 Bruce Loudon, South Asia Correspondent | September 01, 2008
BENAZIR Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, has purged many of his assassinated wife's top advisers from the ruling Pakistan People's Party as he ramps up his bid to become Pakistan's president this week.
Latest polling shows that despite the endless series of allegations against him, Mr Zardari could win as many as 60 per cent of the votes cast when the country's electoral college meets on Saturday to elect a president.
The strong polling figures came despite a fierce denunciation of Mr Zardari as "corrupt and utterly illiterate" by the elder statesman of the Bhutto dynasty, Mumtaz Ali Bhutto.
"It's unfortunate for the country and ... for the party that a man of his background should become ... president," Mr Bhutto said.
"He is totally corrupt and utterly illiterate ... if he becomes the next president, what will be left of this country?"
At the same time, Benazir Bhutto's closest aide and confidante for more than 20 years, Naheed Khan, said party workers were "disillusioned and don't know what to do" about the rise of Mr Zardari.
Ms Khan, the wife of PPP senator Safdar Abbasi, was sitting next to Benazir Bhutto the day she was assassinated in Rawalpindi, on December 27 last year. On the other side of the PPP leader was her deputy, Makhdoom Amin Fahim.
Both Ms Khan and Mr Fahim have been purged by the PPP under Mr Zardari.
Mr Khan, a formidable woman who survived the attempt to kill Bhutto in Karachi when she returned home from exile in October last year, was for years the PPP leader's closest confidante, sometimes to the chagrin of her husband, who is said to have resented the influence she exerted.
Now she, along with many others who were close to Bhutto, have been sidelined by the new leadership under Mr Zardari.
Ms Khan was quoted yesterday as saying: "We were with Bibi (Benazir) through all the trials and tribulations and we loved our work with her. Party workers are disillusioned and don't know what to do. They have no access to him or people who work with him."
Another Bhutto adviser, Nawab Yusuf Talpur, told London's Sunday Times that only four or five members of Bhutto's team had made the transition to the Zardari camp.
"Most of the people trusted by Bibi are not trusted by him. Benazir had a vision and had the capacity to hold this party together. Her legacy is not being handled in the way we expected," he said.
Party stalwarts are outraged that Mr Zardari's aides have blamed Ms Khan for Bhutto's death. They have accused her of failing to protect Bhutto from the assassins who killed her in a sniper and suicide bomb attack.
Mr Zardari spent 11 years in jailon corruption and other charges and is widely blamed for Bhutto's two governments being dismissed, in 1990 and 1996.
Mr Zardari at the weekend snubbed calls to step aside from the presidential race. He also disclosed that his sister, Faryal Talpur, had withdrawn her nomination as his "covering" candidate in Saturday's election.
Pakistan's election system means that those who run for public office nominate "covering" candidates as possible substitutes in case they decide to withdraw at the last minute.
There had been speculation that Mr Zardari might withdraw in favour of Ms Talpur.
At the weekend, worried security officials, fearing a possible assassination attempt against Mr Zardari, rushed him from his Islamabad home to the heavily guarded compound of the prime minister's residence in the capital.
Pakistan's security forces have launched a major offensive against al-Qa'ida and Taliban-linked militants in the country's tribal areas, and there are fears of a retaliatory campaign of stepped-up suicide bombings and assassination attempts in the country's urban centres, with Mr Zardari a primary target.
Security authorities yesterday said they were tracking the movements of a team of suicide bombers believed to have left South Waziristan to attack targets in the Islamabad and Rawalpindi area.
Pakistan's top security official, Rehman Malik, announced yesterday that the all-out offensive would be suspended for the month of Ramadan, starting today. But he warned there would be no ceasefire and that if the militants "fired even one bullet, we will fire 10 in response".
In another sign of the country's new, "get tough" strategy towards the militants, Dr Malik disclosed for the first time that whenever suicide bombers were identified, their homes and villages would be destroyed - a tactic imported from Israel.
Reports yesterday said the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, and the top US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, had returned home "well pleased and very satisfied" from last week's secret, shipboard meeting in the Indian Ocean with Pakistan's army boss, General Afshaq Kayani.
"I came away from the meeting very encouraged that the focus is where it needs to be and that the military-to-military relationship we're building with Pakistan is getting stronger every day," Admiral Mullen said. Source: The Australian
By Gordon G. Chang Is Beijing the world’s banking capital for terrorists? Ruthie Zahavi, whose four-year-old son was killed by a rocket launched by Hamas in 2004, and dozens of other victims of terrorist acts in Israel seem to think so. On August 21, they filed suit in Superior Court in Los Angeles, alleging that, beginning in July 2003, Bank of China transferred millions of dollars to help Hamas and Palestine Islamic Jihad. The moneys, originating in Iran and Syria as well as other places in the Middle East, were funneled through Bank of China branches located in the United States to a branch in Guangzhou, the capital of China’s Guangdong province. From there the funds were wired to Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza, where they were used “for the purpose of planning, preparing for and executing terrorist attacks” between May 2004 to January of last year. Read more ...Source: Pajamas Media
 By Supna Zaidi
In an election year, no one wants to discuss the nuances of difficult topics like the "war on terror." Sound bites and bipartisan attacks are used to vilify honest work and gloss over real issues that affect the safety and security of the American public.
Just ask Imran Raza. CNN reduced his documentary, "Karachi Kids," to a lie when it published an online article entitled, "'Terror' School Turns Out To Be A Moderate Madrassa," because the school did not teach violence like suicide bombings in class, negating three years of work by the filmmaker.
The documentary follows two Pakistani-American brothers from Georgia to a Pakistani madrassa called the Jamia Binoria Institute for religious schooling. Though Islamist indoctrination is evident throughout the documentary, Raza made the mistake of not distinguishing between Islam and Islamism, and more subtly violent Islamism from its subversive non-violent jihadi schooling.
Islamism is political and does not believe in the separation of church and state. Rather, it believes in the supremacy of Islamic law (Shari'a), and wishes to encourage its spread not only in the Muslim world, but in the West as well.
Islamist ideology is spread through violence and non-violent strategies. The violent means is self-evident: USS Cole bombing, 9/11, Madrid and London bombings, etc. The non-violent strategy is at the heart of "Karachi Kids." This is done through indoctrination, proselytizing, and gaining special rights for Shari'a through secular legal systems. Algeria, Turkey and Iraq, are prime examples of countries where Islamists have put down their guns and formed political parties to affect the same changes they sought violently in years past. Hamas is another in the Palestinian territories. CNN failed to realize that both forms of Islamism are the 'terror' we are fighting.
In the documentary, the principal of the school states, "We work on altering the mindset of the student. So when they return to their home countries they will work on altering the minds of the other kids." He continues, stating, "These children will be able to convert non-Muslims and the Muslim children who are deviating from Islam."
Such an education changes the brothers significantly over their three-year stay at Jamia Binoria. When Raza first meets the boys they state that they want to go home and that the school is "disgusting." At the end of the video they say they feel like robots, despite passionately arguing that Muslims were not behind 9/11, not one Jew was killed on 9/11 and that Americans are the real terrorists. So, is this madrassa moderate just because it does not have "Bomb Making 101" in its class schedule?
The CNN article states that the state department thinks so . As for CNN's own independent investigation, CNN "spoke to its [the school] head, who denied the allegations made in the documentary." Funny, if I was asked whether I taught terror, I would deny it too. But, CNN has analysts. All they had to do was google "Deobandi", the brand of Islam taught at this madrassa. CNN would have then learned that while the Deobandi school of thought does not believe in violence, it "militantly" believes the inferiority of other religions, cultures, women, and promotes Islam as the solution to all political, social and economic problems through evangelism. What kind of Americans does that make the brothers' upon returning to America, besides the fact that they can't hold a job since they didn't learn math, English, social studies or other secular topics emphasized in public schools in America .
CNN failed to understand this nuance between non-violent and violent Islamism. Congressman Michael Mcaul did not, stating, "This demonstrates why we need to focus our resources on the epicenter of the war on terror in the Afghanistan/Pakistan region," said Rep. McCaul. "The madrassas come to America and recruit children to indoctrinate them into Islamic extremism ."
The issue of nuance is critical in understanding the long-term dangers of indoctrination versus short-term fears of outright violence. Bipartisanship in American politics is preventing America uniting against a common enemy, Islamism. Americans cannot allow disinformation to reduce the "war on terror" to "the liberal media" versus "Bush neocon crusaders." Islamism threatens both conservative and liberal American ideologies. Particularly, liberal advocacy of gay rights, women's lib and pluralism.
All individuals - conservative or liberal, atheist, or Orthodox Jew, or Muslim must be able to live equally under the same umbrella of democracy and secularism. This means, "to each to his own" has boundaries. The line is crossed when one individual's principles encroach on his or her neighbor. Islam does not. Islamism does. And when the latter does, democracy ends.
