 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
 By Matt Sanchez Monday, August 25, 2008
In Afghanistan, on July 27, 2002, U.S. medic Sgt. 1st Class Christopher J. Speer of Albuquerque, N.M., attached to the 3rd Platoon of Bravo Company, 505th Infantry Regiment was killed by a Toronto born Canadian citizen.
Today, Omar Khadr sits at the American naval base of Guantanamo awaiting trial.
Gitmo quagmire
Internationally Guantanamo invigorates America haters to protest with clenched fists and shake their collective heads in self-righteousness.
Unfortunately, the press has done a horrible job of explaining the Guantanamo detention center and the reason why is probably because too many journalists were busy shaking their heads and clenching their fists.
The Little Prison That Should
Guantanamo is the place no one wants to claim despite the nifty service it provides. A randy group of suspects, most of whom caught on the battlefield, have been held at “Gitmo”, a sliver of freedom on the prison island of Cuba.
In December of 2007, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she wanted the facility closed. The detainees don’t pay rent and the Navy has better things to do than escorting inmates between prayer sessions, exercise hours and the cafeteria.
Of the 775 prisoners brought to “Gitmo,” over half, 445 have been released. Of the remaining 270 detainees, about 50 are cleared for immediate release, but the U.S. has had trouble persuading some countries to take back their nationals.
Most of the countries refusing are dubious nations with few resources and a shaky legal system; international treaties actually prevent the USA from sending those prisoners back, especially if they run the risk of torture. All Western nations, Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany, among others have had their Gitmo guys repatriated. The one exception is Canada who has preferred to pass the golden looney buck on the subject of habeas corpus.
Prisoners of war are supposed to be tried at the end of hostilities and returned to their nations after an agreement, but violence is very real in Afghanistan and the inmates at Guantanamo are unlawful combatants, men with no specific country to eventually be returned to.
The dirty little secret is that despite human rights activists pleas for Khadr's release, who, in an open society like Canada, wants to have a former Gitmo detainee commuting to work on the Montreal Metro or selling spicy kebab on Toronto’s trendy Yonge Street?
The truth is that were Omar Khadr to be released to Canadian custody, the Canadian government may not have any reason to hold him.
So far, 36 former Gitmo detainees were “confirmed” or “suspected” of having carried out terrorists attacks, according to the Pentagon. One Gitmo grad, a Kuwaiti national, traveled to Mosul, Iraq, to blow himself up, this May of 2008.
To be fair, Omar Khadr is not just any run of the mill Guantanamo detainee. Among the rarified few who have been detained at Gitmo, Khadr is practically a celebrity. Khadr’s father, Ahmed Said Khadr was a personal friend of Osama bin Laden.
Little Omar grew up playing with bin Laden’s children. Khadr senior was eventually killed in Pakistan during a raid on a suspected al-Qaida stronghold. Omar’s older brother, Abdullah, was arrested in Pakistan for allegedly running arms to al-Qaida. Omar grew up learning how to convert old Russian mines into updated roadside bombs. Little Omar who spoke fluent English was also quite adept at spying for the Taliban, according to the charges against him.
Omar appears to be a terrorist Mozart, a regular child prodigy with an aspirational career in the explosive arts. He cut his first AK-47 Jihad recording just after puberty and right before his capture on the battlefield.
Media torture
For all the hype about waterboarding, stress positions and sleep deprivations, the Omar Khadr interrogation videos were anti-climatic. We don’t expect torturers to ask prisoners: “Would you like a hamburger?”
Omar Khadr was wounded on the day of the firefight near the lovely Afghan city of Khost, not far from the Pakistan border. He owes his life to the American Army medics who tended to his wounds and the Bagram American military hospital, in Afghanistan, where Omar was treated for three months. Sympathetic op-ed writers have often left these facts out.
Alain Dubuc, writing for La Presse, called the “sinister camp of Guantanamo” the place of a “severely vice-ridden judicial procedure”. He deemed the image of Canada as “retrograde”, which is French for passé.
It’s important to note Dubuc also derided the Stephen Harper government with canceling subsidies to “marginal artists” and not attending the Chinese Olympics. This should reveal how critics like Duboc prioritize: Guantanamo and its prisoners are somewhere between art no one wants to buy, non-progressive politics and offending the sensibilities of a totalitarian nation.
If the “international community” would put out a welcome mat for Guantanamo’s finest, the US Navy and Marines could have their military base back to carry out the type of training that can really put a dent in what’s left of the al-Qaida network.
Until nations take terrorism more seriously than anti-Americanism, Gitmo will remain the multi purpose facility for restraining some very bad people, processing the potential bad guys and being the villain of so many predictable opinion pieces.
Matt Sanchez is an American war correspondent who has embedded with the American, Iraqi and Afghan military. He resides in New York City and is a frequent political commentator in both American and French media. Matt currently reports from the United Nations. He scandalously lived in Quebec, where he learned a little French and a bit about the independent film industry. His work has appeared in the New York Post, National Review and Human Events. Visit Sanchez’s website. Source: Canada Free Press
 From correspondents in Baghdad, Iraq | August 26, 2008
A SUICIDE bomber today rushed into a crowd of police recruits in central Iraq and detonated his explosives-laden vest, killing at least 25 people and wounding 40, the local police chief said.
Lieutenant Colonel Ahmed Khalifa said the attack targeted a crowd of young Iraqis at a police recruiting centre in Jalawla, 150km north of Baghdad.
Most of those killed had been waiting to join the police, he added.
Earlier, officials said a man wearing an explosives-laden vest arrived by car and was stopped by police.
He then leapt from the car and ran into the crowd where he detonated his bomb.
Jalawla is in Diyala province, considered to be one of the country's most dangerous.
It sees regular attacks by al-Qaeda-linked groups targeting Sahwa or "Awakening'' units of Sunni former fighters who have turned against the jihadists and are now financed by the American military.
Iraqi troops backed by US forces launched a massive campaign on July 29, known as "Glad Tidings'' and aimed at clearing the province of al-Qaeda cells. Source:The Australian
By Dancho Danchev In what appears to be a mass defacement, where several hundred domains take advantage of a shared hosting provider, Net Devilz Netherlands starting as of this Friday, an Islamic hacker known as nEt^DeViL - this is not the NetDevilz team that hijacked the DNS records of the ICANN and Photobucket in June - managed to successfully hack a couple of hundred Dutch web sites as a hacktivist response to the release of the Fitna film, a controversial film released by Geert Wilders, a member of the Dutch parliament in March, 2008. How did they do it? Since all of the sites are parked on a single IP (81.4.97.190) owned by the Geenpunt.nl hosting company, compromising it means having the ability to compromise the content on all the domains hosted there, which is exactly what happened in this case. Read more ...Source: ZD NetH/T: Gramfan
August 26, 2008 ISLAMIST insurgents in Somalia deny claims they are behind the kidnapping of Australian and Canadian journalists.
Australian Federal Police and extra diplomatic staff have been sent to Somalia to investigate the kidnapping of Nigel Brennan, reportedly by members of an armed militia.It's understood Brisbane-based Mr Brennan, 35, and Canadian freelance journalist Amanda Landhout, 26, were kidnapped at gunpoint about 25km from the Somali capital Mogadishu on Saturday. They, and two Somalis accompanying them, were being held northeast of the capital, Mogadishu, by a militia group, the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSJ) said on its website. But a spokesman for Somalia's Islamist insurgents said it appeared to be the work of a fringe group.
"We don't know who kidnapped them. There is a (rebel) group which kidnaps for ransom, separate from rivals who have political objectives," Islamist spokesman Sheik Abdirahim Isse Adow said.
He said his group was investigating and would provide assistance to free the pair. "We shall do all that is possible to save them," he said. The journalists are believed to have been abducted as they came from interviewing and taking photos at a refugee camp in Afgoye district. Friends and family of Mr Brennan are maintaining a vigil. Long-term family friend Jeff Bennett said Mr Brennan's parents were desperately awaiting positive news. "They are besides themselves and feeling helpless, but they are trying to stay positive," Mr Bennett told the Bundaberg News-Mail. Mr Bennett said his children had lit a candle as a vigil for Mr Brennan while they waited for news. "When he comes home, they will blow it out," he said. Mr Bennett last heard from his friend about two weeks ago, when he said he was looking forward to catching up with his mates for "a beer and a fish". Source: The Australian with Reuters
By Daniel Pipes How do Muslims see Barack Hussein Obama? They have three choices: either as he presents himself – someone who has "never been a Muslim" and has "always been a Christian"; or as a fellow Muslim; or as an apostate from Islam. Reports suggests that while Americans generally view the Democratic candidate having had no religion before converting at Reverend Jeremiah Wrights's hands at age 27, Muslims the world over rarely see him as Christian but usually as either Muslim or ex-Muslim. Lee Smith of the Hudson Institute explains why: "Barack Obama's father was Muslim and therefore, according to Islamic law, so is the candidate. In spite of the Quranic verses explaining that there is no compulsion in religion, a Muslim child takes the religion of his or her father. ... for Muslims around the world, non-American Muslims at any rate, they can only ever see Barack Hussein Obama as a Muslim." In addition, his school record from Indonesia lists him as a Muslim Thus, an Egyptian newspaper, Al-Masri al-Youm, refers to his "Muslim origins." Libyan ruler Mu‘ammar al-Qaddafi referred to Obama as "a Muslim" and a person with an "African and Islamic identity." One Al-Jazeera analysis calls him a "non-Christian man," a second refers to his "Muslim Kenyan" father, and a third, by Naseem Jamali, notes that "Obama may not want to be counted as a Muslim but Muslims are eager to count him as one of their own." Read more ...Source: FrontPage Magazine
By Patrick Poole In preparation for ISNA president Ingrid Mattson’s appearance yesterday at the Democratic National Convention’s “interfaith prayer service”, the good folks at the Center for Security Policy prepared a short backgrounder on Mattson’s statements and positions, “Democrats’ Soft Jihadist”. Since Mattson will be bringing her entire ISNA cultural terrorist crew to Central Ohio later this week for their 2008 annual convention, I thought it appropriate to republish the Center’s analysis here to get a taste of Mattson’s extremist views (Christians are anti-Semitic, Christians are a greater threat than Osama bin Laden, Wahhabism is just a reform movement, praise for jihadist authors, there are no terrorist cells in the US, etc) Read more ...Source: Central Ohioans Against TerrorismIngrid Mattson
Latest recipient of the Distinguished Islamofascist Award
 Published 22.08.08 16:57
Denmark is again ready to exercise its free speech and press principles by releasing a controversial novel about Mohammed's child wife An American novel about the 6-year-old wife of Mohammed, Aisha, may end up being released in Denmark, after publishing...
An American novel about the 6-year-old wife of Mohammed, Aisha, may end up being released in Denmark, after publishing company Random House dropped its plans to print the book.
Danish publishers association Trykkeselskabet has given its blessing to Sherry Jones' novel 'The Jewel of Medina' to be released in Denmark.
Random House pulled out of its contract to publish the book after fear of reprisals from Muslims, and Jones' agent is looking for buyers.
The novel was brought into the spotlight in the US after Denise Spellman, a professor of Islamic history at the University of Texas, was quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying the book was 'much more controversial than the Mohammed drawings from Denmark'. She called any decision to publish the book a 'declaration of war' against Muslims.
But Trykkeselskabet indicated that it felt the book needed to be published.
'Fear or threats should not keep a book from being published,' association spokeswoman Helle Merete Brix told Nyhedsavisen newspaper. 'It would be principally and entirely a renewal of all that Denmark has already been through with the Mohammed cartoon affair.'
The book is a fictitious account of Mohammed's revelations told through Aisha's eyes. Mohammed had 13 wives in all - Aisha being the youngest and, according to many sources, his favourite.
But Spellman called the novel 'soft-core pornography' and that it 'takes advantage of people's ignorance' of Islam.
Jones' agent, Natasha Kern, wrote to Trykkeselskabet to congratulate them on their decision to approve the book's publication in Denmark.
'When you consider what's happened in your country, I admire your readiness to ensure that freedom of expression is not obstructed.'
