Links News & Views November 27 2006

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November 27, 2006


Suicide bomber kills 15 in Afghanistan
By Alisa Tang, Associated Press Writer | November 26, 2006

KABUL, Afghanistan --A Pakistani suicide bomber detonated himself in a crowded restaurant Sunday, killing 15 people and wounding 24, including an Afghan special forces commander and a district chief, the provincial governor said.
The restaurant, located in the southeastern province of Paktika, was destroyed, said Gov. Mohammad Akram Akhpelwak. The attacker was believed to be targeting the military commander and the district chief, he said.

The suicide strike was the 102nd in Afghanistan this year, attacks that have killed 241 people, said Maj. Luke Knittig, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force

Akhpelwak said the suicide bomber was from Pakistan, but he gave no further details. Afghan officials say the majority of suicide bombers there come from neighboring Pakistan.

Violence has risen sharply in Afghanistan this year, and Taliban militants have launched a record number of suicide and roadside bombs. Militants launched only about 20 suicide bomb attacks last year.

Meanwhile, one NATO soldier and an estimated 57 insurgents were killed in four separate attacks in violence-plagued southern Afghanistan, the former Taliban stronghold where the Afghan government wields little power.

Insurgents attacked NATO-led forces Saturday near the Tirin Kot district of Uruzgan province. NATO returned fire and called in aircraft, killing approximately 50 insurgents, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said Sunday. One NATO soldier was also killed. The nationality of the soldier was not released.

In the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province on Saturday, insurgents fired on Afghan army and NATO soldiers. A retaliatory air strike killed approximately five insurgents, said the ISAF statement. Three NATO soldiers were injured.

In neighboring Zabul province, about 50 Taliban fighters attacked the Arghandab district chief's compound on Saturday and clashed with police for about an hour, leaving one Taliban dead and three wounded, said district chief Fazal Bari. He said the police suffered no casualties.

On the main Kabul-Kandahar highway in Zabul province, Taliban fighters ambushed a police convoy Saturday night and exchanged gunfire with police, said Zabul highway police commander Jainani Khan. One Taliban was killed.

President Bush, meanwhile, called Afghan President Hamid Karzai Saturday evening to assure him that the U.S. will reiterate its commitment to Afghanistan at the upcoming NATO summit in Latvia, Karzai's office said. The summit starts Tuesday.

The two presidents also discussed proposed plans for an upcoming meeting involving tribal leaders from Afghanistan and Pakistan. Karzai had proposed the idea during a White House dinner with Bush and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

Karzai hopes the meeting, called a jirga, can help solve the problem of militants crossing from Pakistan to launch attacks in Afghanistan.

The U.S. military on Sunday said it was spending $34.5 million to build four new regional hospitals and the refurbishment of the National Military Hospital. It is also spending $70 million on first aid kits for the Afghan army.

Thousands in Turkey denounce papal visit
By BRIAN MURPHY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Tens of thousands of protesters denounced Pope Benedict XVI as an enemy of Islam at a rally Sunday that underlined deep divisions straining Turkey ahead of the pontiff's visit this week.

Officials hoping to promote closer ties with the West urged calm, but Islamic groups wary of Western ways united in anger over Benedict's remarks two months ago linking Islam to violence.

Chants of "No to the pope!" rose among nearly 25,000 demonstrators at every mention of his remarks on violence and the Prophet Muhammad. Many protesters wore headbands with anti-pope slogans and waved placards that included a depiction of Benedict as the grim reaper.

The protest, organized by an Islamist political party, was the largest mass gathering so far against Benedict's four-day visit scheduled to begin Tuesday - his first papal journey to a mostly Muslim nation. The outcry also was designed to rattle Turkey's establishment.

