housing stations," a July 25 warden message by the U.S. embassy said.

Palestinians strike Israeli targets in Gaza with mortar, light arms

1. I thought they were so desperately poor (don't know where those Saudi billions went) that they couldn't afford things like mortar and light arms.

2. Doesn't this mean the deal is off?

From Haaretz, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Palestinian gunmen targeted Israeli settlements and Israel Defense Forces positions Saturday in a number of locations in the southern Gaza Strip.

On Saturday morning, gunmen twice opened fire on IDF troops near the boundary fence adjacent to the Slav settlement in southern Gaza. The soldiers returned fire.

Before dawn, a Palestinian mortar crew fired a shell at a southern Gaza settlement and gunmen opened fire on an IDF position near Kfar Darom.

Pakistan clerics explain 'jihad'

More misleading talk and half-measures, this time from Pakistan's top Muslim clerics. From the BBC via the Pakistani Newspaper, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Lahore, July 29: Pakistan's top Muslim clerics have said it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to preach the real concept of jihad, or holy war, to young Muslims.

"The situation in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine is radicalising young people," says Mufti Rafi Usmani, one of Pakistan's highest-ranking clerics.

"And an angry young man is in no-one's control," he said.

In other words, what these angry young men do is no one's responsibility. Thus Mufti Rafi neatly deflects attention away from the jihad ideology that is being preached all over Pakistan -- young men aren't joining jihad because of that, you see. They're just angry young men, out of control.

Other high-ranking Islamic scholars have also endorsed these views.

Mufti Rafi Usmani heads Darul Uloom Karachi, one of Pakistan's most respected religious schools, or madrassas.

"Islam does not allow killing of innocent civilians and non-combatants under any circumstances," he said in an interview with the BBC News website.

Here we go again. Who is innocent? What is a civilian? When a moderate Muslim spokesman addresses and refutes the assertions by Muslims that various Western non-combatants are neither innocent nor civilians, I will begin to think that the moderate Islam that is supposed to be the solution may actually have some chance of appearing somewhere in the world.

Asked to explain the concept of jihad as expounded in mainstream Islamic thought, Mufti Usmani said it had been laid down in great detail precisely to avoid any confusion.

"To begin with, jihad is not incumbent on all Muslims and a call for jihad can be given only under special circumstances," he said.

Right. Traditional Islamic law teaches that jihad is an obligation incumbent on the community as a whole -- fard kifaya. If some people in the umma, the worldwide Muslim community, are fulfilling this obligation, the others are freed from it. However, if a Muslim land is attacked (a highly elastic concept that Osama bin Laden and others use artfully today), jihad becomes fard ayn -- compulsory for all Muslims either to fight in or aid in some way. But as Islamic jihadists today routinely claim that they are fighting in defense of Muslim lands, they also claim that jihad today is fard ayn -- in other words, that the "special conditions" to which Mufti Usmani refers do exist now.

Islamic scholars - or ulema - agree that injunctions explaining the circumstances for jihad and the people's conduct during jihad constitute the core principles of the doctrine.

According to three top scholars interviewed by the BBC News website, jihad can only be called in the following circumstances:

If a Muslim community comes under attack, then jihad becomes an obligation for all Muslims, male and female, in that community

If that particular community feels it cannot fight off attackers on its own, then jihad becomes incumbent on Muslims living in nearby communities

That's why so many Muslims from neighboring countries have been streaming into Iraq.

If a Muslim ruler of a country calls for jihad, then it is incumbent upon the Muslims living under that ruler to join the jihad.

Mufti Usmani says that even in such circumstances, jihad is obligatory only on as many Muslims as are required to defend the community under attack.

But others must aid it materially -- hence the proliferation of "terror-supporting charities."

"If Pakistan is attacked but its army is sufficient to deal with the threat, then Pakistani civilians are under no obligation to join jihad," he said.

The second principle relates to the conduct of the jihadis. Under no circumstances are Muslims allowed to attack women, children, the old and the meek, the sick, those that are praying and civilians, say these ulema.

Unless they are perceived as aiding the enemies of the Muslims (cf. Mawardi, al-Akham as-Sultaniyyah, 4.2; 'Umdat al-Salik o9.10).

Muslim militants argue that if innocent Muslims are killed in enemy action then Muslims are allowed to kill innocent people in retaliation.

But clerics strongly disagree with this line of thinking, arguing that Islam does not allow Muslims to respond to "a mistake" by another mistake.

"Islam is absolutely clear on this issue. Two wrongs do not make a right," Mufti Usmani said.

"If they feel that the US or the UK are killing innocent civilians in Iraq or Afghanistan, it does not give them the right to kill innocent citizens in London or New York," he said....

Very well. But here again he doesn't address the core issue: are those civilians in London or New York innocent at all? Osama and his ilk would say no. How would the Mufti respond? Can he refute this view on Islamic grounds? If so, he should do so, and do so quickly.

"When a Muslim visits a Western country or if he is living there, then he is under a kind of a contractual obligation to abide by the law of that land," explains Mufti Usmani.

"Islam is so strict about honouring commitments that a commitment cannot be revoked unilaterally even in times of battle."

This is ridiculous in light of Muhammad's own behavior, particularly regarding the Treaty of Hudaybiya which the early Muslims concluded with the pagan Quraysh. After the treaty was concluded, a woman of the Quraysh, Umm Kulthum, joined the Muslims in Medina; her two brothers came to Muhammad, asking that she be returned "in accordance with the agreement between him and the Quraysh at Hudaybiya." Muhammad refused because Allah forbade it: he gave Muhammad a new revelation: "O ye who believe! When there come to you believing women refugees, examine and test them: Allah knows best as to their faith: if ye ascertain that they are believers, then send them not back to the unbelievers" (Qur’an 60:10).

In refusing to send Umm Kulthum back to the Quraysh, Muhammad broke the treaty. Although Muslim apologists have claimed throughout history that the Quraysh broke it first, this incident came before any treaty violations by the Quraysh. Breaking of the treaty in this way would reinforce the principle that nothing was good except what was advantageous to Islam, and nothing evil except what hindered Islam.

Mufti Akram Kashmiri, the head of Jamia Ashrafia in Lahore - another top madrassa whose students have risen to top posts in various Islamic countries - says that the existing circumstances are making it extremely difficult for the ulema to preach this message to disaffected Muslim youth.

"Angry young Muslims are no longer satisfied with this doctrine," he says.

"That is why they go around to all kinds of ulema with dubious credentials to seek religious sanctions to deal with the rising tide of anger inside them," he says.

These ulema are convinced that the solution to terrorism no longer lies in the hands of the Muslim world or the clerics.

The West, they say, must seek a resolution of all the conflicts involving the Muslim world and hit at the root causes that have spawned terrorism all over the world.

Sure. It's all the West's fault. Yet I seem to remember a good number of jihads being waged long before there was any Western "imperialism" or "colonialism" to speak of.

Foreign students ordered out of Pakistan madrasas

More window dressing from Musharraf. What about homegrown jihadists? After all, the British bombers were Pakistanis, not Arabs who studied in Pakistan. From Reuters, with thanks to all who sent this in:

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (Reuters) - Foreign students attending Islamic religious schools in Pakistan will be ordered to leave as part of a drive to stamp out terrorism and religious extremism, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said on Friday.

Security forces have detained more than 600 people in the past week after Musharraf ordered a crackdown on militant groups, mosques and religious schools, or madrasas.

Speaking to foreign correspondents at his residence as Chief of Army Staff in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, Musharraf said he wanted foreign students out.

"We've decided," he said. "All those who are here -- there are about 1,400 -- they must leave. We will not issue visas to such people."

The crackdown was ordered after the July 7 bomb attacks on London, which police said were carried out by three Britons of Pakistani descent and a fourth Briton of Jamaican origin.

One of the men, Shehzad Tanweer, visited a madrasa during trips to Pakistan in the past two years.

The number of foreign students attending madrasas in Pakistan has already fallen sharply since the government imposed tougher visa restrictions after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

There are around 12,000 madrasas in Pakistan, often providing education, shelter and food to boys from poor families.

Gee, that's swell. I wonder why Reuters saw fit to mention that. Are we to assume that cutting people off from the jihad factories will cut them off from education, shelter, and food? Well, we don't want them starving -- better they get turned into mujahedin.

British jihadist: would-be London bombers guilty of tactical errors, not immorality

Hassan Butt doesn't seem moved by the recent Muslim condemnations of the bombers: he is still convinced that they acted in accord with Islam. This may be in part because the condemnations did not even address the Islamic reasoning that people like Butt use to establish their positions. "Radical Muslim questions tactics of bombers," from The Telegraph, with thanks to Nicolei:

A Muslim who helped recruit young men to fight for the Taliban says that those willing to plant bombs in London were guilty of tactical errors but were not immoral.

Hassan Butt, 25, earned notoriety in January 2002 when he told the BBC's Today programme that Britons who went to fight the West in Afghanistan would return home to launch terror attacks.

Three years on, in an interview given to Prospect magazine some months before the bombings and published this week, he predicted that "a lot of killing" is unavoidable if the world is to come under the banner of Islam.

Formerly the self-styled spokesman for al-Muhajiroun, an Islamic fundamentalist group, he split from the faction over the issue of the "covenant of security", which forbade Muslims living in Britain from engaging in military action within the country.

While al-Muhajiroun supported the concept, Butt said he did not. His opposition to committing acts of violence was, he said, a matter of tactics rather than principle. "Now, I am not in favour of military action in Britain but if somebody did do it who was British, I would not have any trouble with that either. . . It wouldn't necessarily be the wisest thing to do but it wouldn't be un-Islamic."

Anyone who was involved in such attacks would be a "completely and utterly loose cannon", said Butt, who now lives in the Leeds suburb of Beeston. Such "military action" would be unwise because "a bomb in London would be strategically damaging to Muslims here. Immigration is lax in Britain. . . London has more radical Muslims than anywhere in the Muslim world. A bomb would jeopardise everyone's position. There has to be a place we can come."

I suspect that Butt has also articulated one principle reason why we have not seen a similar bombing in the United States.

But he drew a distinction between Muslims who sought refuge in Britain - who would be bound by the covenant - and those who were born here, who would not.

"Most of our people, especially the youth, are British citizens," he said. "They owe nothing to the Government. They did not ask to be born here; neither did they ask to be protected by Britain."

He is assuming that their primary loyalty will be to the Islamic umma, as is taught by traditional, mainstream Islam.

Zambia: Man held for questioning linked to Osama

Haroon Rashid Aswat update. From AP, with thanks to Nicolei:

LUSAKA (Zambia): A British man in custody in Zambia in connection with the July 7 London bombings was once a body guard for al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, Zambian security officials said on Friday.

The security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorised to speak to the media, said Haroon Rashid Aswat, 31, said during questioning that he had once been a personal guard for bin Laden. Aswat was detained in Lusaka after he entered the country from Botswana, the Zambian officials said....

The Zambian officials said investigators were particularly interested in talking to Aswat about 20 phone calls allegedly made from his phone to some of the men thought to have set off bombs in London on July 7....

Aswat reportedly was once an associate of Abu Hamza al-Masri, a Muslim preacher who is awaiting trial in Britain on charges of incitement to murder. Al-Masri also is wanted in the United States on charges of trying to establish a terrorist training camp in Bly.

All four London bombers in custody after dramatic raids

Good news from the Times Online, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

All three remaining July 21 rucksack bombers are believed to be in police custody tonight after eight days on the run.

The suspected Hackney bus bomber is among three men held after dramatic raids in West London today, while the Italian interior ministry reported tonight that it had seized the fourth bomber in Rome. They named him as Hussain Osman, a Somali-born man believed to be the Westbourne Park bomber.

The British anti-terror chief has confirmed that a man "of interest to the London bombs investigation" is being held in Rome and that a European arrest warrant has been issued seeking the return Hussain Osman to the UK

The events mean that all four men suspected of trying to blow up targets in London transport on July 21 are alive and in the hands of the authorities. Yasin Hussein Omar, the suspected Warren St Tube bomber, was shot with a stun gun and arrested in a dawn raid on a house in Birmingham on Wednesday.

To have four live suspects, plus the rucksacks which failed to explode on July 21, is likely to prove a treasure trove of information to the police.

Iran's new president glorifies martyrdom, says that Islam will conquer the world

We haven't heard much from Iran's new Thug-In-Chief since the London bombings. Here is an update: "Iran's New President Glorifies Martyrdom," from MEMRI, with thanks to Ray:

The following are excerpts from a speech by Iranian President-Elect Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, which aired July 25, 2005 on Iranian Channel 1. In it, he praises martyrdom operations and states that Islam will conquer the world. (To view this clip, visit http://memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=782.)

Ahmadi-Nejad: [...] Is there art that is more beautiful, more divine, and more eternal than the art of martyrdom? A nation with martyrdom knows no captivity. Those who wish to undermine this principle undermine the foundations of our independence and national security. They undermine the foundation of our eternity.

"The message of the [Islamic] Revolution is global, and is not restricted to a specific place or time. It is a human message, and it will move forward.

"Have no doubt... Allah willing, Islam will conquer what? It will conquer all the mountain tops of the world."

Muslim 'Moderates' And Terrorism

"Why we will never be able to count on what we call 'the moderate Muslims' for the war against terrorism." I have personally encountered the reaction of which Fiamma Nirenstein speaks in this New York Sun article (thanks to waterdragon52) many times: Muslims condemn terrorism, but then make all kinds of excuses and exceptions so that it becomes clear that they don't mean to condemn Osama, Hamas, etc., at all. And that the All-Purpose Bogeyman is the one who is really behind today's terrorism. This is useful to keep in mind.

SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt - The poor people dressed in Islamic garb or in dirty blue trousers and T-shirts sitting in 118-degree heat in the hall of the Sharm el-Sheik Hospital were either the brothers, the cousins, or the friends of the people wounded in the terrorist attack of the day before. Just plenty of desperate young people....

You understand many things about terrorism when you speak to them; and you understand also, unfortunately, why we will never be able to count on what we call "the moderate Muslims" for the war against terrorism....

So, let's test this thesis and ask: "Do they hate terrorists?" The answer is "Yes, very much so," and they really do, - they close their fists and watch in rage and repeat to me that they deeply hope that Mr. Mubarak will catch them all, will put them in prison, will kill them. Are they ready to fight them? Yes, at every level, with their hands, if requested, and with demonstrations that actually, while I'm in Sharm, suddenly appear in the hot streets and just in front of the cameras of the international press: "Down with terrorism," "We are against terrorism"...

But then, if it's so, why can the great moderate Muslim world not really fight their own enemy? They themselves give me the answers: "Bin Laden? The Muslim Brotherhood? Certainly the terrorist attacks are not their work, no! This is a lie. A Muslim could never do this. And if they say they do it in the name of Islam, they are not Islamic; or, most likely, this shows, like the television says, that someone uses the name of Islam just to hide the real perpetrators."

Anyhow, Islam is out of the question, And then, we ask again, who is behind the attacks? Well, you know the answer, they smile with a smart expression. Mahmoud, who comes from a periphery of Cairo, where he now cannot go back because he doesn't have the money for a bus ticket, knows the answer, and so do all his other friends, about 10, all from the same town, now all together as one, standing in the corridor of the Hospital of Sharm, no air-conditioning, their friend Khaled in bed with a wound in his back ("I was lucky. Nadem had both of his legs amputated," Khaled says).

They know the answer, yes: the television said that only the Israelis and the Americans have a real interest in seeing Egypt on its knees; General Fuad Allam said that the perpetrators of the Taba attack of October 2004 were apparently linked to the Israeli security forces, and so, supposedly, it is today. Also Al-Jazeera and even Al-Arabia interviewed "experts" to confirm this point of view. A big, beautiful guy with a red T-shirt just puts it down bluntly: "We know only what the television tells us."

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

Tonight I will once again be sitting in for Laurie Roth as host of her nationally syndicated radio program. I'll be discussing the fatwa against terrorism issued yesterday by American Muslims, the ongoing situation in London, and much more.

I hope you will call in. 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 EDT.

Give me a call tonight. The call in number is 1-800-837-9680.

Arrests in terror police swoops

More misunderstanders of Islam apprehended in London. From the BBC, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

Armed police investigating the 21 July attempted bombings have made a number of arrests and surrounded flats in west London in "significant" operations.

The area, around Dalgarno Gardens, North Kensington, has been cordoned off, and the area has been evacuated.

Eyewitnesses say they heard three shots and a large explosion as officers wearing gas masks entered a property.

Police are seeking three men in connection with the attempted bomb attacks in London.

Police are continually shouting at someone in the flat to come out. They are addressing him as "Muhammad".

The police are asking him: "What is the problem? Why can't you come out?

"Take your clothes off. Exit the building. Do you understand?"

Officers are telling other residents on the 350-property estate to "get inside now".

Scotland Yard say they are not aware of firearms having been used.

One eyewitness says a man dressed in a white forensic overall has been taken away in an unmarked police car.

Another has spoken of seeing three other people being taken away in a police van.

Live from Gaza: Terror Radio

No surprise here, except maybe to those who actually believed the soothing words spoken by Abu Mazen. "Live from Gaza: Terror Radio: Hamas using official station to instruct missile-launch crews," from WND, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

GANEI TAL, Gaza – Hamas has been using its official radio station in Gaza to broadcast instructions to terrorists in the field firing mortars and rockets at Gaza's Jewish communities, security sources told WND.

Hamas regularly fires mortars and Qassam rockets at Gush Katif, the slate of Gaza's Jewish communities scheduled for evacuation Aug. 17. The terror group launched more than 120 rockets and mortars the past two weeks, killing one woman and injuring more than eight. Yesterday, a Qassam rocket hit Neve Dekalim, a large southern Katif town.

Analysts expect the rocket attacks to increase as the evacuation date gets closer so that Hamas, popular in the Gaza Strip, can claim to its Palestinian supporters it drove Israel from the area.

According to security sources, Hamas the past few months has been using its official radio station, Voice of Al Aqsa, to relay instructions to terrorists firing rockets and mortars at Gush Katif from Gaza City. The station, which broadcasts in Arabic, is available to the general Gaza public at 106.7 FM.

Sources say Hamas operations coordinators in Gaza use the station to provide terrorists with directions such as the exact coordinates in and near Gaza City from which to launch the rockets and mortars and the trajectory to be used in firing the Qassam missiles.

Qassams, about four feet in length, lack a guidance system and are launched by terrorists using the rocket's trajectory and known travel distance to aim at a particular Jewish community.

"The radio station is not only broadcasting incitement, but, incredibly, broadcasting military instructions to carry out attacks against Israel," said a security source.

Terror in Jammu after violent killings

Kashmir jihad update from the IANS, with thanks to Fanabba. The "militants" in the story, as is obvious from the context, are Islamic mujahedin:

JAMMU: Unleashing a wave of terror in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, militants axed to death a woman and slit the throats of five men after segregating Hindus and Muslims in the village.

Both the incidents in separate villages in Rajouri district, about 200 km north of Jammu, took place Thursday night.

In what is being seen as the first major killing of Hindus in the last two years, five men in the age group of 40-60 were brutally killed when militants allegedly barged into their homes in Deb village in Rajouri.

Though initial reports said the five were gunned down, it later came to light that their throats were slit after the militants segregated Hindu and Muslim populations.

Emerson: The American Islamic Leaders' "Fatwa" is Bogus

Over at the Counterterrorism blog, the indefatigable and courageous Steven Emerson exposes some of the terror ties of those who trumpeted yesterday's fatwa against terrorism:

This morning a group of American Islamic leaders held a press conference to announce a fatwa, or Islamic religious ruling, against “terrorism and extremism.” An organization called the Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA) issued the fatwa, and the Council on American - Islamic Relations (CAIR) organized the press conference, stating that several major U.S. Muslim groups endorsed the fatwa.

In fact, the fatwa is bogus. Nowhere does it condemn the Islamic extremism ideology that has spawned Islamic terrorism. It does not renounce nor even acknowledge the existence of an Islamic jihadist culture that has permeated mosques and young Muslims around the world. It does not renounce Jihad let alone admit that it has been used to justify Islamic terrorist acts. It does not condemn by name any Islamic group or leader. In short, it is a fake fatwa designed merely to deceive the American public into believing that these groups are moderate. In fact, officials of both organizations have been directly linked to and associated with Islamic terrorist groups and Islamic extremist organizations. One of them is an unindicted co-conspirator in a current terrorist case; another previous member was a financier to Al-Qaeda.

I spoke with Judea Pearl, father of murdered journalist Daniel Pearl who told me that the fatwa was “vacuous because it does not name the perpetrators of Islamic terrorist theologies and leaders of Islamic movements like Yousef Al Qaradawi, Osama Bin Laden, Ayman Al Zawahari, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, etc.” Pearl told me that these groups are “trying to perpetrate a deception on the American public.”

Officials of both groups have been linked to various terrorist organizations:

The Chairman of the Fiqh Council, Taha Jaber Al-Alwani, is an unindicted co-conspirator in the case against Sami al-Arian, the alleged North American leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, whose trial began in June 2005 in Tampa, Florida. Mr. Alwani has been named in court documents as an official of several entities in northern Virginia suspected of being connected to terrorist financing. Documents released in the Al Arian trial show that Alwani funded the Islamic Jihad front groups in Tampa.

Another past trustee of the Fiqh Council, Abdurrahman Alamoudi, is serving a 23-year prison sentence for illegal financial dealings with Libya and immigration fraud, has admitted to his part in a plot to assassinate the Saudi Crown Prince, and has vocally announced his support for the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah. Additionally Alamoudi was just named by Treasury as having been a financier for Al Qaeda.

In 1998, Fiqh Council member Sheikh Muhammad al-Hanooti, gave a speech calling for jihad against the United States and the United Kingdom, saying that “Allah will curse the Americans and British” and “Allah, the curse of Allah will become true on the infidel Jews and on the tyrannical Americans.” Additionally, Hanooti is strongly linked to Hamas, having served on the board of the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP). A 2002 INS memo extensively documented IAP’s support for HAMAS and noted that the “facts strongly suggest” that IAP is “part of HAMAS’ propaganda apparatus.”

On October 28, 2000, Muzammil Siddiqui, the President of FCNA, at a rally in Lafayette Park in Washington D.C., said, “America has to learn -- if you remain on the side of injustice, the wrath of God will come!"

In the past 4 years, several CAIR officials have been convicted of or charged with various terrorism-related offenses.

Read it all.

United American Committee urges forthright action against jihad terror

From a statement by the United American Committee:

...the organization is demanding that Washington awake to the issue of Islamic extremism in America. “We can not afford to allow terrorists to spread their ideology in prison, or anywhere in America.” says U.A.C. founder Jesse Petrilla responding to yesterday’s sentence of would be LAX bomber Ahmed Ressam to a maximum of 22 years in prison. “Terrorists should be punished with none other than capitol punishment.” says Petrilla. The United American Committee platform was sent to President Bush last week, one point states that the death penalty should be extended to those who commit or are in the process of committing terrorist attacks as defined in the patriot act. “A revolution has been sparked, we have to take action before it is too late.” says U.A.C. member Robert Sandoval.

The United American Committee platform is as follows:

1. Our goal is the unity of all Americans, against the threats of Islamic extremism which face our nation and a goal of ensuring a secure future of America. We will accomplish our goals set forth through the following actions: Educate our society on the natures of our enemies. Inform the American people on issues which must be resolved. Influence and encourage the actions of the President and Congress to accomplish our goals.

2. Our goal is that freedom for all religious faiths continues, insofar as they do not endanger the American people, or the existence of democracy.

3. Our goal is the education of the American people regarding the philosophies and activities of our enemies which are operating from within the United States borders. Therefore any terrorist activities found to be operating within our borders should be brought to the attention of the American people. The citizens must be informed at all times. Any threat to the American people and to American democracy shall be dealt with immediately.

Furthermore, it is the duty of every American to report to authorities any activities observed which may inflict harm upon the American people.

4. We encourage the judicial system of the United States to enact the following in regards to terrorist activities: Terrorist activities by those who wish to inflict injury of the common welfare of the United States and the American populace, who are captured while in the process of committing a terrorist attack as defined by the patriot act, shall not be allowed to continue spreading his/her ideology in any matter, but shall be dealt with by capitol punishment, regardless of creed or race. For their accomplices, no parole shall ever be granted to those who have plotted or assisted in the plot against the common welfare of America and the American people.

5. Those who reside in America who are aliens, whether documented or undocumented, and who are not citizens, who are from countries with governments which have known ties to Islamic extremism, shall not only be subject to American laws, but shall be subject to strict immigration laws. Current immigration laws must be enforced to the full, and must not be restricted. Any violation of these laws must be dealt with by immediate deportation.

Those coming from countries whose governments have known ties to Islamic extremism, wishing to gain entry to America shall be closely scrutinized, and access shall only be granted after a lengthy process of research and analysis of the individual case.

6. Our nation's security shall come first and foremost. The United American Committee is dedicated to protecting the American people, and allowing them to live safe and comfortable lives, without the threats of Islamic extremism and terrorist activities. We feel a key to accomplishing this is by maintaining a secure border. Our goal is an increase in border security along both our northern and southern borders, as well as an increase in funding to Coast Guard and Immigration agencies so that they may work efficiently and that the American people may live in safety.

7. We encourage laws to be implemented stating that no organization of any kind deemed to be promoting ideals which endanger the American populace shall receive funding by any foreign government or other foreign source. We encourage the United States government to closely scrutinize the funding of any organization from a foreign source.

8. Our goal is for America to cease dependency on imported oil from countries tied to Islamic extremism. We encourage the United States government to expand our importation of fuels from allied democratic nations, as well as to decrease exportation of American oil. The United American Committee also encourages automotive corporations to pursue alternative fuels in order to help decrease the funding of foreign regimes which have known ties to Islamic extremism.

9. The United American Committee believes education is a key to a bright future. We ask that the education system of America shall teach our youth the facts, and the true nature of our extremist enemies. Our educators shall not feel pressure to withhold vital information for fear of reprimand due to political correctness. Our youth are our nation's future. We must hold their education to the highest level of importance.

10. Our goal is to encourage Muslim Americans to embrace democratic ideals, and the American way of life. All citizens are equal and are entitled to the rights granted by the United States constitution. These rights may only be revoked when an individual, regardless of creed or race, commits an act against his/her fellow American or against the American populace, whether by action or intent. We encourage American Muslims to denounce the ideals of our extremist enemies, and to stand against our enemy's terrorist actions.

The myth of moderate Islam

The estimable Patrick Sookhdeo, who has done superlative work tracing the systematic denial of rights and persecution of Christians by Muslims in Pakistan, has written a superb piece underscoring what I have said many, many times: there are moderate Muslims, but Islam itself is not moderate: the teachings that the jihad terrorists use to justify their actions are embedded in the core of the religion. From The Spectator, with thanks to John Derbyshire:

The funeral of British suicide bomber Shehzad Tanweer was held in absentia in his family’s ancestral village, near Lahore, Pakistan. Thousands of people attended, as they did again the following day when a qul ceremony was held for Tanweer. During qul, the Koran is recited to speed the deceased’s journey to paradise, though in Tanweer’s case this was hardly necessary. Being a shahid (martyr), he is deemed to have gone straight to paradise. The 22-year-old from Leeds, whose bomb at Aldgate station killed seven people, was hailed by the crowd as ‘a hero of Islam’.

Some in Britain cannot conceive that a suicide bomber could be a hero of Islam. Since 7/7 many have made statements to attempt to explain what seems to them a contradiction in terms. Since the violence cannot be denied, their only course is to argue that the connection with Islam is invalid. The deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Brian Paddick, said that ‘Islam and terrorists are two words that do not go together.’ His boss, the Commissioner Sir Ian Blair, asserted that there is nothing wrong with being a fundamentalist Muslim.

But surely we should give enough respect to those who voluntarily lay down their lives to accept what they themselves say about their motives. If they say they do it in the name of Islam, we must believe them. Is it not the height of illiberalism and arrogance to deny them the right to define themselves?

On 8 July the London-based Muslim Weekly unblushingly published a lengthy opinion article by Abid Ullah Jan entitled ‘Islam, Faith and Power’. The gist of the article is that Muslims should strive to gain political and military power over non-Muslims, that warfare is obligatory for all Muslims, and that the Islamic state, Islam and Sharia (Islamic law) should be established throughout the world. All is supported with quotations from the Koran. It concludes with a veiled threat to Britain. The bombings the previous day were a perfect illustration of what Jan was advocating, and the editor evidently felt no need to withdraw the article or to apologise for it. His newspaper is widely read and distributed across the UK.

By far the majority of Muslims today live their lives without recourse to violence, for the Koran is like a pick-and-mix selection. If you want peace, you can find peaceable verses. If you want war, you can find bellicose verses. You can find verses which permit only defensive jihad, or you can find verses to justify offensive jihad.

You can even find texts which specifically command terrorism, the classic one being Q8:59-60, which urges Muslims to prepare themselves to fight non-Muslims, ‘Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies’ (A. Yusuf Ali’s translation). Pakistani Brigadier S.K. Malik’s book The Quranic Concept of War is widely used by the military of various Muslim countries. Malik explains Koranic teaching on strategy: ‘In war our main objective is the opponent’s heart or soul, our main weapon of offence against this objective is the strength of our own souls, and to launch such an attack, we have to keep terror away from our own hearts.... Terror struck into the hearts of the enemies is not only a means, it is the end itself. Once a condition of terror into the opponent’s heart is obtained, hardly anything is left to be achieved. It is the point where the means and the end meet and merge. Terror is not a means of imposing decision on the enemy; it is the decision we wish to impose on him.’

If you permit yourself a little judicious cutting, the range of choice in Koranic teaching is even wider. A verse one often hears quoted as part of the ‘Islam is peace’ litany allegedly runs along the lines: ‘If you kill one soul it is as if you have killed all mankind.’ But the full and unexpurgated version of Q5:32 states: ‘If anyone slew a person — unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land — it would be as if he slew the whole people.’ The very next verse lists a selection of savage punishments for those who fight the Muslims and create ‘mischief’ (or in some English translations ‘corruption’) in the land, punishments which include execution, crucifixion or amputation. What kind of ‘mischief in the land’ could merit such a reaction? Could it be interpreted as secularism, democracy and other non-Islamic values in a land? Could the ‘murder’ be the killing of Muslims in Iraq? Just as importantly, do the Muslims who keep quoting this verse realise what a deception they are imposing on their listeners?...

Read it all. Read it all. Read it all.

you jew

That was the subject line of a love note I received this evening from a Muslim who has clearly heeded the CAIR fatwa, and knows that the real Muslim is the one who loves peace:

remenber you evil zionist terrorist, not all of us are stupid, we know that muhammed came with the truth from the one true creator and you jewish racist are trying to make muslims and christians fight each other but you will not prevale because islam means peace and the real muslim is the one who loves peace.

I'll try to "remenber" that.

U.S. Muslim Fatwa Against Terrorism

Here is the text of today's fatwa, via CAIR (thanks to David Ouellette). It suffers from the same problem that I noted here and here: it condemns the taking of innocent lives and actions against civilians. It doesn't address statements by Muslims to the effect that civilians in various places are not innocent, and are not to be distinguished from combatants. In light of this, just to say that Islam forbids killing innocent civilians is not enough. They must specify, both for Muslims and non-Muslims, who they consider "innocent," and what they mean by "civilian." They haven't done so here.

U.S. MUSLIM RELIGIOUS COUNCIL ISSUES FATWA AGAINST TERRORISM

The Fiqh Council of North America wishes to reaffirm Islam's absolute condemnation of terrorism and religious extremism.

Islam strictly condemns religious extremism and the use of violence against innocent lives. There is no justification in Islam for extremism or terrorism. Targeting civilians’ life and property through suicide bombings or any other method of attack is haram – or forbidden - and those who commit these barbaric acts are criminals, not “martyrs.”

The Qur’an, Islam’s revealed text, states: "Whoever kills a person [unjustly]…it is as though he has killed all mankind. And whoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved all mankind." (Qur’an, 5:32)

Prophet Muhammad said there is no excuse for committing unjust acts: "Do not be people without minds of your own, saying that if others treat you well you will treat them well, and that if they do wrong you will do wrong to them. Instead, accustom yourselves to do good if people do good and not to do wrong (even) if they do evil." (Al-Tirmidhi)

God mandates moderation in faith and in all aspects of life when He states in the Qur’an: “We made you to be a community of the middle way, so that (with the example of your lives) you might bear witness to the truth before all mankind.” (Qur’an, 2:143)

In another verse, God explains our duties as human beings when he says: “Let there arise from among you a band of people who invite to righteousness, and enjoin good and forbid evil.” (Qur’an, 3:104)

Islam teaches us to act in a caring manner to all of God's creation. The Prophet Muhammad, who is described in the Qur’an as “a mercy to the worlds” said: “All creation is the family of God, and the person most beloved by God (is the one) who is kind and caring toward His family."

In the light of the teachings of the Qur’an and Sunnah we clearly and strongly state:

1. All acts of terrorism targeting civilians are haram (forbidden) in Islam.

2. It is haram for a Muslim to cooperate with any individual or group that is involved in any act of terrorism or violence.

3. It is the civic and religious duty of Muslims to cooperate with law enforcement authorities to protect the lives of all civilians.

We issue this fatwa following the guidance of our scripture, the Qur’an, and the teachings of our Prophet Muhammad – peace be upon him. We urge all people to resolve all conflicts in just and peaceful manners.

We pray for the defeat of extremism and terrorism. We pray for the safety and security of our country, the United States, and its people. We pray for the safety and security of all inhabitants of our planet. We pray that interfaith harmony and cooperation prevail both in the United States and all around the globe.

American Muslim anti-terror declaration

This is not the text of the fatwa that was issued today, but it is a "Declaration of Support and Action Against Terrorism" signed by numerous American Muslim leaders. I expect it is similar to the fatwa, although we shall see. From the Muslim American Society's site (thanks to David Ouellette), with my comments interspersed:

Declaration of Support and Action Against Terrorism

We, the undersigned, Imams and community leaders, are responding to the call made by the Muslim American Society to purge Islam, our community, and the issues we advocate from the stigma of terrorism.

As those who have firsthand experience as victims of terrorism and its repercussions (bigotry, Islamophobia, dehumanization) we are determined to lead our community out of anxiety and beyond condemnations. We will increase our efforts to immunize our community against extremism.

We reiterate that terrorist acts are utterly criminal, totally reprehensible, and absolutely un-Islamic. There can never be any excuse for the taking of innocent life, and terrorism has absolutely no sanction in Islam. Nor is there any justification whatsoever in our noble religion for such evil actions. Our message is unambiguous: the authors of terrorist attacks and bombings are criminals, and we should not accept their justifications, whether ideological, religious or political. Our position has been consistent; it is anchored on solid religious, moral, and civic grounds. The Qur’an clearly declares that killing an innocent person was tantamount to killing all mankind and likewise saving a single life was as if one had saved the life of all mankind. (The Qur’an, Al-Maidah 5:32) This is both a principle and a command.

Once again, this does not address the Islamic perspective that denies the existence of civilians as a category, or which declares that civilians in countries considered to be at war with Islam are not innocent.

We recognize we’ve got to work better at combating terrorism. We believe that a collaborate efforts on the part of our government, media, faith communities, and civic society can reduce the likelihood of terrorist acts.

We are faced with a complex and dangerous phenomenon and a deadly vicious cycle perpetuated by people who are both fanatic/misguided and desperate, and others who are simply bigot. We need a comprehensive multifaceted approach/strategy and coordinated efforts to break this cycle and proactively and effectively combat terrorism. We recognize that injustices like erosion of civil liberties, backing of corrupt and oppressive regimes in the Muslim world, complete reliance on security and intelligence, shallow public relations efforts, and inflammatory/inciting statements in the media, by some religious leaders, or even public officials play well into the hands of extremists. And this too must be rejected. However, we are committed to be more vocal and more active in our attempt to isolate terrorists and terrorism, deny them recruits, sympathy, and any religious or political legitimacy.

All within our society should be united against terrorism and work together. Therefore, we call upon our government to address genuine grievances being exploited by the terrorists, engage the American Muslim community and leadership and moderate Islamic groups abroad, and aggressively promote human rights and democracy in the Muslim world. The media, for its part, needs to be more aware and objective in its coverage of Islam and Muslims. Islam-bashing fuels hatred and plays into the hands of terrorists.

I don't know what they mean by "Islam-bashing," but I suspect they would consider any discussion of how the jihadists use the Qur'an and Sunnah to justify their actions would fall into that category. If that is so, how can they hope to achieve genuine reform?

As Islamic religious leaders, we are well-positioned to fulfill the role of a goodwill bridge between our country and the greater Muslim world.

We are determined to solidify the prevailing moderate and mainstream orientation of our community, and do whatever it takes to leave no chance for terrorists and their views to creep into our community, leaving no ambiguity when it comes to the Islamic position on terrorism.

They haven't done that yet.

We will intensify the personal development of our youth and inculcate in them the proper understanding of Islam, help them develop a genuine American Muslim identity and aid them in fulfilling their potential, keeping them from falling into the grasp of extremism and moral vice.

We are determined to partner with people of faith and conscious in order to confront the problems that may possibly be alienating our youth, driving them towards a path of anger and desperation.

We will continue our efforts and collaborate with others to work towards a just and lasting peace in the world’s areas of conflict, and address the grievances that seem to nurture violence. We will vindicate the Islamic concepts that are abused by terrorists, and channel the frustration from domestic and foreign policies into active participation in national debates.

OK. Show us, please.

We will step up our outreach efforts in order to speed up the integration of our community, demystify Islam and Muslims, and deny the terrorists the opportunity to hijack our religion or speak on behalf of the one and a half billion Muslims worldwide.

Finally, we reiterate our belief that nations and groups should maintain relationships on the basis of universal brotherhood, fairness, respect and mutual understanding, and that individuals should pursue their interests through civic engagement.

We call upon our community not to be beaten into retreat from its mission by current events. We must not remain withdrawn. We no longer have the luxury of simply complaining, even justifiably, that we are mistreated. Our mission is to preach the message of Islam courteously and wisely, to advocate justice, and enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong, through engagement with society. Our central goal should be to put our grand values and principles into action and make a contribution, making a lasting impact on this nation and the World.

Their mission is to preach the message of Islam. I wish them well in their efforts to eradicate terrorism from Islam, but I wonder how much attachment to Sharia is contained in that message they wish to preach.

American Muslim Scholars: Terror Violates Islam

Nearly four years after 9/11, during which time jihadists have carried out 2,647 terrorist attacks, American Muslim scholars have gotten around to condemning terrorism. It is unclear from this report whether in their fatwa they make the necessary distinctions: do they stipulate that American and British civilians are indeed "innocent civilians" and thus not to be murdered, or do they leave unanswered the jihadist assertion that they aren't innocent civilians at all, but kafir harbi, unbelievers at war with Islam, and thus fair game? Do they stipulate that the terror they are condemning is that which is committed around the world today by Muslims, not the terror that jihadists charge that America is committing? I will get hold of the full document as soon as I can.

Meanwhile, see the links below for evidence that the groups behind this fatwa may not be all that they seem to be.

From AP, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

American Muslim scholars who interpret religious law for their community issued an edict Thursday condemning terrorism against civilians in response to the wave of deadly attacks in Britain and other countries.

In the statement, called a fatwa, the 18-member Fiqh Council of North America wrote that people who commit terrorism in the name of Islam were "criminals, not `martyrs.'"

"There is no justification in Islam for extremism or terrorism," the scholars wrote. "Targeting civilians' life and property through suicide bombings or any other method of attack is haram - or forbidden."

Many Muslim leaders overseas have issued similar condemnations in recent weeks, but some have left an opening for violence to be used. British Muslim leaders who denounced the July 7 attacks in London said suicide bombings could still be justified against an occupying power.

The U.S. fatwa did not specifically address suicide bombings in a war, but the scholars barred Muslims from helping anyone "involved in any act of terrorism or violence." The council also declared that Muslims were obligated to help law enforcement officials protect civilians.