The Islamic Faith Society in Copenhagen had, as of Friday morning, not taken an official position on the book's publication. Source: The Copenhagen Post
 By M. Zuhdi Jasser In Part I, we began a discussion on the not-so-subtle attempts recently by Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, the “obvious Godfather” and leading imam of the Muslim Brotherhood, of spreading the central ideology of Islamism - the establishment of the Islamic state. His discussions are not on his English site, nor on the Muslim Brotherhood’s English site. His most recent columns on July 13th and July 22nd were only in Arabic. In the last column, I reviewed a few of the most salient points he mentions in his Arabic diatribe concerning the Islamic state in his first column of July 13thentitled, “the Islamic State is a civil state which derives its authority from Islam.” This column will review and critique the subsequent piece in Arabic on July 22, 2008 entitled, “the Islamic State is in line with the essence of democracy.” Oddly, if that publication wasn’t enough, he renamed the piece “the Ultimate Democracy” and republished essentially the same column this week on August 19, 2008 – just with a different title; basically verbatim but shorter. Either he and his staff are growing exceedingly lazy by recycling the same diatribes on the Islamic state, or Qaradawi is using the oldest of brainwashing techniques upon his readers - the incessant repetition of central tenets of ideology. Let’s look at the ideas in his recycled piece. Read more ...Source: Family Security Matters
 A Somalian woman who came to Norway more than 10 years ago is harshly criticizing her fellow Somalian immigrants and Norwegian authorities. In a new book, she claims Somalians themselves don't want to integrate into Norwegian society, and that Norwegian welfare programs make it easy for them to remain isolated. The book written by Amal Aden, a pseudonym for the Somalian author, is already creating an uproar. Amal Aden wouldn't use her own name because of fears for her own safety. In an interview with newspaper Aftenposten, the author said she hopes to launch a new debate on immigration and what can be done to further integration. "I wrote the book in the hopes that children will get better lives," she said. "I want to see more integration, and the responsibility for that lies with the Somalians themselves and with the authorities." She claims that resistance to integration is widespread especially among Somalian men, who fear losing their culture and religion. Many are afraid of Norwegians and view them as infidels who can't be trusted. In her book, entitled "See us!" (Se oss!), Amal Aden claims the Somalians also exploit the Norwegian welfare state and have many children in order to qualify for more welfare payments. Many couples also "divorce" under Norwegian law in order for the women to receive even more welfare payments as single mothers, only to continue to live under Somalian customs with their Somalian husbands and have more children, the author claims. Read more ...Source: AfterpostenAmal Aden
Latest recipient of The MASH Award
Bruce Loudon, South Asia correspondents | August 26, 2008
PAKISTAN'S coalition finally collapsed last night amid bitter recriminations, plunging the nation's nascent democracy into a new crisis two weeks ahead of a presidential election.
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (N), broke with the leader of the dominant Pakistan People's Party, led by Benazir Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari.
Mr Sharif said he would take his MPs to the opposition benches after the failure by the PPP to reinstate by last night judges sacked last year by former president Pervez Musharraf.
"We have taken this decision after we failed to find any ray of hope and none of the commitments made to us were fulfilled,'' Mr Sharif said in Islamabad.
In a move aimed at challenging Mr Zardari and exploiting widespread doubts about his political ambitions, Mr Sharif nominated a highly regarded judge, Saeed us Zaman Siddiqui, to contest the presidential election on September 6.
Mr Zardari had been hoping to stand unopposed. But last night he was confronted by the prospect of his character and partisanship becoming the central issue in the campaign when Mr Sharif highlighted Judge Siddiqui's reputation as "a non partisan and non party person".
Political analysts described the nomination of Judge Siddiqui as "potentially political masterstroke", saying there was every chance that he could defeat Mr Zardari.
"Nawaz has done very well," one said .
"He's finally called Zardari's bluff. He's nominated someone who is highly regarded and there's every chance now that Zardari, assuming he maintains his candidacy, will be defeated."
Mr Sharif is the junior partner in the coalition, but most polls show him to be the country's most popular leader because of his dogged insistence on the judges' reinstatement. Mr Zardari, worried the judges may overturn an amnesty granted to him over corruption charges, has blocked their reinstatment.
The PPP is confident that it can continue to govern, forming alliances with other parties, including two once loyal to Mr Musharraf, the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) and the Karachi-based Muttahida Quami Movement.
There are, however, signs of deepening problems for Mr Zardari, with one of the smaller parties in the coalition, theJUI-F religious party led by Maulana Fazlur Rehman, raising doubts about Mr Zardari's leadership and criticising him over the failure to reinstate the judges.
Mr Sharif's move on to the opposition benches is a major blow to hopes for a stable democracy in Pakistan. There is widespread expectation the split will be followed by renewed political turmoil that could set the stage for yet another military intervention.
The PML (N) and PPP are longstanding rivals, but there had been hopes that after almost nine years of military dictatorship they could create a workable democracy.
As recently as August 5, Mr Zardari and Mr Sharif signed a declaration promising the judges would be restored within 24 hours of Mr Musharraf leaving office. Since the former military dictator resigned last Monday to avoid impeachment proceedings last Monday, Mr Zardari shifted ground again.
Mr Zardari had earlier warned that Pakistan and the world were losing the war on terror, as US intelligence indicated that al-Qa'ida had built a force of 18,500 foreign fighters in North West Frontier Province far higher than previous estimates.
"The world is losing the war. I think at the moment they definitely have the upper hand," Mr Zardari said in his first statement since being nominated for the presidency by the PPP.
Following Mr Zardari's warning, security supremo Rehman Malik banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, which brings together al-Qa'ida and Taliban forces.
Dr Malik, Mr Zardari's right-hand man, said all TTP's bank accounts and other assets would be frozen with immediate effect.
The banning came after Dr Malik had rejected a ceasefire offer from the TTP in the key Bajaur Agency, where fighting has been raging for more than a fortnight. The TTP is headed by Baitullah Mehsood.
On three occasions in the past few days, TTP has claimed responsibility for suicide attacks - including an assault on Pakistan's munitions complex on the outskirts of Islamabad, and the bombing of an emergency ward in the NWFP.
Most analysts believe the ban on TTP will do little. Al-Qa'ida-linked organisations such as Lashkar-e-Toiba are banned, but operate openly. Source: The Australian
LONDON: Scotland Yard said Friday that its highest ranking Muslim police officer is suing the force, reportedly claiming religious and racial discrimination. Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur, the man charged with handling London's 2012 Olympic security preparations, is suing his employers for 1.2 million pounds (US$2.2 million) on racial and religious grounds, according to the British Broadcasting Corp., which did not cite a source for its report. A spokesman for London's Metropolitan Police said he understood that Ghaffur had initiated legal proceedings at an employment tribunal, but said the force had not yet been served with legal papers and could offer no further comment. He spoke anonymously in line with police policy. Read more ...Source: AP
Boys are also victims of so-called honour violence, according to Save the Children Sweden, an organisation dedicated to upholding children’s rights both at home and internationally.
The number of boys reporting that they have been the victim of honour violence is between five and ten percent.
Monica Brendler, a psychotherapist at Save the Children Sweden, believes the problem is even greater. Speaking to Swedish Radio, Brendler told of boys threatened with violence if they do not adhere to their parents’ strict rules and in some cases are even sent to their parents’ homelands to be “educated” in their relatives’ way of living.
Brendler feels that society is usually better at helping young males who themselves display aggressive behaviour rather than those who are victims of aggression or threat.
Brendler called for special emergency centres for boys and young males, just as there are those for young girls. Source: SR
 MANAMA - Women abandoned by their husbands in Bahrain broke their silence and staged two sit-ins earlier this month to highlight the legal challenges they faced in getting their marriage annulled. Their cases have now been taken up by the Women’s Union when some of these women approached it last week, seeking its help in getting their case heard at courts. “We received some of the women who took part in two protests at the Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs and Ministry of Social Development and promised them to look into their matter at the earliest,” President of the Women’s Union, Mariam Al Ruwai told Khaleej Times yesterday. She said the union would also raise the demand of implementing a family law to govern such cases at Shariah courts. Those women have been dumped by their husbands long ago who have also stopped offering them any financial assistance. However, these women failed to get divorce because of legal complications. They have been protesting for not being able to get any financial support from the government because all assistance still go to their husbands because they are officially still married. One of these women is Ruqaya who did not know when she got married in 1996 and had no idea of the legal hassles she had to face for choosing a man she considered right at the time of marriage. Read more ...Source: Khaleej Times H/T: Shariah Finance Watch
On Sunday, Ingrid Mattson, the President of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), participated in a "public interfaith service of Christians, Jews, Muslims and Buddhists" at the opening of this week's Democratic National Convention. While there is nothing wrong with a "public interfaith service" in and of itself, the invited guests and speakers can raise legitimate questions about the motives and mindset of the organizers. Mattson's presence does just that. Reporting on Mattson's appearance, the website for the Arab satellite network Al-Jazeera stated: Dr Ingrid Mattson, director of the MacDonald Centre for the study of Islam and Christian-Muslim relations in the US state of Connecticut, told the crowd it "saddened" her that "so much out there is being done because of my religion", but took pains to stress both the work of the US Muslim community with local officials to combat extremism and the support she had from leaders of other faiths. Read more ... Source: IPT NewsDNCC
Latest recipient of The Dhimmi Award
PAKISTAN today banned the main Taliban militant group behind a wave of suicide attacks in the country that has killed hundreds of people since last year.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) - an umbrella group for the Taliban Islamist militants who have threatened more suicide attacks - will have its bank accounts and assets frozen, the interior ministry said.
"We have banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan because of their involvement in a series of suicide attacks," interior ministry chief Rehman Malik said.
The TTP is headed by Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud, based in the lawless South Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan.
The outfit has been blamed for most of the attacks in which nearly 1200 people have been killed since July last year.
The previous Government accused Mehsud of plotting the gun and suicide attack that killed former prime minister Benazir Bhutto last December but he denied involvement. Source: AFP
August 26, 2008
BAGHDAD: Iraqi police have paraded a teenage girl caught wearing an explosives vest, prodding her in a video last night for her to confess to plans to stage a suicide bombing.
The girl appeared confused, but denied the allegation, saying she never intended to carry out the attack and wanted to remove the vest.
Still, her arrest heightened concern about a rise in suicide bombings by women in Iraq. The number of female bombers has more than tripled this year, from eight last year to 29 this year.
The circumstances of the girl's arrest on Sunday remain unclear. US officials said she had turned herself in, while local police said she was caught after arousing suspicion.
Reporters were invited to attend her questioning late on Sunday, and a video made by the authorities of her arrest and interrogation was made public last night.
The girl gave her first name as Rania and said she was born in 1993. Her exchange with the police offered a rare glimpse of a teenager allegedly recruited by insurgents.
However, it was not clear to what extent her answers were given out of fear or influenced by the presence of journalists.
The girl was arrested in the city of Baqouba, capital of the volatile Diyala province and an al-Qa'ida in Iraq stronghold. Diyala has experienced among the most violence in Iraq, even as the rest of the country has had a significant drop in attacks.
An Iraqi police officer said the girl's family was known for supporting al-Qaida in Iraq and that her father had carried out a suicide bombing. The officer also said a relative was suspected of having recruited her.
The girl led the police back to where she was given the explosives and they found a second bomb belt in an empty apartment in the Baqouba area. The girl's mother and sister were arrested.
Some female bombers may have been motivated by revenge, and US commanders believe al-Qa'ida in Iraq is increasingly seeking to exploit women unable to deal with the grief of losing husbands, children and others to the violence.
In Diyala, about 200 female volunteers recruited by the US-backed group Daughters of Iraq are helping search women at checkpoints. Many Iraqi women wear long robes, ideal for covering bulky suicide vests, and Iraqi policemen hesitate to pat them down at checkpoints because of cultural taboos.
The police footage of the girl's arrest on Sunday begins with her standing on a Baqouba street, next to a metal structure. Her arms are tied behind her back as police surround her. Later, a policeman is shown opening her robe, and subsequent frames show her wearing what appears to be the suicide vest, said to contain about 15kg of explosives.
The girl is then shown standing in a room, wrapped in a black cloak, her hair dishevelled and surrounded by police. She insists she does not know the women who gave her the vest. But when pressed to say whether she knew the woman who put the vest on her, she replied: "Yes."
Asked if she intended to blow herself up, she said: "No, no. They put it on me and told me to take it off at home. They did not tell me to explode myself." Source: The Australian
 By Hossam Ezzedine
August 25, 2008 07:56pm
ISRAEL freed 198 Palestinian prisoners in a gesture to President Mahmoud Abbas as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was due in the region to spur US-backed peace talks.
Many of the detainees fell to their knees and kissed the soil as they were released outside the Israeli military detention centre at Ofer in the occupied West Bank today.
Crowds cheered and chanted Palestinian patriotic songs as the detainees were driven to the territory's political capital Ramallah for a lavish welcome at Abbas's headquarters.
The release took place just hours before Rice's scheduled arrival on her 18th visit in two years aimed at encouraging peace talks formally relaunched at a conference hosted by US President George W Bush in November.
