The Global War On You Know Who

The Regensburg Address

2006-09-18T04:04:00.000+02:00

Pope Benedict's fearless experiment marks another milestone on the road to war, a war the West "asked for" simply by existing. I've posted the address in its entirety, because a few decades from now, it'll be required reading in history class -- or possession of it will be punishable by death, depending on who wins.

LECTURE OF THE HOLY FATHER

Aula Magna of the University of Regensburg
Tuesday, 12 September 2006

Faith, Reason and the University
Memories and Reflections

Your Eminences, Your Magnificences, Your Excellencies,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a moving experience for me to stand and give a lecture at this university podium once again. I think back to those years when, after a pleasant period at the Freisinger Hochschule, I began teaching at the University of Bonn. This was in 1959, in the days of the old university made up of ordinary professors. The various chairs had neither assistants nor secretaries, but in recompense there was much direct contact with students and in particular among the professors themselves.

We would meet before and after lessons in the rooms of the teaching staff. There was a lively exchange with historians, philosophers, philologists and, naturally, between the two theological faculties. Once a semester there was a dies academicus, when professors from every faculty appeared before the students of the entire university, making possible a genuine experience of universitas: the reality that despite our specializations which at times make it difficult to communicate with each other, we made up a whole, working in everything on the basis of a single rationality with its various aspects and sharing responsibility for the right use of reason-- this reality became a lived experience.

The university was also very proud of its two theological faculties. It was clear that, by inquiring about the reasonableness of faith, they too carried out a work which is necessarily part of the whole of the universitas scientiarum, even if not everyone could share the faith which theologians seek to correlate with reason as a whole. This profound sense of coherence within the universe of reason was not troubled, even when it was once reported that a colleague had said there was something odd about our university: it had two faculties devoted to something that did not exist: God. That even in the face of such radical skepticism it is still necessary and reasonable to raise the question of God through the use of reason, and to do so in the context of the tradition of the Christian faith: this, within the university as a whole, was accepted without question.

I was reminded of all this recently, when I read the edition by Professor Theodore Khoury (Münster) of part of the dialogue carried on-- perhaps in 1391 in the winter barracks near Ankara-- by the erudite Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an educated Persian on the subject of Christianity and Islam, and the truth of both. It was probably the emperor himself who set down this dialogue, during the siege of Constantinople between 1394 and 1402; and this would explain why his arguments are given in greater detail than the responses of the learned Persian.

The dialogue ranges widely over the structures of faith contained in the Bible and in the Qur'an, and deals especially with the image of God and of man, while necessarily returning repeatedly to the relationship of the three Laws: the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Qur'an. In this lecture I would like to discuss only one point-- itself rather marginal to the dialogue itself-- which, in the context of the issue of faith and reason, I found interesting and which can serve as the starting-point for my reflections on this issue.

In the seventh conversation edited by Professor Khoury, the emperor touches on the theme of the jihad (holy war). The emperor must have known that surah 2, 256 reads: There is no compulsion in religion. It is one of the suras of the early period, when Mohammed was still powerless and under threat.

But naturally the emperor also knew the instructions, developed later and recorded in the Qur’an, concerning holy war. Without descending to details, such as the difference in treatment accorded to those who have the “Book” and the “infidels,” he turns to his interlocutor somewhat brusquely with the central question on the relationship between religion and violence in general, in these words:

Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.

The emperor goes on to explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable. Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul.

God is not pleased by blood, and not acting reasonably is contrary to God's nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats... To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death....

The decisive statement in this argument against violent conversion is this: not to act in accordance with reason is contrary to God's nature. The editor, Theodore Khoury, observes: "For the emperor, as a Byzantine shaped by Greek philosophy, this statement is self-evident. But for Muslim teaching, God is absolutely transcendent. His will is not bound up with any of our categories, even that of rationality." Here Khoury quotes a work of the noted French Islamist R. Arnaldez, who points out that Ibn Hazn went so far as to state that God is not bound even by his own word, and that nothing would oblige him to reveal the truth to us. Were it God's will, we would even have to practice idolatry.

As far as understanding of God and thus the concrete practice of religion is concerned, we find ourselves faced with a dilemma which nowadays challenges us directly. Is the conviction that acting unreasonably contradicts God's nature merely a Greek idea, or is it always and intrinsically true? I believe that here we can see the profound harmony between what is Greek in the best sense of the word and the biblical understanding of faith in God. Modifying the first verse of the Book of Genesis, John began the prologue of his Gospel with the words: In the beginning was the logos. This is the very word used by the emperor: God acts with logos.

Logos means both reason and word-- a reason which is creative and capable of self-communication, precisely as reason. John thus spoke the final word on the biblical concept of God, and in this word all the often toilsome and tortuous threads of biblical faith find their culmination and synthesis. In the beginning was the logos, and the logos is God, says the Evangelist.

The encounter between the Biblical message and Greek thought did not happen by chance. The vision of Saint Paul, who saw the roads to Asia barred and in a dream saw a Macedonian man plead with him: Come over to Macedonia and help us! (cf. Acts 16:6-10)-- this vision can be interpreted as a distillation of the intrinsic necessity of a rapprochement between Biblical faith and Greek inquiry.

In point of fact, this rapprochement had been going on for some time. The mysterious name of God, revealed from the burning bush, a name which separates this God from all other divinities with their many names and declares simply that he is, is already presents a challenge to the notion of myth, to which Socrates's attempt to vanquish and transcend myth stands in close analogy. Within the Old Testament, the process which started at the burning bush came to new maturity at the time of the Exile, when the God of Israel, an Israel now deprived of its land and worship, was proclaimed as the God of heaven and earth and described in a simple formula which echoes the words uttered at the burning bush: I am.

This new understanding of God is accompanied by a kind of enlightenment, which finds stark expression in the mockery of gods who are merely the work of human hands (cf. Ps 115). Thus, despite the bitter conflict with those Hellenistic rulers who sought to accommodate it forcibly to the customs and idolatrous cult of the Greeks, biblical faith, in the Hellenistic period, encountered the best of Greek thought at a deep level, resulting in a mutual enrichment evident especially in the later wisdom literature.

Today we know that the Greek translation of the Old Testament produced at Alexandria-- the Septuagint-- is more than a simple (and in that sense perhaps less than satisfactory) translation of the Hebrew text: it is an independent textual witness and a distinct and important step in the history of revelation, one which brought about this encounter in a way that was decisive for the birth and spread of Christianity. A profound encounter of faith and reason is taking place here, an encounter between genuine enlightenment and religion. From the very heart of Christian faith and, at the same time, the heart of Greek thought now joined to faith, Manuel II was able to say: Not to act “with logos” is contrary to God's nature.

In all honesty, one must observe that in the late Middle Ages we find trends in theology which would sunder this synthesis between the Greek spirit and the Christian spirit. In contrast with the so-called intellectualism of Augustine and Thomas, there arose with Duns Scotus a voluntarism which ultimately led to the claim that we can only know God's voluntas ordinata. Beyond this is the realm of God's freedom, in virtue of which he could have done the opposite of everything he has actually done. This gives rise to positions which clearly approach those of Ibn Hazn and might even lead to the image of a capricious God, who is not even bound to truth and goodness. God's transcendence and otherness are so exalted that our reason, our sense of the true and good, are no longer an authentic mirror of God, whose deepest possibilities remain eternally unattainable and hidden behind his actual decisions.

As opposed to this, the faith of the Church has always insisted that between God and us, between his eternal Creator Spirit and our created reason there exists a real analogy, in which unlikeness remains infinitely greater than likeness, yet not to the point of abolishing analogy and its language (cf. Lateran IV). God does not become more divine when we push him away from us in a sheer, impenetrable voluntarism; rather, the truly divine God is the God who has revealed himself as logos and, as logos, has acted and continues to act lovingly on our behalf. Certainly, love transcends knowledge and is thereby capable of perceiving more than thought alone (cf. Eph 3:19); nonetheless it continues to be love of the God who is logos. Consequently, Christian worship is worship in harmony with the eternal Word and with our reason (cf. Rom 12:1).

This inner rapprochement between Biblical faith and Greek philosophical inquiry was an event of decisive importance not only from the standpoint of the history of religions, but also from that of world history-– it is an event which concerns us even today. Given this convergence, it is not surprising that Christianity, despite its origins and some significant developments in the East, finally took on its historically decisive character in Europe. We can also express this the other way around: this convergence, with the subsequent addition of the Roman heritage, created Europe and remains the foundation of what can rightly be called Europe.

The thesis that the critically purified Greek heritage forms an integral part of Christian faith has been countered by the call for a dehellenization of Christianity-– a call which has more and more dominated theological discussions since the beginning of the modern age. Viewed more closely, three stages can be observed in the program of dehellenization: although interconnected, they are clearly distinct from one another in their motivations and objectives.

Dehellenization first emerges in connection with the fundamental postulates of the Reformation in the 16th century. Looking at the tradition of scholastic theology, the Reformers thought they were confronted with a faith system totally conditioned by philosophy, that is to say an articulation of the faith based on an alien system of thought. As a result, faith no longer appeared as a living historical Word but as one element of an overarching philosophical system. The principle of sola scriptura, on the other hand, sought faith in its pure, primordial form, as originally found in the biblical Word. Metaphysics appeared as a premise derived from another source, from which faith had to be liberated in order to become once more fully itself. When Kant stated that he needed to set thinking aside in order to make room for faith, he carried this program forward with a radicalism that the Reformers could never have foreseen. He thus anchored faith exclusively in practical reason, denying it access to reality as a whole.

The liberal theology of the 19th and 20th centuries ushered in a second stage in the process of dehellenization, with Adolf von Harnack as its outstanding representative. When I was a student, and in the early years of my teaching, this program was highly influential in Catholic theology too. It took as its point of departure Pascal’s distinction between the God of the philosophers and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

In my inaugural lecture at Bonn in 1959, I tried to address the issue. I will not repeat here what I said on that occasion, but I would like to describe at least briefly what was new about this second stage of dehellenization. Harnack’s central idea was to return simply to the man Jesus and to his simple message, underneath the accretions of theology and indeed of hellenization: this simple message was seen as the culmination of the religious development of humanity. Jesus was said to have put an end to worship in favor of morality. In the end he was presented as the father of a humanitarian moral message. The fundamental goal was to bring Christianity back into harmony with modern reason, liberating it, that is to say, from seemingly philosophical and theological elements, such as faith in Christ’s divinity and the triune God.

In this sense, historical-critical exegesis of the New Testament restored to theology its place within the university: theology, for Harnack, is something essentially historical and therefore strictly scientific. What it is able to say critically about Jesus is, so to speak, an expression of practical reason and consequently it can take its rightful place within the university. Behind this thinking lies the modern self-limitation of reason, classically expressed in Kant’s “Critiques”, but in the meantime further radicalized by the impact of the natural sciences. This modern concept of reason is based, to put it briefly, on a synthesis between Platonism (Cartesianism) and empiricism, a synthesis confirmed by the success of technology. On the one hand it presupposes the mathematical structure of matter, its intrinsic rationality, which makes it possible to understand how matter works and use it efficiently: this basic premise is, so to speak, the Platonic element in the modern understanding of nature. On the other hand, there is nature’s capacity to be exploited for our purposes, and here only the possibility of verification or falsification through experimentation can yield ultimate certainty. The weight between the two poles can, depending on the circumstances, shift from one side to the other. As strongly positivistic a thinker as J. Monod has declared himself a convinced Platonist/Cartesian.

This gives rise to two principles which are crucial for the issue we have raised. First, only the kind of certainty resulting from the interplay of mathematical and empirical elements can be considered scientific. Anything that would claim to be science must be measured against this criterion. Hence the human sciences, such as history, psychology, sociology, and philosophy, attempt to conform themselves to this canon of scientificity. A second point, which is important for our reflections, is that by its very nature this method excludes the question of God, making it appear an unscientific or pre-scientific question. Consequently, we are faced with a reduction of the radius of science and reason, one which needs to be questioned.

We shall return to this problem later. In the meantime, it must be observed that from this standpoint any attempt to maintain theology’s claim to be “scientific” would end up reducing Christianity to a mere fragment of its former self. But we must say more: it is man himself who ends up being reduced, for the specifically human questions about our origin and destiny, the questions raised by religion and ethics, then have no place within the purview of collective reason as defined by “science” and must thus be relegated to the realm of the subjective. The subject then decides, on the basis of his experiences, what he considers tenable in matters of religion, and the subjective “conscience” becomes the sole arbiter of what is ethical. In this way, though, ethics and religion lose their power to create a community and become a completely personal matter.

This is a dangerous state of affairs for humanity, as we see from the disturbing pathologies of religion and reason which necessarily erupt when reason is so reduced that questions of religion and ethics no longer concern it. Attempts to construct an ethic from the rules of evolution or from psychology and sociology, end up being simply inadequate.

Before I draw the conclusions to which all this has been leading, I must briefly refer to the third stage of dehellenization, which is now in progress. In the light of our experience with cultural pluralism, it is often said nowadays that the synthesis with Hellenism achieved in the early Church was a preliminary inculturation which ought not to be binding on other cultures. The latter are said to have the right to return to the simple message of the New Testament prior to that inculturation, in order to inculturate it anew in their own particular milieux. This thesis is not only false; it is coarse and lacking in precision. The New Testament was written in Greek and bears the imprint of the Greek spirit, which had already come to maturity as the Old Testament developed. True, there are elements in the evolution of the early Church which do not have to be integrated into all cultures. Nonetheless, the fundamental decisions made about the relationship between faith and the use of human reason are part of the faith itself; they are developments consonant with the nature of faith itself.

And so I come to my conclusion. This attempt, painted with broad strokes, at a critique of modern reason from within has nothing to do with putting the clock back to the time before the Enlightenment and rejecting the insights of the modern age. The positive aspects of modernity are to be acknowledged unreservedly: we are all grateful for the marvelous possibilities that it has opened up for mankind and for the progress in humanity that has been granted to us. The scientific ethos, moreover, is the will to be obedient to the truth, and, as such, it embodies an attitude which reflects one of the basic tenets of Christianity. The intention here is not one of retrenchment or negative criticism, but of broadening our concept of reason and its application.

While we rejoice in the new possibilities open to humanity, we also see the dangers arising from these possibilities and we must ask ourselves how we can overcome them. We will succeed in doing so only if reason and faith come together in a new way, if we overcome the self-imposed limitation of reason to the empirically verifiable, and if we once more disclose its vast horizons. In this sense theology rightly belongs in the university and within the wide-ranging dialogue of sciences, not merely as a historical discipline and one of the human sciences, but precisely as theology, as inquiry into the rationality of faith.

Only thus do we become capable of that genuine dialogue of cultures and religions so urgently needed today. In the Western world it is widely held that only positivistic reason and the forms of philosophy based on it are universally valid. Yet the world’s profoundly religious cultures see this exclusion of the divine from the universality of reason as an attack on their most profound convictions. A reason which is deaf to the divine and which relegates religion into the realm of subcultures is incapable of entering into the dialogue of cultures. At the same time, as I have attempted to show, modern scientific reason with its intrinsically Platonic element bears within itself a question which points beyond itself and beyond the possibilities of its methodology.

Modern scientific reason quite simply has to accept the rational structure of matter and the correspondence between our spirit and the prevailing rational structures of nature as a given, on which its methodology has to be based. Yet the question why this has to be so is a real question, and one which has to be remanded by the natural sciences to other modes and planes of thought: to philosophy and theology.

For philosophy and, albeit in a different way, for theology, listening to the great experiences and insights of the religious traditions of humanity, and those of the Christian faith in particular, is a source of knowledge, and to ignore it would be an unacceptable restriction of our listening and responding. Here I am reminded of something Socrates said to Phaedo. In their earlier conversations, many false philosophical opinions had been raised, and so Socrates says: “It would be easily understandable if someone became so annoyed at all these false notions that for the rest of his life he despised and mocked all talk about being - but in this way he would be deprived of the truth of existence and would suffer a great loss”.

The West has long been endangered by this aversion to the questions which underlie its rationality, and can only suffer great harm thereby. The courage to engage the whole breadth of reason, and not the denial of its grandeur – this is the program with which a theology grounded in Biblical faith enters into the debates of our time. “Not to act reasonably (with logos) is contrary to the nature of God”, said Manuel II, according to his Christian understanding of God, in response to his Persian interlocutor. It is to this great logos, to this breadth of reason, that we invite our partners in the dialogue of cultures. To rediscover it constantly is the great task of the university.

For pointing out that Christianity is based on reason, while the persuasive power of Islam can be found only at the point of a sword, the Pope signed his own death warrant -- and it's quite certain he knew it too. His remarks also assure the renewed persecution of every Christian living on Muslim turf. But then, dhimmis already live and die at the whim of their Muslim masters. If Benedict's remarks made their situation any worse, he is not wrong for making them; it is Muslims who are wrong for reacting so viciously.

It is also interesting to note that the ummah barely shrugged at President Bush's recent use of the term "Islamic fascism," yet has erupted furiously over a somewhat dry papal lecture. It's further evidence that Islam perceives itself to be engaged in a holy war, regardless of how we define it. What matters to Muslims is what religious leaders say, not secular ones; clearly, they regard the Pope as the leader of the West rather than Bush. And the ummah has responded: "don't suggest we're irrational and violent, or we'll f***ing kill you!" I doubt Benedict is at all surprised with the results of his experiment -- but then, neither are we. People are dead and churches have been firebombed, proving his point rather succinctly.

Never Forget Lt. Michael Scott Lamana

2006-09-11T00:00:00.000+02:00

I am participant #711 in the 2,996 project.

Michael Scott Lamana, of Baton Rouge, LA, was 31 years old and a Navy lieutenant, formerly enlisted, when he was killed in the attack on the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. A graduate of LSU and Navy ROTC, "Scotty" served as a briefer for the Chief of Naval Operations of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and was working on an MBA at the University of Maryland. His family's Navy tradition includes a World War II veteran and a Navy SEAL.

He was buried October 9, 2001, at Arlington National Cemetery, in the shadows of the Penatgon, with full military honors. Lt. Lamana left behind his parents, two sisters, his wife Lorna, and their dog, Nieko.

Friend Ryki Carlson wrote: "I salute you Michael Scott and all that you stood for!" I salute with you, Ryki.

Remembered by family and friends.
Remembered by friends and total strangers.
Remembered by still more friends.

Never forget Lt. Lamana, his widow, or his parents.

Day is done, gone the sun,
From the lake, from the hills, from the sky;
All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.

Fading light, dims the sight,
And a star gems the sky, gleaming bright.
From afar, drawing nigh, falls the night.

Thanks and praise, for our days,
'Neath the sun, 'neath the stars, neath the sky;
As we go, this we know, God is nigh.

Sun has set, shadows come,
Time has fled, Scouts must go to their beds
Always true to the promise that they made.

While the light fades from sight,
And the stars gleaming rays softly send,
To thy hands we our souls, Lord, commend.

Wild Animal Attacks

2006-09-09T06:59:00.000+02:00

"The Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin's death is everyone's loss. Even more than his endearing antics, his infectious enthusiasm for life will be sorely missed.

But out of all the news, tributes, and commentary, a striking remark caught my eye. The tragedy prompted Irwin's colleague Jack Hanna to say this:

"Ninety-nine percent of the time, when someone is hurt by an animal, it is your fault . . . . People use the word dangerous and that sometimes is a word that's not fair to that animal because the animal has been given the defenses that God gave it, so you have to understand what all that is involved and if you understand that, hopefully nothing will happen."

Hanna may as well be summing up the left's view of Islamic terrorism. They're wild animals, it's our job to tread lightly and not piss them off, and victims of terrorism merely fell to natural forces, like victims of hurricanes, earthquakes and animal attacks.

Besides being profoundly naive, stupid, and dangerous, such a view also reveals the disturbing assumptions that lead the left to such inverted conclusions: a total denial of the individual and free will. To them, Islamists do not consciously choose their path because they fervently cleave to the Qur'an's exhortations and willfully strive to emulate Muhammad. Instead, Islamists are feral animals to be given a wide berth, and when unavoidable, we should offer a small treat or even attempt a friendly scratch behind the ears, to prove how non-threatening we are.

In sum, the champions of "human rights" do not regard Islamists as human beings, capable of deliberate choice and freedom of action. Of course, this is how they view their political opponents as well. Stricken with Progressive Personality Disorder, perhaps they have abandoned the idea that anyone has free will, to include themselves.

Ironically, in aiming to kill every last Islamofascist and turn their fever swamps into smoking holes in the ground, the hawks at least recognize their humanity.

The Islamonazi Axis

2006-07-25T09:34:00.000+02:00

A refreshingly blunt German TV report on Muslim cooperation with Hitler during WWII.
Subtitled in English. Video (5:41). HT: Infidel Bloggers Alliance.

See also this Time photo essay: Inside Hizb'allah.

Meanwhile, the FBI is investigating mully88.
Apparently it's a federal offense to harass your natural allies. HT: WC.

Is it WWIII yet?

2006-07-23T10:10:00.000+02:00

UPDATE: You'd expect it in Karachi, Nablus, Berkeley, or some other lawless craphole. But, here are yet more cities we'll have to cross off the "civilized" list:
Boston
Stockholm
Un-freakin-believable: anti-war protest in Tel Aviv.

Two small bits of good news:
1. Tons of people turn out for a pro-Israel rally in London.
2. Travel to Scotland is safe again: Muslims boycott Glasgow airport.

The enemy on parade in Europe:
Berlin
Denmark
Switzerland
London

in the United States:
New York City
Chicago
Los Angeles
San Francisco

and other "civilized" places:
Montreal
Sydney
Moscow
The United Nations

Niiiice.

2006-07-21T16:26:00.000+02:00

Ahmadinejad asks for Germany's help to find "a solution to Zionism."

A German government official said on Thursday that letter written by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to German Chancellor Angela Merkel asks her to help solve the Palestinian problem and deal with Zionism.

“There’s nothing about the nuclear issue (in the letter),” the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity due to the extreme sensitivity of the issue for the German government.

“It’s all related to Germany and how we have to find a solution to the Palestinian problems and Zionism and so on. It’s rather weird,” The official, who has seen the letter, said.

Hoo-ee. Way to step on your crank, dude. Germans are hard to offend, but suggesting they're still secretly Nazis is the #1 guaranteed way to get their panties in a wad. Of course, German officials are choosing to read it as "weird," rather than as a shocking and alarming insult. I find that weird.

In any case, ya gotta love Iranian logic. The Holocaust never happened, but we sure do admire Hitler for pulling it off, and we'd like your help finishing it. Uh-huh.

UPDATE: Ah, much better. Merkel: "He's repeating the old thinking, which is totally unacceptable to us." Interesting way to put it, but she sounds pissed and that's good.

And in Norway, things seem to be well on the road to that thing that never happened: Norwegian Jews warned to not be so . . . Jewish.

The Mosaic Religious Community has advised its Jewish members against speaking Hebrew loudly on the streets of Oslo or wearing Jewish emblems. The suggestion has infuriated some in the membership.

It comes after a Jewish man wearing a kippah, or yarmulke, was assaulted on an Oslo street Saturday. The Mosaic Religious Community wants its members to be careful.

"We have encouraged our members to avoid speaking Hebrew loudly on the street," Anne Sender of the Jewish organization told newspaper Vårt Land. She also told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) that men may want to reconsider wearing the yarmulke.

The desire to just keep your head down and hope you'll be left alone is understandable. The illusion that it will be a successful strategy is unforgivable. At least Islam has a word for it when victims voluntarily subjugate themselves to the master race: dhimmitude.

Got Shari'a?

2006-07-19T12:55:00.000+02:00

In response to 9/11, the U.S. invaded a sovereign country, overthrew its tyrannical overlords, helped rebuild the infrastructure, and stood by to wax jihadi holdouts. Bravo. But the US also permitted the new government of Afghanistan to ratify a "constitution" that snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. In relevant part:

Article 3 [Law and Religion]
In Afghanistan, no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam.

Article 149 [Islam, Fundamental Rights]
(1) The provisions of adherence to the fundamentals of the sacred religion of Islam and the regime of the Islamic Republic cannot be amended.

And now it bears fruit: Morality Police reinstated.

The Afghan government announced plans Tuesday to re-establish a Vice and Virtues Ministry, but it assured the public the office would not resemble the Taliban version that became a symbol of the brutal regime toppled by U.S. forces in 2001.

Afghanistan's powerful religious and tribal leaders have been pressing U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai to reinstate the ministry, which many considered the most powerful in the ousted Taliban government. It employed 32,000 people to enforce the Islamic zealots' bans on girls' schools, on television, on card-playing and other gambling, even on kite-flying and women's public baths.

Karim Rahimi, Karzai's spokesman, said Afghans should not be worried. "The people were scared of the Vice and Virtues Ministry under the Taliban, but this new ministry won't be like the Taliban's," Rahimi said. "It will take into consideration moral and religious activities to help improve Afghan society."

I'm so relieved. Thank goodness we didn't spend all that blood and treasure for nothing.

History Repeats Itself

2006-07-17T22:20:00.000+02:00

BERLIN - More than 1,000 Lebanese and Palestinians staged an anti-Israeli protest at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate on Monday, police said.

Anti-Israeli, not anti-Israel. Since the gloves are off, we may as well just be straight: anti-Jew.

A Reuters witness said demonstrators were chanting "death to Israel" and "death to Zionists", while some carried placards bearing the image of Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasr'allah.

Police said around 1,200 people took part in the protest at the German capital's famous landmark, not far from a major memorial to the millions of Jews killed in the Holocaust.

Exactly the reason Israel was created, and must survive.

Critical Mass

2006-07-14T12:49:00.000+02:00

Fissile materials have a characteristic critical mass at which a chain reaction becomes self-sustaining. Similarly, it appears that non-Muslim societies with growing Muslim populations reach a "critical mass" at which the slide into Islamic law -- and the attendant brutality, poverty, and conflict -- becomes inevitable.

Islam is an aggresively proselytizing faith, placing a premium on gaining believers and eliminating non-believers, either by conversion, coercion, or war. People are free to convert to Islam but conversion from Islam is punishable by death. So what's the appeal? Islam's ferocious certainty can provide self-confidence to the insecure, a sense of identity to the isolated, or meaning to the spiritually adrift. The five pillars of Islam emphasize not the supremacy of God, but of Islam and Muslims. And the unofficial sixth pillar, jihad, mandates war against infidels until they convert, submit, or die.

The result is that societies rapidly succumb to aggressive Muslim minorities, initially becoming "Islamic" despite a non-Muslim majority. Once Islamic law is in effect, non-Muslims can be persecuted, bankrupted, coerced, blackmailed, killed, and otherwise driven out. Countries can be classified into 3 general categories, tending to move from one to the next as Muslims assert increasing dominance:

1. Secular; zero or neglible numbers of Muslims
2. Transitional; a substantial minority of Muslims, and a high level of conflict.
3. Islamic; approaching 100% Muslim.

These are roughly equivalent to the three categories recognized in Islamic law: Dar al-Sulh (land of truce); Dar al-Harb (land of war); and Dar al-Islam (land of peace).

So I got to doing a little number-crunching (source: CIA World Fact Book). Of the 57 nations of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, 8 have a small proportion of Muslims : Benin (20%), Cameroon (20%), Gabon (less than 1%), Guyana (10%), Mozambique (18%), Suriname (20%), Togo (20%), and Uganda (16%). How, exactly, these states came to belong to an expressly Muslim trade and security bloc -- Gabon, in particular -- would be an interesting question to research.

Of the remaining 49 member states, 29 are almost completely homogenous, with Muslims comprising 90% or more of the population. In another 8 OIC countries, Muslims make up over 80% of the population.

The remaining 12 members of the OIC have Muslim populations between 20-70%; many are familiar as sites of perpetual violence. In at least some of these countries, authorities are actively working toward 80-90% Muslim majorities, which is often the cause and purpose of the violence. Sudan is an excellent example. The only theological debate over genocide in the name of Allah is whether it is permitted or required.

Other countries with small Muslim populations are also familiar as jihad epicenters: The Philippines (5%), Thailand (4.6%), India (13.4%), The Netherlands (5.5%), UK (2.7%), France (5-10%), and Russia (10-15%).

This is not to say that Islam is the only source of violence in the world. But there is certainly a strong correlation; and it's not inaccurate to say that Islam is the primary or most widespread source at this point in history. Whether a non-Muslim country becomes Islamic or not likely also depends on the strength and skill of the resistance. But it seems that generally, a fairly consistent figure -- a Muslim population somewhere above 10% but below 50% -- is the tipping point on the road to shari'a. The good news is, a considerably higher proportion seems necessary before flat-out genocide begins.

I'll keep crunching the numbers; in the meantime, please see the Bloody Borders Project for more.

Descent into Tyranny

2006-07-12T12:14:00.000+02:00

Once upon a time, bad manners were discouraged by something called "morality," and enforcement mechanisms included such things as shame, guilt, remorse, and embarassment.