(Supna Zaidi is editor in chief of Muslim World Today, a bi-weekly newspaper based in California and assistant director of Islamist Watch at the Middle East Forum. She can be emailed at sapnaz@yahoo.com) Source: Muslims World TodayCNN
Latest recipient of The Dhimmi Award
 Columbus, Ohio - Shaaban 29 1429 / August 30, 2008 - Tens of thousands of Muslims from across the US and Canada came together in Columbus, Ohio to attend the 45th annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) which kicked off yesterday. Delegates resumed deliberations on the second day of the three-day event today about a number of key issues such as spirituality, community service, economic development, family, Islamic banking and outreach. The convention is themed "Ramadan... a Time for Change." Read more ...Source: ISNA H/T: Shariah Finance Watch
By Joseph Brean Canada's human rights commissions have shown "a disastrous combination of investigative zeal and substantive ignorance" that has left them vulnerable to abuse by "political Islam," the same ideology that has hijacked the United Nations human rights council, according to B'nai Brith Canada. In a submission to an independent review of the Canadian Human Rights Commission's hate speech mandate, the Jewish human rights group states that "when it comes to this particular threat to human rights, human rights commissions just don't get it." "Human rights commissions, like generals, are fighting the last war. They do not see new threats until they are overwhelmed by them. If, out of generosity than for no other reason, we should assume ignorance rather than wilful blindness, then the remedy is education and training," reads the report, written by B'nai Brith's senior legal counsel, David Matas. Read more ...Source: National Post
 August 31, 2008
AUSTRALIA today warned of a "high risk" of terror attacks on domestic and international flights in and to the United States, urging citizens to be vigilant while in the country.
"We advise you to exercise caution and monitor developments that might affect your safety in the United States because of the risk of terrorism," the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a travel advisory.
The department urged travellers to monitor the media for information about possible new security threats.
"The United States Department of Homeland Security's Advisory System Threat Level is at Orange for all domestic and international flights, indicating a 'high' risk of terrorist attack,'' it said.
"It is at Yellow or 'elevated' for all other sectors, indicating a significant risk of terrorist attack.''
The advisory also included warnings about extreme weather conditions as Hurricane Gustav bears down.
"There is severe weather, including hurricane conditions, affecting the southeast coastline of the United States,'' the advisory said.
"Australians in affected regions should adhere to all advice and evacuation requests enforced by local authorities.''
New Orleans began mandatory evacuations as Gustav, hailed as "the mother of all storms'', was set to plow into the US Gulf Coast on Monday packing winds of 150 miles (242 kilometres) per hour. Source: The Australian
By Tom Harper 30th August 2008 Hardline female ‘preachers of hate’ are radicalising Muslim women at one of Britain’s top mosques. The Saudi Arabian preachers were secretly filmed ordering women to murder gays and ex-Muslims. Undercover reporters from Channel 4’s Dispatches recorded the lectures in the women’s section of Regent’s Park Mosque in London. An unnamed Saudi woman is seen mocking other religions – labelling Christianity ‘vile’ and an ‘abomination’. Another, known as ‘Angelique’, claims Britain is a ‘land of evil’. The investigators attended lectures for two months at the mosque, which had promised a clean-up after another Dispatches probe just 18 months ago exposed it for spreading extreme Islamic views. During one sermon, a woman called Um Amira says: ‘He is Muslim, and he gets out of Islam...what are we going to do? We kill him, kill, kill.’ Read more ...Source: Daily Mail
 August 31, 2008
THE former bodyguard of a Lebanese president is reported to have said he will be killed if the Australian government forces him to return to Lebanon.
The Sunday Herald Sun reports Naji Mazloum, who has lived as a refugee in Melbourne's western suburbs since 2001, will be deported to Lebanon this week unless the Rudd Government grants him a last-minute reprieve.
Mr Mazloum was once a vocal member of the Lebanese Liberal party, and says he will be murdered by political opponents if sent back to Lebanon. The Federal Government has reportedly refused his plea for political asylum.
Mr Mazloum's wife and three children live in Lebanon.
"I fear for my life," he said. "My wife says `I would rather speak to you on the phone than for you to come back here and be killed.'
"She says `I'd rather you talk on the phone to your children than for them to have no father.'"
The Department of Immigration said Australia had a "comprehensive, fair and transparent" refugee protection process.
"People who are owed protection will receive it," it said. "It is expected any person whose case has been finally determined, and they have no grounds for remaining in Australia, should depart." Source: The Australian
 By Soner Cagaptay ISTANBUL, TURKEY -- Praying in Istanbul's Blue Mosque on Friday, I witnessed firsthand Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's international publicity coup. Ahmadinejad's visit produced little in terms of substantive policy; the signing of a multibillion-dollar natural gas pipeline deal was put off. But Ahmadinejad got something just as valuable: a chance to spin his own image, court popularity and bash the United States and Israel. I've long been fond of the Blue Mosque because it is where, many years ago, I attended my first Friday prayers. Last Friday, though, I felt uncomfortable in the prayer hall, where I found myself in front of God but next to Ahmadinejad, who turned the ritual into a political show. Departing from established practice of having visiting Muslim heads of state pray in a smaller mosque in Istanbul, the government allowed Ahmadinejad to pray in the Blue Mosque, Turkey's symbol of tolerant Ottoman Islam. With permission from Turkish authorities, he also allowed Iranian television to videotape him during the entire prayer, in violation of Islamic tradition, which requires quiet and intimate communion between God and the faithful. There was so much commotion around Ahmadinejad that the imam had to chide the congregants. Then, as he left the mosque, Ahmadinejad got out of his car to encourage a crowd of about 300 to chant, " Death to Israel! Death to America!" Even without this behavior, any visit from a leader representing an authoritarian, anti-Western autocracy would have created controversy in Turkey just a few years ago. Not today. The ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, government not only opened the Blue Mosque to Ahmadinejad but accommodated his refusal to pay respects at the mausoleum of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern, secular Turkey -- a major violation of protocol for an official visit. Read more ...Source: LA Times H/T: Jihad Watch
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: A Pakistani lawmaker defended a decision by southwestern tribesmen to bury five women alive because they wanted to choose their own husbands, telling stunned members of Parliament this week to spare him their outrage. " These are centuries-old traditions and I will continue to defend them," Israr Ullah Zehri, who represents Baluchistan province, said Saturday. "Only those who indulge in immoral acts should be afraid." The women, three of whom were teenagers, were first shot and then thrown into a ditch. They were still breathing as their bodies were covered with rocks and mud, according media reports and human rights activists, who said their only "crime" was that they wished to marry men of their own choosing Zehri told a packed and flabbergasted Parliament on Friday that Baluch tribal traditions helped stop obscenity and then asked fellow lawmakers not to make a big fuss about it. Read more ...Source: APIsrar Ullah Zehri
Latest recipient of the Distinguished Islamofascist Award
 By Emeka Mamah Mohammad Nureen Ashafa is the Imam of Ashafa Central Mosque, Tudun Wada, Kaduna; Vice President, Ashafa Mosque Foundation, as well as the Co-Executive Director of Interfaith Mediation Centre of Muslim-Christian Dialogue Forum, also in Kaduna. He spoke to some media organisations on the implications of the death sentence [fatwa] passed on octogenarian Islamic preacher, Mohammed Bello Abubakar, by the Jama’tu Nasril Islam [JNI], for marrying 86 wives contrary to Islamic injunctions. Excerpts: Do you support the fatwa passed on Mohammed Abubakar for admitting that he has 86 wives?I strongly support the JNI fatwa. In Islam, if somebody claims to be a Muslim, he professes Islam and he wants to act in the name of Islam, then he has no legitimacy to marry more than four wives. In Koran Chapter four, God made it very clear. You are free to marry women of your choice; you can marry two, three, or four. However, if you feel you cannot do justice among them, marry only one wife. This scriptural text is not ambiguous. This is a direct instruction from God, so, anything that negates that injunction is not allowed. You cannot marry more than four wives. There is room for concubine in Islam. And that is why you see some royal fathers have four wives and they have concubines. The history of concubine has to do with slavery, if you had women who are in your possession as slaves. This is because in those days, people bought slaves. It may no longer be fashionable in modern times but the law is still there. Read more ...Source: VanguardH/T: Dhimmi Watch
 By Hassan Al-Haifi One cannot help but read with awe the gross misrepresentations of the facts by the Saudi press, as it seeks to whitewash the evil doings of the Saudi religious establishment throughout the world. It is not just by trying to disassociate themselves from all terrorist (and safe to say, absolutely non-Islamic, in deed and in concept) activities. Like last Thursday's (August 21, 2008) article of the Saudi Gazette, and of course acting under directions from their bosses in the Saudi regime, these paid pens of the Saudi regime wish to convince the reader that anyone to their dislike is the torchbearer of all the evil they have unleashed throughout the world over the last three decades. Thus the Saudi Gazette wishes to mislead the world that the Saudis are as innocent of Al-Qaeda and all its doings as the Prophet Joseph was of the seductress that was infatuated with him and demanded that he relieve her from the fire of temptation that had come to overtake her, because of this infatuation. Read more ...Source: Yemen TimesH/T: Jihad Watch