"This is a day of joy for the fighters of freedom and independence,'' said Said al-Attaba, 56, the longest serving Palestinian prisoner who had been serving a life sentence since 1977 for killing an Israeli woman.
"It is like a wedding celebration for the Palestinian people, but our joy will not be complete until all Palestinian prisoners are released,'' he said by telephone, referring to the some 11,000 Palestinians still jailed in Israel.
Those released also included Mohammed Ibrahim Abu Ali, known as "Abu Ali Yatta'', who was jailed in 1979 for killing an Israeli student.
A member of Abbas's Fatah party, he was elected to parliament in 2006 while behind bars.
The release of Al-Attaba and Abu Ali was a rare and controversial exception to Israel's policy of not freeing those with "blood on their hands'', who have been implicated in deadly attacks against its citizens.
"This is a big day we have been awaiting for 32 years,'' said Attaba's sister Sanaa, who along with friends and family has been preparing a hero's welcome for her brother when he returns to his home in the West Bank city of Nablus.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert proposed the release earlier this month, saying that it would bolster the Western-backed Abbas, whom he has met on a roughly fortnightly basis since the talks were formally relaunched.
"It is a gesture towards the Palestinian leadership to strengthen moderate and pragmatic forces,'' Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev said.
"We hope it will contribute to a positive climate,'' he said. ``It is not easy to release prisoners, and particularly those who have been involved in murderous terrorist attacks.''
The Israeli High Court yesterday rejected a petition by relatives of attack victims who sought to block the release, saying it had not found any legal flaw that would justify its intervention in what it called a political decision.
Israel had earlier said it would release 199 prisoners, but one of those on the approved list remains in detention because of pending criminal charges.
The release is seen as a boost to Rice's efforts to push the two sides towards their stated goal of reaching a full peace agreement by early 2009.
They have made little tangible progress on resolving the core issues of the conflict, including final borders, the status of Jerusalem and the fate of the 4.6 million UN-registered Palestinian refugees.
The process has been marred by violence in and around the Gaza Strip, where the Islamist Hamas movement seized power in June 2007, and Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, including annexed east Jerusalem.
Rice was last in Israel in mid-June, when she strongly criticised the expansion of the Jewish settlements, saying it undermined the peace process.
The latest visit will be Rice's first to the region since Olmert announced on July 30 that he will resign from his post to battle corruption allegations after his centrist Kadima party chooses a new leader in mid-September.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who has been leading Israel's negotiating team with the Palestinians, is a front-runner to replace him, as is Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, a hawkish former general. Source: News.com.au via Agence France-Presse
 DUBAI, AUGUST 22 - Gulf oil producers are expected to earn a record $562 billion in 2008 as crude prices are projected to remain above $100 and they are pumping at one of their highest levels, according to new data from the London-based Centre for Global Energy Studies (CGES), reported by Wam news agency.
Accordingly, the combined oil export earnings of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries will soar to their highest level of $562 billion this year.
The UAE's income will swell to an all-time high of $97 billion while that of Saudi Arabia will surge to $307 billion and that of Qatar and Kuwait will peak at $89 billion and $32 billion respectively.
The income, it added, is nearly $234 billion above their 2007 revenues of $328 billion and more than four times their earnings of $137 billion in 2003. In 1998, the GCC's combined revenues plummeted to one of their lowest levels of around $56 billion after oil prices collapsed below $10 a barrel and averaged $12 through the year.
Leo Drollas, deputy manager of CGES said the revenue forecasts for the Gulf states and other Opec members are based on an average Opec basket price of around $110.8 this year compared with nearly $69 in 2007. Saudi Arabiàs output is projected at around 9.5 million bpd in 2008 while that of Kuwait and Qatar is forecast at nearly 2.6 million and 815,000 bpd respectively.
2008-08-22 19:01
Source: (ANSAmed).
Just in case you missed this news item: "Convention interfaith event announced," by Electa Draper for The Denver Post, August 8: The Democratic National Convention Committee today announced the program for its first-ever interfaith gathering, which kicks off at 2 p.m. Aug. 24 at Wells Fargo Theater in the Colorado Convention Center. That would be today. Keynote speakers include Bishop Charles Blake, presiding prelate of Church of God in Christ Inc. and pastor at the West Angeles cathedral in Los Angeles; Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America; social activist Sister Helen Prejean, author of "Dead Man Walking"; and Rabbi Tzvi Weinreb, executive vice president of the Orthodox Union. Who is Ingrid Mattson? She is the President of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). And here, courtesy the Center for Security Policy is Ingrid Mattson in her own words. 1) Mattson places loyalty to Islam before loyalty to the United States of America: If Muslim Americans are to participate in such a critique of American policy, however, they will only be effective if they do it, according to the Prophet’s words, in a “brotherly” fashion. This implies a high degree of loyalty and affection. This does not mean, however, that citizenship and religious community are identical commitments, nor that they demand the same kind of loyalty. People of faith have a certain kind of solidarity with others of their faith community that transcends the basic rights and duties of citizenship. 2) Mattson on the possibility that Americans may "rise to the challenge of defining themselves as an ethical nation"The first duty of Muslims in America, therefore, is to help shape American policies so they are in harmony with the essential values of this country. In the realm of foreign policy, this “idealistic” view has been out of fashion for some time. Indeed, the American Constitution, like foundational religious texts, can be read in many different ways. The true values of America are those which we decide to embrace as our own. There is no guarantee, therefore, that Americans will rise to the challenge of defining themselves as an ethical nation; nevertheless, given the success of domestic struggles for human dignity and rights in the twentieth century, we can be hopeful. Read more... Source: Jihad Watch
By Sandmonkey Mohammed Habib is slated to become the next Supreme Leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. His rise to the position of deputy supreme leader became possible when his predecessor in the job was sentenced to five years in prison by an Egyptian military tribunal for financing a banned organization — alongside 25 other members of the Muslim Brotherhood — and he ascended to the position. With the advanced age of the current supreme leader, it’s quite possible that Habib will become the next leader of the organization shortly. The PJM interview with Habib was conducted by Egyptian blogger Sandmonkey in the Leadership Office of the Muslim Brotherhood. They discussed a wide range of topics, including the Muslim Brotherhood’s support for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir against the ICC, their relationship with Hamas, ties to CAIR, and their continuing struggle against what they view as a vast Zionist-American conspiracy. But first things first... Read more ...Source: Pajamas Media
On May 26, 2008, the liberal website Middle East Transparent(1) posted an article by Kuwaiti liberal Khalil 'Ali Haidar criticizing the culture of war in the Arab and Muslim world and the slogans that perpetuate it. The following are excerpts from the article: "Half a Century of Conflagration – Wars and Struggle in Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, North Africa, Iraq and the [Persian] Gulf""Forty, 50, 60 years of bloodshed and tanks, of wars and resistance, of destroyed buildings and lost ideals, of weeping and wailing, of the murdered and the displaced. Over half a century of wars, demonstrations, shops set on fire, airplanes blown up, revolutions… Glory to the Arabs and disgrace upon their enemies. Read more ...Source: MEMRIKhalil 'Ali Haidar
Latest recipient of The MASH Award
A SAUDI court will next month hear a plea for divorce from an eight-year-old girl married off by her father to a man in his fifties, the Arabic-language daily Al-Watan reported today.
It said the girl's mother had filed the divorce case with the court at Unayzah 220km north of Riyadh, and cited lawyer Abdullah Jtili as saying the father had arranged the marriage without telling the girl.
"She doesn't know yet that she has been married,'' added Jtili of the girl who is about to begin her fourth year at primary school.
Al-Watan said relatives of the girl had told a Saudi rights group of her plight and urged it to intervene to have the marriage annulled.
But the daily also reported that the husband had refused to renounce the marriage, saying that he had not done anything illegal.
Arranged marriages involving pre-adolescents are occasionally reported in the Arabian Peninsula, including in the ultra-conservative Saudi kingdom where the strict conservative Wahabi version of Sunni Islam holds sway and polygamy is common.
In Yemen in April, another girl aged eight was granted a divorce after her unemployed father forced her to marry a man of 28. Source: AFP
Rep. Ellison (center) with "Unindicted Co-Conspirator" Jamal Said (right)
Rep. Ellison (right) with Al-Qaeda web designer Mazen Mokhtar (left) and "Unindicted Co-Conspirator" Siraj Wahhaj (center)Source: Americans Against HateKeith Ellison
Latest recipient of the Distinguished Islamofascist Award
Sen. Joe Biden – Barack Obama’s eagerly anticipated running mate – should be named an honorary soldier in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). We’re all familiar with the IRGC: Iran’s unique corps of Islamist fighters who have been directly involved in deadly attacks against U.S. soldiers in Iraq – even Afghanistan – threatening our ships in the Persian Gulf; and organizing, training, equipping, funding, and providing direct operational support to Lebanon-based Hezbollah (perhaps the most dangerous terrorist army on earth). And that’s just for starters. Also known as the Pasdaran, the IRGC is not Iran’s conventional territorial armed force, but the military force of the Khomeinist-inspired Islamic Revolution. The organization fields an army, a navy, and an air force, as well as an extranational special-operations force known as the Quds (Jerusalem) Force. Read more ...Source: Canada Free PressJoe Biden
Latest recipient of The Dhimmi Award
 ISNA, A NAMED HAMAS CO-CONSPIRATOR, RECENTLY PROPAGATED MATERIAL CALLING FOR MURDER OF JEWS (Denver, CO) Americans Against Hate (AAH) is calling on the Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) to disinvite Ingrid Mattson, the National President of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), from speaking at its Denver convention. Mattson is scheduled to help lead a convention interfaith forum tomorrow, Sunday, August 24th. ISNA, a group related to the violent Muslim Brotherhood, was named by the U.S. government a co-conspirator for a 2007 federal trial which dealt with the financing of millions of dollars to Hamas. Also, as recently as last month, under Mattson's watch, ISNA propagated material on its national website calling for the murder of Jews and the waging of war against Jews and Christians. The violent ISNA documents can be viewed here. AAH Chairman Joe Kaufman stated, "It is unconscionable for the Democratic leadership to allow the head of a group that is connected to terrorism and that spreads hate against others to participate in a political convention. We demand that Mattson be disinvited from speaking at the Democratic Convention immediately. ISNA and Mattson should be condemned for their actions." AAH encourages everyone concerned to respectfully express his/her feelings on this matter, by contacting the DNCC at (720) 362-2008. Source: Americans Against Hate
 Middle East network covering DNC from office in Denver suburb
Posted: August 22, 2008
10:40 pm Eastern
© 2008 WorldNetDaily
Residents of suburban Golden, Colo., say they don't want the Middle East television network Al Jazeera setting up a broadcast office in town for the coming Democratic convention, forcing the city manager to withdraw an invitation to network officials to join him for a picnic.
According to the Denver Post, Golden City Manager Mike Bestor withdrew an invitation to the crew for the news channel known for broadcasting updates from al-Qaida.
The controversy arose when area residents discovered the network was setting up a base of operations from which to cover the DNC in the Denver suburb.
Bestor said he issued the barbecue invitation to Al Jazeera English officials as a private citizen after the network said it wanted to do interviews at the gathering. The network had contracted with a local bar, the Buffalo Rose, to use as a base for its operations during the DNC.
But residents took their complaints to the city council, demanding officials not allow the network to broadcast from town.
"I am not happy about Al Jazeera infiltrating our small town and portraying us however they see fit," resident Dawne Montoya told KWGN-TV.
City officials said the Arab network approached them about broadcasting from Golden and no city money would go towards the project. They stand by their decision, even though residents are objecting.
"We treated them like any other news organization, we believe in the First Amendment, freedom of speech, freedom of press is so vitally important," Bestor told the station.
Al Jazeera representatives contended their network is misrepresented in America and has no agenda but to show the world what American politics are all about.
"I think it's unfortunate when people try to stifle different voices when people don't want to hear or allow other people to hear what is being said," spokesman Rob Reynolds told KWGN.
In a statement on the city's website, officials said the city council "listened to a large volume of public comment" regarding Al Jazeera during its city council meeting Aug. 21.
The city concluded it "doesn't have the right to restrict or prohibit Al Jazeera or any other news agency from broadcasting out of the city, whether we approve of their coverage or not, whether we share their perspectives or not, whether we find their coverage offensive or not."
The city statement said Bestor had offered the invitation to Al Jazeera to his barbecue "believing that doing so would enable him to ensure that a representative group of Golden citizens were interviewed and that Golden would be "fairly represented."