Now, bad manners have become known as "human rights violations" and "civil rights violations." They are discouraged by screaming mobs called NGOs, civil rights groups, and the press, all institutions with the power to influence law but largely above it themselves. The old enforcement mechanisms have been drummed out of public life as antiquated relics of an uncivilized era, so new ones have taken their place. They now include self-censorship, fear of vexatious lawsuits, and to an increasing degree, fear of threats, harassment, and in some cases, fines and prison.

Exhibit A: Idiot bowls pig's head into Maine mosque.

Community leaders in Lewiston-Auburn will hold a rally Wednesday in support of Somali Muslims who were stunned when someone rolled a pig's head into their mosque at prayertime last week.

Police say Brent Matthews, 33, of Lewiston tossed a pig's head into the mosque shortly after 10 p.m. last Monday. Matthews, who is free on bail, has pleaded not guilty to desecrating a place of worship, a misdemeanor. The FBI and the state Attorney General's Office are investigating whether Matthews' alleged actions constitute a civil-rights violation.

That is very interesting, considering a civil rights violation can occur only when the wrong is committed under color of law, i.e., by a government official.

Private individuals can offend, insult, and commit crimes against each other, but they lack legal capacity to violate each others' civil rights. By definition, a government agent must rob the individual of some right guaranteed to them by law.

Exhibit B: the World Cup headbutt heard round the world was allegedly caused by the victim's use of the word "terrorist." And an "anti-racism group" is demanding that FIFA investigate . . . the insult, not the physical attack.

"According to several very well informed sources from the world of football, it would seem that the Italian player Marco Materazzi called Zinedine Zidane a 'dirty terrorist'," SOS Racism said in a statement.

Zidane, the son of Algerian immigrants, was shown a red card after the incident and Italy went on to win on penalties after the match was tied 1-1 following extra time.

"It's for this reason that SOS Racism asks in a determined fashion for FIFA to shed light on this altercation and that sanctions laid out in the official rules be applied should this be the case," SOS Racism said.

Natural human tendencies toward rudeness were once curbed by a moral code, shared by families, friends, and communities; nasty behavior was not a legal issue, but a moral one. Matthews was rude. Materazzi was rude. In the old days, they would have been shamed, given a chance to apologize, and forgiven. Now, there is no redemption, and they will pay.

Morality has been replaced by a bottomless pit of laws, regulations, committees, investigations, and proceedings, wrapping individuals in a cocoon of paralyzing red tape. To avoid getting caught in the web, individuals increasingly self-censor, consciously checking who they talk to, what they say, and where they say it. Behaving morally is far less confining -- and by reducing the need for the exercise of state power, morality functions an essential guarantor of individual freedom. Without it, the seeds of tyranny sprout.

Book Murdered in Tennessee

2006-07-11T08:30:00.000+02:00

Illegal immigration, treason, and sedition have been elevated from crimes to constitutional rights. Meanwhile, it has become a crime to murder . . . a book. But only one particular book. Take a wild guess.

FBI looking at Web site showing shooting of Quran

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. The FBI will look into an online video that shows two men shooting a Quran with a military rifle

A military rifle, not just a regular old varmintin' rifle, that makes it extra evil.

and then leaving the bullet-riddled holy book at a Chattanooga mosque.

FBI agent Tim Burke said the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations asked the Justice Department to investigate the incident. He said no one from the Chattanooga Muslim community had complained.

The video titled "kill the koran" was posted on MySpace-dot-com last month. It could still be seen on the Web site today.

I looked everywhere, but no dice. Let me know if you find it.

A man on the Web site identifies himself as "mully88" and claims to live in Chattanooga. The author's profile lists as heroes (quote) "anybody that has killed a muslim or at least tried to kill a muslim." The site also contains slurs against Hispanics and blacks.

Last time I checked, it's not against the law to be a bigoted rube. But I'm curious. "88" is neo-Nazi code for "Heil Hitler," who received ample support from the ummah. So he's an ignorant, bigoted rube.

The video shows the man purchasing a Quran at a bookstore, going to a wooded area and shooting the book, then throwing it on the ground outside the door of the Chattanooga Islamic center.

Bad manners, sure. But how is it any different when Islamists burn the flag?

Deconstructing Eurabia

2006-07-06T23:45:00.000+02:00

Like all socialist dhimmis who catch a whiff of something unorthodox, last week's issue of The Economist launched a five-page spread to discredit an idea they do not grasp. The cover story, "Eurabia: The Myth and Reality of Islam in Europe," is discussed in three separate articles: one snotty editorial, one incoherent "investigative report," and a set of book reviews.

The most striking aspect of these articles is that the scholar who coined the term "Eurabia," Bat Ye'or, and the book she published last year, Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis, are mentioned nowhere. The Economist must be unaware of her as well as the book, because none of their disdainful counterpoints remotely address, let alone refute, Ye'or's research.

It must be stressed that the book is not an opinion piece, but a meticulous work of historical scholarship that relies entirely on primary source documents from official EU archives. They're not secret -- most are available on the web -- they're just written in impenetrable diplomatese.

They reveal that the EU's unelected power brokers have been auctioning off Europe to the Islamic world -- as well as selling Israel down the river -- for three decades. In exchange, Europe gets oil security and cheap imported labor to keep its crumbling welfare systems afloat. Reasonable people may reach different conclusions about what this means for Europe's future, but the fact of these back-room deals is indisputable. And The Economist makes no reference to them.

Furthermore, The Economist dismisses "the Eurabian myth" as an American invention, mentioning George W. Bush three times in the first paragraph. But to plumb the origins of the term "Eurabia," Bat Ye'or is the definitive source. She did write the book -- and she's European: an Egyptian exiled to the UK, and now a Swiss citizen. She's not even Anglo: Eurabia is her first book written in English, rather than French. But no, The Economist blames the Great Unwashed on the other side of the pond.

For another thing, the term "Eurabia" originated with European and Arab diplomats themselves. They see Euro-Arab cooperation as a good thing: harmonization, integration, mutual assistance, technology transfers, multiculturalism, etc. Ye'or merely pointed out that, 30 years on, it's not all fluffy bunnies and rainbows. The idea of Eurabia is catching on in the U.S., but it is largely thanks to Ye'or's book -- and the daily news out of Europe that reinforces her concerns.

I won't quibble here with the rest of The Economist's off-target pablum. A thorough fisking would take hours, and in any case, you can't win an argument with an ignorant man. Suffice it to say that these chumps are setting themselves up for a huge surprise.

Oh yes, did I mention? Bat Ye'or is Jewish, and writes under a pseudonym so as to avoid being killed. I'm sure that has nothing to do with why her groundbreaking book was ignored.

In the Public Interest

2006-06-28T00:13:00.000+02:00

Brilliant satire. Note, it is satire -- it's hard to tell anymore.

NY Times Special Report

By B. Arnold

WAZIRISTAN—An American soldier, clinging to a cliff face littered with broken shale and animal bones in Waziristan, northwest Pakistan, is currently engaging in direct, unwarranted surveillance of Osama bin Laden, confidential sources have revealed to the New York Times.

The soldier’s conduct raises questions about the Bush administration’s policy of covert surveillance and intelligence gathering in support of his “War on Terror”. Constitutional experts are “troubled” by this and similar unwarranted searches that are designed to gather information on terrorists, but may reveal private information about American citizens instead.

“If there were an American citizen down there sunbathing in that Waziristan village next door to where bin Laden is conferring with his top lieutenants, then the Defense Department would now be passing around her photos,” said Cass Sunstein, a law professor.

Mr. bin Laden, who could not be reached for this interview, is a Saudi-born spiritual leader who, some say, was connected with the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. The attack killed nearly 3000 people, many of them women and minorities. He is currently meeting with twelve lieutenants to discuss a worldwide spiritual initiative set to take place in Jakarta, Addis Ababa, Melbourne, and Houston, Texas on July 11th.

Observing the heavily guarded meeting from about fifty yards away is Lt. Thomas “Turk” Dobrovsky, of Houston. Crouched in a camouflaged “ghillie suit”, Dobrovsky adjusted a concealed antenna in an effort to record snatches of Arabic conversation in the mud meeting hall below. He is partially concealed by a rock outcropping, the one with the two scraggly bushes, but is awkwardly positioned and unable to defend himself. A burst of AK fire or an RPG from the guards below could kill him easily.

When contacted by a New York Times reporter, Lt. Dobrovsky became agitated and waved us away, and made a threatening motion by drawing his finger across his throat. In a climate of jingoism whipped up by talk radio and right-wing internet sites, such threats are not unusual.

Much, much more at the link.

Another World Cup Ad

2006-06-27T08:00:00.000+02:00

The U.S. Army's Arabic linguists recruitment ad has some competition from Al Qaeda's PR wing, the Global Islamic Media Front:

Which "Goal" is More Beautiful?
Warning: contains stomach-turning IED footage.

Hmmm. U.S. citizenship, 10,000 clams, and helping kids . . . or slaughtering the sons of apes, monkeys, and pigs? Decisions, decisions.

Define "Snafu"

2006-06-26T16:02:00.000+02:00

U.S. Army recruiters use World Cup to attract Arab translators.

"Arab." Not "Arabic."

FORT MEADE, Md. – To promote the Army’s Arabic Translator Interpreter recruitment program, recruiting officials launched an all-Arabic recruitment advertising campaign airing exclusively on Arabic television during the World Cup games.

Since the ad campaign began airing June 9, nearly 160 phone calls have been taken from potential applicants who site [sic] the ad as the reason for calling, according to Chief Warrant Officer 4 Jack Bailey, chief of the Special Missions Recruiting Division.

The ad has so far generated 28 leads from potential applicants who have been pre-screened by call-center operators, Bailey said.

Pleeeease tell me the Army, like Microsoft and Dell, has outsourced their call-centers to India. Centuries of jihad against Hindjooos have given Indians a bigger clue than these PowerPoint Rangers have.

The leads have been forwarded to recruiters for follow-up and further screening. Of those 28 leads, seven were collected June 11, the same day as the Iran-Mexico match.

And this is significant because . . . ? It's just that, umm, Iranians speak Farsi, not Arabic.

If the trend continues, U.S. Army Recruiting Command will amass more than 100 pre-screened applicants by the end of the campaign’s run. Recruiters need approximately 250 09L Soldiers to meet this year's goal.

Geez, maybe they could, you know, go ask all those Sephardic polyglots the FBI turned away after 9/11.

The quest to make contact with the elusive audience began when the 1st Army Recruiting Brigade, headquartered at Fort Meade, Md., held its first-ever 09L Conference in Washington, D.C., last month. Local Arab-American community influencers participated.

D.C.-area "community influencers"? I'd love to cite just one article on the radicalization of D.C. mosques, but there happens to be an entire blog devoted to the subject: Northern Virginiastan.

“The conference became a strategy session looking for ways the Army can get the ‘word’ out to this target audience,” explained Tom Owen, the field marketing representative for McCann-Erickson Worldwide Advertising, assigned to 1st Brigade.

Arab-American community members sent a clear message to the recruiters: If you want to deliver this information to the Arabic speaking community, advertise on what they love to watch –

beheading videos?

- soccer.

Oh. Right. Of course.

The 30-second ad will air 260 times over 64 televised games. Additionally, a separate 10-second spot, primarily to announce the Army’s sponsorship of the World Cup games, will air 540 times.

. . .

The ad features images of 09L Soldiers interacting with Iraqi and Afghan nationals, police and children. Translated to English, the script reads: “I am a bridge between two cultures. I am an American Soldier and an Arabic interpreter. I build schools and bring running water. I make the children smile because I can speak with them. I am making changes in the world. Join me in the Army and you may qualify for a $10,000 bonus and expedited citizenship.

What-what-whaaaat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To find out more, go to goarmy.com/translator or call toll-free 866-635-8450.”

The ad can be viewed at http://amcproduction.com/us_army_video.

And then, please buy three copies of anything by Robert Spencer, Bat Ye'or, or Ibn Warraq. Donate one to your nearest ROTC program, one to your nearest recruiting center, and send the third to the dingbats running the Pentagon.

Lipstick on a Pig

2006-05-30T11:49:00.000+02:00

Just as monotheism is no guarantor of civility and morality, calling something a "constitution" doesn't mean it bears any resemblance to The U.S. Constitution, which remains a unique -- and objectively superior -- system of governance.

But rather than re-engineer the proposed EU Constitution so that it is more Constitution-like in its substance, the EU may instead try to outwit European voters . . . by renaming it.

The European Union’s stalled constitution could undergo a name change as part of an attempt to rescue it after last year’s rejection by French and Dutch voters, EU ministers said on Sunday.

At a weekend meeting in Vienna, the bloc’s foreign ministers acknowledged it was politically unfeasible to launch moves to save the charter, aimed at speeding European integration, until after French and Dutch general elections, due around next May.

However, Germany won guarded backing for an offer to launch a plan immediately afterwards to begin salvaging key parts of the text – possibly under a new name of a “basic law,” the name of Germany’s own constitution.

“We in Germany live with a Basic Law which does not carry the title ‘constitution’ but has the same legal quality. It’s a possible starting point,” [FM Steinmeier] told reporters.

But repackaged crap is still crap, a concept also lost on Muslim scholars meeting in Amman this week, who will be drafting a model Islamic constitution. Kinda like the Model Codes drafted by the American Bar Association, except it will be based entirely on 7th century theocratic fascism.

A gathering of Islamic thinkers and leaders on Monday pledged to write a model constitution to be adopted by countries wishing to enact Sharia-based laws.

“We have agreed to hold a special conference to draft a democratic Islamic constitution that among other things safeguards women’s rights,” he said.

If it's "shari'a-based," it will safeguard "women's rights" by giving them the legal status of livestock, forcing them to wear gunny sacks, and confining them to their homes.

For the past three days, Islamic scholars and representatives of Islamist groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, have been engaged in long discussions centred on the need to introduce democratic civic discourse into Muslim societies.

Syafii Anwar, executive director of International Centre for Islam and Pluralism in Indonesia, argued that Muslim countries should adopt a secular approach to state affairs but insisted that a contextual interpretation of the Koran should be the basis for writing an Islamic constitution.

The basis of Shari'a is that the Koran is the direct, received word of God, thus no man-made law can supersede it. So apparently, what Anwar means by "secular" is enacting a man-made law to reiterate, reaffirm, and reinforce the Koran as the sole source of earthly law.

So much for America's alleged theocracy. Shari'a makes the Christian right look like a pot-smoking, free-loving hippie drum circle.

Cultural Jihad in Germany

2006-05-25T13:35:00.000+02:00

Typically quiet, there's been more than usual percolating in Germany this week:

The Pakistani government is investigating the death of Amir Cheema, the Offended Muslim^TM who commited suicide while in German custody, after being arrested for attempting to murder the editor of Die Welt in Berlin. They insist human rights abuses occurred; all that's missing is, um, evidence.

Thankfully, we have enlightened German judges to outlaw human rights abuses -- like the ancient, barbaric practice of searching electronic databases for patterns that could identify more al Qaeda sleepers. Yes, more; that would be in addition to three who lived in Hamburg and died in mysterious plane crashes on 9/11/01.

The German court ruling said general police trawling of electronic records exposed the people concerned to an increased risk of further investigation.

It added that if such measures became publicly known, they could "reinforce prejudices and stigmatise the affected social groups in the perception of the public."

What a relief that the courts have their priorities in order, as we wouldn't want to make the 32,000 Islamic extremists living in Germany feel unwelcome.

The biggest Islamist group is Milli Gorus, a Turkish movement with 26,500 members. Other groups are Hamas with about 300 members, Hezbollah with 900 and the Muslim Brotherhood with 1,300.

"Even though the degree to which Germany is threatened is clearly lower than for those states which took part in the Iraq war, it must be noted that Germany is still seen ... as a helper of the US and Israel," said the report which underlined the presence of German troops in Afghanistan as boosting this image.

Well then, the German government had better get to work placating its terrorist minority with openly anti-American and anti-Israeli policies, because they've done so little in this regard. The Bundestag is surely no help, provoking Offended Muslims^TM with things like, you know, standards, that makes integration an oppressive burden:

Perhaps provoking the already tense relationship between the government and its immigrants, the German parliament is now debating the implementation of citizenship tests. Germany has one of the lowest citizenship application rates in Western Europe and its laws to become a citizen are much stricter than in the United States, for example.

It's clear that German legislators are just bigots, with no appreciation at all for Islamic family values, like wife-beating, forced marriages, and virginity checks.

At the heart of the matter is a complicated dance between Germany’s inability to fully embrace immigrants, many of whom were invited from Turkey to fill labor shortages, and the immigrants' unwillingness to let go of behaviors and traditions that appear brutal to mainstream Western Europeans.

Sheesh. These stuffy, rigid Germans better loosen up!

Aw, Quitcherbitchin

2006-05-23T08:15:00.000+02:00

Americans whine too much. Whether it's gas prices, domestic surveillance, illegal immigration, or a "culture of corruption," there is little to complain about in America that isn't considerably worse in Europe.

France, Italy and Germany sanctioned the payment of $45 million in deals to free nine hostages abducted in Iraq, according to documents seen by The Times.

All three governments have publicly denied paying ransom money. But according to the documents, held by security officials in Baghdad who have played a crucial role in hostage negotiations, sums from $2.5 million to $10 million per person have been paid over the past 21 months. Among those said to have received cash ransoms was the gang responsible for seizing British hostages including Kenneth Bigley, the murdered Liverpool engineer.

The list of payments has also been seen by Western diplomats, who are angered at the behaviour of the three governments, arguing that it encourages organised crime gangs to grab more foreign captives.

Europe has it worse in two additional ways: The World Cup and Nazis.

Neo-Nazis reportedly plan to hold a series of rallies during the month-long World Cup, which kicks off in Munich on June 9. One is planned for 10 June in the Ruhr area town of Gelsenkirchen, another for 21 June in the eastern city of Leipzig when Iran and Angola meet.

The magazine Der Spiegel said the neo-Nazis wanted to use the Leipzig rally to demonstrate their sympathy for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has been widely condemned by the international community for casting doubt on the Holocaust and denying Israel's right to exist.

. . . The current debate about hostility towards foreigners was triggered by a former spokesman for the German government under Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder who warned World Cup visitors to avoid parts of the state of Brandenburg because of racial attacks.

"There are small and medium-sized towns in Brandenburg and elsewhere where I would not advise anyone with a different skin colour to go," said Uwe-Karsten Heye. "There is a chance they might not get out alive," Heye said in an an interview with German radio.

Brandenburg, which surrounds Berlin, has the highest per capita rate of violent neo-Nazi crime in all of Germany's 16 federal states.

It's not clear what the skinheads actually want, seeing as they enjoy beating up Muslims, yet also side with them against Jews and America. Le Pen (France) and Haider (Austria) take a similarly incoherent position. One hopes these idiots will simply get caught in the crossfire, since they don't have the balls to pick a side.

Illegal Immigrants Swamp Al-Andalus

2006-05-21T12:35:00.000+02:00

Madrid seeks to stem tide of ~~Muslim~~ African immigrants.

Spain has put the last touches to initiatives, including a strengthened [diplomatic] presence in Africa, to try to stem the swelling tide of immigrants from the continent heading for its shores.

The government's plan was agreed as it was announced that a total of 656 African illegal immigrants had arrived in Spain's Canary Islands in the space of 24 hours.

In Madrid Deputy Prime Minister Maria-Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said after a cabinet meeting she would be going to Brussels next week to discuss the issue with, among others, European Commission President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso.

She said that "more Europe" had to be one of the weapons in the battle against would-be illegal immigration.

Translation: we need further transfers of sovereignty to inflexible, unaccountable EU institutions, and more power concentrated in the hands of ideological, unelected elites.

Once again, Europe identifies a problem too late, and realizes that moves toward fascism are among the few remaining options to solve it.

And in the case of Spain, a net drag on the EU's coffers, "more Europe" is code for shifting the economic burden to other nations' taxpayers.

The diplomats will seek over a three to six month period to reach deals on the repatriation of illegal immigrants similar to accords already concluded with Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco and Nigeria.

Illegal immigrants can only be expelled if such agreements exist and above all if their countries of origin can be determined. Otherwise the Spanish authorities have to free them after 40 days with a notice of expulsion that cannot be implemented.

The Canary Islands, Spanish territory and therefore part of the European Union, have been targeted by would-be immigrants since passage became more difficult from Morocco to Europe via the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, the scene last year of violent attempts by would-be immigrants to storm them.

They don't call it "demographic jihad" for nothing.

UPDATE: Same story in Italy.

Boats carrying more than 400 migrants have been intercepted off Lampedusa over the past 48 hours, overwhelming the tiny island south of Sicily, local authorities said.

"In the past 48 hours, around 420 people have been intercepted near the island. On Saturday night alone 213 migrants were picked up from four different vessels and brought onto the island," Marcello Marzocca of the Palermo customs office told AFP Sunday.

Lampedusa's transit centre can accomodate 190 people but it is frequently overwhelmed by mass arrivals. Transfers to centres in Sicily were being organised on Sunday. Lampedusa, some 200 kilometres (125 miles) south of Sicily, is the closest Italian territory to the coasts of Tunisia and Libya.

In 2005, 207 vessels were intercepted off the coast of Italy with nearly 22,000 would-be immigrants on board. In the same year, coast guards and customs officers found the bodies of 70 migrants.

Only in America

2006-05-20T08:52:00.000+02:00

Because, for all of Europe's abject weakness, domestic security services would be all over these declared jihadists like flies on dung. UC-Irvine Muslim Student Union declares war on America and Israel.

A witness reports:

What was it like at UCI last night? How about Nuremburg redux.

Virtually the entire crowd, which I estimated at roughly 200, consisted of Islamists, most dressed entirely in stormtrooper black.

For two hours, Malik Ali spouted paranoid nonsense about a Jewish Zionist plot to destroy Sudan, etc., etc., matching a plot by George Bush to hold off economic collapse by spreading civil wars in the muslim world.

And of course, all the Jews would have to go back to Russia, Germany, wherever they came from. And the only solution for America is a caliphate under the rule of the Compact of Omar.

The Pact of Umar is the treaty establishing the dhimmi laws, i.e., Muslim supremacy and degrading, slave-like status for all non-Muslims living among them. The pact dates from 717, but its spirit and often its letter are still alive and well in many Muslim countries.

For example, reports that Iran may soon force non-Muslims to wear colored badges is not borrowed from Hitler. It is more likely that the Nazis borrowed this from the Pact of Umar, which includes distinctively marked clothing as one of many dehumanizing conditions non-Muslims must adhere to in exchange for being allowed to live.

Hatred and a confident, arrogant desire to kill and subjugate the kufar gleamed from every eye. Every few minutes, as the guest made an impressive statement, e.g. "a cheerleader would shout "TAKBEEEEEER" -— to which the crowd would reply, screaming from the gut, in unison, "ALLAHU AKHBAR!"

This was not a cheer. This was a practiced, disciplined, war chant fueled by adrenaline and hatred: “Sieg!” then “Heil!” only angrier, much angrier.

At that moment, I became convinced that a shooting war is coming, here in America. The MSU is an enemy army, allowed into our house by current immigration law, and by admissions policies that favor foreigners over Americans.

They will do it. They are confident, and given time, they just might win - unless they are stopped.

Don't miss the video.

Eutopia Unravels

2006-05-19T08:53:00.000+02:00

Some pretty shocking numbers, considering all the nothing that's being done about it:
83% of Germans say Islam is dominated by fanaticism.

Some 91 per cent said they associated Islam with oppression of women, up from 85 per cent in 2004. The statement that Islam was dominated by fanaticism was shared by 83 per cent, compared to 75 per cent two years ago, the poll showed. A total of 71 per cent said Islam was intolerant, up from 66 per cent in 2004.

Asked if there should be a ban on the building of mosques in Germany as long as the building of churches in some Islamic states is forbidden, 56 per cent agreed, said the poll.

There is even considerable backing for ending Germany's constitutional right of freedom of religion with regard to Islam, the poll showed.

But no worries, as the ruling elite won't permit any kind of meaningful self-defense.
Four rapists freed in Berlin.

Four youths suspected of gang-raping a 16-year-old schoolgirl in a Berlin park last week have been released after briefly being detained by police in a move which has fuelled anger in the German capital.

The youths, aged 13 to 15, allegedly attacked their victim as she walked home from school in the Charlottenburg district which is generally seen as safe area with low crime rates.

While allegedly gang-raping the girl, the youths are reported to have filmed the sexual attack with a mobile phone camera. Media reports say the four later boasted about the rape to other school children and sent copies of the video to friends.

"This brutal rape has shocked Germany," said a commentary in Berlin's B.Z. newspaper. Adding to the potential explosiveness of the alleged rape is the fact that the four suspects are all the children of immigrant families, while the victim is German. The normally well-informed Bild tabloid said the suspects were two German-Turks, a German Russian and a German-Angolan.

An increasingly common trend, as European women are viewed as the spoils of war.

Same story next door in The Netherlands: Paradise Lost.

If there's anything in Europe today that's more alarming than the number of European Muslims who hold radically undemocratic views (40 percent of British Muslims would like to see Britain under sharia law), it's the feckless way in which government officials tend to respond to those views. Particularly if they include explosions of public complaints and protests.

More often than not, most officials choose appeasement over standing up for democratic values. The exceptions are rare.

. . . Next week, Ayaan Hirsi Ali plans to move to Washington, D.C. Here in Europe, a continent where the likes of Norway's Mullah Krekar - founder of the terrorist group Ansar al-Islam - are able to live free and undisturbed, it's clear why Hirsi Ali has been the victim of this lightning-fast attempt at denaturalization: By continuing to lift her voice in anger, she stands in the way of an illusory "multicultural harmony."

Islamo-factoid: "Ansar" refers to the residents of Medina who ~~became Muslims~~ joined Muhammad's army after he fled there from Mecca.

So. Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, France, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, and Britain have all capitulated to a lesser or greater extent, and now we can add Italy to the list: Jewish cemetery trashed in Milano Monday night; new PM Romano Prodi vows immediate pullout from Iraq.

Note that unlike the parochial dhimmi PM of Al-Andalus, Jose Zapatero, Prodi was until recently the president of the EU Commission, arguably the most powerful position in Europe (and filled by appointment, not elections).

So Much for "Soft Power"

2006-05-17T13:34:00.000+02:00

The Eurosnots still refuse to take Ahmadinejad seriously, so he (correctly) interprets what they call "a package of incentives" as being patronized.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday rejected a possible European offer for incentives, including a light-water nuclear reactor, in return for allaying fears about his country's nuclear program by giving up uranium enrichment.

"Do you think you are dealing with a 4-year-old child to whom you can give some walnuts and chocolates and get gold from him?" Ahmadinejad told thousands of people in a speech in central Iran.

Can't say I blame him, although when you peddle fairy tales about "peaceful nuclear power," you really can't get upset when Europeans insist on believing it.

But don't worry, Americans and Israelis don't buy your fuzzy-bunny bullshit, and one or the other is gonna drop-kick your freakin ass back to the 7th century where you so desperately want to be.

AHA Resigns from Dutch Parliament

2006-05-17T09:46:00.000+02:00

Just a few of the casualties of Dutch dhimmitude:

2002: Pim Fortuyn, gunned down.

2004: Theo van Gogh, shot and knifed.

2006: Ayaan Hirsi Ali, outed and exiled.

I have said many times that I am not proud that I lied when I sought asylum in the Netherlands. It was wrong to do so. I did it because I felt I had no choice. . . . I was frightened that if I gave my real name, my clan would hunt me down and find me. . . . You probably are wondering, what is my real name?

I am Ayaan, the daughter of Hirsi, who is the son of a man who took the name of Magan. Magan was the son of Isse, who was the son of Guleid, who was the son of Ali. He was the son of Wai’ays, who was the son of Muhammad. He was the son of Ali, who was the son of Umar. Umar was the son of Osman, who was the son of Mahamud. This is my clan, and therefore, in Somalia, this is my name: Ayaan Hirsi Magan Isse Guleid Ali Wai’ays Muhammad Ali Umar Osman Mahamud.

It must be appreciated that this is much more than just some mind-numbing genealogical recitation. To adequately defend herself against the back-stabbing Dutch government -- equally at fault for not detecting her lie in the first place -- she has been forced to publicly identify exactly who she is.

It's comparable to a women's shelter offering sanctuary, only to later announce the full name and location of a battered wife on the run from a homicidal ex-husband. No longer can any bona-fide refugee feel safe in The Netherlands.

And now that she's resigned from Parliament, what happens to her police protection?

. . . it is difficult to live with so many threats on your life and such a level of police protection. It is difficult to work as a parliamentarian if you have nowhere to live. All that is difficult, but not impossible. It has become impossible since last night, when Minister Verdonk informed me that she would strip me of my Dutch citizenship.

I am therefore preparing to leave Holland. But the questions for our society remain. The future of Islam in our country; the subjugation of women in Islamic culture; the integration of the many Muslims in the West: it is self-deceit to imagine that these issues will disappear.

I will continue to ask uncomfortable questions, despite the obvious resistance that they elicit. I feel that I should help other people to live in freedom, as many people have helped me. I personally have gone through a long and sometimes painful process of personal growth in this country. It began with learning to tell the truth to myself, and then the truth about myself: I strive now to also tell the truth about society as I see it.

