CHRONOLOGY / BLOG 9 – SUBMISSION TO SELF-APPOINTED LEADERSHIP

BARNABAS AID,  www.barnabasfund.org , Pull-out Supplement, JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2010

The Muslim Jesus

Introduction
   Christianity is founded on the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.  "Christ is our Cornerstone," wrote an early Christian hymn writer, "on Him alone we build; on His great love our hopes we place of present grace and joys above."
   However, there is currently a controversy over the relationship between the Jesus who is known, loved and worshipped by millions of Christians, and the figure of "Jesus" (called ’Isa in the Qur’an [Koran] and in the hadith) as found in Islam.  Some Christians engaged in dialogue with Muslims have argued that the ’Isa of the Muslim sources, the Qur’an [Koran] and hadith, is essentially the same as the Jesus of the New Testament.
   But if this is true, all the principal teachings of Christianity will need to be reinterpreted.  Christians have traditionally viewed Jesus Christ as the second person in the Godhead, the Lord who is to be worshipped and adored.  Christ's incarnation and substitutionary death on the cross are seen as God's redemptive plan from all eternity, forming the basis of God's offer of free salvation to all who believe.
   Islam, on the other hand, claims that ’Isa was a mere human being, although it accepts and reveres him as a sinless prophet and miracle worker.  It also affirms his virgin birth and his return to earth (though as a Muslim).  But Muslims reject the phrase "Son of God" as blasphemous, because they interpret it in a literal and physical sense.  Islam denies ’Isa's deity, incarnation, crucifixion, atoning sacrifice and resurrection.  Muslims claim that someone else was crucified in his place.  Islam thus denies the very heart of the Christian faith.
   For Muslims, Muhammad and not ’Isa is the perfect man, the God-given perfect example.  Muhammad is seen as vastly superior to ’Isa, and in Islamic practice the veneration of Muhammad is widespread.  He has become an eternal Christ-like figure, for whose sake God created the world, the only real intercessor and mediator. All nature joins in homage, all men adore;
Thee who brought light to a darksome world;
Ya Rasool Allah!  my homage I make to thee;
Ya, Nabi Allah!  my love I tender thee;
My life, my all, for thee I gladly give;
Thy divine message shall with me forever live. ¹    Early Islam emerged out of Muhammad's conflict with the Jews and Christians of Arabia.  Passages on ’Isa in the Qur’an and hadith are thus part of a polemical attack on Biblical truth concerning Jesus.
   There are two main sources for the Muslim "Jesus":  the Qur’an gives a history of his life, whilst the hadith collections establish his place in the Muslim understanding of the end times.
’Isa in the Qur’an ²
   The Qur’anic description of ’Isa includes some Biblical elements but often directly contradicts or embellishes the Biblical story.  Scholars trace the sources of some of the Qur’anic material on ’Isa to extra-biblical sources such as Gnostic and apocryphal gospels.
   While the Qur’an describes ’Isa by various titles, such as Messiah, Apostle, a Word from God and a Spirit from God, it firmly denies his Deity, his divine Sonship and the concept of the Trinity. ____________________
1. Maulana Muhammad Abdul-Aleem Siddiqui, Elementary Teaching of Islam. Karachi: 1954, pp 4-5, quoting a poem by a Muslim from Sri Lanka.
2. Quotations from the Qur’an in this article are taken from The Holy Qur’an: Text Translation and Commentary by A. Yusuf Ali. Leicester: The Islamic Foundation, 1975 (substituting "’Isa" for "Jesus").  Verse numbers vary slightly between different translations of the Qur’an, so if using another version it may be necessary to search in the verses just preceding or just following the number given here to find the verse cited.

   Believing in the deity of Christ and in the Trinity is the grave sin of shirk, of adding a partner to the One God, the greatest sin in Islam, for which there is no forgiveness.    The Qur'an claims that Christians believe in a family of gods:  God and Mary had a physical relationship from which their son ’Isa was born.  It denies this view:    According to the Qur'an, ’Isa was a prophet in a long line of equal prophets of Islam whose main message was surrender to Allah (Islam).  Muslims therefore see ’Isa as equal to but not higher than all other prophets:    ’Isa was like Adam, a created being formed out of the dust of the earth:    ’Isa was given a book (the injil, the Gospel) and a law for his time:    In the eyes of Muslims the injil has been corrupted, and it has now been abrogated and corrected by the more perfect revelation brought from God by Muhammad, the last and the best of the prophets.
   Muslims believe that ’Isa foretold the coming of Muhammad:    They consider that ’Isa's original disciples were true Muslims (not Jews or Christians) who confessed: His birth
   Mary the mother of ’Isa is described as Miriam, sister of Aaron and Moses, who was fostered by Zachariah the father of John the Baptist (Q 3:35-37; 19:28):  a chronological impossibility.  ’Isa was born not in Bethlehem but in a desolate place under a date palm tree (Q 19:22-23).  ’Isa spoke whilst still a baby in his cradle, and among his miracles was the breathing of life into clay birds (Q 3:46; 5:110). His crucifixion and death
   The Qur'an categorically denies the death of ’Isa on the cross:    Most Muslim commentators interpret this verse as meaning that a substitute was made to look like ’Isa and was crucified in his place while ’Isa was taken straight up to heaven (without dying).  However, a few Muslim commentators, among them AI-Baydawi (d. 1284) and Ibn Kathir (d. 1373), accept a real death of ’Isa (but no crucifixion) as one possible interpretation.
His divine Sonship
   The Qur'an denies that ’Isa is the Son of God: The Trinity
   In the Qur'anic view, the unity of Allah precludes the possibility of the Trinity.  Belief in the Trinity is blasphemy: ’Isa in the Hadith ³
   According to orthodox Islamic doctrine, God gave Muhammad the responsibility of interpreting the Qur'an, so his words and acts (his sunna) as found in the collected traditions (hadith) became the second revelatory source, which expounds the Qur'an.
Hadith that describe Christ's features
   Several hadith claim that Muhammad saw ’Isa both in his Night Journey and in a dream and then described him to his companions: The return of ’Isa
   A Qur'anic verse links ’Isa to the last days:    Picking up on this theme, the hadith collections present ’Isa mainly as an eschatological figure who has an important role to play in the end times.  The descent of ’Isa is one of the main signs of the Last Days, others being the appearance of the Antichrist (Dajjal), the rising of the sun in the West, the arrival of Gog and Magog (Yajuj and Majuj) and powerful earthquakes.    ’Isa will come down from heaven as a Muslim warrior to destroy Christianity, establish Islam and fight all its enemies (including the Antichrist, al-Dajjal).  He will destroy the Christian and Jewish religions and make Islam the only religion in the entire world:    Muslims hate the cross as the core symbol of Christianity; therefore to "break the cross" means "to destroy Christianity".  Pigs are associated with Christians, as both Muslims and Jews consider them unclean, so "killing pigs" is another way of describing the destruction of Christianity.  Under Islamic law the humiliating poll-tax (jizya) is paid by the subjected Christians and Jews to protect them from jihad.  The abolition of the poll-tax signifies the revival of jihad against Christians and Jews, who will face the choice of converting to Islam or being killed.  Following this annihilation of the other religions, only Islam will survives victorious.  The "abundant money" results from the rich booty taken from the killed Christians and Jews.
   To stress the superiority of Muhammad over ’Isa, several hadith claim that on the Day of Judgement ’Isa will point all those seeking his intercession for them with God to Muhammad, who alone will be able to intercede for his followers.  Muhammad is thus established as far greater than ’Isa: ____________________
3. Quotations from the hadith are taken from ALIM CD-ROM 6. Silver Spring: ISL Software Corporation, 1986-99.

   A main task of ’Isa on his return is to destroy the false Messiah, the Dajjal, and his forces: ’Isa and modern Muslim apocalyptic based on hadith
   The return of ’Isa to fight the anti-Christ (Dajjal) and his supporters (mainly Jews) and the appearance of the Mahdi ⁴ are at the centre of modern Muslim eschatology.  In this schema a great apocalyptic war takes place in Jerusalem.  Dajjal leads Israel, the Jews and the West in the battle against the Muslims under ’Isa and the Mahdi.  The Mahdi moves against Jerusalem, while the West seeks to protect it.  In the final battle, parts of Jerusalem and some of the Jews are destroyed.  Finally, ’Isa and the Mahdi emerge victorious and the Dajjal's armies are slaughtered in Jerusalem.  The Mahdi purifies Palestine and Jerusalem from the Jews.  The Muslims conquer all Israel and go on to conquer Europe (where they destroy the idolatrous Vatican) and the US.  Israel is destroyed, and the Jews are killed.  The Mahdi rebuilds Jerusalem and makes it his capital.  Further wars occur as the Mahdi conquers all remaining states in the world and establishes the universal rule of Islam.  Then Gog and Magog arise and threaten the Mahdi as they overrun the world and move towards Syria.  ’Isa appears again to destroy Gog and Magog.  He also destroys any remaining Jews and other enemies.
Conclusion
   For Muslims, the Qur'an is the very Word of God, and therefore truth is defined by it.  Thus they hold that Biblical description of Jesus is true only insofar as it agrees with what the Qur'an says about ’Isa.  In the Muslim view, any Biblical passages that contradict the Qur'an have been corrupted by Jews and Christians and are not valid.  Islam thus insulates its followers from the Biblical text, including the Gospel narratives about Christ, claiming it is unnecessary for them.  The Islamic ’Isa is therefore but a pale caricature of the true Jesus as He is revealed in the Bible.
   Christians who seek for common ground with Islam tend to ignore or suppress the real differences between the two faiths.  A new "Jesus" is emerging, stripped of uniqueness based on deity, incarnation, passion, crucifixion, resurrection, redemptive mission and universal Lordship, and remarkably similar to Muslim perceptions of ’Isa.  This new thinking affirms the ’Isa of the Qur'an as also the Jesus of the New Testament, and its proponents are reducing Christianity to something less than traditional, orthodox Christianity to make it compatible with Islam.  All that is left is the human Jesus, not the divine; ultimately this strikes at the very heart of the Christian faith.  It reintroduces the old heresy of Arianism ⁵, which caused so much damage to Christianity in the past.
____________________
4. In Islam the Mahdi is the "rightly guided one", the coming Saviour who will establish Islam in all the earth and fill it with justice.
5. A heresy of the 4th century originated by the Alexandrian presbyter Arius.  It affirmed that Christ is not truly divine but a creature.  He has been called into being out of nothing, has had a beginning and is finite. BARNABAS AID; Postal Suite 107, 236 Hyperdome, Loganholme Qld 4129, Australia; JAN-FEB 2010

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[Islamic students glorify Trade Centre catastrophe; Call to British parents to submit to Islam; US State Department inviting Yemen citizens to come; 6 truckloads of explosives enter Yemen's capital.]

   Jihad Watch Daily Digest, http://www.jihadwatch.org/ , January 05, 2010
  

• Michigan: Muslim high school students wear sweatshirts glorifying 9/11 jihad attacks

,  http://www. jihadwatch. org/2010/01/ michigan- muslim-high- school-students- wear- sweatshirts- glorifying- 911-jihad- attacks.html ; Jan 05, 2010 02:06 pm | Robert
   "Arab-Americans," they're called here, but their Arabness is beside the point.  Their jihadist sympathies come through loud and clear, even despite the usual media cluelessness and obfuscation.  Click on the sweatshirt image for video.  "Sweatshirt Sparks School Controversy: Hoodie Contains Image Of World Trade Center Towers," from ClickOnDetroit.com http://www. clickondetroit. com/news/ 22129881/ detail.html#, POSTED: Tuesday, January 5, 2010
   DEARBORN, Mich. -- About 15 Arab-American students at Edsel Ford High School are in trouble over a sweatshirt they had made over the holiday break.
   On the back of the sweatshirt, the number 11 is made to look like the World Trade Center Towers.  The school's mascot, a thunderbird, is seen flying toward the number.
   Watch: Sweatshirts Sparks Controversy http://www. clickondetroit. com/video/ 22130104/ index.html .
   Under the graphic, a tagline reads, "You can't bring us down."
   The students wore the hooded sweatshirts to school Monday.  They were immediately sent to the principal's office.  The sweatshirts were confiscated. […]
  

• UK jihad leader to Brits: surrender to Islam

  Jan 05, 2010 01:45 pm | Robert
   At least he asked politely.  This time.  "Anjem Choudary: an open letter to families of British soldiers in Afghanistan," from the Telegraph, January 4 (thanks to all who sent this in): May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon those who follow the guidance.  This is the traditional Islamic…
  

• Good news: State Department encouraging immigration from Yemen!

  Jan 05, 2010 01:35 pm
   The more jihadis come to the U.S, you see, the more "diverse" we will be!  "State Department Using 'Diversity Visas' to Encourage Immigration to U.S. from Terror-Ridden Yemen," by Matt Cover for CNS News, January 5 (thanks to Weasel Zippers): (CNSNews.com) - The State Department has awarded 1,011 special "diversity…
  

• Obama imperils secret briefings that could prevent the next jihad attack

  Jan 05, 2010 01:27 pm | Robert
   "The President's Daily Brief…is shared with such an extraordinarily small number of people who are in a need-to-know situation, a need-to-know position, so they can use that information to protect the country, to prevent the next possible attack."  Not anymore.  Yet another Which-Side-Is-Obama-On Alert: "Obama Imperils Intel Briefings," by Theodore…
  

• For Obama, ending the "politics of fear" equals making us unprepared against jihad terror

  Jan 05, 2010 01:17 pm | Robert
   It turned out the "politics of fear" was never about "fear" at all, but about defending ourselves against those who have vowed to destroy our society and subjugate us.  When that act of defense becomes "fear," the Islamic supremacists are winning.  "For Obama, terrorism is a four-letter word: Bush," by…
  

• At least 12 former Gitmo jihadis have rejoined the jihad in Yemen

  Jan 05, 2010 01:03 pm
   And maybe they're practicing prestidigitation with explosive trucks.  Yet Obama's plan seems to be only to send more back there.  "Freed Guantánamo inmates are heading for Yemen to join al-Qaeda fight," from The Times, January 5 (thanks to all who sent this in): At least a dozen former Guantánamo Bay…
  

• Google blocks negative search recommendations on Islam

  Jan 05, 2010 12:30 pm | Robert
   Try it for yourself.  I just did.  Report on Arrakis has the story: search for "Christianity is" at Google and a host of negative recommendations pop up: But when you search for Islam, no negative recommendations come up -- indeed, no recommendations at all: Go ahead, try it.  I didn't…
  

• Six trucks of explosives magically disappear in Yemen

  Jan 05, 2010 12:00 pm | Robert
   It's magic!  "Six trucks of explosives 'disappear' in Yemen," by Adrian Blomfield in the Telegraph, January 4 (thanks to Mackie): Fears of a terrorist strike against Western embassies in Yemen have grown amid claims a convoy of lorries laden with explosives had been smuggled into the country's capital city,…
  

• "Nothing we are doing now will make a recurrence of the Flight 253 incident any less likely"

  Jan 05, 2010 08:40 am | Robert
   At Front Page http://front pagemag.com/ 2010/01/04/ a-failed- anti-terror- strategy- by-jamie- glazov/ , in "A Failed Anti-Terror Strategy," Jamie Glazov interviews me about…our failed anti-terror strategy:  FP: What we need is profiling, yes?  And our culture won't allow.  Tell us the psychology here that leaves us tragically vulnerable.  Spencer: We have, as a culture, been sold a bill of goods…