But he apologized for the "divisiveness" his actions had brought about and confirmed he did not mean any disrespect for "the many brave veterans and men and women currently serving this country in the Armed Forces."
Al Jazeera English, a division of the parent Al Jazeera, debuted in 2006 and claims 100 million viewers worldwide. The parent, an Arabic language network, has been controversial for its broadcast of videos showing Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders.
Just weeks earlier, the parent company admitted to "unethical" behavior in its coverage of Israel's release of convicted Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz said Israel's government press office raised the issue of the network's coverage of the welcome-home festivities for Kuntar in which the head of Al Jazeera's Beirut office, Ghassan bin Jiddo, praised the terrorist, calling him a "pan-Arab hero."
Kuntar was convicted of murdering four Israelis, two adults and two children, during a 1979 terrorist attack. He was released last month as part of a deal with Hezbollah. In exchange, Israel received the bodies of kidnapped soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.
Haaretz reported bin Jiddo previously was awarded Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's first interview of the Second Lebanon War. But bin Jiddo also told Syrian television officials he never would agree to interview Israelis. Source: WND
Bruce Loudon, Islamabad | August 23, 2008
HE has one of the world's most dangerous jobs -- turning back the seemingly unstoppable tide of al-Qa'ida and Taliban-linked jihadi militancy sweeping across nuclear-armed Pakistan.
And Rehman Malik, as we talk in his Islamabad office, makes it clear that the days of pussyfooting in Pakistan's fight against the militants are over. "Look, we've got two choices," says Malik, formerly one of Benazir Bhutto's closest aides and now Pakistan's security supremo who heads the Interior Ministry.
"Either we can hand this country over to the Taliban, or we can fight. I am going to fight."
Later, speaking to MPs in the National Assembly, he is even more forceful: "The Government of Pakistan will not tolerate any nonsense," he says. "Wherever the Government's writ is challenged, we will take action."
Of the jihadi militants, he says: "We will wipe them out. We will not surrender before them."
It is the sort of tough talk that an increasingly worried world has been waiting to hear from Pakistan -- exactly what US President George W. Bush was demanding when, last month, he castigated Malik and his immediate boss, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, over Pakistan's failure to get to grips with the militants and the way al-Qa'ida and the Taliban enjoy free rein across great swaths of territory.
Under Malik, Pakistan's policy has been transformed from one of retreat to pursuit of al-Qa'ida and the Taliban. But his tough rhetoric has also him a target of islamic militants.
The suave, 57-year-old one-time boss of Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency, the equivalent of the Australian Federal Police, is an increasingly controversial figure as he takes Pakistan's war into areas it has previously avoided.
"I have no fear for my safety," he says when we meet in his home. "When it is time for you to go, you could as well die sitting in that chair."
In the few short weeks since Malik and Gilani returned from the White House, Pakistan's much-vaunted role in the war against terrorism has been transformed. For the first time in many months, the country is on the offensive, forcefully seeking to reassert the Government's writ while also pursuing dialogue with the militants and a path to peace.
Suddenly and with little fanfare, Islamabad's security forces are aggressively on the offensive in key areas where for months, if not years, the Government had virtually given up, leaving the militants to set up Sharia courts.
The results have been remarkable: in the key Bajaur Agency, long suggested as the most likely hideout for Osama bin Laden, more than 560 militants have been killed in less than a fortnight of fighting -- a reflection of just how serious the situation is in Pakistan's tribal areas.
Malik is also determined to rein in the country's increasingly militant madrassas, the nursery for Islamic extremism.
He recently called in the heads of several of the country's 15,000 registered Islamic schools and, in the words of one official, "banged their heads together and left them in no doubt about his expectations about how they should behave and what they teach their 2.5million students".
Malik, whose impeccable appearance is matched by his manners, is a controversial figure in Pakistan's new democratic beginning -- the right-hand man to Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, and, like him, a past target for unproven corruption allegations.
He was Bhutto's security adviser when she was killed last December, travelling in a car immediately behind hers. In the outpouring of grief that followed, Malik was criticised for not having done enough to protect her.
But he is a constant presence at every political and security crisis that confronts the country, and it is a measure of the regard that the powerful Zardari has for him that, when the country's new Government was formed, he named Malik to head the Interior Ministry, placing him in charge of security in what has been dubbed "the most dangerous nation of the world".
Malik is optimistic about his task, saying: "We must reassert the Government's writ wherever it is challenged." But, he adds, that is not an end in itself: there must be dialogue with those willing to talk.
Just as importantly, there must be economic development of the tribal areas, because it is poverty that makes tribesmen susceptible to subversion by militants.
Last night, Pakistani troops killed 20 Taliban militants in two operations near the Afghan border, AFP reported. Source: The Australian
Baghdad
August 23, 2008 - 12:00AM
Negotiators have finalised a deal which will see the complete withdrawal of US troops from Iraq by 2011, ending an eight-year occupation, the top Iraqi heading the team said today.
Under the 27-point deal all US combat troops will be withdrawn from Iraqi cities by next June, said negotiator Mohammed al-Haj Hammoud.
The agreement has already been approved by US President George W Bush and now needs to be endorsed by Iraqi leaders, he added.
Baghdad and Washington had agreed to "withdraw the US troops from Iraq by end of 2011", said Mr Hammoud.
"The combat troops will withdraw from Iraqi cities by June 2009. Both the parties have agreed on this," he added. "The negotiators' job is done. Now it is up to the leaders."
The security pact will decide the future of US forces in Iraq once the present UN mandate, which provides the legal framework for the presence of foreign forces in Iraq, expires in December.
Mr Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had agreed last November to formalise such an agreement by July 31.
The arrangement was delayed due to strong opposition from Iraqi leaders over key issues such as when US combat troops would withdraw from Iraq, how many bases Washington would retain and whether American troops would be immune from Iraqi laws.
Mr Hammoud said all issues had been addressed in the deal.
He added, however, that there was a possibility that US troops could leave before 2011 or remain beyond the target date.
"There is a provision that says the withdrawal could be done even before 2011 or extended beyond 2011 depending on the (security) situation," he said.
Mr Hammoud said that even if the withdrawal does take place by 2011, some US troops could remain "to train Iraqi security forces".
He said the issue of how many bases Washington would retain in Iraq depended on the number of troops left behind for training purposes.
"The number of US military bases would depend on the size and the needs of the troops," he said.
A number of committees would also look into offences committed by American troops in Iraq.
The immunity offered to American soldiers currently in Iraq had been one of the main sticking points in the negotiations which began in February.
In a surprise one-day visit to Iraq yesterday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the two countries were "very, very close" to finalising the agreement but had not yet clinched the deal.
Mr Zebari, however, went a step further and said the text of the deal was ready.
"We are very close, we have a text, but not the final agreement. Everything has been addressed," Zebari said yesterday.
The deal has drawn sharp criticism from Iraq's political factions, especially from the anti-American group of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Dr Rice said that Washington had been very "flexible" in the negotiations.
"The US has gone very far in this agreement, it is a very advanced agreement," she said.
Any deal would first have to be ratified by the Iraqi parliament and the veto-wielding presidency council.
The White House said yesterday that US lawmakers would not be asked to approve the pact.
"It's not a treaty, so it would not require Senate ratification or anything like that," spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters at Mr Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas.
With 144,000 American troops in Iraq, the issue is politically sensitive in Washington as the November US presidential election draws nearer. Source:The Age
 KANSAS CITY -- A date in 2009 has been set for former Southwest Michigan Congressman Mark Siljander to stand trial on charges in connection with an alleged international terrorism ring.
U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughrey, of the Western District of Missouri, signed an order last month setting a trial date of Nov. 2, 2009, for Siljander and other defendants in the case involving the Islamic American Relief Agency.
Siljander was indicated in January on charges of money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. The government alleges the agency used stolen money to pay Siljander for lobbying efforts and that Siljander lied to federal investigators.
Prosecutors say the organization aided a terrorist with ties to al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
Siljander has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer has said Siljander "vehemently denies" the charges.
Siljander, 57, formerly of St. Joseph County, represented portions of Southwest Michigan in the old 4th Congressional District from 1981-87. He now lives in Great Falls, Va. Source: Kalamazoo Gazette
ISNA claims no connection to Muslim Brotherhood. Muslim Brotherhood documents prove otherwise: An Explanatory Memorandum
On the General Strategic Goal for the Group (Muslim Brotherhood)
In North America
5/22/1991A list of our organizations and organizations of our friends Since ISNA is #1 on the list, it is more likely to be a MB organization than an organization of MB friends.1. ISNA (Islamic Society of North America) 2-16 ... 17. IFC (ISNA Fiqh Committee) 18. IPAC (ISNA Political Awareness Committee) 19-29 ... Source: Fox News / The Investigative Project ISNA
Latest recipient of the Distinguished Islamofascist Award
 By Reut R. Cohen As Muslim Student Association (MSA) chapters have become increasingly influential at universities and colleges around the country, critics have charged that it is a hate group that sympathizes with the international jihad and promulgates an anti-American and anti-Semitic ideology in its campus actions. In response, the MSA has claimed that it is merely another religious and cultural group similar to Hillel, a club for Jewish students, or the Newman Club for Catholics. That deception has been now unmasked at the University of Southern California, where the school’s Provost, Chrysostomos L. Max Nikias, reacting to a call from the David Horowitz Freedom Center and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, has ordered the campus MSA to remove a “despicable” hadith calling for Muslims to murder Jews as a condition for redemption from its website. David Horowitz, President of the Freedom Center, hails this as a breakthrough moment when the double standards that control the political and intellectual culture of most universities have finally been challenged. “Up to now, the slightest criticism of radical Islam on campus has been slammed as ‘Islamophobia,’ while Muslim groups and their radical fellow travelers have been allowed to say the most hateful things imaginable about Christians and Jews without any reaction from university administrators whatsoever,” Horowitz says. “Provost Nikias has called the hadith on the MSA website for what it is: despicable. Given the atmosphere that prevails on most campuses today, it was an act of integrity on his part to make this call and to demand that the MSA live up to basic standards of civility that should govern the university.” The hadith (sacred teaching) reads as follows: “Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him...” Read more ... Source: FrontPage MagazineChrysostomos L. Max Nikias
Latest recipient of The MASH Award
Channel 4 has announced plans to broadcast a sequel to its investigation into extremism in mainstream British mosques, “Undercover Mosque”. The original Dispatches programme, broadcast in January 2007, sparked controversy when undercover reporters revealed preachers condemning non- Muslims and integration into British society, praising the Taliban for killing British soldiers and calling for the death of homosexuals. West Midlands police responded by referring the programme to media regulator Ofcom and issuing a statement (with the Crown Prosecution Service) saying that the programme-makers had "heavily edited" the words of the preachers so their meaning was "completely distorted", and accusing the producers of inciting racial hatred. Read more ...Source: The Centre For Social Cohesion
A former Italian president says his country had allowed Palestinian terror groups to roam free in exchange for not attacking Italian targets. Francesco Cossiga's admission confirmed claims of such a deal revealed last week in an interview in the Corriere della Sera newspaper with Bassam Abu Sharif, the former chief of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. In a letter published Aug. 15 in Corriere della Sera, Cossiga described a "secret 'non-belligerence pact' between the Italian state and Palestinian resistance organizations, including terrorist groups" such as the PFLP. The deal, he said, had been devised by Prime Minister Aldo Moro, who in 1978 was kidnapped and assassinated by the Italian terror group the Red Brigades. Read more ...Source: Jerusalem Post
By Rana Tanveer LAHORE: Protesting lawyers on Thursday were seen holding placards bearing pro-Al Qaeda slogans for the first time since their protests for an independent judiciary began. The lawyers’ National Co-ordination Council called the weekly protest rally, demanding the reinstatement of the sacked judges. Lawyers from the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) and the Lahore Bar Association (LBA) held their general house meetings and emerged from the High Court building and Aiwan-e-Adl to merge at GPO Chowk, where they were joined by activists from various political parties. Members from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, who claim to be staunch supporters of the lawyers’ movement, were however, absent from the rally. Read more ...Source: Daily Times
 Ann Cryer, the Labour MP for Keighley in Yorkshire, has announced that she will step down at the next election. The 69-year old cited "age, health and decreasing energy levels" as a reasons for her decision. Her departure from parliament will greatly set back attempts to tackle issues such as honour-related violence towards women. Since becoming an MP in 1997, she has campaigned tirelessly - and often in the face of opposition from local male "community leaders" - to raise awareness of issues such as forced marriage, domestic violence and honour-killing. Despite this, however, Ann Cryer said yesterday that she had achieved a great deal during her time as an MP. She told her constituents yesterday: "My campaigns on behalf of some of our most vulnerable people are coming to fruition, the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act comes into effect in September. This Act, along with new immigration rules I have been calling for, will help many young women and to a lesser extent men to have a greater say in the conduct of their own lives." But while Ms Cryer publicly blames her age and health for her departure, there may be other reasons for her decision. Several months ago, she told a seminar at Civitas, which I co-chaired, that she was facing increasing opposition from members of her local Labour party and from city leaders who felt that she was damaging the reputation of the Bradford area by drawing attention to issues relating to honour-based violence in the City - and that they wanted to have an MP who would avoid such difficult topics. Read more ...Source: The Centre For Social Cohesion
 August 21, 2008, 2:12 pm
By Clark Hoyt
Brigitte Gabriel is a provocative author and lecturer, a Lebanese-Christian who came to the United States after surviving the civil war that tore apart the land of her birth. She has made it her mission – one might say her crusade – to warn that radical Muslims, a term she defines as all practicing Muslims, are bent on taking over the West.