Turkish officials hope to use the visit to promote their ambitions of becoming the first Muslim nation in the European Union and showcase Turkey's secular political system. But Islamic groups, which have been gaining strength, see Benedict as a symbol of Western intolerance and injustices against Muslims.
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The American Truth Forum exposes Islamic penetration of the universities
Arlene Peck
BrookesNews.Com
Monday 27 November 2006

It takes a lot to subdue me. I am a woman who is not easily intimidated. However, recently, I was awed while sitting among some of the worlds most informed and intelligent, at the America’s Truth Forum Symposium founded by Jeffery Epstein in Las Vegas while they spoke about the threat that we all face with Islamic terror.

It was truly an honor to me to be made an ‘honoree’ among the likes of speakers like Robert Spencer, (Director of Jihad Watch) Dr. Wafa Sultan, former terrorists Walid Shoebat. Also speaking were: James Gilchrist ( founder of the Minuteman Project), recognized authorities on terrorism Drs. Harvey Kushner, Bruce Tefft ( CIA founder of Counter Terrorism Center, Paul Williams and Hamid Mir, the only journalist to have met with Osama bin Laden; Joe Kaufman (chair of Americans against Hate and founder of CAIR Watch) and more…

The American Truth Forum is the result of the tireless efforts of activist Jeffery Epstein. People with his devotion to bring to fruition such a symposium explaining the threat of radical Islamism at our front door, are few and far between. Jeff ran a flawless conference, except, for his misfortune to book the event at the Sahara Hotel. They changed the guarantee (at the last minute) from $110 a night for the room to $400 for a room that was decorated early Howard Johnsons. Walking through the lobby was enough to give you cancer from the lingering cigarette smoke and the food was bordering on ptomaine.

The entire two days of this amazing symposium were filled with information that although depressing, was something everyone should know. Joe Kaufman spoke at length how Hamas threatens America. CAIR is a durative of Hamas. Moreover, according to him, “That being the case, the United States and the Justice Dept should put CAIR on the same list of being a terrorist’s organization

I personally have been a victim of this particular group. It happened shortly after I wrote a column entitled, “How has Islam Enriched Your Life.” Although this article was widely published in various papers, I was singled out by Google in the New Media Journal and slandered by refusing their refusing to publish Frank Salvato’s paper because they now considered me a ‘hate speech writer’. Frank incidentally was a strong supporter of the event.

I sat fascinated, while those in the know like Dr. Harvey Kushner, professor and internationally recognized authority on terrorism spoke how the universities and their Islamic studies programs are teaching hate and, a ‘certain point of view’. As a parent, I find it sick that you send a kid to college, they take an American government course, and instead of learning real history, the children are learning about the degrading of America.

I didn’t need the symposium to tell me how the American universities today are embedded in a wave of foreign students. There is an over abundance of foreign funding of universities. The Saudis have 15,000 ‘students’ now in full scholarships. They are sending them over to curb unrest at home. Lovely. Hey, even the bin Laden family is funding Colombia. How many loans would it take your kid to get into one of those Ivy League schools? And George Town is heavily funded. Just follow the money. The Saudis cut a check ahead of time.

According to Dr. Kushner, we are embedded in waves of foreign students; Students come for one day and leave. To get their visa to get into our country.” People we are churning out in our country who are getting educated do not stay. We educated them and then, they go back to foreign soil where they have their loyalty. However, they have learned how to use our laws and systems against us... I believe that CAIR has mastered that. Dr. Kushner only reiterated my feelings that the professors in our country are no longer American. They are not even American nationals. They arrive with political baggage and it is dangerous when our teachers are teaching social sciences. They have a goal and it is to teach our children hate.

I remember a couple of years ago when I slipped into a local mosque and listened to a few of the well-dressed crowd that was there. The idea seemed to be to encourage their children to major in three specific fields. Those being, education, politics and communications. So, I am not too surprised to see the fruits of their labor in our newspapers now when I read stories from Muslim writers. We have begun putting them in our congress. Our universities have become totally infiltrated and it is not the American way.