 By Raheel Raza The Taliban recently sent an open letter to “the Canadian people,” threatening to kill more aid workers and target Canadians unless Ottawa pulls out of Afghanistan. Stephen Harper’s government called this “a propaganda exercise.” I’m not sure which of the two is more worrying - the Taliban threat or the Canadian government’s inability to see a looming crisis until it’s too late. It’s as though we haven’t learned anything from New York, Madrid and London. If and when a disaster hits, there will be the usual rallying cry of Where are the moderate Muslim voices? Hello, we’re here. But who’s listening? Read more ...Source: Vancouver Sun H/T: Shariah Finance Watch
 By Jason Trahan Last Wednesday's arrest of Akram Musa Abdallah in Phoenix raises questions about whether he will testify in next month's retrial of five Holy Land Foundation organizers. Abdallah, 54, has pleaded not guilty to Tuesday's indictment charging him with lying to the FBI in early 2007 when he denied ties to the former Richardson charity. The indictment says that between 1994 and 1997, he was "organizing, facilitating and coordinating" fundraising events in the Phoenix area for the HLF, once the nation's largest Muslim charity that is now charged with funneling money to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Last week's indictment does not charge Abdallah with aiding Hamas. Making false statements does carry up to an eight year prison sentence and a possible $250,000 fine, which perhaps is enough pressure on him to help the government bolster its case against the five charity organizers here. What's not clear yet is Abdallah's involvement with HLF, the Dallas defendants in particular, and overseas contacts. It is interesting to note that one of the prosecutors listed on the Abdallah's indictment is Barry Jonas, who is also working the HLF case. Read more ...Source: The Dallas Morning News
ISLAMABAD: Three teenage girls along with their two close elderly relatives were shot at before being buried alive in a desert of Balochistan by their tribesmen in the name of honour.The shocking reports of this horrible incident reaching the capital from different quarters revealed that the girls studying in classes 10 to 12 intended to marry men of their choice through a civil court by defying the centuries-old tribal traditions. When the fuming elders of Umrani tribe came to know about the intentions of these girls to appear before a local court, they picked them up from their homes along with two of their elderly women relatives. The crying girls were pushed into official cars and driven to a deserted area. There they were pushed out of the cars, made to stand in a queue and volleys of shots fired at them. Read more ... Source: Pak Tribune
 Gramfan: Khalim, you have done several interviews already stating how you feel about Islam in a political and theological context, for example: "Islam in its present form either perceived or real, is incompatible with the norms of modern society. There are many outdated traditions and practices that are inhumane or plain barbaric. Unfortunately, Islamic fundamentalists use those traditions to wage war with the non-Islamic world. We believe that, if we purify Islam form its medieval practices and remove the theological basis of modern terrorism, the clash of civilizations will be averted and Islam could become a part of the free and democratic world." Source: All-American Blogger. And more here: Libertarian Republican. On these sites you also clearly define the differences between Muslims and what you call "Islamists". I would like to ask you a few questions of a slightly different nature, but some that still touch on what you have already told us. Q: How would you describe your life so far: - similar to any American, or quite different, and if so, how?Both. My personal life is similar to any American, probably an average statistical model, white picket fence, 2.2 kids, that sort of thing. The difference is that, unlike most Americans, I take the war on terror very seriously. I have first-hand knowledge of what's going on in American Muslim community, of what's occurring just under the surface, in mosques and community centers, something that is not seen by the "infidel." And what goes on there scares the hell out of me. Q: Did you have a traditional Muslim upbringing, or would you say it was more "assimilated" or liberal?If by traditional you mean mandatory attendance of a madrassa and memorizing the Koran, then I'd say it was liberal. My parents never been to Mecca and daily prayers were encouraged but not mandatory. Q: What do you consider to be the best thing you have learned from Islam?Inner-peace. That God is watching over me and guides me to do the right thing. Q: When did you become politically aware, and what brought that on?September 11, 2001. And if I have to elaborate about what brought that on, it was the image of a plane crashing into the World Trade Center. Q: What was the "tipping point" that lead you to establish the MASH blog and did you have any friends who were like-minded?The tipping point was that me and my like-minded friends got fed up with the feeling of helplessness. We couldn't find a forum to speak our minds. Some of us tried to bring up our feelings in our mosques, but our imams would have none of that. In their views both Islam and Ummah (Muslim society) are above reproach and no matter what other Muslims do, even if they commit despicable crimes, we have to present united front against the infidel, because infidel is the real enemy. But I live in America. Most of my friends are non-Muslims. They're not my enemies. Just because we worship in different houses of God, or in a different manner, it doesn't make them my enemies; different doesn't mean bad. I believe that we are all God's creations. I also believe that God wants us to live in peace regardless of which way we choose to worship him. The idea that we need to kill infidels because they choose to worship God in a different manner or refuse to acknowledge God's existence is preposterous. If someone's feelings are hurt because he is ignored or worshiped improperly that wouldn't be The Almighty God, that would be a narcissist with self-esteem issues. If this is how Islamists see their God, I want nothing to do with that. My God is loving and merciful. My God is the true God of Islam, not the caricature that Islamists are trying to pass as God. Q: How does your family feel about what you are doing, given the enormity of the task, and the dangers involved?As long as my face cannot be tied to what I do, my family is OK with it. Q: How would you rate your achievements with the site to date?If we're speaking in terms of Internet ratings, it's pretty good. The site has been operational for just under a year and our ratings are comparable the www.coke.com. We have thousands of people who took our polls (http://www.reformislam.org/polls/). Our campaign to stop honorcide (http://www.reformislam.org/honorcide/) is gaining steam. We get requests for media interviews (unfortunately we have to decline TV and radio interviews for security reasons - http://muslimsagainstsharia.blogspot.com/2008/08/shariah-approved-banking-allyson-rowen.html). Our goals are to educate Muslims about dangers presented by Islamic religious texts and why Islam must be reformed; to educate non-Muslims about the differences between moderate Muslims and Islamists (a.k.a. Islamic Religious Fanatics, Radical Muslims, Muslim Fundamentalists, Islamic Extremists or Islamofascists); to educate both Muslims and non-Muslims alike that Moderate Muslims are also targets of Islamic Terror. On the one hand, it's a long, painful process and we are changing one mind at a time. On the other hand, we are changing minds. Q: Does it bother you that many non-Muslims who have read a lot about Islam readily support apostates – e.g. Walid Shoebat, yet seem to tend to not take you as seriously, and are sometimes rather hostile to you?Not really. Non-Muslims who are hostile to us are usually Islamophobic bigots, so we don't want their support to begin with. But most people are not like that. And if they are open-minded enough to understand that different doesn't mean bad or inferior, we can always explain to them the differences between Islam and Islamism. Unfortunately, most Muslims that you see on TV represent radical Islamic establishment and they create the impression that al Muslims are the same and Islam and Islamism are the same thing. To claim that is just as ridiculous as to claim that Christianity and Christian Identity Movement are the same thing. In fact, one is a religion, the other is a repulsive political ideology based on supremacy. Q: What do you feel is the most obvious thing you have in common with the "average" American? For example: enjoying the free lifestyle and what this entails? Sports? Entertainment?Probably all of the above. In fact, if a dictionary had a definition of a typical American family, it would define my family pretty well. Q: What is your favourite pastime?Traveling across America. Q: What are your favorite places?Niagara Falls. #1 hands down. Daytona Beach. You can drive on the beach. Coastal Maine. Q: Who is the person you would most like to meet – from the present or the past?Does God count as a person? I have so many questions for him. Q: Who is the second person you would most like to meet?The person who compiled the first copy of the Koran Q: Finally, what would you most like to see happen in your lifetime?Eradication of Islamism and other supremacist ideologies. GF: Thank you so much for taking the time to give us a little insight into yourself and your work.
By David J. Rusin
A recent news item exposes the Dutch response to polygamy as a stew of accommodation, bungling, and illogic. We have witnessed these elements many times before as Western states grapple with Islamism, but their confluence in a seven-paragraph article is striking.