Verdonk is right. This woman isn't Dutch. She's an American. Welcome, sister.

And if the loss of her EU citizenship poses an obstacle to entering the US, hopefully she knows to just come over the Mexican border.

If she survives long enough to get there.

UPDATE: Small bits of good news.

Verdonk said Monday that under Dutch law, Hirsi Ali's naturalization is automatically void since she lied to get it. But she said a day later that Hirsi Ali would retain an immigrant visa, and would be eligible to reapply for citizenship.

At the end of a parliament debate that lasted far into the early hours of Wednesday morning, Verdonk agreed to two motions, one to reconsider her first decision, and another to reprocess Hirsi Ali's naturalization as quickly as possible if necessary.

. . . Dutch media also reported that U.S. Ambassador Roland Arnall had met with Hirsi Ali to tell her the United States will accept her regardless of her Dutch immigration status.

Good. But with 12 million Mexican illegals and maybe two dudes with shotguns guarding 2,000 miles of border, I would sure as hell hope so.

Hate You, Hate Kansas, Taking the Dog

2006-05-15T15:42:00.000+02:00

Splendid. Ayaan Hirsi Ali is ~~defecting~~ moving to the US. And, she'll be bigger and better than ever, with a job at AEI.

Liberal party MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali is leaving the Dutch parliament in September and moving to the United States.

Insiders confirmed a report on the website of Dutch newspaper 'De Volkskrant' on Monday about the move. Hirsi Ali has been on a speaking tour in the US and is due to make an official announcement on Tuesday.

She is going to work for the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a conservative Washington think tank. The institute was founded in 1943 and is seen as one of the most important advisors to the government of George Bush.

Somali-born Hirsi Ali has been an outspoken critic of aspects of Islam and she became a campaigner for freedom of speech after
the murder of film director Theo van Gogh in November 2004.

Too bad, tulpefickers, she's ours now.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Witch

2006-05-14T08:32:00.000+02:00

The fearless Ayaan Hirsi Ali spoke at Harvard last week, facing down an audience of moonbats and Islamist sympathizers. A sampling:

On immigrating to The Netherlands:

She described her life in the camp with other asylum seekers and what became a growing fascination: "I am a Muslim," she began, “How on Earth was it possible for a non-western country to be so peaceful? I realized that we asylum seekers from Tunisia, from Somalia, from Iran, from Iraq, we from Muslim countries misunderstood Islam. In our countries, government terrorized you. Here, government served the people. Governments did nasty things to you, they terrorized you, they took your money. In the West, they did things like take your garbage away. It was unthinkable."

The enlightened Harvard audience bristled with excuses to reject her right to say things they don't like:

The Q&A afterwards demonstrated the forces that Ayaan is working against. Most questions to her were fairly hostile: How can an atheist reform Islam? What is your agenda? Why are you speaking about Islam when you are not a theologian? Isn't what you're doing extreme and dangerous and how is it serving the cause? Why should a Muslim listen to you? Aren't you setting up a straw man argument, saying that Muslims are either good Muslims or they're Osama bin Laden? Why are you only harping about Islam? What about the Hindu texts?

Ayaan was unflappable and graceful in her responses."I speak about Islamic texts because that is what I know. Religion is public, ideas are public. It is necessary and urgent to review, revise, and discuss Islam as a body of ideas. It is time to examine the links between religion and values."

Ali, a duly elected Dutch parliamentarian, has been living under round-the-clock police protection for years now, for saying things like this loudly and repeatedly. Her neighbors find all the fuss terribly inconvenient, and have succeeded in using the European Convention on Human Rights to evict her:

Liberal Party MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali has been ordered to vacate the high-security home she is renting in The Hague within four months.

An appeal court sided with her neighbours who complained her presence put their own safety at risk and caused disruption to their lives.

Hirsi Ali and fellow MP Geert Wilders spent several months in hiding in secret locations due to death threats made against them because of their stance on Islam. "I think this is dreadful, horrible to have to move. I am happy living here and I feel safe," Hirsi Ali said in response to the judgement.

The neighbours lost their case initially but they won on Thursday when an appeal court accepted Hirsi Ali's presence meant they no longer felt safe in their own apartments or in the communal areas of the complex. The court ruled that is contravened Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights which guarantees respect for a person's private and family life.

No respect is owed to Ali's rights, of course. When the rights of the collective are placed over the rights of the individual, troublemakers become expendable.

And now, the final insult. Something like 95% of asylum claims are fraudulent, and a large number of "refugees" are jihadists of the sort who butchered Theo van Gogh. Generally, the problem is ignored, and certainly, few are deported. Yet the Dutch government is now investigating Ali's original asylum claim, with an eye to stripping her of Dutch citizenship and deporting her.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born Dutch legislator who has championed the rights of Muslim women, is returning from a book tour to a firestorm for lying on her asylum application when she fled to the Netherlands in 1992 to escape an arranged marriage.

Hirsi Ali, 36, said Saturday she was puzzled by the uproar since she publicly acknowledged the false refugee application when she stood for parliament in 2002. "Have they all gone mad?" she said, accusing her rivals of a political vendetta. "Yes, I did lie to get asylum in Holland. This is public knowledge since at least September 2002," she said in a telephone call from Hamburg, Germany.

Political opponents want her stripped of her Dutch citizenship and deported. Others say she should be expelled from parliament.

The latest political storm followed the airing of a 30-minute TV documentary Thursday tracing her steps from Somalia, where her father was an imprisoned opposition politician, to her family's exile in Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Kenya.

Hirsi Ali repeated on the TV documentary that when she arrived in 1992 she changed her name from Hirsi Magan and her birth date on her asylum application and did not tell the authorities that she had lived in three different countries since leaving Somalia.

"I invented a story that would be consistent with the conditions for asylum," she told The Associated Press.

Which was public knowledge four years ago, a more logical time to begin the investigation, if such a thing had to be done at all. The Netherlands is swarming with Islamist "refugees" who isolate themselves in dank shari'a ghettoes, and are largely left alone until they venture out and kill someone. Yet the immigrant they want to deport is Europe's model integration success story.

Better yet, European governments could try investigating the claims of asylum-seekers at the time application is made, and denying those that cannot be substantiated. This would also obviate the injustice of punishing bona fide refugees like Ali for the government's earlier negligence.

Further, they could try denying entry to terrorists wanted by their home governments -- killers who are given asylum in Europe because Arab dictatorships want to execute them. The ECHR prohibits European governments from repatriating anyone who might face the death penalty, often at the expense of their own citizens' safety.

(It would be interesting to tally up the number of Europeans killed as a direct result of the European Convention on Human Rights. An execrable piece of collectivist garbage, it covers all the minutiae, but ignores the big stuff -- like the right of law-abiding citizens to live unmolested on their own soil, or the right to speak freely of wanting this right.)

Such rational policies might have barred Ali's entry, but they would also have prevented Europe from becoming a sanctuary for the same Islamist butchers she fled in Somalia. Instead of rallying to protect her, the mob of terrified villagers clamors to toss her in a pond or burn her at the stake -- hoping, perhaps, that the alligator will eat them last.

But this is what Europeans do when times get tough. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Never Again?

2006-05-08T17:05:00.000+02:00

On any given day in France or Germany, a Jewish cemetery is vandalized; a synagogue is defaced; a Jew is physically assaulted or murdered. The natives provide a permissive atmosphere for the aggressors -- who are, invariably, poor oppressed Muslim immigrants who just came for a better life.

The latest outrage: Jewish medical student attacked by Muslim women in Berlin.

The incident happened last week after the 26 year-old student attended a party at the house of friends in the Steglitz neighborhood in south-west Berlin, where a large Muslim community resides. At about 2 a.m., the woman, who holds a dual Israeli-German citizenship, decided to walk back to her apartment after she missed the last bus home, Israel's leading daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported.

While she was walking home and holding a conversation in Hebrew with a friend from Israel on her cellular phone, the student passed by a group of young women.

When they recognized the language the student was speaking as Hebrew, one of the girls suddenly walked up to the Israeli woman and slapped her in the face. The other women then joined in, pulled her hair, beat her up and kicked her. The abuse eventually stopped when the attackers thought they heard a police car approaching, and they fled the scene.

Small Holocaust memorials can be found in many German towns, usually consisting of a stone monument, a small garden, and a plaque engraved with victims' names. One begins to notice, however, that these monuments are placed in oddly inconspicuous locations, usually in residential areas where one happens to stumble across them only on foot or bicycle.

Of course, there are many large, well-publicized memorials, such as those at Dachau, Auschwitz, and Berlin, which receive many visitors. Dachau, for example, overwhelms one with the planning and effort that had to be invested in its construction. One wonders why the expense and infrastructure of barracks, crematoriums, guard towers, fences, and trains were necessary. The mind screams, why?!?!

If people had to die, going door-to-door executing them would have been far more efficient. It would have freed up tons of raw materials and hundreds of workers for industry. So, why death factories, and not face-to-face executions? Maybe they were afraid it would have given victims a fleeting chance to defend themselves.

Or, maybe they were afraid that it would have required one human being to look another in the eye and pull the trigger.

The vast resources invested to indulge the apparent need for detachment and denial is precisely what makes these smaller "neighborhood" memorials so disconcerting. They seem almost deliberately tucked away, as though their purpose is to acknowledge and forget all at the same time.

A few years ago, I was at a restaurant in a large German city with some local friends. It was a hip, trendy place, and we all noticed one particular item on the menu: bagels! We all missed American coffee shops and wanted one. Offhand, I remarked, "man, yeah, why is it that you can't get bagels over here?" My German friends slowly turned to look at me, without saying a word. Not nasty, just waiting for my brain to engage. I just about fainted, and mumbled an apology.

That individual Germans walk around daily with this unfathomable burden on their conscience is difficult for outsiders to truly grasp. A dark cloud of guilt hangs over the entire country, to which many would say, "good. It should." But as is becoming more and more apparent, excessive German self-flagellation has been counterproductive.

Because now many Germans are angry that they feel compelled to feel guilty all the time. These sorts are often attracted to extremist political parties -- in the same way Germans weary of reparations after WWI were attracted to Hitler, who promised to throw off the chains and make Germany great again. For others, the guilt translates into an obligation to bow and scrape for anyone who claims to be oppressed. These are the ones behind Germany's policy of granting automatic asylum to Palestinians -- automatic, no checks -- as well as siding with the PLO, Arafat, and Hamas in any controversy with Israel.

Both of these trends are leading Germany -- indeed, all Europe -- straight to back to the 1930s, by rehabilitating and re-legitimizing anti-Semitism. A growing sentiment can be detected that seems to say: "if it wasn't for those damn Jews, we wouldn't feel so guilty."

Assuming Europe's remaining Jews get out in a hurry, it almost makes you glad that Europe's Muslim colonists will soon be their masters.

Yankee Roundup

2006-05-07T16:13:00.000+02:00

The National Alliance is concerned that "Schindler's List" could stir up anti-Nazi sentiments.

Oops, I mean, CAIR is concerned that "United 93" could stir up Islamophobia.

At the United Muslim American symposium in Newark, Muslim-American leaders discussed the rhetoric regarding Iran, the war in Iraq and the image of the United States in Islamic countries.

But some also expressed concern that "United 93," a new film about the last moments of the last hijacked plane to crash on Sept. 11, 2001, could stir up anti-Islamic sentiments.

Safaa Ibrahim, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, took her staff of four women wearing a hijab, the traditional Muslim head scarves, to a Thursday matinee.

As a civil rights advocate, Ibrahim said, she wanted to see the movie after reports that several young Muslim-American women in Arizona were verbally assaulted by two people who said they had seen the movie recently.

Yep, that's how I do it. Americans are easily provoked, often leaving movie theaters thirsting for random aggression against total strangers. I once went up to a couple of guys in nice suits and said, "Hello. I just saw "Liar, Liar," and while I previously respected lawyers for their rigorous education and long hours, now I think you all are ****ing scumbag ***hole ****sucking cretinous ****faces. I'll bash your ****ing head in if you ever **** **** **** ****!!" And made several rude gestures as I walked away in a righteous fury.

Ibrahim said she knew the movie would stir up emotions, but she did not expect that all of the members in her group would walk out in tears.

Boo. Freakin. Hoo.

And, Pravda East, which brought us 32 straight days of front-page Abu Ghraib photos, is quick to trumpet the drawbacks of sullying Zarqawi's image. In case you missed it, he wears sneakers on the battlefield and handles a SAW like a little girl.

What's the old saying? The internet views The New York Times as damage and routes around it. Or something like that.

Cartoon Wars, Continued

2006-05-07T15:45:00.000+02:00

Last week, Paksitani national Amir Cheema died in German custody -- a suicide, according to German officials. He'd been arrested in March in Berlin for the attempted murder of the editor of Die Welt, which published the 12 Danish Muhammad cartoons.

Yesterday, students in Pakistan protested his death by burning German flags and vowing to "continue his jihad."

Around 300 students of Jamiat Taliba Arabia, one of many seminaries run by Jamaat-i-Islami, blocked traffic in the centre of Multan city, burned German flags and denounced Germany, Denmark and the United States as "infidel states." The students chanted: “They are enemies of Islam, infidels” and “Amir Cheema is hero of Islam." They also called for the cartoonists to be hanged or handed over for punishment.

The first protest against the cartoons in Pakistan took place in Multan in February, and it was followed by bigger and more violent protests across the country, while in Peshawar a Muslim preacher offered a bounty for the killing of cartoonists. Lawmakers in the National Assembly raised Cheema’s death on Friday and the issue will be debated in parliament.

Goodness, hasn't anyone told all these devout Muslims and students of the Qur'an that "jihad" means inner struggle?

That's More Like It

2006-05-07T11:42:00.000+02:00

US President George W. Bush said the September 11 revolt of passengers against their hijackers on board Flight 93 had struck the first blow of "World War III."

It's worth recalling that a huge, unprovoked attack on U.S. soil prompted the U.S. to declare war on Japan -- as well as Germany, a country that had no involvement in Pearl Harbor and posed no direct threat to America.

Yet where were the cries of "Roosevelt lied"? "No blood for oil"? (After all, the U.S. oil embargo was Japan's pretext for the attack.) Who called Churchill "Roosevelt's lackey"? Who gave a rat's ass about German and Japanese civilians, in Dresden and Tokyo and Nagasaki? Who got the vapors over the summary trial and execution of 8 Nazi saboteurs? Who marched in the streets over U.S. v. Korematsu? Who whined about "victor's justice" at Nuremburg?

A handful of sympathizers and the occasional deranged crank, that's who. Every American was in the fight, buying war bonds, sweating in munitions factories, and getting by on slim rations of butter, meat, nylon, and rubber.

Now, four-and-a-half years into WWIII, maybe we can start putting things in perspective, and speaking frankly about the ideology and goals of the Islamist Axis.

And commit ourselves to smashing it -- before it smashes us.

More GWOT Semantics

2006-05-06T12:35:00.000+02:00

The cumbersome name of this blog was inspired by a U.S. Army NCO who, a couple of years ago, attended a one-week conference on the law of armed conflict. He observed that not one speaker mentioned the words "Islam," "Muslim," or "jihad" -- an impressive feat when one tries to imagine a similar conference in 1943 in which the words "German" or "Nazi" are never spoken. (Perhaps it would have been known as the Bi-Continental Tiff with Mustachioed Dictators.)

But as they say, it isn't your father's army anymore. Politically correct limits on speech -- and thus, thought -- are well understood by everyone in uniform. This trend was institutionalized by President Clinton's authorization of an "Equal Opportunity" officer in every unit, i.e., censors. Their job, among other things, is to reprimand soldiers when they're caught saying bad things about the enemy. Hence the asinine circumlocutions to avoid identifying the enemy, or his ideology or goals, with any specificity.

Of course, it's impossible to devise a coherent strategy against an enemy that remains undefined. "GWOT" (Global War On Terror) is the term of art these days, which allows reference to what all understand but are not permitted to say out loud. The demands of political correctness result in the tired overuse of this term, which is what prompted our fair NCO to return from the conference and snort, "they may as well call it the Global War on You Know Who."

The pencil-pushers invent new and even more absurd euphemisms all the time, and the most recent tongue-twister is especially entertaining. Their Excellencies at the U.S. State Department issued the annual country reports on terrorism last week, a document which lists Al Qaeda, Hamas, and Hizb'allah as terrorist organizations.

But not the Taliban, remnants of which are still busy killing people. No, the Taliban is "an insurgent organization that will periodically use terrorism to carry out its operations."

Great. So now it's the GWOIOTWPUTTCOIO. We have always been at war with Eastasia. We have never been at war with Eurasia. And we have never, ever, ever had the minutest quibble with any peace-loving follower of the noble Muslim religion, its visionary prophet and model for all humanity Muhammad (pbuh), or Allah, the supreme lawgiver whose Holy Koran must never be mocked or criticized.

The GWOIOTWPUTTCOIO's coiffured intellectuals excel at self-parody to the point where actual satire is becoming difficult to write. The weenies at State would better serve U.S. national security interests writing for the Daily Show than doing a grown-up's job.

One wonders if they at any point gave Andrew McCarthy's sarcastic proposal serious consideration: "The Thing Involving the Teeny-Tiny Number of People Who Made Certain Things Go Boom After Reading that Book that We Didn't Flush and Who Absolutely, Positively Do Not Represent the Vast, Enormous Majority of Very, Very Nice People Who Read the Same Book Without Making Anything Go Boom."

Yep. May as well call it the Global War on You Know Who.

Bericht Aus Deutschland

2006-05-05T11:23:00.000+02:00

Pakistani national Amir Abdu Rehaman Cheema was arrested in Berlin for attacking a newspaper editor for printing the 12 Muhammad cartoons. Now German officials say he "committed suicide" whilst in custody.

Amir’s father Nazir Cheema told [Geo television] that a Foreign Office official had telephoned him on Thursday and told him about his son’s death while in police custody.

Cheema said Amir’s body would be handed over to the Pakistani embassy in Berlin on Monday for sending to Pakistan. He lamented the government could take no action, saying, Pakistan would accept whatever German officials say.

Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasneem Aslam confirmed the incident. Pakistan has asked Germany for details of the incident, she said. "German officials' note to the embassy in Berlin read: Amir Cheema committed suicide in the prison by hanging himself with a rope," she added.

Not that I'm especially troubled by it -- yet -- but it seems there's a lot of that going around in European prisons. Real ones, run by Europeans, that is -- not the Pulitzer-Prize-winning rumors of illegal US renditions for which top EU officials Gijs de Vries and Xavier Solana can find no hard evidence.

In contrast, not one Gitmo detainee has died in US custody, by "suicide" or otherwise. The Cheema family must wonder where Amnesty International, the ICRC, the UN, CNN, and all the other usual tranzi hysterics are.

Another mixed-bag story: the good news is, two German engineers kidnapped in Iraq in January have been released unharmed. The bad news is . . . all together now . . . how much?

The German government handed over a "large amount" to the kidnappers of two German engineers held hostage in Iraq for over four months and set free on Tuesday, Iraq's ambassador to Germany, Alaa al-Hashimi, has alleged. "Regarding the payment of a ransom, I don't know, but I assume it was a large amount of money," the ambasssador told German's ARD public television network, stressing that the Iraqi government had played part in the men's release.

However, al-Hashimi's claim is likely to trigger further debate on the wisdom of paying for the release of hostages. While the official policy of Britain and the United States is that Western governments should refuse to negotiate with kidnappers, Germany, France and Italy are believed to have paid million dollar sums for the release of kidnapped nationals.

. . . At the time of the men's capture, there was speculation that Germans were being targeted, because Berlin, unlike Washington or London, paid ransoms.

A month before the two engineers were kidnapped, German diplomats admitted the government had paid five million dollars for the [release of] Susanne Osthoff. According to a report by the German weekly magazine Focus, Nitzschke and Braeunlich's kidnappers had demanded a 12 million dollar ransom for their release.

Funny how the three EU countries that pay ransoms also boast some of the worst economic conditions on the continent. (Respectively, German, French, and Italian GDP growth: 0.9%, 1.6%, 0%; and unemployment: 12.1%, 9.6%, 7.9%). Apparently taking Econ 101 automatically disqualifies Europeans from public office. So here's lesson #1: subsidize something -- agricultural surpluses, hostage-taking -- and you will get more of it.

Moussaoui: Life Without Parole

2006-05-04T11:32:00.000+02:00

John Gacy (33 victims), Ted Bundy (over 30), Jeffrey Dahmer (17), and Timothy McVeigh (169) were all executed in US prisons. But the life of Zacarias Moussaoui, who assisted in the murder of 2,986 victims, will be spared.

Moussaoui, who spent much of his two-month trial cursing America, blessing al-Qaida and mocking the suffering of 9/11 victims, offered one more taunt after the jury reached its verdict Wednesday: "America, you lost. ... I won," he proclaimed, clapping his hands as he was escorted from the courtroom.

The jury rejected two key defense arguments — that Moussaoui suffers a mental illness and that executing him would make him a martyr. No jurors indicated on the verdict form that they gave any weight to those arguments.

On one hand, Josef Stalin's math comes to mind: "A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic."

On the other hand, Moussaoui may be spared the death penalty -- but so will the American public be spared the interminable, vexatious appeals process that denies closure and justice to so many victims' families.

If taxpayer funding of this animal's continued existence is the price of avoiding years of gushing MSM hagiographies disguised as reports of some miniscule procedural development, so be it.

Iranian Hostage Crisis, Part II

2006-05-03T10:39:00.000+02:00

Once a hostage-taker, always a hostage-taker (above, Ahmadinejad in 1979). This time, Iran's Islamic revolutionaries hold an entire country at gunpoint (or rather, nuclear-missile-point): Nobody move, or Israel dies.

Iran threatened on Tuesday to attack Israel in response to any "evil" act by the United States and said it had enriched uranium to a level close to the maximum compatible with civilian use in power stations.

The rest of the article is the usual pointless blather about whether or not Iran's uranium enrichment program is for electricity or weapons.

Today we reflect with pride and satisfaction upon the heroes who consigned Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo, and Saddam and the Taliban, to the dustbin of history. Soon, we will do the same when we remember and honor those who had the courage and the will to crush the Iranian thugocracy once and for all.

Almost certainly, Europeans will not be among them. Nor do I expect them to have the decency to be ashamed that -- again -- America is virtually alone in its stance that exterminating Jews is wrong.

I just hope we're a little quicker on the draw this time.

The Swedish Inquisition

2006-05-01T10:46:00.000+02:00

First they came for the French, and I savored the schadenfreude. Then they came for the Swedes, and I wasn't surprised. Soon they will come for the rest of Europe, at which point we will all have to decide whether to stand and fight or get the hell out.

A summary of the Swedish Muslim Association's demands was published Friday. The upshot is, Islam does not accept equal treatment with other religions; hence, "protecting religious freedom" means all others must defer to Islam's self-declared supremacy. Translations here and here. The demands, presented to Swedish political parties, include:

- A mosque in every city or municipality.

- Financing of the mosques through no-interest loans [as Islam forbids usury].

- Imams must teach religion in public schools [to Muslim students or to all students is unclear].

- Financing of Islamic elementary schools [so Muslim children can learn in their own language, eat halal food, never mix with dirty native pork-eaters, and participate in sex-segregated gym classes].

- Islamic festival days must be respected. We demand days off during Eid al fitr and Eid al Adha. These two days must not result in a reduction of the salary.

- Two hours off every Friday for the Islamic compulsory "Friday Prayer."

- Islamic slaughtering of animals. Freedom of religion is a human right. [Regardless of Western prohibitions on cruelty to animals. Halal butchery involves slitting an animal's throat, without stunning or drugging it in any way, and letting it bleed out until the meat is white and pure -- much as it's done in hostage beheading videos].

- Reservation of funeral places in every municipality with Muslim habitants.

- Imam-education in universities and high schools.

- Rulings to protect minorities and avoid discrimination. The negative image of the muslims is maintained and amplified by the Swedish Press and the Swedish Educational System. [On the contrary; academics and the press strive to the utmost to cover up Muslim aggression and violence. The negative image of Muslims is due to their own barbaric behavior.]

- Furthermore, the National Security Police must no longer consider Islam as a violent religion.

- It is haraam [forbidden] to hold that the Earth is round and revolves around the Sun.

I made up that last one, but it's hard to tell, isn't it? Sweden has been ripe for the picking for a couple of years now. Frankly, I'm surprised this didn't come sooner. What is surprising is the response from Integration and Equality minister Jens Orback:

"We will not have separate laws in Sweden. In Sweden, we are all equal before the law. In Sweden, we have fought for a long time to achieve gender-neutral laws, and to propose that certain groups should not be treated like others is completely unacceptable."

Horse . . . barn door . . . ah well.

UPDATE: Lorenzo Vidino writes:

Basically, SMF is asking for a partial introduction of sharia law in Sweden and the creation of a separate legal system for Swedish Muslims, something politicians from all sides of the Swedish political spectrum and moderate Muslim organizations have immediately condemned as completely unacceptable.

The Swedish case is hardly unique, but mirrors the demand of Brotherhood-linked organizations throughout Europe. For example, in Germany, the Islamische Gemeinschaft Deutschland (IGD), the country’s largest Muslim organization, has stated in its official publication Al Islam: “In the long run, Muslims cannot be satisfied with the acceptance of German family, estate, and trial law. Muslims should aim at an agreement between the Muslims and the German state with the goal of a separate jurisdiction for Muslims.”

In Great Britain, the UK Islamic Mission, has the stated goal of conducting a “continuous campaign for the establishment of Muslim family laws,” and to “establish Islamic social order in the United Kingdom in order to seek the pleasure of Allah.”

Salafis want to conquer Europe by force of arms; the "moderate" Ikhwan want to do it by preaching and ideology. Either way, the result is the same: the dominoes will fall -- the only question is in what order.

Just for fun, here are today's top 5 headlines on the EU's website:

* EU and China to link up high-speed electronic networks for an open exchange among their best researchers and students

* Decisions of the Commission on the conformity of CAP [Common Agricultural Policy] expenditure with EU law

* Austrian presidency "New initiatives for facilitating visas for the Western Balkan states"

* Council Declaration on the current political situation in Nepal

* Parliament: Strasbourg Parliament open to all - Sunday 30 April and Monday 1 May 10h-18h

Not that it matters in the grand scheme of things, but that would be the same glass and chrome colossus for which the French city of Strasbourg has been fleecing European taxpayers -- overcharging the EU on rent to the tune of 2.7 million euros per month for 25 years. That comes to 810 million euros, or about a billion dollars, pocketed by the municipal government of a city about the same size as Lexington, Kentucky.

Take the Pepsi Challenge

2006-04-28T07:03:00.000+02:00

There is no longer any such thing as a slow news day, as the jihad claims innocents in stomach-turning attacks, somewhere in the world, at least once daily. Of course, you'd never know it if your only source of information is the dead-tree media. But out here in the post-MSM world, perpetual low-intensity conflict is a given. The steady drumbeat of beheadings, car bombs, genocide, and murders moves one not to shock, which is long gone, but to a slow, angry boil. That so little is being done to resist any of it. That so few are moved to fight back. That so many are rooting for the wrong side.

To reorient our moral compasses, I strongly recommend this outstanding post at the Transatlantic Intelligencer. Compiled during the height of the Cartoon Wars, it presents the 12 Danish cartoons -- each in juxtaposition with one cartoon from Der Stuermer, and one recently published in Le Monde. You know, the same French paper that proclaimed "We are All Americans" on 9/12.

Then, compare thereligionofpeace.com ("Islam will be a peaceful religion when Muslims stop preaching hate, stop killing in the name of Allah, and stop remaining apathetic to the violence") with www.religionofpeace.com ("the purpose of Islam is to save humankind from the anguish of this world and the world to come. Therefore the Prophet's mission was to establish justice and peace on earth and to offer guidance for salvation in the Hereafter.")

Study them closely, and ask yourself where this is all going.

Then ask yourself what you're going to do about it.

A Professor Connected to Reality!

2006-04-25T16:52:00.000+02:00

Lemme guess. A professor of English? Government? Psychology? Gender Studies? Riiight. It's no accident that the soft, fuzzy disciplines produce academics with soft, fuzzy minds. Here we have a professor of mechanical engineering whose applied logic is no less rigorous in real life.

With the possible exception, of course, that he sent this fantastic e-mail straight to MSU's ~~Terrorist Coalition~~ Muslim Students Association. Fatwa in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . :

Dear Moslem Association: As a professor of Mechanical Engineering here at MSU I intened to protest your protest.

I am offended not by cartoons, but by more mundane things like beheadings of civilians, cowardly attacks on public buildings, suicide murders, murders of Catholic priests (the latest in Turkey!), burnings of Christian chirches, the continued persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt, the imposition of Sharia law on non-Muslims, the rapes of Scandinavain girls and women (called "whores" in your culture), the murder of film directors in Holland, and the rioting and looting in Paris France.

This is what offends me, a soft-spoken person and academic, and many, many, many of my colleagues. I counsul you dissatisfied, agressive, brutal, and uncivilized slave-trading Moslems to be very aware of this as you proceed with your infantile "protests."