What is being taught? Whose thoughts are being heard? When is the last time that any of the parents have sat through one of their kids classrooms? The teachers in these classes have no intention of becoming American citizens. They are foreign nationals for the most part with the ability to make changes in their student’s minds. Islam is being taught in our schools as an example of religious expression … gawd! Dr. Kushner said, “Religious diversity is fine, however, what is the agenda when Islam is being taught while Christianity and Judaism is being shut down.

The number of imams at major universities is growing and at a rapid rate. It does not seem to matter whether there is a substantial Muslim society at the school or not. What is the need for imams? I remember, eons ago, when I went to college. It was major event to have a Rabbi that came in. Now that I think of it, most of our hospitals are now filled with foreign doctors. Outsourcing and the key dramatic aspect is the university.

However, I digress. There we so many speakers, and each with profound thoughts that I do not want to dwell on any one topic. The problems are immense. The question that we have to answer is how to handle it? Symposiums such as the America’s Truth Forum do so much to educate us in the understanding that the minds and needs of Muslims and how no matter what, Islam and Democracy is not compatible. When we think of democracy, we think of freedom of speech, the ability to write and speak about whatever it is that bothers you. Our list of What Freedom Means to us is huge. When a Muslim thinks of democracy, they can sum it up in one sentence. They won’t be a slave. Simple?

Poverty is not a reason. Land has nothing to do with it either. Many countries are poor. They just don’t go out and cut off heads. It is our business to connect the links and meetings like this clarify what is wrong and what needs to be done about it. I found it appalling that Jeff Epstein worked around the clock for months to bring the caliber of speakers to us. And, yet, on the final count, he struggled to break even. Where were the big ‘spenders’ who rush to accept plaques?

People should be clamoring to assist with the dissemination of this vital information. Those fortunate enough to be able to contribute financially should be standing in line to help pay for such an educational symposium. We, as Americans and/or Jews and all human beings lucky enough to live in our free society have much to lose by keeping our heads in the sand and refusing to recognize the danger we are all in.

What will it take to allow everyone to clearly see the handwriting on the wall? And don't say we haven't been given fair warning. The Islamo-fascist terrorists have stated very plainly what it is that they desire: To eradicate Western Civilization. It's time to smell the Humus. :

The Key to Total Victory is Total Victory
By Bruce Walker (11/26/06)

The way to win the peace in the Middle East and West Asia is to win the victory in the Middle East and West Asia. Forget nation building. Begin nation breaking. Forget Congress, which maintains that it did not declare war when it declared war (if we had a Congress sworn to protect and defend the Constitution and which was outraged by treason, that would be one thing, but we do not.)

Even forget democracy and freedom for people who have been raised for generations to despise the virtues of democracy and freedom over the joys of ethnic, regional and religious hegemony. Understand the lesson never recognized or accepted in the last century: European colonialism worked. The imposition of superior cultural and moral values on peoples whose misfortune had of growing up in parts of the world that lack Judeo-Christian values is indispensable to help those people.

Diversity does not work. The other world religions do not work. Moslems and Hindu murder each other as they have for centuries. Buddhist and Hindu in Tamil and Sri Lanka murder each other, even though both metaphysical systems are ostensibly non-violent and much less violent than Islam. Two prime ministers of India were murder by Sikhs, another religion much less violent than Islam. Nepal, the only nation in which Hinduism is the official religion, is torn with violence.

I am not trying to pick on India. Among those nations granted independence, India has been a great success story. It has a functioning democracy, substantial political and civic freedom, a rapidly growing economy, a peaceful foreign policy and may well be the world’s next superpower. The examples of continued violence in all parts of India are intended, rather, to give us an idea of the best that we can expect from nations not imbued with Judeo-Christian values.

Japan was compelled to adopt those values and was militarily crushed in a way that few great powers have ever been. The American occupation of Japan was intended to create a tolerant, peaceful, democratic and prosperous society constructed around Judeo-Christian values, even if the majority of Japanese did not become Christians. It worked. Japan, alone among the non-Judeo-Christian nations, is a clear and positive force for peace and freedom in the world.