For starters, local Dutch officials are registering plural unions even though the practice is formally banned. The paperwork proceeds with nary a hitch as long as the people involved are immigrants whose marriages took place in countries where having more than one wife is permitted.
But this represents the least interesting part of the story. After all, Britain and the Canadian province of Ontario already grant de facto recognition of polygamy by providing added welfare benefits to men with multiple wives. Far more intriguing in the Dutch case is the manner by which the national government has been excising these data from public records.
Source: Islamist Watch
 By David J. Rusin Construction is about to begin on the Mainland Common Centre, a public swimming facility in Halifax, Nova Scotia - but not everyone is pleased with the design. "There will be lots of glass to help promote the aquatics center as a vibrant and active space," the architect explained, "and this is obviously the opposite of the Muslim women's requirements." Some have objected to these windows, citing the need to protect their religiously mandated modesty. Muslim women rent the current building for an hour-long private session each week, during which time a female lifeguard is on duty and the glass is covered with paper or bags. However, this will become impractical once the new center debuts with its huge windows. A proposed solution - the use of large, mechanized blinds - won't be cheap, said municipal councilors who represent the area. "To cover the pool windows with this type of automatic blind will be costly, probably in the thousands of dollars," Coun. Mary Wile [Clayton Park West] said via email. Read more ...Source: Islamist Watch
 Raymond Johansen is willing to sit down with Osama bin Laden.Norway has joined Switzerland in opening up for talks with terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. That doesn't mean Norway is going soft on the fight against terrorism, though, said the country's deputy foreign minister."You don’t make peace with your friends, but with your enemies," said Raymond Johansen, state secretary in Norway’s Foreign Ministry and deputy foreign minister, on Wednesday. Johansen told the website for newspaper Dagsavisen Wednesday afternoon that Afghan President Hamid Karzai has also called for reconciliation among the various groups in Afghanistan. That would include Osama bin Laden's followers. "We support that," Johansen said. "Engagement and dialogue have a lot going for them." He also stressed that "negotiations are not the same as weakness." Johansen's remarks come in the wake of a visit by Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey to Iran, and her call for dialogue with Osama bin Laden. She's the first foreign minister of a democratic country who has promoted dialogue with bin Laden, saying Switzerland has no other alternatives. Read more ... Source: AftenpostenRaymond Johansen
Latest recipient of The Dhimmi Award
By Anne Marie Keenan Am I alone in my disquiet about our government's courtship of the Scottish Islamic Foundation? In the 1970s, young women like me embraced multiculturalism; we were engaging with our oppressed sisters everywhere around the world. Or so it seemed at the time. Where are we now? And why are we so effectively silenced? Why do we have nothing to say about a sharia credit card? Have we really forgotten what sharia law means for women? While English clerics debate the pros and cons of introducing an element of sharia law into their legal system, where are our voices in this debate? Do we seriously think it won't happen in Scotland? Look at their website. It's happening already. Read more ...Source: Scotsman
According to a report on Islamonline.net, the Al-Azhar Fatwa Committee has issued a fatwa permitting the hacking of American and Israeli websites that harm Islam and Muslims, and also permitting damaging them, as part of "electronic jihad." Source: MEMRI
By Elias Bejjani Hezbollah's Leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah warned that his terrorist armed militia is now much, much, stronger than before the devastating war that took place in 2006 between his militia and Israel. He rhetorically and pompously alleged that his militia would destroy Israel if its army wages any attacks against Lebanon. Nasrallah issued this threat last Saturday at a Boy Scout ceremony in Beirut, as a response to Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's remark last week that "if Lebanon becomes a Hezbollah state, then we won't have any restrictions" in striking the country. Olmert claimed that during the last war, Israel did not use all of its firepower because the enemy was Hezbollah and not its host country Lebanon. Read more ...Source: Family Security Matters
"I was surprised to see all of the staff wearing T-shirts with this symbol.
One of the employees told me they were wearing these T-shirts all week, to make their dislike of Al Jazeera known.
Many residents of Golden do not like the idea of their city laying down the welcome mat to Al Jazeera.
The Qatar based Arab news network’s level of anti-American (and anti-Israel) propaganda is notorious. A few weeks ago Al Jazeera’s Beirut bureau threw a welcome home party for brutal child-killer Samir Kuntar.
Golden’s mayor backed out of his invitation to host a BBQ at his home for Al Jazeera. Some locals produced these shirts, which say “No Al Jazeera in Golden” on the back. The bar’s owner had more of the shirts made up (without the words on the back) as an “ironic sort of joke”; apparently the Arabic says Buffalo Rose. Source: LGF
By Zeyno Baran
Will Turkey side with the United States, its NATO ally, and let more U.S. military ships into the Black Sea to assist Georgia? Or will it choose Russia?
A Turkish refusal would seriously impair American efforts to support the beleaguered Caucasus republic. Ever since Turkey joined NATO in 1952, it has hoped to never have to make a choice between the alliance and its Russian neighbor to the North. Yet that is precisely the decision before Ankara. If Turkey does not allow the ships through, it will essentially be taking Russia's side.
Whether in government or in the military, Turkish officials have for several years been expressing concern about U.S. intentions to "enter" the Black Sea. Even at the height of the Cold War, the Black Sea remained peaceful due to the fact that Turkey and Russia had clearly defined spheres of influence. But littoral countries Romania and Bulgaria have since joined NATO, and Ukraine and Georgia have drawn closer to the Euro-Atlantic alliance. Ankara has expressed nervousness about a potential Russian reaction.
The Turkish mantra goes something like this: "the U.S. wants to expand NATO into the Black Sea -- and as in Iraq, this will create a mess in our neighborhood, leaving us to deal with the consequences once America eventually pulls out. After all, if Russia is agitated, it won't be the Americans that will have to deal with them."
Nonetheless, Ankara sided with fellow NATO members in telling Georgia and Ukraine that they would be invited to join the alliance -- albeit without any time frame. But now that Russia has waged war in part over this decision, the Turks will have to pick sides. Deputy chief of the Russian general staff Anatoly Nogoivtsyn already warned Turkey that Russia will hold Turkey responsible if the U.S. ships do not leave the Black Sea. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will travel to Ankara on Monday to make clear that Russia means it.
Russia is Turkey's largest trading partner, mostly because of Turkey's dependence on Russian gas. More important, the two countries share what some call the post-imperial stress syndrome: that is, an inability to see former provinces as fellow independent states, and ultimately a wish to recreate old agreements on spheres of influence. When Mr. Putin gave a speech in Munich last year challenging the U.S.-led world order, Turks cheered. The Turkish military even posted it on its Web site. President Abdullah Gül recently suggested that "a new world order should emerge."
Turkey joined Russia at the height of its war on Georgia in suggesting a five-party "Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform." In other words, they want to keep the U.S. and the EU at arm's length. Both Russia and Turkey consider Georgia's American-educated president, Mikheil Saakashvili, to be crazy enough to unleash the next world war. In that view Turkey is not so far from the positions of France or Germany -- but even these two countries did not suggest that the Georgians sign up to a new regional arrangement co-chaired by Russia while the Kremlin's air force was bombing Georgian cities.
Two other neighbors -- Azerbaijan and Armenia -- are watching the Turkish-Russian partnership with concern. Azeris remember how the Turks -- their ethnic and religious brethren -- left them to be annexed by the Soviets in the 1920s. Armenians already fear their giant neighbor, who they consider to have committed genocide against them. Neither wants to have to rely on Iran (once again) as a counterbalance to Russia. Oh, and of course, Iran had its own sphere-of-influence arrangements with the Soviets as well.
Though Turkey and Iran are historic competitors, Turkey has broken with NATO countries recently by hosting President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad on a working visit. As the rest of NATO was preoccupied with the Russian aggression in Georgia, Turkey legitimized the Iranian leader amidst chants in Istanbul of "death to Israel, death to America."
A few days later, Turkey played host to Sudan's Omar al-Bashir, who is accused of genocide by the rest of NATO -- but not by Russia or Iran, or by the Muslim-majority countries who usually claim to care so much about Muslim lives.
Where is Turkey headed? Turkish officials say they are using their trust-based relations with various sides to act as a mediator between various parties in the region: the U.S. and Iran; Israel and Syria; Pakistan and Afghanistan, etc. It may be so. But as more American ships steam toward the Black Sea, a time for choosing has arrived.
Ms. Baran is senior fellow and director of the Center For Eurasian Policy at the Hudson Institute. Source: The Wall Street Journal
 Al-Quds al-Arabi reports missiles can accurately hit targets in Israel, weapons to be used by Lebanese organization in event that Israel or US launch attack against Islamic republic
Roee Nahmias Published: 08.29.08, 11:05 / Israel News
Iran has supplied Hizbullah with advanced missiles which can accurately hit extensive targets inside Israel, the London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi reported Friday, quoting Arab sources.