Gabriel has a new book coming out in a couple of weeks, “They Must Be Stopped.” Knowing her history, you don’t need to guess who “they” are. Gabriel believes that Muslims cannot serve loyally in the U.S. military, that interfaith dialogue is “nonsense,” and that the difference between the Arab world and Israel is “barbarism versus civilization.” The Muslim world will not be satisfied until all infidels are converted or eliminated, she has said.
Stephen Lee, the publicist at St. Martins Press for Gabriel’s new book, calls her views “extreme,” and I wouldn’t argue with that.
But more than 250 people have written to me in the past several days to protest a description of Gabriel in the Times Magazine as a “radical Islamophobe.” That description was in a brief introduction to an interview with Gabriel in Deborah Solomon’s “Questions For” column. The messages also complained about the headline over the interview – “The Crusader” – and some of the questions posed to Gabriel by Solomon.
Many, if not most, of the messages appear to be blog-inspired. Though written individually, they ask for the same things – that the headline and description be removed from The Times’s Web site and that Solomon publish an apology.
Lee, the publicist, told me, “We had no problems with the questions or the answers, as depicted in the piece.” He said it was “totally accurate” and that Solomon had gone over the edited transcript with Gabriel before it was published.
As for the terms “crusader” and “radical Islamophobe,” both strike me as fair descriptions in the context of a magazine feature that is supposed to be edgier than the news columns of the newspaper. Though much of the interview seemed comparatively mild, Gabriel showed a few of the rhetorical flashes that have made her such a controversial figure. Moderate Muslims, she said, “at this point are truly irrelevant.” Public foot baths for Muslim students at American universities are “the way they are taking over the West. They are doing it culturally, inch by inch. They don’t need to fire one bullet.”
It’s not hard to see how Gabriel’s experiences might have shaped her views. She has said that radical Muslim fighters destroyed her town in Lebanon, terrorized her family and nearly killed her. She said she was forced to live for seven years in a bomb shelter. In this country, Gabriel formed American Congress for Truth (ACT) to warn against the threat of fundamentalist Islam. If she isn’t a woman on a crusade, in the modern sense of that word, I don’t know who would be.
One person who wrote to me said that Gabriel “is not opposed to Islam in any way, just against the terrifying Islam extremism.” But that isn’t really correct. A blog on The Australian Jewish News quoted Gabriel as saying last year, “Every practicing Muslim is a radical Muslim.”
I’ve had my issues with Solomon in the past, but I don’t think she or her editors have done anything here requiring an apology or any other corrective action.
Source: NYT
From correspondents in Wah, Pakistan | August 22, 2008
Two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside Pakistan's main army munitions factory overnight, killing 64 workers.
In the second bombing to rock the feuding Coalition Government since president Pervez Musharraf resigned on Monday, the attackers struck a crowd of workers leaving the huge complex in Wah, 32km west of Islamabad, after their shift.
The Taliban claimed responsibility and threatened to carry out more suicide bombings if an army offensive against militants near the Afghan border was not stopped.
"It's a massive attack," local police chief Nasir Durrani said.
"Two men apparently blew themselves up outside the factory during a shift change. The bombers were on foot and they exploded themselves less than a minute apart."
"The death toll has gone up to 64," local police officer Shafiq Ahmed said.
Earlier the factory in a statement put the toll at 59 dead and 67 wounded.
Workers were streaming through the gates of the tightly guarded factory during a shift change when the two bombs exploded. The force of the explosions knocked many people to the ground and sprayed others with shrapnel.
"I looked back and saw the limbs of my colleagues flying through the air," said Shahid Bhatti, 29, his clothes soaked in blood.
Emergency workers with plastic bags on their hands lifted mangled and blackened corpses onto stretchers, while forensic teams picked through scraps of flesh and scattered shoes.
The Pakistani Ordnance Factories at Wah is a cluster of about 20 industrial units producing artillery, tank and anti-aircraft ammunition for the Pakistani armed forces. It employs 25,000 to 30,000 workers.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani appealed to MPs to urgently draw up a strategy against terrorism "even if you have to sit together for a week".
US President George W Bush called Mr Gilani to express sympathy for those killed in recent terrorist attacks in Pakistan.
The two men "reaffirmed their mutual support for going after these extremists that are a threat to both Pakistan, the United States and the entire world," said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the White House's National Security Council.
Maulvi Umar, a spokesman for Pakistani Taliban groups, said the arms factory attack was to avenge airstrikes on militants in Bajur, an extremist stronghold in the mountainous frontier region.
The blasts came two days after a suicide bomber attacked a hospital in the northwestern town of Dera Ismail Khan on Tuesday, killing 30 people.
Source: The Australian
Muslims Against Sharia unequivocally condemn homicide bombing in Wah.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.
May homicide bombers rot in hell for eternity. May their accomplices join them soon.
 By Joe Kaufman During the 1990s, the Hamas infrastructure within the United States was complete. It consisted of a propagation outlet, the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP); a financing wing, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF); a command center, the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR); and a defense mechanism, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Today, only the latter exists, along with a remnant of the IAP, the Mosque Foundation. Both have a presence in the Chicago area, where group and mosque are working hard to indoctrinate young Muslims into radical Islam. In 1981, two Muslim Brotherhood entities, which later would be widely regarded as being aligned with the terrorist Hamas, were established within the Chicago area of Illinois. One, the IAP, was created as a collaboratory effort between future Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook and future Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Sami Al-Arian. Soon after the onset of the violent Palestinian Intifada against Israel, which began in 1987 and which gave birth to Hamas, the IAP became a publishing house for the Hamas charter and Hamas terror training videos. The other entity that was created in ’81 was the Mosque Foundation (MF), also known as the Bridgeview Mosque. The center was actually founded 30 years earlier, but in 1981, MF’s original leaders were ousted, as the property was taken over by the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT). NAIT, an extremist Muslim Brotherhood offshoot, was recently named by the U.S. government as a co-conspirator for a federal trial dealing with the financing of millions of dollars to Hamas. Read more ...Source: FrontPage Magazine
Despite outrage from the local Muslim community, a Frankfort Township official did not apologize Wednesday for circulating an e-mail with anti-Islamic sentiments. "The e-mail's basic message was that people coming to this country should adapt," Township Assessor Paul Ruff said in a statement. "This wasn't a hateful e-mail, but one that touched upon a sentiment in this country and around the world that immigrants have to adapt to their new homes." Statements in the e-mail were attributed to former Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who a few years ago ignited controversy with criticism of Islam and statements asserting that immigrants need to adapt to their new country. Read more ...Source: Chicago Tribune H/T: Dhimmi WatchPaul J. Ruff
Latest recipient of The MASH Award
By Tufail Ahmad In early July 2008, Asif Zardari, leader of the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP), delivered a keynote speech to the 23rd International Socialist Congress in Athens, Greece, in which he noted that the madrassas in Afghanistan and in Pakistan's tribal districts and the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) are turning out to be strongholds of Islamic fundamentalism and religious politics. Zardari made these statements against the backdrop of the fact that campaigns for the February elections had taken place in mosques and madrassas in the NWFP. In the speech, he added that his party's government would review the curricula of madrassas in Pakistan and that any content preaching extremism and violence would be removed. Read more ...Source: MEMRI
Following are excerpts from an interview with Saudi Shura Council member Sheik Abd Al-Muhsin Al-Abikan, which aired on MBC TV on August 7, 2008: Sheik Abd Al-Muhsin Al-Abikan: Allah said, in Surat Al-Nisa, of the Koran: "Men are guardians of women, because Allah has made the one superior to the other, and because they support them from their means." So men have this guardianship. This does not mean they can oppress or humiliate their wives. Any group of people must have a leader. A state must have a leader – a king, a president, an emir, or an imam. The same is true for the government – ministries must have ministers in charge, and departments must have directors. This is human nature. There must be leadership. The household consists of several family members, who must have a leader. Who is the leader? The man. Nobody can claim that the verse "Men are guardians of women" shows contempt for women. This is not true. The husband is the leader of the family, and he runs its affairs. He is in charge of the family, he is the shepherd of this family. He is responsible for his flock, as the Prophet said: "The man is a shepherd to his household, and is responsible for them." So the man is the guardian. He must act justly. He must raise his children well. He must fulfill his obligations toward his wife and children. As for the woman, she cannot leave her house without her husband's permission, just like no employee may leave the office without permission from the boss. View clip ...Source: MEMRIAbd Al-Muhsin Al-Abikan
Latest recipient of the Distinguished Islamofascist Award
 By HonestReporting.com HonestReporting has highlighted how some mainstream media, including The New York Times, Washington Post and LA Times, have published op-eds by Hamas leaders. We asked the question as to whether these newspapers could be guilty of providing material support for a terrorist organization. We also stated that American newspapers would not give Osama bin Laden op-ed space. So why would they give the oxygen of publicity to a Hamas terrorist whose organization is responsible for the murder of US citizens in Israel and whose charter calls for Israel's destruction and is filled with unadulterated anti-Semitism? One counter-argument raised by those seeking to excuse this behavior is to attempt to separate Hamas's "political wing" from its "military wing", portraying Hamas as the "legitimate and democratically elected Palestinian government". Irrespective of this, Hamas in its entirety is a proscribed terrorist group under UK terror legislation as well as a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization according to the US State Department. The Guardian's online "Israel and the Palestinians" section, however, includes the "Hamas military wing" (circled) as one of a list of "Useful links". There is no grey area here - this website links directly to an English language site of "Ezedeen Al-Qassam Brigades", which describes itself as "the armed branch of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas)." Read more ...Source: Honest ReportingThe Guardian
Latest recipient of The Dhimmi Award
 By Scott Carpenter When Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali extended his term in 2004 for another five years, making him effectively president-for-life, Mohsen Marzouk realized that for change to occur not only in Tunisia but also in other North African police states, it would be necessary to mesh internal Tunisian networks with ideas and activists from outside the country. Born in July 1965 and raised in a poor, working-class neighborhood in Sfax, Marzouk has long been politically active. When he was thirteen, he joined a student movement aimed at challenging the rigid control of the governing party. At fourteen, authorities expelled him from his high school for his "political activities." At his parents' urging, Marzouk ultimately reentered and finished high school in Sfax before entering the University of Tunis. There he became involved in student politics and ultimately became one of the student movement's national leaders. In his final year, 1987, Tunisia's secret police arrested him for political activities. He was held for a number of days somewhere in the Ministry of Interior headquarters complex where he was interrogated and tortured. Authorities later transferred him to a forced labor camp in the southern desert of Tunisia where he spent a year doing "military service." Read more ...Source: Middle East Quarterly
 By Jay Tolson Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, U. S. efforts to identify and support moderate voices within the Islamic world have been inconsistent and fumbling. Yet it is becoming increasingly clear that the long-term success in fighting terrorism will depend far more on the result of Islam's own internal debate than on the outcomes of the fighting in either Iraq or Afghanistan. To the extent that it can influence that debate, the next U. S. administration might consider paying closer attention to followers of the Sufi tradition, a mystical and philosophical current within Islam. ("Sufi" itself as a term may have derived from the Arab word for wool, in reference to the simple, rough cloak worn by early Muslim ascetics). In his new book, The Other Islam: Sufism and Global Harmony, Stephen Schwartz, a journalist and executive director of the Center for Islamic Pluralism in Washington, D.C., argues that Sufism "offers the clearest Muslim option for reconciliation between the Judeo-Christian and Islamic worlds, as well as fulfillment of the promise that Islam shall be a religion of peace." U. S. News spoke with the author, himself a convert to Islam. Read more ...Source: U.S. News & World Report
Cancel as well the urgent action alert that was going to be the subject of today’s blogburst post. The Memorial Project has just abandoned the "gala" tribute and fundraiser they were planning for almost a year. The event was to be held in Washington DC on September 11th, and yes, they actually called it a “gala,” until Flight 93 family members said NO WAY. Last month's announcement of the event promised big: An impressive Honorary Host Committee has been assembled consisting of over 200 members of Congress and the leadership of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Special state delegations from Pennsylvania and California are also being organized for the event. Assembled where? In the imaginations of Memorial Project personnel? If there really were 200 Congressmen on board, including the leadership of both parties, what could possibly prompt cancellation? Has word gotten out that the memorial is actually a terrorist memorial mosque?Fuggedaboudit. We are a long ways from Congress being alert to the facts. It is possible, however, that there is a growing awareness in Congress that the Flight 93 families are divided over the crescent design (now called a broken circle). Thank Tom Burnett Sr., whose efforts to stop the desecration of his son's grave drew national television coverage in May, and extensive Pittsburgh coverage this month: Tom Sr. on Pittsburgh's KPXI channel 6, August 4th. ( Click for video. Us critics know well the difficulty of going up against Flight 93 family members. Who would have imagined that conservative stalwarts like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity would remain silent about the planting of a giant Mecca-oriented crescent on the Flight 93 crash site? But all it takes is some family members on the other side and nobody wants to get involved. Maybe Tom's pleas for help are injecting the same paralysis into would-be supporters of the crescent design. If both sides are paralyzed, that is a step in the right direction, but it is nowhere near enough. Architect Paul Murdoch is still on track to stab his terrorist memorial mosque into the heartland of America. (That is the significance of a crescent that Muslims face into to face Mecca: it is the central feature around which every mosque is built.) How big does the memorial controversy have to get before a few of these paralyzed big-wigs on either side decide to simply check the facts? All congressmen have interns they can assign to fact-check the Mecca orientation of the giant crescent ( five minutes), the Islamic crescent soaring in the sky above the symbolic lives of the 40 heroes ( five seconds), the 44 glass blocks on the flight path (just open up the design drawings and count). Michelle Malkin, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity all have interns too. If these folks are skeptical, they ought to at least want to expose our claims about these features as a fraud, so that the controversy can be put to rest. If they find that our claims are accurate, all we ask is that they join the call for a proper investigation. Come on movers and shakers. Paralysis is not enough. Stand paralyzed as Paul Murdoch pilots a re-hijacked Flight 93 to its mark, and the heroism of Flight 93 will be well and truly betrayed. To join our blogbursts, just send your blog's url.