Geert Wilders Speech, House of Lords, London, Friday the 5th of March 2010

   Atlas Shrugs, http:// atlasshrugs 2000.typepad. com/atlas_ shrugs/ 2010/03/ geert-wilders- speech-at- the-house- of-lords. html ; Friday, March 05, 2010
   Thank you. It is great to be back in London. And it is great that this time, I got to see more of this wonderful city than just the detention centre at Heathrow Airport.
   Today I stand before you, in this extraordinary place. Indeed, this is a sacred place. This is, as Malcolm always says, the mother of all Parliaments, I am deeply humbled to have the opportunity to speak before you.
   Thank you Lord Pearson and Lady Cox for your invitation and showing my film 'Fitna'. Thank you my friends for inviting me.
   I first have great news. Last Wednesday city council elections were held in the Netherlands. And for the first time my party, the Freedom Party, took part in these local elections. We participated in two cities. In Almere, one of the largest Dutch cities. And in The Hague, the third largest city; home of the government, the parliament and the queen. And, we did great! In one fell swoop my party became the largest party in Almere and the second largest party in The Hague. Great news for the Freedom Party and even better news for the people of these two beautiful cities.
   And I have more good news. Two weeks ago the Dutch government collapsed. In June we will have parliamentary elections. And the future for the Freedom Party looks great. According to some polls we will become the largest party in the Netherlands. I want to be modest, but who knows, I might even be Prime Minister in a few months time!
   Ladies and gentlemen, not far from here stands a statue of the greatest Prime Minister your country ever had. And I would like to quote him here today: "Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. No stronger retrograde force exists in the World. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step (…) the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome." These words are from none other than Winston Churchill wrote this in his book 'The River War' from 1899.
   Churchill was right.
   Ladies and gentlemen, I don't have a problem and my party does not have a problem with Muslims as such. There are many moderate Muslims. The majority of Muslims are law-abiding citizens and want to live a peaceful life as you and I do. I know that. That is why I always make a clear distinction between the people, the Muslims, and the ideology, between Islam and Muslims. There are many moderate Muslims, but there is no such thing as a moderate Islam.
   Islam strives for world domination. The Quran [Koran] commands Muslims to exercise jihad. The Quran commands Muslims to establish shariah law. The Quran commands Muslims to impose Islam on the entire world.
   As former Turkish Prime Minister Erbakan said: "The whole of Europe will become Islamic. We will conquer Rome". End of quote.
   Libyan dictator Gaddafi said: "There are tens of millions of Muslims in the European continent today and their number is on the increase. This is the clear indication that the European continent will be converted into Islam. Europe will one day soon be a Muslim continent". End of quote. Indeed, for once in his life, Gaddafi was telling the truth. Because, remember: mass immigration and demographics is destiny!
   Islam is merely not a religion, it is mainly a totalitarian ideology. Islam wants to dominate all aspects of life, from the cradle to the grave. Shariah law is a law that controls every detail of life in an Islamic society.  From civic- and family law to criminal law. It determines how one should eat, dress and even use the toilet. Oppression of women is good, drinking alcohol is bad.
   I believe that Islam is not compatible with our Western way of life. Islam is a threat to Western values. The equality of men and women, the equality of homosexuals and heterosexuals, the separation of church and state, freedom of speech, they are all under pressure because of islamization. Ladies and gentlemen: Islam and freedom, Islam and democracy are not compatible. It are [? sic] opposite values.
   No wonder that Winston Churchill called Adolf Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' "the new Quran of faith and war, turgid, verbose, shapeless, bur pregnant with its message". As you know, Churchill made this comparison, between the Koran and Mein Kampf, in his book 'The Second World War', a masterpiece, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Literature. Churchill's comparison of the Quran and 'Mein Kampf' is absolutely spot on. The core of the Quran is the call to jihad. Jihad means a lot of things and is Arabic for battle. Kampf is German for battle. Jihad and kampf mean exactly the same.
   Islam means submission, there cannot be any mistake about its goal. That's a given. The question is whether we in Europe and you in Britain, with your glorious past, will submit or stand firm for your heritage.
   We see Islam taking off in the West at an incredible pace. Europe is Islamizing rapidly. A lot of European cities have enormous Islamic concentrations. Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Berlin are just a few examples. In some parts of these cities, Islamic regulations are already being enforced. Women's rights are being destroyed. Burqas, headscarves, polygamy, female genital mutilation, honour-killings. Women have to go to separate swimming-classes, don't get a handshake. In many European cities there is already apartheid. Jews, in an increasing number, are leaving Europe.
   As you undoubtedly all know, better then I do, also in your country the mass immigration and islamization has rapidly increased. This has put an enormous pressure on your British society. Look what is happening in for example Birmingham, Leeds, Bradford and here in London. British politicians who have forgotten about Winston Churchill have now taken the path of least resistance. They have given up. They have given in.
   Last year, my party has requested the Dutch government to make a cost-benefit analysis of the mass immigration. But the government refused to give us an answer. Why? Because it is afraid of the truth. The signs are not good. A Dutch weekly magazine - Elsevier - calculated costs to exceed 200 billion Euros. Last year alone, they came with an amount of 13 billion Euros. More calculations have been made in Europe: According to the Danish national bank, every Danish immigrant from an Islamic country is costing the Danish state more than 300 thousand Euros. You see the same in Norway and France. The conclusion that can be drawn from this: Europe is getting more impoverished by the day. More impoverished thanks to mass immigration. More impoverished thanks to demographics. And the leftists are thrilled.
   I don't know whether it is true, but in several British newspapers I read that Labour opened the door to mass immigration in a deliberate policy to change the social structures of the UK. Andrew Neather, a former government advisor and speech writer for Tony Blair and Jack Straw, said the aim of Labour's immigration strategy was, and I quote, to "rub the Right's nose in diversity and render their arguments out of date". If this is true, this is symptomatic of the Left.
   Ladies and gentlemen, make no mistake: The left is facilitating islamization. Leftists, liberals, are cheering for every new shariah bank being created, for every new shariah mortgage, for every new islamic school, for every new shariah court. Leftists consider Islam as being equal to our own culture. Shariah law or democracy? Islam or freedom? It doesn't really matter to them. But it does matter to us. The entire leftist elite is guilty of practising cultural relativism. Universities, churches, trade unions, the media, politicians. They are all betraying our hard-won liberties.
   Why I ask myself, why have the Leftists and liberals stopped to fight for them? Once the Leftists stood on the barricades for women's rights. But where are they today? Where are they in 2010? They are looking the other way. Because they are addicted to cultural relativism and dependent on the Muslim vote. They are dependent on mass-immigration.
   Thank heavens Jacqui Smith isn't in office anymore. It was a victory for free speech that a UK judge brushed aside her decision to refuse me entry to your country last year. I hope that the judges in my home country are at least as wise and will acquit me of all charges, later this year in the Netherlands.
   Unfortunately, so far they have not done so well. For they do not want to hear the truth about Islam, nor are they interested to hear the opinion of top class legal experts in the field of freedom of expression. Last month in a preliminary session the Court refused fifteen of the eighteen expert-witnesses I had requested to be summoned.
   Only three expert witnesses are allowed to be heard. Fortunately, my dear friend and heroic American psychiatrist Dr. Wafa Sultan is one of them. But their testimony will be heard behind closed doors. Apparently the truth about Islam must not be told in public, the truth about Islam must remain secret.
   Ladies and gentlemen, I'm being prosecuted for my political beliefs. We know political prosecution to exist in countries in the Middle East, like Iran and Saudi-Arabia, but never in Europe, never in the Netherlands.
   I'm being prosecuted for comparing the Quran to 'Mein Kampf'. Ridiculous. I wonder if Britain will ever put the beliefs of Winston Churchill on trial… Ladies and gentlemen, the political trial that is held against me has to stop.
   But it is not all about me, not about Geert Wilders. Free speech is under attack. Let me give you a few other examples. As you perhaps know, one of my heroes, the Italian author Oriana Fallaci had to live in fear of extradition to Switzerland because of her anti-Islam book 'The Rage and the Pride'.  The Dutch cartoonist Nekschot was arrested in his home in Amsterdam by 10 police men because of his anti-Islam drawings. Here in Britain, the American author Rachel Ehrenfeld was sued by a Saudi businessman for defamation.  In the Netherlands Ayaan Hirsi Ali and in Australia two Christian pastors were sued.  I could go on and on.  Ladies and gentlemen, all throughout the West freedom loving people are facing this ongoing 'legal jihad'. This is Islamic 'lawfare'. And, ladies and gentlemen, not long ago the Danish cartoonist Westergaard was almost assassinated for his cartoons.
   Ladies and gentlemen, we should defend the right to freedom of speech. With all our strength. With all our might. Free speech is the most important of our many liberties. Free speech is the cornerstone of our modern societies. Freedom of speech is the breath of our democracy, without freedom of speech our way of life our freedom will be gone.
   I believe it is our obligation to preserve the inheritance of the brave young soldiers that stormed the beaches of Normandy. That liberated Europe from tyranny. These heroes cannot have died for nothing. It is our obligation to defend freedom of speech. As George Orwell said: "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear".
   Ladies and gentlemen, I believe in another policy, it is time for change. We must make haste. We can't wait any longer. Time is running out. If I may quote one of my favourite American presidents: Ronald Reagan once said: "We need to act today, to preserve tomorrow". That is why I propose the following measures, I only mention a few, in order to preserve our freedom:
   First, we will have to defend freedom of speech. It is the most important of our liberties. In Europe and certainly in the Netherlands, we need something like the American First Amendment.
   Second, we will have to end and get rid of cultural relativism. To the cultural relativists, the shariah socialists, I proudly say: Our Western culture is far superior to the Islamic culture. Don't be afraid to say it. You are not a racist when you say that our own culture is better.
   Third, we will have to stop mass immigration from Islamic countries. Because more Islam means less freedom.
   Fourth, we will have to expel criminal immigrants and, following denaturalisation, we will have to expel criminals with a dual nationality. And there are many of them in my country.
   Fifth, we will have to forbid the construction of new mosques. There is enough Islam in Europe. Especially since Christians in Turkey, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Indonesia are mistreated, there should be a mosque building-stop in the West.
   And last but not least, we will have to get rid of all those so-called leaders. I said it before: Fewer Chamberlains, more Churchills. Let's elect real leaders.
   Ladies and gentlemen. To the previous generation, that of my parents, the word 'London' is synonymous with hope and freedom. When my country was occupied by the national-socialists the BBC offered a daily glimpse of hope in my country, in the darkness of Nazi tyranny. Millions of my fellow country men listened to it, underground. The words 'This is London' were a symbol for a better world coming soon.
   What will be broadcasted forty years from now? Will it still be "This is London"? Or will it be "This is Londonistan"? Will it bring us hope? Or will it signal the values of Mecca and Medina? Will Britain offer submission or perseverance? Freedom or slavery? The choice is yours. And in the Netherlands the choice is ours.
   Ladies and gentlemen, we will never apologize for being free. We will and should never give in. And, indeed, as one of your former leaders said: We will never surrender.
   Freedom must prevail, and freedom will prevail.
   Thank you very much. #

[AP thinks Europe provoking Muslims; Iran gets N. Korea's help on missile base; Indian plot; Taliban kill 35; Jihadist kills 13 in Pakistan; Child marriage, and 6-y-o brainwashed for jihad.]

  
Jihad Watch   http://jihadwatch.org , http://us1. campaign- archive. com/?u= 12857896 c3097382 b25b80 a09&id=7 e775bb948& e=0f34 f38913 ; March 14, 2010
   Associated Press laments "provocation" of Muslims in Europe. Mar 14, 2010 10:30 pm | The author asks: "Should the immigrants adopt the values of their adoptive land -- or, to the contrary, should society change to accommodate the newcomers who now form part of it?" Liberal democracies depend on the premise that there are unalienable human rights that a government cannot violate and retain …
   U.K.: 15% increase in non-Muslims' use of Sharia courts. Mar 14, 2010 09:48 pm | Lending legitimacy to a system that does not deserve it, and would seek to subjugate them if it were strong enough. "Fears over non-Muslim's use of Islamic law to resolve disputes," by Afua Hirch for the Guardian, March 14: Campaigners have voiced concerns over a growing number of non-Muslims using …
   Morocco continues mass deportation of Christian aid workers over "proselytizing". Mar 14, 2010 08:54 pm | The propagation of non-Islamic faiths is forbidden under Islamic law, and "moderate" Morocco seems to be taking the opportunity to purge Christian aid workers in general. "Christian aid worker purge? Morocco orders dozens in five cities to be deported," by Eric German for the Christian Science Monitor, March 11: Rabat, …
   Iran works on new missile base with help from North Korea. Mar 14, 2010 08:30 pm | A "peaceful nuclear program" characterized by secrecy and subterfuge, and an advancing missile program with help from a country that has spent decades playing a nuclear shell game: sure, those are completely unrelated. "Iran's secret nuclear base," by Marco Giannangeli for the Sunday Express, March 14: Iran's lurch towards becoming …
   Egypt: Copts ask, "is the State Security there to protect all citizens or just the Muslims?" Mar 14, 2010 04:50 pm | Note the prominence of the Orwellian-sounding "reconciliation" proceedings, where, as described in this report, "Coptic victims give up all criminal and civil charges against the perpetrators." "Muslim Teacher Sexually Abuses Christian Children In An Upper Egyptian School," by Mary Abdelmassih for the Pakistan Christian Post, March 14: Cairo: March 14, …
   Report: Regional al-Qaeda honcho takes over Somali jihadist group al-Shabaab> Mar 14, 2010 04:40 pm | An update on this story. "Al-Qaida vet 'takes over Somali jihadists," from UPI, March 11: MOGADISHU, Somalia, March 11 (UPI) -- The reported takeover of Somalia's al-Shebab Islamists by al-Qaida veteran Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, alleged mastermind of the 1988 [sic] U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa, could rally the divided …
   Senior Palestinian Authority official says Israel "playing with fire," calls on Muslims to "converge on al-Aqsa to save it". Mar 14, 2010 01:53 pm | Remember, the Fatah guys are the "moderates." Partners for peace and all that. And in this case, the "provocation" du jour is the renovation of a synagogue situated in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem -- still enough fuel for some quality conspiracy paranoia. It never takes much. "PA calls Arabs …
   Israel nabs senior Hamas boss. Mar 14, 2010 01:46 pm | Maher U'dda is implicated in the deaths of over 70 Israelis through the years. But that won't stop Hamas and others from maligning Israel as the aggressor, and possibly retaliating. "Israelis nab senior Hamas leader," from CNN, March 14: Jerusalem (CNN) -- Israeli forces have arrested a senior Hamas operative …
   India: 2 arrested in new Mumbai jihad plot. Mar 14, 2010 01:32 pm | Acting, according to police reports, on instructions from jihadist groups in Pakistan. "2 Indians arrested in alleged Mumbai terror plot," from the Associated Press, March 14: MUMBAI, India - Indian police said Sunday they prevented a major terrorist strike in Mumbai by arresting two men who were preparing to attack …
   Taliban kill 35 in Kandahar bombings, call it a "warning" to U.S.  Mar 14, 2010 01:00 pm | In a civilized society, one would send a certified letter. "Kandahar blasts were warning to US and Nato - Taliban," from BBC News, March 14: Saturday's bomb attacks in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar were a warning to US and Nato forces, the Taliban say. A Taliban spokesman said …
   U.S. terror mom brainwashed 6-year-old son. Mar 14, 2010 08:29 am | Today's New York Post has a cover story on the family of Jamie Paulin-Rodriguez filled with eye opening details about what her conversion meant for her son. The 6-year-old son of a Colorado nursing student who ran off to Europe to join a terrorist murder cell was brainwashed into a …
   American jihadist persuaded his Yemeni guard to unshackle him so they could pray together, then snatched his gun and killed him. Mar 13, 2010 07:48 pm | War is Deceit, said Muhammad. "Al-Qaida suspect from US tricked his Yemeni guard," by Ahmed Al-Haj for AP, March 13 (thanks to all who sent this in): SAN'A, Yemen -- The U.S. al-Qaida suspect detained in Yemen had persuaded his guard to unshackle him so the two could pray together …
   Converts to Islam held in connection with Jihad Jane plot to murder Motoonist. Mar 13, 2010 07:24 pm | Worth committing murder for More on the plot that has already resulted in the arrests of two female American converts to Islam. Indeed, as you read this report, you will see that there is a large number of converts to Islam involved with this plot. Why is it that …
   Jihad/martyrdom bomber murders thirteen in Pakistan. Mar 13, 2010 07:05 pm | Claiming the Qur'an's guarantee of Paradise to those who "kill and are killed" for Allah (9:111). "Suicide attack in northwest Pakistan kills 13 people," from the Daily Star, March 14 (thanks to all who sent this in): A suicide attacker set off a bomb at a security checkpoint in northwest …
   Shock horror! Child marriage still an issue in Saudi Arabia!  Mar 13, 2010 06:52 pm | "The Prophet wrote the (marriage contract) with 'Aisha while she was six years old and consummated his marriage with her while she was nine years old and she remained with him for nine years (i.e. till his death)." -- Bukhari 7.62.88.  This is Muhammad's example. It will be essentially impossible … [See Bukhari 5. 58, 236]

[Child marriages and whippings, etc.]

     The West Australian, letters§wanews com au , various pages, Monday, March 15, 2010
WE DISAGREE
   Page 22, Letter:     Hamza Amar (Let's get tough, Letters, 2/3) seems to yearn for a system of law similar to that practised in Saudi Arabia.
   Isn't that the country where, according to the Grand Mufti, it's quite OK for girls of 10 to marry (Child marriages OK, 15/1) and a female child of 13 can be sentenced to be lashed for having a mobile phone at school (90 lashes for phone in classroom, 23/1)?
   And now, it's revealed in a report (Lashes for complaints, 5/3) that a woman who dared to challenge the authorities is to be lashed 300 times. Is this what Hamza Amar wants, a system that seems dedicated to a form of law but is bereft of justice?
   When I read of those sentences I cease to wonder why people from the countries where such laws are applied flee to seek a fair go, new lives and justice in a place like Australia.
   So is it any wonder that Hamza Amar lives here?
   Page 24.

Taliban bomb spree sends terror message

    KABUL: A sophisticated Taliban assault on the key southern Afghan city of Kandahar has killed 35 people in a claimed revenge attack.  Another 57 people were injured.  At least 10 of the dead were at a wedding.
   Tens of thousands more US troops are arriving in Afghanistan.
   [COMMENT: Even weddings are not spared.  Neither are funerals, or prayers at mosques, churches, etc.  But ask yourself, where are the explosives made, and who sells them to such inhumane terrorists? COMMENT ENDS.]
   Page 25.

Dubai jails two for restaurant kiss

    UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: A British couple is appealing a jail sentence after being accused of sharing a passionate kiss in a Dubai restaurant.  They are Mr Ayman Najifi, and a female tourist, who were arrested in November.
   [COMMENT: Such pure morality!  And this in a country where bride-rape and wife-scourging are taught as being the heavenly plan!  And that to kill animals to eat, they must be left to bleed their last blood while still alive. COMMENT ENDS.]
   Page 25.