"It is the civic and religious duty of Muslims to cooperate with law enforcement authorities," according to the Fiqh Council. The term "fiqh" refers to Islamic legal issues and understanding the faith's religious law.

Islam has no central authority and the council serves an advisory role for American Muslims, who could number as high as 6 million. But some question whether the panel's statements would sway extremists.

Leaders of major American Muslim organizations have taken pains since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to condemn terrorism and deny any religious justification for it. They have intensified their efforts following the July 7 bombings in London and the botched attacks two weeks later. Other terrorist attacks have occurred in Egypt and Israel in recent weeks, along with continued bombings in Iraq.

The Muslim Public Affairs Council, an advocacy group based in Los Angeles, started the "National Anti-Terrorism Campaign" last year, urging Muslims to monitor their own communities, speak out more boldly against violence and work with law enforcement officials.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based civil rights organization, is running a TV ad and a petition-drive called "Not in the Name of Islam," which repudiates terrorism. In New York and other cities, mosque leaders have joined advisory committees created by the FBI to build relations between law enforcement and their local communities.

"We pray for the defeat of extremism and terrorism," the scholars wrote. "We pray for the safety and security of our country, the United States, and its people. We pray for the safety and security of all inhabitants of our planet."

Do you renounce any intention of imposing Sharia on the US now or in the future?

Key London bombs suspect arrested in Zambia

Just in from the TimesOnline:

A senior British al-Qaeda operative sought by authorities since the July 7 bombing attacks on London has been arrested in Zambia.

The Los Angeles Times reported today that Haroon Rashid Aswat, a 30-year-old of Indian descent who grew up in West Yorkshire, was arrested last week and is being held in Lusaka, where both British and US anti-terrorism investigators have travelled.

British officials confirmed the report, but would not immediately elaborate. A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We are seeking consular access to a British national who is reported to be in custody in Zambia."

Aswat, whose associations with al-Qaeda date back ten years, is believed to have entered Briton about two weeks before July 7 on a ferry into Felixstowe, and to have flown out from Heathrow hours before the four suicide bombers killed 52 rush-hour commuters on three Tube trains and a bus....

New York: Muslim cleric gets 75 years for conspiring to fund Al-Qaeda and Hamas

Al-Moayad update. Evidently this is yet another Muslim cleric who has misunderstood Islam. I expect Ibrahim Hooper will be on the phone to him forthwith to explain to him the error of his ways. "Yemeni Cleric Receives 75-Year Sentence," from AP, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

NEW YORK (AP) -- A judge on Thursday sentenced a Yemeni cleric who bragged about his ties to Osama bin Laden to 75 years in prison, the maximum penalty in a case that was shaken when the star witness set himself on fire outside the White House.

"Your honor, what have I done?" Sheik Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad said as he was led away to begin serving his sentence.

Hmmm. Maintaining the facade until the end, I see.

He was convicted on charges of conspiring to support al-Qaeda and Hamas, supporting the Palestinian group and attempting to support al-Qaeda.

Al-Moayad, 57, was secretly recorded promising to funnel more than $2 million to Hamas in a meeting with two FBI informants in a German hotel room. He was arrested by German police in January 2003 and extradited to the United States....

One of the informants, Mohamed Alanssi, set himself on fire outside the White House in November 2004 in what he later described as an attempt to get more money from the FBI, which paid him at least $100,000 for his work.

Alanssi nonetheless testified at al-Moayad's trial that the sheik had boasted of giving bin Laden $20 million in the years before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Bomb suspect 'berated shopkeeper for not being proper Muslim'

As I have noted many times, it is the jihadists who in the Islamic community wear the mantle of being true and pure Muslims. No self-professed moderates have yet successfully challenged that. From The Telegraph, with thanks to Skeetstreet:

The suspected terrorist accused of trying to bomb a tube train at Warren Street used to berate a Muslim shopkeeper for selling alcohol, it was claimed last night. Yasin Hussan Omar, 24, a Somalian national who arrived in Britain as a child, lived in a rented flat in New Southgate, north London.

One shopkeeper, Mohammed Hassan, claimed yesterday that Omar had accused him of not being a "proper Muslim".

"I never got the impression he had any money and he would complain about me selling alcohol, telling me I was not a good Muslim," Mr Hassan said.

Another shopkeeper, Ali Dursun, claimed Omar often railed about halal meat.

"He said Turkish people were not proper Muslims," Mr Dursan said....

Because of their relatively secular government.

Meanwhile, the family of Ibrahim - the first to report his name to police after his CCTV image was released - said yesterday that he had not visited their home in Harrow for many months.

However, Sarah Scott, a neighbour of Ibrahim's parents, claimed she had seen him in the area about two weeks ago.

Miss Scott, 23, said Ibrahim had tried to convert her to Islam and had told her 80 virgins would be waiting for him if he died loyal to Allah. "I have known him since I was about 11," she said. "He was here about two weeks ago. It would have been after the July 7 bombings. He was pretty calm but then he was always calm."

She said he had given her a pamphlet on Islam last year. "We were sitting down having a fag and he asked me if I was Catholic because I have Irish family," she said. "I said I didn't believe in anything and he said I should.

"He told me he was going to have all these virgins and he got to have them if he prayed to Allah. He gave me a book and told me to read it. He said it would change my views and any questions I should ask him. I didn't realise he was a terrorist."

A friend of Ibrahim, who would give him name only as Kawser, praised the actions of the suicide bombers. Speaking yesterday outside the flat Ibrahim and Omar shared in New Southgate, he said: "As a Muslim I believe it's one of the most honorable ways to die, defending your beliefs.

"You shouldn't do it because people will think you are brave but for Allah.

"It depends on the situation, but if someone gave me a bomb and said, 'Go and do it', I would have to consider it. If I was in a situation, at a time of war, to go and blow up civilians, I don't think I would do it. But to go and attack the Houses of Parliament or Downing Street, they are military targets. I hope the bombers go to paradise after giving up their lives as martyrs."

Ibrahim's brother, Amir, briefly emerged from the family home yesterday wearing a scarf and hooded top to cover his face and tried to throw a dustbin at television cameras.

"I haven't seen him," he said. "He has not lived here since he was 18. My mum and dad are sick with the stress of all this."

Take it up with your brother, Amir.

9 More Methodists Arrested in Botched London Attacks -- Oh, Wait...

I'm sorry. They weren't Methodists at all. They were actually Muslims. I know it's hard to believe that Muslims could have anything to do with terrorism, but there it is. "9 More Arrested in Botched London Attacks," from AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

LONDON - Anti-terrorist officers arrested nine men in raids early Thursday in connection with the botched July 21 attacks on London's transit system, bringing to 20 the number of people police have in custody, including one of the alleged bombers.

Scotland Yard police headquarters said the nine were arrested under the Terrorism Act at two properties in the neighborhood of Tooting, in south London.

The arrests follow a significant breakthrough on Wednesday, when authorities in the central England city of Birmingham arrested one of the four men suspected of carrying out the failed attacks — Yasin Hassan Omar, 24. He was being held at a top-security police station in London.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair, meanwhile, warned Thursday that the terrorists behind the bombings — or even other terrorist cells — could strike again.

"The second attacks on July 21 should not be taken as some indication as a weakening of the capability or the resolve of those responsible," said Blair. "These weren't the amateurs. ... They only made one mistake and we are very, very lucky," he added, referring to the fact the July 21 bombs only partially detonated.

"The carnage that would have occurred had those bombs gone off would have at least been equivalent of those on July 7 and therefore it is absolutely imperative that we find those responsible," he added.

Peter Clarke, the head of London's police anti-terrorist unit, called Omar's arrest "an important development in the investigation." But he warned that the three remaining bombers still on the run presented a danger....

A second July 21 suspect has been named as Muktar Said Ibrahim, 27, also known as Muktar Mohammed Said. He came to Britain in 1990 from Eritrea, his family said. He was granted residency in 1992 and British citizenship in September 2004, the Home Office said. Said was part of a gang that carried out a series of muggings in the mid-1990s but qualified for early release in 1998, the British news agency Press Association reported. When he left prison, Said had a beard, had adopted Islamic dress and was very devout, Press Association said.

Police are also looking into whether Said attended the Finsbury Park or Brixton mosques in London, once considered magnets for radical Islamic clerics, and whether he met shoe-bomber Richard Reid, who is serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison after a failed attempt in 2001 to blow up an airplane, the news agency said.

Spencer: Nuke Mecca? Nope.

I discuss an unexamined side of the Tancredo controversy in FrontPage: his suggestion wouldn't work. Have at it.

Why not bomb Mecca? Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) has brought the issue to the table. The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) has demanded that he apologize to Muslims, and commentators left and right have subjected him to vociferous criticism. At the same time, however, he seems to have tapped into the frustration that many Americans feel about official Washington’s politically correct insistence, in the face of ever-mounting evidence to the contrary, that Islam is a religion of peace that has been hijacked by a tiny minority of extremists.

Although Tancredo’s presidential hopes and possibly even his seat in Congress may go up in the mushroom cloud created by the furor over his remarks, the idea of destroying Islamic holy sites in response to a devastating terror attack on American soil is not going to go away – particularly as long as elected officials rush after every Islamic terror attack to repeat the well-worn mantras about how they know that the overwhelming majority of Muslims abhor violence and reject extremism, and are our faithful and reliable allies against terrorism in all its forms.

However, although the resentment Tancredo has tapped is real and has legitimate causes, his suggestion that “among the many things we might do to prevent such an attack on America would be to lay out there as a possibility the destruction” of Islamic holy sites is still wrong — but not generally for the reasons that most analysts have advanced.

Primarily, of course, it contravenes Western principles of justice which, if discarded willy-nilly, would remove a key reason why we fight at all: to preserve Western ideas of justice and human rights that are denied by the Islamic Sharia law so beloved of jihad terrorists. But even aside from moral questions, which are increasingly thorny in this post-Hiroshima, post-Dresden world, there are practical reasons to reject what Tancredo has suggested.

Tancredo’s idea, of course, is based on the old Cold War principle of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). Both sides threatened each other with nuclear annihilation, and the threats canceled each other out. The Soviets would no more risk Moscow being wiped out than we would Washington.

But applying this principle to present-day Islamic jihad is not so easy. The Soviets did not inculcate into their cadres the idea enunciated by Maulana Inyadullah of al-Qaeda shortly after 9/11: “The Americans love Pepsi-Cola, we love death.” This lust for death runs through the rhetoric of today’s jihadists, and goes all the way back in Islamic history to the Qur’an, in which Allah instructs Muhammad: “Say (O Muhammad): O ye who are Jews! If ye claim that ye are favoured of Allah apart from (all) mankind, then long for death if ye are truthful” (62:6). Will men who love death, who glorify suicide bombing and praise God for beheadings and massacres, fear the destruction of holy sites? It seems unlikely in the extreme — and that fact nullifies all the value this threat may have had as a deterrent. Nuke Mecca? Why bother? It wouldn’t work.

Others have argued, however, that the deterrent value of destroying Islamic holy sites would lie not in giving jihad terrorists pause, but in showing Islam itself to be false and thus removing the primary motivation of today’s jihad terrorists. If Allah is all-powerful and rewards those who believe in him while hating and punishing the disbelievers (the “vilest of creatures,” according to Qur’an 98:6), wouldn’t he protect his holy sites from these disbelievers?

However, Muslims have weathered such shocks to their system in the past. In 1924, the secular government of Turkey abolished the caliphate; the caliph was considered the successor of the Prophet Muhammad as the religious and political leader of the Islamic community. By abolishing the office, Turkish leader Kemal Ataturk hoped to strike at the heart of political Islam and create a context in which Islam could develop something akin to the Western idea of the separation of religion and state. Instead, his act provided the impetus for the establishment of the Muslim Brotherhood, the first modern Islamic terrorist organization, in Egypt in 1928. The Brotherhood and its offshoots (which include Hamas and Al-Qaeda), and indeed virtually all jihadist groups in the world today, date the misery of the Islamic world to the abolition of the caliphate. The ultimate goal of such groups is the restoration of this office, the reunification of the Islamic world under the caliph, and the establishment of the Sharia as the sole law in Muslim countries. Then the caliph would presumably take up one of his principal duties as stipulated by Islamic law: to wage offensive jihad against non-Muslim states in order to extend Sharia rule to them also.

The abolition of the caliphate, then, accomplished precisely the opposite of what Ataturk hoped it would: it gave the adherents of political Islam a cause around which to rally, recruit, and mobilize. In essence, it gave birth to the crisis that engulfs the world today. It is likely that a destruction of the Ka’aba or the Al-Aqsa Mosque would have the same effect: it would become source of spirit, not of dispirit. The jihadists would have yet another injury to add to their litany of grievances, which up to now have so effectively confused American leftists into thinking that the West is at fault in this present conflict. But the grievances always shift; the only constant is the jihad imperative. Let us not give that imperative even greater energy in the modern world by supplying such pretexts needlessly.

The war on terror is over!

Some time ago I suggested in an article that the phrase "war on terror" be discarded in favor of a more forthright acknowledgement that we are defending ourselves against a global jihad. And the good news today is that the Administration has, after over a year, heeded my advice and discarded the "war on terror" label. The bad news, however, is that we are no farther than we were before from being honest about what we are really up against. Who can defeat an enemy he is afraid to name? But in any case, we are now fighting "a global struggle against violent extremism."

Extreme what? Extreme love for broccoli? Extreme involvement in fantasy baseball leagues? Oh -- violent extremism. So only if you beat your neighbor over the head and take his broccoli, or broke a chair over the head of a member of your fantasy league after he convinced you to trade Roger Clemens for Joe Shlabotnik would you become a focus of Washington's campaign. This new jihad ("struggle") against "violent extremism" is even more poorly focused than the war on terror -- and will continue to leave us vulnerable to being blindsided by attacks from quarters that we are not willing to admit to ourselves are possible centers of the war against us. At very least, it is better because it does allow for a less exclusive focus on military solutions. But that is not much.

"Washington recasts terror war as 'struggle'," from the New York Times via the IHT, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

WASHINGTON The Bush administration is retooling its slogan for the fight against Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, pushing the idea that the long-term struggle is as much an ideological battle as a military mission, according to senior administration and military officials.

In recent speeches and news conferences, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the country's top military officer have spoken of "a global struggle against violent extremism" rather than "the global war on terror," which had been the catchphrase of choice.

Administration officials say the earlier phrase may have outlived its usefulness, because it focused attention solely, and incorrectly, on the military campaign.

General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the National Press Club on Monday that he had "objected to the use of the term 'war on terrorism' before, because if you call it a war, then you think of people in uniform as being the solution."

He said the threat instead should be defined as violent extremism, with the recognition that "terror is the method they use."

I have been saying for years that terror is a tactic, not an enemy. It is nice of him to acknowledge that I have been right all along. Now, General, here's your next lesson: define "violent extremism." Specify exactly what these people are being extreme about. Then we may start getting somewhere regarding these necessary non-military measures.

Oh, and by the way: I'm declaring my own "struggle" against "unrestrained enthusiasm."

Would-Be Millennium Bomber Gets 22 Years

Just in from AP:

SEATTLE - The man convicted of plotting to blow up the Los Angeles airport on the eve of the millennium was sentenced Wednesday to 22 years in prison. Ahmed Ressam got a lighter sentence than prosecutors had requested, reflecting his cooperation in telling international investigators about the workings of terror camps in Afghanistan.

But Ressam, 38, could have received a shorter sentence had he not stopped talking to investigators in early 2003. Prosecutors argued that his recalcitrance has jeopardized cases against two of his co-conspirators....

"You can't be a cooperator and a terrorist," Hamilton said. "When he stopped cooperating, he went back to being what he was."

Poll: Most Palestinians credit terror for Israeli withdrawal

The more that jihadists (and all Muslims) think that terror works, the more terror we will see. From The World Tribune, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

RAMALLAH — Most Palestinians think the Islamic insurgency forced Israel's decision to unilaterally withdraw from the Gaza Strip, according to a new poll.

The survey reported that a majority of Palestinians credit strikes by Hamas and Islamic Jihad for the decision by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank and evict their 10,000 Jewish residents. The poll also found, however, that only 40 percent of those surveyed want the attacks to continue.

The study was conducted by the Center for Opinion Polls and Survey Studies, based in An Najah University in Nablus.

Forty percent of respondents agreed that "pressure caused by Palestinian resistance" led to the Israeli withdrawal decision. Another 34 percent said Israel regarded its presence in the Gaza Strip as a "security and economic inexpediency."

Twenty-two percent of respondents did not cite the Palestinian war as a reason for the Israeli withdrawal. Instead, they said the pullout decision stemmed from international pressure on Israel.

Raid Targets Islamic Charity in Falls Church

More Virginia jihad? From the Washington Post, with thanks to all who sent this in:

FBI and Homeland Security agents raided the Northern Virginia office of a Saudi-based charity that has been under scrutiny for possible terrorist ties and detained one of its employees on immigration charges, officials said yesterday.

The Muslim World League office in Falls Church had also been searched in 2002 in a dramatic series of raids of Muslim organizations in Northern Virginia. The charity has not been charged.

Abdullah Alnoshan, 44, a Saudi citizen who worked at the charity, was arrested at 6 a.m. Friday at his house in Alexandria, according to officials of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of the Department of Homeland Security.

Agents working through a joint terrorism task force searched his home and then his office at 360 S. Washington St. in Falls Church, officials said. They removed computers, photographs and immigration documents, said Allan Doody, special agent in charge of the ICE office.

Alnoshan was charged with immigration fraud. According to an affidavit in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Alnoshan had been sponsored by the Muslim World League for a work visa to do public relations and religious work. Instead, he served as director of the charity, the document said....

U.S. agencies have been investigating the Muslim World League for years because of suspicions that it knowingly or unknowingly provided funds to Osama bin Laden. A senior Treasury Department official, Stuart Levey, told a Senate hearing on terror financing this month that the Muslim World League and a few other Saudi charities "continue to cause us concern."

The Muslim World League has strongly denied providing any support to terrorism.

U.S. ties smuggler to terror camp trip

"U.S. ties smuggler to terror camp trip: Yemeni-American gets 3 years for role in cigarette smuggling ring," from AP, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

BUFFALO, New York (AP) -- A Yemeni-American businessman accused of helping pay for a group of men to travel to a terrorist training camp was sentenced Tuesday to more than three years in prison for his role in a cigarette smuggling operation.

Aref Ahmed was convicted in March 2004 on charges of money laundering and trafficking in contraband cigarettes.

Federal prosecutors say that Ahmed gave $14,000 to five members of the so-called Lackawanna Six and had tried to get his money back after learning some of the men left the al-Qaida camp without completing their training. Lackawanna is the upstate New York town where Ahmed and the six men lived.

Ahmed has not been charged in the Lackawanna case. The issue was raised as part of the government's request to deny Ahmed bail.

Ahmed's attorneys have denied the allegations.

The Lackawanna Six -- Sahim Alwan, Faysal Galab, Mukhtar al-Bakri, Yasein Taher, Yahya Goba and Shafal Mosed -- are serving sentences ranging from seven to 10 years after pleading guilty in 2003 to providing support to a terrorist organization.

Some in the group have said they received money from Ahmed, which they used to travel to the camp in Afghanistan in the spring of 2001, Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Bruce said Tuesday.

British Arrest Failed Bombings Suspects

One was apparently ready to continue the jihad, and was subdued with a stun gun. From AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

BIRMINGHAM, England - Police pursuing suspects in the failed July 21 terror bombings in London raided four homes across Britain on Wednesday and detained four people, including one subdued with a stun gun. Media reports said he was a Somali sought as one of the fugitive bombers.

The man was arrested when officers stormed a home in Birmingham before dawn. Members of the bomb squad, some dressed in armored suits, were seen entering the home after police evacuated 100 nearby residences in a quiet, ethnically mixed neighborhood of Britain's second-largest city.

Three more men were arrested in a pre-dawn raid at another home about two miles away in this city 120 miles northwest of London. The raids were carried out by 50 officers from London's Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorist Branch and West Midlands Police. No shots were fired....

Authorities would not confirm BBC and Sky News reports that the Tasered man was Yasin Hassan Omar, a 24-year-old Somali suspected of trying to blow up a subway train near Warren Street station.

At least one witness said the man resembled Omar.

Jihadists groups operate "with impunity" in UK

"Birmingham and its links to militant Islam," from the Times Online, with thanks to Twostellas:

Khalid Mahmood, Labour MP for Perry Barr in Birmingham, has led calls in the House of Commons for tougher action against extremist groups and has demanded that Britain's Muslim population expose those on the radical fringes of the religion.

"The mainstream Muslims need to speak out," Mr Mahmood told the House of Commons on July 20, as he described the dangers of groups such as al-Muhajiroun, which has held conferences and boasts of extensive recruitment in Birmingham and the West Midlands.

And on July 18, the Sunni Council, the largest British Sunni Muslim group met in Birmingham to issue a fatwa, a ruling on a point of Islamic law, declaring the London suicide bombings "haraam" or strictly forbidden.

Explaining the fatwa, Grand Mufti Muhammad Gul Rehman Qadri said: "Anyone who commits suicide will be sent to Hell... It is the explicit saying of the Holy Prophet who ordered his followers to seek peace and harmony wherever they should live, not to cause death and destruction or to live counter to the laws of that host country."

This doesn't touch on Qaradawi's contention that such bombers are not suicides, but martyrs.

But over the last six years, radical Islamists from Birmingham's 150,000-strong Muslim community have been linked to a series of attacks in the Middle East.

In 1999, five men from Birmingham were arrested in Yemen in connection with the kidnapping of 16 tourists in the country. Four of the tourists were killed in a botched rescue attempt by the Yemeni army and Shahid Butt and Sarmad Ahmed, both from Birmingham, were sentenced to serve five years in prison in Aden.

Four years later, officers from Scotland Yard's anti-terrorism branch were given a list of men and organisations in Birmingham and the West Midlands by Israeli security forces after Omar Khan Sharif, a 27-year-old from Derby, killed himself in Israel after failing to detonate his bomb in a Tel Aviv bar.

Mr Sharif's accomplice, Asif Mohammed Hanif, from Hounslow, in West London, became Britain's first confirmed suicide bomber when he killed himself and three people the same night in Tel Aviv in April 2003. Both men were thought to have been funded by organisations in the West Midlands.

Birmingham hosts annual conferences every year from the broad and mixed world of Britain's Muslim community.

Along with mainstream groups, radical and fringe sects hold large meetings in Birmingham, including Hizb Ur-Tahrir and al-Muhajiroun, two groups condemned by President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan in a speech last week in which he said "there is a lot to be done in England" to combat Islamic extremism.

"There is Hizb Ur-Tahrir and al-Muhajiroun, who operate with full impunity in that area," said General Musharraf, referring to Britain as a whole. "They had the audacity of passing an edict against my life and yet they operate with impunity."

In 2003, a Hizb Ur-Tahrir conference entitled "British or Muslim?" attracted 10,000 people to Birmingham, prompting the Home Office to commission a study on the group and warn of the spread of fundamentalist doctrine in the region.

10,000 members of the tiny minority of extremists, that is.

Hizb Ur-Tahrir, which calls for a worldwide Islamic caliphate, has been banned from British university campuses by the National Union of Students after holding controversial recruitment sessions.

The fringe group, founded in Jerusalem in 1953, separated into factions in the early 1990's, when Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, the leader of its London branch, broke away to form al-Muhajiroun, which espouses violent struggle in the name of Islam.

Al-Muhajiroun, which has boasted of recruiting British Muslims to fight in the Bosnian war and offering advice to others who seek a role in extremist Islam, was officially disbanded last year.

Danish ex-Guantanamo prisoner drops suit against US -- will he now rejoin the jihad?

Why not? What was done at Guantanamo to disabuse him of the jihad ideology? Nothing. "Danish Guantanamo prisoner drops case," from the Copenhagen Post, with thanks to Fjordman and ZZ:

Slimane Hadj Abderrahmane, the Danish citizen arrested by US forces in Pakistan and detained on Guantanamo as an 'unlawful combatant', has decided to give up his lawsuit against the United States government, reports national broadcaster DR.

Abderrahmane's lawyer, Tyge Trier, announced the decision in a message to Ritzau news agency on Monday.

Trier, however, did not give any reason why his client was dropping his case.

The statement did maintain that the imprisonment and the situation on Guantanamo were violations of international law.

'Slimane and I found that both the way he was treated and the actual judicial construction that placed the prisoners in a legal vacuum outside of the protection of the conventions violated international laws,' wrote Trier in a short statement....

Abderrahmane is the man who declared last fall that he was going to go to Chechnya to rejoin the jihad. Will he go now?

Indonesian Islamic authority mulls edicts against 'liberal thoughts'

At the risk of sounding like a talking parrot, I must repeat something I said in Islam Unveiled and many times since then: Islamic reformers will always face an uphill battle, because jihadists will use the Qur'an and Sunnah against them, and charge them with straying from Islamic authenticity.

From ChannelNewsAsia.com, with thanks to Twostellas:

JAKARTA: The highest Islamic authority in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-populated nation, is mulling edicts to fight "liberal Islamic thought", a senior Muslim cleric said.

Ma'aruf Amin, head of the edict committee of the Indonesian Ulema Council, said the move was being considered as a means to fight deviance and secularism in the country, most of which adheres to a moderate strain of the religion....

The Council is officially the highest authority on Islamic matters in Indonesia but its edicts have not always been closely followed by all Muslims, who make up 88 percent of the population of officially-secular Indonesia....

Al-Arian moderated discussion that showed terror as "path to liberation"

Sami caught red-handed again. Note also that unindicted deported co-conspirator Fawaz Damra was once known as a moderate Muslim leader. "Al-Arian linked to pro-terrorists," from AP, with thanks to Skeetstreet:

TAMPA - (AP) -- Jurors in the terrorism conspiracy trial of Sami Al-Arian were shown a video Tuesday in which the former college professor moderated a symposium where participants spoke approvingly about the killings of Israeli citizens and police in terror attacks.

The video is another piece of evidence prosecutors are using to try to convince jurors that Al-Arian and three other men standing trial in federal court are guilty of raising money in the United States and supporting the mission of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a terrorist group blamed for 100 deaths in the Middle East.

The video showed Al-Arian moderating a 1989 conference in Chicago sponsored by the Islamic Committee for Palestine.

Al-Arian founded the committee, and prosecutors say it was a front for support of the PIJ.

One of the panelists, asked by a young man for a practical solution to the smoldering conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, suggests they meet outside to discuss how to smuggle weapons.

One speaker, Fawaz Damra, imam of a Cleveland mosque who is an unindicted coconspirator in the Al-Arian case, said: ``The first principle is that terrorism, and terrorism alone, is the path to liberation.''...

The defendants contend they are being persecuted for their unpopular political beliefs.

Yes, I think the idea that "terrorism alone" is the "path to liberation" is a political belief that is deservedly unpopular -- in fact, not unpopular enough.

Fitzgerald: The New Iraqi Constitution

Jihad Watch Board Vice President Hugh Fitzgerald comments on the Sharia leanings of Iraq's new Constitution:

The Shari'a in Iraq will be akin to the American Constitution -- the final authority against which all laws will be measured. Great.

This was all perfectly predictable. It was completely expected, even if the Constitution is tinkered with to keep some people happy (Sunnis and the Allawi camp, who on this matter are to be supported), and to keep the Americans around a bit longer to do more fighting and dying, to train more of the "Iraqi army" (a/k/a the Shi'a militia in uniform), and especially to leave some of that military equipment that the Americans are just dumb enough to leave -- anything is possible with the kind of people now running, with such wrong-headed self-assurance, foreign policy. Condoleeza Rice may be unable to speak or understand simple Russian, as her performance on Russian television proved, but she has some sense of Communism. However, during her latest visit to Israel she praised Abbas for nothing and hectored the Israelis (also for nothing). She made clear that she hasn't the faintest idea about what the siege of Israel is all about, or the Islamic sources of that particular local Jihad, or how borders are irrelevant, and only "darura" -- the doctrine of necessity that may stay the Arab hand -- will prevent another war. The mavens of State are self-assured and yet at the same time not nearly self-assured enough -- not enough to recognize that their greatest intelligence failure was about Islam itself: its contents, its instruments of Jihad, its worldwide threat.

For if they did realize it, they would be seeking ways to leave Iraq, not to "leave when the Iraqis tell them to leave," as Jaafari has said. Jaafari is, of course, an Islamic Da'wa Party member since 1968. That is the same party that has been on an American Terrorism List. He also spent the decade 1980-1990 in Iran, apparently without losing his appetite for Islam or Muslim rule, and is prepared to install a Shi'a-run pseudo-democracy, one which, while it is very far from what educated Westerners understand as democracy, apparently is good enough for some of the people in the Administration (who by prating so much about it only show that they themselves have so little understanding of what real democracy is). That we now have entirely inadequate leaders, here as elsewhere, is clear. That there may be some -- junior officers, Congressional aides, the odd Congressman or newspaper columnist, who do understand what is at stake -- is slim consolation for the colossal misallocation of resources, the colossal damage to equipment, the colossal squandering of money, the colossal harm done to our armed services which have done quite enough, and more than enough, to try to make the best of a foolish policy that continues because those at the top lack the ability to show, in the slightest, that just perhaps maybe quite possibly almost certainly they misunderstood the nature of Islam, and the nature of Iraq itself. Iraq is a three-vilayet state that, if it were to split into those vilayets, or exist not as a strong nation-state but as a constant source of future Sunni-Shi'a tension and even combat, would thereby provide a splendid boost to American efforts. Yet it is so far not even understood, much less contemplated: to divide, demoralize, and otherwise damage the forces of worldwide Islam, and to make Islam less attractive to Believers and Infidels alike.

Encouraging the Sunni-Shi'a split is something that our ambassador, who may be a kind of "Muslim-for-identification-purposes-only" Muslim, Zalmay Khalilzad, cannot bring himself to recommend, and will never do so. Yet the Americans have nothing to lose, and a good deal to gain, from seeing an incipient Sunni-Shi'a civil war. That is not something to be deplored. It is something that is to be observed, exploited, taken advantage of -- and certainly not prevented. Should we have prevented, or tried to halt, the Iran-Iraq War? Of course not.

They are also missing the opportunity that Iraq presents to help foster a non-Arab sovereign state, that of a free Kurdistan, and thereby to raise the whole issue of Arab supremacist ideology within Islam and to encourage that theme among non-Arabs. This could lead quite possibly to demands for greater autonomy, or more, among the Berbers of North Africa (and not incidentally, help to split Berbers and Arabs within the Muslim population currently threatening the French within France), and could have other consequences as well. The very phrase "Arab world" is inaccurate and tendentious, as the acute Lebanesee blogger at www.eccelibano.blogspot.com has noted. It is the kind of thing that only those who accept the Arab Muslim narrative of the Middle East and North Africa would possibly promote. It is time to cut that little notion down to size. A free Kurdistan will help do it. It would also be a permanent worry for Iran, Syria, and yes, Turkey, too, a country which will not be in the E.U., and has nowhere to turn except to the United States. We have ways to get the Turks to accept a free Kurdistan, by telling them it will make the case for Kurdish independence in Anatolia not more, but less, compelling -- for the Kurds can now move to Kurdistan, if they wish for national self-expression.

But until there is some willingness to reconsider this "democracy" project, the waste will continue. And if this goes on for more than another few months, there is no chance the Republicans will be returned in the next election -- even though, as we all know, at present the Democrats, or all who have spoken, seem to be, if anything, even worse.

It's an extraordinary situation, the failure of people who learned about Communism to learn about Islam. They rely on a handful of the Higher Apologists -- that means Bernard Lewis and his most uncritical acolytes, those who see nothing wrong with his continual self-contradictions, his minimizing or scanting of the subject of non-Muslims under Muslim rule, his desire not to antagonize all those personal and professional colleagues in Istanbul or Amman, his generous hosts from an Osmanli princess here to a Hashemite prince there, that have at times turned his head, much to our collective chagrin, and led in Iraq to a quite unnecessary sacrifice of American lives. This is intolerable.

The Constitution, whatever it is, hardly matters. What matters is getting out. No "Marhsall Plan" as Jaafari complacently requested. No more being used by those who have their own agendas -- all those "nice" Iraqis, who were and are quite content to see America transform their country, first by getting rid of the regime, then by pouring in money and fighting, and now by sticking around to make everything hunky-dory in what is clearly an impossible situation. And of course none of these Chalabis and Ambassador Franckes and Istrabadis and the rest of them would like the Americans to decide that what we really must do in order to combat the worldwide Jihad is not hold Iraq together at all.

Of course they wouldn't like that. Of course it will horrify them. But however beautifully they may speak English, however plausible their pitch, one finds in the end that like so many "nice" Muslims, they will not dare to recognize, or to admit to, what Islam in the end is all about. Embarrassment, filial piety, practiced taqiyya-and-kitman -- whatever it is, there it is. And we have to part company with them now. We did our bit for them. Nearly 2,000 men killed, and nearly 15,000 wounded, many severely, and hundreds of billions of dollars spent.

No, it's time for a change -- a change in the policy, a change that relies not on continued innocence about Islam, but on a transformation of understanding. Are the people at the top up to it? We have seen no signs of it, but perhaps they are simply keeping their counsel.

One hopes. One devoutly hopes.

Islam Dominates Iraq's Draft Constitution

Have our men and women fought and died in Iraq in order to establish another Sharia state in the Islamic world? Where are all the people who were crowing that "we won" not too long ago? Has the Administration's unwillingness to face the facts about the origins and goals of the Islamic jihadists contributed to an atmosphere in which this outcome in Iraq is acceptable? An I told you so update from AP, with thanks to Andrew Bostom:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Framers of Iraq's constitution will designate Islam as the main source of legislation - a departure from the model set down by U.S. authorities during the occupation - according to a draft published Tuesday.

The draft states no law will be approved that contradicts "the rules of Islam" - a requirement that could affect women's rights and set Iraq on a course far different from the one envisioned when U.S.-led forces invaded in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein.

"Islam is the official religion of the state and is the main source of legislation," reads the draft published in the government newspaper Al-Sabah. "No law that contradicts with its rules can be
promulgated."

The document also grants the Shiite religious leadership in Najaf a "guiding role" in recognition of its "high national and religious symbolism."

Al-Sabah noted, however, that there were unspecified differences among the committee on the Najaf portion. Those would presumably include Kurds, Sunni Arabs and secular Shiites on the 71-member committee.

During the U.S.-run occupation, which ended June 28, 2004, key Shiite and some Sunni politicians sought to have Islam designated the main source of legislation in the interim constitution, which took effect in March 2004.

However, the U.S. governor of Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, blocked the move,
agreeing only that Islam would be considered "a source" - but not the only one. At the time, prominent Shiite politicians agreed to forego a public battle with Bremer and pursue the issue during the drafting of the permanent constitution.

Some women's groups fear strict interpretation of Islamic principles could erode their rights in such areas as divorce and inheritance. It could also move Iraq toward a more religiously based society than was envisioned by U.S. planners who hoped it would be a beacon of Western-style democracy in a region of one-party rule and theocratic regimes...

New Jersey: Five Muslims with maps of the NYC subway system and NY landmarks arrested by Terrorism Task Force

Five Egyptians with maps of various tempting terror targets. "Authorities Arrest Men With NYC Maps, Video," from ABCNews, with thanks to LB:

FBI and law enforcement officials told ABC News the five men -- four illegal immigrants and one law enforcement fugitive -- were arrested Sunday night following a tip to the Newark Police Department. In addition to the subway maps and video, the men had train schedules and $8,000 in $20 and $50 bills.

The men were identified as: Karim Ahmed Abdel Latif Ahmed, 21; his brother Mahoud Ahmed Abdel Latif Ahmed, 19; Ahmed Mohamed Atta, 30; Mohamed Ibrahim Gaber, 34, and Mohamed Palat Anwar Jozain. When Newark authorities converged at the group's location at 246 Ferry St., Karim Ahmed answered the door and agreed to allow police to enter. Officers said they noticed the maps, and video cameras and Karim and his brother agreed to a search.

Karim said he had the maps because he had a new job as a street vendor. Initially, Karim said no one else was in the apartment, but police came upon the three other men upon further search.

FBI officials said the men have no known link to a terror network but noted that none of them could adequately explain the items they had in their possession, the large amount of money or their reasons for being in the United States. Mohamed Ibrahim Gaber has been a fugitive since he jumped ship from an Egyptian flagged freighter in September 2000.

The myth of the 'moderate' Muslim

I have long maintained that those who identify themselves as moderate Muslims must resolutely attempt to convince Muslims that the theology and ideology of jihad is wrong, or their moderate statements are essentially useless -- and that jihadists will always be able to quote Qur'an and Sunnah against them. Jihadists, as I have often said, view the aggregate of moderate Muslims simply as a recruiting ground. I have also often noted here that support among Muslims for moderate Muslim groups such as Free Muslims seems to be notably slight. This is because, as I have said again and again, there are moderate Muslims, but Islam itself is not moderate. But the mainstream media, left and right, has persistently ignored this, even though the facts abundantly attest to its truth. Now Salim Mansur in the London Free Press (thanks to Nicolei) tells these truths again:

Since at least Sept. 11, 2001, the non-Muslim world at large has been waiting for that segment of the Muslim population designated as "moderate" to resolutely denounce terrorists who, in defiling its faith-tradition, have subverted Islam into a cult of death.

The expectation there is a large, identifiable segment of "moderate" Muslims is a transposition to the Muslim world of the idea of "moderation" in politics and religion that sustains democracies.

It is also a natural expectation that the sort of extremism associated with "jihadi" (war-mongering) politics of Muslim terrorism and suicide bombings would generate a counter-offensive by "moderate" Muslims, repudiating such violence and isolating extremists politically and socially, while supporting the global war on terror.

But this has not happened. On the contrary, as atrocities mount, Muslims generally have remained -- their private anguish aside --publicly complacent, and their religious leaders divided on what should be the proper Islamic response.

There has been no spontaneous or organized demonstration of Muslims across the Arab-Muslim world, nor in European or North American cities where Muslims reside in increasing numbers, in support of victims of such terror and in unqualified condemnation of extremists who exploit Islam for their criminal purposes.

Dissension among Muslim religious leaders on whether to condemn terrorism and suicide bombings -- and the absence of any effort by the Muslim majority to express its disgust with extremism -- invariably lead to questioning the nature of Islam by non-Muslims.

Instead of witnessing "moderate" Muslims resolutely taking back their faith-tradition from extremists and murderers, the world has grown numb to endless apologetics and polemics explaining away "jihadi" politics as a misguided, though inexcusable, response to the wrongs inflicted upon Muslims by the West.

The truth is there does not exist an identifiable body of Muslims, substantive in number or an outright majority, who could be described as "moderate" by their repudiation of Muslim extremists.

Violence has been an integral part of Muslim history, irrespective of whether it is sanctioned by Islam, and Muslims who unhesitatingly use violence to advance their political ambitions have created a climate within their faith-culture that any Muslim who questions such practice is then deemed apostate and subject to harm.

Consequently, what might pass for "moderate" Muslims, the large number of Muslims unaccounted for as to what they think, in practical terms constitute a forest within which extremists are incubated, nurtured, given ideological and material support, and to which they return for sanctuary.

Moreover, since there is little experience of democracy within the Arab-Muslim world, the culture of "moderation" remains practically non-existent.

Though the example of Saudi Arabia -- where "mutawwa," or religious police, herd Muslims to their daily religious obligations -- might be considered untypical, it provides the model of authoritarian practice of faith and politics in Muslim societies where dissent is frowned upon and where opposition runs the risk of being branded as seditious.

Read it all.

LAX-To-London Flight Diverted to Boston

One of the results of terrorism: it creates terror. From AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

BOSTON - A flight from Los Angeles to London was diverted to Boston early Tuesday because three Pakistani passengers were acting suspiciously, but nothing amiss was found and the three were released after questioning, authorities said.

United Airlines Flight 934 landed in Boston shortly before 3 a.m., Logan Airport spokesman Phil Orlandella said.

The three Pakistani men were taken into custody and questioned after other passengers complained that they were moving about the cabin, FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz said.