If you do not like the values of the West -- see the 1st Ammendment -- you are free to leave. I hope for God's sake that most of you choose that option. Please return to your ancestral homelands and build them up yourselves instead of troubling Americans.

Cordially, I. S. Wichman, Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Bravo, Professor Wichman. Hope you sleep next to a loaded .45.

One if by Land, Two if by Sea

2006-04-25T11:16:00.000+02:00

British Euroskeptic Richard North is in a pissy mood today -- and that's when I like him best: Going Backwards.

. . . given that the political classes are both so inept and detached from the realities of everyday life, it has come to pass that the only meaningful political activity left to ordinary people is to watch politicians squirm. The more one can engineer such situations the better, which makes voting BNP the obvious option. It is equally destructive, but has the same entertainment quotient as dismembering flies.

Eventually, one hopes, dissatisfaction will build up to such an extent that it will turn a quiescent, cowed population into an active, rebellious force, which will re-impose democracy on the political classes, and demand change. But, like many, we are not holding our breath.

What is particularly depressing, at the moment, is that we lack a credible opposition though which our energies can be channelled. A bad government is tolerable, to an extent, if there is prospect of change and there is hope of something better on the horizon.

But when we have both government and opposition refusing to engage on the issue, then we are deprived of any “legitimate” mechanism for expressing our dissatisfaction through the democratic system, and no means by which we can secure change. Parliament, therefore, ceases to be an expression of the will of the people, but a barrier to it.

. . . Thus, in terms of our campaign against the European Union, we are going backwards. No longer is there any mainstream political party which will even address the concerns of a huge proportion of its electorate.

This echoes similar sentiments from last week:

On the ground, what we see, progressively is the growing inability of government simply to govern, whether at local or national level, combined with a complete take-over by the apparatchik – rule by officials, whether at local, national or supranational level. And, in this process, political parties and politicians seem irrelevant to the extent that it matters not what colour they come in – they are simply not worth voting for.

In effect, therefore, it is the vote that has been debased. No longer is there any direct (or even indirect) relationship between casting a vote in the ballot box and securing change at any level of government.

I derive no satisfaction from it, but I can't help being reminded of the Stamp Act, the Boston Tea Party, Sam Adams' circular ("no taxation without representation,") Patrick Henry's famous speech ("give me liberty or give me death,") and, inevitably, the battle of Lexington & Concord.

North's own book details the astonishing destruction visited upon Britain over the last 30 years by the kleptocracy in Brussels, from which the American eye discerns one thing in particular: we went to war against the British over far less.

The aging parent, who might have learned from the child, has instead chosen to learn all the same lessons anew. The child forgives, but despairs. Godspeed -- and let us know when you need guns.

Scandinavia's Suicide Note

2006-04-25T07:34:00.000+02:00

The inimitable Fjordman shouts: WAKE UP.

. . . Sweden is a semi-totalitarian country. It’s all about façade. On the surface, Sweden is a tolerant nation and peaceful democracy. In reality, there is massive media censorship by a closed elite that is scared of having a debate about immigration. There are even physical attacks on critics of immigration by Leftist extremists, something which has been largely ignored and thus quietly approved by the establishment, until it now even targets parties in Parliament. No dissent is tolerated. Opinion polls have revealed that two out of three Swedes doubt whether Islam can be combined with Swedish society, and a very significant proportion of the population have for years wanted more limitations in immigration. Yet not one party represented in the Swedish Parliament is genuinely critical of the Multicultural society or the current immigration policies. The Swedish elite congratulate themselves that they have managed to keep “xenophobic” parties from gaining a foothold while the country is sinking underneath their feet. No, Mr. Jagland, we have nothing to learn from Sweden except hypocrisy to perfection. We should study them only in trying to avoid letting them drag us down with them when they fall, which they will.

. . . In general, my impression is that a rapidly increasing part of the population distrusts Muslims. Only massive media censorship conceals this fact, and I suspect the same goes for much of Europe. However, Aftenposten seem to have forgotten an article they printed five years ago. In 2001, two out of three charged with rape in Norway’s capital were immigrants with a non-western background according to a police study. Norwegian women were the victims in 80 percent of the cases. A leading member of the Liberal Party (Venstre), Odd Einar Dørum, demanded all the numbers be put on the table: “A scumbag is a scumbag, regardless of skin color”. From 2001 to 2005, Dørum was Norway’s Minister of Justice, and nobody has seen these statistics since 2001. The number of rape charges in Oslo have continued to rise. There is ample evidence of brutal gang rapes, something that used to be rare in Scandinavia, being committed by immigrants against native girls.

Not only have the authorities done nothing to stop this trend of racist attacks against native Norwegians, they have taken steps to increase crackdowns on “racism” by the natives. In 2005 Stortinget, the Norwegian parliament, passed a new Discrimination Act, prepared by then Minister of Integration, Erna Solberg, who earlier called for the establishment of a sharia council in Norway. The act says in pretty clear words that in cases of suspected direct or indirect discrimination based on religion or ethnicity, native Norwegians are guilty until proven otherwise. The immigration spokesman for the right-wing Progress Party, Per Sandberg, feared that the law would jeopardize the rights of ordinary, law-abiding Norwegian citizens. Reverse burden of proof is combined with liability to pay compensation, which means that innocent persons risk having to pay huge sums for things they did not do. FOMI, a Norwegian anti-Islamic website, was recently charged with “racism and spreading Islamophobia” for translating one of several articles by Frontpage Magazine, with comments, about a Muslim rape wave in the West.

Bruce Bawer, author of recently published book “While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within,” devotes a good deal of space to European media in his writings, which is appropriate. Norwegian Prime Minister and leader of the Labor Party, Jens Stoltenberg, has stated that “journalistic diversity is too important to be left up to the marketplace.” The government is still running two out of Norway’s four national TV channels, and three of its national radio channels.

. . . For some strange reason, Bruce Bawer’s book has so far been widely ignored by Norwegian media, despite the fact that Bawer lives in Norway and that his work is being read with interest by experts and laymen on both sides of the Atlantic. Could it be that Mr. Bawer has touched upon some sensitive issues that the sophisticated Norwegian press don’t want to talk about? Michael Moore’s books criticizing the USA were translated into Norwegian and sold very well. Any chance this will happen to Bawer’s book, criticizing Europe?

Mr. Jagland worries about the possibilities of a new kind of powerful Fascist movement in Europe, and quite frankly, so do I. But there is no need for this to happen if people feel that their elected leaders uphold their interests they way they are supposed to do. However, when a government can no longer guarantee, within reason, the safety of its citizens, that government’s days are numbered and that system of government’s days may also be numbered. It took centuries of hard and ingenious work to build our civilized Western society, yet judging from current events, it may take just a few short decades for this civilization to commit collective suicide.

. . . Norway celebrated 100 years as an independent state last year. Judging from the new Discrimination Act and the runaway Muslim immigration, perhaps the anniversary should be called “From independence to colonization”. At the same time as their women are no longer safe in the streets because of immigrant gangs, the authorities respond by making Norwegians de facto second-rate citizens in their own country. They use their own people as stepping stones for their personal careers in the UN bureaucracy, lecturing about how to create the perfect society while their own citizens find it increasingly hard to live in their major cities. We have no significant colonial history ourselves and denounce all forms of colonialism, but are supposed to smile when we are colonized ourselves.

. . . Norway is probably the only major oil exporting country on the planet that has managed to remain a stable democracy with low levels of corruption. By any standards possible, we’re one of the most successful cultures in the world, our largest flaw, which could eventually bury us, probably being our naivete. So why on earth should we quietly watch while our country is subdued by the most unsuccessful cultures in the world? The most basic instinct of all living things, even down to bacteria level, is self-preservation. In 2006, you have a natural right to self-preservation if you are an amoeba, but not if you’re a Scandinavian.

With current trends remaining unchanged, native Norwegians will be a minority in their own capital city within a couple of decades, a situation that has never happened before since the foundation of Oslo a thousand years ago. Judging from all experience with Muslims previously, non-Muslim Norwegians will be ruthlessly persecuted, either cornered into a civil war or forced to flee from what was once their country. Newcomers move into an area and brutalize the natives who have become too soft to uphold themselves. There is nothing new about this scenario; it has been going on for thousands of years, as long as mankind has existed. It is the harsh law of nature. What is unique in this case is that the original inhabitants of this country are forced to fund their own colonization and eventual extinction by their own leaders, who portray this as an act of “tolerance.” I’m pretty sure that hasn’t happened before.

Heavily edited for length, but the whole thing is absolutely worth the read.

It's Here

2006-04-24T23:04:00.000+02:00

The convergence of multiculturalism, Islamic supremacism, and unaccountable bureaucracies is rapidly leading to the only logical result: Tyranny.

Islamic groups and governments are pressing ahead with a campaign to have international organizations take steps, including legal ones, to provide protection for their religion in the wake of the Mohammed cartoon controversy.

In a drive pursued largely away from the headlines, the Organization for the Islamic Conference (OIC) is promoting the issue at the United Nations and European Union, and having some success.

The executive council of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) this month approved an agenda item entitled "respect for freedom of expression, sacred beliefs, values and religious and cultural symbols."

Introduced by more than 30 Islamic states and the subject of considerable debate, the motion explicitly tied freedom of expression to "respect for cultural diversity, religious beliefs and religious symbols."

. . . The Saudi-based OIC secretariat is spearheading the international campaign of response to what it has called "wanton provocation and reckless, blasphemous libertarianism cowering behind so-called freedom of the press."

. . . The UNESCO move is just the latest illustration of the way the OIC and its 56 member states are using the cartoon episode to apply pressure on the West to comply with Islamic norms.

The matter was being taken up in exchanges with the E.U., " as well as with various international and regional intergovernmental organizations and NGOs."

The OIC said it was pursuing a "strategy to take initiatives at various international organs to contribute to the formation of an international legal framework" aimed at preventing a recurrence of the cartoon crisis. The action at UNESCO was a component of this strategy.

. . . The Islamic campaign has won sympathetic responses from some senior U.N. and E.U. figures.

"Your anguish over the publication of insulting cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed is clear and understandable," Secretary-General Kofi Annan [who is Muslim] said in a message read on his behalf at an OIC gathering in Istanbul this month.

While he said all should speak up for freedom of worship and freedom of speech, he added: "We must exercise great sensitivity when dealing with symbols and traditions that are sacred to other people."

Addressing a meeting of European imams in Vienna, Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik of Austria - the current E.U. president - also referred to the cartoons. "Freedoms do have limits that should not be overstepped," she told 300 Muslim religious leaders from across the continent.

At the same gathering, the head of the E.U.'s official anti-racism body bemoaned what she said was a "dangerously high" level of anti-Muslim discrimination in Europe.

Beate Winkler, head of the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia, said E.U. governments should provide time for [Islamic] religious programs on public broadcasters and support mosque construction.

Participant Turfa Bagaghati of the European Network Against Racism -- an E.U.-funded NGO -- told Islam Online it was time Muslims pressed "for their rights, like enacting laws banning aggression on Islam."

E.U. external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner also addressed the Vienna meeting, saying that both freedom of religion and freedom of expression were "non-negotiable."

But she added a qualifier only in the case of freedom of expression, saying "it does come with responsibilities and should be exercised with the necessary sensitivity to others."

The E.U. will next month hold a "Euro-Med" seminar of xenophobia and racism in the media, bringing together representatives from the E.U. and the predominantly Muslim countries of North Africa and the Middle East.

In another development, it was reported last week that E.U. bureaucrats are drawing up a "lexicon" of terminology to use when referring to Islam. Words like "Islamist" and "jihad" are under review, as is the phrase "Islamic terrorism."

For now, Ursula, Beate, and Benita will keep recommending enormous concessions as fast as they possibly can. However, they will at some point realize that Islamists will not be satisfied until shari'a is law and the dhimma enforced. The question is, will they come to that realization before or after they're required to wear full black chadors?

ROP Agitators in NYC

2006-04-24T11:08:00.001+02:00

Last Thursday, the Islamic Thinkers' Society held another rally in NYC, this time outside the Israeli consulate. While it consisted of the predictable calls for the nuclear extermination of Israel, posters depicting the black flag of Islam flying over the White House, and fevered cries of "Allahu Akbar," it really must be seen and heard to comprehend the raw evil. Article, video.

In case you missed ITS' "Operation: Desecrate American Flag" last June, here's info and video about that too.

And here's a link to ITS' website. Better not click on the "Non-Muslim Section," because there you will find an "Invitation to Islamic Belief." You see, in Islamic law, Muslims must first offer infidels the opportunity to convert before making war on them. If said infidels refuse the offer, well, then it's open season. Bin Laden feels the call to da'wa has already been made to the West as a whole, and we've defiantly rejected it.

It's that simple.

They Just Don't Get It

2006-04-22T17:13:00.000+02:00

Today I received an invitation to a conference in London entitled "The Changing Faces of Jihadism: Profiles, Biographies, Motivations," put on jointly by British and Norwegian defense experts. The title page of the 4-page PDF file has a security camera picture of one of the four London subway bombers. So far, so good.

Then we get to the introduction:

Europe is faced with a sustained challenge from militant jihadism. Most worryingly, the emerging networks seem to defy everything we thought we knew about terrorism: their structures are loose, and the profiles of individual jihadists don’t seem to reveal any striking similarities.

Right. Aside from they fact that they

(a) are males between the ages of 18 and 35;
(b) are fanatically dedicated Muslims indoctrinated by an imam, in prison, and/or jihad websites;
(c) have often visited Pakistan or Afghanistan for "religious instruction;"
(d) usually have piles of jihadi snuff videos and/or audiotaped sermons in their apartments;
(e) associate with other like-minded individuals; and
(f) frequently have bank balances that cannot be accounted for by their family status or employment;

why yes, it's a total mystery. The introduction goes on:

Are there no patterns to be discerned? Or does the absence of any shared characteristics indicate how little we understand the phenomenon?

I'm thinking yes. Then I continue to the list of speakers -- almost entirely university professors, none of whom I recognize. But one speaker's name jumps out:

Sir Iqbal Sacraine, Secretary General, Muslim Council of Britain.

These amateurs can't even spell his name correctly, much less grasp the concept of taqqiya. I halfheartedly finished scanning the rest of the short (271-word) introduction, which is filled with phrases like "better understanding," "developing effective methods," "facilitate strategies of engagement," and "facilitate constructive debate and exchange."

Now, if it had words like "pitchforks," "torches," "resistance," "deportation," and "death cult," I'd be interested. So, uh, yeah. Good luck with that.

Dutch Report: Don't Judge Islam

2006-04-22T10:19:00.000+02:00

A Dutch think tank -- the tank in this case being a sensory deprivation chamber -- insists that Islam is compatible with human rights. The report makes many favorable generalizations about Islam, while warning against making any generalizations critical of Islam, as the resulting "us vs. them" divide is not just wrong, but dangerous. Comparably dangerous as subway bombings, murder in the streets, rapes, riots, and death threats, no doubt.

A new report submitted to the Dutch government has sparked controversy by arguing that Islam does not conflict with either human rights or Dutch values. The report is the fruit of three years' work by the Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR), a think-tank in The Hague which advises the government.

Jan Schoonenboom, a member of the council who supervised the research, says it highlights the variety and dynamism of Islamic activism. While there are radical, jihadi trends, there are also more mainstream Islamic movements which are moving, albeit slowly, towards democratisation.

The Somali-born Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a well-known critic of Islam, has said it lacks professionalism and undermines free speech.

On the contrary, Mr Schoonenboom told the BBC, by discussing Islam in this way the report is opening up serious debate and challenging widely-accepted stereotypes.

As usual, academics who are forever praising themselves for their courage and innovative analysis fail to recognize that their view is the stereotype that stifles debate and needs challenging. Which the Cartoon Wars did rather powerfully -- in just three weeks, rather than the three years it took to produce this fishwrap.

Behead Those Who Mock South Park!

2006-04-21T23:09:00.002+02:00

WND reports that UAE-based Air Arabia has adapted the kiddies of South Park for use in their local advertising. Yup, they're really there. Parker and Stone could have a field day with these:

Comedy Central's ferocious legal mujahideen are said to be considering a formidable "jihad" of their own: the fearsome copyright infringement lawsuit.

Gratuitous Swipe at the Frenchie Foo Fag-Nasties

2006-04-21T23:08:00.000+02:00

It will come as a surpise to no one that French PM Dominique de Villepin (who is a man) signs his name like a teenage girl. After all, he governs like one too.

Hat tip to the Transatlantic Intelligencer, which supplies a revealing analysis of the bird-shaped fluorishes. He's not a serial killer, or a homosexual (as far as I know) -- just boundlessly impressed with himself.

Islamic Slaughter in Belgium

2006-04-21T05:57:00.000+02:00

Bystanders look the other way, priests blame society, police investigate how the victim may have provoked it, the media circumvents any mention of Islam, and the government allows unchecked "North African" immigration to proceed apace. Just another day in Eurabia.

Last Wednesday Joe Van Holsbeeck, 17 years of age, was murdered in Brussels Central Station. He was stabbed five times in the heart by North African youths. They demanded that he give them his MP3 player. When Joe refused he was savagely murdered. The atrocity happened during the evening rush hour on a crowded platform.

. . . the murderers were filmed, however, by security cameras. Today, one week later, the Brussels police released the pictures. The police say they are looking for two youths aged between 16 and 18 years old. Joe’s murder has shocked the Belgians. For an entire week the police, the authorities and most of the media have tried to downplay the fact that the killers are Muslim youths.

Belgian citizens realize, however, that the murder has nothing to do with “indifference in Belgian society,” but everything with a group of North African youths terrorizing Brussels and the “indifference” of the authorities to eradicate this scourge.

. . . The Moroccan thugs do not care about life and they are used to slitting throats – a procedure they get to practise on sheep from a very young age.

Meanwhile in the UK, prison toilets are being rebuilt, at taxpayer expense, to placate the poor dears' tender sensibilities.

JAIL bosses are rebuilding toilets so Muslim inmates don’t have to use them while facing Mecca. Thousands of pounds of taxpayers money are being spent to ensure lags are not offended.

The Islamic religion prohibits Muslims from facing or turning their backs on the Kiblah — the direction of prayer — when they visit the lav. Muslim lags claimed they have had to sit sideways on prison WCs.

But after pressure from faith leaders the Home Office has agreed to turn the existing toilets 90 degrees at HMP Brixton in London.

One Muslim former inmate said: “The least the Prison Service can do is make sure people can practise their religion correctly in prison.”

Of course, practicing their religion correctly outside of prison is often what lands them there.

Terror Alert Level Elevated to "Bribe"

2006-04-19T07:37:00.000+02:00

A curious report from Businessweek: France's Plan: Pay 'Em To Go Home.

As demonstrations intensify and legislation stalls in the U.S. over the status of illegal immigrants, France has been taking another tack. It's offering cash payments -- the equivalent of about $2,400 per adult and $600 per child -- to illegals who agree to return to their native countries.

The government began to offer the payments last September but so far has found fewer than 200 takers. Now, law-and-order Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy is urging officials to cut the program's red tape to make participation easier, according to the French daily Le Figaro, which obtained a copy of an Interior Ministry memo sent to local officials. But critics say the payments are too low to entice many of France's estimated 400,000 illegals to say adieu.

Meanwhile, France is getting tougher on those who don't leave voluntarily. Since 2002, the number of illegals expelled annually from the country has doubled, to 20,000 last year. At the same time, Sarkozy is spearheading legislation to make it easier for well-educated, highly skilled immigrants to enter the country.

Sarkozy, the front-runner in the 2007 French presidential race, is himself the son of an immigrant. His father fled communist Hungary in 1949 and was granted refugee status in France.

Impressive. There was room to take a jab at the US and toss in a non sequitur about Sarkozy's origins, but none for the words "Muslim," "Islam," or "jizya."

For a grown-up analysis, we turn to the intrepid Fjordman: The Fall of France.

Muslim blogs are calling for violence against the Jews, the whites and the well-to-do. They say, “We must burn France, as Hamas will burn Israel.” The growth of the Islamic population is explosive. According to some, one out of three babies born in France is now a Muslim. Around 70% of French prisoners are Muslims. Hundreds of Muslim ghettos are already de facto following sharia, not French law. Some have pointed out that the French military are not always squeamish, but there are estimates that 15% of the armed forces are already made up of Muslims, and rising.

Read the rest.

A Real Conspiracy

2006-04-17T09:39:00.000+02:00

For its first six seasons, I was a dedicated X-Files junkie. When the movie came out, it sucked so bad, I never watched the series again. Lately, I've watched some old episodes, and the riveting conspiracies featuring the Smoking Man, Deep Throat, Marita Covarrubias, and Alex Krychek now just seem kind of gay. The great alien cover-ups that once seemed so suspenseful and plausible now come off like the hackneyed, ridiculous fantasies of the schizo-paranoid left. Yawn.

Especially when one considers one of the greatest, actual, real conspiracies of the 20th century. Imagine you are an American, of whatever (reasonable) political affiliation. Now imagine that back in the 60s and 70s, a group of senior US officials felt very strongly that the best way to solve America's social and economic problems was to cede a large chunk of US sovereignty to the UN. This transfer of power would be on the UN's terms, would not be subject to elections or referenda, would not be reversible, and would require the future transfer of other powers not yet defined.

If it was talked about publicly at all, it was couched as a benign free trade agreement, that would bring economic benefits like more jobs and economic growth. Imagine that, say, President Nixon had the whole deal negotiated, signed, and completed, with zero public input. That he directed a staff member to record the negotiations, a document which ran to 475 pages -- but which would remain secret for 30 years. It would be an astounding conspiracy reducing Watergate, Area 51, and the assassination of JFK to mere footnotes.

Sounds fantastic. But this is exactly what Prime Minister Heath did in the early 1970s, in gaining Britain's accession to the EU. The possibility was barely even mentioned during the campaign, so

it might therefore have come as a something of a surprise to most voters to learn that, within two weeks of the election, two of Heath's senior ministers would be in Brussels to begin Britain's negotiations for entry; and that, within three years, without any electoral mandate, Britain would have become a full member of the European Community.

Britain had twice applied for membership in the 1960s, but was blocked both times by French President Charles de Gaulle. But by 1973, Britain's accession date, the power of the EU had evolved significantly, with no British input.

It was true that, as in 1961, Britain had little choice but to accept the acquis communautaire [powers acquired by the EC, never to be returned], but the situation was now 'fundamentally altered.' In 1961, the acquis has consisted of little more than the treaties themselves. Since then, 'an almost inconceivable flood' of of new laws had been enacted, amounting to some 13,000 pages, for many of which the official translations would not be completed until after the treaty of accession had been signed.

It is difficult to overstate the implications. No one in their right mind would sign an employment contract that

(a) gave the employer at-will authority to alter its terms, in perpetuity;
(b) forbade the employee this right, or to quit;
(c) required the employee to pay, rather than be paid; and
(d) would not be translated into the employee's language until after it was signed.

Yet Britain signed exactly this contract with EU, and carefully didn't say much about it to their current employer at the time, the British people -- who are only now discovering what it all means.

I haven't been in the habit of doing book reviews, but this is the must-read story told in "The Great Deception" by Christopher Booker and Richard North. Any student of EU law is already aware that the major accomplishment of the "European project" has been the massive accretion of power to a distant, unelected elite. On some level, elected officials were aware that plans to turn over their country's treasury and independence to an appointed technocracy would be a tad controversial. So another prominent feature of The European Project has been the Orwellian euphemisms that fill officials' statements, to obscure the magnitude of their betrayal.

In the name of progress, Europe's parliamentary democracies are now subject to the ever-tighter grip of a capricious, secretive aristocracy. Why supranationalism should be the panacaea for plain old European nationalism has never been clear: in the end, it still results in tyranny. The Eurocrats won't be the masters for long, however, not at the rate Islamists are colonizing Europe -- a takeover encouraged, facilitated, and applauded by the elites themselves. Not since the decay of the Roman Empire has there been a ruling class so hungry for power, yet so careless with it.

Some Europeans tell me that Europeans and Americans shouldn't fight, because we share the same fundamental values. I appreciate the conciliatory gesture, but really, we don't. Beyond democracy and free speech -- which in Europe are increasingly being converted from tangible rights into theoretical ideals -- Americans demand transparency and accountability, and would have rebelled long before such a "project" got so far. The Kyoto Protocol, as well as Bush's "guest worker" program, are just such anti-democratic bilge, and in America, that dog don't hunt.

Ultimately, it's not about beliefs, but about disposition. In most countries, ordinary Europeans did not consent to the Brussels dictatorship, but they are not disposed to fight it either. It's true that a majority of French and Dutch voters rejected the EU Constitution last year. But for most of them, it wasn't because it would have extended and consolidated the EU's powers, but because it didn't go far enough. In this key sense, Europeans and Americans have very little in common. Millions of Europeans who sold the clothes off their backs to get to Ellis Island understood this; only the form, rather than the substance, has changed.

This doesn't mean that Americans should shrug and let Europeans lie in the bed they made. As in WWII, American heritage, and American security, depends on extricating Britain from this mess. One author of the abovementioned book, Dr. North, has a blog: go ye and read.

Still Here . . .

2006-04-04T06:04:00.000+02:00

. . . just impossibly busy. I'll be over the hump this weekend, so thanks for your patience!

Meantime, there are two current news items I simply can't ignore.

Item 1, from the Scumbag Defense Lawyer files: Zacarias Moussaoui has been convicted, faces the death penalty in the sentencing phase . . . and his lawyers plan to put on the Chewbacca defense.

Court-appointed defense lawyers, whom Moussaoui has tried to reject, will summon experts to suggest he is schizophrenic after an impoverished childhood during which he faced racism in France over his Moroccan ancestry.

Like the Hippocratic Oath, defense lawyers have a duty to zealously represent their clients. However, this duty does not extend to fabricating stupendous propaganda that directly undercuts your own country's security (i.e., by reinforcing the myth that jihadis kill people out of low self-esteem).

The flip side is, if that's all they've got, Moussaoui will fry.

Item 2, from the Scumbag Academic Files: At a time when Islamists are actively trying to accomplish it, UT-Austin Prof Eric Pianka advocates the extermination of 90% of humanity. Not everyone. 90%. No doubt he envisions the surviving 10% to be enlightened intellectuals such as himself.

AUSTIN - A University of Texas professor says the Earth would be better off with 90 percent of the human population dead. Humanity's collapse is a notion he embraces.

Indeed, his words deal, very literally, on a life-and-death scale, yet he smiles and jokes candidly throughout the lecture. "This is really an exciting time," he said Friday amid warnings of apocalypse, destruction and disease.

6.5 billion humans is too many. In his estimation, "We've grown fat, apathetic and miserable," all the while leaving the planet parched. The solution? A 90 percent reduction.

"[Disease] will control the scourge of humanity," Pianka said. "We're looking forward to a huge collapse."

Pianka said, "Good terrorists would be taking [the Ebola virus] so that they had microbes they could let loose on the Earth that would kill 90 percent of people."

Thanks, dickweed, that's very helpful.

Eurabian Dhimmitude

2006-03-01T01:08:00.000+01:00

A Pakistani newspaper reports that the Danish consul in Dubai, Thomas Bay, says the Cartoon Jihad has "helped Europe understand and respect Islam."

"We Europeans have realised that we can say anything to Muslims and they do not feel bad as long as we don't touch upon the Holy Prophet. This is the lesson we learned from this cartoon issue.

Oddly, at the same time Bay said:

"If somebody tells something, and if they are out of your control, what can you do? Under our constitution, there is freedom for the press. It is not possible for the prime minister to apologise. Nor can people apologise for what they have not done, and for what somebody else (in their midst) have done".

The Danish diplomat made it clear that, however, "We will not change our constitution (to exert controls over the media)."

But we can't let these confused dhimmis get so uppity:

Khaleej Times pointed out that freedom of expression does not mean hurting others' sentiments.

"I fully agree with you. That is exactly the key. The editor of the Danish daily had not anticipated the outcome of his action, (like the burning of flag, embassy, and killing of hundreds in protests in the Muslim world). Yet, he has the freedom of speech. However, now, I am sure they (the newspaper) are not very proud of what they have done', the Danish head of mission said.

"You can also turn around and say, this had a positive impact on Islam. The realization has come that you have to respect Islam, and the prophet. Now Europe is more aware of this aspect. There is positive thinking in this respect...and people will now be more careful (about hurting others' feelings). People have now been more careful."

It's clear from the rest of the article that Bay's plea is more about begging for the return of Arab business than bowing and scraping to his new Muslim masters. Nonetheless, it's a disturbing follow-on to the EU Justice Minister's remarks three weeks ago: EU Mulls Media Code.

EU Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini said the charter would encourage the media to show "prudence" when covering religion.

"The press will give the Muslim world the message: We are aware of the consequences of exercising the right of free expression. We can and we are ready to self-regulate that right."

Frattini, a former Italian foreign minister, said millions of Muslims in Europe felt "humiliated" by the cartoons. His proposed voluntary code would urge the media to respect all religious sensibilities but would not offer privileged status to any one faith. The code would be drawn up by the European Commission and European media outlets, he said. It would not have legal status.