Four released over artist murder plot.

                IRELAND: Three men and a woman arrested over an alleged plot to assassinate Swedish artist Lars Vilks have been freed without charge by Irish police, but three men remain in custody
   On Tuesday the police arrested three Algerians, a Libyan, a Palestinian, a Croatian and an American woman married to one of the Algerians.
   The Algerian-American couple had played host to Colleen LaRose, aka Jihad Jane, who is being held by US authorities over the Vilks plot.
   [DOCTRINE: Fight until no other religion except Allah's is left. ENDS.]

[Rival sects both kill Americans; UK police PC gagged; Internet ordered to ban insulter; TV man to die in Arabia for 'sorcery'; Burned alive, wife raped, for being Christian]

   Jihad Watch Daily Digest, director § jihadwatch org , http://us1. campaign-archive. com/?u=12857896 c3097382b25b80a09& id=d026ae4096& e=0f34f38913 ; March 22, 2010
   Iranians training Taliban: "Our religions and our histories are different but our target is the same. We both want to kill Americans." http://us1. campaign- archive. com/?u=12857896 c3097382 b25b80a09& id=d026 ae4096& e=0f34 f38913 . Mar 21, 2010 06:20 pm | If I had a nickel for all the times people in audiences where I've spoken, or emailers to this site, or learned analysts with whom I've debated, or any number of other people have told me confidently that Islam is not a monolith, that the umma is rent by deep…
   "It's just the latest in a long line of annoying PC-related nonsense that we keep getting shoved down our throats": U.K. police get another list of things they can't say or do. http:// jihadwatch.us1. list-manage. com/track/click? u=12857896 c3097382b25 b80a09&id=5 fe4cdc695& e=0f34f38913 . Mar 22, 2010 03:02 am | Curiously, the new regulations also make officers' behavior more closely aligned with Sharia norms of gender interaction and interpersonal contact. "Police officers banned from asking for 'Christian' names," by Richard Edwards for the Telegraph, March 18: Police officers have been banned from asking for a person's "Christian" name because it…
   UK: Fascist "anti-fascists" attack anti-jihad demonstrators. http:// jihadwatch. us1.list- manage. com/track/ click?u= 12857896 c3097382 b25b80 a09&id=d2 a39e7d9 c&e=0f34 f38913 . Mar 21, 2010 06:10 pm | The EDL (with Israeli flag at right) UAF (fighting the police) I don't know if it was really the socialist demagogue Huey Long who said that when fascism comes to America, it will be in the guise of anti-fascism, but whoever said it, the point holds true nowadays not…
   UAE: Internet providers ordered to ban man who "insulted Islam" by registering on Facebook as "Allah". http:// jihadwatch. us1.list- manage. com/track/ click?u= 12857896 c3097382 b25b80 a09&id=71 cbb49e47& e=0f34f38913 . Mar 21, 2010 05:46 pm | Oh, the opportunities for mischief:  "Allah" became a fan of Emerson, Lake and Palmer.  "Allah" became a fan of tube tops."  "Allah" and the Flying Spaghetti Monster are now friends.  "Allah" is attending Monster Truck Mayhem."  But alas, Khomeini's pronouncement rings true again: there is no humor in Islam….
   [COMMENT: It is a disgrace for anyone to register on Facebook as "Allah".  Up until recent times, Christian countries punished people for what was called blasphemy.  Even now, it is extremely bad manners to deliberately insult a god that still has current devotees.  In addition, although many people see Allah as some kind of false god, in these days of Islamic militancy it is quite foolish of Jihad Watch to treat a deliberate insult to that god as if it is humorous.  There are enough REAL reasons to dispute with the Muslim faith and with those who try to deceive the rest of the world in the name of Islam, without inventing more reasons for the unfortunate dupes of that religion to hate all non-Muslims. ENDS.]
   Fitzgerald: The Michael Coren Show: "Those Sikh Terrorists Who Allowed The Tamil Tigers" (Part II of III). http:// jihadwatch. us1.list- manage. com/track/ click?u= 12857896 c3097382 b25b80 a09&id= b96dc45 b88&e=0 f34f38913 . Mar 21, 2010 05:05 pm | We are now ready to continue with our discussion of The Michael Coren show, Part 2. Please take the time, once again, to watch both segments. Part 1 is here. Part 2 is above. And my discussion of Part 1 is here. Returning from the station break, this segment…
   Lebanese TV presenter goes to Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage, gets sentenced to death for "sorcery". http://jihadwatch. us1.list-manage.com/track/ click?u=12857896c3097382b25b80a09 &id=73bb363333&e=0f34f38913 . Mar 21, 2010 11:18 am | Priorities, under Sharia: "The judges in Medina issued a statement expressing that Sibat deserved to be executed for having continually practiced black magic on his show, adding that this sentence would deter others from practicing sorcery." "TV presenter gets death sentence for 'sorcery'," by Mohammed Jamjoom for CNN, March 20:…
   Pakistani Christian burned alive, wife raped by police for refusing to convert to Islam. http:// jihadwatch. us1.list- manage. com/track/ click?u= 12857896 c3097382 b25b80a09& id=87cbdd8 d82&e=0f34 f38913 . Mar 21, 2010 10:26 am | The Qur'an says there is "no compulsion in religion " (2:256) but Islamic law and the Qur'an itself are actually full of subtle and not-at-all-subtle means of coercion of non-believers (e.g., dhimmi status, the jizya tax, and of course, warfare). Add to that a situation where authorities, steeped in hatred…
For news source, click: http://www. bosnewslife. com/12035- news-alert- pakistan- christian- burnt-wife- raped-for- refusing- islam . #

‘Adolf Hitler looked after his people’

‘I’m not afraid to say, that if angels walk this earth, they are the Taliban’

‘Osama Bin Laden helped a lot of people’

PREACHER OF
HATE IN WA

Perth sheik investigated by police over his radical teachings P6
   The Sunday Times (Perth, W. Australia), http://www. perthnow. com.au/news/ radical- islamic- elder- preaching- jihad-in- perths- suburbs/ story- e6frg12c- 1225846371476 ; EXCLUSIVE, By STAFF REPORTERS, Pages One and 6, Sunday, March 28, 2010

  Preaching jihad in our suburbs  

(Printed)
Radical Islamic elder preaching jihad in Perth's suburbs (Internet)
   A RADICAL Islamic elder who praises the Taliban and preaches violent jihad to a band of keen followers is being investigated in Perth by WA and Federal police.
   Sources confirmed the joint-agency investigation after The Sunday Times revealed to police that the newspaper had infiltrated a group in which the sheik described armed jihad as the "top" ideal for Muslims and likened the Taliban to "angels".
   Muslim community members said they warned police weeks ago that the Middle Eastern man was recruiting disaffected young Muslim men at a Perth mosque and spreading dangerous messages – about armed jihad, or holy war, against those fighting Islam; and that he claimed to know, and have trained with, Osama bin Laden.
   They stressed that mainstream WA Muslims did not share the views and were concerned police had not acted on their tip-offs. They alerted The Sunday Times as a last resort "before something really bad happens… before this poison spreads".
   In an undercover investigation, The Sunday Times obtained information from meetings at the sheik's northern suburbs home where, before a group of young men, he promoted armed jihad as the highest ideal for Muslims, praised the Taliban and said he had fought In Afghanistan against Soviet forces.
   In other meetings, he praised bin Laden – and even Hitler, justified the actions of suicide bombers, claimed that US presidents were priests and said that Allah would "get" the US and Jews for their actions.
   The man, an Australian citizen whom The Sunday Times has not named under police advice, also said that though Islam forbade killing, people who had tried to stop those bringing the religion to others in the past were killed so that people could receive the word of God.
   Muslim community members said they feared police were waiting for the man and his followers to do something "terrible", so they could make a dramatic arrest and then point to "home-grown terrorists" as justification for repressive police measures and surveillance of all Muslims.
   But sources confirmed an investigation was under way because of earlier information received.  It involved both the WA Police State Security Investigation Group and the Australian Federal Police.
   On Saturday, March 20, in front of five men and youths, the man said that jihad, at its "top" end, was to fight those who fought against Islam, and that going into battle and "putting your life on the line" for Islam was the highest ideal.
   He also said: "I'm not afraid to say that if angels walk this earth, they are the Taliban."
   In the same meeting he told one youth that he had fought in Afghanistan during the Soviet conflict.
   On another occasion he said that people could say Osama bin Laden "is no good … but he helped a lot of people when they are needing help, he built hospitals, he built schools, he give food when people was hungry".
   He said Allah would punish Jews for their wrongdoings and of Hitler he said:  "He enjoyed art, and he enjoyed music, that means he had some softnesses (sic) in him. He looked after his people".
   The man also said that suicide bombers were the result of bombing by the US and its allies.
   "In Iraq, (a man) come home, he find his wife leg there, head there, his children (in) three pieces and his father (in) five pieces and the home is gone," he said.  "What do you expect from this person?
   "I make myself pieces to at least kill (those) who killed my father, who killed my wife."

   When The Sunday Times contacted the elder yesterday, he denied encouraging armed jihad anywhere, or any wrongdoing, and said he was a loyal Australian, but that the Koran said jihad in war "is top of the worshipping because this is (a believer) risking his life".
   Asked about his views that Allah would punish the US and Jews, he said:  "Allah (is) not punishing anyone doing the right thing."
   He said he had met bin Laden when working for a relief agency in Afghanistan in 1980-81 and had "asked him for some donation for some people" as part of that relief work.  He denied claiming he had trained and fought alongside him.
   Yesterday he agreed he had said the Taliban were like angels.
   "Compared to what we are seeing from the other side when the killing coming (sic) or the bombarding happening, I said we can consider Taliban like angels for that, because they are not attempting to hurt the people, but the war is happening there," he said.
   WA Police would not reveal any details of its investigation, but a spokesman said officers worked collaboratively with Federal Police and the Australian intelligence community on such issues.
   A Federal Police spokeswoman said the AFP did not "comment on who it may or may not be investigating". #

   Republican Riot (Saying it, so you don't have to.) http:// www.juliagorin.com/ wordpress/?p=2320 , Posted by Julia Gorin, 11:53:20 PM, March 29, 2010
   We don't yet know the whole story behind the two female suicide bombers who killed 38 people in Moscow and injured scores of others. Although their affiliation is unclear, the working assumption is that the bombers were tied to the Chechen rebel movement in the North Caucasus.
   There is, however, something which we do know for sure, and which we paid no attention to despite its clear connection to the kind of terror Moscow witnessed yesterday morning.
   There was a little-noted meeting that took place in December 2009, in Tbilisi, the capital of U.S. ally Georgia. That month Georgia hosted a conference of jihadists to plan "operations" against Russia. There was no news coverage of the event, and so it took a paid advertisement in the Washington Times to make it known. Stubbornly, still no news organization or blog picked up on it. And so here we are.
   Below are the relevant parts of the paid-for article from last month, titled "The Georgian Imbroglio – And a Choice for the United States." (Original emphasis preserved.) It was penned by James George Jatras, a former U.S. Foreign Service officer as well as foreign policy analyst for the U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee.

   Americans must be made aware of Saakashvili's extending refuge to jihadists responsible for countless acts of terror in southern Russia and his regime's extraordinary coordination efforts to permit them to step up attacks in the Caucasus region.
   Specifically, according to reliable sources {with lines to two foreign intel services}, in December 2009 a secret meeting took place in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, with representatives of numerous jihad groups based in various Islamic and European countries for the purpose of coordinating their activities on Russia's southern flank. The meeting was organized under the auspices of high officials of the Georgian government; while Saakashvili himself was not present, officials of his ministry of internal affairs (allegedly G. Lordkipanidze) and others acted as hosts and coordinators. Georgian Ambassador to Kuwait Mayering-Mikadze purportedly facilitated travel for participants from the Middle East. In addition to "military" operations (i.e., attacks in southern Russia) special attention was given to ideological warfare, for example, the launching of the Russian-language TV station "First Caucasian."
   Are we to believe that U.S. intelligence agencies were unaware of this meeting and other similar actions? The question then is unavoidable: has Washington decided to turn a blind eye – or even worse, to encourage our "ally" Saakashvili to play the "jihad card" against Russia? Could such a thing be possible at a time when the world's media are filled with reports of jihad attacks in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, India, Israel, Philippines, and other countries – not least the United States (Fort Hood, Fort Dix)? The threat comes from the same ideology that motivated the 9/11 attacks against our country and which seeks to create through violence a worldwide Islamic caliphate governed by Sharia law.
   Every day American troops fight jihadists in Afghanistan, where prospects for cooperation between NATO and Russia are increasingly promising. But many in the West prefer to look the other way regarding attacks against Russia, or when an unstable politician masquerading as a Georgian reincarnation of Thomas Jefferson offers his country's territory as a terrorist base.
   We should have learned this lesson a long time ago. During the 1980s, American support for Afghan mujahidin fighting the Soviets seemed to make sense – but it eventually gave us Islamic "scholars" known as Taliban and the al-Qaeda group headed by one of our most adept proteges, Osama bin Laden. The 9/11 Commission Report is replete with references to U.S.-supported jihadist activity in the Balkans in the 1990s, allowing al-Qaeda to emerge from its birthplace in the Hindu Kush and morph into a global force capable of striking the American homeland. Will we now, having learned nothing, repeat the same mistake in the Caucasus – at the cost of scuttling improved ties with the world's second most powerful country, which faces one and the same enemy we do?

   In a brief email interview with Jatras, I asked if he was surprised that such a newsworthy item received virtually no attention. He replied:

   "Newsworthy"? Why? We supported jihadists in Bosnia and Kosovo, and it was still the right thing to do, right? This meeting in Tbilisi wouldn't have been hosted by Saakashvili without our knowledge and at least implicit green light.
   The idea is, it's OK to use jihadists against countries we don't like. First, the USSR. Then Serbia. Is it OK to use jihad against Russia, if we can? China? Iran? North Korea? In principle, if we can do it, what would the objection be?
   As we should have learned, we can't turn them on and off like a spigot, and the monster we've been feeding has a mind of its own. I'd tend to think of supporting jihadists like poison gas or bio war: something you don't do even when it might seem advantageous.

   A March 23rd ad by Jatras appeared in the same space and appealed to the Obama administration to not host Saakashvili when he comes here in April, citing the Georgian president's latest mischief:

   Saakashvili's newest expression of his provocative and obsessive hostility to Russia unfolded the evening of Saturday, March 13, when Georgia's Imedi television station broadcast what was designed to look like live coverage of an actual Russian attack on Georgia. The "coverage" included file footage of the August 2008 fighting shown as current and the "report" that Saakashvili himself was missing and may even have been killed. President Obama is shown with a Georgian-language voice-over warning Russia to stop its military action. … Despite official denials, claims that the Saakashvili administration had nothing to do with the "mockumentary" are implausible. Imedi, formerly critical of Saakashvili, was shut down in 2007 and then reopened under strong government influence, if not direct control. … Most pressing for us as Americans, however, is to make sure we are not drawn into Saakashvili's misadventures. It is now being reported that some officials of the former George W. Bush Administration favored U.S. military action (or at least the threat of it) against Russia in August 2008, risking a direct Washington-Moscow military confrontation that, thankfully, had been avoided during the Cold War. No American interest could possibly have justified such a hazard, nor can any American interest be served by helping to prop up Saakashvili's sliding standing among his own people.
   No matter how much lobbying money he spends – and given the level of U.S. assistance to Georgia, we can perhaps catch a glimpse of our own recycled tax dollars – Saakashvili needs to be told he is not welcome. Having wisely taken the initiative to begin resetting our ties with Russia, a natural American ally against global jihad ideology, President Obama should make it clear to Saakashvili that he's worn out his welcome in Washington.

   To ward off the puzzlingly cynical eye that some cast on those who today try to foster better relations between the U.S. and a post-Soviet Russia, it's worth summarizing Jatras's background, which I asked Jatras for. While working at the State Department in the time of Reagan, Jatras was close to a then-famous dissident named Vladimir Bukovsky. He elaborates:

   In some ways, we {Bukovsky, Jatras, and their friends} were the heart of the Administration's anti-communist line and the "fathers" of the National Endowment for Democracy. (As opposed to the prevailing view that communism was forever and we needed permanent detente with the Soviet regime. Looking back from today, it's hard to believe how ingrained that view was). We never could have imagined that after the fall of communism the US would keep and even step up an anti-Russian line – in the name of "democracy".
   Vladimir has gone in the direction of Kasparov, Kasyanov, Limonov and those guys {State Dept. puppets}, and we have not been in contact with him for years. But {my friends and I} (like those working in Ukraine with me) have taken the line that the US needs to take a positive and cooperative line with Russia against the jihadists, starting with no NATO expansion and no "color revolutions". "Northern Civilization" (North America, Europe, Russia) needs to stick together. Pushing a new cold war (to what purpose?) is destructive and suicidal.
   We've been working hard here in DC, with whatever support we can find, to try to build good relations between Washington and Moscow. That keeps getting harder as the US imperial line became stronger. We hope a change of course is possible under Obama. It can't be worse than Bush, but we still have some big problems in this administration too: Biden, Hillary, and especially Richard Holbrooke (whose people are planted in key positions). But now that the US is almost bankrupt and losing two wars, that line – hopefully – has no place to go.