"Some of the individuals were in first class and another was in coach," and they were walking between the two sections of the plane, she said.

Bin Laden wanted to sell poison cocaine to Americans

"Coke Fiend Bin Laden," from the New York Post, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Osama bin Laden tried to buy a massive amount of cocaine, spike it with poison and sell it in the United States, hoping to kill thousands of Americans one year after the 9/11 attacks, The Post has learned.

The evil plot failed when the Colombian drug lords bin Laden approached decided it would be bad for their business - and, possibly, for their own health, according to law-enforcement sources familiar with the Drug Enforcement Administration's probe of the aborted transaction. The feds were told of the scheme earlier this year, but its existence had never been made public. The Post has reviewed a document detailing the DEA's findings in the matter, in addition to interviewing sources familiar with the case.

Sources said the feds were told that bin Laden personally met with leaders of a Colombian drug cartel to in 2002 to negotiate the purchase of tons of cocaine, saying that he was willing to spend tens of millions of dollars to finance the deal.

Van Gogh killer jailed for life

Will he be able in prison to indoctrinate and recruit for jihad? How many Muslims in Dutch mosques today are being taught the same principles that he acted upon to kill Van Gogh? From the Times Online, with thanks to all who sent this in:

A Dutch court sentenced the confessed killer of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh to life imprisonment today, the harshest sentence possible for a murder that the judge described as a terrorist attack.

Mohammed Bouyeri, 27, had mounted no defence at his two-day trial earlier this month for the killing last November.

Bouyeri had accused Van Gogh of insulting Islam and told the court he would do it again if given the chance....

Bouyeri, wearing a black and white checkered headscarf, showed no emotion as he shook his lawyer’s hand following the verdict. He had earlier told the court he had intended to die in the action and become a martyr for his faith....

In a surprise declaration during his trial, Bouyeri said that he had acted in the name of Islam and felt no pain for Van Gogh’s family. After reciting Islamic prayers, he told the courtroom that if given the chance he would "do exactly the same thing".

"What moved me to do what I did was purely my faith," Bouyeri told the court. "I was motivated by the law that commands me to cut off the head of anyone who insults Allah and his prophet."

What do they want? Caliphate! When do they want it? Now!

Daniel Pipes in "What the Terrorists Want" in FrontPage (thanks to EPG) says what I have been saying again and again and again: that the ultimate goal of the jihadists is not to secure our withdrawal from Afghanistan or Iraq, or even to destroy Israel, but to reestablish the caliphate and the rule of Sharia.

In nearly all cases, the jihadi terrorists have a patently self-evident ambition: to establish a world dominated by Muslims, Islam, and the Shari’a (Islamic law). Or, again to cite the Daily Telegraph, their “real project is the extension of the Islamic territory across the globe, and the establishment of a worldwide ‘caliphate’ founded on Shari’a law.”

Terrorists openly declare this goal. The Islamists who assassinated Anwar el-Sadat in 1981 decorated their holding cages with banners proclaiming “The caliphate or death.” A biography of Abdullah Azzam, one of the most influential Islamist thinkers of recent times and an influence on Osama bin Laden, declares that his life “revolved around a single goal, namely the establishment of Allah's Rule on earth” and restoring the caliphate.

Bin Laden himself spoke of ensuring that “the pious Caliphate will start from Afghanistan.” His chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, also dreamed of re-establishing the caliphate, for then, he wrote, “history would make a new turn, God willing, in the opposite direction against the empire of the United States and the world’s Jewish government.” Another al-Qaeda leader, Fazlur Rehman Khalil, publishes a magazine that declares, “Due to the blessings of jihad, America’s countdown has begun. It will declare defeat soon,” to be followed by the creation of a caliphate.

Kaufman: What I Saw at al-Arian's Trial

Joe Kaufman gives us a detailed and revealing Al-Arian update in FrontPage (thanks to EPG). Here is "Holding Court with the Al-Arians," a full version of the FP piece:

Tampa Bay is a main cog of the state of Florida. Tourism, amusement parks, fishing, professional sports franchises, it’s got all of the ingredients to make an exceptional American city. But while it has much to be grateful for, all is not roses in Tampa, because for the last two decades the city has been host to a leader of one of the most notorious terror organizations ever to exist, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Sami Al-Arian is a monster. There is no other way to put it. His activities assisted in the murders of innocent men, women, children and babies. And what’s even worse is that he was conducting these activities right from our own shores.

I needed to come to Tampa to see the terrorist for myself. Over the last four years, since 9/11, he was the subject of a large part of my research. On numerous occasions, I had met with law enforcement concerning him and persons associated with him. Unbeknownst to him, he had become an unfortunate part of my life. Al-Arian was on trial, and I needed to be there, if not for any other reason than to allay my own psyche.

Day 1 – Doodles, Debates, and a City Tour

I made my way to the Tampa courthouse -- with sincere compliments to Mapquest. I strode up the wheelchair ramp (the steps were blocked off), walked into the courthouse, showed my identification and credentials, went through the metal detector, took the elevator to the 13th floor, signed the “guestbook,” went through a second metal detector, opened the door to the courtroom, and there he was.

He was the first thing I noticed. His shiny bald head was inescapable. His wry smile was unavoidable. Feelings welled up inside of me. It could have easily been my family that was killed. I kept my composure and took a seat in the back row where some reporters were, on the left side of the courtroom. Some young Muslims were seated on the right (side).

The other “alleged” terrorists were in the courtroom, as well. Sameeh Hammoudeh was to the left of Al-Arian, Hatim Naji Fariz was in back of Hammoudeh, and Ghassan Zayed Ballut was in back of Al-Arian. The other remaining defendants are at large, in “peaceful” places such as Damascus, Syria.

It was painful seeing them all dressed up in their fancy suits and ties; not one of them was in an orange jumpsuit wrapped in chains. I made it a point to stare into the eyes of each of the four. Al-Arian flashed me his smile, but then lost it when he figured I was the enemy. Hammoudeh knew right away and gave me a long look that unveiled his true face of evil.

The testimony was boring – fax numbers, phone numbers, addresses, P.O. Boxes. I thought to myself, “How are they going to win this trial, when they’re putting half the jury to sleep?” I resorted to drawing doodles of the back of Al-Arian’s head. I showed it to a couple of reporters and one of the prosecution’s team. They said I did an admirable job.

Sadly, my future career as a courtroom artist fell short, as my sketches of Ghassan Ballut looked even more troubled than he did in real life. As a side note, after viewing his hulking persona, hearing his attempt at speech, and watching him stare endlessly into the sky seemingly unaware of his surroundings, I do believe Ghassan Ballut may very well be the Missing Link.

It was lunchtime -- Phew!

Outside were protestors from a local church, evidently one that Al-Arian had been close with, giving speeches there and such. I skipped lunch to chat with the misguided bunch. They had numerous pro-Al-Arian signs. One of the “geniuses” had one that said something to the tune of “GIVING MONEY TO ORPHANS AND WIDOWS IS NOT AN ACT OF TERROR.” I explained to him and a couple of the others that the money was/is being given to orphans and widows to create more orphans and widows, but they could not be swayed by anything so silly as reason. One of the protestors asked me if I was Jewish. When I said “yes,” she proceeded with a litany of anti-Israel b.s. Soon after, another of them asked me the same question and proceeded along the same lines with similar anti-Israel rhetoric, whilst repeatedly shoving a finger in my face. She claimed to be an ex-CIA operative. If that’s true, we’re in trouble! I don’t believe it’s true, by the way, although to calm her down I told her otherwise.

In retrospect, I probably should not have gotten into it with Al-Arian’s buddies. I came to the trial as a reporter, but the activist in me burns too bright. I think I confused the other reporters. I got funny looks, when I cracked jokes about the terrorists. Could I help it if, when Al-Arian stood with his hands clasped behind his back, it looked like he was practicing for the handcuffs?! Reporters are supposed to be even-handed. I sensed the others were asking themselves what the hell kind of reporter I was.

Lunch ended, so I headed back up to the courtroom -- hungry, but satisfied nonetheless. Through another reporter I was introduced to a Muslim girl wearing a hijab, claiming to be the friend of Sami Al-Arian’s wife, Nahla. She asked us not to print her name, because her father would be upset that she attended the trial. She said that the local Muslim community is afraid to show their face at the trial, in fear that they will be targeted themselves. She said that the community is afraid to even talk about Al-Arian, because of a possible backlash. As an example, she told us how her “American” acquaintances were taken aback when she showed them a picture of herself with Nahla at an engagement party. She said she couldn’t understand why they would react in this way. After all, she said, Nahla is her “friend.”

I know why she couldn’t understand this. Just as much as our war against terrorism is a war pitting good against evil, we are also engaged in a culture war. Many in the Al-Arian community, I’m sure, cannot comprehend why this trial is even going on in the first place. [I later asked Al-Arian’s daughter about this.] I’m no psychic, but the evidence being presented in the trial is probably more than okay to them. Murdering Israelis, even if others die in the process, is considered to be a righteous act, especially if the murderer dies himself/herself (martyrdom).

The court session continued where it left off, with FBI intelligence analyst Sally Hayes giving testimony. Interruptions were frequent. It seemed like the defendants’ lawyers raised objections to every 10th or 20th sentence. “Your Honour, may counsel approach the bench?” reared its ugly head on at least a half dozen occasions. It was comical to watch so many lawyers from both sides get up in unison to speak with Judge Moody.

The session ended, but my day had just begun. I quickly got to the car, and with pages of Mapquest directions in hand, I went off on a solo tour of the city.

My first stop was the children’s school Sami Al-Arian founded, Islamic Academy of Florida (IAF). The school is fairly well hidden, in a cul-de-sac down a back road. A short time ago, it was brought to my attention that the school is adjacent to another school, American Youth Academy, run by the same group. On Florida state incorporation papers, Ayman Barakat is named as a Director of both schools. In addition, both have been set up as elementary/secondary schools. When I arrived there, I couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began. In July of 2003, when word spread about IAF being used to fund overseas terror, the school was suspended from receiving government funded student tuition vouchers. Later, the vouchers were to be permanently revoked. The American Youth Academy was incorporated soon after that. Coincidence?

Next stop was the former home of the Islamic Concern Project a.k.a. Islamic Committee for Palestine, a “charity” that Al-Arian had set up in 1986. The address turned out to actually be a home, and a fairly large one at that! This location, too, was used to fund the overseas jihad.

Next, I headed for the business center that housed the former office of the World Islam Studies Enterprise (WISE). This group, a “think tank” Al-Arian had started in 1991, held events in coordination with the institution Al-Arian was employed at, the University of South Florida (USF). The group, just like the previous two mentioned, was being used to finance overseas terrorism.

Finished with the three organizations that had been named in the Al-Arian indictment, I then headed for the Islamic center Al-Arian helped found in 1987. The center, Islamic Community of Tampa Bay, also goes by the name of Al-Qassam, the same moniker of the fanatical mosque where Sami’s Palestinian Islamic Jihad was said to have been founded.

I accidentally passed by the center. It was easy to pass, because there is no street sign to direct you. As chance would have it, on the right side of the street was the Tampa office of CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations). It turns out that CAIR-Tampa is just a minute or two from Al-Arian’s mosque. That makes sense, because Ahmed Bedier, the Director of CAIR-Tampa, is also the unofficial spokesman for Al-Arian.

I finally reached my destination. Al-Qassam is at the end of a series of adjoined multiple brick housing units. There is no sign outside. Apart from the traffic that must pass through for prayer, any passerby would never be able to tell the center from one of its also unmarked neighboring units.

After snapping my last photo, I headed back to rest and ready myself for the next day’s proceedings and happenings.

Day 2 – Cleveland Video, Confronting the Kids, and a Terrorist Encounter

The focus of the next day was on a series of videos starring Al-Arian. The witness for the prosecution was FBI translator Tahsin Ali, who had supplied the subtitles for the videos. The day would end with the viewing of a DVD featuring Al-Arian cursing Jews and calling for jihad.

After lunch, I had decided to get up close and personal with Al-Arian’s kids, so I sat in the row preserved for their family and friends. I had befriended an intern with the prosecution, who informed me that security, at times, has told persons sitting in the row to move. I decided to take my chances.

One of Al-Arian’s sons, Abdullah, and daughters, Laila, sat down to the left of me. Abdullah, by the way was the same individual that President Bush nicknamed “Big Dude,” during a trip that Sami Al-Arian and his family had made to the White House in 2000. I politely asked them if they needed me to leave the row. They politely said “No.” I noticed that the girl was having trouble opening up her bottle of water, and her brother was just sitting there not doing anything about it, so I motioned towards the bottle, she handed it to me, and I opened it for her. Soon, another of Al-Arian’s daughters, Leena, joined them and sat between me and Laila. She offered me a Starburst, I’m assuming to repay the favor; I said “No thank-you.” I knew whose children these were, but up until this time, I had no beef with them, so everything was of the utmost in cordiality.

During a 15-minute break, I was left alone with Abdullah and Leena, so I commenced in the questioning. “Do you believe this trial represents something much bigger than just your father?” The son looked at me but wouldn’t open his mouth. However, the daughter was more than willing to talk. She said that all Muslims were being put on trial in America. I asked her if the people in her community believe that the things being said about her father, such as what’s contained in the video we were about to watch, are good and proper. She said that the video presents persons with differences of opinion. Soon the entire courtroom was to see that this was anything but the case.

The DVD was of a 1991 Cleveland fundraiser for Palestinian Islamic Jihad. It opened with cleric Fawaz Mohammed “Abu” Damra introducing Al-Arian. Prior to becoming the Imam of the Islamic Center of Cleveland, Damra was the Imam of the Al-Farooq Mosque in Brooklyn, where he set up the flagship office of Al-Qaeda co-founder Abdullah Azzam’s Alkifah Refugee Center.

Damra stated that Al-Arian was the head of the Islamic Committee for Palestine and described the ICP’s relationship to Islamic Jihad. He said, “A brief note about the Islamic Committee for Palestine, it is the active arm of the Islamic Jihad movement in Palestine. We prefer to call it the ‘Islamic Committee for Palestine’ for security reasons.”

Following Damra’s introduction, Al-Arian took the microphone. Right when he started to speak, I looked over at his daughter, Leena, and observed a huge smile taking form from one side of her face to the other. She was proud of her father!

Al-Arian pleaded with his followers to “not befriend Jews or Christians” and proceeded to let out a cascade of violent prose aimed at Jews. He told of the future destruction of the entire state of Israel, repeating the often used Palestinian mantra “from the sea to the river.” He spoke of persons sacrificing themselves in the cause of Allah. He stated, “Thus is the way of jihad. Thus is the way of martyrdom. Thus is the way of blood, because this is the path to heaven.” He showed the side of himself that was hidden for years behind the guise of academia and “interfaith.”

Damra came back to the mike. He called on his congregants to donate funds for jihad activities and for the families of martyrs. “This is the Islamic Jihad movement!” he stated. “Anyone like to donate for the Intifada? A knife to stab the Jews.” The audience responded with thousands of dollars and shouts of “Allahu Akbar!” (G-d is great!)

The crowd broke out in song: “Khyber, Khyber, ya Yahood, jesh Mohammed sofa ya'ud.” (Khyber, Khyber, oh Jews, Mohammed’s Army will return.) This is a reference to the Saudi city of Khyber, where Mohammed’s followers attacked and enslaved its Jewish inhabitants in the year 628. The Cleveland congregation repeated this chant about four or five times. I had viewed so many things like this before, but seeing Sami Al-Arian in the same room with it had me incensed.

Just as they started singing, I turned to Leena to discover her breaking out in laughter. She put her hands over her mouth to hold it in. Her sister next to her -- sensing that they were in a courtroom and possibly sensing that I was attentive to what was going on around me -- quickly motioned for Al-Arian’s daughter to stop. And she did, on the ‘turn of a dime.’

I observed something similar with Sami. Before the viewing of the video, whilst the prosecution was questioning the witness about materials specifically concerning the subjects of “jihad” and “martyrdom,” I watched Al-Arian grinning gleefully -- almost laughing -- and the next second abruptly turn serious, as if he was caught up in the moment until he suddenly remembered where he was.

Al-Arian and his family may be located in Tampa, Florida, but they live in a separate world apart from us. Sami Al-Arian is on trial, facing life in prison for being an accomplice to the murders of over 100 innocent human beings, including two Americans. His and his daughter’s bizarre reactions to courtroom testimony would make this reality appear otherwise!

At the conclusion of the video, Judge Moody admonished one of Al-Arian’s lawyers, Linda Moreno. Previous to the viewing, Moreno had voiced her “objection” to any of the videos being shown. She also called for a “mistrial,” due to a statement by prosecution concerning something said on the video by an “unidentified” person of interest. The courtroom, including the jury, got a good laugh from this. But while Judge Moody was obviously amused as well over this unfounded call for mistrial, he mockingly commented to Ms. Moreno, “You said it was an improper statement that could not be supported by any understanding!” Everything prosecution said was supported by that video. With that, the judge adjourned court until the next day.

I left the courtroom trailing behind Al-Arian’s children. Everyone piled into one of the elevators. The three of them lined up on the left side, I was next to them, and the other reporters were on the right. I couldn’t have had a better opportunity. I looked at Laila Al-Arian in the middle and asked, “Do you agree with the things that were said in the video?” She just stared at me -- taken by surprise -- without an answer. I next asked Al-Arian’s other daughter, Leena, the same question. She gazed blankly at the floor of the elevator with her head down. I then turned to the son, Abdullah, “Do you agree with the things that were said in the video?” He looked at me, and unlike inside the courtroom, he finally spoke. “What do you mean?” he asked. I said it again -- louder -- changing the question slightly, “Do you agree with the things that the people said in the video?” Still looking at me, he replied with a well traveled Constitutional excuse, “I agree with the fact that the people in the video have Freedom of Speech. This is still America.”

In addition to refusing to answer the question, it is clear that Al-Arian’s eldest son does not comprehend America’s laws. What he and his ilk refer to as “Freedom of Speech” is actually illegal, here in the U.S. You are not allowed to use a forum to raise money for an entity deemed by the United States government to be a terrorist organization, and that is precisely what that event was being held in Cleveland for.

Upon exiting the building, the rain was coming down fairly hard, so I hung out under the courthouse canopy to wait till it calmed down a little. One of the defendants, Hatim Fariz, walked passed me. He was all alone. That felt very strange. I mean, here you have someone that’s being tried for his part in the murder of scores of civilians, and he’s free to walk around alone! It’s the same for our Missing Link, Ghassan Ballut. Only Al-Arian and Sameeh Hammoudeh are in custody. That just doesn’t make sense to me.

Anyhow, Fariz walked passed me, and I felt I had to say something, so I walked over to him, called to him, and he motioned towards me. I asked him the same question I had asked Al-Arian’s kids. Like a politician being quizzed about something controversial, I didn’t think he was going to answer, but I had nothing to lose. “Hatim, do you agree with the things that were said on the video?” He thought about it for a second, rolled his eyes away and back, and like a robot said, “I leave it to my counsel.” He shook his head in the half-affirmative, turned and started walking away.

I watched him and saw him stop in front of the courthouse. He looked to be like he was waiting for his ride, so I started moving fast towards my car to get the camera for a shot of him and the courthouse. When I turned my head, I viewed a white minivan stop in front of him, and he got in. I was walking across the street, when I saw the van come up on me. I figured, if I take another step, they’re gonna run me over. So I stopped in my tracks, and the van stopped as well -- I figured, to take a good look at the guy that asked the funny question. The van drove by me real slow, and the driver’s and my eyes met for what seemed to be an eternity. I took down his car info -- just in case -- and then I moved on.

It was there that my Al-Arian experience had ended -- only to resume some time in the very near future. In those two short days, I felt I had gotten a lot accomplished. Most importantly, I had the chance to see the evil incarnate. I look forward to getting the chance to be there when he is handcuffed and led away for the last time.

When Sami Al-Arian is finally found guilty (G-d willing), I know it will mean very little to him and his family and friends. In the eyes of his followers, he will be seen as a martyr. In the eyes of his fellow radicals, he will be seen as a righteous man. However, in the eyes of his victims, there is nothing, because they are no longer around to see. They are dead. Sami Al-Arian may smile and laugh and think that he has done nothing to be punished for, but the truth is that, just like Osama bin Laden, he is a cold-hearted, cold-blooded terrorist, and he should be treated as such.

Thailand: Buddhist decapitated

Jihad in Thailand update, featuring more action upon Qur'an 47:4 ("Therefore, when ye meet the Unbelievers (in fight), smite at their necks..."). From the Herald Sun, with thanks to Fanabba:

THE Buddhist son of a police officer has been beheaded in restive Muslim-majority southern Thailand, while a former school director was shot dead, police said.

The severed head of Eakasak Visetsuwannaphum, 29, was discovered today in a fertiliser bag on the side of the road in Sai Buri district of Pattani, one of three southernmost provinces engulfed in violence that has claimed more than 820 lives in 19 months.
"Police, military and civilian officials and volunteers are still searching for the victim's body," police said in an official report.

The brutal slaying is the 11th decapitation since early June in Thailand's southernmost provinces bordering Malaysia.

Pakistan: More prayer leaders detained in crackdown

Prayer leaders. This is just the latest of countless stories we have posted here involving Islamic clerics involved in terrorist activities. Yet the chattering classes continue to dilate on the Crusades and the Inquisition, as if their very existence so many centuries somehow absolves Islam from responsibility for contemporary terrorism.

From the Daily Times, with thanks to Nicolei:

ISLAMABAD: Police detained scores more people, mostly prayer leaders, over the weekend as part of a continuing crackdown on extremists following the London bombings, officials said on Sunday.

At least 210 were detained in the Punjab after Friday prayers and on
Saturday, but 125 were freed on bail after pledging not to violate
restrictions, said a Punjab Home Department official requesting anonymity.

Among them were 56 people who had been charged with making "provocative speeches" at Friday congregations, while 10 more were being held for selling audio cassettes and CDs of fiery speeches by clerics.

Punjab officials said on Sunday the arrests earlier last week had netted 90 suspected militants belonging to banned Sunni and Shia extremist groups, who could be held for three months under anti-terrorism laws.

And what will that accomplish, exactly?

Authorities also banned the use of loudspeakers by imams of mosques and filed charges against 350 violators just in the Punjab, an official said....

"The government will not allow fanning of hatred in the country," Iqbal said. Police in Balochistan have arrested 15 people in the past 24 hours, three of them booksellers, after seizing literature on Al Qaeda and its leader Osama Bin Laden, police said.

"We have started a crackdown against those who are publishing, displaying or selling material promoting terrorists or their organisations," police officer Qazi Abdul Wahid said in Quetta.

Authorities have also filed charges against clerics and members of Islamic parties who staged rallies during an anti-Musharraf protest on Friday. The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal vowed on Sunday to launch a countrywide protest movement soon. A date for rallies would be announced after a meeting of alliance leaders on Wednesday, said its spokesman Amirul Azam.

Egyptian Police Hunt 6 Pakistanis in Weekend Bombing

While Musharraf assures us that Al-Qaeda has been neutralized in Pakistan. Does even he believe what he says? How long will Pakistan, an international center of jihad, continue to enjoy the perks of being a US ally? From AP, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt (AP) -- Police said Monday they were searching for five Pakistani men in their widening investigation into Egypt's deadliest terror attack, which killed scores of people, including an American, at this Red Sea resort.

Egypt sacked its two security chiefs for the Sinai peninsula after the Saturday bombings in their region. The Health Ministry said 64 people were killed but local hospitals put the toll at 88, saying the ministry count does not include sets of body parts....

Police at checkpoints around this resort also were circulating photographs of five Pakistanis who apparently were among a group of nine Pakistanis who arrived in Sharm el-Sheik from Cairo on July 5, according to two investigators who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the probe's sensitivity.

The five were identified as Mohammed Anwar, 30; Rashid Ali, 26; Mohammed Aref, 26; Musaddeq Hussein, 18; and Mohammed Akhtar, 30. The pictures, which gave the men's names and passport numbers, also were on posters put up in Cairo, apparently out of concern they were in the capital either before or since the attacks.

If any involvement of Pakistanis is confirmed, it would suggest that those behind Saturday's bombings belong to a much wider terror network than previously believed.

FROM THE ORG OF THE UNITED NATIONS!!!

I get dozens of Nigerian banking scam come-ons in my email box every day, and usually ignore them -- except for the occasional amusing piece, as when they purported to be Suha Arafat trying to recover the funds that Yasir had deposited in secret accounts.

But I never got one like this before. Probably I will get several hundred more like it in the coming weeks, but this one is the first: it's a certification that I am not a terrorist, from the United Nations itself! For a fee, of course.

I am thrilled that the UN has recognized that I am not a terrorist, but I don't think I can afford the certificate. Kofi Annan will just have to be satisfied with my continuing to be a "free and well abiding citizen" of the "INTED STATES." They seem to think, however, that I am not a US citizen and would want a US Visa, which their "certificate of anti-terrorist" would apparently help me obtain. Hmmm...Now that's interesting...

HIGH ESTEEM,

This is to inform you that after going through your profile on our
international intelligence on terrorism, we have come to a conclusion that you are free and well abiding citizen of your country, we hereby want to let you know that you will be assigned and giving certificate of non-involvement in terrorist activities.

You re required to contact us as soon as you get this message for further information on registering you on our data base. On the month of August we are holding a seminar/lectures on anti-terrorist act under the supervision of the secretary to the INTED STATES defense minister and the British chief intelligence minister, so you are hereby informed on this on time if you are to participate on this or not, you are allowed to decide on this in your own free will.

A certificate of antiterrorist will be issued to you immediately yourget back to us, and you will be giving your charges to pay for your documents, and other things attached to it...

Your benefit on this is that, as soon as we confirm your registration, you will be giving a chance of having the UNITED KINGDOM AND UNITED STATE VISA under tha act of the UNITED STATES IMMIGRATION LAW ANTI TERRORIST FREE LEGIT ACT 2003...

THANKS AND DO GET IN TOUCH WITH US IMMEDIATELY.

FROM THE UNITED NATIONS ON ANTI TERROSRIST ORGANISATION...
JOSE .D. LINA JR
SECRETARY, DILG AND CHAIRMAN, NAPOLCOM
TEL: 447031844710
Email: joselinaantiterror@yahoo.com

The email from which this masterpiece came was "lottoagentanderson@gmail.com." Lotto Agent? I know that some American states have lotteries, but the UN?

Spencer on Fox TV today

I am scheduled to be appearing briefly on Fox's "Big Story with John Gibson" today at 5:40PM.

New Spencer book is available, sort of

The publication date for my new book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) is still August 8, but I have received several emails yesterday and today from people telling me that they bought it at their local Barnes and Noble already. And one person even told me that Amazon had shipped it.

So I thought today would be a good day to post the endorsements the book has received:

"To win the War on Terror, we must understand our enemies. The courageous and indefatigable Robert Spencer busts myths and tells truths about jihadists that no one else will tell. The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) is indispensable reading." -- Michelle Malkin, author, In Defense of Internment

"With a provocative and irreverent style, Robert Spencer assails, with much erudition, the taboos imposed by the Politically Correct League. A daring tonic that teaches fundamental truths." -- Bat Ye'or, author, Eurabia and The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam

"The jihad that the Western world faces today is identical in its motivations and goals to that which Europe managed to stave off almost a thousand years ago ­ thanks in large part to the Crusades of which the West is now ashamed. In this book, Robert Spencer tells the truth that few in the U.S. or Europe wish to face. Today's jihad, as Spencer illustrates here, is proceeding on two fronts: one of violence and terror, and another of cultural shaming and the rewriting of history. Here is a devastating riposte to that revisionism -- and a clarion call for the defense of the West, before it is too late." -- Ibn Warraq, author of Why I Am Not A Muslim and editor of Leaving Islam and What the Koran Really Says

"The value of Spencer’s book is twofold. He reminds us of the consequences of our failure to come to grips with the message and implications of Islam. And he warns against the spirit of masochistic self-loathing that permeates the Western elite class. In a sane world Spencer’s recommendations -- notably that the upholders of sharia should be treated as political radicals and subjected to appropriate supervision -- ­would not be deemed 'politically incorrect' but eminently sensible." -- Serge Trifkovic, author, Sword of the Prophet

"With the 2005 'Kingdom of Heaven' movie trying to visualize the actual scenes that occurred between European Crusaders and Arab Muslim armies in the Middle Ages, the whole issue of the clash of civilizations came back to haunt politicians. Traditional historians used to relate facts. Politicized historians, such as Amine Maalouf, insisted that Western Crusaders were evil, and their enemies were righteous. Robert Spencer, an expert on historical Jihad, responds with a 'politically incorrect' but academically sound and challenging work. Spencer displays enourmous amount of well research material. He throws the ball back into the camp of Arabist historians." -- Walid Phares, author, Lebanese Christian Nationalism: The Rise and Fall of an Ethnic Resistance

"Sweeping away the politically correct myths about a tolerant, peaceful Islam brutalized by demonic Christian Crusaders, Robert Spencer in this powerful, important book lets the facts of history speak for themselves. The truth he recovers is simple: an aggressive, violent Islamic creed for fourteen centuries has waged war against the infidel West, a scourge of conquest and persecution that roused the Crusaders to restore the Near East to the Christian and Hellenic culture devastated by the armies of Islam. Spencer's rousing, straight-talking book is a much-needed antidote to the poisonous propaganda that compromises our current battle against jihadist murder." -- Bruce S. Thornton, Greek Ways: How the Greeks Created Western Civilization

And of course:

"May Allah rip out his spine from his back and split his brains in two, and then put them both back, and then do it over and over again. Amen." -- From a post about Robert Spencer at RevivingIslam.com

Police name London bomb suspects

Muktar Said-Ibrahim. Have you seen this man?

Methodists, of course. From CNN, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Police have identified two of the four suspects they believe were behind last week's failed bomb attacks on the London transit system....

Peter Clarke, head of the Britain's anti-terror branch, said police were looking for Yasin Hassan Omar, 24, and Muktar Said-Ibrahim or Muktar Mohammed-Said, 27.

Police believe Muktar Said-Ibrahim placed a bomb on a No. 26 bus in Hackney, east London, last Thursday, Clarke said.

He added that police were searching a north London address they believed was associated with Said-Ibrahim on Monday.

Clarke said Omar attempted to detonate a bomb on a Victoria Line Underground train between Oxford Circus and Warren Street stations. He was seen leaving Warren Street at 12:40 pm (1140 GMT), vaulting over the ticket barrier and running towards the exit.

Police have urged Londoners to help locate the four men suspected of carrying out the attacks, whose images were captured Thursday on closed circuit television cameras near the bombing sites.

Said-Ibrahim and Omar and a third suspect are believed to have entered Stockwell Underground station in south London just before 12:25 pm (1125 GMT) last Thursday, Clarke said.

The third man is suspected of attempting to set off a bomb on the Northern Line between Stockwell and Oval stations before being chased from Oval by passengers. He was last seen running towards Brixton, south London.

Pakistan: Daniel Pearl murderer "capable of converting the entire jail staff"

Why? Doesn't the staff know that the Qur'an teaches peace? Or does what it really teach make them susceptible to the appeals of Omer Sheikh? "Omer Sheikh dangerous and charismatic: prison officials," from the Daily Times, with thanks to Nicolei:

LAHORE: Accoring to prison officals, Ahmed Omer Saeed Sheikh is dangerous and charismatic. The British-born Islamist murderer of the American journalist Daniel Pearl has managed to convert the first four constables that were stationed outside his cell. This has moved prison authorities to rotate the guards staioned outside his cell almost every day. “He is capable of converting the entire jail staff,” said one official.

The convict paid tribute to Osama Bin Laden and condemned his victim as an “informer/spy of America” in an interview conducted by smuggling notes in and out of his cell, says a Telegraph report.

Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh said that he had met Bin Laden twice in Afghanistan and admitted to The Sunday Telegraph that he had been “involved” in the kidnap of Mr Pearl, a Wall Street Journal reporter who was beheaded on video in 2002 after being lured to a meeting in Karachi.

Sheikh rejected the “pillars of Western civilisation”, pledged allegiance to the one-eyed fugitive Taliban leader Mulla Omar and declared that jihad would never cease, even if Bin Laden and Omar were killed. “Islamic resurgence will continue even if all the better-known leaders are martyred or captured,” he said. His uncompromising pronouncements came as Mr Pearl’s parents, Judea and Ruth, noted with “sadness and disappointment” the failure of Pakistan to carry out Sheikh’s death sentence, imposed three years ago after he was tried for their son’s kidnap, and suggested that he could be implicated in planning bombings in London and elsewhere.

Victim's father 'helped bomber flee'

How the jihad ideology trumps all human ties. From the TimesOnline, with thanks to Matthew:

A MAN whose 13-year-old stepdaughter was killed in the Madrid train bombings has been jailed on suspicion of helping the mastermind of the atrocity to flee the country.

Abdeneri Essebar spent March 11 last year — the day that bombs exploded on four commuter trains during the morning rush hour — with his wife, Jamila, searching for her daughter, Sanae ben Salah, among Madrid’s hospitals.

But more than a year after 191 people were murdered and 1,900 injured, he has been arrested and jailed on a preliminary charge of membership of a terrorist organisation and accused of helping at least one of the bombing team to flee Spain.

The accused man’s step- daughter was on her way to school when she died in one of the trains, which departed for Madrid from Alcalá de Henares. Her mother had married Señor Essebar in 2002 shortly after meeting him in the pair met in Tangiers, Morocco.

Police sources told a Spanish newspaper that Señor Essebar helped Mohammed Afalah, one of the alleged masterminds of the Madrid massacre, to escape from Spain shortly after the attacks.

Señor Essebar was also an associate of another prime suspect, Larbi ben Sellam, who had for years been encouraging a jihad on Spain, an “apostate nation” because of its overthrow of the ruling Muslims 700 years ago.

British Muslim leader denies that mosques have a duty to moderate the views of jihadists

I routinely insist here that the sincerity of Muslim denunciations of terrorism can be measured by the actual efforts of the denouncer to refute jihadism within his own community, and turn jihadists from the alleged error of their ways. But here is an imam in Britain who denies that mosques have a duty to turn jihadists away from violence. "One Young Man's Concern on Extremism," from Scheherezade Faramarzi in AP, with thanks to Matthew:

LEEDS, England (AP) - Nineteen-year-old Fazel, a British-born Muslim who is angry about his ``immoral'' surroundings, seems ripe for the picking by the recruiters of Islamic extremism. ``I would go if they approached me,'' he says.

``I want to get away from here. I don't have a job. I want to learn everything about Islam,'' said Fazel, who refused to divulge his last name during an interview Saturday at a mosque here. His remarks suggested he hoped to find his way to a Muslim country where he could further study the religion and develop his beliefs....

Fazel seems to equate learning more about Islam with going deeper into the world of jihadist violence. Now why is that?

Islamic radicals inside the British Muslim community who are searching for men to become suicide attackers or foot soldiers in the global jihad are thought to recruit disaffected young men like Fazel, sending them for religious or military training in Islamic countries....

Despite the young man's growing contempt for Western mores, Fazel said he disagreed with the London subway and bus bombings because ``Islamic scholars said it was wrong.'' The attackers ``should have talked to more educated people.''

But he also denounced Prime Minister Tony Blair's characterization that the bombers were inspired by an ``evil ideology.''

``The evil programs on TV, the music, the literature, the magazines ... are all responsible for the terrorist attacks. People are becoming rebellious because they are against fornication, gambling, alcohol,'' Fazel said.

``Until they get rid of Eminem and Marilyn Manson, they can't get rid of our preachers,'' he added.

Moral equivalence aside: those who equate Christian and Muslim "fundamentalists" should note that Christians who oppose Eminem, Marilyn Manson, fornication, gambling and alcohol are not resorting to suicide bombing.

Fazel called himself a former ``kafar,'' Arabic for an infidel who did not fear God, and said he once enjoyed drinking with his friends and the company of young women.

Then, in the aftermath of Sept. 11, he read about al-Qaida and its leader, Osama bin Laden.

Images of the twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsing, he said, fueled his curiosity about the faith of his ancestors.

``Allah pointed me to him (bin Laden),'' said Fazel, dressed in a white shalwar kameez, the traditional loose tunic-and-trouser common to men in South Asia.

Three years later, he said, an angel spoke to him.

``I needed change. Drugs and alcohol did me no good,'' he said.

The young man denied that he was confused about his faith and asserted just as vehemently that he did not ``give a damn about the world.''

Fazel said he has not told his parents about turning to his deepest Islamic roots. Like many of his peers who also were born of immigrant Muslim parents, Fazel has found difficulty integrating into British society and expresses a sense of displacement and alienation.

Zahir Birawi, an official at the mosque where Fazel was interviewed, later said he had seen the young man a few times at prayers and assured a reporter that Fazel's views were not normal.

Birawi said it was not the duty of the mosque to change the views of those who came to worship.

``We have no classes for these things,'' said Birawi, but ``we will make it a priority to try to answer his questions'' about Islam.

Gee, thanks. But what if he doesn't ask?

Birawi said officials at the mosque would tell the police about Fazel if his views did not moderate.

While Fazel at one point declared he wanted nothing but to leave Britain, he subsequently indicated some confusion about the future.

If he did not manage to go to Afghanistan or was not recruited by extremists, Fazel said would be just happy settling down here to try to change society from the inside.

``The best thing is to marry a couple of wives and have many children because I think it's wise to increase the population of my umma (people) and raise the number of Muslim members of parliament.

``We want to have more say in Parliament.''

Watch this man.

Imam warns Ottawa to back off Muslims

An extraordinary threat from a Toronto imam. From the Globe and Mail, with thanks to Scaramouche:

A controversial Toronto imam warned Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan at a closed-door meeting to stop "terrorizing" Canadian Muslims.

"If you try to cross the line I can't guarantee what is going to happen. Our young people, we can't control," Aly Hindy, the head of Scarborough's Salaheddin Islamic Centre, recalls telling the minister at the May meeting she held in Toronto with dozens of Muslim leaders.

The meeting was part of an effort by Ms. McLellan to reach out to Canadian Muslims amid complaints that the RCMP and Canadian Security Intelligence Service are engaging in racial profiling.

The minister and her officials have been meeting community leaders to explain they are not targeting Muslims generally, only individuals with possible terrorist links.

By many accounts, the meetings have been positive and are contributing to a thaw in relations between Muslims and security agents, even if the exchange in May was a little heated.

Mr. Hindy, who has long complained that CSIS is spying on him, his family and his mosque, told Ms. McLellan that a young Muslim woman complained to him she was roughed up by Canadian spies while her husband was away at prayers. This allegation could spur reprisals because "our women are the most valuable thing to us" and "for a Muslim, honour is more important than his life," Mr. Hindy said in a recent interview.

He made the point to the minister. Several people who attended shrugged off the imam's remarks, but some Muslims and government agents later approached Mr. Hindy asking him to explain himself.

"The police came to me and said, 'This is a kind of threat,' and I said yes," he said. "But it's for the good of this country.

"And they said, 'Do you know some of the names of those people you expect to cause some problems?' And I said, 'You just open the telephone directory.' "

Pipes: British Opinion Surveys From an Islamist Hell

In FrontPage this morning, Daniel Pipes discusses the recent British opinion polls that indicate substantial support among Muslims for the bombings, and comments:

(1) It is hard to say which is the most alarming of these many worrisome statistics, but two stand out. That less than three-quarters of Muslims in Britain indicate they would tell the police about an impending terrorist attack raises grave doubts about the Blair government’s tactic of getting Muslims to police their own community. That one-third of Muslims do not accept British society and want to end it, presumably to pave the way for an Islamic order, casts comparable doubts on Britain’s much-vaunted multicultural ideal.

(2) Even the Telegraph’s interpreter of its survey, Professor Anthony King of Essex University, feels compelled to sugar the results, calling them “at once reassuring and disturbing, in some ways even alarming,” whatever that means. In several specific instances, he turns hair-raising statistics into cheerful ones (that 73 percent would warn of an impending terrorist attack he deems “impressive”). The newspaper’s and the professor’s panglossian attitude makes one wonder what might wake the British to the Islamist hell growing in their midst.