I feel better already. Especially now that the "Muslimized" spring collection has hit Paris runways: The New Sobriety.

The forecast for the new fashion season is as somber as it is certain. It is going to be a long dark winter.

After a decade of free-fall hipster pants, bared midriffs, bras on show under sheer dresses and naked legs, fashion has started on its great coverup. Forget girlie frills and celebrities flashing flesh on the red carpet. The typical outfit in the current international fashion collections is in any color as long as it is black with a silhouette long, lean and layered.

The world's leading designers have no doubts as to where fashion is headed as they talk about "restraint" and "sobriety."

Among themselves, thoughtful designers are putting the change of mood into a different context, as they talk about the "Muslimization" of fashion. They are referring both to drawing, deliberately or unconsciously, on a culture of female sobriety. In a world clearly in turmoil, cocooning clothes are a response.

As with any artist, the creative process of fashion design is complex. Lagerfeld said that he surprised himself by designing ankle-length white shirts, only realizing afterwards that they looked like a fashion take on Arabian culture.

"It was very strange," Lagerfeld says. "It goes in your mind and out of your fingers. You don't do it on purpose. It is about sensitivity and one cannot escape this kind of influence. It also has something mysterious, a mood of danger - something exciting."

Mysterious, dangerous, and exciting -- like joining a cult and drinking poisoned Kool-Aid. Ever so much fun until you wake up dead.

Sickened? Let Velvet Mo cheer you up.

Treasury to Shut Down State . . . Right?

2006-02-26T22:16:00.000+01:00

Even Canada and the EU are queasy about funding Hamas -- but not the rogue tranzis cheerleading for Allah at the US State Department, oh no.

The United States will continue sending ~~jizya~~ humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people even after a Hamas government is formed, a senior U.S. envoy told Palestinian leaders during the first high-level meeting between the two sides since Hamas' election victory.

State Department envoy David Welch said the U.S. continues "to be devoted to the humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people and we shall remain so."

How interesting. Here's an excerpt from the Treasury Department's profile of Hamas:

The U.S. designated HAMAS as a terrorist organization pursuant to Executive Order 12947 in 1995 and as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997. HAMAS was also designated a “specially designated global terrorist” under E.O. 13224 in 2001. HAMAS is a terrorist organization that has intentionally killed hundreds of innocent civilians and continues to kill and maim with the aim of terrorizing a civilian population.

During 2002, more than 370 persons – including 10 US citizens – were killed in Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip by acts of terrorism. HAMAS was responsible for carrying out more than 50 of these attacks, including shootings, suicide bombings, and standoff mortar-and-rocket attacks against civilian and military targets.

Three months after 9/11, a "charity" called the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) was designated as a terrorist fundraising organization and shut down for funneling money to Hamas.

The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) was designated under Executive Orders 13224 and 12947 as a charity that provided millions of dollars of material and logistical support to HAMAS. HLF, originally known as the Occupied Land Fund, was established in California in 1989 as a tax-exempt charity. In 1992, HLF relocated to Richardson, Texas. It had offices in California, New Jersey, and Illinois, and individual representatives scattered throughout the United States, the West Bank, and Gaza. In the year 2000 alone, HLF raised over $13 million. HLF supported HAMAS activities through direct fund transfers to its offices in the West Bank and Gaza that are affiliated with HAMAS and transfers of funds to Islamic charity committees ("zakat committees") and other charitable organizations that are part of HAMAS or controlled by HAMAS members.

So it must follow that the Treasury Department will have to designate the State Department as a terrorist financing organization under Executive Orders 13224 and 12947, and shut it down.

Right?

Will Europe Fight?

2006-02-26T14:57:00.000+01:00

A friend e-mailed, asking if I agreed with Victor Davis Hanson's assessment that Europeans will eventually recover their fighting spirit. Hanson's column of last week, What Will Europe Really Do?, actually leaves it up to the reader to make a prediction:

Once threatened, it will either react with a newly acquired Churchillian maturity to protect its civilization, or cave, in hopes that even more Chamberlain-type appeasement will satisfy the Islamists.

He writes this as though Europe is a cohesive whole, which, on many levels, is not exactly true. The most important division in Europe is between ordinary people, and the utopian elites who govern them. Because of the this yawning gap, both weakness and strength can be expected -- in that order. For what it's worth, here's my prediction.

News out of Europe consists almost exclusively of what the legions of delusional bureaucrats are saying and doing. But when you go around and talk to ordinary Germans, Dutch, Danes, and so on, they are wonderfully unencumbered with all the multicultural, politically correct baggage their rulers -- and Americans -- carry around. Most know damn well what the problem is, and don't feel any shame in clearly stating it: Islam. However, Europeans also seem conditioned to just accept their fate, so most are worried or angry, but passive. Unfortunately, the only people who are worried and angry, and ready to take action, are all the neo-Nazi National Fronts.

If I had to guess at how it would go down, I'd say that some huge riot or bombing will be followed by demands the Eurocrats can't refuse (Tony Blankley touches on a similar scenario in the first chapter of The West's Last Chance). But once Islamist demands get enacted and start interfering with people's lives, I don't think ordinary Europeans will stand for it. That's when the tide of rebellion is likely to wash in.

Guns useful for anything beyond hunting quail are universally illegal in Europe. So if the nationalists aren't already plugging into the black market and setting up arms smuggling networks (from eastern Europe), they will. And then the Eurocrats will have a perpetual low-intensity conflict on their hands. Jos Schmo & pals shoot some Muslims or burn down a mosque, then Mo Schmo & pals retaliate, until parts of Europe look more like Iraq.

Modern Europeans fight every war the same way: they appease and back down and wait too damn long, so by the time they realize that action must be taken, they're forced to employ repulsively extreme measures. So if Islamists are dumb enough to start suicide-bombing cafes and shopping centers as in Israel, I think there's a good chance they'd start being massacred in large numbers. Men, women, and children alike -- all because the utopian elites are too "tolerant" and "enlightened" to adopt restrictive, but non-military, measures now.

One way it could spiral into all-out civil war is if the Eurocrats brought in the military to crush all violence equally, which they probably would. European forces are small and composed almost entirely of conscripts, so it's likely they would experience numerous desertions. Many of the soldiers who stay would be likely to look the other way rather than fire on their own countrymen, and some could be expected to actively assist a native resistance. By that time, nationalists would start winning elections like crazy, and eventually, Europeans would take back the continent.

Europe will remain European, I'm quite sure, but not without another bloodbath. It's too soon to predict whether US forces would wind up assisting, but one thing is certain: Islamists and nationalists both hate Jews, who need to get out now.

Hanson's column ends: "It should be a fascinating spring ahead." Agreed.

Oh, This is Gonna Be Fun

2006-02-25T13:51:00.000+01:00

Securing her place in history alongside Tokyo Rose and Hanoi Jane, Moonbat-in-Chief Cindy Sheehan will be ~~agitating for the enemy~~ headlining a protest at Landstuhl Army Medical Center in Germany on March 11 and 12.

Driven to psychosis by the death of her son in Iraq, apparently she objects to medical care for wounded soldiers and wants everyone else's son to die too. Let's hope a Landstuhl psychiatrist can find her a padded room and some decent meds. As for her supporters, I don't know what their excuse is.

Priceless quotes from Thursday's front-page Stars & Stripes story:

[Elsa Rassbach, an event organizer with American Voices Abroad, which is supporting Sheehan’s trip] said, "We’re here to just democratically talk about U.S. policy."

That's "democratic" as in the "German Democratic Republic" and the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea."

Sheehan’s goals are to bring the troops home and have peace on earth, she said in an e-mail to Stars and Stripes. . . . Rassbach said, “we just want less wounded troops and for this to go away."

How old is she? Six-and-a-half? Seven? Ah, but I've just insulted seven-year-olds, many of whom can speak with greater depth about war. That would not include Jimmy Carter's daughter.

With the Kaiserslautern military community home to more than 50,000 Americans with military ties, Sheehan could face a rough welcome. When asked for comment Wednesday on Sheehan’s upcoming visit, several soldiers in Kaiserslautern asked if they could be quoted anonymously.

One soldier, who recently returned from Iraq, did give his name but didn’t have much to say about Sheehan. "Anything I would have to say about her, you couldn’t print," Army Staff Sgt. Mark Genthner said.

Officials at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center have received no requests for the group to visit the hospital or make donations, said Marie Shaw, hospital spokeswoman.

Rassbach said she did not know what response servicemembers would have to Sheehan’s appearance outside Ramstein Air Base.

Heh. Bet she's gonna find out. Be sure to see Soldier's Angels Germany for more reax & info on the counterprotest.

Now That's an Apology

2006-02-25T13:33:00.000+01:00

As I wrote this morning, I believe we're now past the point where even our most strident words have the power to derail the oncoming freight train. But I also wrote that we should continue to use them with all possible vigor for as long as we can. It's a matter of principle. And this is exactly what I mean:

The Official Apology, From Denmark to the Muslim World, simply called "We´re Sorry!

We´re sorry we gave you shelter when war drove you from your home country....
We´re sorry we took you in when others rejected you.....
We´re sorry we gave you the opportunity to get a good education.....
We´re sorry we gave you food and a home when you had none.....
We´re sorry we let you re-unite with your family when your homeland was no longer safe...
We´re sorry we never forced you to work while WE paid all your bills.....
We´re sorry we gave you almost FREE rent, phone, internet, car and school for your 10 kids...
We´re sorry we build you Mosques so you could worship your religion in our Christian land...
We´re sorry we never forced you to learn our language after staying 30 years!....

And so....from all Danes to the entire Muslim world,we just wanna say . . .

Well, I do try to avoid using the word that comes next, so you'll have to click the link!

The Downward Spiral

2006-02-25T07:56:00.000+01:00

As Muslim fury peaked over the Muhammad cartoons, this picture was taken at a "protest" in London three weeks ago.

Now, a court in Nordrhein-Westfalen has sentenced a 61-year-old German man to one year in jail and 300 hours of community service for marketing toilet paper with the word "Koran" printed on it, and pledging to donate the proceeds to victims of Islamic terrorism.

Outside Paris, a 23-year-old Jewish man was tortured for three weeks and left for dead by Muslims who lured him with female bait. Ilan Halimi, who sensed which way the winds are blowing and was saving up to move to Israel, died on the way to the hospital. French authorities, naturally, have been working overtime to bury the religion/ethnicity of both the victim and the perpetrators.

In the wake of the Cartoon Intifada, EU officials and national governments are scrambling to decide how best to restrict free speech -- that of the blasphemers, mind you, not of the pro-genocide Muslim "protesters." Presently, I'll compile the long, sordid list of eager Eurodhimmis and what they're proposing. But first, I'd like to explain why I've been MIA for the last two weeks.

Reason number one is simply a huge workload and not enough hours in the day. Reason number two, however, is what I want to discuss. Every single day, I browse the news with my morning cup of coffee, and feel an increasing sense of futility and inevitability.

Multiple times daily, Islamists murder an innocent, burn down an embassy, destroy a church, suicide-bomb an unsuspecting crowd, burn a flag, issue a death threat, put a bounty on an infidel's head, publish sick blood-libel propaganda, blame the US and/or Israel for everything, hold a "peace" rally demanding the extermination of non-Muslims, credibly threaten to finish what Hitler started, and insist on shari'a in the West.

And multiple times daily, Western dhimmis issue apologies, gloss over the violence out of "respect" for Islam, hold conferences to work out how best to accede to Muslim demands, defend unchecked Muslim immigration, turn a blind eye to the atrocious treatment of non-Muslims in Islamic countries, and refuse to even arrest "protesters" who would as soon kill us all.

At the same time, the Cartoon Jihad has awakened a segment of the West that for whatever reason was not roused by 9/11, 3/11, or 7/7. Nevermind the thousands of lives those events claimed; now that 12 Danish cartoonists are living in secrecy and fear under 24-hour police protection, even comatose pacifist liberals are starting to grasp that the Green Peril is no phantom bogeyman. Good. Better late than never.

But here's my problem. Regardless of what I say -- or Robert Spencer, or Ali Sina, or Daniel Pipes, or Michelle Malkin, or Charles Johnson, or Andrew Bostom, or Nidra Poller, or Mark Steyn, or Oriana Fallaci, or Victor Davis Hanson, or Bat Ye'or, or Ibn Warraq, or any number of other writers far more eminent than I -- our words are so much ephemeral fluff in the face of the oncoming freight train. Within living memory, we've been through this before: Europe watched the Nazi juggernaut gather steam for nearly a full decade, finding the resolve to do something only after it was too late. Here we are once again -- but the consequences of acting "too late" will be far worse.

Imagine how much more difficult it would have been to defeat Nazism if it'd had official immunity as a respected world religion. If large populations of committed Nazis had lived in allied territories, under the protection of laws discouraging, prohibiting, or criminalizing Naziphobia. If our cultural climate had been so dysfunctional that we accepted genocidal thugocracy as merely a diverse alternative to democratic freedoms. If we'd been admonished not to criticize Mein Kampf by people who'd never read it, and threatened with death by people who'd read it very carefully indeed. If we'd been so unsure of ourselves, and so eager to surrender, that mocking Nazis provoked widespread official opprobrium.

We wouldn't have defeated Nazism. We would be speaking German, packing our eight kids off to Hitler Jugend rallies, and hunting down every last Jew, gypsy, and misfit. And we would have done it with attitudes ranging from tired indifference to enthusiastic piety. It would have been a world, as Nietzsche put it, beyond good and evil.

Maybe I'm being melodramatic here. The point is, I'm increasingly convinced that nothing I or any other resister says will change what is coming. While we must use our power to speak with all possible vigor while we still have it -- Europeans especially -- it's also time to think about what we will do when our efforts fail to slow or reverse the inevitable. Western governments occasionally shovel shit against the tide, but overall, we cannot count on their protection, at least not until too many have lost too much. I suppose I'd say it feels as if we're running out of time.

So, these last two silent weeks, I've been contemplating how much I appreciate the things we have, and the unfathomable things we, as individuals, might have to do to protect them.

Carpe diem!

Death To Valentine's Day

2006-02-12T14:52:00.000+01:00

Some group of perpetually outraged, puritanical church ladies is always out there competing for the Biggest Buzzkill award. Alas, the time-honored tradition of mocking uptight Baptists and nuns with rulers is becoming a cherished relic of a bygone era, now that non-Muslims everywhere face rather more than a scolding from the Lionesses of Islam^TM and their heavily-armed men.

An Islamic separatist women's group, known for its fierce opposition to Western-style romance, vowed to prevent couples celebrating Valentine's Day in revolt-hit Indian Kashmir.

"Revolt-hit"? Surely there's a less awkward circumlocution for "jihad."

"We will not allow anyone to observe Valentine's Day as it does nothing but spread immorality among youth," said Aasiya Andrabi, firebrand leader of the separatist Dukhtaran-e-Millat or Daughters of Faith.

The group, which supports a 16-year-old separatist insurgency against New Delhi's rule in Indian Kashmir, is also engaged in a crusade to stamp out immorality in the Muslim-majority region.

Valentine's Day, which is celebrated February 14, is "against our culture and Islamic teachings," Andrabi said in a statement reported by Current News, a local news agency.

The anti-Valentine's Day protest Andrabi's return to moral policing after her release from jail where she spent four months for harassing a couple.

The group kicked off its campaign Friday against "Lover's Day" in Srinagar, the state's summer capital, by raiding half a dozen shops, confiscating Valentine's Day cards and making a bonfire out of them.

Gee, they ought to get together with unshaven Berkeley feminazis, who often rage against Valentine's Day because they can never get a date. But somehow I don't think The Lionesses would appreciate The Vagina Monologues.

Technical Difficulties?

2006-02-12T12:54:00.000+01:00

For the last 3-4 days, we've been unable to access certain websites through German ISPs. LGF, Jihad Watch, and other "radioactive" sites come up just fine, but others, like Drudge, Malkin, as well as a variety of non-political sites, return only an error message. Same results using Firefox and IE, and attempts through different ISPs within Germany.

German courts have ruled that the government may block foreign Nazi sites, and I wouldn't be surprised if some overzealous tranzi put Drudge and Malkin in this category. Alternatively, an undersea cable gets cut from time to time, drastically restricting access to US servers. But neither of these possibilities explain why we can access some US and UK sites but not others, such as bicycle parts or gravesites of famous scientists. Any info on what the story is would be much appreciated.

Just Because We Can

2006-02-09T20:25:00.000+01:00

Oh lordy. The cartoon jihad has unleashed some of the best humor the civilized world has produced in eons. Don't miss:

Muzzie rave party feat. DJ Iman Hussein. Ecstasy, glow sticks, and pacifiers would not add much to the weirdness.

Wisconsin Lutherans riot over caricatures of Vince Lombardi: "Those who sow the curds of blasphemy will reap the cheddar wheel of destruction."

Today's Tidbits

2006-02-07T05:52:00.000+01:00

The Face of Muhammad has mapped the Cartoon War, marking countries belonging to the Dar al-Harb (house of war, that's us infidels), the Dar al-Sulh (the house of truce, i.e., neutrals and compliant dhimmis), and the Dar al-Islam (the house of Islam). The lines of the global war are being drawn.

It's sobering, but we mustn't forget to mock the enemy: The Anonymous Muslim Complaint Box.

Sublime Taqqiya from the FMC

2006-02-05T13:45:00.000+01:00

The Free Muslims Coaltion Against Terrorism (FMC) is supposed to be different from all those other CAIR-clone purveyors of double-talk and hogwash, but really, they differ only in their level of sophistication. Buried in their alleged condemnation of Muslims' reactions to the Danish Muhammad cartoons is this choice tidbit:

The response by Muslims to the cartoons is absolutely pathetic and depressing but revealing. The reason Muslims are responding with anger and threats of violence is because most Muslims live in countries where democracy and freedom of speech are alien concepts. Moreover, the Muslim world suffers from a lack of visionary leadership.

No. Muslims are responding with threats and violence because this is what the Qur'an, the hadith, and Islamic leaders, clerics, and scholars teach. Depictions of Muhammad are idols, and idolatry is punishable by death. The end. Many non-Muslims live in places where democracy and freedom of speech are alien concepts, and none of them react to cartoons by burning down embassies and vowing to exterminate the infidels. Fanaticism is an inherent feature of Islam.

. . . the stupid reaction by Muslims has caused many more news papers to publish insulting images of the Prophet Mohammed. When will Muslims wake up and realize that their intolerance of opposing opinions is ~~making the kafirs resistant to Islam~~ keeping them in the dark ages?

You can read the whole thing here, as well as comment on FMC's blog.

Weekend Warrior

2006-02-05T09:38:00.000+01:00

Regrettably, my workload has suddenly skyrocketed, with no particular lull in sight. The paycheck is nice, but for a while at least, it means I'll probably be limited to posting on the weekends.

The big story this week is, of course, the rapidly degenerating Muhammad cartoon situation. A profusion of other blogs are covering it in extensive detail, so I see no need to duplicate their efforts.

Die Welt, the German paper that published the Danish cartoons, said it best: freedom of speech includes the right to blaspheme. I emphatically agree, so here's a link to some of my favorite collateral blasphemy (such as the ones below). Enjoy!

Merkel Likens Iran to Nazi Era

2006-02-05T09:34:00.000+01:00

Bravo.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel likened Iran's nuclear plans on Saturday to the threat posed by the Nazis in their early days, as top U.S. officials urged a tough line to stop Tehran from making an atomic bomb.

Addressing the annual Munich security conference, Merkel said countries around the world had underestimated the Nazi threat as Adolf Hitler rose to power.

"Looking back to German history in the early 1930s when National Socialism (Nazism) was on the rise, there were many outside Germany who said 'It's only rhetoric -- don't get excited'," she told the assembled world defense policy makers.

"There were times when people could have reacted differently and, in my view, Germany is obliged to do something at the early stages ... We want to, we must prevent Iran from developing its nuclear program."

Caliphate Corkers

2006-01-27T08:48:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the hiatus, everyone -- we bloggers have to change out of our PJs and go make an actual living from time to time! Which is too bad, cuz apparently the news needs a babysitter. Turn your back for one minute, and things go to hell in a handbasket.

I. Palestinians have gotten their state, and its name is Hamastan. A terrorist group responsible for almost 400 murders since 2000 has won an election. Here's what the Free Muslims Coalition has to say about it:

The Free Muslim Coalition applauds President Mahmoud Abbas of Palestine and his FATAH party for respecting the results of democracy in light of their substantial losses to the radical Islamic group, HAMAS.

Fatah is the "moderate" party, meaning "conquest;" HAMAS is the acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement.

This is the first time in modern Arab history that a ruling party gracefully accepts its losses. The Palestinian people have become the most democratic people in the entire Arab and Muslim world and this is a cause for celebration.

Not Iraqis or Afghans, mind you, but people who cheered in the streets on 9/11.

However, HAMAS' win poses serious questions to the future of the Palestinian/Israeli peace talks. At present, Israel is saying it will not deal with HAMAS and HAMAS has said that it will not deal with Israel. So what's next?

The Free Muslims Coalition, while disappointed with the election results, believe that all sides must respect the wishes of the Palestinian people. The main issue for internal Palestinian politics and the international community is to make sure that HAMAS does not

keep raining down bloodshed and death on innocent civilians? Nooo. The biggest issue for the FMC is for Hamas to respect the democratic process that brought it to power.

try to create a theocratic "Islamic State" or change the rules that brought them to power as Iran had done after the Islamic revolution. If HAMAS tries to change election rules where only people with an Islamic ideology can enter elections in the future then the entire world should boycott and suspend all aid to a HAMAS led government.

. . . The world should not boycott HAMAS without giving them a chance to do the right thing by pursing a non-violent approach to solving the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. Attacking HAMAS at this point may only strengthen their hold on Palestinian hearts and minds.

Riiight. Resisting terrorism causes terrorism. Tells you something about the terrorists -- and their supporters.

II. In France: there's an uproar over . . . pork soup (Hit tip: TC).

Small groups linked to the extreme right are ladling pork soup to France's homeless. Critics and some officials denounce the charity as discriminatory: because it contains pork, the soup is off-limits for Muslims.

Critics view the stew — dubbed "identity soup" by its cooks — as a cynical far-right ploy to penetrate the most vulnerable level of society while masking their intentions as humanitarian.

The associations offering the soup are satellites of Bloc Identitaire, a small, extreme-right movement that defends the European identity and, as its leader Fabrice Robert said, "the rights of the little whites."

"It's not that we don't like Muslims. It's a problem of critical mass," Robert said in a telephone interview. "Just 1,000 Muslims in France poses no problem, but 6 million poses a big problem."

. . . "One has the right to be charitable toward whom one wants," said Bruno Gollnisch, the [National Front] party's No. 2. Moves to forbid soup kitchens offering pork reveal authorities' "alienation" from the French people, he said.

And this is exactly why Le Pen & Co. are winning votes: they're often the only people left who make any sense.

III. Because today's satire is often tomorrow's reality, writing it has become inreasingly difficult. Atlanta Rofters has made a respectable effort:

American Islamic Leaders Warn Of Anti-Muslim Backlash Following Next Month's Nuking Of Tel Aviv

The D.C. Islamic Eternal Justice Endeavor against War and Stereotyping (DIEJEWS) yesterday issued a strongly worded statement condemning a rising backlash against Muslims following next month's nuclear bombing of Tel Aviv, Israel by Iran. The press release warned against an increase in anti-Muslim discrimination, hate crimes, and government harassment following the destruction of the unofficial Israeli capital city next month, as announced by the Iranian government.

"We call on all Americans of goodwill to hold fast to our traditional American values of tolerance and diversity," the statement said in part. "No justification is possible for the heightened tensions and increased suspicions against innocent Muslims following next month's tragic events. The chilling of Islamic-American relations will overshadow the great strides made since 9/11 in rolling back jingoism." The statement stopped short of calling the nuclear bombing of Tel Aviv by the Islamic Republic of Iran a terrorist act, but called for "restraint by both sides" in future crises.

"Next month's nuking of Tel Aviv and the subsequent dancing in the streets by Muslims worldwide have nothing to do with Islam," DIEJEWS spokesperson Marysuellen al-Shahid said in a telephone interview. "We condemn what's going to happen. People claim they are doing it for Islam, but it's really in spite of Islam. The first people to suffer, after the victims, are the Muslim community. There is no justification for such a horrible crime in Islam, any other divine faith or even the court of human conscience, no matter how many sermons have been preached in mosques calling for exactly this. People have to remember that even though the Revolutionary Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran has nuclear weapons and will use them, they are only a tiny minority of Muslims, who are peace-loving.

. . . In a related development, Nevergreen University announced that, in advance of next month's attack and backlash, all students will be required to attend a "sensitivity workshop" on various aspects of Islamic life, beliefs, and customs. Students will "graduate" by coming before a panel from the university's Islamic Studies department and apologizing for the battles of Tours, Malta, Lepanto, Khartoum, and the Gates of Vienna. The panel will grade them on the sincerity of their regret, and grant extra credit for not being able to name the victorious Christian commanders.

It would be funnier if it didn't so closely resemble reality.

German Mosques

2006-01-23T14:06:00.000+01:00

Lorenzo Vidino has written an excellent profile on the IGD (The Islamic Society of Germany) and Milli Görüs (National Vision), the two dominant Islamist groups in Germany. Since these groups advertise their mosques and cultural centers quite openly, I thought I'd go have a look.

Pictured above is Hochstrasse 88, Saarbrücken, one of 30 or so mosques affiliated with the IGD. It's one of several locations I've visited, with the intention of doing a big post with lots of pictures. However, my pictures are mostly worthless, as many of their "mosques" are in bland apartment buildings like this, or otherwise inaccessible. This in itself is a curiosity.

Like many of the "cultural centers" we tracked down, this building has no address on it; it's identifiable as #88 only because the building on the left is #90, while to the right is an empty lot, then #84.

Another notable fact that's difficult to capture in pictures is the level of filth in Muslim neighborhoods. All across the country, the German prediliction for order translates into impeccably clean public spaces. German churches often display black & white photos from WWII that capture the German compulsion for cleanliness: bent old ladies with brooms, absurdly sweeping away dust amidst towering piles of rubble.

This somehow does not penetrate into Muslim areas. Yesterday we were in Mannheim to take a walking tour of several mosques, many of which are clustered in the largely Muslim neighborhood of Jungbusch. About 50 meters off the main street, we realized we looked quite conspicuous. Another 50 meters in, we began noting litter everywhere. Yet another 50 meters in, our minds turned to the Harlem scene from Die Hard 3. And it was right about then that we decided to turn back and do the rest by car. Jungbusch bore strong similarities to Lebach.

It's difficult to tell what goes on in the mosques from outward appearances, though there are aspects that seem to separate the "scary" ones from what look like innocuous community centers. The former tend to be fenced-in compounds in industrial areas, with no signage or minarets and what appear to be guards loitering outside. The latter tend to be well-marked, with headscarfed women coming and going and kids playing out front.

These are just my initial impressions. I'd like to continue the investigation, but I'll need to devise better methods. Please post your suggestions!

Usual Suspects Update

2006-01-22T03:09:00.000+01:00

Coupla whoppers today.

It's been confirmed that Germany did pay a ransom for Susanne Osthoff -- in U.S. dollars -- and she and her "captors" split the take.

Part of the ransom money alleged to have been paid by the German government to win the freedom of Iraq hostage Susanne Osthoff last month was found on Osthoff after her release, the German magazine Focus said on Saturday.

Without citing its sources, Focus said officials at the German embassy in Baghdad had found several thousand U.S. dollars in the 43-year-old German archaeologist's clothes when she took a shower at the embassy shortly after being freed.

The serial numbers on the bills matched those used by the government to pay off Osthoff's kidnappers, the magazine said.

Efforts to contact Osthoff for comment through her mother and a friend failed.

And NIN reports that high school student Farris Hassan's story is looking like a steaming pile of MSM dung.

Even the most basic research found that Farris Hassan was NOT enrolled in any journalism class at Pine Crest, which should automatically cast doubt on the true nature of his journey. Lourdes Cowgill, president of the Pine Crest School, said that Hassan was never given an "immersion journalism" assignment and added that there is, in fact, no journalism class at the school. Also, the school confirmed that the boy’s father, Dr. Redha Hassan not only knew of his son’s intended travels, but authorized his absence, which is inconsistent with his initial public statements.

Further, investigation found a number of other inconsistencies in the public statements made by Dr. Redha Hassan. Although it was initially reported that neither parent knew of the young boy’s intended travels, it was ultimately revealed that Dr. Hassan actually assisted his son. He admitted that he arranged for his son's flight into Baghdad through his political connections, even though he knew the grave risks to “foreigners” wandering the streets of Baghdad. [According to a January 2, 2005 CNN news story, Hassan's father said that he had helped his son get a visa into Iraq from Beirut. The elder Hassan said he was leaving Iraq himself when the teen called, unable to get into the country from Kuwait. He told him to go to Lebanon and said he spoke with him almost daily].