 From correspondents in London
August 21, 2008
THERE is no straightforward way to identify the typical British extremist, research conducted by the domestic intelligence agency MI5 shows, The Guardian newspaper reported today.
Citing an internal research document it had seen, the daily said that MI5 had found that the hundreds of known and suspected extremists analysed were "a diverse collection of individuals, fitting no single demographic profile, nor do they all follow a typical pathway to violent extremism''.
The researchers who wrote the report were said to have concluded that their results "challenge many of the stereotypes that are held about who becomes a terrorist and why''.
According to The Guardian, the research found that most of those analysed were British nationals, and many do not ardently follow their faith regularly, with some involved in drug-taking and prostitution.
The research also found that typically they were not particularly prone to mental health problems, while the majority of those over 30 who were involved in violent extremism were not loners but instead had strong relationships with children.
The Home Office (interior ministry) declined to comment on the report. Source: The Australian via the Guardian
 By Dr. Richard Benkin Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Picture the following scenario. You live in a country that long ago declared itself a “people’s republic” with Islam as its official religion. Although you are a Muslim, you have openly declared yourself to be a “Muslim Zionist” and are known for advocating relations with Israel and other positions that are very unpopular with the Islamic radicals who have accrued considerable power in your country.
For your stance, you have been persecuted, jailed and tortured, your family harassed and your brother beaten, your place of business first bombed and later taken over by a mob that was allowed to do so with impunity.
Earlier this year, a group known for its human rights violations took you into its custody and it required nothing short of an international outcry to force them to release you. Now, you find yourself on trial for “sedition, treason, and blasphemy” and could receive the death penalty (or more likely a very long prison term) if convicted.
Welcome to the world of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury. The Bangladeshi journalist has garnered the support of people and governments around the world in the years following his 2003 arrest. He and I had been working together for some time in an effort to provide Bangladeshis with unbiased news about Israel, the United States, and the Jewish people. We even saw signs that we were beginning to succeed.
We did not know, however, that radicals had him under surveillance and were preparing to force his arrest ever since he begin publishing articles that exposed their growing power and use of madrassas [Muslim religious schools] to teach young Bangladeshis jihad. At first, no one was interested in the fate of this one man, but as more and more people became aware of what he stood for and what was happening to him, that changed. The previous Bangladeshi government that took these actions did so, according to several of their officials, to appease the Islamist radicals in their coalition. They also counted on the world being indifferent to their actions. They miscalculated about that, but continued to tell us that they knew the charges were baseless but were “afraid of how the radicals will react” if they drop them. In a 2005 meeting that eventually led to Choudhury’s freedom, then Bangladesh Ambassador Shamsher M. Chowdhury told US Congressman Mark Kirk (R-IL) and me that the case was “a purely personal financial dispute, nothing more.”
Choudhury’s trial on those charges began this month and while it is far too early to draw any firm conclusions, its first days have been marked by a level of judicial fairness that was unknown under the previous government. (On January 11, 2007, a bloodless coup brought a new “caretaker” government to power with the military’s backing.) But at approximately 10am on August 7, while Choudhury was in court for the trial’s second day, his household staff saw someone speed up to his home on a motorbike and start taking videos of the house. When they confronted him, the man identified himself only as “Sohel” and claimed to be a journalist from Daily Manabzamin, a Bangla-language newspaper edited by Voice of America correspondent Mathiur Rahman Chowdhury. He handed them a slip of paper with a cell phone number for Shoaib to call, continued filming, and left.
Unfortunately, this was far and away not the first incident of suspicious activity at Choudhury’s home or business. The pro-US, pro-Israel Muslim receives threats regularly-some credible, others not. There was one 2006 incident in which he called me to report that the Islamist group Khatmey Nabuat Movement (KTM) threatened him with “dire consequences” after we had written articles critical of it and thwarted its attempted attack on a minority Muslim sect, the Ahmadiyyas. Islamists hate the Ahmadiyyas for believing in Jesus’s virgin birth and that Mohammed was not “the final prophet.” The Pakistani government has declared them to be non-Muslims and Islamists were trying to do the same in Bangladesh. In response to KTM’s threatened “dire consequences,” Choudhury gathered dozens of supporters, representing every religious group in Bangladesh, who stayed with him throughout the night in case the Islamists tried to carry out their threat. In a more recent and even more harrowing incident, Choudhury was abducted by the notorious Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), a government paramilitary group whose captives often “disappear.” We responded more directly to that immediate danger and helped force his release after a few hours.
Choudhury is almost stoic at times. “You get used to it,” he said. But not complacent. When his younger brother, Sohail Choudhury, called him to report the “Sohel” incident, the senior Choudhury sent text messages to the police and members of the government; and to the Daily Manabzamin. He also called his own newspaper, Weekly Blitz, and asked one his staff, Rana Masud, to get to the bottom of the matter since Masud’s brother is a senior journalist with Manabzamin. That newspaper confirmed that it employs no one named Sohel and in any event did not send anyone to the Choudhury home.
Masud then called the phone number that Sohel left, and the latter admitted that he lied when he said he worked for Manabzamin. He said that he actually worked but for Daily Aparashkantha, “an underground newspaper known for blackmailing people,” according to Choudhury. Masud asked , “Why did you go to Choudhury’s residence? Why did you take video footage?”
Sohel: “Ask Choudhury to call Aparadhkantha editor Rashedul Hassan. Choudhury owes 100,000 Taka [roughly $1,500 US] to Rashed.”
Masud: “100,000 Taka? No it is false. Rashed came to our office in April and asked for TK. 1 million as ‘loan.’ But Mr. Choudhury declined to give such loan. Why you are trying to put false pressure to extract money from us?”
Sohel: “Ask Choudhury to call Rashed and settle the matter.”
Roughly translated as “Crime Voice,” Aparashkantha had been running screaming front page headlines about Shoaib’s trial since its start the day before. The headlined and accompanying articles were sensationalistic and urged that “the Zionist spy” be convicted of sedition, treason, and blasphemy. The paper was now demanding that Choudhury provide a payoff of 100,000 Bangladeshi Taka, roughly $1500 in US currency to Rashed.
Choudhury has filed a formal complaint about the incident with the Dhaka police, but so far has received no response. Aparashkantha is rumored to have ties with both organized crime and the government’s paramilitary group, Rapid Action Battalion. When I spoke with representatives of the Bangladeshi government, who wish to remain anonymous, they reminded me that this is essentially a criminal matter (unless Choudhury also wants to press a civil suit) and not the province of the central government. They did assure me, however, that they would look into the matter nonetheless. Dr. Richard L. Benkin secured the release of Bangladeshi journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury in 2005. The two continue working together to fight Islamist radicals and their allies in South Asia and elsewhere. For more information on how to help, please contact Dr. Benkin at drrbenkin@comcast.net. Their web site is [url=http://www.InterfaithStrength.com]http://www.InterfaithStrength.com[/url]. Source: Canada Free Press
Ben Quinn The BBC’s Children in Need charity donated £20,000 to an organisation that funded the propaganda activities of the July 7 bombers, it has emerged. The financial support was provided between 1999 and 2002 to the Leeds Community School, which funded and shared premises with an Islamic bookshop where the suicide bombers Mohammed Siddique Khan and Shezhad Tanweer regularly met. Siddique Khan attempted to radicalise youths by showing propaganda films at the bookshop, a focal point at the time for young Muslims. The school in Beeston also paid for adventure weekends, such as a rafting trip to North Wales a month before the London attacks. Tanweer and Siddique Khan went on the trip, along with Khalid Khaliq, who this year was jailed for terrorism offences. Read more ...Source: Times Online
 By Asaf Romirowsky Middle East scholar Daniel Pipes has argued for years that the solution to Islamism/radical Islam is moderate Islam. But the question is still, who are these moderates and where can they be found. As Pipes states, "Islamism [is] a radical utopian version of Islam. Islamists, adherents of this well funded, widespread, totalitarian ideology, are attempting to create a global Islamic order that fully applies the Islamic law (Shari'a)." Using this definition, moderation requires rejection of jihad to impose Muslim rule and the rejection of suicide terrorism. No more second-class citizenship for non-Muslims. No more death penalty for adultery or "honor" killings of women. And No more death sentences for blasphemy or apostasy. Ultimately, it means embracing the same modernity that Jews and Christians have adopted whereby there is no contradiction between being an observant individual on the one hand and living in a modern society on the other. The headlines from Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan and a host of other places suggest this moderation is simply not feasible, and that Islam at its most basic and aggressive always wins. Read more ...Source: Middle East Times
 Dhimmi-Cola?The moon and star can be found on at least 11 flags of Muslim countries, and now it will be featured on packaging in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Morocco, Tunisia and other Islamic countries during the Sept. 1-30 Muslim holiday, blogger Bob McCartney reported. Coca-Cola has hired a company named ATTIK to handle packaging, Brand Republic reports. Its Christmas cans are usually decorated with secular-themed images of Santa Claus, but McCartney asked the company whether it planned to introduce Christian symbols as well. "When I learned the symbol of the Islamic faith will appear on Coca-Cola packaging during Ramadan 2008, I found myself wondering whether or not the Atlanta-based soft drink maker will soon include the Christian cross and Jewish star of David in future holiday packaging designs targeting people of those faiths," he wrote. In 2006, Coca-Cola released a statement about its recognition of Ramadan. "In a globalizing world, Ramadan presents an opportunity to showcase the true values of Islam and what it stands for," it said. "Because no other brand is as inclusive as and no other company is as diverse as Coca-Cola, we have a unique opportunity to play a valued role as an international bridge-builder and facilitator of dialogue during Ramadan." Read more ...Source: WND
 Tarek Fatah’s Chasing a Mirage: The Tragic Illusion of an Islamic State is in many respects a courageous and edifying book whose bracing opposition to Left-liberal woolly-mindedness and the totalitarian mindset of political Islam is to be applauded. A member of the intellectual vanguard known as “progressive Muslims,” Fatah provides vigorous objection to the nuptials which a blinkered and opportunistic Left has celebrated with a sly “Islamist” aggressor whose purposes it has failed to understand is apt. He is perfectly correct when he warns that we must be wary of “segments of the non-Muslim community in the West, especially the guilt-ridden Left that comes out in support of sharia…under the garb of diversity.” Fatah wants us to realize before it is too late that the “liberal-left custodians of fair play and equity are being taken to the cleaners” by the mosque establishment and the soi-disant Islamic civil rights organizations. But the real strength of the book resides in its stout opposition to the wholesale takeover of Islam by feuding warlords, the devastation it has wreaked among its own peoples, the intrinsic conviction of the supremacy of Arab over non-Arab Muslims, and the duplicity of current Muslim leaders consolingly affirming that jihad is only a peaceful, interior struggle of the soul when it is, in effect, a many-pronged war against liberal democracy. Read more ...Source: FrontPage MagazineTarek Fatah
Latest recipient of The MASH Award