So what must we do in Near Asia? First, we must militarily crush all regimes that are hostile to Judeo-Christian values and do so in such a way that no government which is hostile or which tolerates through government sponsored propaganda vile defamations of America, Israel, Jews or Christians will be allowed to survive. What is required is nothing less than de-nazification (or its counterpart in the deconstruction of Emperor worship in Imperial Japan.)

Do we then need to stay and nation build? Absolutely not! What we need to do instead is nation break. Iraq has never been a nation. Syria has never been a nation. Iran has never been a nation. Pakistan has never been a nation. All those, and other Asian and African nations as well, are empires – tiny empires, but empires to be sure.

What America needs to do is conquer and shatter Iran and Syria into smaller nations of their native peoples. A free Kurdistan – Iran, Syria and Turkey each have large Kurdish populations – would be an excellent start. Kurds are ethnically separate from Arabs or Iranians and there are Jewish, Christian, and Zoroastrian Kurds, as well as Moslem Kurds. There is every reason to believe that a free Kurdistan would be a close and grateful friend of America.

Allow the Sunni to form a midget nation in Iraq, which would leave Iran ready to lurch in, but not if “Iran” ceased to exist as an empire. Only half the people in the Empire of Iran are Iranian. The rest are Azeri, Turkmen, Kurds, Arabs, Balochi and other ethnic groups. These populations should be given to any existing nations like Azerbaijan and Turkistan or new nations created with American support. The substantial Sunni minority in Iran could be freed from Shiite oppression. The Shiite nation that would emerge out of southern Iraq would be Arab Shia of Iraq and a small part of Iran, all independent of the non-Arab Iranian nation of today.

What does all this accomplish? Would this end civil strife? Well, it would help a lot. Allowing peoples to have their own nation, however small, reducing the reasons for civil wars. Those peoples who fight among themselves even when reduced to an ethnically, religiously and linguistically homogenous population will prove no threat to us. And they will prove no threat to their neighbors. Why?

Because the second phase to this plan would be to deliberately favor with military aid, diplomatic support, money and projected air and naval power any nations on friendly terms with America and Israel and which did not tolerate propagation of horrific lies about those nations. Again, a free Kurdistan is probably the best model of how this would work. Astride Near Asia, a Kurdish nation of thirty million or so could be easily made into the regional superpower, if we wished.

What about democracy? Ignore democracy. Indoctrinated populations do not need democracy at once: they need de-nazification. What we must insist upon is that Western ideas are allowed to penetrate these nations. We must allow that Christian missionaries and Israeli and American businesses be free to operate (and enrich) these peoples. We must insist that terrorist activities be crushed by the existing government, with the understanding that if the government does not solve the problem, we will.

How far should this strategy go? Iran and Syria, surely. Turkey (the Kurdish part), probably. Pakistan, possibly. We should use this as well in Africa, or at least the threat of it, to those artificial nations which are miserable and in which Islam in on a brutal, violent march of conquest. The world is largely run by tin pot dictators ruling several different peoples in a single tin pot imperial realm with a cynical Praetorian Guard. If these soulless thugs know that their petty power depends upon our goodwill, and that we expect toleration of Judeo-Christian ideals peacefully in their empires, then they will always choose self-interest over any other interest.

Would this conquest of our enemies require a large occupying force? Not at all. It would require only that we divide artificial nations into small, natural countries with autocratic governments sympathetic to us and that we then use support and “divide and conquer” tactics to maintain power – always with the goal of allowing the peaceful penetration of Judeo-Christian values to transform societies and governments.

It worked in Japan. It worked, to a large extent, in India. It has worked in those African nations, like Ivory Coast, in which the core principles have taken root. It is the only plan that will work. Until the globe is safe for the peaceful propagation of Judeo-Christian values, there will be no peace. Once those values have penetrated the lives of ordinary people everywhere, then there will be true peace, real democracy, general affluence and permanent hope.