Perhaps most importantly, research and investigation into Dr. Redha Hassan found that he was arrested by the FBI in 1985 for forging 2000 Iraqi passports and military I.D. cards and seeking to forge 2,000 more. Dr. Hassan asked his next-door-neighbor and print store owner Joel Feinstein to make the passports and IDs. According to Feinstein, Dr. Hassan claimed the documents were for his family in Iraq. Feinstein reported the request to the FBI, and became an operational asset for the federal government, leading to Hassan’s arrest. Also arrested were two of Farris's uncles and a "pro-Khomeini" activist identified as Salah Jawad Shubber. Interestingly, Dr. Hassan, who also went by the name Redha K. Alsawaf, was also the President of the now defunct Florida non-profit organization World Orphanage & Refugee Relief Foundation at the time of his arrest. Authorities dropped the charges against Hassan, and Shubber ultimately pled guilty to conspiracy charges.

Farris Hassan’s initial stop was Amsterdam, Netherlands, where he claims that he bought a ticket on KLM Airlines. From Amsterdam, Hassan headed to Kuwait City, where he alleges that he tried to cross the Kuwait-Iraq border twice by taxi, but was turned away due to Iraqi elections. At that point, it appears that Hassan sought assistance from his father, who told Farris to travel to Beirut and stay with family friends. Obligingly, Farris spent ten days in Beirut, and while there, met with a media relations officer of the terrorist group Hezbollah at their Central Press Office. This meeting was arranged through the assistance of his hosts – the family’s friends.

Walter Duranty meets P.T. Barnum.

Iran's Continued Psyops

2006-01-21T10:51:00.000+01:00

When he's not dismissing the Holocaust as a myth, Ahmadinejad accepts its truth -- and prepares Europeans to blame themselves when he "wipes Israel off the map."

In a new attack on the existence of Israel, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has challenged Europe to take back the Jews who emigrated to Israel, adding that no Jews would remain in Israel if Europe were to open its doors.

Ahmadinejad delivered the challenge after arriving in Syria for a two-day visit on Thursday. Addressing Europe, he asked: "Would you open the doors of your own countries to these (Jewish) immigrants so that they could travel to any part of Europe they chose?"

"Would you offer the necessary guarantees that you would provide for their security when they came to your countries and not allow another anti-Semitic wave in Europe?" he added in an apparent reference to recent attacks on Jewish cemeteries and properties in European states.

He said Europe should welcome Jewish people to prove its sincerity in supporting people's freedoms. He added he was confident that no Jews would remain in Israel if European countries allowed them to immigrate.

The MMs seem to have an even clearer grasp of the West's achilles heel than Saddam: suggest to them that everything bad in the world is their fault, and the half that believes it will scream and howl and cripple the half who sees it for the propaganda it is. Besides tapping into Europe's impotent guilt over the Holocaust, European foreign policy has been sacrificing Israel for three decades now -- so there's just enough truth to it to scramble the minds of people with no sense of right and wrong. It's frankly a brilliant strategy.

Victor Davis Hanson puts it much more eloquently:

[Ahmadinejad] has studied the recent Western postmodern mind, nursed on its holy trinity of multiculturalism, moral equivalence and relativism. As a third-world populist, [he] expects that his own fascism will escape scrutiny if he just recites enough the past sins of the West. He also understands victimology. So he also knows that to destroy the Israelis, he -- not they -- must become the victim, and the Europeans the ones who forced his hand. Ahmadinejad also grasps that there are millions of highly educated but cynical Westerners who see nothing much exceptional about their own culture. So if democratic America has nuclear weapons, why not theocratic Iran? Moreover, he knows how Western relativism works. So who is to say what are "facts" or what is "true" -- given the tendency of the powerful to "construct" their own narratives and call the result "history."

So what's the West's brilliant counter-strategy? Finding a way to impose sanctions without depriving ordinary Iranians of oranges and bananas.

As Western governments debate how to punish Iran for its nuclear activities, Bush administration and European officials said Thursday that they wanted to avoid causing hardship or more anti-Western resentment in the Iranian public.

Fair enough. Something like 70% of Iranians like the U.S.

Iran's leverage over the West because of its oil exports and trade agreements are a fact of life that American and European officials said made sanctions in that area impractical. But these officials also argue the importance of not alienating Iranians who might support the West, causing them to rally around their leaders.

"A heavy-handed sanctions approach is going to hurt an awful lot of Iranians that we don't want to alienate," said a State Department official who is working on the issue. "We're going to have to be more surgical."

President Bush and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany discussed the need for "smart sanctions" in a meeting last week, according to a German diplomatic official, with Mrs. Merkel in particular pushing for care in not angering the Iranian public.

. . . In their discussions last week, Mrs. Merkel gave Mr. Bush a personal example of how such sanctions affected her fellow East Germans during the Communist years, the German diplomatic official said Thursday. She recalled that she and other Germans sympathetic to the West had no problem with Western actions that punished Communist leaders but that "if we ran out of oranges or bananas, then we didn't like it."

. . . "The focus on smart sanctions makes sense because they work the best," said Patrick Clawson, deputy director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "Big economic sanctions would not only be difficult to get, but Iran has vast foreign reserves from its oil revenues, so they can ride out what gets thrown at them."

Just to keep things in perspective, we could end the nuclear threat tomorrow. It's strictly a question of will.

What is the Free Muslims Coalition?

2006-01-20T11:36:00.000+01:00

The Free Muslims Coalition Against Terrorism (FMC) is the project of Kamal Nawash. While he has apparently undergone a dramatic transformation, the fact remains that until 2001, Nawash was the general counsel for the American Muslim Council. The AMC's mission was da'wa and taqqiya -- proselytization, apologetics, and disinformation in the guise of "civil rights" concerns. Like CAIR, MPAC, MAS, ISNA, ICNA, MCB, and so on, the AMC was part of a propaganda network comparable to Comintern. It is now defunct, as the AMC's director, Abdurahman Alamoudi, was recently sentenced to 23 years for plotting assassinations and financing terrorism. Nawash served as Alamoudi's defense counsel.

Those of us who have been on the FMC's listserv since its inception in 2004 remain undecided as to Nawash's sincerity. Is he a really a reformed ex-Islamist, or is the FMC just another organ through which to lull gullible Westerners into a false sense of security? On one hand, many of Nawash's releases are worded as strongly and unequivocally as anyone could possibly want, and bring upon himself the flood of death threats that inevitably go with the territory. Generally, this is not a risk an insincere person would take.

However, given his background, it's hard not to be suspicious. People who are genuinely opposed to terrorism, of all kinds and in all places, will necessarily take certain positions, in particular with regard to Israel. A principled commitment against terrorism does not recognize some magic exception for terrorism against Israel. Committed anti-terrorists affirm Israel's right to exist, to defend itself, and to protect its citizens. Careful observers have also learned that appeasing Palestinian terrorists is a recipe for more terrorism, not less. When Palestinians speak of having their own state, they do not mean alongside Israel, they mean in its place, after its annihilation. Because he is the chief architect of the PLO's genocidal goals, no one who sincerely rejects terrorism could ever countenance elevating Yasser Arafat -- Israel's bin Laden -- to the status of a statesman.

Yet in the wake of Arafat's death, that is exactly what Nawash demanded. In a message to the FMC listserv on Nov. 5, 2004, he wrote:

As to Israel, the steps it takes now are crucial to its future ability to forge peace with the Palestinians, the Arabs and the Muslim world. Arafat has requested that he be buried in Jerusalem. Israel has rejected this request. This is a major mistake by Israel. Hundreds of Palestinians are buried in Jerusalem every year and one more is not going to make a difference or be symbolic of anything that is detrimental to Israel. It is in the best interest of Israel to allow Arafat to be buried in Jerusalem.

Arafat’s funeral can be on the Dome of the Rock. Arab and Muslim leaders from all over the world will naturally want to pay their last respects to Arafat. . . . Whether they land at Ben Gurion Air Port or fly directly to Jerusalem by helicopter, Arab and Muslim leaders should be received by the President of Israel and escorted to the funeral by the Israeli government. This move would show enormous good will by Israel and it will make it easier for the new Palestinian leadership to stop the violence and begin a new future with Israel.

For a mental exercise, let's try that one more time, with a few substitutions:

As to the US, the steps it takes now are crucial to its future ability to forge peace with the Palestinians, the Arabs and the Muslim world. Bin Laden has requested that he be buried in New York. The US has rejected this request. This is a major mistake by the US. Hundreds of Muslims are buried in New York every year and one more is not going to make a difference or be symbolic of anything that is detrimental to the US. It is in the best interest of the US to allow Bin Laden to be buried in New York.

Bin Laden’s funeral can be in Times Square. Arab and Muslim leaders from all over the world will naturally want to pay their last respects to Bin Laden. . . . Whether they land at JFK Air Port or fly directly to New York by helicopter, Arab and Muslim leaders should be received by the President of the United States and escorted to the funeral by the US government. This move would show enormous good will by the US and it will make it easier for the new leadership to stop the violence and begin a new future with America.

This is what Nawash is demanding of Israel. In the Muslim world, the founding of the state of Israel in 1948 is known as the nakba -- The Catastrophe. Not "a" catastrophe. The Catastrophe. Nawash knows that no demonstration of good will is ever reciprocated for more than an hour, before the shelling and suicide attacks resume. He knows that there is nothing Israel can or can not do to stop Palestinian terrorism, aside from securing their borders and killing the bad guys. The issue is that Jews and Israel exist, and only if they cease to exist will the terrorism end.

After I received this e-mail, I was disgusted and attempted to unsubscribe. After multiple attempts over several weeks, I gave up. You can't unsubscribe. So I continue to receive FMC's e-mails every couple of weeks, including today. Its main topic addressed the latest bin Laden tape:

The Free Muslims Coalition Against Terrorism interpreted bin Laden's remarks as a sign of weakness and an attempt to divide the American people. . . . The United States should ignore bin Laden's offer of truce and continue the search for him until he and everyone in his network is brought to justice.

I would prefer "continue hunting and killing," but okay. However, Nawash also knows that the truce offer is more than a sign of weakness; he knows it's a hudna.

In 628, Muhammad's army was based in Medina, and he sought to conquer Mecca by force as revenge for their rejection of his teachings. At the time, Muhammad was in a temporarily weakened position, so he concluded a truce with the Meccans, the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah. This was the first hudna: a truce with mental reservation. Muhammad signed the treaty; but his intention was to buy time to re-arm and consolidate, to enable him to attack from a position of strength later on. The treaty also functioned as a trap; it provided a legal basis upon which Muhammad could "catch" the Meccans in a minor, technical violation, giving him a pretext to launch an attack. Two years later, that's exactly what happened, and Muhammad slaughtered the dominant Quraysh tribe of Mecca.

In accordance with Islamic doctrine, Bin Laden models himself after Muhammad, thus this is almost certainly his intention as well. More to the point, Nawash is an (ex?) Islamist, and a lawyer, and is surely familiar with this famous precedent. One would think that he'd regard it as a priority to educate the FMC listserv about terrorists' ideology. But the e-mail makes no mention of what a "truce" means in Islamic law.

Finally, the e-mail concludes with a decidedly creepy reminder:

The Free Muslims would like to remind everyone about the "Eye on Extremism" program that was enacted in 2004. By visiting www.FreeMuslims.org, anyone can make an anonymous report about suspicious activities or individuals. In return, the Free Muslims will pass along all information to the proper authorities. Contact Kamal Nawash, 202-776-7190, 301-905-6438, president@freemuslims.org.

The Wikipedia entry for FMC is brief, but notes that the organization has a website "where Muslims can report suspcious activity." On one hand, Muslims who object to Islamist goals are in even greater danger than kaffirs, since they're regarded as apostates. Thus the FMC's open offer as an intermediary may indeed facilitate cooperation between scared Muslims and law enforcement agencies who may not understand just how great the risks are.

On the other hand, with the jury out on Nawash's true intentions, it may also function as a way for Islamists to collect information on self-identified Enemies of the Cause. Receiving tips and doing nothing with them would also be a useful way to prevent them from reaching the authorities.

So what is the FMC? Judge for yourself, and post your thoughts.

Hardball, French Style

2006-01-19T15:54:00.000+01:00

Seriously. Damn.

Yesterday: no more Mr. Nice Guy.

France rejected Iran's request for more talks on the Islamic republic's nuclear program, saying Wednesday that Tehran first must suspend its atomic activities.

Iran asked for a ministerial-level meeting with France, Germany, Britain and the European Union, but its decision to resume some uranium enrichment-related activities "means that it is not possible for us to meet under satisfactory conditions to pursue these discussions," French Foreign Ministry spokesman Denis Simonneau said in Paris. "Iran must return to a complete suspension of these activities."

Today: We have nukes too.

French President Jacques Chirac has said France would be ready to use nuclear weapons against any state which launched a terrorist attack against it.

Speaking at a nuclear submarine base in northwestern France, Mr Chirac said a French response "could be conventional. It could also be of another nature." He said France's nuclear forces had been configured for such an event.

This is certainly a refreshing change from France's usual policy of preemptive surrender. However, the use of nuclear weapons in response to an attack with conventional weapons is one of the few things that is indisputably illegal under international law. Unlike -- as Saddam's French trading partners tirelessly insisted -- the war in Iraq.

Well. It's good that someone has decided to dispense with the velvet diplo-speak and rattle a saber right back at Iran. But France's actual use of nuclear weapons would not necessarily be a good thing.

Baddie Update

2006-01-19T00:07:00.000+01:00

Great news: Midhat Mursi is titzup.

ABC News has learned that al Qaeda's master bomb maker and chemical weapons expert was one of the men killed in last week's U.S. missile attack in eastern Pakistan.

Midhat Mursi, 52, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, was identified by Pakistani authorities as one of three known al Qaeda leaders present at an apparent terror summit conference in the village of Damadola.

The United States had posted a $5 million reward for Mursi's capture. He is described by U.S. authorities as the man who ran al Qaeda's infamous Derunta training camp in Afghanistan, where he used dogs and other animals as subjects of experiments with poison and chemicals.

The bad news: in response to thugs' demands, the US will release six of eight female detainees in Iraq.

Iraq's ministry of justice has told the BBC that six of the eight women being held by coalition forces in Iraq are to be released early. The six will be freed because there is insufficient evidence to charge them, a justice ministry spokesman said.

The US forces have refused to confirm the releases, but say they would not be based on any operational activities.

The group holding US journalist Jill Carroll has said she will die unless all Iraqi women prisoners are freed.

The status of prisoners held by coalition forces is reviewed twice a week by a committee made up of the justice, human rights and interior ministries, and a representative of the US-led coalition.

However, the US military stressed that decisions over such matters were a detailed process that were unrelated to any other operational activity.

The really bad news: that same "detailed process" resulted in the release of Dr. Germ and Mrs. Anthrax last month, with no urging from terrorists.

The U.S. military has released eight former Baathist detainees of high value, a military spokesman said Monday [19 Dec 05].

Among them are two female biological weapons experts: Rihab Taha, the head of Iraq's biological weapons program, also known as "Dr. Germ;" and Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, a top weapons scientist, known as "Mrs. Anthrax," CNN has learned. Both were captured a week apart in May 2003.

A lawyer for both women, Badie Arif, confirmed their release, saying that in all 25 detainees were freed, eight of whom were considered high-value.

The U.S. military spokesman, Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, would not release details on the detainees except to say the release occurred Saturday as part of a detainee review process.

"We no longer had cause to hold them since they are no longer under investigation for crimes," Johnson said in a statement.

Celebrating Cultural Diversity

2006-01-18T11:46:00.000+01:00

Especially when they're barbaric nihilists who glorify the slaughter of innocents and endless total war. More "noble savage" pabulum from Kevin Sites:

Iran reveres its martyrs. But could respect for the dead lead to a threat against the living?

. . . Every row is alike at this cemetery for Iran's war dead, universally referred to here as "martyrs": long stone slabs laid side by side with the name of the dead, an etched portrait, and the date and name of the place he was killed, if known. There is a rectangular glass display case at the head of each grave, often filled with the martyr's Koran, prayer beads, an Iranian flag and a color photograph.

. . . In Iranian society there are few more revered than the martyrs -- defined as anyone killed during war or violent struggle -- or their families. Most receive financial benefits from the government for their sacrifice, including housing allowances for parents and widows, free healthcare, and educational stipends for surviving children.

But because so many were killed during the Iran-Iraq War (Iran has estimated that nearly 300,000 people died; figures for Iraqi dead run as high as 240,000) the Iranian government found it difficult to keep up with so many payments.

These are Iran's and Iraq's official figures for military fatalities, and do not account for the use of chemical weapons on civilians, or the millions maimed and millions of refugees. Proportional to their populations, the Iran-Iraq war was a bloodbath.

At the closing stages of the war, Iran was specifically criticized by the international community for its so-called Martyrs' Brigades, in which "dispensable" children would move in front of the combat troops, clearing minefields with their bodies and allowing Iranian troops to advance.

Spare me the scare quotes. Dispensable, expendable, disposable is exactly what they were. Sites is clearly ignorant of

the 500,000 plastic keys that Iran imported from Taiwan during the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-88. At the time, an Iranian law laid down that children as young as 12 could be used to clear mine fields. Before every mission, a plastic key would be hung around each of the children’s necks. It was supposed to open for them the gates to paradise.

The only note of disapproval appears to be a suggested parallel between Islamic death cultists and, say, flag-waving, bible-thumping Alabama rubes.

But because of the honor martyrs are given and the esteem in which they are held -- particularly amongst Iran's poor and more conservative religious populations -- the concept of actively seeking martyrdom has become an attractive option, especially amongst those who have little else to live for. The notions are reinforced by Iranian clergy.

The notions originate in the immutable words of Allah, dickweed. Crack open a Qur'an and see for yourself sometime. Well, I've had enough.

Moving on: while Western liberals may have raved over the jihadi propaganda piece "Paradise Now," the very suicide bombers it celebrates didn't like it. Not because it portrays them as bloodthirsty killers, but because it doesn't portray them as barbaric enough, plus it downplays their religious motivations. Funny, that's what I said.

The Palestinian film "Paradise Now," which explores the lives of a pair of suicide bombers and just won the Golden Globe for best foreign film, got two thumbs down Tuesday in this tough West Bank city where it was filmed.

Although the film — which snared the Golden Globe in Los Angeles on Monday — has never been screened in Nablus, residents here said the clips they saw on satellite television portrayed the bombers as godless and less than heroic.

"This movie doesn't help the Palestinian cause," said an armed Palestinian militant who would not give his name because he's on the run. "People who go to carry out bombings do not hesitate so much."

The film tells the story of two Nablus car mechanics who are sent to carry out a double suicide-bombing in Tel Aviv. They shave their beards to blend into Israeli crowds more easily, pray and prepare farewell videos.

Speaking during the glitzy award ceremony Monday, Abu-Assad said he believed the film's success stemmed from the world's recognition that the Palestinians deserve "liberty and equality unconditionally."

Try sheltered, ignorant, morally bankrupt Western "multiculturalists" who, by excusing atrocities perpetrated by anyone brown, are helping to fuel a global resurgence of anti-Semitism. Iran -- the original Aryans, by the way -- is about to rain down a second Holocaust, and Leni Riefenstahl retreads are winning awards? Does this make no one shudder?

The violence even interrupted the filming — once when Israel carried out a missile strike at militants near the camera crew and once when militants briefly kidnapped a cameraman in an effort to stop the filming of a movie they believed would portray them in a negative light.

The filming was then moved to an Israeli Arab city to avoid further interruptions.

Where they could not only film in peace, but those fascist Joooos did not hunt them down, confiscate their film, or check their library records.

During the Golden Globe ceremony, the film's place of origin was announced as "Palestine."

Naturally.

Hostage Update

2006-01-18T09:15:00.000+01:00

Report: Germans paid $5 million ransom for Osthoff.

The following from a report on Osthoff in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of 4 January:
On her [Osthoff's] account, money was paid by Germany for her release. "The kidnappers had an offer from the Germans. I cannot tell you the exact amount," said the former hostage, who was released shortly before Christmas, in an interview with the magazine Stern.... The first offer was, however, too low for the hostage-takers - "they had, after all, to save face and cover their costs."
If a report from the German domestic wire service ddp is to be believed, however, the hostage-takers did much more than just "cover their costs". The ddp report cites information from unnamed German intelligence sources. Here a resumé from Focus Online [link in German]:
As the ddp reports, the [German] federal government paid around $5 million to the hostage-takers for the release of Osthoff. An envoy of the BND [the German intelligence agency] is supposed to have brought the money, divided up into smaller bills, from Berlin to Iraq, as the hostage-takers demanded. According to what is being said in intelligence circles, the "bound parcel" was of "considerable weight."
Incidentally, the ddp report also claims that Susanne Osthoff worked as an informant for the BND in Iraq. In her Stern interview, Osthoff denies such reports, but admits to having received material support, supposedly on a personal basis, from a BND agent. According to Osthoff, the agent even sent a "whole playmobil set" as a Christmas present to her daughter in Germany, "since I didn't have the money". Inasmuch as the BND seems to have had excellent relations with the previous Baathist regime in Iraq, one might well wonder: what exactly is the BND doing in Iraq today?

And: Christian Science Monitor reporter abducted, US given 3 days to release all female Iraqi prisoners. What, all two of them?

Blog of the Day

2006-01-17T15:47:00.000+01:00

I've made an addition to the blogroll, The Religious Policeman. He's a Saudi living in the UK, with a biting wit employed to great effect against the oil ticks. The picture is part of his post on the recent Assad-Abdullah meeting, which is hilarious, so go ye and read!

Entropy Happens

2006-01-17T11:03:00.000+01:00

The second law of thermodynamics holds that the total entropy of a system -- a measure of disorder or chaos -- increases over time. The march is always toward a net increase in entropy, despite the creation of pockets of order here and there resulting from inputs of energy. As the West does not expend the required energy, entropy is winning.

Brussels:

In an attempt to persuade the Muslim immigrants to vote for them, the Socialists are selling out to them. Particularly Philippe Moureaux, the leader of the Brussels PS and the mayor of Molenbeek, a Brussels suburb with one of the largest concentrations of North African immigrants, prides himself on this. Moureaux has abandoned Molenbeek to Islamic “youths.” Last year he declared that it was “not expedient” for the police to patrol in Muslim quarters and he prohibited police officers from drinking coffee or eating sandwiches on the streets during ramadan. Moureaux hopes to get the Muslim vote during the municipal elections.

During Eid-al-Adha, an estimated 20,000 sheep are slaughtered in Brussels, of which less than 10% in official establishments. Secretary Kir told the Brussels Parliament that the religious beliefs of the Muslims have to be taken into account. The authorities deliberately failed to interfere, even in situations such as the one on this picture, taken last Tuesday in the Brussels suburb of Neder-over-Heembeek. This is Brussels, the capital of Europe, in the year 2006.

France:

"There’s a civil war underway," one [Paris police] officer declared. "We can no longer withstand this situation on our own. My colleagues neither have the equipment nor the practical or theoretical training for street fighting."

. . . If the politicians bring in the army they are acknowledging what the policemen, the fire fighters and the ambulance drivers know but what the political and media establishment wants to hide from the people: that there is civil war brewing and that Europe is in for a long period of armed conflict. This is the last thing appeasing politicians want to do and so they have begun to criticise Sarkozy.

The appeasers are found not only in the opposition parties but also within Sarkozy’s own party, where Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who envies him his popularity, is eager to bring his rival down. Apart from political intra-party rivalry, however, there are two reasons why most politicians seem to be of the appeasing kind.

The first one is that the Muslim population in Western Europe has become so large that politicians fear what it might be capable of. . . . A second reason why some politicians try to appease the Muslims is that these are now a substantial segment of the voting population. Demographics are deciding the fate of Europe’s democracy.

United States:

Setting the tone at the recent conference of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), Tariq Ramadan addressed "young Western Muslims" telling them, "If you want to help the oppressed - vote - don’t kill the people, but build a better understanding in your own society."

A Swiss citizen, Ramadan is currently banned from entering the United States by order of the Department of Homeland Security. His Long Beach speech was delivered by video. In 1996 he was temporarily banned from entering France, suspected of ties to an Algerian terror group.

The French newspaper, Le Monde accuses him of organizing a 1991 meeting between al Qaeda's second-in-charge, Ayman al Zawahiri, and Omar Abdel Rahman, who was later convicted in the 1993 bombing of the first World Trade Center. He denies the long history of alleged terrorist associations which follow him like a swarm of flies, dismissing all the accusations as "lies". Ramadan’s books and tapes are popular with young Muslims in the riotous French suburbs who killed, burned and looted to demand that "society follow its own principles" after two criminals electrocuted themselves while evading the police. French-language intellectuals often refer to Ramadan as "the master of doubletalk".

Ramadan’s theme ran throughout many of the convention speeches. "How can we live in this country?" asked Dr. Javeed Akhter, President of the International Strategy and Policy Institute, a MPAC member organization. "We will be confident so that people look at us as an example of how a minority should behave in this country. The Covenant of Medina sets out the principles that are essential to the functioning of a pluralistic society."

The Covenant of Medina, written in 622 AD, establishes the basis for treating non-Muslim minorities within the Muslim empire which ruled much of world for the next 8oo years. The document signed by the Jewish tribes subject to Mohammed’s rule in Medina, began protected subjugation -— dhimmitude -- as a way of life for all non-Muslims who fall under Islamic rule. The next few years were years of conquest and subjugation of Jews and Christians who did not accept Islam. The spirit of the Islamic conquerors is captured in the Koran, Sura 1X, 29: "Make war upon those who have received Scripture . . . until they pay tribute, being brought low."

In essence Akhter proposes that Muslims live within the US -– as rulers whose idea of a "pluralistic society" is dhimmitude for the rest of us. These so-called "moderate Muslims" of MPAC differ from al-Qaeda only in tactics. Rather than blowing themselves up and taking as many infidels as possible with them, they join domestic leftists in seeking to hamstring America in rules and regulations designed to protect the "rights" of terrorists while undermining America through the unrelenting propaganda focused on Guantanamo "prisoners rights" which is everywhere in the media.

Other speakers included Faisal Gill, a consultant to the DHS Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Audio files of all the MPAC lectures are available here. It's almost worth plowing through all the standard-issue corporatese about "partnering" to hear each speaker begin with "in the name of Allah, the compassionate, the merciful" or "as-salaam aleykum" (peace be upon you).

Case Study: How Europe Imports Terrorists

2006-01-15T22:26:00.000+01:00

Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, also known as "Mohamed the Egyptian," was the architect of the 3/11 Madrid bombings. He was captured about a year ago, and goes on trial this month in Italy. In a thorough investigative report, the Washington Post retraced Ahmed's steps, which included stops in Germany:

The asylum camp in Lebach, Germany, has enough cinder-block apartments to house about 1,500 immigrants. They are mainly North Africans, Turks and Palestinians. Most stay a few months as they wait for German authorities to decide whether they can remain in the country for the long term.

On Sept. 13, 2000, a man calling himself Mohamed Abdul Hadi Fayad [Ahmed] arrived at the camp after spending a year in jail and quickly assumed a leadership role among the residents.

"He called himself 'the Imam,' " recalled Barbara Paulus, a case worker at the camp in Lebach, a town of about 22,000 near the regional capital of Saarbruecken. "We didn't have any problems with him. The others respected him. He reported their problems and talked to us on their behalf."

Fayad was an anonymous foreigner who had been arrested a year earlier on his way to Paris. Soon after the arrest, he requested asylum. . . . The German government usually grants asylum as a matter of policy to Palestinians, but officials were unable to verify Fayad's story.

Immigration officials denied Fayad's asylum request. But Germany could not deport him because officials didn't know where to send him. That situation is common in Germany, where about one in 20 asylum seekers is unable to verify their claimed nationality.

With his case in limbo, Fayad remained at the Lebach camp for almost a year. Residents are forbidden from leaving the local area, but they are not confined or closely monitored. As a practical matter, camp officials say, there is little they can do to make sure people stay.

So it didn't strike anyone as unusual when Fayad vanished. He was last seen in the camp on Aug. 29, 2001, when he came to the main office to pick up his twice-weekly food rations. Three weeks later, immigration officials notified the Lebach town hall that Fayad was no longer a resident and crossed his name off their case list.

"Each month, a lot of people disappear here," said Paulus, the case worker. "I don't know how they do it, but each month we have to close a lot of files."

In Al Qaeda in Europe, Lorenzo Vidino recounts these and other details, such as a wiretap transcript in which Ahmed brags to a young recruit how he used liquid bandage to alter his fingerprints each time they were taken. "It drove them nuts," Ahmed laughs.

It seems that Germany exercises no control over asylum seekers -- a much-abused process in any case -- whose identities remain unverified and whose applications may well be denied. So I was curious: how easy is it for terrorist "asylum seekers" to wander off at will? I first did a little research on German asylum procedures, then took a trip to Ahmed's old stomping grounds, the "camp" in Lebach.

But this is a misnomer. Not only will Germans never again build anything one could call a "camp," the term implies controlled access, which is entirely absent. The Lebach facility is best described as projects. Located in a residential area of a quiet town, it consists of perhaps twenty two-story apartment buildings with courtyards, a school, and sports fields, covering an area of about four square blocks. Nearby are two Bundeswehr (German army) installations. We spotted a police cruiser doing a quick patrol as we arrived, and noticed that local Germans, out for their traditional Sunday afternoon walk, did not stray into the neighborhood.