   Indeed, most Americans would be shocked to realize that rather than worldwide jihad, our government is still fighting the Cold War. It continues to be our M.O. to use al Qaeda operatives and other jihadists as a stick against rival world powers, most notably Russia. We still believe that "our" jihadists can be controlled, as if they don't have their own agendas. But the notion is continually contradicted, its counterproductive effects most recently illuminiated when in December India learned that David Headley, "the Chicagoan arrested in October for suspected involvement in the Mumbai terrorist siege and plots against other countries, may have been a double agent for the al Qaeda-linked Pakistani Lashkar e-Taibe and US intelligence," DEBKAfile reported Dec. 18. More:

   This suspicion is severely straining relations between New Delhi and Washington. DEBKAfile's counter-terror sources report New Delhi suspects the CIA knew in advance about the Mumbai attack, in which 177 people died and 500 were injured, and were aware of Headley's links with its LeT perpetrators, al Qaeda's operational arm in Pakistan, but omitted to forewarn Indian authorities for fear of touching off a military showdown between India and Pakistan.
   Israel was not tipped off either although the Chabad Center of Mumbai, where six people were {tortured and} killed, was a special target.
   An official at the Indian Ministry of the Interior confirmed Wednesday, Dec. 16, that his government "is looking into whether Headley worked as a double agent. The feeling in India," he said, "is that the US has not been transparent." The atmosphere between the two countries is not helped by the FBI's refusal to let Indian anti-terror officers question Headley.

   More Moscows and Mumbais to come, courtesy of The United States of America. #

Muslim leaders ‘failing to tackle extremists’

   The Times Online (London), letters § thetimes co uk , http://www. timesonline. co.uk/tol/ comment/ faith/ article 7082139.ece , by Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent, March 30, 2010
   Muslim leaders have been criticised by a University of Oxford academic for not doing enough to tackle extremists.
   At the same time a parliamentary committee has attacked a central plank of the Government's counter-extremism programme by arguing that its "Prevent" strategy has "stigmatised and alienated" Muslims.
   Nick Chatrath, a researcher at Oxford's Faculty of Oriental Studies, claims in a paper to be published this week that in the face of growing radicalisation in Britain, Muslim leaders are ignoring extremists' points of view and glossing over some of the more unsavoury parts of Islam's ancient texts.
   In an essay in next month's Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Mr Chatrath called for a more open engagement by moderate Muslims with the arguments of extremists.
   Based on interviews with Anjem Choudary, of the banned extremist group Islam4UK, and Dr Musharraf Hussain, an adviser to the Muslim Council of Britain, Mr Chatrath said: "Moderate Muslim leaders are doing a poor job of tackling extremism in Britain."
   He said that extremists such as Mr Choudary, who has argued that democracy should be replaced with obedience to Allah, were using the Koran and other ancient texts to justify their actions. He called on moderate community leaders to do more to counter this.
   "This attitude must change, as the best way to extinguish extremist arguments is to deal with them out in the open, not just sweep them under the carpet and hope for the best," he said.
   "Some recent polls suggest ordinary British Muslims are becoming more sympathetic to extremists, and this could be related to the way moderate Muslims are ignoring the extremist threat."
   His paper came as a committee of MPs said that the programme set up by the Government to stop radicalisation and reduce support for terrorism had undermined community relations.
   But the Communities and Local Government Committee said that many Muslims feared that it was an attempt to spy on them and called for ministers to investigate claims that Prevent was being used by police and MI5 to gather intelligence on alleged radicals.
   The committee's report, Preventing Violent Extremism, also accused ministers of trying to "engineer" a moderate form of Islam and sidelining those who did not fit in.
   Phyllis Starkey, the committee's chairwoman, said: "Many witnesses made plain they believe Prevent has been used to 'spy' on Muslim communities. The misuse of terms such as 'intelligence gathering' amongst Prevent partners has clearly discredited the programme and fed distrust.
   "Information required to manage Prevent has been confused with intelligence gathering undertaken by the police to combat crime and surveillance used by the security services to actively pursue terrorism suspects."
   The Muslim Council said: "The committee's findings reflect the deep anxiety felt by Britain's Muslims as it has become the central policy tool for Government to engage with Muslim communities. In effect, Britain's Muslims are only seen through the prism of security."
   The council said that the Government's policy had become inadvertently sectarian. "Britain's Muslim community is one of the most diverse communities on Earth. It is the responsibility of government to facilitate that diversity, not to promote discord. We are glad this instructive lesson has been taken up by the current Communities Secretary, and we hope it is not lost on all those who are engaged with public policy and the Muslim community." #

[Honest UK write-up; Somalian Aussie plotting in Kenya? Livelihood of movie exhibitors destroyed in Pak.; Bomb scare on cruise ship; Russian bomber trained in Turkey? Nigerian Islamic law discussion on WWW forbidden.]

   Jihad Watch Daily Digest, director § jihadwatch org , http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=12857896c3097382b25b80a09&id=e96ccc298e&e=0f34f38913 , March 30, 2010
   • U.K.: "In the face of growing radicalization in Britain, Muslim leaders are ignoring extremists' points of view and glossing over some of the more unsavory parts of Islam's ancient texts".  Mar 30, 2010 07:48 pm | All quite true. This story again demonstrates the uselessness of the "moderate" label. As "moderation" is relative to extremes, all the term can tell us is that the "moderate" is perceived as not being as bad as the next guy. It does not, however, imply a forthright and useful engagement …
   • Kenyan police pursuing Somali-born Australian national suspected of plotting suicide attack on military base.  Mar 30, 2010 07:35 pm | With apologies to Dr. Seuss: Oh, The Places You'll Misunderstand Islam! "Kenyan Police Hunting Australian Terror Suspect," from VOA News, March 30: Anti-terrorism police units in Kenya are still searching for a Somali-born Australian terror suspect, who escaped earlier this month while in police custody in a town near the …
   • Nigeria: Islamic court makes temporary injunction against online debate of Sharia provisions permanent.  Mar 30, 2010 07:18 pm | "The Association of Muslim Brotherhood of Nigeria, a pro-Sharia group based in the northern city of Kaduna, argued that the forums would mock the Sharia system." When "government knows best" meets "Allah knows best," this is what happens to a citizen's right to criticize -- or change -- his or …
   • Russia looking for 21 members of "black widow" jihadist cell trained in Turkey.  Mar 30, 2010 02:24 pm | According to this story, one of the bombers in yesterday's attack in Moscow may also have been mentally retarded. Such gallant mujahedin, pressing the most vulnerable members of society into the business of mass murder. And it would not be the first time we have seen this tactic employed. "Russia …
   • Pakistan: Taliban threats force closure, demolition of movie theaters. Mar 30, 2010 02:10 pm | Long-term economic changes wrought by violence, intimidation and the consequent hostile and uncertain climate for continuing to do business. And it's not the first, and won't be the last source of livelihood to be destroyed by jihad and the imposition of Sharia. "Pakistan: Taliban threat forces cinemas to close," by …
   • Medved takes down a conspiracy fantasist (with a little help from me).  Mar 30, 2010 08:58 am | I was on the Michael Medved Show yesterday, and here (courtesy Religio-Political Talk) is a bit from the end of the show, in which Medved makes short work of a conspiracy fantasist, with a bit from me at the end … .
   • Bomb scare on cruise ship: "Virginia man" yelling "we are jihad" and "come to the top deck and watch the bomb".  Mar 30, 2010 08:09 am | When, oh, when, is Virginia going to institute transparent, honest, comprehensive programs teaching its citizens against jihad violence? What's that? The problem is not that this guy was from Virginia? The problem is ideas, assumptions and beliefs he learned as a Muslim? What are you, some kind of Islamophobe? "Carnival …
   Copyright © 2010 Jihad Watch, All rights reserved.

   The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , letters § wanews com au , http://au. news.yahoo. com/thewest/ a/-/breaking/ 7008504/ islamic- college- leaders- guilty-of- fraud/ ; By KATE CAMPBELL, The West Australian, 3:55 pm, March 31, 2010
   PERTH (W. Australia) – Two Islamic college leaders were this afternoon found guilty of fraudulently claiming millions of dollars from the State and Federal governments to help get the school out of financial trouble.
   A District Court jury convicted Australian Islamic College founder Abdallah Saad Magar of 14 out of 15 fraud charges.  Principal Aziz Magdi was found guilty of five out of nine fraud charges.  A third man, another principal, Mark Brian Debowski, was acquitted of his three fraud charges.
   During the three-week trial, the prosecution told the jury that Magar was the "driving force" behind the fraud from 2005 to 2006.  The prosecution also told the jury the fraud involved inflating student numbers at the college's three campuses at Dianella, Kewdale and Thornlie in order to obtain extra money in government subsidies and that Magdi and Mr Debowski had knowingly signed off on the claim forms.
   The court was told the money was not used for personal gain, but rather went into the college because many of its students were not paying fees.  Prosecutor Paul Yovich said during the trial that the college claimed government money for students who never went to the college or had left to go to another school or move overseas.
   He said the trial was not about religion in any way.
   The three men were charged in June 2008 following a police raid on the college's campuses and headquarters in January 2007.
   After the verdicts were handed down today, Mr Yovich said he would be seeking a significant term of imprisonment for Magar.
   Magar and Magdi were released on bail and will be sentenced on April 27. #

   Jihad Watch Daily Digest, http://us1. campaign- archive.com/ ?u=12857896 c3097382 b25b80 a09&id= c1fff7f c83&e=0f34 f38913 ; director § jihadwatch org , March 31, 2010
• Illinois: Muslim inmates sue because prison doesn't allow them enough time with family and friends. Mar 31, 2010 05:01 pm |
   These prisoners have committed crimes. That's why they're in prison. That can tend to lead to a certain curtailing of one's freedoms. Only because they recognize American officials as the hopeless dhimmis that they generally are do they dare to bring such a suit. Courtroom Jihad Update: "Inmates Say Prisons …
• UK conference on Islam in Italy boasts of coming Islamic conquest Mar 31, 2010 04:51 pm | Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, is said to have predicted the Islamic conquest first of Constantinople ("the city of Heraclius" below) and then of Rome. An Islamic conference to be held in London on April 10 boasts about what the conference organizers see as the looming fulfillment of the …
• Jihad group claims "credit" for Moscow bombings Mar 31, 2010 04:45 pm | Big surprise. Note that he says that these attacks were "revenge." Jihad attacks are always framed as revenge, because from the standpoint of Islamic law only defensive jihad is justified at this point -- also, to frame mass murder in this way helps take the sting out for sympathizers to …
• U.S. supporting Islamic jihad against Russia Mar 31, 2010 01:33 pm | Stubbornly ignorant and unwilling to investigate the jihad doctrine, State Department officials led the U.S. into war to support jihadists in Bosnia and Kosovo. Now the same mistake is being repeated. "U.S. Supports Islamic Terror Against Russia," by Julia Gorin at Republican Riot, March 29 (thanks to Pamela): We don't …
• Belgian parliament bans burqas, Mar 31, 2010 11:54 am | Not "compatible with an open, liberal, tolerant society." Indeed. "Belgian parliament bans burquas [sic] in public," from AP, March 31: BRUSSELS-- A vote against wearing face-covering veils in public was unanimously established on Wednesday. This legislation represents a major legislative step, which could make Belguim the first European country to …
• Spencer at Florida State University School of Law, March 30 .  Mar 31, 2010 11:21 am | Speech in five parts: Q & A, in 3 parts: All videos courtesy of Jaime -- many thanks, my friend! …
• The great Nazi-hunter Charles Johnson bags another .  Mar 31, 2010 11:03 am | Libelblogger Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs is dead and buried as a source that anyone takes seriously -- even the New York Times did a post-mortem -- but Johnson's latest ridiculous discovery of neo-Nazis warrants a revisit to this whole sad affair. Weasel Zippers has found the comment …
• "Blasphemy" and "Defamation of Islam" at the UN Commission on Human Rights - and the "Islamophobia" monster at the Council in Frankenstein's footsteps .  Mar 31, 2010 09:10 am | Comments by David G. Littman, NGO Representative at the UN in Geneva: Association for World Education and World Union for Progressive Judaism This joint oral statement, on former themes, was drafted on the spur of the moment and delivered hastily by DGL on the last day when NGO representatives …
• Fitzgerald: Do Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton know what's going on in the Chittagong Hills? If they did, would they care? .  Mar 31, 2010 09:00 am | If you visit this site every day, you know that there are three kinds of news stories related to or about Islam. There are the stories that, within a day or a week, will make it to the New York Times, and NPR, albeit in less intelligible and often tendentious …
• New tandem suicide bombings kill 12 in southern Russia .  Mar 31, 2010 08:14 am | War is deceit, Muhammad said: "As investigators and residents gathered around the scene of the [first] blast, a second bomber wearing a police uniform approached and set off explosives." "New suicide blasts kill 12 in southern Russia," by Arsen Mollayev for the Associated Press, March 31: MAKHACHKALA, Russia - Two … #

Islamic college pair guilty

   The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , letters § wanews com au , p 14, Thursday, April 1, 2010
   PERTH, W. Australia – Two Islamic college leaders were found guilty yesterday of fraudulently claiming millions of dollars from the State and Federal governments to help get the school out of financial trouble.
   A District Court jury convicted Australian Islamic College founder Abdallah Saad Magar of 14 out of 15 charges.
   Magar was described by prosecutor Paul Yovich as the "driving force" behind the fraud, which totalled more than $4 million.
   Principal Aziz Magdi was found guilty of five out of nine charges and a third man, another principal, Mark Brian Debowski, was acquitted of three charges. #

   The Week, www.theweek.com.au , editorial § theweek com au , Corbis, p 11-12, April 2, 2010
   CITYHERE – Briefing The struggle for Turkey's soul Dozens of top Turkish military officers were recently arrested for plotting a coup. Why is Turkey in turmoil? NEWS 11
   What's really going on in Turkey?
   A simmering power struggle has burst into the open, pitting Turkey's secular military against its Islamist-leaning civilian leadership. Turkey, located at the crucial crossroad where Europe meets Asia, is one of the world's largest democracies with a Muslim majority, and it has the second-largest military in Nato.
   The country has long modelled its government on the secular democracies of the West, but that may be changing. In 2002, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamist-leaning Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power, installing in the government men who previously belonged to banned Islamic parties.
   Erdogan quickly began to blur the lines between mosque and state. One of his first actions was a push to allow religious headscarves to be worn in universities and government offices. More recently, Erdogan opened up trade and closer relations with Iran, called the terrorists of Hamas "my brothers", and demanded the expulsion of Israel from the UN.
   What does the military think of this?
   It's appalled. The military has always seen itself as the guardian of the secular legacy of modern Turkey's founding father, Mustafa Kemal Atatiirk (see box), and has never hesitated to exert its power. Indeed, military coups have overthrown elected Turkish governments four times since 1960. In 2007, the generals spoke out against the presidential candidacy of Abdullah Gul, then foreign minister, on the grounds that he was too religious and his wife wore a headscarf.
   How did the public react?
   The generals' comments were perceived as a tacit coup threat, and Turks - religious and secular ones alike - rallied to the government. When Erdogan called a snap election, his AKP won an even greater majority. Then, in 2008, the military tried to get the Constitutional Court to ban the AKP, on the dubious charge that the party was seeking to impose sharia (Islamic law). After that effort also failed, the emboldened government challenged the military in a manner never before seen in Turkey.
  [Picture] Ceremony marking the 71st anniversary of Ataturk's death 
   Does Ergenekon really exist?
   Not as a distinct, centralised organisation, and it's clear that the government crackdown is directed at least partly against Erdogan's most outspoken critics, including journalists, professors and human-rights activists. But that doesn't mean the government's charges are wholly invented. Secret caches of weapons and explosives have been found, and some officers have been implicated in assassination plots. And two months ago, a Turkish newspaper uncovered a well-documented military plot that resulted in the arrests of dozens of top officers, including the former commanders of the navy, air force and army.
   What are the officers accused of?
   An outrageous plot - dubbed "Operation Sledgehammer" by the alleged conspirators - to stir Islamists into violence and thus cause a backlash against them. According to 5,000 pages of military documents leaked to the newspaper Taraf, the military was planning to stage multiple attacks, including bombing Istanbul's busiest mosques. Dozens of current and former officers have been arrested, hauled away by civilian police. "It's a first in Turkey's history," said journalist Yasemin Congar. "The high-ranking military officers have almost always been deemed untouchable."
   What does the military say?
   The military claims that Operation Sledgehammer was created as a kind of war game. Many of the incriminating documents had been drawn up for a seminar on wartime contingency plans, the military says, and were part of a training exercise. "How on earth could the Turkish armed forces plan to bomb mosques?" asked army chief Gen. Ilker Basbug, who is not accused of any wrongdoing. "It is an absurdity." Even military prosecutors, who are conducting their own investigation, concede that at least some of the evidence is genuine.
   What does that mean for Turkey?
   It may continue to become a more openly Islamist state, choosing to ally itself with Iran and other Muslim nations, while distancing itself from the West. [ … ]