That panglossian attitude is unfortunately not restricted simply to the Telegraph and this professor.

Read it all.

300 jihadists under tight watch in Germany

This is the kind of thing I have called for for quite some time: simple monitoring. "300 Islamists under tight watch in Germany," from UPI, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is monitoring the Islamists, "but not every one of those people is a potential terrorist," Otto Schily told Monday's edition of the German daily newspaper Bild.

While the large majority of Muslims in Germany are peaceful and righteous citizens, some are potential extremists and ready to commit acts of violence, he said.

Great. How does he tell the difference? Only by watching.

German security officials already have "uncovered and thus prevented several plans for terrorist attacks in the country," he said.

Schily called on Muslim congregations in Germany to "actively work with officials to fight extremism and terror."

Yes, we need to see that all over the Western world.

London: Did a fifth bomber lose nerve and dump bomb?

Another bomb found. "Did a fifth bomber lose nerve and dump bomb?," from the TimesOnline, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

POLICE fear that there may have been a fifth bomber who failed to carry out his suicide mission last Thursday after the discovery of a suspect package in bushes near Wormwood Scrubs prison in West London.

The package, found on Saturday morning, appeared to be packed with explosives, nails and bolts, similar to the device found at Warren Street. Police carried out a series of controlled explosions on it.

British Say Al Qaeda Is Behind London Plots

Al-Qaeda-linked, or ideologically linked? The continuing focus on Al-Qaeda is misleading. That group could disappear altogether and the jihad ideology would remain (which, of course, is not to say that AQ was not behind the bombings). From AP, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

LONDON — London police have three suspects in custody after last week's failed terrorist strikes but say they are looking for many more because investigators now believe a wide network of Al Qaeda-linked operatives staged the attacks.

The network they are trying to roll up could include bomb makers and those who coached the young homicide attackers before their mission, according to police.

Investigators were also pursuing leads that seemed to indicate a link between the unsuccessful attacks on July 21 — when bombs only partially detonated — and the homicide bombings two weeks earlier which killed the four bombers and 52 other people.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said he believed Al Qaeda terrorists were involved in both attacks.

"The way in which Al Qaeda operates is not a sort of classic cell structure," Blair told Britain's Sky News television on Sunday. "It has facilitators, so we're looking for the bomb makers, we're looking for the chemists, we're looking for the financiers, we're looking for the people who groomed these young people, so it will be a wide network that we're trying to penetrate."

Asked if the two attacks were connected, Blair said "we have no proof that they are linked, but clearly there is a pattern here."

Police seek 6 Pakistani suspects in Sharm attack

Were Pakistanis involved in the Egypt bombings? "The involvement of the Pakistanis, if proven, would also increase suspicions that Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida may have been involved in the attacks." Or at least that Pakistanis with an ideology similar to that of Osama, of which there are very many, were involved. From AP, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

Police investigators said Monday that they are searching for six Pakistani men as the probe into the weekend's Sharm e-Sheikh bomb blasts widened.

The investigators, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the inquiry, said they are looking into whether the six men had any involvement in carrying out Saturday's attack, Egypt's deadliest ever. Pakistani officials had no immediate comment....

The investigators declined to be identified -- so difficult would their work become in Pakistan if it were known that they were working against the jihad.

If independently confirmed, any involvement of Pakistanis would suggest that those behind Saturday's bombings belong to a much wider terror network than previously thought.

Until the latest news broke Monday, suspicions had primarily focused on a Sinai-based network thought responsible for bombings in the area last October, also targeting tourist sites.

The involvement of the Pakistanis, if proven, would also increase suspicions that Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida may have been involved in the attacks. The Saudi-born bin Laden is popular among militant Pakistani groups and is known to enjoy support in tribal areas close to the Afghan border.

Jihad groups vie for credit for Egypt murders

Egypt tourist bombings update: "Egypt Detains 70 People for Resort Attacks," from AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt - Egyptian police searched for clues Sunday and struggled to identify bodies from the 88 people killed in three bomb blasts that rocked this Red Sea resort, sending foreign tourists scrambling to catch flights home.

More than 70 people have been detained in Sharm el-Sheik and elsewhere on the Sinai Peninsula for questioning over the bombings early Saturday. But none have been accused of involvement in Egypt's deadliest-ever terror attack, said security officials, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the inquiry....

Two rival claims of responsibility have emerged but neither statement could be authenticated.

One group, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades of al-Qaida in Syria and Egypt, also claimed responsibility for the October bombings in Taba and for a dual shooting-bomb attack in April in Cairo.

Also, the previously unknown Holy Warriors of Egypt discounted the al-Qaida claim and said it had carried out Saturday's attack in Sharm.

The sidewalks where terror breeds

A surprisingly informative piece in the Christian Science Monitor (thanks to Skeetstreet) updates this March 2004 BBC article and explores how preachers of Islamic jihad use Islamic religious language to recruit people like the recent London bombers. Still no explanation from Iqbal Sacranie or anyone else about how to combat this sort of thing.

GREENWICH, ENGLAND - Outside a small, red-brick mosque, a young Muslim in sneakers and a white robe is lecturing a cluster of young men gathered on the sidewalk.

"The London bombings ... were about striking terror into the heart of the enemy," he thunders, just one week after the 7/7 attacks that killed 56 people and wounded hundreds more.

The Monitor doesn't mention, and probably doesn't know, that this is a reference to the Qur'an: "Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies, of Allah and your enemies..." (8:60).

Muslims around the world are being slaughtered, he tells them. "All we ask them is: 'Remove your troops from Muslim lands and we will stop all of this.' " The men nod in agreement. One glances into the baby stroller he's pushing. Car after car races past.

And yet troops were not in Muslim lands when this round of the conflict started, on 9/11. This is yet another example of how the pretexts for the conflict always change, while the jihad remains constant.

The preacher, who calls himself Abu Osama ("Father of Osama"), is one of a new breed of British radicals thriving at the margins of London's Muslim community.

Young, independent, and streetwise, they are preaching in urban slang outside the confines of Britain's mosques. They are helping teens and 20-somethings beat drugs and alcohol. And they are inspiring a new pool of impressionable young Muslims to consider killing their fellow Britons.

These radical bands constitute a small fraction of London's 1 million Muslims. But their freewheeling ideology - hardened in the jihadi echo chambers of cliques like Abu Osama's - is creating a new subculture within Britain's Islamic community. So far, the growing influence of these informal, maverick groups has gone largely undetected - and unchecked.

As older, camera-courting, foreign-born extremists like Omar Bakri and Abu Hamza al-Masri recede from relevance, their younger counterparts are striking out quietly and independently with a new brand of do-it-yourself radicalism.

"On the ground level, people like Bakri don't communicate with the youth," says Nadim Shehadi, an analyst at Chatham House, a think tank in London. The fragmentation of British radical groups and their dispersal underground, he adds, is the "worst of all possible options."

"When the Muslim Council of Britain [MCB] said 'We must be vigilant,' this pushed [radical groups] underground," says Abdul-Rehman Malik, contributing editor at the Muslim magazine Q-News, based London. As radicals fled to minor mosques and homes, Britain's security services, and even mainstream Muslims, lost track of them.

Did the 7/7 bombers come from Bakri's circle? "Probably not - it's something far more insidious," says Mr. Malik. "It's beyond the Omar Bakris; it's a low rumble."

Yearning for jihad

Abu Osama, just 30, was born and raised here in East London, amid peeling paint and dingy kebab shops. "I know English. I know Britain. But if I live here, I must speak for Muslims elsewhere," he says, stressing that he belongs first to the ummah, or global Islamic community.

Note that he doesn't say "But if I live here, I must abide by the laws of Britain and accept the parameters of British society." Instead, his primary allegiance is to the umma.

Abu Osama's faith deepened early. Watching his Pakistani immigrant father struggle to support his family of seven, he sought strength in Islam.

"I began praying and studying when I was 16, and since then I've been like this," he says, pointing to his long, curling beard.

Abu Osama first spoke publicly eight years ago; he has since won ardent followers.

Last fall, addressing a meeting of scores of British radicals, he sighed: "At the moment in Britain there is no jihad." Faces fell around the hall.

"Yet!" he exclaimed suddenly, to approving murmurs. The jihad would soon come, Abu Osama predicted, and he urged his listeners to embrace its arrival.

On 7/7, the jihad came. The suicide bombers were aged 18 to 30 - the same age as Abu Osama's cohorts. By portraying militancy as the ultimate expression of piety, Abu Osama and preachers like him are leading young Muslims down the path toward violence.

"Some of the people tell you Islam is a religion of peace because they think that then you'll want to convert," says Dublin-born convert Khalid Kelly, who soaks up Abu Osama's sidewalk sermon. "But you cannot possibly say Islam is a religion of peace; jihad is not an internal struggle."

Thank you for speaking the truth, Mr. Kelly. When non-Muslims say that they are tarred and vilified by Muslims and non-Muslims alike. But no one can possibly call you an "Islamophobe." What, I wonder, would Iqbal Sacranie say to convince you that you are wrong -- if anything?

Armed struggle was the last thing on Mr. Kelly's mind until his conversion several years ago. "I was your average Irish drunkard, partying and so on," he says. Arrested in Saudi Arabia, where he worked as a nurse, for brewing his own alcohol, Kelly found Islam in prison - an increasingly common arena for Muslim conversion and radicalization.

After his return to Britain in 2002, Kelly quickly became a disciple of Bakri, a radical Syrian-born cleric based in Britain, who is most widely known for celebrating 9/11, and more recently, blaming 7/7 on British foreign policy. Through Bakri's circle, which is now largely underground, Kelly met Abu Osama. Now, they gravitate toward obscure mosques that nurture homegrown extremists.

"The imam here" - Kelly nods at the mosque - "said, 'Pray for the victory of the mujahideen in all the world.' He's talking about Osama bin Laden, but he can't say that."

Read it all.

Man Killed in Subway Not Linked to Blasts

A tragic update to this story from AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

LONDON - Police identified the man who was chased down in a subway and shot to death by plainclothes officers as a Brazilian and said Saturday they no longer believed he was tied to the recent terror bombings.

Friday's shooting before horrified commuters prompted criticism of police for overreacting and expressions of fear that Asians and Muslims would be targeted by a "trigger-happy culture" after two well-coordinated attacks in two weeks.

It still appears that this man understood English and did not stop when police ordered him to do so. His death is a tragedy, but in a time when bombers are targeting London, not "trigger-happy" or inexplicable.

Police expressed regret for the death of the man at the Stockwell subway station, identified Saturday as Jean Charles de Menezes, 27. Witnesses said he was wearing a heavy, padded coat when plainclothes police chased him into a subway car, pinned him to the ground and shot him about five times in the head and torso.

Hours after the shooting, Police Commissioner Ian Blair said the victim was "directly linked" to the investigations into attacks Thursday and July 7. In the latter, suicide bombings on trains and a bus killed 56 people, including four attackers.

Now I would like to know why he said that, although perhaps it was only because of this:

Police initially said the victim attracted police attention because he left a house that was under surveillance after Thursday's bungled bombings, in which devices planted on three subway trains and a double-decker bus failed to detonate properly. Stockwell is near Oval station, one of those targeted.

"He was then followed by surveillance officers to the station. His clothing and his behavior at the station added to their suspicions," police said Friday.

But Saturday, a police official said on condition of anonymity that Menezes was "not believed to be connected in any way to any of the London bombings."

"For somebody to lose their life in such circumstances is a tragedy and one that the Metropolitan Police Service regrets," a spokesman said on condition of anonymity, which is police policy.

However, police did not explain what went wrong or say whether Menezes had done anything illegal.

In Brazil, the Foreign Ministry said it was "shocked and perplexed" by the death of Menezes, whom it did not name but described as "apparently the victim of a lamentable mistake."

The ministry said it expected British authorities to explain the circumstances of the shooting, and Foreign Minister Celso Amorim would try to arrange a meeting with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw during a visit to London.

Brazilian media reported that Menezes was an electrician who had been legally living and working in England for the past three years. He originally came from the small city of Gonzaga, some 500 miles northeast of Sao Paulo in the state of Minas Gerais.

"He spoke English very well, and had permission to study and work there," Menezes' cousin Maria Alves told the O Globo Online Web site from her home in Sao Paulo.

Menezes' family was Roman Catholic. When asked if he had become Muslim in Britain, Agostino Ferreira Rosa, a policeman in Gonzaga said: "According to his family, he had nothing to do with Muslims or Islamism. He was Catholic."

Zarqawi Group claims Algerian abductions

From the BBC:

A group claiming to be al-Qaeda in Iraq has said it kidnapped two Algerian diplomats who were snatched in Baghdad on Thursday.

Insurgents loyal to the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Masab al-Zarqawi, posted the claim on a website.

Ali Balarousi, Algeria's top envoy to the country, and his colleague, Azzedin Belkadi, were seized in Mansour.

The authenticity of the claim could not be verified. No images of the men or proof of their identity was offered.

A group headed by Zarqawi which claimed responsibility for the kidnap and murder of an Egyptian diplomat posted copies of his ID cards on the internet when they made the claim.

Saturday's statement boasted that the Algerian men had been taken from one of the most heavily-guarded areas of the city, the western Mansour district.

"The enemies of God and the tyrant countries should know that the head of the Algerian mission was taken from the most secured of areas," it said.

"This [Algeria] is yet another country that does not obey the rule of God and is a tyrant of this age," it added...

Claim: Mossad behind Sharm attacks

88 people are reported dead in the Egyptian resort town. From the Jerusalem Post:

Several Egyptian "security experts" and "political analysts" interviewed by Arab TV stations in the aftermath of the Sharm e-Sheikh bombings on Saturday claimed that Israel and Jews were behind the carnage.

The accusations that Israel was responsible for the deadly attacks were made despite a claim of responsibility by a group citing ties to Al-Qaida, according to a statement posted on an Islamic Web site.

Similar charges have been made against Israel in the past, particularly after last year's suicide attack at the Taba Hilton Hotel in October 2004 and after the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington.

However, most Egyptian government officials refrained from pointing an accusing finger toward Israel, pointing out that extremist Muslim groups were most likely responsible for the Sharm e-Sheikh attacks.

Shortly after the attacks, Egypt's state-run television interviewed retired army general Fuad Allam. He said that he was almost certain that Israel was behind the attacks at Sharm e-Sheikh and Taba.

According to Fuad, investigations have shown that the mastermind of the Taba attack was a Palestinian "apparently linked to Israel's security forces."

He added: "I'm almost certain that Israel was also behind this attack because they want to undermine our government and deal a severe blow to our economy. The only ones who benefit from these attacks are the Israelis and the Americans."...

The governing rule of logic is to ask oneself "who benefits?" Inevitable answer: "the Jews benefit." Then, all that's left, is to work backwards in order to make it fit the circumstances. Presto! It's the Mossad. Works every time.

Shoot-to-Kill Policy Worries UK Muslims

They needn't worry about the shoot to kill policy if they stop when called upon to do so. It does now appear that the man shot by police near the subway was not connected with the bombings and they admit to shooting the wrong man. From Arab News, with thanks to Skeet Street.

LONDON — Muslims gathered for afternoon prayers yesterday with renewed fears of a backlash against Britain’s Islamic community after a string of new terror attacks.

Amid the anxiety, a bomb threat forced the evacuation of one of the city’s largest mosques, and police investigated an apparent attempt to set fire to the home of one of the suspected suicide bombers in the first attacks on July 7.

When undercover officers on the London Underground yesterday shot and killed a man who was described by witnesses as South Asian, the news swept through Britain’s Muslim community of 1.6 million. The death came on the heels of a series of failed bombings Thursday, in which four men placed backpacks of explosives on three trains and a bus.

“I have just had one phone call saying ‘What if I was carrying a rucksack?” said Inayat Bunglawala, spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, following the shooting. “We are getting phone calls from quite a lot of Muslims who are distressed about what may be a shoot-to-kill policy.”

Police said officers were operating on a “shoot-to-stop” policy when facing an imminent life threat.

London Mayor Ken Livingston, however, explained: “If you are dealing with someone who might be a suicide bomber, if they remain conscious, they could trigger plastic explosives or whatever device is on them. Therefore overwhelmingly, in these circumstances, it is going to be a shoot-to-kill policy.”...

U.N. seeks first political definition of terrorism

World body's blueprint for reform will address the terrorism issue, from AP, with thanks to Skeet Street.

UNITED NATIONS - U.N. diplomats have revised their blueprint for reforming the world body to include a definition of terrorism, indicating nations are moving toward consensus on a contentious global issue.

World leaders are to consider the plan at their summit in September and, if approved, the definition could break the impasse over a comprehensive treaty against terrorism.

The United States strongly supports such a treaty, which has been stalled for years over the question of what constitutes a terrorist. The debate has focused on the Arab-Israeli conflict and the argument that one nation’s terrorists are another’s freedom fighters.

Jean Ping, president of the U.N. General Assembly avoided the topic of terrorism in a reform plan he drew up in early June, calling on governments to do more to alleviate poverty and ensure human rights.

His revised plan issued Friday would commit world leaders to adopting a comprehensive convention against terrorism by September 2006.

Ping’s new blueprint not only gives a political definition of terrorism but spells out how two new U.N. bodies would be established; the Peacebuilding Commission to ensure countries emerging from conflict don’t start fighting again and a Human Rights Council to replace the discredited Commission on Human Rights.

The Geneva-based commission has been criticized for allowing the worst-offending countries to use their membership to protect each other from condemnation for human rights abuses. The latest draft said members of the new council should be elected on the basis of regional balance and their contribution “to the promotion and protection of human rights.”

The document also outlines a series of U.N. management reforms — a key U.S. demand — and elaborates on what to do to stop genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity...

Resurgence of piracy highlights terror risk

Southeast Asia struggles to protect vulnerable waterway from terrorist threats from MSNBC, with thanks to Skeet Street.

When 35 pirates carrying machine guns and rocket launchers boarded a tanker laden with methane in the Malacca Strait in March, it sent a shudder through the crew, and a ripple of fear from Tokyo to Washington.

The incident marked a resurgence in attacks along one of the world’s most vulnerable and valuable shipping lanes, where things had been relatively quiet following last year's tsunami. It also served as a reminder of the risks to world trade, and of the potential for terrorism in the region.

The attack on the tanker turned out to be routine highway robbery in the strait, whose waters are shared by Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.

But in the nightmare scenario, terrorists using the methods of modern-day pirates seize a gas tanker and use it as floating bomb, which experts say could explode with the force of a small nuclear weapon. The damage from such an attack could go well beyond the immediate bloodshed and environmental damage, hobbling U.S. trade with Asia and cutting off essential energy supplies shipped through the narrow channel to China, South Korea and Japan...

One in four British Muslims sympathises with motives of terrorists

From the UK Telegraph, with thanks to all who sent this in.

The group portrait of British Muslims painted by YouGov's survey for The Daily Telegraph is at once reassuring and disturbing, in some ways even alarming.

The vast majority of British Muslims condemn the London bombings but a substantial minority are clearly alienated from modern British society and some are prepared to justify terrorist acts.

The divisions within the Muslim community go deep. Muslims are divided over the morality of the London bombings, over the extent of their loyalty to this country and over how Muslims should respond to recent events.

Most Muslims are evidently moderate and law-abiding but by no means all are.

YouGov sought to gauge the character of the Muslim community's response to the events of July 7. As the figures in the chart show, 88 per cent of British Muslims clearly have no intention of trying to justify the bus and Tube murders.

However, six per cent insist that the bombings were, on the contrary, fully justified.

Six per cent may seem a small proportion but in absolute numbers it amounts to about 100,000 individuals who, if not prepared to carry out terrorist acts, are ready to support those who do.

Moreover, the proportion of YouGov's respondents who, while not condoning the London attacks, have some sympathy with the feelings and motives of those who carried them out is considerably larger - 24 per cent.

A substantial majority, 56 per cent, say that, whether or not they sympathise with the bombers, they can at least understand why some people might want to behave in this way.

YouGov also asked whether or not its Muslim respondents agreed or disagreed with Tony Blair's description of the ideas and ideology of the London bombers as "perverted and poisonous".

Again, while a large majority, 58 per cent, agree with him, a substantial minority, 26 per cent, are reluctant to be so dismissive.

The responses indicate that Muslim men are more likely than Muslim women to be alienated from the mainstream and that the young are more likely to be similarly alienated than the old...

“I am proud of Osama bin Laden. I am proud of everyone who wages war for justice.”

This man has lived in Sweden since he was 18. Now how and where would he get the idea that Osama was a hero? Why didn't they tell him at his local mosque that to have such a hero was to place himself out of the bounds of Islam? They didn't because it doesn't. But no one in Sweden and few elsewhere are facing the implications of this. "Man linked to London bombings threatens Sweden," from Sweden's The Local, with thanks to Paul:

The 39-year old Swede suspected of involvement in the London bombings has said that Sweden would be “punished” if he was handed over to a foreign power.

The man, who is originally from Lebanon, has lived in Sweden since he was 18. In an interview with Dagens Nyheter last October, he denied that he had met Osama Bin Laden but said that he “loved him”.

“I am proud of Osama bin Laden. I am proud of everyone who wages war for justice.”

The man also told Dagens Nyheter that he thought the September 11th attacks against the United States were “very good.”

The man refuted accusations that he had been at a terrorist training camp in Oregon in 1999. He admitted, however, that he had lived with Abu Hamza, a controversial Muslim preacher at the Finsbury Park mosque in London, who is currently awaiting trial in Britain on terrorism and race-hate charges.

The Swedish man says that he lived with one-eyed, hook-handed Hamza “for medical reasons, as a nurse.”

The man, who is described by the FBI as “very dangerous”, denies that he was involved in the London attacks of July 7th. In an interview published by Expressen on Friday, he says that he has not left Sweden in the past three years.

Responding to reports that he had flown to the United States in 1999 in the company of Haroon Rashid, suspected mastermind of the London bombings, the man said he does not know who Rashid is, and has never met him.

While denying involvement in the London bombings, the man said that the suicide bombers who attacked three underground trains and a bus were “martyrs,” adding that he hoped also to become a martyr one day.

“They are not terrorists, as they are doing what Islam requires,” he said.

83 Die in Car Bombs at Egyptian Resort

The Abdullah Azzam Brigades: Azzam, along with Osama, was one of the founders of Al-Qaeda. I profile him, and his Qur'an- and Hadith-filled exhortations to Muslims to wage violent jihad, in Onward Muslim Soldiers. Clearly his murderous Islamic ideology is still winning recruits.

From AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt - A rapid series of car bombs and another blast ripped through a luxury hotel and a coffeeshop in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik early Saturday, killing at least 83, a hospital official said. Terrified European and Arab tourists fled into the night, and rescue workers said the death toll could still rise.

The attack, Egypt's deadliest terror hit ever, appeared well coordinated. Two car bombs, possibly by suicide attackers, went off simultaneously at 1:15 a.m. just more than 2 miles apart. A third bomb, believed hidden in a sack, detonated around the same time near a beachside walkway where tourists often stroll at night.

A total of 83 people had been confirmed dead, said Dr. Saeed Abdel Fattah, manager of the Sharm el-Sheik International Hospital where the victims were taken. Among the dead were two Britons, two Germans and an Italian, he added, and Czech officials said one Czech tourist was also killed. Rescue workers were still searching for victims at some attack scenes.

Several hours after the attacks, a group citing ties to al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the explosion on an Islamic web site. The group, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, al-Qaida, in Syria and Egypt, was one of two extremist groups that also claimed responsibility for October bombings at the Egyptian resorts of Taba and Ras Shitan that killed 34. The group also claimed responsbility for a Cairo bombing in late April.

The authenticity of the statement could not be immediately verified.

But a top Egyptian official said there are some indications the latest bombings were linked to last fall's Taba explosions.

India: man who planned 9/11/01 attacks in UK jailed

September 11 was meant to be much, much bigger. Imagine the effect if the jihadists had succeeded in crashing a plane into the White House, which seems to be where the one that crashed in Pennsylvania was likely going, as well as into the House of Commons and the Tower Bridge. "Al-Qaeda Suspect Jailed in Bombay," from ArabNews, with thanks to Skeetstreet:

BOMBAY, 23 July 2005 — A local Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court in Bombay, became the first Indian court to send to jail the first Indian Muslim on charges of terrorism.

The man was jailed for plotting to crash passenger jets into the House of Commons and the Tower Bridge in London on Sept. 11, 2001....

The suicide squads which included men from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan booked themselves on two Manchester-bound flights but the group panicked and fled just before they were due to board.

Seattle Man Questioned in London Bombings

An update on the search for suspected London bombing mastermind Haroon Rashid Aswat from AP:

WASHINGTON - An American once accused of trying to set up a terror training camp in Oregon is being questioned about a man sought in the London bombings, U.S. officials said Friday.

James Ujaama, a Muslim convert from Seattle, was charged in 2002 with trying to set up a terrorist training camp for Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri. He pleaded guilty to lesser charges in exchange for cooperating with terrorism investigations until 2013.

Three federal law enforcement officials said Ujaama is being questioned about Haroon Rashid Aswat, who also was implicated in the 1999 plan to establish a training camp in Bly, Ore. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation.

British authorities are looking into whether Aswat had been in close contact with the suicide bombers just before the July 7 attacks. They have asked Pakistan to search for Aswat...

Federal officials have said Ujaama's help was crucial in last year's indictment of al-Masri on charges that included trying to establish the Oregon camp. Al-Masri, formerly the head preacher at London's Finsbury Park mosque, also faces British charges of incitement to murder. He is being held in England.

Aswat is one of two al-Masri associates who are referred to but not named or charged in the 2002 indictment of Ujaama by a federal grand jury in Seattle, officials said. The other is Oussama Kassir, a Lebanese-born Swede, who was convicted of weapons violations in Sweden in 2003.

Aswat and Kassir traveled to the high desert area of Oregon in 1999 to check out property Ujaama identified as suitable for a training camp because it was on terrain comparable to Afghanistan's and could be used to store guns, ammunition and bunkers, the indictment said.

As emissaries of al-Masri, they flew to New York on an Air India flight, then traveled to Bly via Seattle, the indictment said...

India: Qaeda man who was to target British Parliament gets seven years’ jail

From the Indian Express:

MUMBAI - Aspiring MLA, pilot and self-confessed Al-Qaeda operative, Mohammed Afroze, was found guilty of conspiring to ‘‘commit terrorist acts on territories of nations at peace with India’’ and of forgery by a POTA court today.

Special Judge A P Bhangale, however, acquitted him of the more serious charge of waging war against the nation.

The court sentenced him to five years’ rigorous imprisonment for planning to bomb several cities the 9/11 way and to seven years’ RI for forgery. Both sentences will run concurrently. He was also ordered to pay a fine of Rs 20,000...

He only got five years for plotting mass murder, but seven years for forgery? What's wrong with this picture?

According to the prosecution, between 1997 and 2001, the three accused had conspired to hijack passenger planes and crash them into the House of Commons in London, the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon in the US, the Rolta Towers in Australia and Parliament in New Delhi.

‘‘Uncle Mubarak Musalman told me to work for Al Qaeda, train as pilot. He sent me Rs 1.5 lakh by hawala. I met Mansoor Iliyaz, Al-Qaeda chief in Melbourne and the (9/11) suicide squad members. I was selected for targeting Parliament in London,’’ Afroze had said in his confession...

Police seeking London bombers shoot man dead

An update on this morning's story from Reuters:

LONDON - Police shot dead a man at a London underground rail station on Friday and issued photographs of four men wanted in connection with Thursday's botched attempts to bomb the city's transport network.

They shot the man at Stockwell station in south London, close to the scene of one of Thursday's four attempted attacks.

The killing sparked panic on a crowded station platform and fuelled London's sense of unease after the July 7 suicide attacks that killed over 50 people and Thursday's bid to target the city again.

After attacks in New York, Bali, Madrid and elsewhere, many Britons feel militants linked to the Islamist al Qaeda network have set their sights on their country, a staunch U.S. ally.

Witnesses at Stockwell spoke of panic as a man of south Asian appearance wearing an unseasonably thick jacket vaulted over station barriers as police chased, tackled, then shot him.

"I've never seen anything like it in my life. I saw them kill a man basically. I saw them shoot a man five times," witness Mark Whitby told BBC television.

Police said the man was connected to their investigation but did not say how. They removed his body from the station in the evening as the capital struggled to return to normal.

"It is not yet clear whether he is one of the four people we are seeking to identify and whose pictures have been released today," they said in a statement.

Later, officers arrested a man near the station, but declined to say if he was one of the four...

Egypt: Sharm el-Sheikh rocked with explosions

"Explosions in Egypt Red Sea resorts-residents" From Reuters:

CAIRO - A large explosion shook the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday and two other explosions followed later, apparently from the nearby resort of Naama Bay, a resident said.

The first explosion, shortly after one a.m., was audible more than one km (half a mile) away, he said. It started a fire and smoke billowed over the town.

About 15 minutes later, two explosions were audible from the direction of Naama Bay, about six km (four miles) away, he said. Naama Bay has dozens of luxury hotels popular with divers and holidaymakers from Europe.

Another resident said one of the explosions came from the direction of the Moevenpick Hotel in Naama Bay and broke the windows of his apartment...

Protests over Pakistan's Terrorist Raids

"Muted protest over Pakistan raids," from the BBC:

About 2,000 religious activists have attended protests in Pakistan against a crackdown on suspected extremists following the 7 July London bombings.

Rallies were held in Islamabad and other cities. Islamic parties who called the protests say their members have been arrested and want them freed.

Police have made 200 arrests this week, many in raids on religious schools...

In Islamabad, about 1,000 protesters took to the streets. Activists denounced Gen Musharraf, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W Bush.

In one incident, demonstrators set a police motorcycle alight, but correspondents say the rallies were on the whole muted.

Several hundred demonstrators turned out in Karachi, and there were similar-sized protests in Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta...

"Our protest is against the raids being conducted on madrassas and mosques to appease the United States and the West," MMA spokesman Shahid Shamsi told Reuters...

Explosion rocks Christian neighborhood in Lebanon

"Several hurt in Beirut car blast," from the BBC, with thanks to Two Stellas.

Several people have been injured in an explosion on a street in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

The director-general of internal security, General Ashraf Rifi, told Lebanese television that a bomb had been placed under a car near Rue Monot.

The street, filled with restaurants and nightclubs, has a bustling nightlife.

The explosion came hours after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice left the city after a brief, unannounced visit...

Lindsay's Mother interviewed

Jermaine or Germaine Lindsay's mother, who once lived in Cleveland has been found in Grenada. "For Jamaican native, life path led from success to extremism" From the Boston Globe, with thanks to Mary Beth

ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada -- In the two weeks since 19-year-old Germaine Lindsay blew himself up in a London subway, taking 26 other lives with him, investigators and loved ones have been left with a central mystery: What led a rising athletic and academic star to become one of Western Europe's first suicide bombers?

''I can't believe it," Maryam McLeod Ismaiyl, his grieving mother, a Dorchester resident, said yesterday. ''I have so many questions, and I do not know if I will ever receive the answers."

''Jamal, as he would love to be called, was the best son I could have ever hoped for," she told reporters in the capital of the Caribbean island, where she is staying for the summer with her husband's family. ''I am still in shock and know not how to grieve for my son. Therefore, I grieve first for the victims."

Lindsay's life journey that ended on the subway train near King's Cross station took some crucial turns. He converted to Islam at the age of 15, following his mother's lead, and during high school he drew on his faith to shine as a student and athlete. But he ended up in a series of dead-end jobs after his mother remarried and moved to the United States. And then his religion took him in a radical direction.

The three others suspected in the coordinated bombings July 7 that killed at least 52 commuters, in addition to the bombers, were of Pakistani descent. They traveled there last year for training and support. But Lindsay was born in Jamaica, and there is no evidence so far that he took such a trip. His main tie with his fellow bombers appears to have been a fervent and ultimately deadly fanaticism that developed over the past two years...

Al-Qaeda-linked group claims responsibility for latest bombings

A jihadist group posting on an Islamic website calls the British "infidels" and "enemies of God." One of the suicide bombers from the 7/7 bombings is called a "good Muslim" who wanted to wage jihad. And Muslims in Britain are still blandly asserting that this has "nothing to do with Islam." How long will this state of denial persist?

From AP, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

A statement posted Friday on an Islamic website in the name of an al-Qaeda-linked group claimed responsibility for latest blasts targeting London's transport system.

The group, Abu Hafs al Masri Brigade, also claimed responsibility for the July 7 bombings which killed 52 people and four suicide bombers....

"Our strikes in the depths of the capital of the British infidels our only a message to other European governments that we will not relent and sit idle before the infidel soldiers will leave the land of the two rivers," said the statement....

"While we bless these strikes, our next attacks will be Hellish for the enemies of God," said the latest statement.

"We will strike in the hearts of European capitals, in Rome, in Amsterdam and in Denmark where their soldiers are in still in Iraq pursuing their British and American masters," the statement added.

The Abu Hafs al Masri Brigades are named after the alias given to Mohammed Atef, Osama bin Laden's top deputy who was killed in a U.S. air strike in Afghanistan in November, 2001.

Experts have said that the group has no proven track record of attacks, and note it has claimed responsibility for events in which it was unlikely to have played any role, such as the 2003 blackouts in the United States and London that resulted from technical problems.

London bomber was "a good Muslim . . . he also wished to take part in jihad and lay down his life"

He was "a good Muslim." And the overwhelming majority of decent, law-abiding Muslims in Britain that we keep hearing so much about -- what did they do to stop him? What did they do to combat his admiration of Osama and desire to murder others while killing himself? If they did nothing, as appears to be the case, why not? "Cousin listened to boasts about suicide mission," from the Times Online, with thanks to King Jan Sobieski of Poland:

ON HIS last visit to relatives in Pakistan this year, one of the London bombers, Shehzad Tanweer, boasted of wanting to die in a revenge attack over the way Muslims are treated.

While his family in Leeds had no idea about his suicide mission, Tanweer confessed to his cousin his ambition to become a “holy warrior”. At his father’s home village 30 miles from Faisalabad, Mohammad Saleem described yesterday how Tanweer, 22, hero-worshipped Osama bin Laden.

Mr Saleem supported his cousin’s bombing at Aldgate station which killed seven people, saying: “Whatever he has done, if he has done it, then he has done right.” He recalled how Tanweer argued with family and friends about the need for violent retaliation over US abuse of Muslim prisoners in Guantanamo Bay.

Tanweer was no stranger to the village of Chak No 477, where his grandfather and several cousins live. During his last trip, the college dropout was visited by another of the bombers, Mohammad Sidique Khan. They are said to have met a known al-Qaeda activist who has since been jailed for bombing a church. “Whenever he would listen about sufferings of Muslims he would become very emotional and sentimental,” Mr Saleem said. “He was a good Muslim . . . he also wished to take part in jihad and lay down his life.

“He knew that excesses are being done to Muslims. Incidents like desecration of the Koran have always been in his mind.”

His uncle, Tahir Pervaiz, told the Pakistani daily Dawn: “Osama bin Laden was Shehzad’s ideal and he used to discuss the man with his cousins and friends in the village.”

Tiny minority of extremists update:

After Tanweer’s death, more than 2,000 villagers turned out to pray for him.

Musharraf to Britain: "We should fight this menace jointly"

Musharraf has promised to rid Pakistan of "extremists" many, many times. But his statements are beginning to sound like the late Arafat's denunciations of terrorism. What is he really doing in Pakistan to fight the jihad ideology? Nothing. He doesn't dare, because he knows how firmly it is entrenched in the mosques and madrassas. "We should 'fight this menace jointly,'" from GulfNews, with thanks to Skeetstreet:

Islamabad : President Pervez Musharraf said yesterday that Pakistan and Britain should stand together to defeat terrorism and abstain from talking against each other as that would weaken the overall cause.

Musharraf, who focused on the ongoing campaign in Pakistan against extremists in the backdrop of recent London bombings, said he would like to send a message to the British leader.

He said Pakistan strongly condemns the recent London bombings and "I don't think that the perpetrators of this act can be called human beings."

He told Blair: "We should stand together in this struggle and fight against terrorism right to the end until we emerge victorious against them and we eliminate them."

The president also conveyed to the British leader his concerns over aspersions in the media being cast on Pakistan.

He said Pakistan certainly had a problem which "we are trying to address very strongly." But he pointed that England too had a problem which needs to be addressed.

He said three of the four suspects in the London bombings were accused to be Pakistanis and the fourth was a Jamaican.

"I really don't know if the aspersion on the three Pakistanis is that they got indoctrinated when they came to Pakistan," Musharraf said, and asked: "Where did the Jamaican get his indoctrination from?"

From the same place the Pakistanis did, of course.

"The other issue I would like to raise is that these three, if they are Pakistanis, they are from Pakistani parentage. They happen to be British nationals; they had been born, bred and educated in Britain."

Musharraf said there were extremist organisations in the UK and mentioned Hizbul Tahreer and Al-Mahajroon. He said these organisation operate with impunity in the UK. "They had the audacity of passing an edict against my life and yet they operate with impunity," Musharraf said, adding that they also gave sermons of hate, anger and violence.

"Therefore I would like to say that there is a lot to be done by Pakistan internally and there is a lot to be done in England also."

Indubitably.

Two Arrested in London Subway, Bus Blasts

More on the jihad in London from AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

LONDON - Police in London have arrested two men in connection with four attacks on three subway trains and a double-decker bus on Thursday, a scene hauntingly similar to deadly explosions set off by four suicide bombers exactly two weeks before. It was an inescapable message that life in London now means living with the threat of terror.

The explosive devices were either faulty or too small to cause bloodshed, and the only reported injury turned out to be an asthma attack. But the lunch-hour blasts rattled a capital already on edge after the July 7 explosions, which killed 52 people and four suicide bombers.

Police said one man was detained near Downing Street, site of the prime minister's residence; the other was picked up near Tottenham Court Road, close to the Warren Street subway station where one attack took place....

Authorities said it was too early to determine whether the attacks were carried out by the same organization as the July 7 blasts - or whether they were linked to al-Qaida.

But NBC News reported that British authorities told their U.S. counterparts that backpacks and explosives used Thursday were identical to those in the July 7 attacks. And the British Broadcasting Corp. reported "speculation" that the devices were so similar they may even have been part of the same batch.

"Clearly, the intention must have been to kill," Police Commissioner Ian Blair told reporters. "You don't do this with any other intention. And I think the important point is that the intention of the terrorists has not been fulfilled."

Police Shoot Man at London Subway Station

The latest from London, a very strange report from AP, with thanks to CGiddensJr:

LONDON - Police in London shot a man wearing a thick coat at a subway station and cordoned off a mosque on Friday, a day after the city was hit by a second wave of terror attacks in two weeks.

Police had no immediate details on the situation at the mosque in east London. But a Muslim leader said it was evacuated following a bomb threat.

The circumstances of the shooting at Stockwell station were not immediately clear, nor was the man's condition. One witness said he was dead.

British Transport Police said the Northern and Victoria Tube lines, which pass through Stockwell, were suspended because of shooting.

Passengers said they saw police pursuing a man who appeared to be of Pakistani or Indian descent. Some said police shot him when he tripped.

But one witness told the British Broadcasting Corp. that police "pushed him onto the floor and unloaded five shots into him."

"He looked like a cornered fox. He looked pertrified," Mark Whitby said, adding that the man appeared to be dead.

Whitby said the man did not appear to be carrying anything but was wearing a thick coat that looked padded.

Another witness said there were at least 20 police officers involved in the chase.

Woops

"Four Taliban killed while laying bomb on highway," from Reuters, with thanks to Skeetstreet:

KABUL: Four suspected Taliban militants were killed in southern Afghanistan early yesterday when a bomb they were attempting to plant on a highway exploded, a provincial governor said.

“Four Taliban who were trying to plant a remote-controlled bomb in the Langar area, by the side of the highway en route to Tirin Kot, blew themselves up,” Uruzgan governor Jan Mohamed said.