According to the report, the missiles will be operational at any moment Israel "thinks of acting adventurously and attacking Iran" or when the United States launches a regional war against the Tehran government.
The Arab sources said that the new missiles are capable of reaching a range "Israel cannot even imagine" and are one of the "surprises" promised by Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah.
It was also reported that the missiles were equipped with advanced navigation mechanisms, which would enable them to hit their targets in a more accurate manner.
According to recent reports, Iran plans to build an array of antiaircraft missiles for Hizbullah in Lebanon. Kuwaiti newspaper al-Siyasa reported Tuesday that 300 Iranian experts were working to build an array of antiaircraft missiles on the mountain range in western Lebanon.
Al-Quds al-Arabi went on to report that Iran is not only helping Israel's enemies in Lebanon, but is also attempting to reinforce the Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip in a bid to weaken the truce between Hamas and Israel.
According to the report, these attempts have led to clashes between Hamas and Jihad members in Gaza. Source: YNet
 August 29, 2008
THOUSANDS of Indian police and paramilitaries were Friday enforcing a strict curfew in Kashmir and intensifying a crackdown against Muslim separatists, officials said.
Security forces were out in large numbers on the streets of Srinagar and elsewhere in the disputed Kashmir valley, which has been the scene of weeks of violent protests, ordering locals not to leave their homes.
“A strict curfew is in force. Please stay indoors and don't come out for congregational prayers,” police announced through vehicle-mounted public address systems while patrolling the streets of Srinagar.
Muslim leaders in Kashmir had called upon people to hold “peaceful protests” on Friday to denounce Indian rule in Kashmir, as well as the arrest of senior separatists and their supporters.
An indefinite curfew was imposed in Kashmir on Sunday, with authorities hoping to prevent further anti-India protests.
Eight people were shot dead during the week for defying the crackdown, and several separatist leaders - including the two most senior figures Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq - have been detained.
Police officials say over 100 of their supporters have also been arrested.
The last month has seen some of the biggest anti-India protests since an insurgency in the region began in 1989.
They were triggered by a state government plan made public in June to donate land to a Hindu shrine trust in the Kashmir valley. The decision was later reversed after massive Muslim protests, angering Hindus.
Since June, at least 39 Muslims and three Hindus have died in police shootings on protesters in the Kashmir valley and the mainly Hindu area of Jammu. Source: The Australian
 Officials at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) offer swift and vehement denials when anyone publicly links them to the Muslim Brotherhood, an international movement that seeks the spread of Shariah, or Islamic law, throughout the world. This week, someone has made that connection again. And CAIR's reaction will be interesting to watch. The source this time? Mohammed Habib, the second-in-command of the Muslim Brotherhood. In an interview published by Pajamas Media, the Brotherood's Deputy Supreme Guide acknowledges the connection between his organization and CAIR. Habib spoke candidly about the Brotherhood's relationship with affiliates – or, "Muslim Brotherhood entities," as he termed them – outside of Egypt. The interviewer, a dissident Egyptian blogger, wryly named "sandmonkey," said he recorded the interview at the Brotherhood's leadership office. He asked the simple question, "Is there a Muslim Brotherhood in the US?" Habib responded: I would say yes. There are Muslim Brotherhood members there. Read more ... Source: IPT News
 Regret: 'We never have the ability to present this
in a different way' said TV presenter Lyse DoucetA BBC presenter has attacked coverage of Afghanistan's ongoing war, claiming TV reporters are not covering the 'humanity of the Taliban'.
Lyse Doucet, a presenter and correspondent on BBC World News, was speaking at a discussion of TV reporting of the war in the country.
Doucet, who has been at the BBC since 1983, also spoke out against the nature of the reports on Prince Harry's deployment in Afghanistan.
The veteran correspondent and presenter, who played a key role in the BBC's coverage of the war in Afghanistan in 2001, told the Edinburgh International Television Conference: 'What's lacking in the coverage of the Afghans is the sense of the humanity of the Afghans.
'In the Prince Harry coverage for example, there were all these people out there but you never really saw them.
'You knew that the bombs were dropping in that direction and the guns pointing in that direction but you never got a sense of how Afghans are as a people.'
Asked what was missing in British coverage, she added: 'It may sound odd but the humanity of the Taliban, because the Taliban are a wide, very diverse group of people. Source: Daily MailLyse Doucet
Latest recipient of The Dhimmi Award
 Tower Hamlets Council leader Lutfur Rahman and Liberal Democrat leader Stephanie EatonCouncillors have been ordered not to eat during town hall meetings while Muslim colleagues fast during the holy month of Ramadan. All elected members at Left-wing Tower Hamlets Council in East London have been sent an email asking them to follow strict Islamic fasting during September no matter what their faith. As well as restricting food and drink until after sunset, the authority's leaders have decided to reduce the number of meetings throughout the month so they do not clash with the requirements of Ramadan. The seven remaining meetings scheduled to take place will also include special prayer breaks to accommodate Muslim councillors. But some members of the Labour-run council say the demands favour one religious group over the others. Dr Stephanie Eaton, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, said she would ignore the restrictions. She said: 'The Liberal Democrats have enormous respect for the contribution of all faith groups and cultures to the life of the community of Tower Hamlets.' Read more ...Source: Evening Standard
By Ashfaq Yusufzai PESHAWAR, Aug 26 (IPS) - "We are trend-setters. Others are following us," boasts Rauf Khan, mayor of Pakistan’s Buner district, where villagers killed six militants in the Dara Shalbandi area on Aug. 14. In some parts of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), people are enlisting in anti-Taliban squads to take on the extremists who are blamed for a spate of abductions and arson attacks on girls’ schools, rural clinics and cyber cafes. Rauf Khan is leading the village defence squads in Buner, a small valley between Peshawar and Swat. On Aug. 8, the Taliban had attacked the Pir Baba police station in Buner and killed nine policemen. The village defence squad retaliated with indiscriminate firing that resulted in the deaths of eight militants, including Kamran Khan, the so-called chief of the Tehreek Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in adjacent Mardan district. "Villagers had asked the militants to surrender before they laid siege," Khan told IPS. "But the militants requested safe passage. That was denied. Then the militants threw a hand-grenade in the direction of the villagers to break the siege," he recounts. Read more ...Source: IPS
 Veteran radical Islamist and hatemonger Salam Al-Marayati, of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, has used a television encounter with U.S. Congressmember Brad Sherman (D-Ca) as an opportunity to denounce the Center for Islamic Pluralism and other moderate Muslim groups with whom Congressman Sherman has consulted, as “not mainstream.” That is, Al-Marayati has called for the exclusion of CIP and others from participation in the American public discourse. CIP above reproduces and attaches a press release issued by Cong. Sherman, and a television transcript of the encounter.
CIP notes first that this is, of course, the same Salam Al-Marayati who informed the Los Angeles public on a radio talk show in the afternoon of September 11, 2001 that Israel could be responsible for that day’s horrors, because, according to him, “this diverts attention from what’s happening in the Palestinian territories, so that [Israelis] can go on with their aggression and occupation and apartheid policies.” Such charges, in the mouth of Al-Marayati, represent “mainstream” Muslim ignorance and conspiratorialism.
In reality, MPAC, not CIP, is outside the mainstream of American society. Attacks on CIP would not otherwise be forthcoming, whether by demagogues like Al-Marayati, or by James Zogby of the Arab American Institute, who recently assailed CIP Executive Director Stephen Suleyman Schwartz in a periodical issued in Amman, Jordan
[see www.jordantimes.com/?news=9966 ]
or by Muslim Brotherhood acolytes [see www.ikhwanweb.com/Article.asp?ID=15647&LevelID=1&SectionID=98].
CIP further points out that Al-Marayati compulsively engages in two habits that are inappropriate in American interfaith discourse. First, neither Al-Marayati nor MPAC nor any other of the radical Islamist groups that dominate American Sunni public life has the right to dictate to American elected officials with whom they should meet or consult. We have never heard of Christian or Jewish groups demanding that one or a group of them should have sole responsibility for dialogue with public officials, and denouncing others as “not mainstream.”
Al-Marayati and his cohort understand nothing whatever about the American compact for interfaith relations. In American religious life, numbers seldom outweigh intellect: CIP would be pleased to succeed to the role of such minoritarian groups as the Moravian Brethren, the early Unitarians, or the Seventh Day Adventists. One Albanian Orthodox leader who came to America, Theofan Stilian Noli, changed the whole history of his people; two generations later the blessed Baba Rexheb Beqiri introduced Bektashi Sufism to the U.S. and preserved its traditions in the face of Communist terrorism. America has always allowed small religious groups to flourish, often with impact far beyond their narrow ranks. Similarly, the Jewish maskilim were once a handful, but profoundly reoriented Jewish thought. Outside the monotheistic faiths, the same has been true of once-obscure Buddhist trends.