      The Week, www.theweek.com.au , editorial § theweek com au , by Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, AAP, pp 40-41, April 2, 2010
   Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, a veteran of the successful jihad against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, recalls how a popular response to banditry became a national movement
   In 1992,I returned to Afghanistan and became the Imam of the mosque in a tiny village inhabited by no more than ten or 15 people located on the way to Panjwayi district centre. I felt calm and for once life passed easily, allowing me to keep busy with my studies. I avoided the city altogether and never went anywhere near the various checkpoints and known hangouts of local criminals and gangs. Whenever I needed anything I would ask a member of my congregation to bring it for me. I spent little time with my friends from the jihad period, just meeting them occasionally when they happened to pass through the village.
  [Picture] Taliban fighters near the Northern Alliance village of Qurbragh  
   Many of the people who went to the city would come back with tales of anarchy and chaos, and often I heard artillery fire in the distance. The stories made me feel uneasy; I remembered the jihad and the sacrifices we had made. It seemed that it had been for nothing, but I still remained patient and gave the same advice to my congregation.
   Two old friends came to visit me at the mosque. They were both mujahideen and we had fought side-by-side during the jihad. They stayed for dinner and we talked till late at night. One said that life had become unbearable. Stealing and looting were unavoidable. Homosexuality and adultery were everywhere. People acted without any thought of morality. "What shall we do, Mullah Saheb?" he asked. "We have lost our way."
   This was not the first time old friends and people from the village had come to me. For months I had heard them telling me how helpless they felt with no one to turn to, no court or police who would help them. I myself felt helpless as I listened to them, and it affected me deeply. I spent a lot of my time wondering whether it was my religious duty to act, if this was still part of my jihad to fight against Afghans who were squeezing the life out of their own people for the sake of money and power.
   My friends were young; they were part of a new generation that spoke easily about the intolerable situation but who did not think of the consequences of taking action. I told them to be patient, to wait. God is great, I told them, and things might still change. But the two young men said they could not just sit around and wait.
   In Pashmol near their home, Commander Saleh operated a checkpoint on the Kandahar-Kabul highway. He and his men were not just harassing people and robbing them of their money but had been raping women as well. They planned to ambush him at the Arghandab River. They had put together a serious plan and I heard them out, but I could not agree with it. All over Afghanistan people faced the same situation; the entire province of Kandahar was crawling with rogue commanders and bandits lingering along the roads and cities. Just killing one of them would make no difference, I said.
   We were still discussing the situation when Abdul Mohammad came into the room. He was a young man and a member of my congregation. He had just returned from the city and I invited him to join us for a cup of tea. I asked him about the situation in the city. "Hajji Mullah Saheb," he said. "Why are you asking about the situation in the city? Just a few minutes ago we were nearly killed right here on the road!" Abdul Mohammad continued his story. He had been confronted by armed men and shouted at them. "What are you doing, robbing people in broad daylight while our country is falling apart!" They told him to shut up.
  ‘Many were quick to embrace what we stood for.  The Taliban had given beauty to the region just as a flower can brighten barren land’  
   Everyone became animated when they heard the story. They were already talking about tracking down the men and going to their houses. I stayed silent until Abdul Mohammad had left. Then I spoke. "First, we need more men, a force big enough to be able to hold its own ground and defend itself. We need enough men to stand up to other groups of bandits and robbers, a group that cannot just defend itself, but also other people's rights. We need the support of the people and we need to find a solution together with the people. We should not only focus on our own problems."
   The founding meeting of what became known as "the Taliban" was held in the late autumn of 1994. Some 40 to 50 people had gathered at the white mosque in Sangisar. The respected Mawlawi Abdul Samad was designated the Taliban's Amir, and Mullah Mohammad Omar was its commander. Mullah Mohammad Omar took an oath from everyone present. Each man swore on the Koran to stand by him, and to fight against corruption and the criminals. No written articles of association, no logo and no name for the movement was agreed on or established during the meeting.
   Sharia would be our guiding law and would be implemented by us. We would prosecute vice and foster virtue, and would stop those who were bleeding the land. Soon after the meeting, we established our own checkpoint along the Herat-Kandahar highway, and we immediately began to implement the sharia in the surrounding area. We sent out groups of people to the nearby villages to let them know who we were, and to collect bread and sour milk from the houses. Many of the Taliban were well known in the area and respected, and people were eager to help.
   The next night the BBC announced the birth of a new movement in Afghanistan, and that the Taliban in Sangisar had started it. According to the BBC report, the Taliban wanted to cleanse the region of the illegal armed groups that were robbing the people.
   Members of the Taliban had not issued any official announcement or press statement about their objectives; they hadn't even given any interviews. The media immediately started coining names for the movement, like "the movement of the Taliban", "the Islamic Movement of the Taliban", "the Taliban faction", or just simply "the movement".
  [Picture] Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef  
   The first few days of the movement were times of great need. We had a few weapons, but no cars and no money. Mullah Abdul Sattar and I each had a motorbike, and I had about 10,000 Afghanis at home that I donated to the group's funds. We pledged our motorcycles to the movement. My bike broke down with an engine problem on the first day, though, which left Mullah Sattar's Russian motorbike as the Taliban's only means of transportation. It had no exhaust pipe and could be heard coming from miles away, roaring down the dirt tracks and back roads. We called it "the Tank of Islam".
   Scores of people came to our checkpoint to see the Taliban for themselves. There was hope in their hearts for the first time in years, and many were quick to embrace what we stood for. The Taliban had given beauty to the region just as a flower can brighten even the most barren desert. Soon dozens of volunteers came to join us, and only a few days after the movement started it had more than 400 members. Invitations were sent out to people who came from all over Helmand and even from Pakistan to join. We travelled up and down the road between Maiwand and Panjwayi from checkpoint to checkpoint, informing all the commanders and bandits that they should stop their extortion and harassment. Most of them ignored us. Many even stepped up the cruel punishments that they inflicted. They would send messages filled with curses and abuse with every car that passed their checkpoints going towards the Taliban. They would call us beggars, sons of mura, or wild turbaned men. Often worse names and messages would reach us.
   We needed to prove that we would act if our demands were ignored. At a meeting we all resolved to attack Daru Khan's checkpoint. A group of ten or 12 Taliban armed with one RPG and a few Kalashnikovs approached the checkpoint from a village close by, while another group came down the road. When he noticed us Daru Khan opened fire and the fight began. He was being attacked from two sides and he realised that we were serious: we would neither tolerate his checkpoint nor would we retreat just because he forced a fight on us. A few of his men died in the exchange of fire and Daru Khan fled. When others saw the fate of Daru Khan they, too, abandoned their posts without a fight. The news of the Taliban's initial success spread, and many more came to join.
   Hajji Bashar, the administrator of Keshkinakhud, handed his area over to the Taliban even though no one had demanded it from him. He had already donated a Toyota Datsun and a Hino truck. Abdul Wasi, a well known and brave mujahid who had become a prominent merchant, had also donated a Land Cruiser. The news of the Taliban's initial success spread, and many more came to join. Soon we were known throughout Afghanistan.
   Occasionally journalists would turn up, but we did not care much for them. They often came with many demands, and on one occasion a journalist wanted to talk to me. Since we were not allowed to give interviews to the media, I told him that he should talk to our leadership and not to me, but he just took that as an invitation to ask me questions about the Taliban leadership for his interview. The journalists would then try to find someone who would give them an interview but the Taliban kept to themselves.
   All over Kandahar, the movement had sprung up in different districts at the same time with three different groups operating semi-independently. Mullah Mohammad Omar decided that the movement should be united and invited Mullah Mohammad Rabbani Akhund and Mawlawi Abdul Razaq to a meeting. Both swore on the holy Koran to follow Mullah Mohammad Omar and the three factions of the Taliban came together under his single leadership.
   Kandahar City was handed over to the Taliban willingly. Hajji Mullah Obaidullah was appointed commander of the Kandahar Corps; Mullah Mohammad Hassan was appointed governor; Akhtar Mohammad Mansur was appointed commander of the air forces; the martyred Mullah Abdul Salam was appointed the provincial Army chief, and the responsibility for government departments was divided between various people. The city was at peace. The old habits of keeping boys, adultery, looting, illegal checkpoints and the government of the gun were over. An ordinary life was given back to the people, and they were satisfied for the first time in years.
   This is an abridged extract from My Life with the Taliban by Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, published by Scribe, RRP $45. #

   Jihad Watch Daily Digest, http://us1. campaign- archive. com/?u= 12857896 c3097382 b25b80a09& id=fb0634 d6db&e=0 f34f38913 ; April 12, 2010
• Dhimmi reporter, unsavory Islamic group seek slick Muslim to deceive Americans about Islam; Apr 12, 2010 03:32 am | MPAC unsavory? See here. I've got a better idea for Mary Sanchez and MPAC: if they really want to "unravel" Americans' "misperceptions" of Islam, here is an easy way they can do it without going to all the time, trouble and expense of finding and hiring a slick PR man: …
• Watson: Play For Keeps; Apr 12, 2010 03:17 am | Play For Keeps by D.C. Watson The terrorist attacks against the United States on 9/11/2001 must be a big joke to them. Maybe they had a good laugh when a Muslim terrorist tried to set off his plastic explosives-laden panties on a Christmas Day 2009 flight over Detroit. Two recent …
• Gorin: More Details on the Georgia-Hosted Jihadi Conference Emerge; Apr 12, 2010 03:12 am | More Details on the Georgia-Hosted Jihadi Conference Emerge by Julia Gorin An analysis published Monday by Defense & Foreign Affairs offers some corroboration for the Georgia-hosted, U.S.-approved jihadi confab in December, the mention of which seemed to upset some readers. Here are the relevant excerpts from the 16-page analysis, which …
• U.S. jihad suspects in Pakistan now claim police fabricated evidence; Apr 12, 2010 03:05 am | Marisol They first said they had no regrets about plotting jihad against U.S. forces. Then they claimed they weren't terrorists, but merely jihadists, and that the latter should be quite alright. Then they claimed to have just been joking. Then they claimed to have been tortured. Next excuse: Ready … set … "American …
• Breaking news: the Muslims saved civilization!  Apr 12, 2010 02:50 am | News item: "Scholar of Islamic thought to speak," from the Ithaca Journal, April 11: The second Arts and Sciences Humanities Lecture, "How the Muslims Saved Civilization: the Reception of Greek Learning in Arabic," will be given by distinguished scholar of Islamic thought Peter Adamson, professor of ancient and medieval philosophy, …
• Iranian Supremo embarks on comedy career, claims that Obama threatened Iran with nukes; Apr 11, 2010 04:21 pm | The Don Rickles of Tehran You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll be incinerated in a nuclear holocaust. "Iran says new US policy a nuclear threat," by Ali Akbar Dareini for Associated Press, April 11 (thanks to Maxwell): TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's supreme leader said Sunday that President Barack Obama has …
• New York: Muslim suing hotel for not hiring him as security guard because of his beard; Apr 11, 2010 04:15 pm | Once again, the assumption is that non-Muslim customs and practices (and laws) must bend to Muslim customs, practices and laws -- this is certainly true in Muslim countries, but all too many Muslims assert the same thing in non-Muslim countries as well. "Muslim's 'shave' bias suit," by Stefanie Cohen for …
• UK: Muslim prisoners intimidating non-Muslim prisoners, getting preferential treatment; Apr 11, 2010 04:06 pm | And prison authorities are afraid to cross them. "Islamic inmates hand back TVs to escape X Factor," by Ben Goldby for the Sunday Mercury, April 11 (thanks to Twostellas): [ … ] Islamic inmate Abu Dira wrote to lag magazine Inside Time about the X Factor protest at the Worcestershire jail. …
• Doug Giles: What's a Muslim gotta do to go to jail in Obamaland?  Apr 11, 2010 03:55 pm | A good question from Doug Giles (thanks to Mackie) -- and note, of course, that while Doug is right that the mainstream media did not report on the Muslim bb gun shooting of a gay man in San Francisco, we did here at Jihad Watch: Let me see if I …
• Arrogant Obama alienating friends, encouraging jihadists; Apr 11, 2010 03:39 pm | An Indian columnist notices how Obama is turning allies into enemies and enemies into allies -- with the only beneficiaries being jihad states like Iran and rapidly Islamizing polities like Pakistan. "Arrogant Obama alienates friends," by Swapan Dasgupta for the Daily Pioneer, April 11 (thanks to Sanjay): When Prime Minister …
• British girl kidnapped by Saudi father: "I told [the police] he was keeping me there against my will and all they said was, 'He's your father, if he wants he can kill you'."  Apr 11, 2010 03:15 pm | Indeed, traditional Islamic law does not prescribe retaliation against a parent for killing his or her child. For example: "not subject to retaliation" is "a father or mother (or their fathers or mothers) for killing their offspring, or offspring's offspring." ('Umdat al-Salik o1.1-2)." "British girl of 10 kept in Saudi …
• Anti-Semitic incidents doubled last year, dhimmi AP blames "backlash" for Israel's incursion into Gaza; Apr 11, 2010 02:24 pm | Islamic antisemitism? The deeply ingrained idea that the Jews are the worst enemies of the Muslims (Qur'an 5:82)? Pah! It's all just a "backlash," you see, like those phantom backlashes against Muslims that the mainstream media is always wringing its hands about after every Islamic jihad attack against Infidels. …
• The FDI CPAC Conference: Now on DVD !  Apr 11, 2010 02:22 pm | "The single most important event of this three-day conference." -- Mark J. Koenig at David Horowitz's NewsReal Blog The Freedom Defense Initiative conference "Jihad: The Political Third Rail -- What They Aren't Telling You," held at the site of the Conservative Political Action Conference 2010, was the only event …
• UK police bow to "Islamic sensitivities," allow Muslim protesters to throw shoes; Apr 11, 2010 08:41 am |
   It's a "ritual form of protest," you see, and therefore "not a criminal act of violence." That means the shoes won't hurt as much. Absurd Britannia Alert: "Met allows Islamic protesters to throw shoes," by David Leppard for The Sunday Times, April 11: SCOTLAND YARD has bowed to Islamic sensitivities … #

   Antiwar.com (Copyright © 2010), <http://­original.antiwar.com/­vlahos/­2010/04/12/­a-deal-with-the-devil>, by Kelley B. Vlahos, April 13, 2010
   We talk about the possibility of losing the war in Afghanistan, but what if we lose our soul in Afghanistan?
   Indirectly, Frontlinewill be asking that very question on April 20 with an underground report on the resurgence of bacha bazi or "boy play" among the wealthiest and most powerful men in northern Afghanistan.  It’s the pustule threatening to burst all over the righteousness of our humanitarian effort there, and just the tip of the sick fact of how poor Afghan children are systematically used, abused, and tossed away by the ruling elite and even Afghan soldiers living, training, and fighting alongside our own.
   Bacha bazi is an old Afghan tradition of taking young boys, dressing them up like girls, and making them perform for older men in tea rooms, weddings, and other private venues.  The boys are "owned" by single or married men who trade or keep the boys as concubines.  According to reports, the boys’ ages range from eight to 19, when they "age out" of the practice and are released.
   "The bacha dancers are often abused children whose families have rejected them," said the Guardian’s Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, who wrote about the practice in September.  He described one boy who was sexually assaulted by a mechanic in his town.  The boy’s family blamed him and turned him out.  He was forced to live with the man who attacked him.  "Now I am with someone else, and he taught me how to dance," the boy, now 16 years old, said.
   Other reports describe bacha bazi as an increasingly lucrative business, in which the boy slaves are seen as important status symbols of the elite.  "Everyone tries to have the best, most handsome, and good-looking boy," a former mujahedin commander told Reuters back in 2007.
   A 42-year-old landowner in Baghlan province named Enayatullah told Reuters, "I was married to a woman 20 years ago, she left me because of my boy. … I was playing with my boy every night and was away from home, eventually my wife decided to leave me.  I am happy with my decision because I am used to sleeping and entertaining with my young boy."
   The boys, who often know no other life but as chattel, call the men "my lord."  Attempting escape could result in severe physical punishment, or even death.  The family of a dead 15-year-old boy told Frontline that a policeman was eventually thrown in jail in connection with his murder.  But they believed the boy’s former owner, a wealthy drug baron whom he was escaping, bribed local officials to set the policeman free after only "a few months" of jail time.
   "If only these people were punished, this kind of thing wouldn’t happen," the boy’s mother said.  "Whoever commits these crimes doesn’t get punished.
   Power is power."
   I remember the first time I ever heard of bacha bazi.  A soldier friend of mine who had been in Kabul told me of a disconcerting evening when he stumbled into a tea room in which a group of well-dressed Afghan men were gathering.  His Afghan interpreter yanked him by the arm and out of the place, warning of danger.  That was bacha bazi, he explained, in which young boys are forced to dance for men.  He had better move on and forget.
   He moved on, but he never forgot.  Like me, my friend had grown up in a working class New England town, and these were horrors that men were beaten and even killed for in prison.  We call it pedophilia, and most here would say is worth an eternity of damnation for its perpetrators, not a high social rank and adulation among the town’s elite.
   "It’s gotten limited attention," admitted Rachel Reid of Human Rights Watch.  "There’s been some Afghan investigative journalists who have tackled it, though in areas where the perpetrators are also local ‘commanders’ whether official or unofficial, there will always be fear of reprisals."