“Police discovered the bodies along with four Kalashnikovs,” he said.
The area around Tirin Kot in troubled Uruzgan province has been the scene of frequent attacks by militants who often use crudely made bombs.

Constitution of Iraq Draft Bill of Rights

Below is a particularly telling excerpt. Read the full document here, with thanks to John Derbyshire.

3. Any individual with another nationality (except for Israel) may obtain Iraqi nationality after a period of residency inside the borders of Iraq of not less than ten years for an Arab or twenty years for any other nationality, as long as he has good character and behavior, and has no criminal judgment against him from the Iraqi authorities during the time of his residency on the territory of the Iraqi republic.

4. An Iraqi may have more than one nationality as long as the nationality is not Israeli.

Iraq attacks claim 14 lives

Suicide car bombs are the weapon du jour. Iraq jihad update from IrelandOnline:

Two suicide car-bombings, along with a string of other attacks in and around Baghdad today, have left 14 people dead, police and army officials said.

A suicide car-bomber rammed into an Iraqi army checkpoint south of Baghdad, killing five soldiers in Mahmoudiyah, about 19 miles south of the capital. Several other soldiers were injured, according to army Lieutenant Odai al-Zeiadi.

A second Iraqi army checkpoint in the southern Baghdad suburb of Bueitha was also hit by a suicide car bomber, killing one soldier, al-Zeiadi said. Six other soldiers were injured, he said.

Unidentified gunmen assassinated three members of the Qadisiyah provincial council as they were heading to an internet café in the western neighbourhood of Khadhra, said police 1st Lieutenant Mohammad Al-Hiyali.

In Baghdad’s Shiite enclave of Sadr City, an employee of the Ministry of Trade was killed in a drive-by shooting, said police 1st Lieutenant Talib Naim.

“Salman Lazim Shikara was heading to work when gunmen in a speeding car sprayed him with machine guns inside his car,” Naim said.

Explosives were thrown into the compound of a British security firm in western Yarmouk neighbourhood, killing one Iraqi guard and injuring two others, said police Major Falah Al-Mihamadawi. Witnesses said the armed attackers had driven up in a speeding car.

Meanwhile, a roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi patrol detonated at dawn in Latifiyah, killing three and injuring another three soldiers, said a Babil provincial police spokesman...

Britain seeks suspect linked to Oregon case

More on suspected 7/7 mastermind Aswat. Officials think man sought in the London bombings tried to start a terror camp in Bly. From the Oregonian:

Authorities investigating the London bombings have launched a worldwide manhunt for a man officials believe attempted to set up a terrorist training camp in Southern Oregon.

A law enforcement official told The Oregonian on Wednesday evening that the man, Haroon Rashid Aswat, 31, was one of several people prosecutors had linked to the plans to establish a training camp in Bly, a small town near Klamath Falls. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, cautioned that the purported link between Aswat and the London bombings was far from certain.

Last year, American prosecutors indicted a London-based Muslim cleric, Abu Hamza al-Masri, on charges of conspiring to build an al-Qaida camp in Bly. The law enforcement official said Aswat was the man referred to in court papers as "co-conspirator #3." Aswat was not charged in that case, but the federal official said Wednesday that Aswat is the subject of an ongoing U.S. terrorism investigation. He declined to provide details on that inquiry.

Quoting what it said were 10 officials, The New York Times reported Wednesday that Aswat had emerged as a suspect of intense interest to investigators examining the July 7 London attacks, which killed 56 people and injured more than 700. Klamath County District Attorney Ed Caleb said his office had been told by a federal official that agents were investigating a connection between the Oregon training camp and the London attacks.

It was not clear what specific evidence had prompted Scotland Yard to focus on Aswat as a possible planner of the London attacks. The London Times reported that he had been linked to all four of the bombers through cell phone records...

Musharraf: "wage jihad against extremism"

From AP, "Musharraf Vows to Curb Islamic Extremism" More on the search for al-Masri associate Haroon Rashid Aswat.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - President Gen. Pervez Musharraf appealed to Pakistanis on Thursday to fight extremists in their midst, and officials said they were seeking the former aide of a radical cleric in Britain in connection with the July 7 bombings in London.

Musharraf's nationally televised address came as Britain's ambassador, High Commissioner Mark Lyall Grant, said there have been no arrests in Pakistan related to the July 7 attacks, contradicting reports in recent days by Pakistani authorities that some suspects in the attacks were in detention.

In his hourlong speech, taped before Thursday's explosions in London, Musharraf acknowledged Pakistan had a ``problem'' with militants, amid international concern that Islamic schools here are promoting extremism. But he said Pakistan should not be labeled as lax in the war on terror simply because three suspected suicide bombers were of Pakistani origin, and visited Pakistan in 2004.

``We certainly have a problem here which we are trying to address. England has a problem also,'' Musharraf said, citing homegrown extremist groups in Britain.

``There is a lot to be done by Pakistan,'' said Musharraf, who strongly condemned the deadly July 7 attacks. ``May I suggest there is a lot to be done in England also.''

``Please rise and wage jihad against extremism,'' Musharraf said, invoking the term for holy war that is often used by militants.

The Pakistani intelligence officials said British investigators asked Pakistani authorities to search for Haroon Rashid Aswat, who reportedly had been in close contact with the suicide bombers just before the July 7 attacks, which killed 56 people, including the four attackers.

Aswat, 31, is of Indian origin and may not be in Pakistan, according to two intelligence officials in Islamabad and one in the eastern city of Lahore, all speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media and because of the sensitivity of the inquiry...

No proof bombers Muslims - Bakri

Our old friend Omar Bakri is bubbling over with all kinds of "interesting" observations exposing the Alternate Moral Universe of Islam. We hope the government and the people of Britain are listening. This man means what he says. From the BBC, with thanks to Granny Weatherwax.

Islamic cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed does not believe the London bombers were Muslims, he has told BBC News.

The UK-based Syrian-born preacher said there was no evidence four young Muslim men filmed at a station prior to the attacks were responsible for the bombs.

He condemned "any killing of innocent people here and abroad" but said he would never co-operate with police....

In an interview with BBC News 24, Omar Bakri Mohammed said the government, the public and the Muslim community were all to blame for not doing enough to prevent the 7 July attacks.

And he blamed the tabloid press for "distorting" his views and those of other clerics, including Sheikh Abu Hamza, currently on trial for allegedly soliciting people to murder non-Muslims and inciting racial hatred.

But in another interview, with BBC1's 10 O'clock News, he said there was "no way" he would condemn Osama Bin Laden.

He said: "Why I condemn Osama Bin Laden for? I condemn Tony Blair, I condemn George Bush. I would never condemn Osama Bin Laden or any Muslims."

And he blamed the UK government's "evil foreign policy and the war on terror" for pushing Muslims in "the wrong direction"....

The London-based preacher told BBC News 24 radical Muslims were "part of the solution" not part of the problem, because they were respected by Muslim youths.

By imposing restrictions on radical clerics, the government had reduced their ability to "hold back" young Muslims angry at events in places such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, the Palestinian territories and Kashmir, he said.

He distanced himself from "moderate" Muslims, who he said "cannot hold anyone back".

He added that he would not co-operate with the British police, even to alert them if he knew another terror attack was imminent...

The cleric, who has lived in Britain for 20 years, indicated he would not resist if he were to be deported, saying: "If God destined for me to be deported, or to be imprisoned, nobody can save me."

Timeline of London's latest attacks

This latest attack seems to have been a botched job; however, we will continue keep an eye on developments. Here are the latest news and a timeline on the London attacks from News 24.

Tube passengers' horror after Underground 'incidents'

Fox is reporting no trace of chemical agents found. Police confirm explosions on three subways and a bus. There are reports that only the detonators exploded, not the bombs. A man was lead away from 10 Downing Street by police. University Hospital near Warren St. subway was in lockdown after a suspicious man wearing a sweatshirt with wires sticking from it was spotted. From IrelandOnline:

Terrified Tube passengers were evacuated from trains today as police dealt with “incidents” at three different London Underground stations.

Emergency services were also called to a bus in east London amid reports there was a device on board.

Passengers evacuated from Warren Street Tube station reported seeing smoke in the carriages before the evacuation.

There were also unconfirmed reports of an explosion.

A British Transport Police spokesman said: "One person has received an injury at Warren Street. We cannot confirm what the injury is, how it was received or who serious it is. We are still waiting for more information.”

Sosiane Mohellavi, 35, was travelling from Oxford Circus to Walthamstow when she was evacuated from a train at Warren Street.

“I was sitting in the carriage reading a book and I smelt something burning, like wiring or tyres, and it just got more intense. Suddenly people panicked and started screaming and were walking on each other’s backs trying to get the hell out of there.

“I couldn’t move, I didn’t know what to do, whether to run or not. People ran and left their shoes and belongings when they smelt the burning,” Mr Mohellavi said.

A British Transport Police spokeswoman said Warren Street, Shepherds Bush and Oval stations had all been evacuated.

She said the incidents were “ongoing”.

Underground services were suspended as the alert spread.

London fire brigade said there were reports of smoke coming from Oval station, which crews were investigating.

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: “Emergency services personnel are responding to reports of incidents at three locations on the Underground – the Oval, Warren Street and Shepherd’s Bush.”

Victoria Line passenger Ivan McCracken claimed a traveller’s rucksack had exploded on the Tube outside Warren Street station.

He told Sky News: “I was in a middle carriage and the train was not far short of Warren Street station when suddenly the door between my carriage and the next one burst open and dozens of people started rushing through. Some were falling, there was mass panic.

“It was difficult to get the story from any of them what had happened but when I got to ground level there was an Italian young man comforting an Italian girl who told me he had seen what had happened.

“He said that a man was carrying a rucksack and the rucksack suddenly exploded. It was a minor explosion but enough to blow open the rucksack.

“The man then made an exclamation as if something had gone wrong. At that point everyone rushed from the carriage.”...

Update from Bloomberg:

...One person was injured in the incidents, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair said in an interview aired by Sky News. One device may have exploded while three others failed to go off properly, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported.

``We've just got to react calmly and continue with our business,'' U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair said at a press conference at his Downing Street office. ``We know why these things are done. They're done to frighten people.''

The incidents today occurred simultaneously and at the four points of the compass, in a pattern resembling the July 7 terrorist attacks that killed 56 people. Today, Warren Street, Oval and Shepherds Bush Underground stations and a bus in east London were evacuated. Eyewitnesses told Sky that smoke appeared from a rucksack carried by a passenger in one subway carriage.

``There is nothing to indicate any kind of attack that involves chemicals or anything else,'' said Ian Blair of the police. ``It's broadly conventional. The situation is absolutely at the moment under control.''

The driver of the number 26 bus in Hackney, east London, heard a bang from the upper deck of the vehicle and said the windows were blown out, according to Steve Stewart, a spokesman for Stagecoach Plc, which operates public transport services. The bus is intact and there are no injuries, he said. The BBC said a split backpack was left on the floor of a bus.

``There was a nasty burning rubber smell but no smoke,'' Caroline Russell, who was traveling on the subway at Warren Street, told the BBC in an interview today.

Police also cordoned off University College Hospital in central London today and sent an ``armed response'' unit there, police spokesman Steve Sherwood said in an interview. A memo was distributed to hospital employees indicating a suspect in the Warren Street incident had been spotted nearby, Sky News reported. He was described as being black or Asian wearing a blue shirt with wires protruding from the top, Sky said. The incident there was later ``stood down,'' police said...

3 London Underground Stations Evacuated

A developing story. This from AP:

LONDON - Three London Underground stations were evacuated at midday Thursday following reports of incidents, British Transport Police said. The Fire Brigade was investigating a report of smoke at one station.

Emergency services also were responding to a report of an incident on a bus in east London, police said.

A London Underground spokesman said there were no reports of casualties in the unspecified incidents....

On Thursday, the Warren Street, Shepherds Bush and Oval stations were evacuated. Emergency services personnel were called to the stations, police said.

"People were panicking. But very fortunately the train was only 15 seconds from the station," witness Ivan McCracken told Sky news.

McCracken said he smelled smoke at the Warren Street station, and people were panicking and coming into his carriage. He said he spoke to an Italian man who was comforting a woman after the evacuation.

"He said that a man was carrying a rucksack and the rucksack suddenly exploded. It was a minor explosion but enough to blow open the rucksack," McCracken said.

"The man then made an exclamation as if something had gone wrong. At that point everyone rushed from the carriage."

Update from Bloomberg:

Three London Underground stations were evacuated following unspecified incidents, London police said. In addition, Archway and Moorgate stations were cleared.

``We can confirm that emergency service personnel are responding to reports of incidents at three locations on the London underground system,'' police spokeswoman Kirsten Ross said.

Three Underground lines have been suspended -- the Victoria, Northern and Hammersmith and City lines, the spokeswoman said...

Expect more bloodshed, says defiant Islamic cleric Bakri

At last we hear from the notorious Sheikh Omar Bakri, who has preached jihad and blood in England for quite some time now -- as we have abundantly documented here. A few months ago Bakri and I were interviewed together on a BBC radio show, and he was quite forthright about his desire to institute Sharia -- including the dhimma -- in Britain. This is, in other words, a Muslim spokesman who is much more forthright and honest than most. And that casts a rather ominous shadow over these latest announcements from him.

From the TimesOnline, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

THE radical cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed defied the Government’s clampdown on extremism yesterday by warning on a new website that the July 7 bombings “are not the first and will not be the last”.

As Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, declared that hardline preachers such as Bakri Mohammed, Abu Qatada and Yusuf al-Qaradawi could be deported or excluded from Britain, the site blamed the Government, the British people and moderate Muslims for the atrocities.

The site carried a picture of the wreckage of the No 30 bus in Tavistock Square and condemned the fatwa against suicide bombs signed by 500 imams as “clear blasphemy against Islam”.

It attributed the bombings to al-Qaeda and said that the British people should accept Osama bin Laden’s truce offer “otherwise you will have nobody to blame but yourself for what has and will most probably happen again”.

Websites run by Bakri Mohammed’s followers are monitored and regularly taken down by the authorities but al-Ghurabaa (the strangers) was still online last night.

It was also promoted in an internet chatroom where extremists glorified the London bombs and praised Bakri Mohammed and bin Laden.

Algerian diplomats seized in Iraq

From the BBC:

Two Algerian diplomats in Iraq have been kidnapped in Baghdad, police say.

An Algerian embassy employee confirmed that mission chief Balarousi Ali had been abducted.

Police say the top envoy and a diplomatic aide were seized outside a restaurant in the western Mansour district by attackers in two cars.

The capture follows the abduction and killing earlier this month of Egypt's ambassador-designate in Iraq, which has been claimed by insurgents.

Two days after his kidnapping, gunmen attacked vehicles carrying Pakistani and Bahraini diplomats in Iraq...

Islamic preacher sentenced to only 3 1/2 years over Jakarta bombing

"Man jailed over Jakarta bombing," from the BBC:

The first suspect to face charges over the bombing of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta last year has been sentenced to three and a half years in jail.

Irun Hidayat was found guilty of being an accessory to the attack, in which nine people were killed.

But Mr Hidayat had already been cleared of the most serious charge - helping plan the September 2004 attack.

If found guilty of that charge, he could have faced a death sentence.

The Islamic preacher said he rejected the verdict, and would appeal the decision.

Chief Judge Yohannes Binti said Hidayat was "legally and convincingly" guilty of being an accessory to the embassy bombings, according to the French news agency AFP...

British Seeking Cleric's Top Aide in Connection With July 7 Attack

From the New Duranty Times:

LONDON - The police investigating the terrorist bombings here have begun a worldwide hunt for a former aide to one of Britain's most militant Islamic clerics who they believe may have played a key role in the July 7 attacks, according to British, European and American intelligence and law enforcement officials.

The man, identified as Haroon Rashid Aswat, 31, originally from Dewsbury in north-central England, was a senior aide to Abu Hamza al-Masri, the blind, one-armed militant cleric who preached at the Finsbury Park mosque in north London until his arrest in April 2004. Mr. Masri, who urged young men to wage jihad in Afghanistan, Iraq and beyond, is now facing extradition to the United States to face terrorism-related charges.

Several intelligence and law enforcement officials said they believed that Mr. Aswat was also involved in a plan to set up a training camp for Al Qaeda in Oregon six years ago.

A theory now being pursued by Scotland Yard is that Mr. Aswat provided the four British bombers with support for the coordinated attacks in London's public transportation system, killing 56 people and wounding 700, several senior intelligence and law enforcement officials said Wednesday night.

Those officials declined to say what specifically made them believe that Mr. Aswat was linked to the bombers, all of whom died in the attacks.

One official noted that Mr. Aswat was raised in Dewsbury, the same area where Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, one of the four bombers, lived. On Wednesday, Mr. Aswat's family said he had not lived at the family's home near Dewsbury for 10 years.

Mr. Aswat's whereabouts are unknown, but several senior investigators said they were almost certain that he was not in Britain now.

Officials say he is of Pakistani descent, like three of the four bombers, but his family's neighbors said the family was from Gujarat, India.

"Nobody's tying him in or making him the mastermind yet," a senior American official said. "There's no real substantiation yet. But people are looking at some of his confederates and connections, and saying that it's a possibility."

An American official and two European officials said Mr. Aswat spent several weeks in Bly, Ore., in late 1999 and early 2000, trying to help several associates establish a Qaeda training camp there. Although he was not identified by name in court papers in the Oregon case, several American officials said he was an unindicted co-conspirator in the indictment of James Ujaama, who pleaded guilty to aiding the Taliban. Mr. Ujaama, 39, is now the leading witness in the United States terrorism indictment of Mr. Masri, American officials said...

Several senior European and American officials said it was reported that Mr. Aswat died during an American bombing raid in Afghanistan in late 2001, but investigators now say that he is still alive...

"Oh Allah, Liberate Our Al-Aqsa Mosque... Punish the Occupying Zionists and Their Supporters Among The Corrupt Infidels... Oh Allah, Scatter and Disperse Them"

From Sheikh Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sudayyis' Friday sermon of July 15, 2005 in Mecca, aired on Saudi Arabia's Channel 1. Brought to us by MEMRI:

"With all the violence and bombings that today's world has suffered, and with all the terrorism and destruction which have robbed the world of sleep, which are considered by all intelligent and honorable people as criminal, which are prohibited by all esteemed Muslim scholars, and whose negative effects afflict the Islamic nation – one of the most dangerous wars to afflict the Islamic nation and to cause atrophy and decadence to nations and civilizations is the war against virtue and to promote vice.

"The noble Islamic law deals with all issues. One of the most important issues is protecting women's honor – indeed, defending families, and protecting societies and generations from the flames of vice, from the removal of the veil, from the volcanoes of debauchery, from the storms of evil, from the armies of harlotry, from the voracity of pleasure, and from bestial libertinism.

"The most dangerous weapon which the enemy has raised against us – with which he tore to pieces our established order, and with which he soiled our spiritual and social purity, is the terrible deluge of all manner of vice, which is considered a form of moral terrorism against the values, ideals, and virtues of the Islamic nation.

"[This war is waged] by means of the licentious satellite channels and the vile spiderwebs of the Internet, whose gloom fills the sky with darkness and spreads its stench in all directions, and by means of those hidden computer discs, which are the cauldron of sin, consumed by the old, young, and inexperienced, while fathers, mothers, and educators are heedless and negligent.

"Oh brethren in faith, morning has dawned upon all with eyes to see, without ambiguity or falsehood. It has become clear that the enemies of virtue, the marshals of licentiousness, and the heroes of sexual promiscuous pleasures have a most ill-fated hope and aspiration to export sexual diseases and vice in the form of a plague, which shall crush the fortresses of the Muslims, the fortresses of honor and virtue, and they hope that [Muslims] will abandon the castles of chastity, honor, and virtue, which have been effaced by time, and have become a matter of the past.

"Oh, Allah, heal our sick, have mercy on our dead, release our prisoners, and save our Al-Aqsa Mosque. Oh Allah, liberate our Al-Aqsa Mosque from the defilement of the occupying and brutal Zionists. Oh Allah, make it high and mighty until Judgment Day. Oh Allah, punish the occupying Zionists and their supporters from among the corrupt infidels. Oh Allah, scatter and disperse them, and make an example of them for those who take heed."...

Saudi Forces Find Bomb-Making Materials

From VOA:

Saudi officials say they have discovered large amounts of bomb-making materials in a militant hideout south of Riyadh.

They say the cache included more than 2,000 kilograms of chemicals that could be used in bombs.

News of the discovery came hours after the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh warned Wednesday that it had indications of "operational planning" for terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia. It urged Americans to exercise caution and be vigilant.

The embassy said it did not have specific information about the timing, targets or method of attack...

Are suicide attacks forbidden by religious law?

What is an "occupier"? "Moderate Muslims Split on Suicide Bombings" From AP, with thanks to Skeet Street.

LONDON - The two meetings by Muslim leaders occurred only three days apart, one in Birmingham and one in London. Both condemned the terrorist attacks in the British capital, but they couldn't agree on one key issue: Are suicide attacks forbidden by religious law?

The fact that one group said "yes" and the other group said "not always" could be one reason Muslim radicals sometimes succeed in recruiting disaffected young people as suicide bombers, even in Western democracies such as Britain. Some clerics argue that such strikes can be used against an occupying power — an exception that offers the radicals religious backing for their attacks.

Britain's allegiance with the United States in Iraq has brought that debate home, even as it remains unclear what, precisely, motivated the July 7 London bombers.

"There is a very clear split between what the Islamic leaders said about whether suicide bombing is right or wrong in places such as Palestine, Kashmir or Chechnya," said Lord Nazir Ahmed, a House of Lords legislator and a well-known Muslim moderate in Britain.

The split makes it easier for extremists to take root, Ahmed said in an interview with The Associated Press.

"What happened in London has no justification in Islam," he said. "We have to make that clear in our fight against Muslim radicals."

Britain's largest Sunni Muslim group met in Birmingham on Sunday and issued a binding religious edict, or fatwa, condemning the suicide attacks that killed dozens on three London subway trains and a double-decker bus as the work of a "perverted ideology." The group's governing council said the Quran forbade suicide attacks and called such terrorism a sin that could send the perpetrators to hell.

Three days earlier at the London Central Mosque, 22 imams and scholars also condemned the July 7 attacks and said the four British Muslim suspects should not be considered martyrs because innocent civilians were killed. But the Muslim leaders stopped short of condemning all suicide bombings.

"There should be a clear distinction between the suicide bombing of those who are trying to defend themselves from occupiers, which is something different from those who kill civilians, which is a big crime," said Sayed Mohammed Musawi, the head of the World Islamic League in London.

Underlining the sensitivity of the issue, Musawi's contention that attacks are justified against "occupiers" came only after a spokesman for the leaders read a carefully worded statement condemning the London attacks. Even so, none of the other scholars and imams at the event expressed disagreement with his stance...

Still, the recent reaction by Muslim leaders in Britain about suicide bombings could confuse some Muslims, given the cloudy definition of what constitutes "occupying forces."

Debates rage over whether the suicide bombings that target Westerners in Afghanistan, Russians because of Chechnya and Israelis in response to the occupation of the Gaza Strip and West Bank are permitted by the Quran.

And what about attacks such as those in Iraq that kill civilians and relief workers in an effort to force U.S., British and other foreign forces to withdraw?...

Imam Ibrahim Mogra said he believed the widespread public opposition to the war in Iraq had played a part in the London attacks, which he criticized as murderous and unjustified.

"As Muslims, we feel the pain and suffering of our brothers and sisters around the globe every single day," he said. "It has been a successful recruitment sergeant for people who wish to preach hatred for our country and our government."

'Top' al-Qaeda figure held over London attacks

From TimesOnline with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

ARMED police in Pakistan seized a major al-Qaeda figure yesterday who has suspected close links to the London bombers, The Times has learnt.

The Pakistani, who was among 24 arrested during a series of raids in Lahore and Karachi, was under interrogation last night over the alleged role he played in the terrorist attacks on July 7. “We suspect two or three of the detained [from Lahore] had links with the bombers, but one in particular, who is a major figure in al-Qaeda. We are interrogating them intensively,” one senior Pakistani official told The Times.

The arrests came as a leaked secret report revealed that intelligence chiefs believed three weeks before the London bombings that there were no known terrorist groups with “the current intent and the capability to attack Britain”. The reassurance delivered by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC), based at MI5, led to the lowering of the alert state from “severe general” to “substantial”.

The leaking of the JTAC conclusion to The New York Times placed the Government and its intelligence advisers in an embarrassing position. Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, has already said in public that the decision to lower the terrorist threat alert was wrong...

Profile: Prince Turki al-Faisal

Prince Turki al-Faisal, who is set to become Saudi ambassador to the US, is a former head of foreign intelligence. From the BBC:

Prince Turki has cut his diplomatic teeth as Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the UK and Ireland since January 2003.

He led the Saudi external intelligence service for 24 years until August 2001, when he resigned from the post.

The prince, 60, will be entrusted with maintaining the good relations between Washington and Riyadh built up by his predecessor, Prince Bandar bin Sultan.

Analysts consider Prince Turki to be a skilled diplomat who has successfully steered a difficult course as envoy to London in the period following the 11 September 2001 attacks and the US-led invasion of Iraq.

A member of the Saudi royal family, he has repeatedly defended his country against claims it could do more to tackle the threat posed by al-Qaeda.

During the 1980s he had contact with Osama bin Laden and, in 1998, sought unsuccessfully to have the al-Qaeda chief extradited from Afghanistan to Saudi Arabia.

In December 2004, Prince Turki accepted substantial libel damages and an apology from the magazine Paris Match over claims he himself was linked to the 11 September attacks.

The prince described the allegations as "outrageous" and condemned al-Qaeda as an "evil cult" which the international community must fight to destroy...

Born in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the prince was educated at Princeton, Cambridge and Georgetown.

He is the brother of Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal and son of the late King Faisal...

Former Saudi Spy Chief to Replace Envoy Close to Bush Family

Prince Bandar is replaced. From Bloomberg:

Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, said it plans to appoint former intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal as ambassador to the U.S., the kingdom's first change in the post since Ronald Reagan was president.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry announced today that Prince Bandar bin Sultan resigned as Saudi envoy to Washington for ``private reasons'' after rendering ``outstanding services'' to the Arab country since 1983. Bandar cultivated deep access to the White House, including regular visits to the Bush family homes.

Bandar, who is close to President George Bush, the current president's father, is a former Saudi Air Force officer who became defense attaché, then ambassador, following his involvement in procuring U.S. fighter aircraft in the late 1970s, according to his official embassy biography. He later became the dean of the diplomatic corps in Washington.

Turki, who is ambassador to the U.K., was educated in Washington and has a history of working with the U.S. intelligence community. He will come to the U.S. as the Bush administration attempts to spread democracy in the oil-rich Middle East as a counter-weight to violent Islamist movements...

Terrorists kill Kashmir family

From AlJazeera.Net (not the Qatari television station), "Separatists kill Kashmir family," with thanks to Two Stellas.

Suspected separatist fighters have raided a remote mountainous village in Indian-administered Kashmir and shot to death six men from the same family, police say.

Village elder Akhtar Hussain and five members of his family were shot at point-blank range in the attack in Chittabas village in a thickly forested area 160km north of Jammu, the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir state, said Senior Superintendent of Police Shakil Baig.

"This is the work of terrorists," Baig said. He was referring to the dozen-odd Islamic groups, some Pakistan-based, fighting Indian security forces in the state since 1989 to carve out a separate homeland or merge the Himalayan region with Pakistan.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the slaying.

More than 66,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

Muslim families are directly targeted in Kashmir by fighters when they are suspected of being informers for security forces, officials say.

But civilians form the bulk of those who have died in Kashmir in the past 16 years, killed in crossfire, bombings, and at the hands of both the separatists and security forces, according to human rights groups...

Choudary: Britain to Blame for Bombings

From AP, with thanks to Sr. Soph.

LONDON -- When Prime Minister Tony Blair met with two dozen Muslim religious leaders to discuss a new package of anti-terrorism bills, the radical Islamic firebrand Anjem Choudary was not invited.

The British government has heard enough of his views, spoken from the angry margins of the country's immigrant Muslim community. The extremist group he led, Muhajiroun, had called for creating an Islamic state in Britain and praised suicide attacks in Israel and elsewhere; the group claims it has since disbanded.

But Choudary hasn't stopped espousing the ideas, and his screeds against Blair and British foreign policy open a window into the ideology of Britain's radical Islamic thinkers, in a country known as a center of Muslim immigrant intellectuals of all shades.

In an interview with The Associated Press on the same day Blair met with his moderate co-religionists, Choudary blamed Blair's government and its ''crusader views'' of Muslims for the July 7 suicide bomb attacks against the London subway and a double-decker bus.

He also said the British public shared the blame for ignoring al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden's warning last year that Britain would be attacked if it did not withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. And he lit into Blair's meeting with the moderates...

To avoid a repeat of the attacks, Choudary said, Britain has to heed the warnings.

''Those four individuals who carried out the operation cannot be blamed solely for 7-7,'' said Choudary, a former director of Muhajiroun and now director of the Sharia Court of the United Kingdom and chairman of the Society of Muslim Lawyers. Sharia is Muslim law as derived from the Quran.

''I think ultimately, the British foreign policy -- the occupation of Iraq and the support of the state of Israel -- and the draconian laws which they have introduced over the years in this country -- have a lot to do with why 7-7 took place. And I think one has to wake up and look at the reality,'' Choudary said in the telephone interview.

He said the new proposed legislation was a reflection of the government's ''crusader views, their anti-Islam and anti-Muslim views.''

''When Muslims talk about jihad, suddenly they're cast as terrorists and they're threatened with deportation. I think this is double standards, that's blatant racism, isn't it?'' he said.

He said the secular as well as moderate British Muslims were also to be blamed for the London bombings. ''They've been saying all along that al-Qaida doesn't really exist, there's no such thing as holy war, nobody's going to do it in Britain. Whereas people like us, we were giving the warning.''...

South Carolina: Muslim on FBI watch list enters church service with suspicious package, "message from Allah"

He didn't turn out to have a bomb. "Suspicious Man Stopped At Church Service," from the Carolina Channel, with thanks to The One Who Must Not Be Named and DC Watson:

GREENVILLE -- A man has attracted the attention of the FBI after an incident at a Greenville County church last weekend.

Sheriff's deputies said Iyad Abed Alnazli entered the Redemption World Outreach Center's morning service Sunday, and tried to approach the stage.

"It was a young man of Arabic descent who had come in and said that he had a message for the church and this was a word from Allah." church founder Ron Carpenter said

Security officers met Alnazli before he reached the stage and stopped him.

"He became unraveled. He began to scream vulgarities out," Carpenter said.

When the officers escorted Alnazli from the building, they found he had left a briefcase in the foyer and parked his car in a church worker's spot against the building.

"And our first thoughts were, 'We have someone here who's unstable.' But the concerns grew when he began to talk all of the terrorist language, 'I want to do my job. I want to go back to my homeland," Carpenter said.

Deputies called the bomb squad and the FBI to investigate....

The bomb squad blew up the bag, but found no explosives. The FBI told WYFF News 4 only that it was aware of the incident and would not elaborate, but Carpenter said he was told that Alnazli was on an FBI watch list.

Investigators said Alnazli had recently been treated for mental problems.

Suicide bomber kills 10 recruits in Baghdad

Islamikazes continue to target Iraqi "collaborators" and Sunnis suspended their participation in the writing of the constitution after yesterday's assassination. From MSNBC:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide attacker wearing an explosives belt detonated himself Wednesday outside an army recruiting center in Baghdad, killing at least 10 people, police and army officials said.

The attacker blew himself up at the entrance to the recruiting center, a police officer told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Dr. Muhannad Jawad from Yarmouk Hospital said that 10 people had been killed and 21 injured.

The same recruiting center was subjected to a similar attack on July 10, when 25 people were killed and 47 wounded.

Meantime, four Sunni Arabs on the team charged with writing Iraq’s constitution suspended their membership on Wednesday after the killing of one of their colleagues, a move that could delay the drafting of the landmark charter...

London bomber's uncle defends nephew's 'sacrifice': Report

From ZeeNews, with thanks to Romy.

London, July 17, The uncle of Shahzad Tanweer, one of the four London bomb suspects, has defended his nephew's actions as a desperate "sacrifice" in an interview with the British tabloid newspaper 'The News of thee World'.

"These suicide bombers are desperate people," Bashir Ahmed told the Sunday Paper. "They are not getting their rights. They can see that their brothers are not getting their rights, so they take extreme action."

"This lad has made a name for himself in the world. Muslims call it a sacrifice, the Europeans call him a terrorist," he was quoted as saying.

Tanweer's uncle laid the blame for the rush-hour attacks on London's transport network at the feet of British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W Bush, warning, "there will be more".

Citing US policy in Iraq and the Middle East, as well as its treatment of detainees at the Guantanamo Bay base in Cuba, Ahmed told the paper that western disregard for the rights of Muslims was driving young men to violence.

"Britain and America are saying that they will defeat terrorism. I am saying that terrorism can be finished in one second," he said.

"Why can't Blair and Bush apologise for the way they have abused the human rights of Muslims. They should apologise. They should stop these injustices."...

London mayor defends the use of Palestinian suicide bombers

Moral equivalence from "Red Ken" brought to us by Haaretz, with thanks to Sr. Soph.

Less than two weeks since the London terror attacks, the city's Mayor Ken Livingstone has sparked controversy by defending the use of suicide bombers in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and charging that Israel had indiscriminately slaughtered Palestinians in acts that "border on crimes against humanity."

"Given that the Palestinians don't have jet planes, don't have tanks, they only have their bodies to use as weapons," Livingstone told Sky News in an interview.

"In an unfair balance, that's what people use," said Livingstone, who has often been strongly critical of Israel in the past.

On July 7, more than 50 people died in four London bombings believed to have been carried out by suicide terrorists.

At the time, Livingstone was uncompromising in his condemnation of the terror acts.

Livingstone said that Israel has "done horrendous things which border on crimes against humanity the way they have indiscriminately slaughtered men, women and children in the West Bank and Gaza for decades."

Livingstone also said that he does not distinguish between members of Likud and Hamas, branding them "two sides of the same coin."

"I think it is the Israelis who are leading the stubborn line," said Livingstone. "The Likud and Hamas members are two sides of the same coin. They need each other in order to attract support."

"Each side emphasizes the extremism of the other in order to attract sympathy," Livingstone said...

Egypt Clears El-Nashar of Complicity

An update on the alleged accomplice to the London bombings who conveniently turned up in Egypt. It is not known whether the Egyptian government allowed British investigators to interrogate him or not. Egypt has no extradition treaty with the UK. From Arab News:

CAIRO — Egyptian authorities said yesterday that investigations have proved so far that Magdy El-Nashar had no role in the London bombings. A top official source told Arab News that El-Nashar, a 33-year-old university teacher at Leeds, has no links with either Al-Qaeda or the London blasts.

“He will be released soon after the Ministry of Interior finishes the investigation…it is just a matter of time,” the source added.

The Egyptian Cabinet also confirmed this and said El-Nashar will be released soon.

According to the Ministry of Interior, investigations have revealed that the British authorities mentioned El-Nashar’s name because it was written in bomber Hasib Hussein’s phonebook.

Mahmoud Ismail, one of the lawyers who volunteered to defend El-Nashar, said he won’t be referred to the high state security prosecutor. “According to the law, El-Nashar can be referred to the state security prosecutor only if the Egyptian investigators find evidence of his involvement and this has not happened so far,” said Ismail. “He also can be referred if there is an official request by the British authorities accompanied by evidence,” he said.

Lebanese Cabinet includes Hezbollah member

From AP:

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanon's prime minister-designate announced his new Cabinet on Tuesday, a government dominated by opponents of Syria but including a member of the militant Hezbollah group, which Washington brands a terrorist organization.

The 24-member Cabinet, the first since Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon, omits prominent Christian representation of followers of former Gen. Michel Aoun.

The formation of the new government concludes almost three weeks of political squabbling over key posts. Pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud repeatedly demanded changes in Prime Minister-designate Fuad Saniora's suggested lineups.

Saniora said he was "proud" his Cabinet includes lawmaker Mohammed Fneish from the Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah, which continues to stage guerrilla assaults against Israel in a disputed border area in southern Lebanon.

"I think this is an excellent thing for Hezbollah to have a presence in this government," he said. "This is very natural. They are part of this country and consequently they have a right to have representatives in this government."...

Washington reaction was swift. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said the United States will have no dealings with any Lebanese Cabinet minister who is a member of Hezbollah but that there would be no impediment to working with the entire Lebanese government.

Aoun, the former army commander who returned to Lebanon from 14 years of exile in France, had wanted the Justice portfolio but was refused. It went instead to Lahoud ally Charles Rizk.

Hezbollah's Mohammed Fneish received the power and hydraulic resources ministry, while the militant group's ally, Tarrad Hamadeh, retained the post of labor minister...

Atta's father praises London bombs

Like father, like son. From CNN, with thanks to tombeth:

Speaking to CNN producer Ayman Mohyeldin Tuesday in his apartment in the upper-middle-class Cairo suburb of Giza, Mohamed el-Amir said he would like to see more attacks like the July 7 bombings of three London subway trains and a bus that killed 52 people, plus the four bombers.

Displayed prominently in the apartment were pictures of el-Amir's son, Mohamed Atta, the man who is believed to have piloted American Airlines Flight 11 into the north tower of the World Trade Center as part of the attacks on the United States.

El-Amir said the attacks in the United States and the July 7 attacks in London were the beginning of what would be a 50-year religious war, in which there would be many more fighters like his son.

He declared that terror cells around the world were a "nuclear bomb that has now been activated and is ticking."

The man, who gave his age as "at least 70," said he had no sorrow for what happened in London, and said there was a double standard in the way the world viewed the victims in London and victims in the Islamic world.

Cursing in Arabic, el-Amir also denounced Arab leaders and Muslims who condemned the London attacks as being traitors and non-Muslims.

He passionately vowed that he would do anything within his power to encourage more attacks.

Jihad group threatens war across Europe

3/11 and 7/7 may have been just previews -- indeed, they are certain to be just previews as long as Europe remains in denial about what causes jihad violence. But we will see in a month if these are more empty words, such as we have seen many times before. "Terror Group Threatens War Across Europe," from AP, with thanks to Kasiale:

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - A statement in the name of a group that claimed responsibility for the London bombings threatened Tuesday to launch "a bloody war" on the capitals of European countries that do not remove their troops from Iraq within a month.

"This is the last message we send to the European countries. We are giving you one month for your soldiers to leave the Land of the Two Rivers. Then there will be no other messages, but actions, and the words will be engraved in the heart of Europe," Abu Hafs al Masri Brigades said in a statement.

The "two rivers" in the statement refer to Iraq's Euphrates and Tigris rivers....

The group has no proven track record of attacks, and experts are skeptical of its statements. The organization has claimed responsibility for events in which it clearly did not play any role, such as the 2003 blackouts in the United States and London that resulted from technical problems.

It is an open secret that Islamic fundamentalists traditionally find refuge in Great Britain

"Might-have-been suicide bomber makes revealing confessions to London police," from Pravda, with thanks to Skeetstreet:

The "unsuccessful" suicide bomber, Amir Khan (the man conceals his real name) is 18 years old at the moment. His parents arrived in Great Britain from Pakistan. When the young man was offered to become a suicide bomber, he was 14 or 15 years of age. Amir said that two men approached him one day as he was going to a mosque. "They said that they would show me something interesting and I followed them," Amir Khan said.

Terrorists blast the capital of 2012 Olympics

The young man acknowledged that he followed the men simply out of curiosity. "They offered me to sit down in front of a TV set and played a video tape with the footage of American soldiers killing Afghanis. I was about to throw up. It was horrible and naturalistic footage," said he.

The men told the boy that he could help them take revenge on the killed brothers and sisters. They asked Amir if he had ever thought of committing suicide. The boy only answered that he would often try to understand self-murderers' thoughts. The men continued watching the boy: they would watch Amir praying in the mosque and communicating with his classmates.