Even Al-Marayati and his cadre represent a small group taking advantage of the broad American platform. Others like him also abuse the term “mainstream” in the Muslim context. We do not consider MPAC “mainstream.” MPAC does not reflect the religious traditions of Ahl as-Sunna wa’al Jama’at (the consensus of Sunnis) or Ahl ul-Beyt (Shias). Rather, it is a political pressure group that promotes hateful smears. For Al-Marayati and MPAC, it is clear that “mainstream” means only those American Muslims who have gained the support of Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Iran, Hezbollah and other radical regimes and movements, and have imposed themselves as an ideological caste directing American Muslims.
CIP was founded by American Muslims prominent in active defense of the Balkan Muslims from aggression, in support for stable Turkish Islam, and in clear adherence to the precepts of the Sunni consensus and the moderate Shia marjae. It has been joined and assisted by distinguished shaykhs, outstanding journalists and scholars, and community activists. CIP’s intellectual output is professional and authoritative. CIP cooperates with established civil and religious institutions in the U.S. and other countries. CIP also promotes respect and cooperation with Christian and Jewish leaders. CIP calls for adherence and obedience to the laws of Western countries in which Muslims live. These are the characteristics that define “mainstream” thought in Islam, not approval by extremist ideologues.
CIP points out that CIP and other moderate organizations are bringing new faces to the forefront of discussion while Al-Marayati and his crew continue to promote a long-usurping cadre of Islamist bigots. MPAC does not change. CIP is constantly improving, expanding, and providing a platform for new personalities.
May Allah subhana’watala protect all believers from the intrigues of such hypocrites, speculators, slanderers, and those who divert Muslims, in particular, from the path of religion to that of ideology. This we ask in the week approaching the Holy Month of Ramadan, alhamdulillah.
Center for Islamic Pluralism
Washington, DC
U.S. Midwest
U.S. West Coast
U.S. Southeast
London, England
Koln, Germany
Iraq
Saudi Arabia
Balkans
And other locations, with more to come, insha'allah! Source: CIPCenter For Islamic Pluralism
Latest recipient of The MASH Award
 Salam Al-Marayati
Latest recipient of the Distinguished Islamofascist Award
 August 28, 2008
MALAYSIA'S opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was sworn in to parliament today, ending a decade-long political exile and taking another step towards his plan of toppling the government.
Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim swears in at Parliament house in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Anwar claimed a landslide victory this week in a by-election to return him to parliament, capping a stunning comeback after he was sacked as deputy premier in 1998 and jailed for sodomy and corruption.
“I'm glad to be back after a decade,” Anwar told reporters, attacking Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who has faced calls to quit since March elections in which the opposition gained unprecedented ground.
“The prime minister has lost the mandate of the country and the nation,” Anwar said, calling on Abdullah, his deputy Najib Razak and “all their cronies” to be removed from power.
Asked if was on track to carry out his plan to secure enough government defectors to oust the ruling coalition by September 16, he said “yes”.
Anwar arrived at parliament with his wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who held his seat in northern Penang state during his exile, and his daughter Nurul Izzah Anwar who is also a parliamentarian.
Dressed in a dark blue traditional Malay outfit and black “songkok” hat, he was sworn in during a brief ceremony.
“I hope the member for Permatang Pauh will contribute to the proceedings of this house. I am satisfied he has been unanimously appointed leader of the opposition,” said speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia.
Lim Kit Siang, from the Democracy Action Party which is a member of Anwar's three-member opposition alliance, greeted him from the parliamentary benches.
“I would like to welcome the member for Permatang Pauh who is back in the house after a second political tsunami. The government is like the Titanic which is going to sink,” he said.
The March elections saw the opposition gain control of five states and a third of parliamentary seats, in the worst ever setback for the Barisan Nasional coalition which has ruled for half a century.
Anwar needs to persuade 30 government lawmakers to defect in order to form a government, in a task political observers say will be difficult but not impossible.
He faces another daunting hurdle with new sodomy allegations, levelled by a 23-year-old former aide, which he says have been concocted by the government to sideline him.
Anwar's original sodomy conviction was overturned by the nation's highest court in 2004, allowing him to go free after six years in jail.
Sodomy is a serious offence in Malaysia, a conservative and predominantly Muslim country, and carries a maximum penalty of 20 years' jail. No trial date has been given yet for the new sexual misconduct allegations.
The government dismissed Anwar's claims of being on the verge of seizing power.
“There is no threat from Anwar, he has won in a by-election and he becomes just another MP,” Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar said at parliament.
“Since the March 8 elections till now we have done nothing but politicking ... but (the defections) haven't happened. They are waiting for it to happen but it hasn't happened - good luck to them.” Source: The Australian
August 28, 2008
AT least 10 people, including police officers and prison staff, died in a suicide attack Thursday in a garrison town in northwest Pakistan as they headed to work, a police official told AFP.
The incident was the latest in a series of deadly attacks to hit Pakistan since the resignation of Pervez Musharraf as president, with the country's fragile coalition government struggling to combat Islamic militancy.
“The van was carrying policemen and jail staff when it was hit by an explosives-laden car which was used in the attack,” said Bannu police official Najeebullah, who uses only one name.
“Ten people, mostly police and prison workers, were killed in the attack,” he said.
The van that was targeted in the head-on collision was normally used to carry prisoners to court and then back to jail.
Bannu is a garrison town situated 250 kilometres (150 miles) southwest of the Pakistani capital Islamabad and is close to the country's lawless tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
The region has been wracked by violence since hundreds of Taliban and Al-Qaeda rebels fled there after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.
Tahir Shah, a local police chief, said the jail van had been targeted in Thursday's attack.
“When it reached Kurram Bridge another vehicle standing near exploded,” he said, giving a separate account of the incident.
“The jail van fell into the river. Preliminary investigations show at least nine police personnel were killed.”
A senior doctor at Bannu hospital confirmed that eight bodies had been taken there along with 12 injured people.
“All the bodies are of police officials who were killed in the attack,” Dr Shahab-ud-Din told AFP.
Pakistan has been hit by a rising tide of Islamic militancy in the past year. The country's political future remains up in the air, with an election set for September 6 to choose a successor to Musharraf, who quit as president on August 18.
Musharraf had been a key ally of the United States in its efforts to combat militancy on the Pakistani border with Afghanistan, a region Washington says is being used as a launching pad for rebel attacks on coalition forces.
But violence linked to Islamabad's role in the “war on terror” has seen nearly 1,200 people killed in suicide and bomb attacks across the nation.
Pakistani troops killed up to 50 militants, including foreign fighters, in the country's tribal regions on Wednesday amid a fresh upsurge in Taliban-inspired bloodshed.
There is also an ongoing military operation in the Bajaur tribal area to combat militants.
For the past three weeks troops backed by helicopter gunships have been engaged in clashes there with militants. The battles have seen more than 500 people killed and 260,000 displaced. Source: The Australian
August 27, 2008
An Iranian cleric accused President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of betraying the people and called on reformers to unite to defeat him in next year's elections, according to an interview in a German newspaper quoted by Reuters, Wednesday.
"Ahmadinejad is not complying with the will of the people," The Financial Times Deutschland quoted Grand Ayatollah Bajat Sanjani as saying. "This is a major threat, a big danger," the cleric added in an unusually direct personal attack.
The newspaper also said Sanjani accused Ahmadinejad's government of breaking the law, seriously violating personal freedom and illegally empowering the Revolutionary Guard.
Ahmadinejad is expected to run for a second term in Iran's next presidential election, slated to take place early in 2009. His reformist rivals are expected to attack him especially on his economic policies.
Iran suffers from a rising consumer price index, high percentage of unemployment and an inflation of 26 percent. Source: Jerusalem Post
By Amanda Carpenter Old videos appear to show a radical Muslim named Khalid Al-Mansour helped Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama gain acceptance into Harvard Law. Civil rights activist Percy Sutton recalled being solicited by a man named Dr. Khalid A-Mansour to write a letter of recommendation to help Obama gain acceptance into Harvard Law in this undated television interview available here [see clips]. "I was introduced to him [Obama] by a friend who was raising money for him and the friends name was Dr. Khalid al Mansour from Texas,” Sutton said. “He is the principle adviser to one of the world's richest men. He told me about Obama. He wrote to me about him and his introduction was 'there is a young man that has applied to Harvard and I know that you have a few friends left there because you used to go up there to speak, would you please write a letter in support of him?'...I wrote a letter in support of him to my friends at Harvard saying to them I thought there was a genius that was going to be available and I sure hoped they would treat him kindly." There are many videos available on the internet featuring a man named Khalid Al-Mansour, who describes himself as an author, scholar and businessman, blasting the Jewish culture and Christianity and preaching the virtues of Islam, reminiscent of the controversial clips discovered of Obama’s longtime friend and former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright that rocked headlines earlier this spring. Read more ...Source: TownhallMuslims Against Sharia call on senator Obama to publicly distance himself from Khalid Al-Mansour and repudiate his hateful rhetoric.
