They’re also linked to the 7/7 attacks. “5 Convicted in London Bomb Plot,” by David Stringer for Associated Press, with thanks to all who sent this in: LONDON (AP) – A judge sentenced five men to life in prison Monday for plotting to attack targets in London, including a popular nightclub, power plants and shopping […]
Archives for April 2007
Karen Armstrong: Defender of the wrong faith
Damian Thompson at the Telegraph blogs has noticed Karen Armstrong’s light-on-truth review of my book The Truth About Muhammad, and has written a stinging response, “Defender of the wrong faith”: Karen Armstrong is a comically conceited feminist ex-nun who has assumed the duty of defending Islam from its critics. Yesterday”s Financial Times carried her review […]
Fitzgerald: Help the New Duranty Times see the light
Walter Duranty was the New York Times correspondent in the Soviet Union in the 1930s. He also won a Pulitzer Press for his coverage of the Soviet Union. This was strange, because what he reported was nonstop apologetic nonsense, and perhaps worst of all was his supposedly splendid reporting in the Soviet-induced famine in Ukraine. […]
Fitzgerald: The School of Qom and the School of Najaf
A little background on the claque that has, for roughly the past three years, found Sistani to be the Man of the Hour in Iraq. At My Weekly Standard the claque consists of Reuel Gerecht and the carriers of Weiss-Schwartz Syndrome. Fouad Ajami, whose usefulness is limited given his tiptoeing around the subject of Islam, […]
Fitzgerald: The “Palestinian” “refugees”
Arab and Muslim states, or governments, although they now ask Israel to surrender still more, created the so-called “Palestinian refugee” problem. These were not classic refugees, hounded out, but rather people who left a war zone, for an Arab assault was anticipated even in 1947. They were confident that they would soon be returning. The […]
Jihadists shoot, kill 3-year-old boy in southern Thailand
Thai Jihad Update. “Three-year-old boy shot dead in Thailand,” from Agence France-Presse: PATTANI, Thailand (AFP) – Suspected separatists shot dead a three-year-old boy in Thailand’s restive south Sunday, police said, hours after hundreds of Muslims gathered to protest the killing of a retired teacher. The child was killed when insurgents in a truck opened fire […]
Turks protest Islamic-rooted government
Another demonstration against the spread of Sharia in Turkey. This time 700,000 people participated. Apparently Turkish secularism will not go gentle into that good night. By Benjamin Harvey for Associated Press, with thanks to all who sent this in: ISTANBUL, Turkey – Some 700,000 Turks waving the red national flag flooded central Istanbul on Sunday […]
Strong support for Sharia in Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan, and Indonesia
It’s hard to discern much from this without seeing the actual questions that were asked, since the answers are somewhat confused and contradictory: two-thirds want a caliphate, but two-thirds also want a “democratic political system.” “Less than 25% of Muslims blame al-Qaeda for 9/11 attacks,” from the Malaysia Sun, with thanks to Wally: An in-depth […]
Turkey: Four street evangelists jailed
Even as hundreds of thousands demonstrate in favor of secular government in Turkey, the Turkish government again demonstrates that it is not interested in according all religious groups equality of rights. “Turkey: Four Street Evangelists Jailed,” from Compass Direct: ISTANBUL, April 27 (Compass Direct News) — Police jailed four Christian street evangelists in Istanbul for […]
Saudi Arabia’s jihadi chickens come home to roost
An excellent piece on the double game our Friend and Ally has long been playing. “Saudi Arabia’s Domestic Crackdown,” by Youssef Ibrahim in the New York Sun (thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist): For decades, Saudi Arabia’s ruling family has lent political and financial support to the country’s most fanatical Muslim clergy. The clergy received money […]
Hamas leader warns of new Palestinian uprising
Unless the West comes across with more jizya. From Reuters, with thanks to the American Israeli Patriot: RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal warned Israel could face another Palestinian uprising unless conditions in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank improved. Let it be remembered that the conditions in the Gaza Strip […]
Large cache of bomb ingredients seized in Iraq; Islamic State of Iraq gives Samarra police 3 days to “repent” or die
“Iraq raids net al Qaeda suspects, bomb ingredients,” from CNN: BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — U.S. and Iraqi troops found 100 gallons of nitric acid and other bomb-making materials Sunday during raids that yielded the arrests of 72 suspected members of the al Qaeda in Iraq network, the U.S. military said. The “constellation of overnight raids” […]
UK Court blocks deportation of two Libyans considered a danger to national security
“The commission accepted that the men posed a security risk to Britain but said they should be granted bail under strict conditions.” “Libyans win appeal against extradition,” by Jill Lawless for the Associated Press: LONDON – A British court ruled Friday that two Libyan terror suspects cannot be deported to their homeland even though they […]
Iran bans Western haircuts, eyebrow plucking for men
An update on this story, from Reuters: TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) — Iranian police have warned barbers against offering Western-style hair cuts or plucking the eyebrows of their male customers, Iranian media said Sunday. Only Westerners don’t like a “unibrow,” apparently. The report by a reformist daily, later confirmed by an Iranian news agency, appeared to […]
Captured Al-Qaeda leader masterminded 7/7 London bombings
More on this story. “7/7 “˜mastermind” is seized in Iraq,” by Sean O”Neill, Tim Reid and Michael Evans for the TimesOnline, with thanks to James: The al-Qaeda leader who is thought to have devised the plan for the July 7 suicide bombings in London and an array of terrorist plots against Britain has been captured […]
Kosovo’s top Islamic leader asks Detroit Muslims for support
“With the blood of these shahids, with the lots of suffering of innocent people”¦we hope in the near future to be the newest state in the world.” Here’s an intriguing story, sent in to us by Jim Jatras, Director of the American Council for Kosovo and a member of the Jihad Watch Board. “Kosovo’s top […]
Fitzgerald: Who Was Right — And Who Was Wrong?
‘Democracy is nothing, but counting of heads. It cannot differentiate between good and bad people, as in this system the vote of a devout Muslim equals the vote of a frail Muslim,’ [Maulana Abdul Aziz, head of the Lal Masjid] said.”– from this article Yet Bush and Cheney and Rice keep singing the praises of […]
Non-Muslim children forced to attend classes on Islam in Pakistani schools without parental permission
No Compulsion in Religion Alert. “Hindu, Christian students struggle in Arabic in state-run schools,” by Amar Guriro for the Daily Times: KARACHI: Seven-year-old Angela finds it difficult to study Islamiyat at school. “I don’t know if I have to study it or not, but it’s really difficult to pronounce the Arabic properly,” she said. Angela, […]
Fitzgerald: Paul Wolfowitz, or, After Such Ignorance, What Forgiveness?
It is even more damaging for a minister to say foolish things than to do them. — Cardinal De Retz Paul Wolfowitz is in trouble, but for all the wrong reasons. Surely the main and overlooked aspect of the entire World Bank brouhaha is not any supposed “corruption” in the arrangements made for Shaha Ali […]
“The Darfurians say Muslim apathy is due to racism and that Arab Muslims see black African Muslims as inferior.”
Islamic Tolerance Alert. “Darfuri refugees say they face apathy, silence from most of their fellow Muslims,” by Robert King for the Indianapolis Star: FORT WAYNE, Ind. — They are devoted to Islam but increasingly skeptical of Muslims. This is the strange paradox Darfuri refugees in Fort Wayne are facing: A fundamentalist government in Sudan turned […]