Discarded TVs, but no fences.

Plenty of scuz, but no guards.

Laundry and satellite dishes, but no immigration officers.

Shopping carts and junk, but no access controls.

Overflowing dumpsters and a shiny new Mercedes, but no gates.

More scuz, still no fences.

Three "yoots" barbecueing on a balcony. They eyed us hard as we drove by, and erupted in angry shouts as soon as they saw the flash from my camera.

Last shots of yet more scuz as we got the hell outta dodge. Several other men out walking around had also spotted the camera, so we were actually a little concerned that we might be chased.

The German government (actually, the 16 state governments) maintain 31 more such ghettoes throughout the country. One might be tempted to criticize officials for housing people in such crapulence, or the people who live there for creating it. However, the critical issue is egress. Residents are not yet legal immigrants, but random people who showed up at a German airport and asked for asylum. From there, while their applications are processed (and their rent and food provided by taxpayers) they can melt away into the population at any time. And thanks to Europe's open borders, they can disappear not just in Germany, but to anywhere in the EU. Like Madrid.

Thus, Europe is only as secure as its weakest link. This is not to say that a uniform EU policy would solve the problem, as the Eurocrats would be likely to impose something resembling Germany's system on all of Europe.

The upshot is, citizens of First World countries must follow immigration rules and face consequences for breaking them, while Middle Eastern terrorists are exempt, provided they recite a politically correct sob story. This is compassion taken to its illogical extreme, and sadly, the generosity extended to criminals and terrorists is exactly what generates public antipathy towards all asylum-seekers, including those who are genuinely persecuted and want only to live peacefully. Lebach is the symbol of an asylum system that wrongs decent people while rewarding the bad guys, and of a Europe eager to cooperate in its own destruction.

Heh.

2006-01-14T23:40:00.000+01:00

I'm Jed Eckert...The Leader...

Which Red Dawn Character Are You?

Ein Volk! Ein Reich! Ein Führer!

2006-01-14T17:37:00.000+01:00

The Mahdi thunders away.

"The world public opinion knows that Iran has not violated the Nonproliferation Treaty," Ahmadinejad said. "There are no restrictions for nuclear research activities under the NPT protocol and Iran has not accepted any obligation (not to carry out research). How is it possible to prevent the scientific development of a nation?"

Ahmadinejad called the accusations against Iran were "propaganda" and that the presence of surveillance equipment from the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency is proof Iran has nothing to hide.

"How will the world public opinion accept their propaganda campaign against Iran when IAEA cameras are installed on all nuclear sites?" Ahmadinejad asked. He complained that "a few" Western countries were lobbying against Iran and said Tehran did not trust them.

"They speak and behave as if they are living in the medieval age," the hard-line leader said. "I'm recommending these countries not isolate themselves more among the people of the world. Resorting to the language of coercion is over."

"Now, it is the turn of the European countries to apply trust-building measures," he said.

Think we'll apply a can or two of whup-ass instead, thank you. There just isn't much else to say, is there.

Canada & Russia Consider Polygamy

2006-01-14T09:47:00.000+01:00

Chechen PM Ramzan Kadyrov and Vladimir Zhirinovsky think it's a great idea.

Chechnya has lost so many men to war that survivors should be legally allowed to take several wives, acting Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov has said.

Speaking on Russian radio, the pro-Moscow leader said this was "necessary for Chechnya because we have war - we have more women than men".

He was backed by Russian parliamentary deputy speaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky.

Russian law restricts citizens to one marriage, but Islamic custom allows a man to take up to four wives.

Mr Kadyrov told Ekho Moskvy radio that women in the Russian republic outnumbered men by 10%, and that a man should be able to choose how many wives he had without the state getting involved.

"Every man decides for himself how he should live. He is the boss, he decides, I am sure that his personal life will not be interfered with," he said.

Mr Zhirinovsky, who is the leader of the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), said polygamy should be applied across Russia "because we have 10 million unmarried women."

Goodness, we can't let them all run free -- why, they might think of leaving.

But it's not just Chechen militants and Russian kooks; orthodox Canadian "liberals" also want to accomodate such barbarism.

A new study for the federal Justice Department says Canada should get rid of its law banning polygamy, and change other legislation to help women and children living in such multiple-spouse relationships.

"Criminalization does not address the harms associated with valid foreign polygamous marriages and plural unions, in particular the harms to women," says the report, obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act. "The report therefore recommends that this provision be repealed."

The research paper is part of a controversial $150,000 polygamy project, launched a year ago and paid for by the Justice Department and Status of Women Canada.

The paper by three law professors at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., argues that Sec. 293 of the Criminal Code banning polygamy serves no useful purpose and in any case is rarely prosecuted.

Instead, Canadian laws should be changed to better accommodate the problems of women in polygamous marriages, providing them clearer spousal support and inheritance rights.

Chief author Martha Bailey says criminalizing polygamy, typically a marriage involving one man and several wives, serves no good purpose and prosecutions could do damage to the women and children in such relationships.

“Why criminalize the behaviour?” she said in an interview. “We don't criminalize adultery.

Because it's a recipe for disaster, toots (with a condescending smack on the ass. That's okay again, right?) A female Rantburger comments:

I read a summary of a study the other day, that concludes, among other things, that many of the problems built into Arab and African societies are actually due to polygamy. The authors spoke specifically of weak familial attachment leading to poor societal attachment, due to rivalries between the offspring of the various wives in defence of their mothers on the one hand, and for their father's attention and favour on the other; overt preference for male over female offspring (what benefit is there to having a daughter when she will be competing with other females for the favour of someone else's son; and the dangerous excess of young men with no chance of marriage because the marriageable females are snatched up in harems on the one hand, and on the other surrounded by frustrated females at home (both mothers and sisters) to whom he feels little attachment and no duty on the one hand, and who are within reach of his bed, unlike all the other females of his society on the other hand.

How do flaming multicultis arrive at the conclusion that treating women like chattel should be mainstreamed and institutionalized? By accepting that some -- other than themselves, of course -- must be sacrificed for the good of gay pressure groups and vocal Muslim immigrants.

But the project was also intended to provide the Liberal government with ammunition to help defend its same-sex marriage bill last spring.

The Bailey report, consistent with other research for the project, also concludes the courts might well rule that Canada's law banning polygamy is a violation of Canada's constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion. . . . Canada is also faced with a rising tide of immigration from Africa and the Middle East, where polygamy is legally and religiously sanctioned.

And is otherwise a dank hellhole of self-imposed poverty, rape, slavery, and brutality that these petty Stalinists want to import on the grounds of "cultural sensitivity."

Meanwhile in Europe

2006-01-13T08:57:00.000+01:00

Five Danish soldiers convicted of Geneva Conventions "violations" -- like insulting Iraqi detainees, denying them water, and making them kneel:

A Danish Army captain and four military police officers were found guilty yesterday of breaching human rights conventions in interrogations of detainees in Iraq. The Copenhagen City Court said Capt. Annemette Hommel and the four co-defendants violated the rights of the detainees by forcing them to kneel in uncomfortable positions during questioning in March 2004.

The court declined to issue sentences because of extenuating circumstances, saying the defendants had not received clear guidelines from the Danish military. The five defendants had pleaded innocent in what was Denmark’s first trial related to its 530-strong contingent in the port city of Basra, 400 kilometers southeast of Baghdad. All five immediately appealed the verdict to a higher court.

. . . The trial was conducted in a civilian court because Denmark has no military courts.

Conduct of Spanish troops during the battle of Najaf was "idiotic":

The former US governor of Iraq has condemned Spanish troops for their 'idiotic' conduct in Iraq.

Paul Bremer claimed they "did nothing" as a battle between Shi'ite militia forces and coalition troops went on around them in the Iraqi city of Najaf in 2004. In his memoirs, Bremer wrote: "They are sitting in tanks doing nothing," quoting from notes he made at the time.

"It is a perfect outrage – I call it the 'coalition of the not-at-all-willing'."

Bremer's book, 'My year in Iraq: The struggle to build a future of hope', challenges the version given by the Spanish military of the Najaf uprising in April 2004.

The rebellion took place just days before Spanish troops were due to be withdrawn from Iraq by the newly-elected Socialist government which won a general election weeks earlier.

Bremer claims Spanish troops deployed five kilometres from Najaf refused to help US marines and troops from Latin American countries who were fighting insurgents.

And Europe's record on innovation is fifty years behind the US.

The European Union’s record on innovation is so poor that it would take more than 50 years to catch up with the US, according to a survey presented by the European Commission on Thursday.

The Innovation Scoreboard compares the performance of the 25 EU countries with the US, Japan and several other nations, and ranks them according to factors such as the number of science and engineering graduates, patents, research and development spending and exports of high-tech products. The survey finds that only four EU countries – Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Germany – can compete with the US and Japan in terms of their innovative abilities.

Sounds Peaceful to Me

2006-01-13T08:35:00.000+01:00

Iran vows to end cooperation with IAEA.

Iran threatened Friday to end all cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog if the agency refers it to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions over its controversial nuclear program.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Europeans will lose opportunities they currently have in dealing with Iran and will force Tehran to block snap inspections of its nuclear facilities, state-run television reported.

"In case Iran is referred to the U.N. Security Council, the government will be obliged to end all of its voluntary cooperation," the television quoted Mottaki as saying Friday.

Involuntary cooperation it is, then!

In times approaching the intensity of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kevin Sites is reporting live from Iran this week. As usual, today's dispatch explores the hot issue everyone's talking about: heroin addiction, HIV, and needle exchange programs in Tehran.

Shocka! Germany Convicts a Terrorist

2006-01-12T16:58:00.000+01:00

German courts acquitted Abdelghani Mzoudi last year, and just barely convicted his buddy Mounir el Motassadeq on re-trial last August. Sentenced to a lousy seven years in the clink, Motassadeq is so far the only person to be tried, convicted, and sentenced in connection with 9/11.

Today, another thug gets a measly seven years:

Lokman Amin Mohammed, 31, had denied being a member of the radical Ansar al-Islam group, but admitted recruiting fighters and raising funds for them. He was living in Munich when he was arrested by police in December 2003.

His trial was Germany's first under a new law introduced after 11 September 2001, which made membership of a foreign terrorist organisation illegal. Mohammed's defence team had appealed for a lesser sentence, claiming that terrorist acts in Iraq were fuelled by an "illegal" US occupation.

During the trial, the court heard that Mohammed had recruited fighters and collected money in mosques in Munich for the insurgency in Iraq. He had also helped smuggle fighters into Iraq and wounded militants back to Europe for treatment.

In the final days of the trial, Mohammed appealed to all Islamists to stop their suicide attacks in Iraq.

I bet he's wishing he got more than seven years too, because prison is the only place he'll be safe.

More interesting info from equally unlikely sources -- the Isle of Man Treasury Department and the Washington Post.

What's Next For Iran

2006-01-11T23:58:00.000+01:00

After blowing off an IAEA meeting, opening sealed facilities, and resuming uranium enrichment, the Euros and El Baradei are jibbering about Iran having precipitated a "serious crisis." A stern nastygram is no doubt forthcoming, and the MMs are likely preparing to laugh hysterically while they read it.

The good news is, the grown-ups sound like they've got a plan too -- and the sort of task forces it involves tend to carry grenades rather than Cross pens.

The White House said on Wednesday that Iran has made a "serious miscalculation" by clearing the way to resume uranium enrichment and that intensive diplomacy was under way with European allies and others about what to do now.

"We believe that if the negotiations have run their course and Iran is not going to negotiate in good faith, then there's no other option but to refer the matter to the Security Council," McClellan said. "If that happens then we would talk about what actions need to be taken at that time."

More details on possible Israeli plans to deliver a nastygram of their own:

Israel is updating plans for a pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities which could be launched as soon as the end of March, according to military and intelligence sources.

The Israeli raids would be carried out by long-range F-15E bombers [pictured above] and cruise missiles against a dozen key sites and are designed to set Tehran's weapons programme back by up to two years.Pilots at the Israeli air force's elite 69 squadron have been briefed on the plan and have conducted rehearsals for their missions.

The prime targets would be the uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, 150 miles south of Tehran, a heavy-water production site at Arak, 120 miles south-west of the capital, and a site near Isfahan in central Iran which makes the uranium hexafluoride gas vital to the arms manufacturing process.

The really interesting part:

Sources say one, possibly two airfields in Kurdish northern Iraq have been earmarked as launch-points to reduce flying time over Iran.

Since the handover in June 2004, Iraqi airspace is sovereign territory. Israel would need permission from the Shi'a-dominated Iraqi government, presumably a significant obstacle. Most likely the request would come through the US, but the decision still belongs to the Iraqi government. Since we all know how it'll go down at the Security Council, how the US will persuade the Iraqis to allow Israelis to attack a Shi'a nation from Iraqi territory is the diplomatic ballet of interest here.

The Iranians have meanwhile dispersed production facilities across hundreds of miles of remote countryside to make a single, knockout blow more difficult. They have also ringed the sites, some of them deep underground, with missile batteries and radar-controlled anti-aircraft guns.

Part of the reason for an acceleration of Israel's contingency strike plans is that Russia agreed last month to sell Tehran £700m-worth of advanced SA-15 Gauntlet mobile missile systems. Some are believed to be destined for defence of Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant on the Gulf coast, which Russian engineers are helping to build.

Although Western military strategists think an attack on Tehran's scattered sites would be fraught with difficulties and could not be carried out without loss to the attacking forces, few doubt Israel's commitment to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear firepower.

And if the Euros and the UN had a similar commitment, it wouldn't always fall to the Israelis and the US to do the dirty work. Ten bucks says Europe is spending more effort working up a draft condemnation of an Israeli attack than on grasping what it means to be within range of Iranian missiles.

Gunning for the Duranty Award

2006-01-11T13:34:00.000+01:00

Part II of useful idiot Kevin Sites' dispatches from Iran -- which are dedicated to Marla Ruzicka, a tireless anti-American radical ironically killed by terrorists in Iraq last year.

I discussed the country's nuclear development program with a key leader in the Iranian parliament, Kazem Jalali, during a recent trip to Iran. Jalali is also a spokesman for Iran's Foreign Policy and National Security Committee.

KEVIN SITES: Dr. Jalali, Europe and the United States are very concerned about Iran's nuclear program -- especially about the potential for uranium enrichment that could be used for nuclear weapons. Why does Iran feel it needs to develop its nuclear technology?

KAZEM JALALI: In the name of God, we're a country who signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty [NPT], therefore we should be enjoying all these rights. There are countries who haven't even signed the treaty but they are doing experiments right now. Whereas our only intended use for atomic energy is a peaceful one.

America is not being honest. If they are truly against nuclear weapons, why don't they have any confrontations with those that haven’t signed the NPT? Likewise there is no confrontation with countries who don't even meet a minimum standard of human rights. And why don't they deal with state-sponsored terrorism like the Zionist regime of Israel?

Sites gives Jalali a total pass on this one.

KS: What kind of guarantees can you offer that you won't develop nuclear weapons?

KJ: Iran has cooperated with the IAEA and continues to do so. Up to now, there have been more than 1,400 man-hours of inspections.

The MMs have been about as cooperative as Saddam was.

KS: What about the Russian proposal in which they would do the uranium enrichment for you, ensuring that the fuel is not enriched to weapons-grade, but only for energy applications?

KJ: If the intention of the Russians is to share the efforts then we can talk. But if it's about prevention, then it's a ridiculous suggestion.

Prevention of what?

KS: How far have you gone in your enrichment process?

KJ: We have reached the UF6 process and reached the capability of centrifugal technology. But since we suspended our technology development [in November 2004] as a goodwill gesture, we haven't moved beyond that.

KS: A German newspaper reported that the United States has drawn up plans to attack Iranian nuclear sites if you continue with your program and that it had also notified its allies of those plans. What's your response to those reports?

KJ: The Americans are stuck now in Iraq. It's a little farfetched to think that they might open another front here.

A bit ominous, if they're thinking of striking while the US appears to be distracted. Funny how he neglects the Navy and the Air Force, who aren't especially tied down just now.

KS: So you don’t give those reports much credence?

KJ: They are just analyses that appear in the Western press. I don't think the Americans are so unwise to make that kind of hasty decision. And if they do, we are also quite capable of defending ourselves.

KS: Since [last June, Ahmadinejad] has made inflammatory statements, renewing a call for the destruction of Israel and questioning the historical reality of the Holocaust. What possible purpose does this serve but to further isolate Iran from the West?

KJ: In a talk we held with Dr. Ahmadinejad he said his speech was not reported in its correct context -- that there were portions that were not relayed accurately.

Riiiight. He knows the drill.

KS: Dr. Jalani, those atrocities have been historically documented, besides what's the purpose of even bringing up the Holocaust?

KJ: His aim was to bring up the question of injustice in the whole world and the fact that if humanity went wrong and committed the atrocity then it shouldn't be repeated.

In a sense the spirit of this discussion was to indicate there's injustice, that these injustices need to be alleviated from the world and that the West should not allow such events in the other parts of the world.

Nice. A college boy, I see.

KS: Let's talk about Iraq. There have been reports that Iran has gotten very involved in the conflict in Iraq both politically and even militarily, that it has political alliances with certain Shia groups there and may even be a part of Shia militias like radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army.

KJ: These are rumors. Nevertheless, it's natural that we have the closest ties in the religious and cultural aspects to the Iraqi people. It is natural that we and the Iraqis be the most proactive nations in coming together.

And we and the Iraqi nation fought a common enemy called Saddam Hussein, so these common aspects bring us closer together and today Iraq’s stability can bring us profitability, politically and otherwise.

Anyone know how to say "Anschluss" in Farsi?

KS: What about the presence of al-Qaida in Iraq? Aren't you concerned about their influence once coalition forces leave?

KJ: All the world should be worried about al-Qaida being present anywhere in the world. They are terrorists and irrational. They are a big threat to the peace and security of the world.

Funny, you guys have been sheltering them since the US blew up their bases in Afghanistan.

KS: What if you were to receive an overture from the U.S. to join in that war on terrorism. How would Iran react to that?

KJ: America first must prove their sincerity in combating terrorism whether it's al-Qaida or other terrorism groups. They must demonstrate their willingness to fight terrorism everywhere and the biggest contributor to terrorism is the lack of justice.

KS: What kind of demonstration are you talking about?

KJ: If the Americans demonstrate justice within different geographic regions of the world, especially with Palestine -- and Palestine is a nation -- this would be one of the signs Americans are seeking justice globally.

The other signs would be payment of debt the U.S. has to Iran [for freezing assets and debt payment in the past] and apologize for meddling in internal affairs of Iran.

KS: What do you mean meddling? Can you be a little more specific please?

KJ: Since 1953 when the American coup d'etat destroyed the Mossaddeq government and until the outset of the Islamic Revolution of Iran, the highest meddling in the affairs of Iran has been done by the Americans. . . . America must apologize for all the black deeds against the Iranian people.

KS: That doesn't seem to leave a whole lot of room for dialogue.

Somebody whack this guy with a cluebat.

Osthoff Was A Spy

2006-01-10T14:24:00.000+01:00

She's still nuttier than a fruitcake, but it makes the Germans' eagerness to ransom her somewhat more explicable. It also explains why she was so shocked at how long it took the German government to establish contact with her captors.

Susanne Osthoff, the German archeologist kidnapped by Iraqi gunmen on Nov. 25 and released before Christmas was connected with her country's intelligence service, the BND, and had helped arrange a meeting with a top member of the terrorist organization al-Qaida, possibly Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi himself, according to well informed German sources Sunday.

The sources confirmed German press reports that the 43-year-old woman had worked for the BND in Iraq on a freelance basis, and had for some time even stayed in a German intelligence safe house in Baghdad.

A convert to Islam and a fluent Arabic speaker, Osthoff had lived in Iraq for over a decade, and was at one time married to an Iraqi. Archeology is a classic intelligence cover: T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) posed as an archeologist in the Middle East in the early part of the last century. But archeology is Osthoff's real profession.

One Washington-based German source said Osthoff had been working on arranging a rendezvous with an al-Qaida member on behalf of a German intelligence agent in Iraq. Whether the meeting ever took place has not been revealed, but another source in Berlin, reached by telephone, said experts believed that the kidnapping may have been the work of a rival group, possibly within the same organization.

A day after [actually, three or four days before] Osthoff's release, the Germans had quietly freed and sent home to his native Lebanon Mohammed Ali Hamadi, a Hezbollah militant serving a sentence for killing a U.S. Navy diver in a hijacked TWA jetliner in 1985. Berlin officials denied any connection between Osthoff's release and Hamadi's after serving only 19 years of a life sentence.

But both German sources said the real deal involving Osthoff's release had been the payment of a ransom to her terrorist captors by the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Although Merkel has carried on her socialist predecessor Gerhard Schroeder's policy of staying out of Iraq, German intelligence is operating in the area, cooperating with U.S. counterparts both on the ground and in Washington, the sources said.

The Germans' tentative contacts with al-Qaida reflect Berlin's belief in the existence of another split within the Iraqi-based al-Qaida organization itself.

Osthoff responds with a characteristically bizarre "denial":

"If I were a spy I would no longer be alive, my kidnappers would have killed me," Osthoff said in an interview for ARD public television recorded on Saturday that was due to be broadcast on Monday evening.

Osthoff, 43, said she sometimes contacted German diplomats in Baghdad when she learnt about dangerous situations in Iraq, where she lived and worked for 10 years as an archeologist and aid worker.

"This is everybody’s duty. In a conflict and war zone like Iraq, one must do this among fellow countrymen," Osthoff said.

That's an admirably responsible and public-spirited attitude. But Suzy, sweetie, people call that "spying." Go home, take your meds, and keep that veil on.

Iran Update

2006-01-10T00:13:00.000+01:00

I. It's Hajj season again, which means Iranian pilgrims in Mecca are shouting peaceful slogans such as "Death to America," "death to Israel," and "may the hands of the infidels be chopped off." Full transcript & video at MEMRI-TV.

II. The MMs resumed nuclear "research" today, as IAEA reps helplessly looked on. Even El Baradei is described as "exasperated." Gee, this seems familiar.

Europe is "concerned."

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the latest move "marks a breach of Tehran's commitments... It cannot remain without consequence."

Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel said he was "very concerned" about the developments.

He said the possibility of sanctions against Iran would "in due course be discussed by the EU," but that "that point in time has not yet arrived."

Nero fiddles while Rome burns.

III. Kevin Sites' fatuous reporting meets or exceeds expectations. A sampling:

Friday prayers have become the visual cliché for Iran, and an audible one as well.

Here two speeches are given by a spiritual leader, one religious, one political. In the mosques of centuries past, the leader would be holding a sword during his remarks. Today, he holds the muzzle of an AK-47 rifle, although it is shielded from view by the podium.

"It's purely symbolic," one of the organizers whispers to me. "It's unnecessary from a practical standpoint. There are security guards everywhere. There isn't even a bullet in the chamber."

At the end of the political speech there is the obligatory chant, "Death to America." Microphones and cameras are always poised for the moment. Today the chant is fairly lackluster. "It doesn't have much meaning anymore," one insider tells me.

Well, that's a relief! I'm sure Sites would be equally understanding if he went back to the states and found every priest, preacher, and rabbi leading choruses of "Death to Iran" whilst brandishing automatic rifles. In a purely symbolic way, of course.

Low-Tech Biological Weapons

2006-01-09T14:21:00.000+01:00

The only potentially good news here is that AQ's efforts to develop military-grade biological weapons may have hit a wall. For now, it's splodeydopes with AIDS.

Al-Qaeda is recruiting suicide bombers who are infected with the AIDS virus, according to documents revealed to the Sunday Mirror.

Terror chiefs are also targeting fanatics who suffer other lethal blood diseases such as hepatitis and dengue fever in order to increase their "kill rate" from an explosion. The chilling new threat is revealed in papers distributed to British military camps in Iraq and across Europe.

Under the heading "HIV/Hepatitis" the document states: "There is evidence that terrorists might be deliberately recruiting volunteers with diseases that are spread by blood transference."

Experts have found that bones and other blood-spattered fragments from a suicide bomber could penetrate the skin of a victim 50 metres away and infect them.

Meanwhile, the imperialist fascist oppressors they're fighting can't even use hollowpoint rounds, for they violate the Geneva Conventions ban on munitions that inflict unnecessary human suffering. No such moral constraints exist in Islamic law: anything goes.

Iran Ready to Roll?

2006-01-09T00:23:00.000+01:00

Disparate events plausibly connected, from Regime Change Iran.

Analysts watching Iran on a daily basis were not taken by surprise by the Islamic Regime not showing up at the International Atomic Energy Agency on January 05, 2006, since reports out of Tehran have for the past weeks been mentioning President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's office privately leaking to the Tehran newspapers that Iran already has four nuclear weapons obtained from the Ukraine.

Back in 1991/1992 three nuclear weapon devices the Mullahs had obtained from Kazakhstan were verified on ground in Iran and intelligence [whose?] further estimates that Iran has totally between eight to 12 nuclear devices from the Soviet era.

The press leaks pointed to Iran possibly not proceeding with negotiations, reassuring internal supporters and preparing to confront the West. The final decision to disdain the European meeting was apparently made with the sudden incapacitation of Israel's Ariel Sharon.

Concurrently, Iran has suddenly moved a significant number of tanks toward its southern border near Basra, Iraq; has started repositioning naval assets and intercepts show military communications have become very atypical.

Is Iran expecting an attack now that the more pragmatic Sharon is out of the picture or has U.S and Coalition information leaked to them of an impending strike to put an end to nuclear weapons falling into the hands of someone like Ahmadinejad. The new regime in Iran has certainly tried to provoke the USA and Israel beyond the point of endurance.

Brigadier-General Mohammad Kossari, head of the Security Bureau of the IRGC has long stated, "Iran intends to become a superpower and will drive all foreign forces out of our region." What was previously sheer hyperbole now has a basis in serious executive policy and planning. Alternatively, is Iran planning to set up a reactive retaliation in the Middle East by the USA from an attack through surrogates like the Hezbollah?

The huge one-day increase in fatalities in Iraq appears to be an effort to distract the Coalition Forces, while the Islamic Regime sets up its pieces on the war map. Part of this involves backing up an increasingly under pressure Syria and trying to take advantage of the power vacuum in Israel.

Palestinian confrontation at the Gaza border with Egyptian forces on January 4th, 2006, which drove the Egyptians back a good mile, allowed Iran supported and financed Hezbollah to bring in substantial quantities of high-end weaponry through the gap they had bulldozed in the concrete slab border.

Same Scheiss, Different Day

2006-01-08T23:28:00.000+01:00

So much for the East German anti-Communist who was supposed to come to the rescue of US-German relations. Merkel: "Mr. Bush, Tear Down This Terrorist Detention Facility.

Just days before her first visit to the United States as chancellor, Germany's Angela Merkel has called the closing of the controversial Guantanamo prison camp.

"An institution like Guantanamo can and should not exist in the longer term," Merkel said in an interview with Spiegel. "Different ways and means must be found for dealing with these prisoners."

Chutzpah.

Let's see. We could expend massive law enforcement and intelligence resources, amass piles of evidence, prosecute them, and then let leftist judges hostile to the US release them. Oh. You tried that. Heh. Well, so have we.

I know: we can drop them off at Ikea, the Swedish Feeding Trough.

The main draw is the price: a hot dog costs €1, a beer €1.30 and apple pie and vanilla sauce 50 cents. [And a liter of Absolut is only €12].

Flocks of people wait outside early every morning in order to storm the buffet at 9 a.m., when the store opens its doors. Long-distance drivers like to use IKEAs as rest stops since most of the stores are easy to see from the highway and are located close to an exit.

"Just fill out a customer feedback form, give your address, write down something unfriendly like, 'I had to wait 30 minutes.' Then you'll get a coupon for breakfast at the store," writes Daniela at a German site, "Frag-Mutti.de" [Ask Mom].

More than food-scroungers, though, IKEA workers fear lazy parents. Around 150 three- to 10-year-olds are deposited daily at the Hamburg-Schnelsen store's play area -- a complimentary offer to allow mom and dad to wander in peace through the showrooms. But many people misuse the service as a free babysitting service. Sometimes moms just set their loved ones down among the colorful balls, with the nursery girl watching -- and hurries to the hairstylist or the tennis court. The desperate store announcements asking the mother to please pick up her screeching child then go unheeded.

Betcha it's better than anything Merkel's got.

Iran Threatens Europe

2006-01-08T12:07:00.000+01:00

On Thursday, Iran blew off a meeting with the IAEA in Vienna. Now they've told Europe to sit down and shut up, or reap the whirlwind.

The head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, who is also the man behind Iran's foreign policy, has warned Europeans "not to force the Islamic Republic to cut short the dialogue process and to opt for another scenario."

Speaking on Tuesday night on state television he said: "We are for a strategy based on dialogue, but if the counterparty Europe plays dirty, then we will pass onto another plan that we have worked out and then there will be problems for the Europeans."