By Ajit Jain
The Muslim leaders were invited for the round table as Canada's spy agency is reportedly frightened of potential terrorist attacks on Canadians and now are seeking the help of Muslim leaders.
"I want you to help... Us doing it alone is like one hand clapping," Ellis told the group on August 16 in Toronto.
Not many Muslims were interested in attending this round table and in fact some e-mails were reportedly circulated advising Muslim leaders to stay away from the meeting.
Ellis admitted that attendance was small, which was unfortunate for him. He conceded that prior to the meeting, certain opinion makers in the Muslim community had circulated e-mails suggesting it was best to give the meeting a pass, since no high level political officials from Ottawa were there. Source: Rediff
From correspondents in Khar | August 27, 2008
PAKASTANI troops have killed 19 militants in clashes near the Afghan border as the government struggled to combat an upsurge in Taliban bloodshed.
Pakistan's fragile coalition government, which pushed US ally Pervez Musharraf to resign as president on August 18 in the face of impeachment charges, is under heavy international pressure to tackle the militancy.
Violence linked to the country's role in the "war on terror'' has killed nearly 1200 people in suicide and bomb attacks across Pakistan in the past year.
The army said in a statement that 11 militants were killed in a gunbattle that broke out after a military checkpost came under rebel attack in the restive South Waziristan tribal region.
"Around 75-100 militants attacked a checkpost on the night of August 26-27. Security forces effectively repulsed the attack. Reportedly 11 militants were killed and 15-20 others injured,'' the statement said.
Pakistani troops have been battling Taliban and al-Qaeda militants for several years in South Waziristan.
Pakistan's lawless tribal regions have been wracked by violence since hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaida rebels fled there after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.
Separately, Pakistani helicopter gunships pounded militant hideouts today in the troubled Bajaur tribal region near the Afghan border, killing eight rebels.
Pakistani forces moved into Bajaur, a hub of al-Qaida and Taliban militants, earlier this month.
"Helicopters shelled militant hideouts in the Salarzai and Nawagai areas of Bajaur tribal region today, killing eight militants and wounding 12 others,'' a security official said.
The three-week-old military operation has left more than 500 people dead and 260,000 displaced in the region.
US and Afghan officials say the rebels have sanctuaries in the rugged tribal border regions of Pakistan that they use to train, regroup and launch attacks on international troops in Afghanistan. Source: The Australian
From correspondents in Tehran | August 27, 2008
IRAN has hanged a man aged 19 who was arrested for a murder he committed when he was 15. It is the second such case this month.
Behnam Zarei was arrested at the age of 15 on charges of murder, the daily Etemad-e Melli reported.
He was hanged in Shiraz prison on Tuesday, without the knowledge of his lawyer and family, the newspaper said.
Major human rights groups appealed to Iran in July to stop imposing the death penalty for crimes by juveniles and to commute sentences of nearly 140 youths known to be on death row.
Earlier this month a 20-year-old man was hanged in central Iran for a murder he also committed when he was 15.
Iran has executed at least 30 juvenile criminals since 1990, including seven in 2007, according to the groups. Saudi Arabia and Yemen have also executed juveniles.
Murder, adultery, rape, armed robbery, apostasy and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under Iran's sharia law, practised since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Amnesty International in April said Iran executed at least 317 people last year, trailing only China which carried out 470 death sentences. Source: The Australian
Prof. Barry Rubin - 8/26/2008 The great battle of our younger years was between Communism and democratic liberalism. Its contemporary equivalent is Arab nationalism versus Islamism. That implies some extremely important, often misunderstood, conclusions: First, regrettably but true, democracy isn't in the running. The problem is not just that cynical rulers mislead the masses through demagoguery-though that's true; it's that the masses embrace extremist world views. Even in Iraq or Lebanon what exists is not democracy but merely elections regulating the precise balance among ethno-religious blocs. Instead of lobbying, they have violence as a means of persuasion and leverage, periodically breaking into civil war. Other countries are dictatorships, though repression varies. Kuwait, a sort of monarchical semi-democracy, is the exception proving the rule. There, pro-democratic liberal forces do poorly against dynasty-controlled, Islamist and tribal foes. The Palestinian political scene provides another example. Remember, Fatah accepted Hamas's victory at the polls. Only after an agreement formed a coalition government did Hamas stage a coup. There is nothing theoretical about this. Is democracy possible in the Arabic-speaking world? Why not, once one discounts all the actually existing political, ideological, social and organizational forces.
Will it come eventually? Probably, if eventually is long enough.In terms of practical politics and strategy, however, these two questions are irrelevant. Democracy isn't on the agenda. Just to give guidelines, and remembering every country differs, I'd suggest roughly 60-70 percent of the Arabic-speaking world is still Arab nationalist, 20-30 percent Islamist, and 10 percent pro-moderate democracy. Numbers and definitions are subject to challenge but the basic proportions seem right.There are two hybrid regimes. Libya follows dictator Muammar Qadhafi's bizarre mentality. More importantly, in Syria, the regime is Arab nationalist but its international policy and domestic propaganda is largely Islamist. It backs Iraqi, Lebanese, and Palestinian Islamist terrorists and the regime is deeply committed to the Iran alliance. Second, not all Islamists are the same or allied but all are extremely dangerous. Iran and Syria, which can subvert whole countries and sponsor large political organizations, is far more dangerous than al-Qaida. The notion of helping groups like the Muslim Brotherhood to become more powerful or seize control of countries is insane, more likely to ensure decades of bloodshed, the deaths of many thousands of people in internal strife and foreign warfare, and the destruction of Western interests. Third, the two contending forces are both local. The West is an outside factor whose intervention-either through force or concessions-won't decide this contest generally and certainly isn't going to transform either of the two sides. The West can, however, do some critical things if it knows how to distinguish between friends, enemies, and interests: # Help one side against the other where appropriate. The side to help is the Arab nationalists. They are as a group, at least with Saddam Hussein gone from Iraq, less internationally aggressive and less internally repressive than the revolutionary enthusiastic and ideologically idealistic Islamists. They have also absorbed some lessons from the last half-century about their own limits and Western power. Their people suffer because they're incapable of transforming these societies for the better; their subjects benefit because they don't seek to transform these societies and govern every detail of their lives. # Don't romanticize Arab nationalist regimes. They're incompetent, corrupt, anti-democratic, and unreliable allies. We know their failings are one significant reason the Islamists have grown but, frankly, there's nothing we can do about it. There's no third alternative. The Bush administration tried and failed miserably. Ironically, a real moderate government, the Lebanese "March 14" coalition, didn't receive serious Western support and inevitably fell to Hizballah pressure and Iranian-Syrian subversion. Arab nationalist regimes will do as little as possible to combat the Islamists internationally, appease the other side quickly if they think it‘s winning, and play anti-American, anti-Western, and anti-Israel cards. # Show Arab nationalist regimes that the West won't let them get away with anything nasty and show the Islamists it won't let them get away with anything at all. Any concession made to the Islamist side-including Syria-sends a signal to regimes, radical Islamist groups, and the people that the Islamists are winning and everyone better join or appease them. # Obtaining Israel-Palestinian or Arab-Israeli peace is a useless strategy, distracting from real issues. It isn't going to happen; Islamists would use any such peace to portray those signing it as traitors; and even many Arab nationalists would denounce it to raise their credibility as tough, unyielding fighters. Violence and unrest would increase, not lessen, as a result. Similarly, the main reason to oppose Iranian nuclear weapons is not because they would threaten Israel-though that's important-but because they endanger Western interests by swinging the balance wildly in favor of the Islamists. If you want a good analogy, think of how the United States and Britain had to ally with Joseph Stalin's USSR during World War Two (though they were too trusting of him) and with a variety of dictators during the Cold War (without countenancing their systems or practices, which didn't happen often enough but more so than many think today). In short, the priority is not to be nice to Hamas, Hizballah, Iran, Muslim Brotherhoods, or Syria, but rather to work with-critically and sometimes pressuring-the governments of Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, the smaller Arab Gulf states, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia, along with democratic forces in Lebanon. This group also includes Fatah's Palestinian Authority, but that group already receives far more money and diplomatic support than it needs or deserves. It should be made to work for these benefits rather than contribute so much to the problems. Source:Global Politician
 By Jerry Gordon The mainstream media has copped out on an important story that, post 9/11, is a threat to the counterterrorism effort. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and other Muslim Brotherhood (MB) front groups, cited by the U.S. Justice Department as unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land Foundation case to be retried in the Dallas Federal District Court in September, have thwarted federal, state and local counterterrorism training by objecting to it as ‘racist’ or as ‘religious hate’ and in many cases forcing discontinuation of such training. The result has been workplace harrassment of the important first responders charged with protecting us. Federal agencies like the FBI and DHS and local police departments in Los Angeles, New York, and Fairfax County Virginia have been intimidated by false charges by these MB groups. In some instances they have been forced under threat of civil law suits to abandon counterterrorism training. The result is that our front line in the war against radical Islamic groups looks like a deer frozen in the headlights of an oncoming vehicle. Worse yet, we are allowing the MB front groups to get away with this under the guise of ‘hate speech, religious profiling, civil rights’ and obsessive political correctness by federal, state and local political leaders and the department heads of these front line first responder agencies. Read more ...Source: New English Review
 Natalie O'Brien | August 27, 2008
A MEMBER of John Howard's Muslim Community Reference Group has told how he was asked to analyse the content of 3000 books and about 40,000 pages downloaded from the internet found in the home-office of a Sydney man accused of producing a book encouraging terrorist acts.