By Walid Phares Amidst a growing world crisis, new developments in Lebanon may signal what lies ahead in the sphere of global jihadist forces in the near future. A memorandum of understanding has been signed by Hezbollah, the main pro-Iranian organization in the region, and a number of Salafist groups outlining efforts to "confront America." Innocent minds may question how that impacts our lives. However, events that unfold in Beirut have a direct effect on the war on terror, or to be more precise, on the jihadist war on democracies. Here is why: The Two TreesIn my last three books (the "Future Jihad Trilogy") I depicted the world web of jihadism as two large trees. The Salafist tree, emanating from radical Sunni circles and encompassing mainly the Wahhabis, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Deobandis is the largest. But it has been evolving and some of its branches have mutated into layers of radicalism. Al-Qaida is one of the latest mutations, for now the most radical. Read more ...Source: Middle East Times
 By Jeffrey Imm In my July 16, 2008 article "False Reports of Jihadists 'Quitting' or Abandoning Islamic Supremacism," I challenged the Quilliam Foundation to address some key questions that were being asked about itsorganization. The primary issue I raised was its documented support for Egyptian Grand Mufti Sheik Ali Gomaa (also spelled "Ali Gum'a" or "Goma"). In reply, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy's Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence Director Matthew Levitt criticized me on July 17th for asking this obvious question, and on August 15th, that same organization's Michael Jacobson published a "response" to my July 16th article on behalf of Maajid Nawaz of the Quilliam Foundation. Mr. Nawaz's comments in Mr. Jacobson's reposting "Quilliam Responds" are not a response at all, but are directed towards a July 30, 2008 letter from various senators to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice regarding "a 2003 article in Egypt's 'Al-Haqiqa' newspaper quoting Ali Goma defending terrorist acts in Israel." Mr. Nawaz dismisses this quote as he states it is coming from a "Wahabite-Islamist source" and "a newspaper that explicitly promotes a Shari'ah-law based Caliphate." (On the other hand, Mr. Nawaz does not explain how he defends Ali Gomaa who is interviewed in the March 2008 U.S. News and World Report as seeing Sharia as a solution for "Islamic extremism.") Read more ...Source: Family Security Matters
 By Joe Kaufman Sami Al-Arian has been in prison, away from his digs in the Tampa, Florida suburb of Temple Terrace, for over five years, yet one of the structures that he left behind continues to propagate the same fanatical ideology that led to his punishment. Al-Arian’s mosque, the Islamic Community of Tampa (ICT), has been proudly advertising hatred and violence meant for the eyes of children. The mosque’s connection to an area youth academy should have all Americans concerned. When Al-Arian arrived at the University of South Florida (USF) in 1986, his goals were a lot broader than just to provide a decent education to aspiring college students. From then till the time of his imprisonment, Al-Arian worked tirelessly to build a vast network of terror, whose goal was the destruction of Israel. Prior to his arrival, Al-Arian had helped to set up the Illinois-based Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), what soon would become known as the American propaganda wing of Hamas. When he came to Florida, it was as an operative for Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a group he helped to found in Egypt in 1979. His Tampa cell consisted of a think tank, a charity, a mosque and a children’s school. The former two no longer exist; the latter two this author wishes to expose. Read more ...Source: FrontPage Magazine
By Phyllis Chesler "Shaikha," a 16-year-old Saudi girl, drank bleach in an attempt to kill herself because her father was forcing her to marry a 75-year-old man. And why? So that Shaikha’s father could himself marry the elderly man’s 13-year-old daughter! Shaikha begged and pleaded not to be forced into this marriage–even her mother supported her plea; all to no avail. While such normalized atrocities continue in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Muslim world, Random House cancels the publication of a novel, The Jewel of Medina, based on the life of Aisha, the prophet Mohammed’s beloved wife whom he married when she was either six or seven years-old. The marriage was presumably consummated when Aisha was nine-years-old. Can there possibly be a connection between what Mohammed did and what other Muslim men do? Is the mere suggestion heretical? Is telling the truth about Mohammed heretical? Read more ...Source: Chesler Chronicles
By Steve Brown BRANTFORD, Ontario - Once home to inventor Alexander Graham Bell and hockey great Wayne Gretzky, the small Canadian city of Brantford is now home to a terrorist - and the Canadian government might not do anything about it. Forty years ago, Mahmoud Mohammad Issa Mohammad, a former teacher, joined the terrorist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. On Dec. 26, 1968, Mohammad and another gunman launched an attack on an El Al airliner at Athens International Airport. The two ran up on the tarmac firing guns and, throwing grenades at the passenger jet, wounded a flight attendant as she opened an emergency exit and killed a 50-year-old passenger, Leon Shirdan. The gunmen were captured, tried and convicted in Greek court, and they were sentenced in 1970 to serve 17 years in prison. But they were released just months later after the PFLP hijacked an Olympic Airways flight and demanded their release as part of a hostage exchange. Read more ...Source: Fox NewsCanadian Government
Latest recipient of The Dhimmi Award
 Saudi women's activist Rania Al-Baz received a first-hand lesson in Verse 4:34With less than two weeks before the Islamic Society of North America lands in Central Ohio for their 2008 national convention, we continue our look at past ISNA conventions to see what brand of Islam they will be bringing to our city. At their 2006 convention, ISNA hosted a curious breakout session: "And Beat them Lightly..." An Analysis and In-Depth Discussion of Verse 4:34. Read more ...Source: Central Ohioans Against TerrorismISNA
Latest recipient of the Distinguished Islamofascist Award
 By Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. Democratic presidential candidate Barak Obama's appearance before a large evangelical congregation in Orange County over the weekend underscored an evident imperative of his campaign: Emphasize his Christian faith and put to rest insistent rumors that he secretly adheres to the Islamic creed of his father and youth. The effort to minimize any grounds for fearing Obama has an abiding, if covert, attachment to Islam has prompted him to risk offending Muslims in order to avoid off-message controversies and photo ops. It is, therefore, curious in the extreme that he is giving a prominent role at next week's Democratic convention to a leader of an organization identified by the Department of Justice as a Muslim Brotherhood front organization and an unindicted co-conspirator in a terrorism financing conspiracy. Dr. Ingrid Mattson is the president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), an organization created by the radical, Saudi- financed Muslim Students Association. She will represent the Muslim community at the first-ever interfaith prayer service at a Democratic nominating convention. Now, we know from the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) trial that ISNA is one of many Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated groups operating in America. We also know from a Brotherhood document entered into evidence in that case (which is currently being retried after the first prosecution resulted in a mistrial) that, " The work [of Brotherhood members] in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within, and 'sabotaging' its miserable house by their hands and the hands of believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions." The question is why would Barak Obama's campaign - which has prevented Muslim women wearing headcoverings from being in the background of photographs with the candidate and which recently fired a Muslim-outreach coordinator who had ties to another unindicted HLF co-conspirator - allow itself to be put in such company? Read more ...Source: Jewish World Review
 Belgrade, 19 August (AKI) - Serbia's two main Muslim organisations are divided over a controversial book that has been withdrawn from sale. 'The Jewel of Medina' written by Sherry Jones has been withdrawn from bookshops after the Islamic Community organisation complained about its content. The group's mufti Muamer Zukorlic said the book was an insult to Muslims and asked the Belgrade publisher Beobuk to withdraw it from the market. Beobuk's director Aleksandar Jasic later apologised and the book was withdrawn. However, The Islamic Community of Serbia, mufti Adem Ziklic on Tuesday said Zukorlic just wanted to represent himself as the sole representative of all Muslims in the country. "This way Zukorlic has imposed himself as the only protector of Islam and causing this much stir over the book will only result in a bigger demand for the novel. ... I doubt that the mufti has read the book and it seems he is acquainted only with the parts which directly refer to scenes from the Koran (the Muslim holy book)," Ziklic said. Read more ...Source: AKIAdem Ziklic
Latest recipient of The MASH Award
 August 20, 2008
KABUL: French President Nicolas Sarkozy has arrived in Afghanistan, vowing to pursue France's mission after 10 of its troops died in the deadliest attack yet on international forces there.
Mr Sarkozy was flying in with his Defence Minister Herve Morin for a visit in which he was expected to meet some of the 21 French soldiers also wounded in the fighting this week, French officials said.
The French President was also likely to meet his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai before returning home.
Mr Sarkozy announced he would travel to Afghanistan as soon as the news broke yesterday of the fighting 50km east of the capital Kabul.
The visit was to show the troops that “France is at their side,” he said.
“In its struggle against terrorism, France has just been hard hit,” Mr Sarkozy said.
It was the deadliest attack on international forces fighting extremists in Afghanistan since the US-led war which ousted the hardline Taliban regime in 2001.
It was also the deadliest on French soldiers since a 1983 assault in Beirut in which 58 paratroopers were killed.
But Mr Sarkozy insisted France would not be deterred from its Afghan mission, for which it has 3000 soldiers serving in a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force of more than 40,000 troops from nearly 40 nations.
“My determination is intact. France is committed to pursuing the struggle against terrorism, for democracy and for freedom,” he said in a statement from his holiday residence in the French Riviera.
“This is a just cause, it is an honour for France and for its army to defend it.”
US forces provided air support in the battle, after which the Taliban said it had destroyed several military vehicles.
“Serious measures, notably in the air, were taken to support and extricate our men caught in an extremely violent ambush,” Mr Sarkozy said.
Mr Morin estimated casualties on the Taliban side at 30 dead and 30 wounded.
The French losses drew sympathy from other countries which have suffered heavy losses in Afghanistan, where extremist violence has grown every year with more foreign and Al-Qa'ida-linked fighters believed involved.
US President George W. Bush offered his condolences, as did the leaders of Britain and Canada, other key contributors to the ISAF deployment.
The European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said the attack was “a disgraceful and barbaric act”. Source: The Australian
August 20, 2008
AN Iranian missile test aimed at putting a dummy satellite into orbit failed, a US defence official said today.
"We detected a missile launch from Iran on August 16 and our reports indicated it was unsuccessful," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "It did not reach orbit."
Iran announced on Sunday that it had successfully launched into space a missile with a dummy satellite. There were conflicting accounts by Iranian officials as to whether the missile was carrying a satellite or simply capable of carrying one.
A US intelligence official, who asked not to be identified, said the Iranian missile failed shortly after lift-off.
"It was a rather dismal display," the official said. "It certainly didn't get very far off the ground, and it definitely did not meet the overall objectives that the Iranians reported the test achieved." Source: The Australian
 August 19, 2008
SEVERAL Taliban suicide attackers tried to storm a US military base in eastern Afghanistan early today and at least six have been found dead, a provincial governor said.
NATO's International Security Assistance Force confirmed that a US military base in the eastern town of Khost, 30km from the border with Pakistan, was under attack but could give few details.
"We have heard about suicide bombers on foot. They are receiving indirect fire,'' an officer in the ISAF media office in Kabul said.
He could not give details because fighting at Camp Salerno was ongoing, he said.
The Khost governor, Arsala Jamal, said several men had tried to attack the base.
"According to our reports about 30 Taliban tried to attack the Salerno base. They were fired at. We have found six bodies which were all wearing suicide vests,'' he said.
"Some of them have blown themselves up. Others are hiding in nearby houses and corn fields. The troops are searching for them,'' he said.
Four Afghan army troops had been wounded in the fighting, the governor said.
The attackers had also launched rockets at the base, an Afghan army officer said on condition of anonymity.
The new attack comes a day after a suicide bombing outside Camp Salerno killed 10 Afghan labourers and wounded 13 more.
Security forces were able to prevent a second suicide attack moments later, the US-led coalition and Afghan officials said.