   Approaching the issue as Americans we are flummoxed, as if it occurs on another planet.  Reprisals for exposing the sexual abuse of children?  The Catholic Church spent more than a half-century hiding its abusive priests because it feared that reprisals from the outside might destroy the institution.  Here, we have authority figures – former commanders and warlords – flaunting their dancing slave boys, practically daring interference from outside.
   (ABC/Four Corners)
   "What was so unnerving about the men I had met was not just their lack of concern for the damage their abuse was doing to the boys," said Najibullah Quraishi, the Afghan journalist who was escorted through the underground by one of the bacha bazi pimps for six months.  His harrowing footage and reporting was broadcast by Australia’s Four Corners in February and will make its American debut via Frontline.  "It was also their casualness with which they operated and the pride with which they show me their boys, their friends, their world.  They clearly believed that nothing they were doing was wrong."
   The behavior of these modern slave owners belies an endemic problem that human rights advocates and even NATO military personnel operating in Afghanistan have observed for some time now, according to reports.  (The U.S. State Department included the rape, abuse, and exploitation of Afghan children in its 2009 annual human rights report, released in March).
   But observers say the age-old ritual of man-boy predatory sex, which is obliquely condoned throughout Afghanistan because of a pervasive fear or indifference about prosecuting it on any serious level, according to numerous reports, has proliferated after decades of poverty, corruption, and a lack of enduring social institutions.  All reports indicate that while bacha bazi and the abuse is illegal, perpetrators rarely pay for their crimes.  Meanwhile, poor families sell their children, and orphans are snatched off the street.  They are the meekest, preyed upon by the strongest – the kind of wealthy, powerful men who have benefited most from the Western occupation and generous foreign aid.
   This has put us in a moral and ethical quandary too painful and perhaps too shameful to contemplate more openly.

   Take the military, for example.  First, there seems to be a tacit acknowledgment on the part of Western soldiers that Afghans they serve with in the field are engaging in homosexual activity (no irony there, of course).  Many have written about how the strict segregation of Afghan men and women (who are also treated as property in traditional Afghan society) before marriage prevents the course of natural physical and emotional relationships between the sexes, and as one Afghan historian told me, "Straight guys find that their sexuality is flexible in these sorts of situations … soon [sex between men is] widely accepted with a wink and a nudge."
   But it is when Afghan soldiers move beyond consensual "man-love Thursdays" with each other to procuring young boys in broad daylight that the flood of revulsion, resentment, and awkward questions comes to bear.  Do they have the right to discipline?  Would there be reprisals if they complained?

   In 2008, apparently fed up, Canadian soldiers and chaplains did begin to complain.
   In June that year the Toronto Star reported that a Canadian soldier said he witnessed in 2006 injuries sustained by a boy he had heard was raped by an Afghan soldier at one of the Canadian outposts in Kandahar.  These injuries included the boy’s intestines falling out of his body, a "sign of trauma from anal rape."  The Canadian’s testimony, in addition to other complaints, including an eyewitness account of the rape of a boy by two Afghan military personnel at Canada’s Forward Operating Base Wilson in 2006, formed the basis of an official investigation into whether the brass were ignoring complaints about systematic abuse up through 2007.
   According to the press, an initial military investigation concluded in 2008 that the allegations were unfounded.  Another investigation, launched by the Canadian Forces National Investigation Services (CFNIS), concluded in May 2009 that Canadian Forces Military Police in Afghanistan "did not receive any complaints on the alleged sexual abuse of Afghan male children." 
   It did not answer the question of whether there had been any abuse, and it curiously noted that "the CFNIS has no jurisdiction over Afghan National Army or locally contracted interpreters in Afghanistan."
   Nevertheless, subsequent testimony from Canadian personnel and newly released documents shed light on an utterly confusing landscape of conflicting official statements and reports, and they raise the question of who knew what and when, and whether the chain of command was listening or passing the buck.  There are more than a few official/unofficial acknowledgments that Afghan police and military members were "having anal sex with young boys," plus disturbing allegations that the Canadian brass were told about the rapes and pressed soldiers to ignore them.
   A new board of inquiry was opened last year, but what will it conclude?  Is the military so afraid of overstepping cultural and political boundaries that it is paralyzed from doing the right thing?
   The Ottawa Citizen described the soldier who had witnessed the intestines falling out of the boy’s body as now suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.  If anecdotal evidence now surfacing that our own troops are witnessing similar things is true, we can only imagine the kind of moral and ethical hell they can be living out every day they risk their lives for this still largely undefined mission.

   In writing about the rape of boys and its implications on the sustained Western alliance with the Afghan government and military in the Long War, journalist Patrick Cockburn commented in September, "one reason Afghan villagers prefer to deal with the Taliban rather than the government security forces is that the latter have a habit of seizing their sons at checkpoints and sodomizing them."
   The Taliban reportedly banned these practices when it was in power.  Today, clerics we would consider radical openly and regularly condemn bacha bazi and sex with children.  "Under Islamic law, those who practice this would be stoned to death," Mawllawi Mohammaed Sadiq Sadiqyar, a prayer leader and scholar in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, told Reuters.
   Nothing is ever black and white, and Taliban soldiers certainly don’t always "practice what they preach," as one source pointed out to me.  But the Western mission sure gets complicated under these conditions.  As usual, there are more questions than answers.
   If the U.S. mission is to kneecap the Taliban, a radical religious movement that at one point managed to ostensibly restrain the cruel and morally abominable activities of creepy pimps/masters who liked to dominate and play with boys when they weren’t warring with one another and shaking down the weakest among them, what in the end, does it all mean for the Afghans whom President Obama has vowed to uplift?  If Hamid Karzai sits on the top of this worm-infested confection without one word about prosecuting these crimes or protecting the children of his country, what does it say about the billions of dollars we have poured into his government to assist him?
   What do we really know about the former mujahedin commanders we view as allies against the Taliban?  What do they do at night while their wives wait patiently at home?  Does it turn your stomach to think that American money went to train the police who now stand shoulder-to-shoulder each night with Afghan men gaping at underage boys dancing in silk with bells on their feet?
   Are we the world’s biggest chumps or the world’s biggest enablers?

   Cockburn made a practical point about what turning a blind eye may mean for Western soldiers in the long term:
   "[T]he fact that male rape is common practice in the Afghan armed forces has, unfortunately, a great deal to do with the fate of British soldiers.
   "There was a horrified reaction across Britain last week when a 25-year-old policeman called Gulbuddin working in a police station in the Nad Ali district of Helmand killed five British soldiers when he opened fire with a machine gun on them.  But the reason he did so, according to Christina Lamb in The Sunday Times, citing two Afghans who knew Gulbuddin, was that he had been brutally beaten, sodomized, and sexually molested by a senior Afghan officer whom he regarded as being protected by the British.
   "The slaughter at Nad Ali is a microcosm of what is happening across Afghanistan."

   If winning the war against the "evildoers" means ignoring evil among our allies, then we have truly lost our soul.  Cockburn argued that our governments should not put another Western soldier into Afghanistan while there is such obvious corruption snaking through the Afghan security services, not to mention the Karzai government.  Too late.  The U.S. military is set to expand its footprint of 100,000 by the end of the summer.
   Complaints within the ranks about Afghan military’s worthiness in the field will continue to simmer, while most of this stuff about debauchery, man-love Thursdays, sexual abuse, and the like will be left to percolate on the milblogs and in the tales soldiers bring home.  Forget the State Department reports and the undercover investigative journalism; until the military (which is, like it or not, the face of America in Afghanistan) starts publicly condemning bacha bazi and the abuse of Afghan children with all the force and authority it can muster, then we might as well be putting our red scrawl on a pact with the devil.

   No doubt the military cannot and will not seriously envisage withdrawing from that country now, but it should nonetheless consider this:  take a long look at the boys shackled in the prisons, the orphans in the streets, the blank resignation of the victims of rape – they will no doubt be history’s next mujahedin, and they will be coming for the devil’s consorts.

Read more by Kelley B. Vlahos

• VoteVets.org Crosses the Line – April 19th, 2010
• Richard Holbrooke: Bulldozer Stuck in the Mud – April 5th, 2010
• Buzzkill at the Tea Party – March 22nd, 2010
• Do We Want Our ‘Government in a Box’? – March 15th, 2010
• Liz Cheney Wants to Keep America Safe – March 8th, 2010 #

   The Sunday Times (Perth, W. Australia), letters § sundaytimes newsltd com au ; Letters, p 57, Sunday, April 25, 2010

[Boat people get free housing]

 
   WHY can all these boat people get free accommodation here? Our own homeless are living on the streets and in cars. If everyone came through the proper channels there wouldn't be overcrowding. Fly the boat people back to where they came from. Have a referendum and I bet a lot of people would agree. JIM O'BRIEN, Kewdale

[Hold our borders]

 
   THE political party that can convince the public it can control our borders will win government. And if the Greens don't confine themselves to environmental issues, there will be fewer Greens elected to federal parliament. BRIAN G. TENNANT, Subiaco

   The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , letters § wanews com au , The Age, p 14, Friday, May 7, 2010
   CANBERRA – Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has fuelled the contentious political debate over burqas worn by some Muslim women by saying there is "understandable community concern" about the attire.
   Mr Abbott made the remarks in response to a call by one of his senators for burqas to be banned in Australia in the wake of an armed robbery in Sydney where the alleged male assailant was dressed in a full black burqa.
   Last night, Mr Abbott said Senator Cory Bernardi's remarks reflected his personal views rather than coalition policy, but he added the rider that some Australians were concerned about the traditional dress.
   "There is understandable concern in the community about what former prime minister John Howard called a 'confronting' form of attire," Mr Abbott said.
   Senator Bernardi's call was dismissed yesterday by some Muslim leaders as nothing more than a political stunt.
   But one of the most prominent Islamic women in Australia, the president of the Muslim Women's National Network of Australia, Aziza Abdel-Halim, last night endorsed the call for the burqa to be banned in public.
   "To Islam, the security and safety of the community comes first," Ms Abdel-Halim said.  THE AGE #

[U.S. woman kidnapped for marrying Christian; Somalis rocket Doctors Without Borders; Pakistan Punjab placating Jihadists to moderate them; Australian burqa ban call after robbery]

   JihadWatch Daily Digest, http://us1. campaign- archive. com/?u= 12857896 c3097382b25 b80a09&id= cfd4fff6bc& e=0f34f38913 ; May 08, 2010
   • Ohio: Muslim woman reportedly abducted by parents over her marriage to a Christian man May 08, 2010 03:04 am | Islamic law forbids the marriage of Muslim women to non-Muslim men. Needless to say, that should not ever be enforceable in the greater Youngstown area. "Woman alleges capture, threats," by Denise Dick for Vindy, May 8: A Campbell woman of Yemeni descent says she was abducted by her parents and …
   • Comedy Central developing half-hour cartoon about Muhammad -- no, wait … May 07, 2010 08:04 pm | No, it's about Jesus. The simple question for Comedy Central is: why is Jesus perfectly okay to poke fun at in "a playful take on religion and society with a sprinkle of dumb" [sic], but Muhammad is out of bounds? Could it be, for example, that the followers of …
   • Imam: Mosque near Ground Zero would prove American religious tolerance May 07, 2010 08:58 am | Why the assumption that we have something to prove? Meanwhile, we're expected to take Islam's claims of "tolerance" (which is according to its own definition and standards, not the Western tradition) as an article of politically correct faith. The tasteless positioning of a mosque near Ground Zero is also intended …
   • Somalia: Jihadists with rocket-propelled grenades attack Doctors Without Borders May 07, 2010 08:35 am | We're often told that poverty causes jihadist terrorism -- a claim for which numerous counterexamples are readily available. But much less attention is paid to how jihad and the strictures of Sharia help to perpetuate poverty, illness, misery, and underdevelopment, as in this case. "Doctors Without Borders Clinic Attacked in …
   • Shocker in Pakistan: Politicians sheltering and supporting jihadist groups in Punjab, including Pakistani Taliban group implicated in Times Square bomb attempt May 07, 2010 08:21 am | As Rep. Hoekstra said, that should be a "game-changer." But it almost certainly won't be. Note also the claim that "the Punjab government was hoping to moderate such groups." How? By rewarding bad (and decidedly "immoderate") behavior? This story demonstrates the dangerous cop-out that "engagement" for "moderation" can be. "Politicians …
   • That was quick: Belgium threatened over burqa ban May 07, 2010 08:14 am | Another chapter in the jihad against Vitamin D, and an update on this story. "Belgium analyses video threat over Muslim veil ban," by Antonia Van de Velde for Reuters, May 6: (Reuters) - Belgian authorities are analysing a video containing threats to attack the country and other European states if …
   • Australia: Armed robbery in burqa leads to calls for ban May 07, 2010 07:59 am | The fact that we have seen the burqa used to carry out all manner of crimes in various countries-- from robberies to suicide bombings -- is but one practical manifestation of a larger set of issues. As one Australian senator observed, the garb "represents the repressive domination of men over …
   Copyright © 2010 Jihad Watch, All rights reserved. Forward this to a friend.

   The Sunday Times (Perth, W. Australia), letters § sundaytimes newsltd com au ; By PAUL LAMPATHAKIS, p 21, Sunday, May 09, 2010
   PERTH (W. Australia) – THE amount of taxpayers' money scammed by an Islamic college is likely to be many millions of dollars more than authorities have uncovered, prominent WA Muslims have warned.
   The Islamic Council of WA is calling for a probe into the college's financial affairs more than a decade before the period examined by police.
   A fraud investigation led to the convictions in March of Australian Islamic College founder Abdallah Saad Magar on 14 charges, and principal Aziz Magdi on five charges. They are to be sentenced on June 18.
   Magar and Magdi fraudulently claimed about $3 million from the state and federal governments in 2005 and 2006, for hundreds of students, including entire "bogus classes" who were not attending the college's Dianella, Kewdale and Thornlie campuses.
   But the Islamic Council's executive committee, including former Muslim issues adviser to John Howard, Ameer Ali, this week wrote to WA Education Minister Liz Constable, calling on her to investigate the scam further because "the full extent of the misappropriation may not have been revealed".
   "The colleges have been receiving public money since 1996, not just 2006, on which the recent case focused," the council's letter said.
   "And activities, such as having students on class registers, who were not physically at the schools, but who attracted millions of dollars of public money to the colleges, predate the time-span on which the prosecution was based, by many years."
   The council also urged the Government to help ensure the college's "estimated $60 million of accumulated assets" were in a state-supervised public trusteeship to protect them "for the benefit of the entire community and free from the tentacles of the fraudsters and their associated entities".
   A spokesman for Dr Constable said she would consider the correspondence. #

[Al-Sadr devotees pressurise S. Iraq; Saudi paper sees Jew/Xian anti-Christ; Dutch citizens train overseas for jihad; Workmen murdered in Dagestan; Money trail of Times Square attempt; Pope intended victim of Moroccans]

   JihadWatch Daily Digest, http://us1. campaign- archive. com/?u= 12857896 c3097382 b25b80 a09&id=6 a26568999& e=0f34 f38913 , May 14, 2010
   • Iraq: al-Sadr's Shi'ite militias show signs of regrouping in south May 14, 2010 03:03 am | More trouble ahead. "Are Sadr militias rearming in Iraq's south?" by Jane Arraf for the Christian Science Monitor, May 12: Baghdad - A senior US general said forces loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr are rising again in Iraq's south, engaging in intimidation, extortion, and political violence as politicians in …
   • Spencer: Theology for a Holocaust May 14, 2010 02:16 am | In FrontPage for Friday I discuss the recent endorsement of genocide by a Muslim student at UCSD: UC-San Diego student Jumanah Imad Albahri last week, under questioning from David Horowitz, refused to condemn Hamas and Hizballah and endorsed a genocidal statement by Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Many were shocked. Albahri's …
   • Pamela Geller debates the 9/11 Mosque on Hannity radio show May 14, 2010 02:13 am | Her opponent is Michael Ghouse of the Muslim American Congress. Take a listen … .
   • Saudi paper: Spencer is "the Likud anti-Christ" May 14, 2010 02:04 am | I can't stop laughing. "From Saudi Newspaper: 'Jihad Watch [Spreads] Nazi Propaganda in order to Link Islam with Terrorism," from Translating Jihad, May 13: This article, published in the Saudi newspaper Dar al-Hayat on 30 April, is a response to Robert Spencer's "See No Qur'an, Hear No Qur'an," published on …
   • Netherlands tracking a growing number of Dutch jihadists May 13, 2010 09:54 pm | And those who are training overseas now "can as Dutch citizens return to the Netherlands, ready to answer the call for further action." "The Dutch Taliban," from DutchNews, May 13: Recently growing attention has been given to US citizens who have joined the jihad in Pakistan. But the phenomenon is …
   • Dagestan: Jihad against repairmen May 13, 2010 09:31 pm | The intrepid mujahedin, targeting Russian workers repairing a damaged broadcast tower. "Militants Kill 7 Russian Workers In North Caucasus," from RTTNews, May 13: (RTTNews) - More than seven people have been killed in an attack by suspected Islamist insurgents in Russia's restive North Caucasus region, local officials told media on …
   • Times Square jihad plot: Arrests in Maine, on Long Island as Shahzad reportedly naming names May 13, 2010 07:36 pm | More on this story. "Follow the Money! Several FBI Arrests in Times Square Case," by Richard Esposito and Brian Ross for ABC News, May 13: Following leads provided by the interrogation of Times Square bombing suspect Faisal Shahzad, FBI agents fanned out across the Northeast today in
   • Italy: 2 deported Moroccans were plotting to assassinate Pope May 13, 2010 06:53 pm | "Hlal wanted to kill the Vatican's head of state (the pope), saying he was ready to assassinate him and gain his place in paradise," in accordance with Qur'an 9:111, which promises paradise to those who "slay and are slain" waging jihad for the sake of Allah. "Italy: Deported Moroccans 'plotted …
   • Cash couriers targeted in multi-state raids related to Times Square jihad plot May 13, 2010 03:31 pm | An update on this story -- the raids involved not only Massachusetts, but also New York and New Jersey. "Cash couriers target of Northeast raids, source says," from CNN, May 13: (CNN) -- Raids by federal agents in Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey on Thursday are focused on a …
   • Canada: Over 200 under surveillance by counterterror officials May 13, 2010 03:24 pm | So … how many are Methodists? "200 terror suspects in Canada," by Bryn Weese for the Toronto Sun, May 12 (thanks to Paul): OTTAWA - Canada's spy agency is keeping tabs on more than 200 people within the country it says are suspected terrorists. Richard Fadden, the director of the …
   • FBI raids location near Boston in connection with Times Square bomb plot May 13, 2010 10:26 am | The scope of the plot appears to be widening across New England. "Times Square bomb plot probe: FBI raids Boston location in possible connection to Faisal Shahzad," by Stephanie Gaskell for the New York Daily News, May 13: The FBI is raiding a home near Boston in connection with the …

[Jihadist soldier who murdered 13 still getting U.S. paycheques; Planning to sell Canadian nuclear to Iran; U.K. taxpayers pay to repair hymens; Still planning mega-mosque where mosque teachings worked.]