Samier Dandan told the NSW Supreme Court yesterday he spent two days trawling through an extensive library in the Lakemba home of Belal Saadallah Khazaal and found the material was of a "general nature" about Islamic law.
"Most of the stuff was of a general nature on Islamic jurisprudence: on marriage, fasting, prayers, divorce," Mr Dandan said yesterday.
Mr Dandan told the court he understood Mr Khazaal was a writer for a Sydney-based magazine, was part of its publishing team and was the author of two books in Arabic.
Mr Khazaal has pleaded not guilty to knowingly making a document connected with assistance in a terrorist act and to attempting to incite a terrorist act.
It is alleged that the offences occurred between September and October 2003.
The Crown is alleging that Mr Khazaal put together the book, The Provision on the Rules of Jihad: Short Judicial Rulings and Organisational Instructions for Fighters and Mujahideen Against Infidels, which promoted acts of violence or terrorism against non-Muslims, and had it published on an internet website.
The book includes assassination methods and reasons for assassinations, as well as a hit-list of nations to be targeted, including Australia.
Counsel for Mr Khazaal, George Thomas, said all the material in the book was publicly available and his client had not written any of it save for a few paragraphs.
The case against Mr Khazaal was circumstantial, he said.
Mr Dandan, a former vice-president of Australia's largest Muslim group, the Lebanese Muslim Association, said he audited the material in Mr Khazaal's home office, which included 3000 books, 40,000 pages printed from the internet, 2600 audio tapes, 600 videos and 1000 magazines.
The trial is continuing before judge Megan Latham. Source: The Australian
 Switzerland does not have any list of banned organisations to which it will not talk, unlike other countries.
Switzerland's foreign minister told top diplomats on Monday she favours direct talks with Osama bin Laden to tackle the threat of "terrorism".
Micheline Calmy-Rey, told Swiss ambassadors gathered in the capital Bern that they needed to talk to "heavyweight political figures" on the world stage even if they are considered persona non grata by other powers.
"This even goes as far as sitting down at the same table as Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden," she said.
Switzerland does not have any list of banned organisations to which it will not talk, unlike other countries.
Calmy-Rey said that groups as diverse as Hezbollah, the FARC guerrillas in Colombia, Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka and the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda are all "essential in the search for a resolution" of different conflicts worldwide.
She stressed however that any dialogue did not mean "accepting the unacceptable," and conceded that it could sometimes lead to tensions and "complex political blockages".
More than 170 Swiss ambassadors and consular officials are meeting this week in Bern. Source: World BulletinMicheline Calmy-Rey
Latest recipient of The Dhimmi Award
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- Bhutto's widower in purge of party
- China's Bank of TerrorismBank of China is accused ...
- CNN Defends Islamism
- ISNA Confernce in Ohio-Introduction to Shariah in ...
- Rights bodies vulnerable to 'political Islam': B'n...
- Terror warning for US flights
- Revealed: Saudi women preaching hate in the Britis...
- I'll be killed in Lebanon, says guard
- Turkey bows to the dark side
- Pakistani lawmaker defends honor killings
- Imam: having sex-slaves "may no longer be fashiona...
- International Islamic terrorism is as Saudi as cru...
- Moderate Muslims struggle to make their voices heard
- Arrest of possible Holy Land Foundation organizer ...
- Five women buried alive in name of honour
- Internet chat with MASH Representative: Khalim Mas...
- Polygamy Befuddles Dutch Government
- Halifax Pool Jumps into the Deep End of Muslim Acc...
- Norway willing to talk with Osama bin Laden
- End the silence over Islam
- Al-Azhar Fatwa: Hacking U.S., Israeli Websites Is ...
- Russia: Arming Hezbollah
- Al Jazeera Versus Old West Biker Bar
- Will Turkey Abandon NATO?: On Georgia, Ankara must...
- Report: Iran supplied Hizbullah with advanced miss...
- Indian police enforce strict curfew in Kashmir
- Surprisingly Candid Answers From the Muslim Brothe...
- TV reporters are not showing the Taliban's humanit...
- Muslim council chiefs ban ALL members from 'tea an...
- Pakistan: Border Villages Rise Up Against Taliban
- Center for Islamic Pluralism Statement, August 28,...
- Anwar Ibrahim returns to parliament
- At least 10 dead in Pakistan suicide attack
- Iranian cleric blasts Ahmadinejad
- Another Radical Obama Association?
- Canadian intelligence seeks support of Muslim leaders
- Troops kill 19 militants
- Teen crime ends in hanging
- Shariah-Approved BankingAllyson Rowen Taylor of Sh...
- A Middle East Strategy For The West
- An Act To Protect First Responders Fighting Terrorism
- A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
- 'Terror' library mostly on Islamic law
- Swiss FM favours direct talks with bin Laden
- Canada’s Guantanamo problem
- Suicide bomber kills 25 police recruits
- Hundreds of Dutch web sites hacked by Islamic hackers
- Insurgents deny kidnappping Aussie
- Barack Obama through Muslim Eyes
- ISNA's "soft jihadist", Ingrid Mattson, on the record
- Publishers ok book on Mohammed's child wife
- As the West Sleeps, Islamists Work on Establishing...
- Somalians 'won't integrate'
- Pakistan coalition collapses
- Scotland Yard says its top Muslim officer is suing
- Boys also Victims of Honour Violence
- Women abandoned by their husbands in Bahrain broke...
- Of Democrats and Co-Conspirators
- Pakistan bans Taliban militant group
- Iraqis arrest girl in suicide belt
- Israel releases 198 Palestinian prisoners
- GULF STATES TO EARN RECORD USD 562 BILLION IN REVENUE
- Meet Ingrid Mattson, appearing today at the Democr...
- An Interview With Muslim Brotherhood's #2, Mohamme...
- Kuwaiti Liberal to Arabs and Muslims: Stop Worldwi...
- Court to consider divorce for 8-year-old girl
- The Company that U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison Keeps
- Joe Biden, friend of the Islamic Revolutionary Gua...
- Anti-Hate Group Calls on Democrats to Disinvite Ra...
- Coloradans give Al Jazeera negative reaction
- Pakistan turns tables on militants
- US-Iraq deal on 2011 pullout
- Former Southwest Michigan Congressman Mark Siljand...
- ISNA: "ISNA is in no way associated with the Musli...
- "Hadith of Hate" Banned at USC
- The return of "Undercover Mosque"
- Italy's ex-president admits terror deal
- Pro-Al Qaeda signs at lawyers' rally
- Ann Cryer MP to step down: Parliament loses greate...
- A Radical Islamophobe?
- 64 killed in suicide blast at factory
- Chicago's Hamas Youth
- Chicago-area official won't apologize for anti-Sha...
- The Role of Pakistan's Madrassas
- Just Like Employees Do Not Leave the Office withou...
- The Guardian: Promoting Online Terror
- Dissident Watch: Mohsen Marzouk
- Paying Attention to the "Other Islam"
- Big DC fundraiser cancelled
- Terrorists 'don't fit a stereotype'
- Threats against Muslim Hero all too Common
- BBC charity funded jihadists
- Modernity Starts Here - Tunisia
- Coca-Cola celebrates Ramadan
- Chasing a Mirage
- Hezbollah Signs Pact with Salafis
- Jihad and Addressing the Supremacist Nature of the...
- Tampa's Terror for Kids
- Slave Brides
- Canadian Immigration Laws Allow Convicted Terroris...
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