Amir believes that he was a perfect person to suit the role of a suicide bomber. "I was young, influence-liable and I never had any problems with the police. There was a hard period in my life, when my father died. They were probably aware of that and tried to use my inner state," said he. The men also told the boy that his heroic act of committing suicide would send him to paradise, where he would stay for eternity.

Amir Khan eventually turned down the suggestion. Some of his friends managed to convince the young man that the venture would not end in anything positive. In addition, the boy was trying to follow his father's example, who was a hardworking, kindhearted man. Amir told the men that it was his life, in which he was making decisions for himself.

Amir Khan said that the two men simply disappeared from his life after his refusal to become a Shakhid bomber. "I was afraid of them, and I was happy when they finally stopped following me," the young man said. "I hope that my story will help the police investigate the events of July 7th," Amir said.

It is an open secret that Islamic fundamentalists traditionally find refuge in Great Britain. The British authorities were certain though, that terrorists would be running their subversive activities anywhere but not in UK. Great Britain is a home for 1.6 million Muslim people, who go to 1,500 mosques to pray and can join approximately the same number of Muslim organizations. However, Britain had to pay a very high price for its politically correct views. British authorities acknowledge that about 3,000 British nationals were trained in Al-Qaeda camps, but only ten percent of them stayed aboard.

Dewsbury-born mufti hates British way of life

While we're hearing about how "Islamic" must never be used to modify the word "terrorism," and that the 7/7 London bombers just "happened to be Muslim" and presumably could just as easily have been Methodists, the British-born Mufti Zubair Dudha is singing a very different tune. But I trust that Sir Iqbal Sacranie will soon set him straight and convince him that he is misunderstanding Islam. (For details on how likely that really is, see here.)

AN ISLAMIC scholar who loathes Western values is advocating “physical jihad” in the Yorkshire home town of one of the London suicide bombers.

While Tony Blair and leaders of Britain’s Muslims were condemning extremism at their Downing Street summit, Mufti Zubair Dudha explained why British foreign policy led directly to the 7/7 atrocities. Mr Dudha, 29, teaches primary school children, teenagers and young adults at his Islamic Tarbiyah academy in Dewsbury.

He condemned the London atrocities and signed the Sunni Muslim fatwa against suicide bombings, but he is also an advocate of jihad. In his foreword to a 1996 translation of a pamphlet by one of his mentors, entitled Jihaad, Mr Dudha wrote: “Today many of us are misled into believing that in our times jihad of the sword is not warranted. Most definitely physical jihad is, and will be needed to a large extent.”

Later he added: “Besides the jihad of the pen and tongue, the Muslim ummah [nation] cannot be exempted from physical jihad. No learned person and no true Muslim can deny the benefits, fruits and blessings of physical jihad for the course of Allah.” One chapter title in the book is: “Preparing for Jihad and obtaining warfare equipment is also compulsory.”

Writings such as these could be declared illegal under the Government’s plans to introduce laws against glorifying or indirectly inciting terrorism. For now they remain legal.

Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, said yesterday that his force has had 19 attempts to prosecute seven “preachers of hate” for incitement to racial hatred rejected by prosecution lawyers.

At his academy in Dewsbury,the town where the Edgware Road bomber Mohammad Sidique Khan lived, the softly-spoken mufti trains young minds to reject Western culture and follow Sharia law. Mr Dudha, who was born in Dewsbury, said that he understood the anger of young Muslims. His mission is “about channelling that anger in the right manner . . . controlling it and giving it the correct guidance”.

US apologizes to Muslim scholar for denying entry

Zaki Badawi update: the British Muslim cleric can come in after all. (Thanks to Skeetstreet for the link.)

This is yet another example of the anti-terror follies I noted some time ago. If they had nothing on Badawi, they shouldn't have flagged him in the first place. If they did, they shouldn't be letting him in now.

But I notice that Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam and Tariq Ramadan, both also barred from the USA, have not received apologies and new visas.

Survey counts 25,000 civilian deaths in Iraq

After a lot of speculation on this number, it's good to finally see some hard facts. Note that of the 25,000 total, only 37%, or approx. 9,250 were caused by coalition forces and of those only 20%, or approx. 1850, were women and children. A far cry from the vague "hundreds of thousands" of civilian casualties we hear bandied about all the time. That is not to say those deaths are not regrettable, however. From CTV:

A British-American advocacy group puts the civilian cost of the Iraq war at about 25,000 lives.

"We were fearful that there would be many lives lost," said John Sloboda of Iraq Body Count and the Oxford Research Project on Tuesday.

About 30 per cent of the casualties occurred in March and April 2003. On May 1, 2003, U.S. President George W. Bush declared major combat operations to be over in Iraq.

But if one looks at the post-invasion period, there were almost twice as many killed in year two (11,351) to year one (6,215).

Here is a breakdown of who's doing the killing:

U.S. and allied forces: 37 per cent
Criminal attacks: 36 per cent
"Unknown agents" attacking non-military targets: 11 per cent
"Anti-occupation" forces: Nine per cent
The two most dangerous places in Iraq are Baghdad, where almost half (11,264) of all deaths occurred and Fallujah, with 1,874 deaths.

Fallujah has been an insurgent stronghold. U.S. forces conducted a major battle there last November.

The most lethal weaponry is explosives, accounting for 53 per cent of all deaths. Of deaths due to explosives, almost two-thirds were due to air strikes.

Children were most affected by air strikes, suffering disproportionate deaths, especially from unexploded ordnance like cluster bomblets.

Women and children account for 20 per cent of civilian deaths.

The number of wounded is estimated at 42,500, with 40 per cent of those occurring during the invasion phase...

Sunnis Drafting Constitution Gunned Down In Iraq

Iraq jihad update from Radio Free Europe:

Prague -- Three Sunni men connected to the Iraqi National Assembly's constitutional drafting committee were gunned down outside a Baghdad restaurant today, RFE/RL's Radio Free Iraq reported.

Gunmen shot and killed Mijbal al-Sheikh Issa, Thamir Husayn al-Ubaydi, and Aziz Ibrahim Ilaywi as they left a restaurant in the Karrada district of the capital.

Issa appears to have joined the committee as part of the 15 Sunni Arabs added to the 71-member committee last month. He was the secretary-general of the Movement for Decision Making [Harakat al-Qarar] and a member of the National Dialogue Council. Al-Ubaydi was a member of a subcommittee of Sunnis advising the drafting committee. Ilaywi, who is reportedly the nephew of Issa, was an informal adviser to the drafting committee.

While no group has yet to claim responsibility for the attack, it is likely that terrorists affiliated with Jordanian terrorist Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi will claim responsibility. Al-Zarqawi's Tanzim Qa'idat Al-Jihad fi Bilad Al-Rafidayn has threatened to kill anyone who associates with the transitional Iraqi government.

Al-Zarqawi has threatened Sunni resistance leaders in Internet statements for entering into talks with the U.S. military on laying down arms and joining the Iraqi political process. He has also leveled threats at Sunni-populated Arab states for forging relations with the Iraqi government. His group has claimed responsibility in recent weeks for an attack on the Bahraini ambassador and the kidnapping and killing of the Egyptian ambassador-designate...

London Bomb suspect visited mom in Cleveland

More on London suicide bomber Jermaine Lindsay's US connections from the Cleveland Plain Dealer, with thanks to JBT.

Jermaine Maurice Lindsay was only about 14 the last time he visited his mother in Cleveland...

Lindsay was born in Jamaica in 1985...His mother later moved to Cleveland without him. Sources close to the investigation said he visited his mother at least once, in 2000, just before or after he converted to Islam.

Lindsay, meanwhile, settled into the United Kingdom after visiting his mother. In recent years, the one-time carpet installer moved to Luton, one of several British enclaves where radical mullahs -- many from Pakistan, where U.S. officials believe al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden has taken refuge -- recruit jihadists.

It was there, according to the Daily Mail, that Lindsay met another Muslim convert, Samantha Lewthwaite. The two married, moved to Aylesbury -- 31 miles north of London -- and in 2004 had a son, Abdullah.

About the same time, Scotland Yard launched Operation Crevice, one of the largest British counterterrorism raids in decades.

Seven hundred police officers fanned out across the country arresting several men -- including British-born men of Pakistani descent -- and seized 1,300 pounds of ammonium nitrate, the kind of fertilizer used by American terrorists to destroy the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City 10 years ago.

Lindsay was connected to the terrorist bomb plot in Britain, according to The Wall Street Journal. The newspaper also reported that Lindsay's name had surfaced in a U.S. money-laundering and terror investigation.

A source familiar with Operation Crevice said Friday that Lindsay's name was added to the U.S. terror watch list last year.

...his wife was eight months pregnant last week when Lindsay headed off to London.

Investigators said Lindsay was one of at least four men to board the Piccadilly Line train at King's Cross. Lindsay's bomb exploded near Russell Square and killed 21 people, the deadliest of the four explosions. In the days since, many have marveled over who the suicide bombers were -- for example, Lindsay, a father expecting a second child; a special-education teacher; and a man who sometimes worked at his parents' fish and chips shop, as much a symbol of everyday England as the queen.

But Steven Emerson -- an independent terrorism analyst who provided information to the White House in the months before and after 9/11 -- said no one should be surprised.

"Suicide bombers don't come with beards and from impoverished backgrounds," he said. "The No. 2 of al-Qaida is a doctor, the head of Hamas is a doctor."

Moreover, many of the 9/11 hijackers were from wealthy, educated Saudi Arabian families.

Emerson said that many have been educated in the United States. His organization -- the Investigative Project -- is assembling a database of terrorists who have studied at American colleges and universities. So far, he said, it has counted 150.

"People say how could anyone be a fanatic in the West. You can have anything you want here. You're free," he said.

The answer is the militant mullahs and their sermons of conspiracy. Almost all they preach, Emerson said, is that the West is out to get Islam.

"There's only a short distance between being a fanatic and being a jihadist," said Emerson, who had long warned of suicide attacks in the West.

"Frankly, I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner," he said.

Pakistan Nabs Terrorists in London Blasts

From AP, "Pakistan Nabs Militants in London Blasts"

LONDON - Police rounded up seven Islamic militants in Pakistan to determine whether the London bombing plot stretched to South Asia and Prime Minister Tony Blair asked British Muslim leaders Tuesday to weed out extremists blamed for radicalizing their young followers.

Investigators are trying to find out whether any militant group or individual provided three of the four London suicide bombers who visited Pakistan last year with training or other assistance in the July 7 bombings aboard three subways and a bus that killed at least 56 people and injured 700.

``We are holding a few militants who are suspected of having links to the London suicide bombers,'' said Tariq Saleem, police chief in the town of Lahore. Officials want to determine whether the ``London bombings have any tentacles in Pakistan, especially in Lahore,'' he said...

On Monday, Shahid Hayyat, deputy director at Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency, told The Associated Press that three of the London suspects traveled to the southern port of Karachi last year - Hasib Hussain, 18, in July 2004, and Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, and Shahzad Tanweer, 22, in November. All three were Britons of Pakistani origin. Hayyat said the purpose of their trip was still unclear but authorities were investigating it.

Pakistani intelligence officials have said Tanweer, born in Britain to Pakistani parents, stayed briefly at a religious school in Lahore. They said Tanweer met Osama Nazir, a Pakistani arrested in November 2004 for helping plan a 2002 grenade attack on an Islamabad church that killed five people, including two Americans. Nazir, a member of the outlawed Jaish-e-Mohammed, told officials he met Tanweer last year in Faisalabad, southwest of Lahore.

Many militant groups maintain clandestine offices in Lahore, near the border with India in eastern Punjab province, and some al-Qaida operatives have been arrested there.

In Britain, the Times of London reported Pakistani authorities know the identity of a British-born man whom London investigators believe may have masterminded the bomb plot.

Al-Qaida organizers around Europe may also have provided organizational help...

Palestinian Civil Strife in Gaza Deepens

From AFX, "12 wounded in Palestinian clashes as protestors demand unity"

GAZA CITY - At least a dozen people have been wounded in the latest outbreak of armed clashes between followers of the governing Fatah faction and members of the radical Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

As internicine fighting raged in the impoverished Jabaliya refugee camp, just east of Gaza City, hundreds of people took to the streets outside the Palestinian parliament in the West Bank to call for national unity and an end to the security chaos in the occupied territories.

Seven of the casualties were members of Fatah, including several members of the security forces. Two Hamas members were also injured along with three civilians who were caught up in the clashes, which first broke out in the early hours and continued into the early afternoon.

Hamas sources said the violence flared when security forces tried to arrest some of their members wanted in connection with the weekend shooting of a Palestinian security officer.

However, security officials said the first shots were fired by Hamas who then targeted Fatah followers.

Palestinian security services have been involved in a growing number of clashes with Gaza-based militants who openly carry weapons in an illustration of a widespread lawlessness in the territory.

Reacting to the latest violence, Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei said that there could be no justification for the clashes.

'There can no be excuse or justification for what has happened today. Palestinian blood is sacred and should not be spilled at the hands of fellow Palestinians,' said Qorei...

Egyptian Islamist Kamal Habib: The Problem Is Not with the Islamic Curricula but with the American Zionist Plan

From MEMRI with thanks to Sr. Soph.

The following are excerpts from an interview with Egyptian Islamist Dr. Kamal Habib, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on July 17, 2005.

Host: Do you deny that in some of our Islamic curricula, some of the lessons call to reject the Other, and use phrases such as: "The Jews and Christians are the eternal enemies of the Muslims"?

Habib: Obviously I cannot deny this, because it appears in the Holy Koran. There are verses in the Holy Koran that refer to the Muslims' position towards non-Muslims, the Jews, for example, in the words of Allah: "You shall find that the most bitter enemies of the believers are the Jews and the Polytheists."

Host: True, but this verse does not incite to kill them.

Habib: Yes, and that's what I want to say. This is not incitement to kill. This verse is related to belief, and not to everyday life. The proof is that Jews, or non-Muslims, have always lived in Islamic countries, and these Islamic countries treated them in the best possible way. For example, the Ottoman state accepted non-Muslims, and so do we in Egypt and other countries. So where does the problem lie? The Jews today... or rather, the Americans... What I want to say is that the curricula are not the problem, nor are the students who graduate after using them. The problem lies in the reality of our life. The problem is that there is a Zionist plan, a plan for a Zionist state, which aims at changing the nature of the region and at turning Muslims into the victims of what was done to the Jews in the West. The same is true of our relations with the Western world. Before the events of 9/11, there was an entire school of Islamic moderation, which talked about tolerance and coexistence with the West. But we were surprised that the West uses the concept of Dar Al-Islam and Dar Al-Harb, but the other way around - in this case, Dar Al-Harb includes all the areas that do not follow the American logic.

Chechnya attack kills 15 people, mainly police

From Reuters:

MOSCOW - Around 15 people were killed and another 20 injured on Tuesday when an armoured police carrier was blown up by rebels in Russia's Chechnya, officials said.

Itar-Tass news agency quoted local Prime Minister Sergei Abramov as saying the dead included 11 policeman and three civilians. A member of the FSB state security service also died...

Moscow has been trying for years to crush a separatist insurgency in mainly Muslim Chechnya. It has most of the region under control, but police and troops still die daily, mainly in Grozny or the remote mountain villages...

"Today a terrorist act was committed ... and as a result people have been killed, people have been injured and people have been seriously injured," said pro-Moscow President Alu Alkhanov in a televised statement.

"Overall, more than 35 people have been harmed. They have been given first aid, and sent to the nearest hospitals."

A Chechen rebel Web site said fighters had fired at the vehicle to attract police, then detonated an explosion to kill them...

Pakistan holds suspected Taliban officials

From Reuters:

ISLAMABAD - Pakistani security forces have arrested some suspected Taliban officials in a raid in northwestern Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, police said on Tuesday.

Pakistani newspaper reports quoted unnamed officials as saying Mawlavi Abdul Kabir -- a deputy of elusive Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar -- was among those arrested, but senior Pakistani officials said they were unable to confirm this.

Police said "a few" suspected Taliban officials were arrested on Saturday night in a raid on an Afghan refugee camp in Akora Khattack, a town around 100 km (60 miles) northwest of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

Pakistan's Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao and Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, contacted by Reuters, said they were unable to confirm that the group included Kabir. A Taliban spokesman said in April that Kabir was the head of the Taliban's political commission, which would make him the number two to Mullah Omar...

Shallah: "I do not condemn the killing of civilians in Netanya"

This story states that "[Ramadan Abdallah] Shallah, former director of the Palestinian think tank founded by Al-Arian at USF, left Tampa in 1995 and emerged later as the commander of the terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Damascus, Syria." Here he is in an interview which aired on Al-Arabiya TV on July 17, 2005 provided to us by MEMRI, with thanks to Sr. Soph.

Shalah: How old was the martyrdom-seeker who carried out the Netanya operation? He was 13 years old. Today he's 18 years old...

Host: You sent a 13-year-old?

Shalah: No. He was 13 when the Intifada started.

Host: How old is he today?

Shalah: 18 years old.

Host: Just a boy, then.

Shalah: Did I send him? Did I force him? They made the decision themselves. He wants to fight. He wants to become a martyr, because the alternative is such a life... You know what is happening in Palestine. Therefore, he believes, and I too believe, that this path of martyrdom is the solution...

Host: ... Will lead him to Paradise.

Shalah: It will lead him to Paradise and replace the hell he's in. We are victims.

Host: But these were civilians.

Shalah: What "civilians"?

Host: ...But against 16-year-old girls who went shopping?

Shalah: Look, some time ago I heard (Muhammad Hassanein) Heikel, who is the most prominent Arab journalist, one of the most important Arab journalists these days, and he said that the distinction between civilians and soldiers in a modern state - a Nation State - is a lie. This civilian uses ballot boxes to bring Sharon to power, and she supports his policy.

Host: They will support Sharon even more now.

Shalah: I don't care. I condemn the killing of civilians in London and New York, by the way, but I do not condemn the killing of civilians in Netanya, because the people in Netanya live on my land, and they are killing me in Tulkarm, Jibalya, and Gaza.

Blair: Muslims to confront 'evil'

From the UK Express:

Prime Minister Tony Blair said that a No 10 meeting of Muslim community leaders had agreed to deal "head-on" with extremism based on a perversion of Islam that can lead to terrorism.

He said there would be a network of people prepared to take on arguments within the Muslim community and confront "this evil ideology and defeat it by the force of reason".

Opposition leaders Michael Howard and Charles Kennedy were also at the talks, along with Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

Mr Kennedy said that setting up a new task force to tackle the issue was to be considered.

Mr Blair said after the meeting, which lasted about an hour: "The meeting revolved around a very strong desire of people from right across the Muslim community in our country to be united, not just in a condemnation of the terrible terrorist attacks here in London but also to confront and deal with head-on the extremism that is based on a perversion of the true faith of Islam but nonetheless is real within parts of our community here in this country.

"nonetheless real" - bravo Tony, you're getting warmer.

"There was a strong desire from everybody there to make sure we establish the right mechanisms for people to be able to go into the community and confront this.

"They will be people who are going to be supported by the rest of us but from the community, able to talk to the Muslim community and confront this evil ideology, take it on and defeat it by the force of reason.

"I think that's the best thing we can do and there was a very strong sense that we needed to come together behind that."

People "supported by the rest of us but from the community." We would really like to see their arguments before you send these folks forth, Mr. Prime Minister. We doubt that you truly appreciate the enormity of the task you have set before them. Good luck.

Shop That Sold Propaganda DVDS.. 'Funded by the Lotto'

News about the Leeds Islamic Bookstore that the 7/7 bombers frequented from the Mirror.

THESE graphic pictures [not shown] are taken from £5-a-time DVDs and videos said to have been viewed by the London bombers before their murder mission.

The Mirror obtained them from a Leeds bookshop - Beeston's Iqra "learning centre" - which has sold hundreds of such stock full of images of dying children and blast victims in Palestine, Afghanistan and India.

And the entire operation was allegedly funded by Government grants and lotto money - right down to the computers on which the propaganda films were produced.

Our copies are titled Hidden Agenda and Think Again - which an insider claims Hasib Hussain, 18, Shehzad Tanweer, 23, Mohammad Siddique Khan, 30, and Jermaine Lindsay, 19, may have watched.

Scenes from Palestine include a boy killed by an Israeli soldier and the infamous image of a man cowering with his son on the West Bank before being killed.

This episode itself is believed to have been produced as a propaganda vehicle. See here.

Anti-terror squad detectives hunting the leaders behind the London bombs are to examine some of the store's computer files. But our investigation reveals other facts.

The men who ran Iqra - Mohammad Tafazal, army-trained Martin Abdullah McDaid and Naveed Fiaz - allegedly funded the store through grants to the Hamara Youth Centre, which received £589,000 in taxpayers' money made up of a £200,000 capital grant, a £200,000 neighbourhood renewal grant and a £189,000 EU building grant.

The trio allegedly expressed hatred of the West and support of Palestinian suicide bombers - and our source claims the videos were used for recruitment at anti-war demos with the fivers supposedly going to a Palestinian children's charity.

Bomber Siddique Khan was a regular companion of Fiaz for several years and the pair even visited our insider's home.

Keys to the "terror base" at 18 Alexandra Grove in Burley, Leeds, were regularly used by "brothers in arms" who came to the store and needed somewhere to stay.

The insider, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, also says McDaid asked for high-security encryption for their computer systems so it would be hard even for Government agencies to access e-mails...

German court frees 'top bin Laden aide'

From the TimesOnline, with thanks to Sr. Soph.

A SUSPECTED al-Qaeda operative was released from jail in Germany yesterday after the country’s highest court blocked his extradition to Spain on a new EU arrest warrant.

The Federal Constitutional Court ruled that Mamoun Darkazanli, a Syrian-German businessman, was entitled to protection under a law which says that German citizens cannot be extradited for trial abroad. The suspect’s basic rights had to be guaranteed, even when the extradition request came from a fellow EU country, the court said.

Mr Darkazanli, 46, was released from custody in Hamburg a few hours later.

The ruling appears to deal a severe blow to pan-European efforts to co-ordinate the fight against terrorism. The whole architecture of the European arrest warrant — a key component in counter-terrorism strategy — was left looking distinctly shaky. An EU Commission spokesman said: “We appeal to Germany to remedy as quickly as possible the deficits in the enabling law.”

Brigitte Zypries, Germany’s Justice Minister, said that she hoped to put forward an amended law within six weeks to allow the extradition to take place.

Spain accuses Mr Darkazanli of being Osama bin Laden’s “permanent interlocutor and assistant” in Europe. Spanish authorities believe that he had close contact with the terrorists who organised the attacks on the Madrid trains on March 11 last year.

Mr Darkazanli is alleged to have been bin Laden’s confidant since 1997 and to have conducted business deals for al-Qaeda in Germany, Spain and Kosovo. He appears in a wedding video with two of the three suicide pilots involved in the September 11 attacks, Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah, who lived and studied in Hamburg along with Mohammed Atta, the leading hijacker...

Monitoring the Muslim Council of Britain

MCB Watch is a new blog out of London dedicated to monitoring the words and actions of the Muslim Council of Britain. Below is an excerpt from this site:

Since its inception, the MCB has also been actively courted by the British Government, who had previously struggled to engage with the Muslim community due to the lack of figureheads or organisations with whom to dialogue. The MCB is proud of its links with government and, post 9/11 and 7/7, these channels of influence are likely to open all the wider.

However, there are also grave problems with the MCB and it is our considered opinion that the time has come for the organisation to be seriously and robustly challenged on a whole range of points. This we will seek to do over the coming weeks and months, drawing on the whole pool of statements, opinions and articles that the MCB has published since its inception eight years ago.

Problem 1

The MCB present themselves as the moderate face of British Islam, yet many of the ideas and doctrines they put forward are actually not that far removed from the radicals. For example, The Quest for Sanity, a book published by the MCB in the aftermath of 9/11, argues in several places for the restoration of the caliphate (= global Muslim state), a similar aim espoused by many radicals. This reduces the MCB’s effectiveness, since it cannot challenge the radicals on ideology or theology, only on methodology.

Problem 2

The MCB consistently engages in sitting on the fence as far as possible when it comes to actually condemning the theology and ideology of the radicals. This not only makes their criticism of the radicals’ methodology look a little hollow, but also results in them appearing to be guilty of double-standards. The most recent example was their failure to actually state that all suicide bombings are un-Islamic, no matter where or when they were carried out.

Problem 3

Within the 300 or so Muslim organisations affiliated to the MCB are many organisations that espouse radical views. The MCB apparently makes no attempt to actually set standards for its affiliates and when challenged on this in the past, has simply ducked the issue. In the next few weeks, we shall shine the light on several examples, including affiliates with extreme Islamist and anti-Semitic leanings. The MCB cannot claim to be moderate whilst lying in bed with radicals.

Problem 4

The MCB consistently refuses to engage in any serious self-critique of Islamic practice or history and this manifests itself in a failure to deal with the theology that drives the radicals. This lack of self-critique also leads to further double-standards. For example, the MCB regularly accuses the West (and especially America) of “colonialist” tendencies in its foreign policy, yet the Muslim world engaged in its own colonial expansion in the seventh and eighth centuries. Furthermore, as David Cook has argued, in the best of the recent scholarly books on jihad, you cannot really hope to challenge the ideology of the radicals properly if you are not prepared to condemn the Islamic conquests with the same force as the Christian churches have repudiated the Crusades.

Problem 5

The MCB’s failure to engage in self-critique spills over into a tendency to engage in ad hominem attacks and its typical methodology is to slander anybody who criticises it or Islam with labels like “Zionist” or “Colonialist” and so forth. Rather than face up to the fact that some critics might have a point and engage in rational debate and argument with them, the MCB regularly takes the path of cheap point scoring. This also extends to its treatment of radical Muslims, whom the MCB often accuse of not being "true Muslims” rather than actually confronting their arguments...

June Report Led Britain to Lower Its Terror Alert

From the New Duranty Times:

LONDON - Less than a month before the London bombings, Britain's top intelligence and law enforcement officials concluded that "at present there is not a group with both the current intent and the capability to attack the U.K.," according to a confidential terror threat assessment report.

The previously undisclosed report was sent to British government agencies, foreign governments and corporations in mid-June, about three weeks before a team of four British suicide bombers mounted their July 7 attack on London's public transportation system.

The assessment by the Joint Terrorist Analysis Center prompted the British government to lower its formal threat assessment one level, from "severe defined" to "substantial." The center includes officials from Britain's top intelligence agencies, as well as its police forces and Customs.

Asked to comment on the document, a senior British official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, "We do not discuss intelligence assessments."

British officials said the reduced threat level had no practical impact on terrorism preventive measures, and the British home secretary said it did not make Britain more vulnerable to attack.

The tersely worded threat assessment was particularly surprising because it stated that terrorist-related activity in Britain was a direct result of violence in Iraq.

"Events in Iraq are continuing to act as motivation and a focus of a range of terrorist related activity in the U.K.," said the report, a copy of which was made available by a foreign intelligence service and was not disputed by four senior British officials who were asked about it...

London Bombers 'met chief plotter' in Karachi

A Pakistani link is becoming clear. From the TimesOnline, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

STARING confidently ahead as he arrives in Pakistan for what is believed to be a rendezvous with the mastermind who plotted the London attacks, one of the bombers, Mohammad Sidique Khan, hands his British passport to immigration officials.

Behind him in the queue of arrivals at Karachi airport is Shehzad Tanweer, 22, who told his family he was heading for a religious school.

Instead intelligence officials discovered the pair were picked up from the airport on November 19 last year and driven to a comfortable hotel in the business district of Karachi where they stayed for a week.

Immigration officials said that the third man from Leeds, Hasib Hussain, 18, had turned up in the same city five months before his colleagues.

Police toured hotels and restuarants with pictures of the men to discover who they met. Investigators are also trying to verify claims that all three slipped into Afghanistan during their trip to plan the attack on the London Underground.

Pakistani authorities have told The Times they know the identity of the British-born mastermind whom the British authorities are desperately trying to track down. “We believe this is where they could have met their mentor,” one Pakistani security source said. “They did not appear to go to where they told their families they were heading, and they have no obvious connection to Karachi, which was the centre of previous al-Qaeda operations.”

The trio avoided the tourist hotels in the city and settled for a three-star guesthouse in the Saddar commercial district, before moving on to Lahore and Faisalabad. Police want to know who paid their hotel bills.

One of the militants arrested by Pakistani police in connection with the London attacks is a suspected bomb-making expert for an outlawed terrorist group. Qari Usman, who has been linked to the plot to assassinate Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani President, in 2003, is alleged to be part of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammad group. Some of its members were in contact with some of the British bombers this year. Mr Musharraf condemned the London bombings as “UnIslamic” and admitted some religious schools had terrorist links....

Mamoun Tamimi: "Blair Will Fall Just Like Aznar"

Palestinian National Council Member Mamoun Tamimi on the London Bombings from MEMRI:

The following are excerpts from an Al-Jazeera television interview on the London bombings, with Palestinian National Council member Mamoun Al-Tamimi...The interview aired on July 12, 2005 on Al-Jazeera TV.

Host: We heard the British Home Secretary say that what happened in London has nothing whatsoever to do with the British policies or Iraq. What do you have to say to him?

Al-Tamimi: "Obviously, he wants to defend himself, because this operation will bring down the government. Blair will fall just like Aznar did. When Spain was attacked, Aznar immediately tried to pin it on ETA and the Basques. Then it turned out that Al-Qaeda was behind the attack, and he immediately lost the elections. Blair will follow Aznar. This is certain. Therefore they want to cover up...

"First of all, they prevented the media from filming the attacks. The attacks were enormous, a thousand times greater than what was reported. Why did they do this? Because of the fear that overcame the British people and government, and because they know that they are paying a steep price for the mess Blair got them into. They understood that this is because they treat the Arabs and Muslims with disdain and spill their blood. They understood that this is war. In war, you hit and get hit. That's the equation. It is just like Albright said when she was asked whether two million Iraqis were killed because of the decade-long siege on Iraq. She responded, 'That's war.'

"Since this war is ongoing, the people you strike have the right to strike back at you, in your home, your country, anywhere. That's the equation."

Host: When Spain suffered a terrorist attack, it immediately withdrew its forces from Iraq...

Al-Tamimi: "As for Britain's humanism, Winston Churchill once said: 'Defend freedom, for it is the reason for our existence.' After Hitler's fall in Germany, Winston Churchill ordered the army and the air force to continue bombing. The bombings continued three weeks after Hitler's fall, and military historians say that the casualties sustained by Germany after Hitler's fall were greater than the casualties from the war. Germany had 25 million casualties, and in Britain there were 18 million dead. In other words, Britain totally annihilated Germany after Hitler's fall...

Al-Tamimi: "Britain caused infinite destruction to the Iraqi people. Now that the political and social map of Iraq has been completed, there will be no civil society there. He said that there was no civil society in the days of Saddam. Is there civil society now in Iraq?!

Al-Tamimi: "I say that people who blow themselves up... There are already dozens of them. If you say that they are cowards, then you are a mental pervert. They love death like that man loves life. Who made them love death? Britain and the U.S. with their actions. And the American and British peoples will pay the price if they don't put an end to these governments."

Fitzgerald: Bomb Mecca?

UPDATE 12/13/05: As we get farther from the controversy over Thomas Tancredo's remarks, this article has been used in some quarters to smear Hugh Fitzgerald and me as supporting the implementation of the actions listed below today. This is not the case. It is important to bear in mind that Hugh Fitzgerald wrote these as a series of alternatives to Tancredo's suggestion of bombing Mecca in the wake of another jihad attack on American soil.

Jihad Watch Board Vice President Hugh Fitzgerald offers some suggestions of what we can do to defend human rights and resist the jihad threat, in the wake of Congressman Tancredo's remarks:

It would have been better to make the following point: during the Cold War, the Soviet rulers knew that if they did certain things, certain things would be done by NATO or the American government. And the knowledge of what might be done, would be done, in return, helped prevent the Soviet rulers from doing what they might otherwise have done.

So it would be helpful to make suggestions as to what would constitute deterrence of a chemical or nuclear attack by Islamic jihadists on American soil. These might include, not destroying Mecca, which would cause maddened Muslims everywhere to attack and kill Infidels -- and the problem with Islam is that it contains many elements of a violent cult that cannot be wished away, or hidden any longer. Are maddened millions or tens of millions or hundreds of millions of inconsolable Muslims, for whom Mecca no longer exists, and so with nothing further to lose, what we wish to bring into being? No. But the idea of discussing possible means of deterrence, not of the determined suicide-bomber, but of all those who have helped to fund mosques and madrasas, or to supply the emotional and financial and intellectual support system (including the continued smooth practitioners of taqiyya-and-kitman in the West), and who can be threatened in all sorts of ways.

More sober discussion of how, for example, points of entry and exit into Mecca, could systematically be reduced in number, or airfields used by pilgrims made unusable, is a different suggestion, one that has many advantages, in that it is an incremental response: first this quadrant is closed off, and now this one, and so on.

It is now clear to Muslims in the West, or to some of them, that their assumption about continued Western appeasement, based on continued misunderstanding of Islam by Infidels was wrong. The EU's foreign policy is still in place, but Bat Ye'or's "Eurabia" is circulating -- even at the highest levels of the Pentagon. Eventually, terror, used as an instrument of Jihad, will alert enough Infidels to the permanent problem of Jihad, of all the instruments of Jihad, including that of demographic conquest and Da’wa, and lead inexorably to an understanding that the Muslims in their midst, allowed in by political elites who were either indifferent, or mesmerized by the Idols of the Age, those unexamined assumptions about how Everyone Wants the Same Thing and All Religions Are Alike. Those Muslims may be "moderate" or "immoderate," and the "moderation" may be real, or feigned, permanent or temporary, immune to, or susceptible to, being jettisoned whenever setbacks or depressive fits or any of the ills that flesh and spirit are heir to, may cause a “moderate” Muslim, or even a “Muslim-for-identification-purposes-only” Muslim, to throw off that “moderation” and morph in Jekyll-into-Hyde fashion, into someone ready to blame the Infidels. There have been quite a few examples of such outwardly “moderate” people changing their beliefs and hence their behavior, as a response not so much to political or geopolitical events, but to personal setbacks, emotional disarray. When the universe is viewed through the prism of Islam, it is the Infidels who always wear black.

Discussion of measures that might truly curb, for example, the Saudi money that pours into the Western world, and funds mosques everywhere, all over that world, and madrasas all over the dar al-Islam, and that is furthermore used to buy an army of hirelings, non-Muslim apologists for islam, should be undertaken – out in the open so that Infidel publics can be made aware of the size of the problem.

Deterrent measures that could be undertaken in the event of a chemical or nuclear attack, but without waiting in some cases for any further attacks (although further attacks will help to justify the more far-reaching among them) might include, but not be limited to:

1) Seizure of Saudi-owned assets in the West, and sale of such assets to pay for the economic damage, including the cost of surveillance and other security measures, that are attributable to Saudi-funded mosques, madrasas, and propaganda all over the world. 2) Seizure of other Arab-owned or Muslim-owned assets in the West, for the same reasons. There need not be any distinction made between property owned by governments and those who are deemed to be enemy nationals -- no such distinction was made during World War II.

3) A complete ban on Muslim migration to the Western world (which needs to be undertaken in any case), and limits put on any contact between Muslims living in the West, who may already have obtained ciizenship and -- unless they are native-born converts -- their countries of origin.

4) Careful review of how citizenship is obtained, and what oaths of loyalty are administered, and if those oaths can possibly have been meant by those whose sole loyalty, by the very tenets of their belief-system, can only be to Islam and the Community of Believers, the umma al-islamiyya.

5) Government-sponsored centers to teach people about Islam outside of universities, which all over the Western world have been infiltrated, or rather captured by, apologists for Islam both Muslim and non-Muslim.

The study of Arabic under teachers whom the Infidel governments will deliberately find among Arabic-speaking non-Muslims, chiefly from those populations most likely not to supply subtle apologists for Islam – Maronites, Copts, disaffected Berbers, Arabic-speaking Jews. A knowledge of Arabic is not required for an understanding of Islam 80% of the world’s Muslims do not speak or read Arabic but have no difficulty knowing what Islam is all about. But it can be of help in studying the history of Jihad-conquest, and certainly it can be of help in debates with Muslims who accuse one of “not understanding Islam without a knowledge of Arabic.” Nonsense, of course, but nonsense more convincingly refused if someone has studied Arabic.

6) War-footing (i.e., Manhattan Project support) for solar and wind and nuclear energy projects, for conservation, and for mass transit, including that such as Amtrak which loses money, but should be cheerfully subsidized by an intelligent government bent, even hellbent, on diminishing OPEC oil revenues.

7) An end to all outward and visible signs of rhetorical "respect" for Islam, including the studied refusal to mention "Islmaic terrorism" or "Muslim terrorism” which has gone on for too long. Use these adjectives; never let them go. Use the word "jihad." Stop all attempts at verbal escamotage, where the listener is left, puzzled, dissatisfied with the deliberate vagueness.

8) End all access to Western education, not only for those Arabs and Muslims studying any kind of science, but in every area. Attempting the hopeless project of "educating them" out of their belief-system will not work. Many terrorists have lived in the West, seen the West, studied in the West, taught in the West. Dr. A. Q. Khan did “research” in the West – and we know the results of that research. Muslims in Western universities are dangerous to Infidel wellbeing, not only because of the women they marry and cause to convert (to the subsequent sorrow of many), but because they are, with the odd exception, likely to conduct Da’wa and promote the geopolitics of Islam. Past masters at taqiyya-and-kitman, they should be regarded as akin to enemy agents, promoting a belief—system that means Infidel political and social arrangements and assumptions no good.

Condemning them to the solitary confinement of dar al-Islam will cause a concentration of minds.

9) End all access to the Western world for the children of the ruling elites all over the Muslim world. Without this escape hatch, those rulers will have to begin to consider how to ameliorate things in their own countries.

10) End the jizyah of Infidel aid to Muslim states, such as Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan, and whatever the latest political instrument of the shock troops of the Jihad against Israel, the "Palestinians," may be called. Call attention to the $10 trillion that has already been recdeived by the Muslim members of OPEC in the last 1/3 century, and continue to advise those Pakistanis, Egyptians, Jordanians and "Palestinians" to ask for that aid no longer from the Infidels, who suddenly have to pay higher prices for oil and hundreds of billions more for security all over the Western world, but to those Arab and Muslim states that, not coincidentally, are receiving those hundreds of billions more in oil revenues each year.

11) Keep the focus clearly on the belief-system of Islam and on Jihad. And after the next small terrorist attack on Infidels -- say, 10 killed - begin to legislate to make sure that some of the measures suggested above become not merely ideas but the law.

12) Clean out the taxpayer-funded government radio and television stations of those who have so misled us about Islam over the past 20-30 years. Begin, possibly, by firing John Simpson, the deeply, even conspiratorially, anti-Israel and islamophilic head of the BBC World Affairs broadcasting, the same John Simpson (a close friend of Peter Hounam, whose conspiracy book about Israel is the kind of thing that antisemites love to flog) who described the Muslim bombers in London as "misguided criminals." That should have been enough to cause his discharge. Why wasn't it? What will it take for the long-suffering British license-payers to demand a change in the BBC coverage and, even before that, iin the personnel in charge of reporting on the Middle East and Islam? This domestic Lord Haw-Haw and Tokyo Rose business, where one need not even bother to turn the dial to Radio Berlin or Radio Tokyo to hear the sly propaganda, has to stop.

These are things that can be done, should be done, long before suggestions about "bombing Mecca" need to be bruited about.

Talk of attacking Mecca, instead of concentrating on more plausible suggestions (which do include limiting easy access to Mecca, something which the Saudis already do in limiting the number of visitors), is not likely to be helpful.

Tancredo: If They Nuke Us, Bomb Mecca

We at Jihad Watch think that there are many other ways to put pressure on jihadists short of this and that these other tactics should be tried first. We hope and pray that Muslims repudiate and renounce jihad ideology before it comes to this. From Fox News:

DENVER — A Colorado congressman told a radio show host that the U.S. could "take out" Islamic holy sites if Muslim fundamentalist terrorists attacked the country with nuclear weapons.