     Jihad Watch Daily Digest, director § jihadwatch org , http://us1.campaign-archive.com/?u=12857896c3097382b25b80a09&id=f847303fd3&e=0f34f38913 July 30, 2010
  

Anti-Defamation League comes out against Ground Zero mosque; bully CAIR urges ADL to retract statement.

  Jul 30, 2010 11:34 pm | Of course, that would just be the shape of things to come in an Islamic state: Bark at the uppity kuffar to put them back in their place. "Key Jewish Group Rejects Ground Zero Mosque," from the Associated Press, July 30: The nation's leading Jewish civil rights group has come…
  

Iran: The Marlboro Man is a sneaky Zionist.

  Jul 30, 2010 09:20 pm | Putting nuclear materials in cigarettes! So thaaaaat's why they're so unhealthy! "Iranian Official: Marlboro Tainted with Pig Blood & Nuclear Matter," from Iran's PressTV, July 30 (thanks to Jeff): (TEHRAN PRESS TV) - An Iranian official says some of the most popular cigarette brands are contaminated with nuclear substances when…
  

Sharia Special in the U.K.: National Health Service picks up the tab for "increasing number" of hymen restoration surgeries for Muslim women.

  Jul 30, 2010 07:37 pm | There is a virtually unlimited need, and an unlimited demand for health care the world over. It is a perpetually scarce and costly resource. So, what better way to spend it than in submission to Islamic mores? Not that the taxpayer-funded virginity "Mulligan" is new to the U.K. This has…
  

Pakistan: 5 Christians shot to death coming out of church following threats from "banned" jihadist groups.

  Jul 30, 2010 07:16 pm | Of course, given Pakistan's ongoing double game, there is always the question of whether the groups are banned as in "banned," or banned as in "just lay low for a bit or consider changing your name." "Suspected Islamists Shoot Five Christians to Death in Pakistan," from Compass Direct News, July…
  

Here we go: Murfreesboro mega-mosque under investigation over burial.

  Jul 30, 2010 06:56 pm | An update on this story. The nature of the interaction with mosque officials is entirely too typical: When approached about specifics, respond with lofty generalities; repeat as necessary, and people who still won't back down are automatically Islamophobes, naturally. "Sheriff's office to probe Islamic burial," by Mark Bell for DNJ.com,…
  

Dutch leaving Afghanistan, Taliban pleased.

  Jul 30, 2010 09:19 am | Which is not to say that they ought not to leave. What did they hope to accomplish there in the first place? With no clear mission or goal, and no understanding of the jihad doctrine or Sharia, the whole thing was foredoomed. "Taliban 'greet' Dutch on Afghan pullout," from AFP,…
  

Geller: Obama got Cameron to attack Israel.

  Jul 30, 2010 09:14 am | Not surprising. "Obama behind Cameron's attack on Israel, by Pamela Geller in the Daily Caller, July 29: Speaking in Turkey on Tuesday, British Prime Minister David Cameron slammed Israel and called Gaza a "prison camp." (Apparently Gaza is the first prison camp with luxury shopping malls.) The British Foreign Office…
  

Canada: Islamic jihadist jailed for nuclear exports to Iran.

  Jul 30, 2010 09:09 am | No doubt it was all nuclear material of peace. "Canada jails man for nuclear exports to Iran," from al-Arabiya, July 30: A Canadian man convicted of trying to send nuclear technology to his native Iran has been sentenced to 20 months in prison. In addition to his 20 months in…
  

Banks won't take Fort Hood jihadist's paychecks.

  Jul 30, 2010 09:03 am | One would think that murdering thirteen Americans in the name of Islamic jihad would at least get you suspended without pay, but no such luck. "Banks won't take Fort Hood shooting suspect's paychecks, by Jeremy Schwartz for the American-Statesman, July 29 (thanks to Roger): As he sits in the Bell…
  

Fox and Friends: Pamela Geller on SIOA honor killing awareness campaign and The Post-American Presidency.

  Jul 30, 2010 08:53 am | The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration's War On America by Pamela Geller with Robert Spencer…
  

Gingrich at American Enterprise Institute: "This is not a war on terrorism. Terrorism is an activity. This is a struggle with radical Islamists in both their militant and their stealth form."

  Jul 30, 2010 07:58 am | "…The stealth form believes in using cultural, intellectual, and political [means]. But their end goal is exactly the same." While the emphasis on "radical Islamists" sidesteps the fundamental ideological cause of Islamic jihad -- the teachings of the Qur'an and the sayings and example of Muhammad -- there are…

   The Weekend Australian Magazine ( magazinefeedback § theaustralian com au ), "Heads Up" edited by Greg Callaghan, magazine pp 6-7, July 31 - August 1, 2010
THE STORY RECENTLY caused a minor flurry in both the old and new media.  A Muslim woman wearing a niqab -- an Islamic veil that covers the entire face except for the eyes -- accused a Sydney police officer of trying to remove it during a breathalyser stop.
   The woman made numerous other complaints in a sworn statutory declaration, and her case was taken up by former Guantánamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib (pictured), who advised her to take her story to the media, the Anti-Discrimination Board and the police force itself, demanding an apology.  Various Muslim sites [presumably, internet websites] were buzzing with the tale of how a "sister" had been the victim of racism.
   The policeman in question denied he had treated the woman disrespectfully, let alone touched her veil, and when senior officers checked the in-car video they saw no evidence that he had done either.
   The woman has since been charged with making a false statement and is due to appear in the courts next month.
   But the incident raises a broader question: how can a police officer be expected to identify a driver if their face is entirely covered and they refuse to remove the veil?
   Even in a conservative Muslim country such as Bahrain lawmakers are pushing to amend traffic laws to grant male traffic officers the right to ask women to lift the veil and reveal their faces.
   In Australia, road authorities have introduced procedures for dealing with Muslim sensitivities on licence photos.  In all states the face must be fully visible, from the bottom of the chin to the top of the forehead, but a Muslim woman can request that the photograph be taken in private by another female, and after hours if necessary; she does not have to remove her veil completely, but simply pull it back.
   The system is necessary for facial recognition systems being phased in by Victorian, NSW and Queensland authorities.
   Perhaps the Sydney woman who was so quick to make claims of racism should take solace from the fact that in a country where her niqab is standard -- Saudi Arabia -- she would be forbidden to drive. #

   The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , letters § wanews com au , http://au.news.yahoo.com/ thewest/a/-/newshome/ 7710287/why-i-must- wear-burqa-in-court/ ; By AMANDA BANKS, LEGAL AFFAIRS EDITOR, EXCLUSIVE, The West Australian, Page One, 2:45 am, Thursday,August 5, 2010
   PERTH (W. Australia) – Muslim woman Tasneem who is to give evidence in a trial is uncomfortable with the prospect of having to remove her burqa in court.
  [Picture] Person in black overall garment showing only eyes and top part of nose, plus a part of a hand and four fingers.    Picture: WA News / Steve Ferrier ©  
   The Perth mother who has found herself embroiled in an Australian test case on the right of Muslim women to wear a burqa when giving evidence in court has spoken about her fears of exposing her face in public.
   As national debate raged yesterday over the extent of the rights of Muslim women to choose to dress according to their faith, Tasneem said she did not want to be portrayed as a woman who was obstinately trying to "make a point".
   Tasneem, who does not want her surname published, said while she would comply with any order imposed by the court, she would feel stressed, uncomfortable and awkward if forced to remove her niqab while testifying in a fraud trial in the Perth District Court.
   A niqab is a form of clothing commonly called a burqa.
   "For so many years now it is just a part of me," she said yesterday. "I felt that I am just a witness, I didn't commit a crime and if I did, I would have to face the consequences. But I just felt, why must I be exposed in front of all these men when I am just a witness? If I didn't need to be called that would be better for me."
   Tasneem is scheduled to be called as a witness in a fraud case against the director of an Islamic college where she had taught. Prosecutors have told the court that Tasneem is reluctant to appear without wearing her niqab.
   But defence counsel Mark Trowell has raised concerns that jurors would not be able to make a proper assessment of Tasneem's evidence if they could not see her face.
   District Court Judge Shauna Deane will consider the issue today.
   Tasneem said that for nearly 20 years she had chosen not to show her face to any men other than her husband and her closest male relatives. She made it clear that her decision to conceal her face was not a compulsory obligation of her faith, which only required that she wear a hijab covering her hair.
   Tasneem also spoke of a common misconception that Muslim women were oppressed by their husbands. She said concealing her face with a niqab was not a "restriction" imposed by her husband, rather a personal choice she had made at age 17.
   If the court ordered her to appear without her niqab, she would prefer to do so via a video link-up in a closed room with another woman.
   Born in South Africa and moving to Australia seven years ago, Tasneem said she had been told yesterday that if she appeared in an Islamic court she would be required to remove her niqab. But she said this did not alleviate her fears of exposure and discomfort.
   Tasneem has been forced to remove her niqab for immigration officials when travelling overseas, and she said she recognised this was necessary. But she said these intrusions on her privacy were performed quickly and with respect.
   Tasneem said there were rare occasions when she was targeted in public because of her dress, usually with misinformed remarks. "If I was having a major problem, I would have maybe considered taking it off but it's not like that," she said.
   Follow thewest.com.au on Twitter
   [VOTES on "Should a Muslim woman be allowed to wear a burqa when giving evidence in court?" at 8.03 am on Aug 05, 2010: 628 yes to 4397 no]

   The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , By Belle Taylor, p 10, Thursday, August 5, 2010
   The burqa, which covers a woman's entire body and has a mesh veil for her eyes, was worn by Arab and Persian women even before the Islamic relgion was founded.
   Although closely linked with Islam, the choice to wear the burqa is often as much cultural as relgious.
   The Koran, the sacred scripture of Islam, does not mention the burqa specifically but refers to a "khimar", a scarf that covers the neck, head and upper body but leaves the face exposd.
   The more extreme versions of Muslim dress are based on different interpretations of passages in the Koran, the most famous being from a chapter called The Light, verse 31.
   It says: "And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty (and looks) and protect (themselves and privacy from illicit sex) and they should not display their beauty and jewels except what (may usually) appear."
   In recent years the burqa has come under intense scrutiny in the West as wars in Afghanistan and Iraq raised awareness of Islam.
   Some of the most strident criticism of the burqa has come from places where few women wear it.
  [Pictures] Burqa, Niqab, Hijab, Chador  
   In Belgium, where an estimated 30 women out of a Muslim population of half a million wear the burqa, the Lower House of Parliament has passed a Bill banning the garment.
   And in France, where about 1900 women out of a population of 64 million wear the face-covering veil, there are moves to ban the burqa. #

   The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , http://au.news.yahoo.com/ thewest/a/-/ newshome/7710300 , By AMANDA BANKS, GARETH PARKER and ANDREW TILLETT; p 10, 2:40 am, August 5, 2010
   PERTH (W. Australia) – A landmark case in the Perth District Court which will test the right of Muslim women to wear the burqa when giving evidence has ignited debate across Australia and divided political opinion.
   The trial is scheduled to be heard before Judge Shauna Deane today.
   The witness, who wants only to be known as Tasneem, has told prosecutors she is reluctant to appear in court without wearing her niqab.
   Defence lawyer Mark Trowell has raised concerns that jurors will not be able to make a proper assessment of her evidence if they can't see her face.
   Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott described the burqa as a "confronting" form of attire.
   "I don't want to interfere in the operation of the legal system but I've said it before and I will say it again, I find the burqa a particularly confronting form of attire," he said yesterday. "I would very much wish that fewer Australians would choose it."
   Premier Colin Barnett said that he defended the rights of people to dress according to their faith but said witnesses should normally have their faces exposed.
   "I've indicated previously that I do defend the rights of people to dress according to their faith, according to their religion, unless that in some way compromises public safety or the public interest," he said.
   "In this case, the issue of wearing a veil or burqa in court is something the judge will need to determine.
   "I would think normally witnesses should have their faces exposed. I think it's important for the judge, for the jury to be able to see the true nature of any evidence they are giving, their expressions and the like. But that is a matter for the judge."
   Nationals' leader Warren Truss said women should be allowed to wear the burqa. "Generally speaking, I believe people should be able to wear what they choose," Mr Truss said.
   "We do have rules about what people are allowed to wear when they go into a bank. So sometimes there will be an overriding concern that might lead us to place restrictions on the normal freedoms that we might give to Australians." #

[US seemingly welcomes triumphal mosque at World Trade Center; Child marriage being approved in Malaysian state; Anti-terrorist murdered in Pakistan; Christians killed for trying to convert Muslims.]

     Jihad Watch Daily Digest, director § jihadwatch org , http://us1.campaign-archive.com/?u=12857896c3097382b25b80a09&id=77f15a3025&e=0f34f38913 August 05, 2010
  

Chicago: Misunderstander of Islam arrested for allegedly planning jihad against U.S.

  Aug 04, 2010 03:48 pm | He was planning to gain Paradise by killing and being killed for Allah (cf. Qur'an 9:111). But no worries. I'm sure Honest Ibe Hooper and his Chicago henchman Brave Ahmed Rehab are on the case, already explaining to Shaker Masri how he is Misunderstanding the Religion of Peace. "Chicago Man…
  

Obama Administration passes the buck on Islamic supremacist mega-mosque at Ground Zero.

  Aug 04, 2010 02:32 pm | Arizona's immigration law is not a local issue. The arrest of a black professor, Henry Louis Gates, by a white policeman is not a local issue. But a triumphal Islamic supremacist mega-mosque at Ground Zero? Local issue. This is consistent with Obama's ongoing downplaying and denial of the jihad…
  

Iran's Thug-In-Chief: "Stupid Zionists have hired mercenaries to assassinate me."

  Aug 04, 2010 02:26 pm | Islamic Jew-hatred and demonization of Israel: as predictable as the sunrise. "Ahmadinejad unhurt after motorcade explosion," from AFP, August 4: TEHRAN (AFP) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was unhurt on Wednesday after an explosive device, officially described as a firecracker, went off near his motorcade. […] The incident came only…
  

Islamic supremacist thug Nihad Awad of Hamas-linked CAIR exposed on Fox.

  Aug 04, 2010 12:25 pm | Tim Brown tells the truth about CAIR, and watch how the Islamic supremacist thug from Hamas-linked CAIR, Nihad Awad, comes unglued and tries to shout him down. (Thanks to Weasel Zippers for the video.)…
  

Where is the Islamic supremacist mega-mosque getting its money?

  Aug 04, 2010 12:19 pm | The New York Post, in an unsigned editorial, points out the dishonesty and shady connections of the Islamic supremacist mega-mosque at Ground Zero Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. "Money behind the mosque," from the New York Post, August 4: […] CAIR had denounced opponents of the projects as "bigots and extremists."…
  

Modern, moderate Indonesia's highest Islamic authority bans gossip TV.

  Aug 04, 2010 11:58 am | "The shows lead to pornography." Sharia Alert from the shining light of Islamic moderation in Southeast Asia: "Indonesia's Muslims told to switch off gossip TV," from Reuters, August 4 (thanks to Maxwell): JAKARTA (Reuters Life!) - Indonesia's highest Islamic authority has forbidden Muslims from viewing gossipy content in the country's…
  

Rights groups condemn Malaysian state's decision to allow child marriage.