Without specifying the nature of the other plan and the other scenario, Larijani has compared the talks on Iran's nuclear programme to a chess game.

"In this game, we are for a result that will be satisfactory to both Iran and Europe," said Larijani adding that "if we lose, the same will also happen to the other party (Europe) and they will have to prepare themselves to live in a hell."

But Larijani used even stronger words for the United States. "A small error on the part of USA or the Zionists will be enough to induce us to unleash hell," said Larijani. "They know this very well and for this they haven't gone further than a verbal or psychological war," he said.

Larijani also reiterated how Tehran "does not have any intension of renouncing its cycle of producing nuclear fuel."

"For our requirements we do not intend to trust even our friends," he said, stressing Iran's right to "advance the research in all the areas of the nuclear sector."

Iran's estimated missile envelope. Shahab-3s are nuclear warhead capable and have already been manufactured by the hundreds. Note that the launch point is given as the center of Iran, but launch facilities in Tabriz, in the northwestern corner, substantially extend this range.

UPDATE: Iran accuses the US of working with Sunni jihadis in Iraq to kidnap nine Iranian border guards -- strictly speaking, an act of war. Expect more such agitprop as Iran works to turn world opinion in its favor, so that when they attack the US, it will be viewed as justified and deserved. Ridiculous? By now, most of the world would shrug if Israel were annihilated. The Great Satan is next.

UPDATE II: For Yahoo's The Hot Zone, Kevin Sites will be reporting from Iran next week. The preview:

Led by recently elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a new administration of hardliners is digging in its heels on the nuclear issue, canceling talks with negotiators and warning that Iran soon will resume nuclear research. Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad is ramping up his rhetoric against Israel. The Hot Zone will address these complex issues.

But Kevin also will report on some areas -- such as Iran's serious drug problem and growing HIV/AIDS crisis -- that are showing signs of progressive solutions.

We'll also take a look at Iran's reverence for its war dead, symbolized by a Tehran museum that glorifies its society's "martyrs."

It is not easy for a western reporter to get a visa to Iran. But starting next week in the Hot Zone, Kevin Sites takes the pulse of Iranian society and reports on a country that is much more complicated and colorful than you might have imagined.

Readers will recall that Kevin Sites is the same "objective journalist" who filmed a squad of Marines in Fallujah in November 2004, as they cleared a mosque from which they had been under heavy fire. Sites' film captured a Marine shooting an insurgent who appeared to be reaching for a weapon, one day after another Marine had been killed and five injured by a booby-trapped corpse. Sites didn't feel this complied with our ROE; the clip received Al-Jazeera's 2004 Video of The Year award.

More from the Jawa Report: Kevin Sites, You're Still A Traitor.

Today's Tidbits

2006-01-08T11:43:00.000+01:00

In the personal security department: by now, I presume everyone has the WMF patch for the gaping Windows security hole that was somehow overlooked for 15 years. Crikey.

No such patch for locatecell.com, a US company selling itemized records of cell phone and landline calls, addresses of unpublished numbers, and other sensitive info for under $100. More here.

And, of course, a hostage update, this time from the Painfully Stupid Kidnapper files: French hostage Bernard Planche has ~~been freed~~ escaped in Iraq.

Planche, who worked for a non-governmental organization called AACCESS, was kidnapped Dec. 5 on his way to work at a Baghdad water plant. Militants later released a video of him sitting between two armed men.

Arab news channel Al-Arabiya, which broadcast an excerpt of the video, said the militants denounced the "illegal French presence" in Iraq and demanded the withdrawal of French troops from the country. France has not sent forces to Iraq.

And finally, more good news from the sandbox: Iraq wants to join NATO.

Defense Minister Sa’doun ad-Duleimi has referred to the determination of the government to develop ties with NATO, reaching to join this alliance. In addressing speech he delivered on this occasion held by the Ministry of Defense on the 85th anniversary of founding the Iraqi Army, said that the Iraqi government seeks to make the Iraqi Army as an active element to realize security and stability in the region.

Schuessel Criticizes EU Centralization

2006-01-07T11:30:00.000+01:00

DENNIS: I told you. We're an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to act as a sort of executive officer for the week.
ARTHUR: Yes.
DENNIS: But all the decisions of that officer have to be ratified at a special biweekly meeting.
ARTHUR: Yes, I see.
DENNIS: By a simple majority in the case of purely internal affairs --
ARTHUR: Be quiet!
DENNIS: -- but by a two-thirds majority in the case of more --

European heads of state take turns at the EU presidency, rotating every six months. British PM Tony Blair just finished out the UK's term at the end of 2005, whose performance ranged from anemic to disgraceful. Now it's Austria's turn, and they're showing some backbone.

Austrian chancellor Wolfgang Schussel has kicked off his country's presidency of the EU with criticism of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for systematically expanding EU powers through its rulings.

The Austrian leader called for the debate on the future of the EU to focus not only on the fate of the EU constitution, shelved after French and Dutch voters rejected the text, but also on the role of the EU’s top court.

Mr Schussel said "the ECJ…has in the last couple of years systematically expanded European competencies, even in areas, where there is decidedly no [European] community law."

"Suddenly, judgements emerge on the role of women in the German federal army [mandated by a 2001 ECJ ruling], or on access of foreign students to Austrian universities – that is clearly national law," he added.

The chancellor referred to a judgement by the EU court of last July, when judges ruled that Austria could not restrict access of foreign students to its universities, many of whom are Germans.

Mr Schussel also reiterated that his government during its stint at the helm of the EU will not press the ratification of the EU constitution, which Austria itself supports.

In June 2005, European leaders agreed upon a "reflection period" on the constitution, in response to negative outcomes of referendums on the charter in France and the Netherlands.

I think it's better termed a "cooling-off period." The proles had their chance, and they gave the wrong answer. Some members, at least, are likely to let the rabble die down, then sneak it through parliament. A parliamentary vote, rather than a popular referendum, was the original plan in 15 states anyway, including Austria.

Vienna’s strategy to resuscitate the constitutional debate will first see a discussion on identity, kicked off by a major conference called "The Sound of Europe" at the end of this month.

As a further sign of the Austrian presidency’s concern about a centralised EU, Mr. Schussel indicated deregulation and subsidiarity (the principle that political decisions should be taken at the lowest possible level) should be "taken seriously."

Constitution or not, the EU juggernaut has taken on a life of its own by now. But it's good of him to make the effort.

US to Deport Cleveland Imam

2006-01-07T02:17:00.001+01:00

Well, not exactly deport. Fawaz Damra, a convict and the leader of Ohio's biggest mosque, has kindly agreed to leave the country.

Lawyers for Imam Fawaz Damra, who was to face deportation hearings in U.S. immigration court, reached an agreement with the government that will see Damra end up in Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Egypt or the Palestinian territories, said Greg Gagne, a spokesman for the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review.

A judge has approved the agreement between Damra's lawyers and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which will make the final determination on where Damra ends up. Damra, who is the imam, or spiritual leader, at the Islamic Center of Cleveland, immigrated to the United States [from Nablus] in the mid-1980s.

Robert Birach, a Detroit lawyer who negotiated for Damra, said his client is still in federal custody and does not want details of his private life made public. "They reached an agreement. He'll be leaving the country. That's all I can say," Birach said.

A terrorist sheds crocodile tears for a dhimmi. Damra on Sept. 13, 2001, hugging Cleveland Catholic Bishop Anthony M. Pilla, who both called for racial, ethnic tolerance at an interfaith prayer service at St. John Cathedral, Cleveland.

Damra, 44, was convicted in June 2004 of concealing ties to alleged terrorist groups when he applied for U.S. citizenship in 1994. Damra's conviction for naturalization fraud wasn't enough to warrant deportation because he has legally lived in the United States for five years.

In Damra's 2004 trial, prosecutors showed video footage of him and other Islamic leaders raising money for an arm of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which since 1989 has been listed by the State Department as a terrorist group.

Jurors were also shown footage in which Damra called Jews "the sons of monkeys and pigs" during a 1991 speech and said "terrorism and terrorism alone is the path to liberation" in a 1989 speech.

Sounds like a buddy of Sami al-Arian. And until we start prosecuting these thugs under RICO as we do with the mafia, haggling with terrorist's lawyers and footing the bill for the trip back home is the best we'll be able to do.

Italian Hostage Update

2006-01-06T16:49:00.000+01:00

Five Italian hostages released in Yemen. For once, the thugs were forced to surrender at gunpoint, and were tossed in the clink. Demanded: release of homeboys imprisoned by Yemeni authorities. Obtained: satisfyingly, the next cell over.

Of course, no matter how these things end, European hostages compliment their captors rather than the guys who came to the rescue.

Former hostage Patrizia Rossi spoke of anxious moments during the ordeal with "machine guns pointed at us, always threatening."

Former hostage Maura Tonetto said that after a night on the move, the kidnappers found themselves cornered and gave up quickly Friday.

"Finally at around 5 a.m., we heard firing and the noise of a helicopter. When the kidnappers saw the government troops moving in, two of them who were armed with Kalashnikovs, held the rifles above their heads and then put them down on the ground. The soldiers arrested the kidnappers and took them to the helicopter," Tonetto said.

Tonetto said the kidnappers never mistreated them.

Well, except for that little matter of FORCIBLY KIDNAPPING and POINTING MACHINE GUNS at them. It is any wonder Arabs have no respect for Europeans?

It is believed that the kidnappers became discouraged when the chiefs of [their own] al-Zaydi tribe came out against the abduction.

There are liberals in Yemen? Who knew?

MSM Educates Us about Islam

2006-01-05T14:12:00.000+01:00

It's Hajj season again, and a hotel collapse in Mecca has killed and injured dozens. But the AP informs us of much more:

Rescue teams pulled bodies from beneath the rubble of the five-story Al Ghaza Hotel. . . . The hotel, named for the district in which it is located, is about 60 yards from the Grand Mosque at the Bab al-Salam, or Gate of Peace. It is surrounded by local markets that stay open 24 hours during the pilgrimage, a major source of income in the holy city.

The courtyard of the Grand Mosque encloses the Kaaba, a large stone structure that Muslims face during their five daily prayers.

The Prophet Mohammed was born in Mecca, where the Grand Mosque is central to the Muslim faith and the hajj. Daily prayers also are conducted in the mosque's marble-paved yard, which can hold thousands of people.

Islam's five pillars require followers to profess there is one God and Mohammed is His prophet, pray five times daily, give alms, fast daily during the holy month of Ramadan and — if financially able — travel to Mecca at least once in their lifetime.

The number of pilgrims to Mecca has increased elevenfold over the past 15 years.

They neglect to mention that the fragment of meteorite inside the Kaaba is what makes it holy. The shiny black rock was an object of worship by pre-Islamic pagans, a ritual Muhammad found expeditious to retain.

Further, while the article goes on to mention the yearly stampedes, it leaves out their main cause: pilgrims must walk around the Kaaba four times rapidly, then three times slowly, which can understandably get a little chaotic when zillions of people are trying to do it at the same time. This ritual is also a pagan leftover, representing the solar orbits of the seven planets (known at that time).

I've got nothing against pagans -- just to stress that AP is preaching here, not reporting. Anyway, if you've had enough pious, triumphalist evangelism, have a look at the transcript from the TV clip above.

Hoisted By Their Own Petard

2006-01-05T07:01:00.000+01:00

Some good news from Strategypage: Young, Clueless, and Dead.

An unexpected ally in the war on terror is, increasingly, poorly trained terrorists who either kill themselves, or screw up their operations. The number of accidental or premature explosions by suicide bombers is increasing, as is the accidental detonation of bombs under construction. In Afghanistan and Iraq, there have been recent incidents of suicide bombs going off before the bomber reached their objective, Many bombers are intercepted by security personnel because of poor discipline and ignorance.

In Pakistan and Iraq, bombs under construction have been going off so often that terrorists believe there is something more than their inexperience at work. Iraqi terrorist bomb makers have been eating up by rumors that the Americans now have an electronic device that can set off a bomb at will. Actually, such a device is under development, but it’s already having an impact on the morale of the increasingly less skilled bomb makers. The United States has learned from the Israelis that one effective way to cut down on terrorist bombings is to go after the bomb makers and other support staff needed to carry out suicide bombings, or any kind of terrorist bomb attacks.

. . . al Qaeda has lost much of the professionalism they had five years ago, after thousands of terrorists had received professional bomb making and weapons training in Afghan camps. Most of those terrorists are now dead, captured or out of the terrorist business. The new generation, inspired by terrorist propaganda on the Internet, or in the Arab media, are being killed off so rapidly that their fate is having an adverse effect on recruiting. Young Islamic radicals are no longer running off to join the war in Iraq with any prospects of coming back alive. Those that do come back in one piece, are often not much help for recruiting. They tell of deadly American troops, and a hostile Iraqi population.

Faster, please!

European Hostage Roundup

2006-01-04T12:46:00.000+01:00

Sunday: German ex-ambassador and family released in Yemen.
Demanded: Five "brothers" imprisoned in Yemen. Forked over: unknown.

Cypriot freed in Iraq after family and employer pay $200,000 ransom. The article suggests that he was kidnapped because he works for a company that "supplies food and alcoholic drinks to US forces." However, US policy emphatically prohibits alcohol theaterwide. Besides, even if the infidel occupiers were tanked 24/7, it's unclear how $200,000 would fix it.
Demanded: money for explosives. Forked over: money for explosives.

British "aid worker" and parents released in Gaza. Five days after the British government advised all Britons to avoid travel to Gaza, Kate Burton was giving her visiting parents a little tour to show them how safe it is. She works for the Al-Mazen "human rights center," where a colleague said

"Kate's role is really very important," Ghada Snunu told BBC radio. "She is responsible for contacting donors, writing reports to them, fund-raising, proposal-writing and editing English documents," Snunu said.

After being held for two days, her parents, Hugh and Helen, have sensibly vowed never to return. This despite Dad retiring from his position as an EU muckety-muck to recruit businesses and investors to developing regions. Kate, however, as a key terrorist fundraiser, intends to continue her work in Gaza.
Demanded: British and European pressure on Israel. Forked over: hopefully just one bootlicker Britain is better off without.

Monday: Five Italians kidnapped in Yemen. The three women were freed, but insisted on going back when they learned that the two men were still being held. The Italian government has insisted that the Yemeni government take no action that could endanger the hostages' lives.
Demanded: the usual. Forked over: we'll see.

Italian "peace activist" freed in Gaza, after a "shootout" that mysteriously harmed no one and allowed the kidnappers to escape. Alessandro Bernardini, who is also described as an aide to the European Parliament,

said he was treated well and would not change his pro-Palestinian views. "They gave me cigarettes and tea," he said. "I’m not going to change my ideas about the Palestinians. I will not change my ideas about the (Israeli) occupation." The operation to free the Italian hostage was a rare show of force by Palestinian security.

Yeah, sure, like the airport "raid" in Die Hard 2. Well, anyway. Gave him cigs and tea, eh. Is that all it takes to buy off the West?

Perhaps not. In other news, Daniel Pipes reports that yet a third German state is taking action against Islamists. Niedersachsen plans to electronically tag

not just potential terrorists but also "hate preachers" who break the law not by personally engaging in violence but by articulating beliefs that encourage others to terrorism. Tagging them breaks new conceptual ground by aggressively going to the ideological source of violence.

It has potentially large implications. If hate preachers are tagged, why not the many other non-violent Islamists who also help create an environment promoting terrorism? Their ranks would include activists, artists , computer gamers, couriers, funders, intellectuals, journalists, lawyers, lobbyists, organizers, researchers, shopkeepers and teachers. In short, Schünemann's initiative could lead ultimately to the electronic tagging of all Islamists.

Nice? No. Good? Yes.

Eurabia's New Anti-Terror Plan

2006-01-02T23:40:00.000+01:00

Clearly, this is a war Europe doesn't intend to win.

EU justice ministers have adopted a new counter-terrorism strategy and an action plan aimed at combating radicalisation and recruitment to terrorism, the EU's top anti-terrorism co-ordinator Gijs de Vries announced.

The four key themes are prevention of recruitment to terrorist groups, protection of citizens and essential infrastructure, prosecution of terrorists and a response to minimise the consequences of a terrorist attack.

The action plan on radicalisation and recruitment states that the EU needs to "engage with Muslim organisations and faith groups to reject the distorted version of Islam put forward by Al-Qa'ida and others", and should also "create a non-emotive lexicon for discussing the issues in order to avoid linking Islam to terrorism."

Swedish justice minister Tomas Bodstrom sought to calm concerns that some parts of the action plan pointed fingers at Muslims as a group, as possible terrorists.

Mr Bodstrom said that as long as the responsible authorities kept repeating that ~~Islam is a religion of peace~~ the measures target criminals, and nobody else, it would be obvious that the EU does not wish to accuse any particular religious group.

On questions about whether the Spanish police would survey mosques to make sure that radical interpreters of Islam would not recruit attendants, the Spanish interior minister Jose Antonio Alonso answered that "the controlling of terrorism has to be done where it is created, be it in a phone shop or a mosque."

The Spanish minister also indicated that Spain would like to focus more on the aftermath of terrorist attacks, creating a special European agency for helping the victims of terrorism.

"We need to hand out concrete help, not only nice political statements," he said.

[The Spanish minister] explained that the reason why Morocco had not yet signed a repatriation agreement with the EU, expected before the end of the year, was most likely that no EU money had yet been put on the table.

To summarize, the EU's four-point anti-terror strategy is to:

1. Luck into the occasional arrest;
2. Deny that Islam motivates 99% of all modern terrorism;
3. Accept a certain level of casualties with a Gallic shrug; and
4. After granting Islamist thugs political asylum, paying Muslim countries to take them back, where they can kill someone else's citizens.

This is in addition to enacting measures that unnecessarily intrude ever more into the lives of law-abiding citizens, and ransoming hostages knowing that the money will be used to fund further attacks. Roger.

New Cultural Exam for German Citizenship

2006-01-01T13:21:00.000+01:00

If Bavaria is the Texas of Germany, neighboring Baden-Wuerttemberg is equivalent to Louisiana. Aside from being home to Porsche, Mercedes, and cuckoo clocks, there's not much else to preen about; but behind that funny accent they've got plenty of Texas attitude.

Muslims intent on becoming German citizens will have to undergo a rigorous cultural test to gauge their views on subjects ranging from bigamy to homosexuality.

Believed to be the first test of its kind in Europe, the southern state of Baden-Württemberg has created a two-hour oral exam to test the loyalty of Muslims towards Germany.

It is to be taken on top of the standard test for foreigners wishing to become German citizens, which includes language proficiency skills and general knowledge. It also requires applicants to prove that they can provide for themselves and their families. Those applying must also have resided in Germany for the previous eight years and have no criminal record.

Germany's 15 other states will monitor the progress of the policy when the tests begin this week before deciding whether they wish to adopt similar legislation.

The 30 questions, which have been set by a special commission, range from sexual equality to school sports and are meant to trigger a more detailed discussion between the applicants and officials. Until now, all applicants have simply had to tick a Yes or No box to answer whether they felt loyalty to Germany.

. . . The state interior ministry said the test would be used to filter out Muslims who were unsuited for life in Germany. Those who answered "correctly" but later acted against expected behaviour, such as wife-beating, could have their citizenship removed.

Critics say that the test is biased and discriminatory and that if Muslims are obliged to take it, so should all applicants for citizenship.

Hokay. I see no problem with that.

. . . The European Assembly of Turkish Academics rejected the questionnaire as "strongly discriminatory and racist" against Germany's three million-strong Muslim population, most of whom are Turkish.

Dieter Biller, of the foreign ministry in Stuttgart, the state capital, said the test would help bureaucrats to form opinions as to whether citizenship applicants were suitable or not.

"It covers everything from sexual equality, violence, school sports and religious freedom," he said. "How the applicants stand on the question of the attacks of September 11 will also be a key question."

Some may be creeped out at the idea of Germans administering "loyalty tests," but (a) the test isn't looking for loyalty, but propensity to Islamic radicalism, and (b) it's not based on race, ethnicity, or other inherent characteristics, but rather on acquired attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. Further, all the usual bellyaching doesn't change the fact that citizenship is a privilege, not a right. Overall, an excellent step in the right direction.

However, I imagine it won't be long before the EU sues Germany for such "discriminatory" measures. After all, the EU has decreed that "the age of absolute national sovereignty is over."

Schroeder's "Economic Miracle"

2005-12-31T10:59:00.000+01:00

A man on his fourth wife, whose platform consists of the welfare state and anti-Americanism, clearly gives scant thought to the future. He's gone now, but the future is here: Germans emigrate in record numbers.

Germans are leaving their country in record numbers but unlike previous waves of migrants who fled 19th century poverty or 1930s Nazi terror, these modern day refugees are trying to escape a new scourge -- unemployment.

Flocking to places as far away as the United States, Canada and Australia as well as Norway, the Netherlands and Austria more than 150,000 Germans packed their bags and left in 2004 -- the greatest exodus in any single year since the late 1940s.

High unemployment that lingers at levels of more than 20 percent in some parts of Germany and dim prospects for any improvement are the key factors behind the migration.

You mean German 'yoots' aren't out rioting, torching cars, and burning down schools and churches? So much for "root causes."

According to the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden, the 150,667 Germans who left last year went to 200 countries -- the United States was the top destination with 12,976, following by Switzerland (12,818), Austria (8,532) and Britain (7,842).

The numbers leaving Germany are modest considering there are nearly 5 million unemployed, even though the trend seems to be gaining pace. There has been scant economic growth in Germany for years and property prices have barely changed in a decade.

Like other west European countries, Germany has been mass-importing non-skilled Muslim immigrants while exporting increasing numbers of entreprenurial natives. Besides an unemployment rate over 10% -- the highest since WWII -- the unintended (but foreseeable) consequences of this radical demographic shift continue to be ignored. In the former East,

Discontent with this situation is increasingly reflected in the results of local elections. In the most recent elections to the regional parliament in the eastern state of Saxony in September 2004, the PDS [Communist Party] received 23.6% of the votes, with the NPD [Neo-Nazi Party] winning 9.2% of the votes. The mainstream party of German chancellor Gerhard Schröder, SPD [Democratic Party], only received 9.8% of the votes.

Unchecked immigration is a major concern generally ignored by the ruling elite, so people are shopping for other options -- and finding them in extremist political parties. Meanwhile, the same immigration no one will do anything about has produced another growth industry: honor killings in Berlin.

Stupid, Irresponsible . . . and Pretty Cool

2005-12-30T00:57:00.000+01:00

Check this out. The 16-year-old son of Iraqi-American immigrants ran off to do some "immersion journalism" in Baghdad over the holidays. He doesn't speak Arabic, had the bejebus scared outta him, and had a nice chat with the Screamin' Eagles, who got him home. Surprisingly, the MSM printed his story, since it sure ain't the one they want anyone to hear.

He wrote half the essay while in the United States, half in Kuwait, and e-mailed it to his teachers Dec. 15 while in the Kuwait City airport.

"There is a struggle in Iraq between good and evil, between those striving for freedom and liberty and those striving for death and destruction," he wrote.

"Those terrorists are not human but pure evil. For their goals to be thwarted, decent individuals must answer justice's call for help. Unfortunately altruism is always in short supply. Not enough are willing to set aside the material ambitions of this transient world, put morality first, and risk their lives for the cause of humanity. So I will."

"I want to experience during my Christmas the same hardships ordinary Iraqis experience everyday, so that I may better empathize with their distress," he wrote.

Farris Hassan says he thinks a trip to the Middle East is a healthy vacation compared with a trip to Colorado for holiday skiing.

"You go to, like, the worst place in the world and things are terrible," he said. "When you go back home you have such a new appreciation for all the blessing you have there, and I'm just going to be, like, ecstatic for life."

His plans on his return to Florida: "Kiss the ground and hug everyone."

And the AP is calling him naive? I think the MSM could all learn a thing or two from this young man. Can't wait till he goes to college and all his professors wax poetic about Zarqawi's "freedom fighters" while condemning Western civilization. Good on ya, kid. Stick a purple finger in their face for me.

Surprise: Another German Hostage Crisis

2005-12-29T00:51:00.000+01:00

Any asshat can tell you: subsidizing thugs only gets you more thuggery. But no, Germany insists on finding out the hard way. Former German ambassador and family kidnapped in Yemen.

A former German government minister, his wife and three children were kidnapped in Yemen on Wednesday, local officials said, and one of their captors said their lives would be at risk if Yemen used force to free them.

"They are safe. But if force is used to free them, the hostages' lives would be put in danger," one of the kidnappers from the al-Abdullah tribe told Reuters by telephone. "We were forced to do this to focus the government's attention to our cause," he said.

Last week, Yemeni tribesmen seized two Austrians. A month ago, another group of tribesmen captured two Swiss tourists. Both kidnappings were aimed at pressuring the government to free jailed relatives and all tourists were released unharmed.

Chrobog, 65, was Germany's ambassador to the United States from 1995 to 2001. In 2003, he was the top diplomat dealing with Europeans abducted in the Sahara desert and was able to secure the release of 14 hostages, including nine Germans.

A ransom was paid in that case, of course.

And fallout from the Osthoff saga continues: looks like the baddies did indeed get more than Hamadi. Tigerhawk reports that "the Germans are particularly angry [about Osthoff's plans to return to Iraq] since they seem to have paid good money to secure her return."

"A self-willed woman!" exploded Hans-Ulrich Klose, the deputy leader of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee. "Incomprehensible," agreed Ruprecht Polenz, the committee chairman. "In the event of a second kidnapping one would have to discuss who should foot the bill."

How about: NO ONE. A Tigerhawk commenter wisely notes: "That's the thing about extortion, the bill tends to keep coming due. The German government should have asked itself this question before it paid up the first time."

It makes you wonder what percentage of the German federal budget is allocated to pay ransoms. Or does that fall under defense spending?

UPDATE: Osthoff told that kidnappers were Zarqawi's thugs; denies intentions to return to Iraq.

UPDATE II: Osthoff's veiled interview with ZDF "incoherent."

Even the heavily edited version (ZDF spokesman: "We wanted to protect Osthoff from herself.") of the original 15-minute interview was barely comprehensible. Questions were left unanswered and at times Osthoff rambled off into non-sequiturs about how badly she had been treated by her landlord back in Germany. When asked how the kidnapping had been carried out, she was evasive, simply responding: "I think these details are not interesting. That doesn't interest anyone. Generally kidnappings are carried out quite violently. People watch a lot of television and realize perhaps that you don't let yourself get abducted voluntarily."

What an odd thing to say.

Bavaria Shuts Down Al-Masri's Mosque

2005-12-28T22:54:00.000+01:00

Freistaat Bayern, the German equivalent of Texas, has refreshingly little patience with jihadi plots and their tiresome taqqiya. Predictably, the joint was known as the Multi-Kultur Haus.

The state government of Bavaria said Wednesday it was shutting down the Multi-Kultur-Haus association in the southern town of Neu-Ulm after it seized material urging Muslims to carry out suicide attacks in Iraq.

Khaled al-Masri, a Kuwait-born German citizen who is suing the CIA for allegedly spiriting him to Afghanistan for interrogation, has said he visited the center several times before he was snatched.

More precisely, this "German man" was born in Kuwait to Lebanese parents, emigrating to Germany at age 22 in 1985.

Al-Masri said he was taken while trying to enter Macedonia on New Year's Eve 2003 ["on holiday"] and flown to Afghanistan, where he was subjected to "torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" during five months in captivity, according to a lawsuit filed [by the ACLU] in a Virginia federal court.

He was flown to Albania in late May 2004 and put on a plane back to Germany, he has said. Al-Masri has said his captors told him he was seized in a case of mistaken identity.

His lawyer, however, has suggested that al-Masri was abducted because of his links to the Islamic association, which provided meetings, prayer rooms and other services for local Muslims.

"In all interrogations, in Macedonia and Afghanistan, Khaled al-Masri was asked only about the Multi-Kultur-Haus in Ulm, about the people he knew there," Manfred Gnjidic told Munich's Abendzeitung newspaper last month.

Al-Masri's case has stoked debate in Germany about how to prevent terrorist attacks while safeguarding civil liberties. Federal Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, for instance, is calling for tougher laws so that anyone who has trained in camps in Afghanistan can be prosecuted.

Al-Masri claims U.S. agents questioned him about associates including his friend Reda Seyam, an Egypt-born German citizen under investigation by German federal prosecutors on suspicion of supporting al-Qaida.

Security officials confiscated and searched the association's premises in Neu-Ulm Wednesday and froze its bank account. There was no mention of arrests or the results of the search.

More background from Expatica:

In a new twist to the case, Schaeuble reportedly told the interior committee of parliament that the United States had already offered al-Masri both an apology and financial compensation, on the proviso that the 42-year-old remain silent about his ordeal.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had admitted that Washington had blundered in detaining al-Masri.

U.S. officials swiftly denied that Rice had made any such statement.

The punchline of the secret CIA prisons "scandal" is that Europe's failure to keep its own house in order is exactly why the US is forced to engage in such tactics in the first place. Bavaria's move is a good start.