Rep. Tom Tancredo made his remarks Friday on WFLA-AM in Orlando, Fla. His spokesman stressed he was only speaking hypothetically.

Talk show host Pat Campbell asked the Littleton Republican how the country should respond if terrorists struck several U.S. cities with nuclear weapons.

"Well, what if you said something like — if this happens in the United States, and we determine that it is the result of extremist, fundamentalist Muslims, you know, you could take out their holy sites," Tancredo answered.

"You're talking about bombing Mecca," Campbell said.

"Yeah," Tancredo responded.

The congressman later said he was "just throwing out some ideas" and that an "ultimate threat" might have to be met with an "ultimate response."

Spokesman Will Adams said Sunday the four-term congressman doesn't support threatening holy Islamic sites but that Tancredo was grappling with the hypothetical situation of a terrorist strike deadlier than the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

"We have an enemy with no uniform, no state, who looks like you and me and only emerges right before an attack. How do we go after someone like that?" Adams said.

"What is near and dear to them? They're willing to sacrifice everything in this world for the next one. What is the pressure point that would deter them from their murderous impulses?" he said.

Tancredo is known in the House for his tough stand on immigration and had a 100 percent rating last year from the American Conservative Union his votes and positions on issues...

Teacher is identified as 'Mr K' who inspired other suicide-bombers

More on Mohammed Sidique Khan from the Independent:

The Edgware Road bomber had international terrorist connections, helped fund terrorism and may have been an operative in Israel, yet evaded MI5's attention last year because he was considered to be too low-level a criminal.

Mohammed Sidique Khan, 30, had links with an al-Qai'da operative, visited Pakistani religious schools run by terrorist groups and was in Israel in the year that the British Muslims Mohammed Hanif and Omar Khan Sharif arrived to blow up Mike's Place, a jazz bar on the Tel Aviv seafront.

He seems increasingly to be the charismatic "Mr Khan" whose influence the youngest bomber's family voiced fears about in the weeks before the blasts.

Khan was known to Mohammed Junaid Babar, a terrorist in US custody who pleaded guilty last year to providing material support to al-Qa'ida, according to two American intelligence officials. They have said Babar was shown photographs of the four bombers last Thursday and identified Khan as a man he met in Pakistan, from two separate photographs.

The intelligence has not been corroborated by British security services but, if true, would conflict with the initial suggestions that the London bombers were home-grown "clean-skins" completely unknown to security services.

Khan, a one-time primary school teaching assistant from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, killed six other passengers when he triggered the Edgware Road station bomb. The death toll from the four blasts reached 55 at the weekend...

The Israeli secret service, Mossad, is understood to be sharing information with its British counterparts. According to Israeli media, another British-born terrorist, the "shoe-bomber" Richard Reid, also visited Israel on a reconnaissance mission before he tried to blow up an airliner bound for Miami in December 2001. Bashir Ahmed, Shahzad Tanweer's uncle, said Khan "groomed" his nephew in a gymnasium below the Hardy Street mosque near the family's home in Beeston, Leeds. "It was below the mosque and the only adult inside was Khan. At the time, no one had a problem [with that] because he was a respected teacher," he said...

Khan's emergence as a central figure behind the bombings is extraordinary, given the six months he once spent advising youngsters about the perils of drugs, a project that culminated in a brochure on the subject. The project leader said yesterday that Khan had insisted a British flag must be part of the leaflet. "I was born here and I am proud of it," he had said.

The theory that an al-Qa'ida figure known to MI5 may have slipped briefly into Britain to supervise the bombings is becoming increasingly discredited and may be a case of mistaken identity. But Magdi Mahmoud el-Nashar, who was arrested in Cairo on Friday, is still considered important to the investigation.

Dutch Jihadis in Iraq?

An update on this story. The Army Times reports about the soldier hit by a sniper in Iraq who then captured and medically treated the wounded sniper who had just tried to kill him. The sniper has a video rolling and now it seems the jihadi sniper is speaking Dutch with an Moroccan accent. Thanks to Live From Brussels.

What they are saying:

-Allah Ahkbar (x3)...

-Hé hakbar, hebbie uhm geraakt? Did you hit him?

-Yes

Sir Iqbal Sacranie: 'There can never be justification for killing civilians'

But obviously there can be, Sir Iqbal: it not only happened in Britain on July 7, but in Iraq almost daily, in New York on 9/11, in Madrid on 3/11, and on and on. Your words are comforting to jittery Westerners, as are those of many other self-styled Muslim reformers. But what exactly are you doing to convince young Muslims that there can be no such justification? How would you respond to Dr. Hani Al-Siba'i's assertion that in Islamic law there is no concept of civilian in the Western sense -- an assertion that I have seen confirmed in my own studies?

The Independent interviews the Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain (thanks to Sr. Soph):

Sir Iqbal says among Muslims there is still a pervasive sense of "disbelief" the bombings could have taken place at all, including among community workers who knew the culprits. The attacks, he says, were "a major eye-opener" for the community.

"Until now we knew there was this rhetoric, we knew there were pretty high emotions, but we never ever felt that would be translated into such evil and criminal actions," he says. "Whether we were in the dark or a bit naïve, the reality is that it happened. We have to take this situation extremely seriously."

Sir Iqbal said many Muslims were still in denial that their neighbours had carried out the attacks - despite overwhelming evidence. "Nothing is clear about what motivated them," he says.

Oh, Iqbal. Nothing could be clearer. Don't expect us not to have heard of jihad -- even the defensive jihad that the groups who claimed credit for the bombing invoked as their justification.

He said one theory circulating in the bombers' community is that they were doing a dummy-run through the Tube, and explosives were put in their back packs. From his talks in Leeds he had heard that "there is some sort of video at the moment being circulated on the internet. There were various mock trials taking place - a test, people saying 'we just want to try you out'. Then the very same people are brought in and somebody planted bombs in."

Sir Iqbal is adamant that it is incumbent on members of the Muslim community to help the police with their investigation - and report any suspicions about other "criminals" who may be considering violent acts. But he is worried that co-operation is being hampered because law-abiding Muslims are being treated as suspects - not only by the police but by the public.

"We are all being accused and sentenced as if we are criminals," he says. "There are innocent families who have got nothing to do with the act of criminality who have been treated as though there is some criminality in themselves."

There's an easy way to take care of this problem: fight the jihadists instead of the police. Then everyone will know what side you're on.

Sir Iqbal believes Muslim leaders must now do more to foster good relations with the authorities, perhaps through a "third party" mechanism for reporting suspicions, which can then be passed on.

To help build trust, Sir Iqbal convened a caucus of 100 leading Islamic scholars and imams, from throughout the UK on Friday evening to issue a statement unequivocally condemning the attacks. The gathering, the first of its kind since the fatwa was issued against Salman Rushdie, issued a clear message that bombing attacks on civilians does not lead to martyrdom.

The message to the community was clear: "The pursuit of justice for the victims of last week's attacks is an obligation under the faith of Islam."

But there remained a niggling ambiguity, after the press conference, about whether the imams equally condemned British Muslims who mount suicide attacks in Israel or Iraq. After a number of questions, Sir Iqbal issues the clarification that seemed to have been missing before: "The position as far as the council is concerned in terms of any innocents wherever they are in any part of the world - there can never, ever be justification of killing civilians, full stop."

But who exactly is innocent? Who exactly is a civilian? Iqbal, you need to do some more clarifying.

Some Muslims have suggested that Israeli adults can be considered combatants as they may be on a military reserve list. Is he prepared to distance himself from this view? "Israeli innocent civilians are in exactly the same category as innocent Palestinians, as innocent Britishers. They are innocent civilians," he says, without hesitation.

This is not enough. It still allows room for a very narrow definition of what constitutes an "innocent civilian." Please define "innocent civilian."

Sir Iqbal insists that British Muslim scholars have taken a lead in condemning suicide attacks. But he reveals that in the behind-the-scenes discussions before the statement was issued on Friday a distinction was drawn by some between military targets and civilian targets in the Middle East.

"I will tell you where the confusion gets into it. Where there is a war. Where there are soldiers, they try to kill the soldiers." Then he adds, with a hint of frustration: "These sorts of explanations will get us nowhere. What is needed is to bring an end to this crisis."

Sir Iqbal acknowledges that Britain's backing for President George Bush over the Iraq war and lack of action over the conflict in Palestine is fuelling frustration among young Muslim men. The task is to channel anger into legitimate forms of protest, including the ballot box. He wants mosques to inform people about the means of legitimate protest to steer them away from violence.

"There are people who are really opposing the Iraq war - more Britishers than anybody else," he says. "How do they go about it? They don't go about it with bombings. They went into the streets, they went into letter writing, this is what we have been trying to say."

There is no room for diplomacy on one issue, however. "If someone is inciting someone to commit acts of terror," he says, "it is a crime."

Sunnis in Britain Condemn London Bombings

Good. Now let's see some action commensurate with this -- particularly, energetic efforts to root out jihadists from among Muslims in Britain, and to turn them over to the authorities. Oh, and while you're at it, a definitive renunciation of any intention, now or in the future, to turn Britain into a Sharia state would also be welcome -- along with a fatwa denouncing those who wish to do so as non-Muslims, unworthy of help from Muslims.

From AP, with thanks to Judea Pearl:

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) - Ten days after Islamic radicals carried out deadly attacks on the London transport system, Britain's largest Sunni Muslim group on Sunday issued a binding religious edict, a fatwa, condemning the July 7 suicide bombings as the work of a ``perverted ideology.''

The Sunni Council denounced the bombings as anti-Islamic and said the Quran, the Muslim holy book, forbade suicide attacks.

``Who has given anyone the right to kill others? It is a sin. Anyone who commits suicide will be sent to Hell,'' said Mufti Muhammad Gul Rehman Qadri, the council chairman. ``What happened in London can be seen as a sacrilege. It is a sin to take your life or the life of others.''

The council said Muslims should not use ``atrocities being committed in Palestine and Iraq'' to justify attacks such as those in London that killed 55 when suicide bombers struck in three Underground trains and a double-decker bus, the fatwa declared.

``We equally condemn those who may have been behind the masterminding of these acts, those who incited these youths in order to further their own perverted ideology,'' Qadri said.

UK Defense Secretary John Reid: Britain would not have been safer if it stayed out of Afghanistan and Iraq

At last someone sounds a common sense note amid the calls for appeasement. "UK Said at Risk for Backing War on Terror," from AP, with thanks to The One Who Must Not Be Named:

Britain's close alliance with the United States has put it at particular risk of terrorist attack, two leading think tanks said Monday, but a government minister said the nation would not have been safer by staying out of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq....

The Royal Institute of International Affairs and the Economic and Social Research Council said the situation in Iraq had given "a boost to the al-Qaida network's propaganda, recruitment and fund-raising" and provided an ideal training ground for al-Qaida-linked terrorists.

Defense Secretary John Reid, however, argued that terrorism had to be confronted.

"The idea that somehow by running away from the school bully, then the bully will not come after you is a thesis that is known to be completely untrue by every kid in the playground and it is also refuted by every piece of historical evidence that we have," Reid said in a British Broadcasting Corp. radio interview.

Iraq 'made Britain vulnerable'

From News 24:

London - British Prime Minister Tony Blair came under fresh pressure on Monday for supporting the war in Iraq after a respected think-tank linked the invasion to Britain's worst terrorist attack, in which at least 55 people died.

The comments - rejected by the government - came as interior minister Charles Clarke prepared to meet his opposition counterparts to discuss planned anti-terrorism laws, and as the international hunt for clues into who planned the July 7 bombings in London forged on.

The Royal Institute of International Affairs, known as Chatham House, concluded in a report that the war in Iraq gave a "boost" to al-Qaeda and made Britain especially vulnerable to suicide attacks - a theory that clashed with Blair's belief that there is no link with the July 7 bombings.

"There is no doubt that the situation over Iraq has imposed particular difficulties for the UK, and for the wider coalition against terrorism," said the London-based research centre.

"It gave a boost to the al-Qaeda network's propaganda, recruitment and fundraising," Chatham House said, arguing that it also provided an ideal training area for al-Qaeda-linked terrorists and deflected resources that could have gone to help bring suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden to justice.

The report, entitled "Riding Pillion for Tackling Terrorism is a High-risk Policy" heavily criticised the British government's anti-terrorism strategy, accusing it of working shoulder-to-shoulder with the United States as a back seat passenger rather than an equal decision maker...

In Brussels, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw rejected the report's suggestions.

"I'm astonished that Chatham House is now saying that we should not have stood shoulder to shoulder with our long-standing allies in the United States," Straw told reporters before chairing an EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels.

"The time for excuses for terrorism is over," Straw added. "The terrorists have struck across the world, in countries allied with the United States, backing the war in Iraq and in countries which had nothing whatever to do with the war in Iraq."

Straw said this weekend's attack at a beach resort in Turkey also showed that terrorists "will seek any excuse" to strike. "They struck this weekend in Turkey, which was not supporting our action in Iraq," Straw said.

'EU may be ready to help Iran build N-reactors'

From IranMania:

LONDON - European nations negotiating with Iran over its controversial nuclear programme may be ready to help build nuclear reactors and supply them with fuel, Iranian negotiator Hossein Moussavian said.

He told the official IRNA agency that a proposal promised by Britain, France and Germany by August and aimed at resolving the crisis could include such an offer, as well as a several-month delay before Iran's nuclear ambitions are referred to the UN Security Council.

The EU proposal could make or break the lengthy diplomatic process aimed at easing widespread fears Iran is seeking nuclear weapons technology.

In contrast to the United States which suspects Tehran of wanting to build nuclear bombs, the EU-3 is seeking to engage the Islamic state, using a carrot of possible trade and other benefits to persuade it to curb its nuclear plans.

However, the official IRNA agency quoted Moussavian as saying that Iran could resume sensitive uranium enrichment activities if the EU-3 insisted on prolonging a voluntary enrichment suspension currently in effect.

"We will continue negotiations because we are very close to a solution," he said.

"But continuing the suspension under current conditions is not possible, and if the Europeans don't accept this, we will resume (uranium enrichment) activities at Isfahan," a nuclear plant in central Iran, he warned.

Washington accuses Tehran of using a civilian atomic energy programme as a cover for weapons development and seeks a permanent halt to uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing activities that could be used in an arms programme...

Blasts greet tough Thai law in south

From AP via The Standard:

Small bombs injured five people Sunday in continuing violence in Thailand's Muslim-dominated south, as a much-criticized new decree came into effect giving Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra authoritarian powers to fight the ongoing insurgency.

About 900 people have died in drive-by shootings and bombings in the southernmost provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani since January last year, when Muslim separatists launched an insurgency.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej signed the decree into law, authorizing Thaksin to unilaterally declare a state of emergency and implement security measures, said Cabinet Secretary Bowornsak Uwanno.

The decree gives Thaksin the power to impose curfews, ban public gatherings, censor news, close publications, limit travel, detain suspects without charge, confiscate property and tap telephones, among other measures.

The decree was issued after a daring raid Thursday night by suspected Islamic insurgents on the capital of Yala province.

The militants destroyed electrical transformers to black out the city, then set off firebombs and other explosives in commercial areas and fired at security forces before escaping...

Pakistan: All 17 militants killed in gunbattle from Kazakhstan

From China Daily:

The Pakistani military said that 17 militants gunned down near the Afghan border were all from Kazakhstan and included women and teenage youths.

"We now believe the entire group was from Kazakhstan," military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan told AFP on Monday.

He said the authorities recovered four passports and some documents and identity cards which indicated they were Kazakhs.

Troops hunting militants with suspected links to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban killed the 17 in a clash in the rugged border tribal area on Sunday.

The clash broke out two days after US forces in Afghanistan killed 24 suspected Al-Qaeda militants and their Taliban allies on the Pakistani side of the border.

Pakistani troops acting on a tip-off cordoned off a hideout in an isolated complex outside Miranshah, the main town in the semi-autonomous North Waziristan tribal region.

The 17, including women and teenagers, were killed as they tried to break the siege and flee the compound in two vehicles after a shoot-out, Sultan said. One vehicle was knocked out and the other was crippled.

The general said the group included women and youths aged under 20, who also took part in the fighting.

"These guys were all trained fighters," the general said adding that women and young people received training in explosives.

He said local officials and elders had tried for more than two hours to persuade the group to surrender but a gunbattle erupted when they tried to escape in their vehicles.

The women hurled grenades when security forces stopped them, Sultan said.

Troops recovered arms and ammunition, including detonators, explosives and bomb-making instructions. Sixteen locals who had helped the group were arrested...

Spencer: Homegrown Jihadists

Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer in FrontPage this morning:

Ali Al-Timimi was a popular lecturer at the Center for Islamic Information and Education at the Dar al Arqam Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia. But now he has been sentenced to life in prison for calling upon Muslims there after 9/11 to join the Taliban and fight against American troops in Afghanistan. He was a primary inspiration for the “Virginia jihad network” which aided a jihadist group in Pakistan and played paintball in order to train to fight U.S. forces.

According to CNN, Timimi told his hearers that “Islamic history justifies attacks on civilians, that those fighting Americans in Afghanistan would die as martyrs and how to reach a terrorist training camp in Pakistan.”

The London bombings have underscored the necessity to take this kind of language seriously. When people declare war on the United States, we should take their words with the utmost seriousness. Timimi’s prosecutor, Gordon Kromberg, stated: “Al-Timimi hates the US and calls for its destruction. He’s allowed to do that in this country. He’s not allowed to solicit treason, as he did. He deserves every day of the time he will serve.”

Yet Timimi declared himself a “prisoner of conscience.” Mahdi Bray, the executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation and self-styled “country Muslim from Norfolk, Virginia,” was also aghast at Timimi’s sentence: “What he said was perhaps repugnant and inflammatory,” Bray conceded, “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?”

If that was not his intent, what was? Speaking about attacks on civilians, martyrs’ deaths and fighting Americans doesn’t admit of much of a metaphorical interpretation. Would Bray have us believe that Timimi was referring to jihad as a spiritual struggle, and that by the Taliban he meant “holiness” and by the Americans, “sin”? Sometimes words mean just what they appear to mean.

Some of the tendency not to take such talk seriously comes from a general state of denial about jihadist activity in the United States. But Timimi is by no means the first homegrown jihadist. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was identified in the 9/11 Commission Report as the “principal architect of the 9/11 attacks,” studied in the United States for several years, beginning in 1983. He received a degree in mechanical engineering from North Carolina A & T in 1986, and went to Afghanistan the next year to wage jihad against the Soviet Union. When he came to America to study, he had already joined the Muslim Brotherhood, the forefather of the terrorist groups Hamas and Al-Qaeda. Yet if American officials were aware of this at all at the time, they evidently didn’t think it was important enough to merit a denial or revocation of Mohammed’s visa, or close surveillance of his activities.

Nor is Timimi the first American citizen, or the second after John Walker Lindh, to become involved with the jihad. Maher Hawash, the Intel video technology wizard who pled guilty in August 2003 to conspiring to aid the Taliban, was a naturalized American citizen. Another American citizen, former Council on American Islamic Relations communications specialist Randall Todd “Ismail” Royer, is now serving twenty years in prison for his role in the same “Virginia jihad network” with which Timimi was involved. Royer, a St. Louis native and convert to Islam, stockpiled arms and, according to his indictment, planned “to prepare for and engage in violent jihad on behalf of Muslims in Kashmir, Chechnya, the Philippines and other countries and territories, against countries, governments, military forces and peoples that the defendants and their conspirators believed to be enemies of Islam.”

Sahim Alwan is also an American citizen. A leader of the Yemeni community in Lackawanna, New York and onetime president of the mosque there, he has the distinction of being the first American to attend an Al Qaeda training camp. Why did he go? He was convinced to do so by Kamal Derwish, an Al Qaeda recruiter. Alwan explained that Derwish taught him that the Qur’an “says you have to learn how to prepare. Like, you gotta be prepared just in case you do have to go to war. If there is war, then you would have to be called for jihad. And that was the aspect of the camp itself, for going and learn how to use weapons, and stuff like that.”

The London bombings are just the latest indication that such statements should be regarded with the utmost seriousness. Yet most analyses of the bombings and other acts of Islamic terrorism continue to be invested with a curious unreality and unwillingness to take such words at their face value. Jihad, we hear endlessly from Islamic apologists, is a spiritual struggle. Terrorism? It’s in the eye of the beholder, as news talking head Brian Williams reminded us when he recently equated the Founding Fathers with modern-day jihad terrorists. The movement in the universities and the mainstream media to drain the word terrorism of its particular meaning and its application to our enemies is far advanced – and so are its effects. The assault by the ACLU and people like David Cole on the provision of the Patriot Act that allows the FBI to conduct surveillance on individuals and groups who call for jihad could paralyze the agency’s ability to stop these people before they can act.

Bassam Khalaf was fired from his job as a baggage screener at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport on July 7. Airport officials discovered that under the name “Arabic Assassin,” he had recorded a rap CD entitled Terror Alert, on which he described himself as a “crazy, suicidal Arabic ... equipped with bombs” and threatened to hijack a plane on September 11, 2005 and fly it into a building.

A statement on his website says, “I CHOSE THIS NAME BECAUSE IT FITS ME. IM ARABIC AND ILL ASSASSINATE YO A**.” Yet despite the forthright bloodlust in his lyrics, he professed to be bewildered about his firing: “I kept my music and my job separate,” he protested. “What does my music have to do with my job?” About his firing, he said: “I know part of it is racially motivated.”

People often mean what they say. While Khalaf may well turn into the ACLU’s next poster child, there needs to be a thoughtful public debate about whether the United States can still afford the luxury of treating all such cases as freedom of speech or civil rights issues. Khalaf himself is most likely nothing more than a harmless buffoon, but Houston Airport officials would have been foolhardy in the extreme to assume that that was all he was. Khalaf’s activities and associations should be carefully and thoroughly investigated; the time when officials could be reasonably certain that they could without consequences disregard such statements is long past.

If he and others like him are simply ignored, or casually and thoughtlessly granted a license to speak and act freely under the guise of “freedom of speech,” we find to our dismay that one of these homegrown jihadists, like Timimi and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the rest, actually meant what he said.

After Iraq attacks, calls for militias grow

At least 22 Iraqis were killed by four suicide bombs Sunday, a day after more than 90 died in an attack. From the Christian Science Monitor.

BAGHDAD – A devastating blast south of Baghdad, the latest in a series of suicide attacks aimed at undermining Iraq's US-mentored political process, has raised the temperature between Sunni and Shiite political factions and revived dormant questions about the effectiveness of government security forces.

The attack Saturday evening, involving a tanker truck at a gas station near a Shiite mosque, killed more than 90 people and wounded more than 150 in Musayyib, a mixed Sunni-Shiite town 40 miles south of Baghdad. It was the deadliest attack since the elected government took power at the end of April.

And Sunday, four suicide car bombers in Baghdad attacked security patrols and offices of Iraq's electoral commission, killing at least 22 people. On Friday, there were at least seven suicide attacks throughout the country that killed some 30 people. This all came on the heels of last week's suicide bombing that took the lives of some 50 people, including more than two-dozen children.

Shiite parliamentarian Khudayr al-Khuzai called on the government Sunday to "bring back popular militias" to protect vulnerable Shiite communities. "The plans of the interior and defense ministries to impose security in Iraq have failed to stop the terrorists," he told the National Assembly.

The man believed to be responsible for Saturday's explosion apparently detonated himself next to the flammable tanker, triggering a huge blast that severely damaged several buildings as worshipers were headed to the mosque for sunset prayers. Town residents said they believed the truck's driver was an accomplice in the bombing.

An angry crowd blamed policemen for a security lapse, saying that trucks are supposed to be banned from entering Musayyib, which has witnessed several previous suicide attacks this year against Shiite targets. Some of the protesters called the police "agents" of the Sunni-led insurgency, which has attacked Shiite mosques, US troops, Iraqi security forces, and the government.

Following Mr. Khuzai's outraged speech in parliament, other members of the Shiite-led majority bloc said they also wanted militias to help stop such attacks. "We need militias to provide protection," said Saad Jawad Kandil, a member of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), a key party in the Shiite-led alliance that dominates parliament...

UK: Police snipers track al-Qaeda suspects

From the TimesOnline:

UNDERCOVER police sniper squads are tracking as many as a dozen Al-Qaeda suspects because security services fear they could be planning more suicide attacks, writes David Leppard.

The covert armed units are under orders to shoot to kill if surveillance suggests that a terror suspect is carrying a bomb and he refuses to surrender if challenged.

The deployment of the teams in the past week signals the huge “intelligence gap” that has opened up since the London bombings.

Police fear the suspects could be planning a further wave of attacks but do not have enough evidence to arrest them, or place them under the government’s new anti-terror control orders.

Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan police commissioner, warned last week that there was a “very strong possibility” of more terrorist bombings.

Scotland Yard and MI5 say there may be more “bomb factories”. However, officers admit that they have no idea which suspects could be planning the next attacks so they are deploying the sniper squads as an emergency measure...

Egyptian Ministry Denies El-Nashar’s Al-Qaeda Link

An update on London bombing suspect El-Nashar in Egypt from Arab News:

CAIRO — The Egyptian Ministry of Interior said yesterday that Magdy El-Nashar, the 33-year-old chemist, an Egyptian who was arrested in Cairo over the London bombings, had no links with Al-Qaeda. “El-Nashar who was arrested on Thursday has no link with Al-Qaeda; so far we don’t know if he is innocent or not. The British Scotland Yard will attend the investigation within the next 48 hours,” said the Egyptian Minister of Interior, Habib El-Adly.

The postgraduate biochemist, detained in Cairo, yesterday denied any link to the London bombings. “He said he had come back to Egypt for a month-and-a-half holiday and was planning to go back to Britain to resume his studies and that all his belongings are still in his flat in Leeds,” said Mahmoud Al-Fishawi, head of the information department at the Ministry of Interior.

El-Nashar’s doctorate at Leeds, on which he started research in October 2000, focused on the “development of a novel matrix for the immobilization of enzymes for biotechnology”. In a statement issued yesterday, the Judges Club said if Al-Fishawi [Al-Nashar?] is proved to be guilty, they will refuse to let him be tried in England. The Bar Association has already filed a request at the ministry asking for a permission to attend the investigation.

“So far the ministry has not given us a word, but El-Nashar has a right to have someone to defend him,” said Montasser Al-Zayat, who represents the Freedom Committee of the Bar Association.

MI5 judged bomber Khan 'no threat'

From the TimesOnline:

ONE of the four suicide terrorists behind the London bomb attacks was scrutinised by MI5 last year, but was judged not to be a threat to national security, a senior government official said yesterday.

As a result, MI5 failed to put him under surveillance and his plans to become a suicide bomber remained undetected.

Mohammed Sidique Khan, a 30-year-old teaching assistant from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, who killed six other passengers when he blew himself up on a Tube at Edgware Road, was the subject of a routine threat assessment by MI5 officers after his name cropped up during an investigation in 2004.

That inquiry focused on an alleged plot to explode a 600lb truck bomb outside a target in London, thought to be a crowded Soho nightclub.

This weekend, as the death toll from the terrorist attacks rose to 55 and Scotland Yard released the first CCTV image of the four bombers, it emerged that MI5 found out in 2004 that Khan had been visiting a house used by a man who had met one of the suspected truck-bomb plotters. However, MI5 officers subsequently decided that because Khan was only “indirectly linked” to one of the bomb suspects he was not considered a risk. The intelligence service took no further interest in him.

The government official said a “quick assessment” had been made of Khan at the time. Like hundreds of others linked to the inquiry, he was judged to be “on the periphery” of the suspect cell’s network.

“You made quick assessments of them to decide whether or not they were a threat. None of the other people were a threat, including Khan,” the official said.

He conceded that the agency might be accused of being at fault if it turned out that it had overlooked a terrorist suspect. “MI5 is fair game at the moment,” he said. “We’ve only got finite resources. You can only concentrate resources on those people who are a direct threat to national security.”...

Memo lists possible border terror plot

Officials play down plan described in secret FBI bulletin from the Dallas Morning News, with thanks to Skeet Street.

Dirt roads trace pale lines across a desolate landscape of bald peaks and plunging canyons near Texas' Big Bend and bridge the border at dozens of improvised crossings. For decades, these routes have been used to smuggle drugs and humans. Now there is growing concern they could become deadly conduits for terrorism.

The concern is buttressed by a confidential but unclassified FBI intelligence bulletin, obtained by The Dallas Morning News, that contains the vague outlines of a possible terrorist plot.

Officials from both sides of the border played down the possible threat but acknowledged that it is the sort of scenario they have to guard against. The prospect of terrorists crossing the southern border has been a rising concern among officials in Texas and Washington.

The plot, according to uncorroborated information provided by an FBI informant, involves a man, described as an Arab who goes by the nickname "El Español," and Ernesto Zatarín Beliz, also known as El Traca, suspected of being a Mexican drug trafficker and member of the Zetas, the feared enforcers of the notorious Gulf cartel.

"El Español is gathering truck drivers with knowledge of truck routes in the United States and explosive experts" in the state of Coahuila, according to the March 11 memo, which originated in the San Diego FBI office and was made available by a U.S. attorney's office. The informant "believes that the activity in Coahuila, Mexico, is terrorist related."...

"That's been the concern all along, that there would be a bargain struck between al-Qaeda or some [other] terrorist organization and these organized crime networks that would allow terrorists to be smuggled into the country," U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said in an interview. "I think that's a very real concern."

At a hearing Tuesday of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the chairman, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., said: "Given the threat of international terrorism, there is great concern that our land borders could also serve as a channel for international terrorists and weapons of mass destruction. The threat of terrorist penetration is particularly acute along our southern border."...

Man held in Ottawa may be related to London bombings

One of the few stories to use the word "jihad" - "Held without bail in Ottawa prison, this man may help Britain unravel its domestic menace," from the Globe and Mail, with thanks to Srkrishna.

Mohammad Momin Khawaja remains locked up in maximum-security detention at Ottawa's Regional Detention Centre, as he has for more than a year, denied bail as he stands accused of conspiring in a plot to blow up British citizens.

On the face of things, that alleged plot bears a remarkable resemblance to the jihadist strike that killed 53 Londoners on the city's transit system last week. And as investigators in London grapple with how four homegrown lads became suicide bombers, they may well see an important case study in the matter of a 26-year-old Canadian and his alleged British and U.S. cohorts.

Allegations of that previous plot remain a major concern in their own right: Sources say U.S. President George W. Bush brought up Mr. Khawaja when he met Prime Minister Paul Martin at a security summit in Texas during the spring...

He didn't escape attention. Months before he was accused of terrorism, Mr. Khawaja allegedly travelled to Pakistan, where he is said to have become close to an admitted al-Qaeda-linked figure. That 30-year-old man, a Pakistani American named Mohammed Junaid Babar, has pleaded guilty in a New York court to running training camps and procuring ammonium nitrate, an explosive chemical, for al-Qaeda.

"They wanted to, you know, plot or target some targets in the U.K.," Mr. Babar told a judge when he pleaded guilty, without naming names. Now co-operating with police, he said that plot fell apart in "March of '04."

Around that time, as terrorist figures met in Pakistan to fine-tune plans against Britain, Mr. Khawaja allegedly went on to the United Kingdom, where, according to British prosecutors, he met fellow conspirators in an Internet café and talked to them about making bombs. Fears sparked by communications intercepts were made tangible weeks later when Scotland Yard seized a half-tonne of ammonium nitrate from a storage shed.

On that same March day, officers belonging to the RCMP's tactical squad broke down the door of the Khawaja family's two-storey, white-frame home in the Ottawa suburb of Orleans. They briefly detained relatives as they found their suspect at his job: Mr. Khawaja had recently returned from Britain to go back to work fixing computers for Canada's Foreign Affairs Department...

London bomber Khan linked to 2003 Israel attack

An interesting story from Reuters, with thanks to THE ONE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED.

JERUSALEM - Israeli security sources played down a report on Sunday that a key suspect in this month's London bombings is believed to have helped plan a pro-Palestinian suicide attack in Tel Aviv two years ago.

Maariv daily said Mohammad Sidique Khan travelled to the Jewish state in 2003 and that Israeli defence officials suspect he helped two fellow British Muslims carry out a suicide bombing at a beachfront bar that year that killed three people.

British police named Khan, 30, as a member of a cell that killed at least 55 people in the July 7 bombings in the capital.

A senior Israeli security source said the Maariv report, which cited no evidence, was unsubstantiated.

"This is not a concrete finding," the source said.

Israeli officials are under orders from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon not to draw links between the London attacks and Palestinian militants to avoid offending British sensibilities.

What?

After al Qaeda's Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, Sharon was quick to draw parallels to Israel's own struggle against Islamic militants who have spearheaded a Palestinian uprising since 2000.

Hamas, an Islamic movement sworn to Israel's destruction, issued a joint claim of responsibility for the April 2003 attack on the Mike's Place bar along with al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of the dominant Palestinian political faction Fatah.

Asaf Hanif, a Briton of Pakistani descent, blew himself up at the bar, but his comrade Omar Sharif fled after apparently failing to detonate his bomb. Sharif's body was found in the sea a week later. Investigators concluded he had drowned...

Voicing support for the Palestinian revolt, which erupted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2000, is central to al Qaeda methodology.

But Palestinian officials and militants say Osama bin Laden's network has no significant presence in their midst and emphasise the differences between their grievances, goals and methods and those of al Qaeda.

Some Israeli analysts agree, noting doctrinal differences between al Qaeda, which operates internationally and targets moderate Muslims as well as non-Muslims, and Palestinian militants, who have recently limited their attacks to Jews in Israel and Israeli-occupied territories...

So, the difference between al-Qaeda and Hamas is their immediate targets...now we know.

London-based radical salutes bombs 'victory'

Mr. Al-Siba’i recently explained that under Islamic law, there are no civilians. This comes to us from the TimesOnline:

A LONDON-BASED Islamic radical has praised the suicide bomb attacks on the capital.

Hani Al-Siba’i, an Egyptian-born academic, described the attacks that killed at least 55 people as “a great victory” that rubbed the noses of G8 countries in the mud.

His inflammatory comments come as the government is preparing to create a new offence of “glorifying or endorsing” terrorism, such as praising suicide bombers as martyrs.

Al-Siba’i runs the Al-Maqreze Centre for Historical Studies from his home in Hammersmith, west London, and is a well known figure among Muslim radicals in Britain.

According to the FBI, he is also a former leader of the outlawed Egyptian Islamic Jihad organisation, which later became part of Al-Qaeda.

In an interview with the Arabic Al-Jazeera television channel the day after the bombings, Al-Siba’i claimed Tony Blair would “pay the price” for the “grave error” of claiming the attacks were the work of Islamists before the completion of the police investigation.

He claimed the bombings could have been the work of Zionist Americans or another western country hostile to Britain. His comments echo those of other Islamic clerics, several of whom in Pakistan claimed the real perpetrators came from countries unhappy that Britain will host the 2012 Olympics.

Al-Siba’i continued: “If Al-Qaeda indeed carried out this act, it is a great victory for it. It rubbed the noses of the world’s eight most powerful countries in the mud. The victory is a blow to the economy.”

When asked about the killings of civilians by Islamists in Iraq, he denied that victims could be divided into combatants and non-combatants. “The term civilian does not exist in Islamic religious law. There is no such term as civilians in the western sense. People are either of Dar al Harb [literally, house of hostility, meaning any non-Islamic government] or not.”

When contacted yesterday, Al–Siba’i stood by most of his comments, although he said the remarks about the definition of civilians “may have been mistranslated”.

Al-Siba’i is one of a number of Islamist propagandists who may be subject to legal action under new measures being drawn up by the Home Office to curb “preachers of hate”.

The new policy will be put to the test next month if another Muslim scholar, Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, attends a conference in Manchester.

Al-Qaradawi, 79, is banned from America for advocating child suicide bombers in the Middle East, although he has condemned the London bombings. He has reportedly said: “The Israelis might have nuclear bombs but we have the children bomb and these human bombs must continue until liberation.”

Al-Qaradawi, who was born in Egypt and is based in Qatar, was invited to Britain last year by Ken Livingstone, the mayor of London. His visit drew protests from Jewish groups and gay rights organisations.

The Ramadhan Foundation, the Muslim educational institute organising the conference in Manchester on August 7, confirmed Al-Qaradawi was due to attend, if he was fit enough to travel. “He’s the most famous scholar in the Arab world today,” said a spokesman.

Yes, indeed.

For young Muslims in Britain, the call of radicals is strong

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, with thanks to Skeet Street.

LEEDS, England -- In a basement mosque where suspected suicide bombers once prayed, the imam ended worship Thursday with traditional Islamic blessings, then turned to the subject on everyone's mind: "The devil of radicalism is at our doorstep. We must fight it, brothers."

Shahzad Tanweer -- one of the suspected suicide bombers in the July 7 attacks in London -- often filed through the low metal gate surrounding the Stratford Street mosque to pray here. Now, Imam Munir refuses to mention his name, calling him only "one who failed the faith."

Tanweer, 22, sometimes brought his friend, 18-year-old Hasib Hussain, but they began to drift away from the mosque in recent months, the imam said. Tanweer went to Pakistan for two months this year to study Islam. And some mosque members believe that he and Hussain began holding prayer sessions with the third suspected bomber, 30-year-old Mohammed Sidique Khan.

"We can proclaim peace as tolerance all we want," said Mohammad Khan, a Pakistani-born shopkeeper who attended midday prayers at the mosque after walking around police barricades throughout the neighborhood of red-brick row houses in the Beeston section of Leeds.

"But we are fighting something so big. Our young people always hear these calls of martyrdom and jihad in the name of religion. Some follow it, and I'm afraid more will, too," he said.

"I think there was something we could have done to stop them. But what? How do you fight an enemy you can't see; an enemy that resides in people's souls?"

It is in places like this that "the real war on terrorism will be won or lost," said Nadim Shehadi, an Islamic affairs specialist at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London.

"London is the real capital of the Islamic world," Shehadi said. "It's from here where ideas spread. If you can rob terrorism of its intellectual strength in Britain the impact of this will be felt all the way around the world from Chechnya to Uzbekistan, Iraq, Syria and everywhere."

Moderate clerics' appeals to reject radicalism have become a familiar part of the cycle of Muslim denunciations and introspection after attacks from New York to Indonesia to Madrid...

[Prime Minister Blair] set a challenge that passes directly into the hands of moderate Muslim leaders. "We have to find ways to pull up this evil ideology by its roots."

"Yes, everyone agrees the Muslim leaders must be more pro-active in fighting radical thought," said Hanif Malik, head of the main Islamic community center in Beeston, "But it's just empty words when Muslims feel the world is against them. You can say it's not true. I don't believe it's true. But for those who do, the call of the radical side is strong. We all know that this is not over."

So, the world is against them because they murder people and they murder people because the world is against them...

Muslim World League Denies US Claim of Terror Financing

From Arab News, with thanks to Skeet Street.

JEDDAH — The Makkah-based Muslim World League (MWL) yesterday denied US allegations that it was involved in financing terror and said the US claim would tarnish the image of the organization.

The MWL “rejects anything linked to terrorism and is committed to Islam’s stand, which prohibits terrorist acts,” Secretary-General Dr. Abdullah Al-Turki said in a statement.

The 45-year-old league was “one of the first international organizations to exert major efforts to combat terrorism.” Turki said his organization was ready to cooperate with Islamic and international groups in order to “implement joint anti-terror programs.”...

US Treasury Undersecretary Stuart Levey charged Wednesday that wealthy Saudi individuals remain “a significant source” of funds for Islamist militants around the world.

US officials expressed particular concern about three Saudi-run associations that operate around the world — the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO), WAMY and the Muslim World League...

Emphasizing MWL’s efforts for world peace and its humanitarian services, Turki said his organization had received “the Harbinger of Peace” certificate from the United Nations...

Treasury Designates UK's MIRA for Support to Al Qaida

From a US Treasury Department Press Release, with thanks to Sr. Soph.