  Aug 04, 2010 11:28 am | "The Prophet wrote the (marriage contract) with 'Aisha while she was six years old and consummated his marriage with her while she was nine years old and she remained with him for nine years (i.e. till his death)." -- Bukhari 7.62.88 The Islamic religious council in southern Malacca state has…
  

Pakistan -- what do you call an ally that tries to kill you?

  Aug 04, 2010 11:03 am | In "With Friends Like Islamabad, Who Needs Enemies? WikiLeaks documents reinforce U.S.' Pakistan problem," in Forbes (via IlanBerman.com), August 4, Ilan Berman summarizes much of the duplicity and support for jihad that we have been pointing out here about Pakistan for years. What do you call an ally that tries…
  

Pakistan: Senior member of party that spoke out against "Talibanization" likely murdered by jihadis.

  Aug 04, 2010 10:13 am | What a surprise. "45 Die in Revenge Attacks in Pakistan," from AP, August 3 (thanks to S.K.S.): KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) -- The ruling party in Pakistan's largest city accused its main political rival of supporting Islamist militants suspected of assassinating a party leader, further stoking tensions Tuesday after 45 people…
  

Gingrich on Christians arrested in Dearborn: they were "on a public street outside an Arab festival in a way that is completely permissible by law, but, of course, forbidden by sharia's rules on proselytizing."

  Aug 04, 2010 09:26 am | Newt Gingrich continues to demonstrate his unusual (for a politician) awareness of the stealth jihad threat. In this case, he quite rightly points out that Christians trying to preach to Muslims or convert them to Christianity is not illegal under U.S. law; it is only illegal under Sharia. These Christians…
  

Bangladesh bans Islamic political parties: "Secularism will again be the cornerstone of our constitution."

  Aug 04, 2010 09:14 am | Islamophobes! Islamophobes! Or has Bangladesh learned something about Sharia that the West is still largely unwilling to admit? Granted, the argument for Sharia in the West follows similarly to those made for communism: Yes, it's never brought the just and peaceful paradise that was advertised in country after country after…
  

Propaganda failure: Lebanese government admits that Israeli army did not cross border.

  Aug 04, 2010 09:10 am | An attempt to manufacture a casus belli [sic] and stir up more outrage against Israel falls flat. More on this story. "Mideast: Lebanon; Beirut Confirms, No Israeli Violation," from ANSAmed, August 4 (thanks to Insubria): (ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, AUGUST 4 - The Lebanese government has confirmed that the Israeli army did…

[Call to ban the burqa, and other articles.]

     The West Australian, Various pages, Friday, August 6, 2010
   Page One.

  CALL TO BAN THE BURQA  

  PERTH: Time to act: Leading WA Muslim Ameer Ali says the burqa is a relic of tribal culture.  It has no religious significance and should be outlawed in public. Picture: Sharon Smith
   Page 12.

'Kill Kill Kill' note is among threats made to fraud accused.

  By Belle Taylor
   [COMMENT: A trial is supposed to be dignified, but this pre-trial publicity is turning into a circus -- with a mission! COMMENT ENDS.]
   Page 12.

Ban the burqa: Muslim leader.

  By Daniel Enmerson, Amanda Banks and Belle Taylor
   [Summary] Mr Ameer Ali, vice-president of the Regional Islamic Council of South-East Asia and the Pacific, said that the niqab "governs her mindset."
   "Even Syria has disallowed this dress from public space," he said.
   The rise of Islamism, combined with "liberal immigration policies of Western governments" had increased the worldwide spread of the garments, which make it impossible for the wearers to properly interact with others around them.
   Mr Suresh Rajan said that banning the garment would criminalise otherwise lawful cultural behaviour.
   A spokesman for the Social Inclusion Minister Simon Crean said the matter was still before the courts.
   [COMMENT: Australia has a "Social Inclusion Minister."  And "diversity" is another favourite term of Politically Correct persons. COMMENT ENDS.]
   Page 21.

Veil a relic of repressive culture. The burqa and niqab are the products of a misogynist and patriarchal tribal system.

  By Ameer Ali, former head of the Muslim Community Reference Group, hand-picked after the London bombings to address Islamic extremism and promote tolerance. "The existing faith-based schools are not the solution."  [About half a page explaining that the male-dominated societies of Muslims had subjugated women, making them into male-dependent semi-invisible procreative machines, subject to being murdered for "honour."]

   The Weekend Australian, letters § theaustralian com au , by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (author, former politician, campaigner, under threat), Inquirer section Page 5, Sat-Sun, August 7-8, 2010
   Culturally incompatible Muslims could threaten Australian society and values
THE Immigration Museum in Melbourne is housed in a splendid Victorian [sic] in the heart of the city.  The exhibition is informative, gripping at times and to a newcomer like me, refreshing.
   It is puzzling why on a Sunday morning it is practically empty -- in contrast to the casino at the Crown Hotel just a block away, which teems with people whose ancestors' hard lives are chronicled in this museum.
   Or maybe the multi-ethnic crowds I see at the casino are only tourists from Asia and Europe who see in this museum no shrine or symbol of their heritage.
   … crowded stadiums … Aussie rules game … and a rugby union match … The crowds in both stadiums are almost all white. …
   … from NSW to Queensland to Victoria to Western Australia … most people here are white. …
   In Perth, at an event held in the school, I am chastised by a Muslim woman … two Somali women in jilbabs … nod and clap when she is done scolding me. …   When I ask about the question of the assimilation of Muslims into Australia, most people I talk to tell me: "In Australia we are laid-back."
   … in Sydney … Centre for Independent Studies, I am one of the speakers.  The other is Janet Albrechtsen … journalist …
   Albrechtsen lists the many tricks … to silence people in Australia with an unconventional view:  the language police, the sticks and carrots of (government) bureaucrats in promotions, demotions and the firing of people, the cold-shouldering of individuals by groups.  The taboo subject used to be the indigenous people of Australia.  Nowadays it is Islam.
   A couple tells me about the latest convention-demonstration of the Hizb ut-Tahrir (Party of Liberation).  This is an international radical Islamic group with an agenda to promote sharia-based legislation in the West.  In Britain it is banned; in most European countries the various law-enforcement officials closely scrutinise its members' movements, financial transactions and propaganda activities.
   In Australia it is a legally recognised organisation that can hold conventions and demonstrations.
   … having heard the anti-democratic propaganda of the Muslim organisation, they [a couple] left feeling queasy.
   Perhaps, on Islam, Australia is too laid-back for its own good.
   … pro-immigration (humanitarian and business groups) … anti-immigration (unions, ecologists and anti-Islam groups). … …
   … systematic evasion of the key issue facing Australia.  That issue is the integration of a new kind of immigrant into Australian society. …
   … in 1951 the Geneva Convention was drafted … about a million people, mostly from Europe, … Today the number is 40 million, mostly from Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
   … the culture of these potential immigrants is of utmost relevance … assimilating … In the 1940s and 50s … Europeans, nearly of them Christians. … But it will be less easy to assimilate immigrants … who may actually reject the Australian way of life.
   About 70 per cent of the 40 million displaced people, asylum-seekers and refugees are Muslim.
   … people from predominantly Muslim countries account for a larger share:  12.5 per cent of new settlers, compared with 11.9 per cent from Britain.
   Unlike other migrant groups, Muslims are often targets for their radical brethren.  Financed with oil money, agents of Islamism set up indoctrination centres called madrassas in refugee camps.  Their teachings are fundamentally incompatible with Australian values.  They preach submission to Allah before individual freedom.
   Women are groomed to be submissive baby machines; gay people are deemed unfit to live; a world-view is cultivated that obliges the Muslim to distance himself from the unbeliever and never to copy the ways of the infidel.
   … citizens must be aware of this reality.  Europeans underestimated it.

   The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , Telegraph Group (London), p 26, Thursday, October 14, 2010
   LOS ANGELES – A woman who became the poster girl of Taliban oppression in Afghanistan after being mutilated by her husband has unveiled her new face.
   The image of Aisha, 19, without a nose prompted a worldwide outpouring of sympathy after it appeared on the cover of Time Magazine accompanying an article highlighting the plight of women in Afghanistan.
  [Picture of young woman, nose crudely cut off, in headscarf, on cover of Time.] Sympathy: Aisha was mutilated.  
   She appeared before the cameras to receive an Enduring Heart award at a benefit for the Grossman Burn Foundation, which paid for her surgery, in Los Angeles.
   Maria Shriver, wife of Californian Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, presented the award.
   "This is the first Enduring Heart award given to a woman whose heart endures and who shows us all what it means to have love and to be he enduring heart," Ms Shriver said.
   When Aisha, whose surname has never been disclosed, was 12, he father vowed to repay a debt by promising her in marriage to a Taliban fighter.  She was handed over to the fighter's family, abused and made to sleep in a stable with animals.
   She was caught after trying to escape and her nose and ears were sliced off by her husband as a punishment.
   "When they cut off my nose and ears, I passed out," she told CNN.  "In the middle of the night it felt like there was cold water in my nose.  I opened my eyes and I couldn't even see because of all the blood.
  [Picture of resolute young woman with fake nose.] Heart: Aisha arrives at the burn foundation's gala in Los Angeles.    Picture: Film Magic 
   After being left for dead in the mountains, she crawled to her grandfather's house and was taken to an American medical facility.
   After time at a shelter in Kabul, she was flown to the US by the Grossman Burn Foundation.
   This month, she had a prosthetic nose fitted at the West Hills Hospital in Los Angeles.  A doctor, Peter Grossman, said they hoped to give Aisha a more permanent solution which might involve rebuilding her nose and ears using bone, tissue and cartilage from other parts of her body. #

[U.S. paper can't decipher Muslim warcry; Driving Christianity out of Iraq; Face-mask part of "British way of life"; Two "Swedes" plan jihadist attack; Iran approves real stoning, furious with stoning film.]

   JihadWatch Daily Digest http://jihadwatch.org , http://us1.campaign-archive.com/ ?u=12857896c3097382b25b80a09 &id=4d37e9127f&e=0f34f38913 , October 16, 2010
   • New York Times can't figure out Fort Hood jihadist's motive, Oct 16, 2010 01:23 pm | It's not enough for them that he shouted "Allahu akbar!" before he started shooting. After all, they know that Islam is a Religion of Peace ™ and that jihad is an interior spiritual struggle. "At Hearing on Fort Hood Attack, Few Clues," by James C. McKinley, Jr., for the New York …
   • Sharif El-Gamal contradicts Daisy Khan on Ground Zero mega-mosque, Oct 16, 2010 01:04 pm | In one of an apparently endless series of fawning, softball interviews from the mainstream media (just once I'd like to see Sharif El-Gamal get interviewed the way Pamela Geller does or I do on a routine basis), thug Ground Zero mosque developer Sharif El-Gamal actually has the gall to…
   • Bishops warn of campaign to drive Christianity from Iraq, Oct 16, 2010 01:00 pm | That campaign has been going on for a long time, as we have documented exhaustively here. "Bishops Warn of Campaign to Drive Christianity From Iraq," from AINA, October 16: Ecumenical and interreligious dialogue were the focus Friday morning during the 8th General Congregation of the Synod of Bishops for the…
   • Islamic face-veil part of "British way of life", Oct 16, 2010 12:55 pm | Jolly good Alveena Malik advocates British cultural surrender. "Islamic face-veil part of 'British way of life,'" by Tim Ross in the Telegraph, October 16 (thanks to all who sent this in): The full Islamic face-veil is a part of the "British way of life" and should be celebrated along with…
   • French MP: UK "losing the battle" against the jihadists, Oct 16, 2010 12:50 pm | Stating the obvious. "French MP says UK is 'losing fight against Islamic extremists,'" from the Telegraph, October 15 (thanks to all who sent this in): The architect of France's burka ban has accused Britain of "losing the battle against Islamic extremism" by failing to introduce one of its own. Jacques…
   • Associated Press asks for suggestions for 2011 Stylebook: we've got a few!  Oct 16, 2010 09:52 am | The announcement, with a suggestion form, can be found here (thanks to L.), and reads: We're planning the 2011 edition of the AP Stylebook and we want to hear your suggestions. What entries would you like to see? What terms would you like defined? What questions would you like us…
   • Sweden: Two Misunderstanders of Islam charged with plotting jihad attack, Oct 16, 2010 09:28 am | One trained in Somalia and planned to return there and "become a martyr." No one seemed to take the trouble to stop and tell him that he was getting the concept of Islamic martyrdom, and jihad in general, all wrong, wrong, wrong. I wonder why not! "Sweden: Two 'jihadists' charged…
   • Indonesia: Arson attack on Roman Catholic chapel, Oct 16, 2010 09:21 am | No one seems to know who might be behind this. Hmmmm…I wonder…. "Arson attack against Saint Joseph Chapel in Central Java," by Mathias Hariyadi in Asia News, October 15 (thanks to C. Cantoni): Jakarta (AsiaNews) - Someone tried to set fire to the small Chapel of Saint Joseph in Pare,…
   • Iran infuriated by stoning film, just fine with real stoning, Oct 16, 2010 09:00 am | Sharia mandates stoning, but it also forbids criticism of Islam. If the West criticizes stoning, then that criticism must be stopped, in accord with Sharia. But stoning must not be stopped, because it also is in accord with Sharia. "Iran Infuriated By Brutal Stoning Film," by Lisa Holland for SkyNews,…
   • Geller: Secret Selling of Halal Meat in the U.S., Oct 16, 2010 08:46 am | In this morning's Human Events, Pamela Geller exposes yet another instance of the stealth jihad advancing in the U.S. and Europe: The latest submission to Islam comes to us from the meat industry in both Europe and the United States. Recently I have been reporting on the little-noted but … #

   The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , letters § wanews com au , p 26, Monday, October 18, 2010
   IRAN – An Iranian court has condemned a man convicted of stealing chocolates and cocoa from a Tehran pastry shop to have a hand chopped off, Fars newsagency says.
   Cases of amputation have been increasing because of a rise in robberies due to growing poverty. #

   The Record (R.C. Perth, W. Australia, weekly), www.therecord.com.au , cathrec § iinet net au , p 11, Wed, November 10, 2010
  [Picture: Building, with sign to skyline in Arabic and English: "And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers.  Holy Quran."] 4. A Muslim anti-Christian sign outside the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem    Photos by courtesy of Brian Peachey  

[Canberra relaxed the rules, now people drown.]

     The Sunday Times (Perth, W. Australia), letters § sundaytimes newsltd com au ; Various Letters to The Editor, Sunday, December 19, 2010

Most don't care

 
   I'M not surprised at the loss of life of men, women and children on the shores of Christmas Island. The families of the deceased have my condolences.
   I find the feedback of most Australians is that they couldn't care a damn, and hope this tragedy will deter other queue-jumpers from coming to our shores.
   The Howard government at least stopped the boats from coming.
   I support genuine refugees with open arms under protection of the United Nations charter of human rights, and call on the Government to act positively to stop further tragedies. BRIAN G. TENNANT, Subiaco.

Stop finger-pointing

 
   IN the wake of the Christmas Island asylum seeker tragedy, I have listened to the so-called outrage by our Prime Minister, who has pointed the finger at the people smugglers, the late response by the Customs Service, police - and no doubt the navy will be the next target to blame.
  The inescapable fact is that the ALP was instrumental in relaxing restrictions on illegal boat-people arrivals.
  Thus, the present Government must shoulder full blame for the Christmas Island tragedy and desist from pointing the finger at dedicated, hard-working and well-respected personnel stretched to the limit. J. GRAHAM NICCOL, Dunsborough
  

[Labor Party is responsible.]

 
   THE Labor Party is responsible for these deaths because it has done nothing to stop it in the past two years. If it had kept the Liberal policies on illegal immigrants, those people would still be alive. IRIS, PERTH
  

[Don't let this happen again.]

  AS Christmas approaches, let us wish goodwill to the survivors and make sure we never let this sort of tragedy happen again. FRANK, CRAIGIE
  

[Be harsher on the illegal people smugglers]

   VERY sad for the deceased and their families, but it was a tragedy waiting to happen. The illegal boats must stop, people smugglers should be dealt with more harshly. ROBBITY,WA
  

[Predator companies share the blame.]

   YOU can't stop the boats when wealth is so unequal in the world. Until big companies stop raping the poorer countries, this will continue. MICK, BUNBURY

Questions for PM

 
   I WOULD like to ask our Prime Minister a couple of questions:

Why are Australian and WA police being sent to Christmas Island to launch an investigation when people-smuggling is not a criminal offence in Indonesia, where the boat has obviously come from? What offence will such highly qualified police spend untold amounts of taxpayers' money investigating?

Apart from the tragedy at the end of the voyage, why is this boat any different from the hundreds upon hundreds that have been arriving since Rudd "relaxed" Australia's border protection?
   Had our government acknowledged its mistake in continuing with its astronomically expensive so-called policy, in monetary terms and now in lost lives, we would not be faced with this tragedy and so many people, while unhappy with the speed of refugee applications in Indonesia, would still be alive. P. EDWARDS, Safety Bay

Blame Gillard

   THERE wouldn't have been this Christmas Island tragedy if those on board hadn't tried to jump in front of the thousands of their own countrymen who are trying to get here legally.
   A massive amount of blame rests on the shoulders of Gillard and her Government
   Nauru was very willing to take asylum seekers for processing, but this Government wouldn't allow it. SYDNEY SMITH, Bayswater