The Taliban claimed responsibility. Source: The Australian
Thursday, 14 August 2008 This is a column condemning cowardice – including my own. It begins with the story of a novel you cannot read. The Jewel of Medina was written by a journalist called Sherry Jones. It recounts the life of Aisha, a girl who was married off at the age of six to a 50-year-old man called Mohamed ibn Abdallah. On her wedding day, Aisha was playing on a see-saw outside her home. Inside, she was being betrothed. The first she knew of it was when she was banned from playing out in the street with the other children. When she was nine, she was taken to live with her husband, now 53. He had sex with her. When she was 14, she was accused of adultery with a man closer to her own age. Not long after, Mohamed decreed that his wives must cover their faces and bodies, even though no other women in Arabia did. You cannot read this story today – except in the Koran and the Hadith. The man Mohamed ibn Abdallah became known to Muslims as "the Prophet Mohamed", so our ability to explore this story is stunted. The Jewel of Medina was bought by Random House and primed to be a best-seller – before a University of Texas teacher saw proofs and declared it "a national security issue". Random House had visions of a re-run of the Rushdie or the Danish cartoons affairs. Sherry Jones's publisher has pulped the book. It's gone. In Europe, we are finally abolishing the lingering blasphemy laws that hinder criticism of Christianity. But they are being succeeded by a new blasphemy law preventing criticism of Islam – enforced not by the state, but by jihadis. I seriously considered not writing this column, but the right to criticise religion is as precious – and hard-won – as the right to criticise government. We have to use it or lose it.Some people will instantly ask: why bother criticising religion if it causes so much hassle? The answer is: look back at our history. How did Christianity lose its ability to terrorise people with phantasms of sin and Hell? How did it stop spreading shame about natural urges – pre-marital sex, masturbation or homosexuality? Because critics pored over the religion's stories and found gaping holes of logic or morality in them. They asked questions. How could an angel inseminate a virgin? Why does the Old Testament God command his followers to commit genocide? How can a man survive inside a whale? Reinterpretation and ridicule crow-barred Christianity open. Ask enough tough questions and faith is inevitably pushed farther and farther back into the misty realm of metaphor – where it is less likely to inspire people to kill and die for it. But doubtful Muslims, and the atheists who support them, are being prevented from following this path. They cannot ask: what does it reveal about Mohamed that he married a young girl, or that he massacred a village of Jews who refused to follow him? You don't have to murder many Theo Van Goghs or pulp many Sherry Joneses to intimidate the rest. The greatest censorship is internal: it is in all the books that will never be written and all the films that will never be shot, because we are afraid. We need to acknowledge the double-standard – and that it will cost Muslims in the end. Insulating a religion from criticism – surrounding it with an electric fence called "respect" – keeps it stunted at its most infantile and fundamentalist stage. The smart, questioning and instinctively moral Muslims – the majority – learn to be silent, or are shunned (at best). What would Christianity be like today if George Eliot, Mark Twain and Bertrand Russell had all been pulped? Take the most revolting rural Alabama church, and metastasise it.Since Jones has brought it up, let us look at Mohamed's marriage to Aisha as a model for how we can conduct this conversation. It is true those were different times, and it may have been normal for grown men to have sex with prepubescent girls. The sources are not clear on this point. But whatever culture you live in, having sex when your body is not physically developed can be an excruciatingly painful experience. Among Vikings, it was more normal than today to have your arm chopped off, but that didn't mean it wasn't agony. If anything, Jones's book whitewashes this, suggesting that Mohamed's "gentleness" meant Aisha enjoyed it. The story of Aisha also prompts another fundamentalist-busting discussion. You cannot say that Mohamed's decision to marry a young girl has to be judged by the standards of his time, and then demand that we follow his moral standards to the letter. Either we should follow his example literally, or we should critically evaluate it and choose for ourselves. Discussing this contradiction inevitably injects doubt – the mortal enemy of fanaticism (on The Independent's Open House blog later today, I'll be discussing how Aisha has become the central issue in a debate in Yemen about children and forced marriage). So why do many people who cheer The Life Of Brian and Jerry Springer: The Opera turn into clucking Mary Whitehouses when it comes to Islam? If a book about Christ was being dumped because fanatics in Mississippi might object, we would be enraged. I feel this too. I am ashamed to say I would be more scathing if I was discussing Christianity. One reason is fear: the image of Theo Van Gogh lying on a pavement crying "Can't we just talk about this?" Of course we rationalise it, by asking: does one joke, one column, one novel make much difference? No. But cumulatively? Absolutely. The other reason is more honourable, if flawed. There is very real and rising prejudice against Muslims across the West. The BBC recently sent out identically-qualified CVs to hundreds of employers. Those with Muslim names were 50 per cent less likely to get interviews. Criticisms of Islamic texts are sometimes used to justify US or Israeli military atrocities. Some critics of Muslims – Geert Wilders or Martin Amis – moot mass human rights abuses here in Europe. So some secularists reason: I have plenty of criticisms of Judaism, but I wouldn't choose to articulate them in Germany in 1933. Why try to question Islam now, when Muslims are being attacked by bigots? But I live in the Muslim majority East End of London, and this isn't Weimar Germany. Muslims are secure enough to deal with some tough questions. It is condescending to treat Muslims like excitable children who cannot cope with the probing, mocking treatment we hand out to Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism. It is perfectly consistent to protect Muslims from bigotry while challenging the bigotries and absurdities within their holy texts. There is now a pincer movement trying to silence critical discussion of Islam. To one side, fanatics threaten to kill you; to the other, critics call you "Islamophobic". But consistent atheism is not racism. On the contrary: it treats all people as mature adults who can cope with rational questions. When we pulp books out of fear of fundamentalism, we are decapitating the most precious freedom we have.
j.hari@independent.co.uk Source: The Independent
Belgrade, 18 August (AKI) - The Islamic Community in Serbia said on Monday it was not satisfied with the withdrawal of Sherry Jones’ novel, The Jewel of Medina, from the country's bookshops. Referring to the book released by Belgrade publisher Beobuk three weeks ago, the organisation's leader Muamer Zukorlic said it was "offensive to Muslims" and demanded all of the published copies be handed in. He also called for director Aleksandar Jasic to repent for what he had done. After an initial complaint from the Islamic community, Jasic apologised saying the company "had no intention of insulting Muslims in Serbia" and announced the book would not be available in any bookstore in the country. Read more ...Source: AKI
A young girl in Saudi Arabia was brutally executed by her Muslim father this week after he learned his daughter had converted to Christianity.
Middle East business news website Zawya.com reported that the man, who is a prominent member of a "virtue committee," first cut out his daughter's tongue and held a one-sided religious debate with her. He then burned his daughter alive.
Observant Muslims hold that their Prophet Mohammed taught that Muslims who convert to any other religion must be killed, often in extremely brutal fashion. Source: Israel Today
 By Hamid Mir Sunday, August 17, 2008
ISLAMABAD: Israeli President Shimon Peres is desperately trying to help his friend President Pervez Musharraf and is putting indirect pressure on the coalition government through different diplomatic channels not to impeach him, Foreign Office sources reveal.
The sources claim that Peres wants a safe exit for Musharraf and he is also ready to provide security to his friend outside Pakistan. These sources also claim that Peres and Musharraf are in regular contact with each other for the last three years. Both met first in Davos in January 2005 and since then they have been writing letters to each other and exchanging pleasantries on telephone regularly.
According to the sources, Peres wrote his first-ever official letter to Musharraf in October 2007, appreciating his efforts in the fight against terrorism. Musharraf, in his response, thanked the Israeli president for his support and good wishes. These letters were exchanged through diplomatic channels of Turkey.
Peres called his Pakistani friend again a few days ago. Though the details of their conversation were not available with the Foreign Office yet it is believed that Peres offered his friend some help.
Informed sources are of the view that Israel has strong friendly relations with Turkey and is in a position to provide security to Musharraf in Turkey. One close friend of Musharraf is also busy in lobbying for him in the Jewish lobby in the US these days. This friend of Musharraf has met many leaders of the World Jewish Congress recently. Musharraf even praised this friend publicly in recognition of his services for facilitating him to address the Jewish lobby in New York. This special friend still enjoys ministerial status in Pakistan without being elected and despite the fact that he is an American citizen. It has been learnt that the same friend is requesting his American Jewish contacts to do something for the safe exit of Musharraf through Israeli President Shimon Peres.
Peres had openly said in October 2001 that he prayed for the life of Musharraf every morning as he (Musharraf) had signed his death warrant by changing the Afghan policy of Pakistan. After that, Musharraf also came into contact with the late Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon. He also met Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak in January this year in Paris.
Diplomatic sources claim that Musharraf is the most popular Pakistani leader in Israel. He was the first Pakistani leader who was invited to address the World Jewish Congress in the US in 2005. After that historic event, the then foreign minister of Pakistan Khurshid Kasuri met his Israeli counterpart Silvon Shalom in Turkey in 2005.
Musharraf had asked the Foreign Office in early 2007 to prepare a plan for the recognition of Israel but it did not materialise due to the political turmoil started in March 2007. It is also pertinent to mention here that Indian National Security Adviser MK Narayanan was the first foreign leader to come out openly in support of Musharraf on Wednesday, saying his impeachment would only help extremist elements in the country. The same Indian leader had declared on December 19, 2007 that India could trust Musharraf but not Benazir Bhutto.
Musharraf knows that he is still popular among the Indian and Israeli establishments and has a lot of friends in Western capitals as well. If provided a safe exit, he can find a new role for himself in international diplomacy.
Highly placed sources in the coalition government claim that Musharraf is now completely isolated and he has informed Asif Ali Zardari, through the governor Punjab, that he would resign if provided special indemnity. However, the coalition government is not ready to provide him indemnity and in that case he would face the first-ever humiliating impeachment process, which would definitely make history in Pakistan.
Hamid Mir is the Executive Editor of Geo TV in Islamabad and he has also interviewed Osama bin Laden, Tony Blair, Condoleezza Rice, General Pervaiz Musharraf, Hamid Karzai, L K Advani and other international leaders.
Source: Canada Free Press
August 19, 2008
A MAN convicted yesterday of amassing a library of extremist material was aged just 15 when he began studying jihad alongside his GCSE exams, making him Britain's youngest terrorist.
Hammaad Munshi, now 18, was part of a cell of cyber-groomers that set out to brainwash the vulnerable to kill "non-believers".
He was convicted of possessing articles for a purpose connected with terrorism and making records of information likely to be useful in terrorism.
Munshi, whose grandfather is one of Britain's most revered Muslim scholars, was arrested in June 2006 on his way home from Westborough High School in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, north east England.
He was on bail during his trial, but was remanded in custody after being found guilty and told by Judge Timothy Pontius at Blackfriars Crown Court in London that he faces a custodial sentence.
The court was told that for almost a year Munshi led a double life, spending hours on the internet acquiring instructions on how to make napalm, discussing airport security weaknesses and making preparations to fight and die in holy war.
Under his bed at his parents' home in Dewsbury, police found a note in his writing that stated: "I don't want to be deprived of the huge amounts or lessons Allah has prepared for the believers in the hereafter."
Convicted with him was Aabid Khan, 23, from Bradford, northern England, who was said to be a prolific cyber-terrorist, spreading al-Qaeda propaganda and radicalising recruits on the internet.
Khan's arrest, as a result of a routine security check at Manchester airport when he returned from Pakistan, showed an extensive web of jihadi contacts. His luggage contained the largest electronically stored "encyclopaedia" of articles promoting terrorism yet seized.
It included personal information and the addresses of 15 members of the Royal Family, among them the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke of York, the Princess Royal, and the Earl and Countess of Wessex. Also on the list were Princess Alexandra, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and the Duke and Duchess of Kent.
Khan had in his possession a library of extremist material, including practical guides to weapons and explosives, and was thought to have been returning from a terror training camp.
Also convicted was Khan's cousin, Sultan Muhammed, 23. A step-by-step guide to making an explosives vest for a suicide bomber was found at his home.
Munshi was one of Khan's internet pupils and was wooed away from the influence of his strict religious family. His grandfather, Sheikh Yakub Munshi, founded the Shariah Council and was one of the founders of the large Markazi mosque in Dewsbury.
Harendra de Silva, QC, defending Munshi, appealed to the jury to consider him as a naive teenager who had fallen under Khan's spell.
Simon Denison, prosecuting, said that Munshi, Khan and Muhammed demonstrated "deep commitment to and involvement in violent jihad by promoting it, inciting others to take part in it and arranging for himself and others to attend military training in Pakistan in preparation for going to fight and, inevitably, to kill".
There was, he added, "detailed, practical information on making and using weapons, explosives and poisons, and carrying out ... murder on potentia | |