The U.S Department of the Treasury today designated the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia (MIRA), a U.K.-based Saudi oppositionist organization, for providing material support to al Qaida. MIRA is run by al Qaida-affiliated Saad al-Faqih, who was designated pursuant to E.O. 13224 by the Treasury on December 21, 2004 and is named on the United Nations 1267 Committee consolidated list of terrorists tied to al Qaida, UBL and the Taliban.

"Al-Faqih uses MIRA to facilitate al Qaida's operations," said Stuart Levey, the Treasury's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI). "Designating MIRA will help stem the flow of funds to the organization and put the world on notice of its support for al Qaida."

Under his ideological and operational control, MIRA is the main vehicle al-Faqih uses to propagate support for the al Qaida network. MIRA's 1995 founding statement explicitly states that the organization is not limited to peaceful means in the pursuit of its objectives. According to information available to the U.S. Government, while head of MIRA, al-Faqih assumed the role of the al Qaida spokesperson in London following the arrest of senior Egyptian Islamic Jihad terrorist Yassir al-Sirri in 2001.

Information shows that statements on the MIRA website, including messages from Usama bin Laden and Abu Mus'ab al Zarqawi, are intended to provide ideological and operational support to al Qaida affiliated networks and potential recruits. According to recent information available to the U.S. Government, a senior al Qaida operative in Saudi Arabia sent articles to al-Faqih who then posted them to the MIRA website under the al Qaida operative's pennames.

In 2003, MIRA and Faqih received approximately $1 million in funding through Abdulrahman Alamoudi. According to information available to the U.S. Government, the September 2003 arrest of Alamoudi was a severe blow to al Qaida, as Alamoudi had a close relationship with al Qaida and had raised money for al Qaida in the United States. In a 2004 plea agreement, Alamoudi admitted to his role in an assassination plot targeting the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and is currently serving a 23 year sentence.

Al-Faqih has maintained associations with the al Qaida network since the mid-1990s, including with Khaled al Fawwaz, who acted as UBL's de facto representative in the United Kingdom and was associated with the 1998 East Africa embassy bombings. At the U.S. trial of the East African embassy bombers, prosecutors provided evidence that MIRA and al-Faqih paid for a satellite phone that al Fawwaz passed on to UBL, who allegedly used it to help carry out the attacks.

More on Al-Faqih from IslamOnline:

Dr. Saad Al-Faqih was until leaving Saudi Arabia 1994 consultant Laparoscopic surgeon to the main university hospital in Riyadh and professor of surgery in the Medical College. He had his MBBS from Riyadh 1981 and Followship in Surgey form Royal College of Glasgow on UK 1987.

Dr. Al-Faqih was not known publicly before the gulf war but was known by the Da'wa circles and some elite for activities in that limit. After the Gulf War he and few others formed a small group which became the force behind the famous Letter of Demands in 1991 and Nasiha Memorandum in 1992 and Comittee for Defence of Legitimate Rights (CDLR) in 1993. After the crackdown on this group he was imprisoned by the Saudi authorities. After his release the same group decided that their mission cannot continue without a base outside Saudi Arabia.

And as we know, he found safe haven in London.

Raphael Israeli's warnings went unheeded

"...Over the past decades at least, the British have been warned by many quarters about their overly permissive policy towards sheltering terrorists, which was originally devised and carried out by the same Jack Straw who was then Home Secretary and is now the Foreign Secretary, notably after the Islamist "mouths" and "brains" of the Gama'at in Egypt, who massacred tourists, found shelter in Britain. Now the realization is spreading in Britain that, though it was warned by its own security experts about is complacency, and by other intelligence services of impending attacks, it failed to understand the mechanisms and way of thinking of the Muslim terrorists. The failure is mainly due to successive governments who authorized lax policies, resisted their tightening, and put aggressive data-gathering and analysis low on their scale of priorities....However, the main problem has been the legal protection that Britain offered to terrorist suspects, and which is skillfully exploited by the Islamist networks. Even Islamists who have made statements in support of Bin-Laden, or of toppling Western regimes, were treated leniently by the courts, probably under the mistaken belief that the distance between words of incitement and action was much greater than it actually was. The absurdity of these proceeedings reached the point where courts refused to extradite foreign criminals, who were requested by their governments, for "fear of their lives", and allowed them to endanger the lives of British citizens and British security..."(Islamikaze: Manifestations of Islamic Martyrology, page 402) The following is a letter for the author of this book, Raphael Israeli, to British Prime Minister Tony Blair dated July 14.

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

As with most Israelis, my heart went out to you and the British people during the tragedy that has been inflicted upon innocent civilians in London. I hear many British officials stating their "shock" that the perpetrators were British, and the British public in general expressing their incredulousness that such a home-grown plight could be permitted to develop under the noses of the authorities.

More than two years ago my book entitled Islamikaze: Manifestations of Islamic Martyrology was published and distributed in London (Frank Cass, 2003), identifying the danger very concretely, with the names of its instigators and their deeds, including the young Britons from Leeds who were recruited and sent to Afghanistan to train for exactly this kind of horror. To my knowledge, no one in a position of responsibility heeded those warnings nor did anything about them. The wishful thinking of "peaceful Islam" and the liberal treatment of Muslim murderers who found refuge in Britain, overshadowed all other considerations, and now the British common people are paying this horrendous price.

I was also struck by the announcement by the Chief of the Scotland Yard to the effect that the perpetrators were just "criminals", thus skirting their attributes of "Muslim fundamentalists" or "Islamikaze". Criminals usually take their risks for economic gains which they try to enjoy by surviving and escaping punishment. Islamikaze, by contrast, are ideological murderers, who take risks and even sacrifice themselves for an idea (of Islamic dominion). To call them "suicide bombers" therefore, not only misses the point but may even evoke some sympathy for them and attempts to "understand" why they performed their abominable act.

A new thinking is needed, Mr. Prime Minister, not only by England but also by the rest of Western countries in general if we are all to survive and then overwhelm this relentless wave of Islamic terrorism (no other poor, disadvantaged, "frustrated" etc. group of people has ever launched such a murderous assault on Western culture).

I have put in the mail, and will also channel via your Ambassador in Israel, the relevant pages from my book which have sounded the alarm two years ago, but were unfortunately ignored.

With my deepest respect and sympathy, I remain

Truly Yours,
Raphael Israeli,
Professor of Islamic History
Hebrew University
Jerusalem, ISRAEL

'This is called jihad'

Friends say religion, anger over Iraq drove bomber. From the Winnipeg Sun, with thanks to Anthony.

LEEDS, England -- Shahzad Tanweer, the 22-year-old son of an affluent Pakistani-born businessman, turned to Islam, the religion of his birth, a few years ago.

The transformation was gradual, but then his relentless reading of the Qur'an and daily prayers became almost an obsession, his friends told The Associated Press. He became withdrawn and increasingly angry over the war in Iraq, according to those who knew him best.

The U.S.-led war was what likely drove him to blow himself up on a subway train last week, said his friends.

"He was a Muslim and he had to fight for Islam. This is called jihad," or holy war, said Asif Iqbal, 20, who said he was Tanweer's childhood friend.

Another friend, Adnan Samir, 21, nodded in agreement.

"They're crying over 50 people while 100 people are dying every day in Iraq and Palestine," said Iqbal. "If they are indeed the ones who did it, it's because they believed it was right. They're in heaven.

"Have you ever been inspired in life?" he asked...

Friends Iqbal and Samir claimed ignorance as to how their friend became involved in Islamic militancy and how he became a prey to terrorist recruiters.

"All Muslims are connected," Iqbal said.

Where would Tanweer and his co-activists meet or plan their attacks?

"How do football fans get together and talk about football? It's the same thing," said Iqbal.

Are you ready? Tomorrow you will be in Paradise . . .

What motivates a suicide bomber? Nasra Hassan interviews a young Muslim who survived his intended 'martyrdom' and describes the terrorists' rigorous training. From the UK TimesOnline, with thanks to Cliff May.

...“How did you feel when you heard that you’d been selected for martyrdom?” I asked.

“It’s as if a very high, impenetrable wall separated you from Paradise or Hell,” he said. “Allah has promised one or the other to his creatures. So, by pressing the detonator, you can immediately open the door to Paradise — it is the shortest path to Heaven.”

S was one of 11 children in a middle-class family that, in 1948, had been forced to flee from Majdal to a refugee camp in Gaza, during the Arab-Israeli war that started with the creation of the State of Israel. He joined Hamas in his early teens and became a street activist.

In 1989, he served two terms in Israeli prisons for intifada activity, including attacks on Israeli soldiers. One of his brothers is serving a life sentence in Israel.

I asked S to describe his preparations for the suicide mission. “We were in a constant state of worship,” he said. “We told each other that if the Israelis only knew how joyful we were they would whip us to death! Those were the happiest days of my life.”

“What is the attraction of martyrdom?” I asked.

“The power of the spirit pulls us upward, while the power of material things pulls us downward,” he said. “Someone bent on martyrdom becomes immune to the material pull. Our planner asked, ‘What if the operation fails?’ We told him, ‘In any case, we get to meet the Prophet and his companions, inshallah.’

“We were floating, swimming, in the feeling that we were about to enter eternity. We had no doubts. We made an oath on the Koran, in the presence of Allah — a pledge not to waver. This jihad pledge is called bayt al-ridwan, after the garden in Paradise that is reserved for the prophets and the martyrs. I know that there are other ways to do jihad. But this one is sweet — the sweetest. All martyrdom operations, if done for Allah ’s sake, hurt less than a gnat’s bite!”

S showed me a video that documented the final planning for the operation. In the grainy footage, I saw him and two other young men engaging in a ritualistic dialogue of questions and answers about the glory of martyrdom. S, who was holding a gun, identified himself as a member of al-Qassam, the military wing of Hamas, which is one of two Palestinian Islamist organisations that sponsor suicide bombings. (Islamic Jihad is the other group.) “Tomorrow, we will be martyrs,” he declared, looking straight at the camera. “Only the believers know what this means. I love martyrdom.”

The young men and the planner then knelt and placed their right hands on the Koran. The planner said: “Are you ready? Tomorrow, you will be in Paradise.”...

Egyptians Won't Hand Over Chemist

An update on this story and this one from Fox News, with thanks to THE ONE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED.

CAIRO, Egypt — Egypt is not prepared to hand over to Britain a biochemist detained in connection with the London bombings, security officials said Saturday as British investigators attended interrogation sessions.

Magdy Mahmoud Mustafa el-Nashar, 33, was arrested on Thursday in Cairo after British officials supplied his name to Egyptian authorities. British investigators in the northern town of Leeds reportedly found traces of explosives in the bathtub in his apartment.

An Egyptian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because a final decision has not yet been made, said interrogating el-Nashar was a matter of "sovereignty" and would be carried out on Egyptian soil.

The investigation was ongoing, the official said, adding that there was not enough evidence to prove el-Nashar was involved in the attacks.

Oh, of course, he accidentally left the explosives in the bathtub while he stepped off to Egypt to see the pyramids and somebody came in and stole them, then used them to blow up London. Could have happened to anybody.

Egypt and Britain do not have an extradition treaty, but Egyptian officials have said they are cooperating closely with British and American authorities on terrorism issues, and in el-Nashar's case in particular.

El-Nashar had been teaching at Leeds University and returned to Egypt a week before the bombings targeted London's transport system on July 7, killing 55 people, including four bombers...

Dozens Killed in Iraqi Gas Station Bombing

From AP via Fox News:

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A suicide attacker detonated explosives strapped to his body Saturday at a gas station near a Shiite mosque south of Baghdad, triggering a huge explosion in a fuel tanker and killing at least 54 people, police said.

Eighty-two people were injured.

Police Capt. Muthanna Khaled Ali said the attack occurred in Musayyib, about 40 miles south of Baghdad.

Police and witnesses said the fuel tanker was moving slowly toward the pumps when an attacker ran to it and detonated his explosives. The station is located in the center of town near a cluster of houses, many of whire, the witnesses said.

Gasoline stations in Iraq typically include a number of small businesses selling tea, soft drinks and snacks and often are crowded with people...

Minibus Explosion in Turkey Leaves 5 Dead

Two bombings in Turkey to report. The minibus explosion could have been perpetrated by Kurdish separatists, but the one in Kusadasi, featuring a female suicide bomber, was almost certainly jihad motivated. From AP:

ANKARA, Turkey - A bomb destroyed a minibus Saturday near a popular Aegean Sea beach in western Turkey, killing five people, including tourists from Britain and Ireland, and wounding 13.

The British Foreign Office in London said one British citizen was killed and five others were injured. Separately, a regional governor said an Irish tourist and two Turks were killed in the blast in Kusadasi, 45 miles south of the port city of Izmir.

The Anatolia news agency reported that the device exploded in the lap of a female bomber. A police official in Kusadasi said preliminary evidence pointed to a Turkish female suicide bomber, whose body was torn apart by the force of the bomb. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because superior officers had not granted permission to speak publicly.

However, the deputy governor of Aydin province, Nurdogan Kaya, said the bombing was traced to a package planted on the minibus...

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Lodi cleric, son agree to be deported to Pakistan

From the San Francisco Chronicle, with thanks to Skeet Street.

A Muslim cleric with ties to Lodi men caught up in an FBI terrorism investigation agreed Friday to be deported to his native Pakistan along with his son rather than fight government immigration charges.

Mohammad Adil Khan, 47, and his son, Mohammad Hassan Adil, 19, had been accused of overstaying their visas, and Adil Khan was charged with coming to the United States under false pretenses...

Another Muslim cleric from Lodi embroiled in the FBI probe, Shabbir Ahmed, is fighting deportation.

Federal authorities said little about the deal in which Adil Khan and his son agreed to deportation, other than a statement by San Francisco branch chief counsel Ronald Le Fevre of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

"ICE will not allow foreign nationals to use the United States as a haven for activities that potentially put our nation or other nations at risk,'' Le Fevre said...

Adil Khan has a reputation for being a charismatic speaker and prolific fund-raiser in the Muslim community. He made several visits to the United States in the 1990s to raise money for a madrassa, or religious school, in Pakistan called Jamia Farooqia University, which his father co-founded and where Ahmed was a former student of Adil Khan's...

At one point, however, Adil Khan and Ahmed were both imams at the Lodi Muslim Mosque, where Umer and Hamid Hayat [the accused father-son jihadis] worshiped...

Government lawyers pointed out that the Jamia Farooqia madrassa, where Ahmed taught for 11 years after studying under Adil Khan, had produced a number of students who went to Afghanistan to fight against the Soviet occupation and later on behalf of the fundamentalist Taliban.

Ahmed said he had been too preoccupied with his studies to have any interest in going to Afghanistan. But he acknowledged that Adil Khan had, for a time, been a close friend of a Taliban leader.

Incidents intensify hospital vigilance

An update on a story we posted in May on suspicious activity in and around New Jersey hospitals. From the New Jersey Star-Ledger with thanks to Lysistrata.

New Jersey hospitals are on heightened alert, authorities acknowledged yesterday, as the result of several suspicious incidents involving people trying to enter hospitals under false pretenses.

Bulletins have been issued by the New Jersey Office of Counter-Terrorism, in addition to other law enforcement agencies, telling hospitals to be vigilant. However, authorities stressed there has been no specific threat of terrorism against New Jersey hospitals.

"It could mean nothing or it could be pre-operational surveillance," said Sydney Caspersen, director of the New Jersey Office of Counter-Terrorism.

One of the incidents occurred July 7 at Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, where two individuals were seen in a hospital parking lot carrying badges and talking about possibly passing themselves off as inspectors.

In another incident on July 1, an individual called the admissions office at Robert Wood Johnson at Rahway, saying he was doing a telephone survey for the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the nation's leading standard-setting body in healthcare. The admitting clerk told the caller she was aware the commission did not do phone surveys and the caller quickly hung up, according to Barbara Jones, hospital spokeswoman...

Iranian Leader Sees British Hand in London Blasts

Alternate universe Islamic logic coming to us from AFP, with thanks to Skeet Street.

TEHRAN — A leading Iranian religious leader and politician charged in a nationally broadcast sermon yesterday that there was a British hand in last week’s deadly London bombings. Ahmad Jannati, who chairs the powerful Guardians Council, which vets all legislation and candidates for public office, said the British government benefited from the bombings and was the key suspect, whether directly or through its “child” Al-Qaeda.

“One hypothesis is that Al-Qaeda is behind these events, but Al-Qaeda is (US President George W.) Bush and (British Prime Minister Tony) Blair,” Jannati charged. “Who created Al-Qaeda? It’s you who ought to be put on trial. Al-Qaeda is your illegitimate child,” he said, addressing the two leaders.

“The other possibility is that the British government itself created this situation, just like on Sept. 11, 2001, when we discussed the responsibility of the Americans.

“To understand who is behind these events, you need to look at who profits from them. It’s the Americans who profited from Sept. 11 and today it’s the British who are profiting from these attacks. They say that it’s to fight terrorism that they have to go to Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere, and that’s how they justify their presence in those countries."...

Meanwhile, the pressure on Iran to free jailed dissident Akbar Ganji is growing with each day of his hunger strike, but the hard-line judiciary insists it is not going to release every prisoner just because he goes without food. Ganji, who has been on hunger strike for 35 days, hinted in a recent letter that he is dying...

UK Muslims in a "bit of denial"

From Gulf News, "Militancy 'will take time to cure'," with thanks to Skeet Street. One wonders how much longer it will be. Isn't 1350 years long enough?

Leeds - Eradicating extremism will take time, a senior Islamic leader said yesterday as local Islamic figures joined in condemning violence.

"There is no short fix to the problem. The problem is a big one," said Khurshid Drabu, part of a delegation from the Muslim Council of Britain, which visited the hometown of two of the suspected London bombers.

"Christians can murder. Jews can rob. No one from these faiths could say these acts of criminality could be justified by their faiths."

A true statement sir, but is it also true about Muslims? Do they not continually justify these heinous crimes by quoting the Qur'an chapter and verse?

Britain's most senior policeman called on the country's Muslim community yesterday to end its "denial" about extremists in its midst and to engage actively in the fight against terrorism.

Muslim leaders have expressed shock that four British-born Muslims were the perpetrators London attacks that killed 54.

But Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair said in London Muslims could do more to help find those plotting further atrocities. "We have a moment now... we can engage with the community and move them from what could be described as a bit of denial into active engagement,"" Blair told BBC TV.

Pakistan: Two held for planning to attack mosque

From Gulf News, with thanks to Skeet Street.

Karachi - Police arrested two youth outside the US Consulate in Karachi yesterday following a terror alert that suicide bombers planned to attack a Shiite mosque, officials said.

The two suspects Asim and Nasir Ali tried to dodge a police picket metres away from the consulate, but their car was stopped by security personnel.

"We did not find any explosives in the car, but these boys had automatic weapons," said a police official on the condition of anonymity.

"They were being interrogated by the police for their possible links with the extremist groups," he said.

Earlier, security forces went on red alert following an intelligence tip-off that a car packed with explosives was on its way to attack a Shiite mosque in the Defence Housing Authority or Clifton neighbourhood.

The car of the young men carried the same registration number which were circulated by the intelligence officials. However, no explosives were found in that car.

Islamist extremists, furious over their government's support to the US- led war on terrorism, have carried out a spate of attacks targeting western concerns, government officials and the religious minorities...

UAE Scholar Says London Bombers Infidels

Suicide bombers are inhibiting the spread of Islam by "turning people against us," so according to Mr.Al-Mazruhi, they must be infidels. Once again, this denunciation does not stem from the essential immorality of the bombings. From the Arab News, with thanks to Skeet Street.

ABU DHABI — A prominent UAE scholar denounced yesterday as infidels Muslims who carry out attacks against innocent civilians around the world, including the perpetrators of the London blasts.

“Do these people not see the results of their actions? They have turned people against us ... and made them link the name of Islam with terrorism,” Sheikh Hamdan Musallam Al-Mazruhi said in his Friday sermon.

“Therefore we should say it out loud that whoever kills innocent people ... is not a Muslim and Islam is innocent of him ... We are astonished at those people who justify these acts and see them as jihad in the name of God and declare themselves an authority for Muslims,” he said. “Those who do that are infidels,” he said.

The scholar said “Islam is a religion of mercy and peace.” “How does it help Islam, when the blood of civilians is shed around the world, like in Iraq, Afghanistan, New York, Madrid, Bali, Casablanca, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and lately in London at the hands of those killers and criminals ... who are falsely linked to Islam,” he said.

“How does it help Islam when a Muslim man representing his country’s embassy is executed like what happened to Egypt’s ambassador in Iraq,” he said. “How does it help Islam, when journalists, workers, truck drivers and medics are kidnapped and then shown in the media while being slaughtered like sheep,” he said.

Posted at 1:45 PM | Comments (11)

Iraq-Bound Fighters Training in Syria

From Arab News, "Syria Training Iraq-Bound Fighters: Jordan Officials," with thanks to Skeet Street.

AMMAN — Muslim militants are increasingly using Syria as a clandestine haven for fighters heading to Iraq, Jordanian officials said yesterday, adding that they had no proof the Damascus government condoned such activities. Security officials in US ally Jordan said interrogations of 12 Jordanian fighters arrested this year had revealed links with Syrian Islamists promoting jihad (holy war) in Iraq.

“We are finding that many of these people are getting help from Syrian radicals who are helping them to undergo training and (get) financing and even equipment like explosives detonators they smuggle back to Jordan or use in Iraq,” said one official.

Officials and security sources say they have no evidence the networks were operating with the consent of Syria’s secular Baathist government, which battled Sunni Muslim radicals in the 1980s and has cracked down on similar groups in recent months. Damascus has repeatedly denied US charges that it allows militants battling US forces in Iraq to use its territory as a staging ground.

The Jordanian officials say young Arab fighters in Iraq were developing strong bonds among each other that helped them recruit more fighters in their countries of origin. “They meet in Iraq and those who return home cement their ties with their associates in other Arab countries and draw others back to Iraq,” one security official said...

Iraqi PM arrives in Tehran on official visit

The lilies are in bloom and rapprochement is in the air. From Xinhuanet:

TEHRAN -- Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari arrived here Saturday for a three-day official visit, the first of such kind since former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003.

Jaafari, leading a large delegation, will hold talks with top Iranian officials on economic and political cooperation between the two neighbors...

Neighbors, isn't that nice. First a military cooperation agreement, what could be next, borrowing a cup of sugar?

The official IRNA news agency reported that Jaafari is scheduled to hold talks with President Mohammad Khatami and Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi during his three-day visit.

During Jaafari's historical visit, several agreements will be expectantly inked by the two sides to promote bilateral cooperation in different fields...

Bomb suspect may have Cleveland tie

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer, with thanks to JBT.

One of the suspects in the London bombings may have had a Cleveland connection.

Lindsey Germaine, a Jamaican-born Briton believed to have been involved in one of the subway blasts last week, visited the Cleveland area several times when his mother lived here, NBC News reported Thursday, citing law enforcement sources.

The NBC report said an active FBI investigation is under way in Cleveland. Contacted Thursday, Cleveland FBI spokesman Robert Hawk and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Craig Morford and Thomas Getz would not comment on any investigation or on reports of a local connection.

Germaine had lived in Aylesbury, northwest of London, for seven weeks. Neighbors described him as stocky, medium height, and with short, curly hair, the Guardian newspaper of London said.

The spellings of his names are unclear - reports also have identified him as Jermaine Lindsey and Lindsey Germail...

From a jihadi's viewpoint in Iraq

Via Instapundit comes this corking good story from Trey Jackson, "No Coverage of Soldier Capturing his would be Murderer and saving his life!"

Listen to the video.

CAIR condemns terror!

And I feel the same way about this condemnation as I do about MPAC's: words are cheap, let's see some action. "Muslim Group Speaks Out Against Terror," from the Tampa Tribune, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

TAMPA - A national Muslim organization is offering a 30- second public service announcement to TV stations, an effort to denounce terrorism after the July 7 attacks in London. With local network affiliates hedging on whether they will air the spot, Bay area viewers may not see it.

Ahmed Bedier, spokesman for Central Florida's Council on American-Islamic Relations, distributed the video to local stations Friday at the Islamic Society of Tampa Bay Area's mosque.

In the video, American Muslims - a man and two women - talk about terrorists, each speaking a few words:

``We reject anyone - of any faith - who commits such brutal acts and will not allow our faith to be hijacked by criminals. Islam is not about hatred and violence. It's about peace and justice.''

Bedier said the message would go a long way toward helping people understand the Bay area's Muslim community, estimated at 30,000.

The spot's release quickly became a topic on MSNBC and other network news reports, but national network representatives have not committed to airing it free as a PSA, said Ibrahim Hooper, a CAIR spokesman in Washington....

``This is one way, a concrete way, to demonstrate our rejection of terrorism,'' Hooper said. ``The decision was made immediately after the attacks. We were casting about to answer this question: whether we have done enough to condemn terrorism.''

There is some sentiment that an ad is not enough.

Lola Walter, of Brandon, wrote a letter to the Tribune after the London attacks, questioning the lack of Muslims' outrage. She said Friday that swift grass-roots action from the international Muslim community would resonate more than a TV spot.

``Arabs, Muslims worldwide should take to the streets and condemn the jihadists, the extremists,'' Walter said. ``We have a right to see that. I don't think a simple declaration of disapproval is a strong enough position.''

Muslim Scholars Condemn London Attack, but....

...not suicide attacks in general. In Israel and Iraq they're ok -- which indicates that their problem with them in London is just tactical, not moral. From AP, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

LONDON (AP) -- Muslim leaders and scholars condemned the London bombings Friday but stopped short of criticizing all suicide attacks, with some of them saying those targeting occupying forces are sometimes justified.

The 22 imams and scholars meeting at London's largest mosque said in a joint statement that the perpetrators of the subway blasts had violated the Quran by killing innocent civilians and that no one should consider them martyrs.

In a later press conference, the conferees were repeatedly asked if they also condemn suicide bombings in countries such as Iraq and Israel.

''There should be a clear distinction between the suicide bombing of those who are trying to defend themselves from occupiers, which is something different from those who kill civilians, which is a big crime,'' said Sayed Mohammed Musawi, the head of the World Islamic League in London.

''The media in the West are mixing the difference between these two, and the result is that some of our Muslim youth are becoming more frustrated and they think that both are the same, even though Muslim law forbids killing any innocent lives,'' Musawi said.

All the leaders at the news conference appeared to agree with Musawi.

Aryan Nations: "Islam is our ally, and the 1500 cults all claiming to be 'Christian' are our opposition"

America's homegrown terrorists, the Aryan Nations, have allied themselves with the Islamic jihadists.

I don't want to link to their vile website, but here are excerpts from the statement that is on their front page now:

There has been a little misunderstanding as to what our perspective is as far as an alliance with Islamic Jihadeen, and our own Phinehas Priests. There are some out there who would like to imply that we are now an Islamic Fundamentalist Organization, and this is erroneous, our Organization is not for the support of any religion, however based on the history of the Aryan Nations, the rules and conduct are based on Biblical Law, and the general views of the bulk of this organization is the acceptance of Aryan Messianic Identity, or other forms of what is called “Christian Identity” in most circles....

Further, seeing the errors of the past, we have taken this approach with alliances to Islamic adherents, because we find their standards of morality to be nearly analogous to our own, and their resolve to uproot and destroy the fallen tree of the Garden, the satanic “jew”, to also be analogous to our own desires and devotion. In this sense, Islam is our ally, and the 1500 cults all claiming to be “Christian” are our opposition, as they have chosen to worship the image [jews] of the beast [satan] as prophesied within the Holy Scriptures for the non-elect, the condemned of Yahweh, the rejects of Israel. Islam has not been dishonored as much by “jew”ish incursion, therefore Islamic Jihadeen have safeguarded the purity of the very instinct for self preservation for which we hold the most vociferous esteem.

Note the disassociation from the name "Christian" and denial that they are a "Christian" group. Yet in a week, or a month, someone will mention this group to me again as an example of "Christian extremism," as if the existence of such a thing somehow justifies the Islamic jihad. This shows how increasingly divorced from reality is such moral equivalence.

Explosive found in London bombing

...in the apartment of the NC State grad student. Was more jihad to come to London? From UPI, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

British police say a powerful explosive has been found in an apartment in the English town of Leeds as the investigation into the London bombings expands.

Investigators told CNN the explosive TATP (triacetone triperoxide) was discovered in an apartment rented by Magdy el-Nashar, an Egyptian biochemist who has been detained by Egyptian officials in Cairo in connection with last week's London terror attacks....

TATP is a common explosive used by terrorists. But CNN said it was not immediately clear whether the same explosive found in el-Nashar's apartment was used in the London transit system attacks.

Los Angeles robbery suspects had "jihadist literature"

This is looking increasingly like a very, very lucky find. An update on this story. "2 Men's Ties to Group of Extremists Investigated," from the LA Times, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Counterterrorism officials are investigating the possibility that two men recently arrested in a string of South Bay gas station robberies may have been part of a local group of extremists with ties to prison or street gangs, local and federal law enforcement authorities said Thursday.

Although there is no evidence of a specific terrorist plot, law enforcement officials say materials recovered at the South Los Angeles apartment of one robbery suspect, Levar Haney Washington, 25, suggest that an attack might have been planned at any of nearly two dozen addresses, including National Guard recruiting facilities, two synagogues and a building believed to be the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles.

During an extensive search of Washington's apartment last week, authorities said they found no explosives or bomb-making materials, but did recover some bulletproof vests and undisclosed "jihadist" materials not readily available via the Internet or other public sources, as well as the list of addresses that appeared to be unlikely targets for a simple robbery.

Washington, a Rollin' 60s gang member who was convicted in Orange County in 1999 of assault with a deadly weapon, robbery and belonging to a street gang, converted to Islam in prison. His alleged accomplice, Gregory Vernon Patterson, 21, who has no criminal record, is believed to be a more recent convert....

Raising investigators' suspicions was their discovery that Patterson, until recently, worked at a duty-free gift shop at Los Angeles International Airport's Tom Bradley International Terminal, where another possible target on the list, El Al Israel Airlines, has its ticket counter.

Patterson, who worked at the airport shop for about six months, left the job early this year. Sources said there was no evidence that he was at the airport to survey it as a possible target.

Instead, they said they are investigating his time at LAX because the airport has long been known as a terrorist target and the El Al ticket counter was the site of a July 4, 2002, rampage in which an Egyptian immigrant shot and killed two bystanders.

A week after the FBI confirmed that its Joint Terrorism Task Force was investigating the two Muslim converts for possible links to extremism, authorities emphasized Thursday that the fast-moving investigation was still in its early stages.

At the same time, several sources said there is a possibility that others could be arrested in the case. Unlike the ongoing federal investigation in Lodi, Calif., where authorities suspect at least two individuals supported terrorism by attending overseas training camps, the probe of Washington and Patterson is specifically aimed at determining whether they were involved in plotting a terrorist act, law enforcement officials said.

Last week, Torrance police arrested Washington and Patterson in connection with a string of gas station robberies from May 30 to July 3. The arrests occurred during a stakeout by detectives, and subsequently led to a search of Washington's apartment on West 27th Street.

There, authorities said, they discovered what was described as "jihadist" literature, as well as documents with the addresses of numerous sites, including National Guard locations and the "Consulate of Zion." Authorities surmise that is a reference to Israel's consulate in Los Angeles, since the list allegedly found in Washington's apartment was of Southern California locations.

U.S. forces kill 24 militants in Pakistan

From Reuters:

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan - U.S. forces based in Afghanistan killed 24 suspected Islamist militants inside Pakistan after coming under rocket fire from across the border that killed an Afghan soldier, officials said on Friday.

The fighters, believed to belong to Taliban and al Qaeda forces, were killed late on Thursday near Lowara Mandi, a border village in the North Waziristan tribal region, Pakistani military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan said.

"They are foreigners and suspected Taliban. They could be Afghans and people of Central Asian origin."

Pakistani paramilitary forces in North Waziristan said the militants had fired missiles at a base for U.S. and Afghan forces across the border.

"The coalition forces returned fire using rockets and heavy weapons," a paramilitary official told Reuters.

A witness said he saw U.S. helicopters engaged in the attack, while Pakistan's private Geo Television said the fighters were killed by a missile.

A Pakistani intelligence official said Pakistani forces had arrested seven suspects after the clash...

Five Car Bombs Target U.S., Iraqi Troops

Iraq jihad update from AP:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Five car bombs targeted American and Iraqi troops across Baghdad Friday, killing as many as 20 people, and the military said two U.S. Marines had been killed the day before by a roadside bomb near the Jordanian border.

In the deadliest attack, a suicide car bomber hit an Iraqi army base in the Shaab neighborhood of northern Baghdad, killing eight Iraqis, including civilians and security personnel, Maj. Khazim al-Tamimi said.

Two Iraqi soldiers died and six were wounded when a suicide attacker detonated a car bomb near an Iraqi patrol in Andalus Square in central Baghdad, Col. Salman Abdul Karim said.

A car bomb also exploded near a U.S. convoy in the Rustamiyah area of southeastern Baghdad, wounding two Americans, the U.S. military said.

Two Iraqi soldiers were killed and 14 people wounded in a suicide car bombing at the former Defense Ministry building in northern Baghdad, Iraqi officials said.

Another car bomb exploded in eastern Baghdad, wounding six people, including a U.S. soldier, police said.

A U.S. military statement put the overall death toll at 20 but gave no breakdown by attack. Al-Qaida's wing in Iraq claimed responsibility in Internet statements for the attacks in Rustamiyah and Andalus Square, but the authenticity of the claims could not be confirmed...

The two Marines assigned to the Regimental Combat Team 2 of the 2nd Marine Division were killed Thursday when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb near Trebil along Iraq's border with Jordan, the U.S. military said Friday...

Earlier Friday, mortar shells exploded near the headquarters of an Iraqi commando battalion in the Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah of north Baghdad, police said. Three mortars also fell across the Tigris River in the Shiite district Kazimiyah, police added. No casualties or damage were reported in those blasts.

Al-Qaida in Iraq also claimed responsibility for a largely unsuccessful suicide attack Thursday near the Green Zone entrance. The area is home to the U.S. Embassy and major Iraqi government offices...

UK police head to Cairo after detention of scientist

Uk Police are seeking to question former NC State grad student and Leeds chemistry teacher in Egypt. From the Financial Times:

The announcement on Friday of the arrest of an Egyptian scientist in connection with last week's bombings in London has added a fresh international dimension to the inquiry into the attacks.

The UK police said on Friday night that the British domestic security service MI5 was liaising closely with Egyptian intelligence on the Magdy al-Nashar case, and that British anti-terrorist officers were on their way to Cairo.

“We are interested in questioning Mr Nashar, as part of the international dimension to this investigation into the London bombings,” said one UK policeman.

According to Egypt's interior ministry, Mr Nashar denied having any involvement in the bombings and said he was on a six-week holiday and had “intended to return to Britain to complete his studies.”

UK police remain unsure about the precise nature of Mr Nashar's alleged involvement in any terrorist attacks, and there were no indications on Friday in Egypt or the UK that he had any previous record of involvement with radical Islamic groups.

Mr Nashar, who some reports suggest was actually detained earlier this week, emerged on a police suspect list after he was linked to one of the houses in the Leeds area of Northern England used by three of the suicide bombers before they travelled to London to launch their attacks.

The 33 year old Egyptian obtained a Phd in chemistry from Leeds University earlier this year, and was understood to be seeking an academic post in the UK. Colleagues in Leeds said they had not seen him since early July.

The head of the Egyptian Research Council, which sponsored Mr Nashar's research said he delivered his Phd thesis to the chemistry department the week before the London attacks and that he has spent time with colleagues there.

The arrest of Mr Nashar came as UK police sources confirmed that the London bombings involved a lethal home-made explosive which has been used by suicide bombers in the Middle East and by the terrorist network of al-Qaeda.

Early forensic investigations of the bombs raised the possibility military high explosive, possibly obtained in eastern Europe may have been used, but it emerged yesterday investigators had by Thursday morning concluded the explosive material used was TATP or triacetone triperoxide...

Hamas Militants Clash with PA Troops in Gaza

From AP:

Gaza City, Gaza Strip — Militants took control of a Gaza neighbourhood Friday after a shootout with Palestinian troops left two teenagers dead, and Israeli airstrikes killed five militants in a flare-up of violence that threatened an already tattered truce.

Palestinian security forces, under pressure to stop attacks against Israel, went on high alert. Israeli troops massed at two makeshift camps outside the volatile coastal strip.

After militants launched at least 53 rockets and mortars against Israeli targets between Thursday afternoon and Friday afternoon, Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz summoned top generals to a meeting to decide on a response.

The violence follows five months of relative calm following a February truce accord between Israel and the Palestinians.

The Gaza clashes erupted after Palestinian security forces raided a neighbourhood, searching for militants suspected of firing rockets. Militants later torched a police station and set a police armoured personnel carrier and three jeeps afire...

Israel and the United States have called on Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to crack down on the militants, who killed six Israelis this week – five in a terror bombing in Netanya and one in a rocket attack near Gaza.

The tough Palestinian police action in Gaza on Friday suggested a possible shift in policy for Mr. Abbas, who has been reluctant in the past to confront the militants. Palestinian security chief Nasser Yousef said Friday that his forces will “not hesitate” to restore law and order, and he ordered rocket attacks to be stopped by all means.

But the Israeli attacks, which could mean the resumption of Israel's policy of assassinating Hamas leaders, appeared to signal that Israel has run out of patience with Mr. Abbas.

In firing rockets and mortars, Hamas also was underscoring demands to share power in Gaza after Israel's planned withdrawal from Gaza and the West Bank next month...

Hamas threatens revenge for death of five members killed by Israeli air strikes. An update from the Lebanese Daily Star, "Sharon orders 'unlimited' response to terrorism"

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has ordered the occupation army to take "all necessary measures" against Palestinian "terrorist organizations" after five Hamas militants were killed in two Israeli air strikes. Just hours earlier, Palestinian security personnel had battled Hamas militants in Gaza City in a bid to stop spiraling violence from unraveling the seven-month informal truce, killing two teenage bystanders in the process.

In an interview on a privately-owned Israeli television station Sharon said: "We will take all steps against Islamic Jihad without any limitations. The response to terror acts will be strong and harsh."

Asked about a resumption of targeted killings against militants or leaders of Palestinian factions, Sharon said there was "no limit" on the orders handed down to the army.

Hamas threatened revenge against Israel for the air strikes, saying the attacks had opened the "gates to hell" and that the group was reconsidering a seven-month-old informal truce...

UK Muslim scholar denied entry to US

News from the UK's Education Guardian.

An internationally renowned British Muslim scholar was this week refused entry to the US with no explanation, it has emerged. Zaki Badawi, head of the Muslim College in London, flew to New York on Wednesday to give a high profile lecture at the city's Chautauqua Institution. He was denied entry at JFK airport, detained for six hours and then forced to return home. It makes him the latest in a line of high profile European Muslims to be refused entry to the US.

Dr Badawi told the Associated Press that he was given no explanation of why he was not being allowed into the country. "The people I was speaking to were very junior people and they are just executing things they were told. They were very, very embarrassed and I felt sorry for them. America is a lovely country. There is no reason why it should behave like that," he said.

The US Customs and Border Protection office said Dr Badawi had been refused entry to the country based on information indicating that he was "inadmissible".

A spokeswoman for the customs office in Washington, Leah Yoon, said when he was initially processed, his answers to basic questions were not "in alignment" with his background check or documentation. "He was questioned further and after a thorough interview he was deemed inadmissible," she said. "He was given several options, but chose to withdraw his application." The options presented to Dr Badawi could not be disclosed, she said.

Dr Badawi has visited the US several times, most recently in 2003. He was given an honorary knighthood, and in 2003 was a guest of the Queen at a state banquet for the US president, George Bush. Earlier this week, Dr Badawi joined other British religious leaders, including Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, in publicly condemning the London bomb blasts, which killed at least 54 people.

The FBI could not confirm reports that Dr Badawi had been turned away because he was on a US terror watch list. A Homeland Security spokesman said that during initial processing border officers had discovered information that "required further questioning" before deeming him inadmissible...