Jordan King Warns on Mideast Civil Wars
WASHINGTON Nov 26, 2006 (AP)— Jordan's King Abdullah said Sunday the problems in the Middle East go beyond the war in Iraq and that much of the region soon could become engulfed in violence unless the central issues are addressed quickly.

"We could possibly imagine going into 2007 and having three civil wars on our hands," he said, citing conflicts in Iraq, Lebanon and the decades-long strife between the Palestinians and Israelis.

"Therefore, it is time that we really take a strong step forward as part of the international community and make sure we avert the Middle East from a tremendous crisis that I fear, and I see could possibly happen in 2007," he said.

Speaking on ABC's "This Week," Abdullah said he remained hopeful a summit he will host this week in Amman with President Bush and the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, will somehow lower the sectarian violence that threatens to push Iraq into all-out civil war.

"We hope there will be something dramatic. The challenges, obviously, in front of both of them are immense," the king said.

"We have to make sure that all parties in Iraq understand the dangers of the ongoing escalation. I hope Prime Minister Maliki will have some ideas … on how he can be inclusive in bringing all the different sects inside of Iraq together. They need to do it now," he said, "because, obviously, as we're seeing, things are beginning to spiral out of control."

The king spoke of the urgent need for a change in course in Iraq.

"There needs to be some very strong action taken on the ground there today," he said. "I don't think we're in a position where we can come back and revisit the problem in early 2007. There needs to be a strategy. There needs to be a plan that brings all the parties together, and bring them today and not tomorrow."

Bush plans to fly to Jordan after attending a NATO summit in Latvia. Vice President Dick Cheney made a quick trip to Saudi Arabia for talks on Saturday as part of the administration's effort to bring peace to the region.
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The bomber's privacy is paramount
By Alasdair Palmer
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 26/11/2006


'The extensive and growing collaboration with the European Union is an essential part of President Bush's strategy for fighting terrorism." That's what the White House believed when the US and EU last held a joint summit on "co-operation to combat terrorists" in 2004. But that collaboration looked very distant last week: the EU declared one of the most basic forms of co-operation with the US in the fight against terrorism "illegal", because it "failed to respect human rights".

What had the US done to incur the wrath of the EU's rights watchdogs? Had it tortured people suspected of terrorism and handed over by the EU for trial in the US? No: the US couldn't do that if it wanted to, because the EU will not hand over anyone for trial in a country, such as the US, where they might face the death penalty.

Had the US discriminated against EU citizens on grounds of religion or race? No: both kinds of discrimination are illegal in the US too, and the laws prohibiting them are probably more zealously enforced there than they are in many EU countries.
What had irked the EU regulators was that the US had been allowed access to records of international bank transfers by Swift, the company that oversees most of them. Swift had thought it was acting responsibly: the point of co-operating had been to help the US in its effort to track down who was transferring money to terrorist bank accounts, and stop them doing it.

The American programme, which has been going on since 9/11, has been surprisingly successful: US law-enforcement officers have managed to identify and freeze well over $200 million in terrorist-related bank accounts, thus preventing the terrorists financing some of the incidents of mass murder that they had planned.

You might have thought this would generate appreciation rather than censure from the EU. After all, the networks of Islamist terrorism are global, as are its financial tentacles. We all benefit when it becomes harder for the terrorists to finance their operations, because that makes it more difficult for them to pull them off. But that's not how the bureaucrats in Brussels see it. They insist that in allowing the US access to some of its transaction records, Swift wrongly put "security interests ahead of norms of human rights".

It is difficult to understand how it can be more important to keep bank transactions private than to prevent mass murder. Unless, of course, you are a terrorist intent on mass murder. What makes the EU's stance even more difficult to understand is that it does allow that "an important public interest" is enough to over-ride the "right" to keep bank transactions secret: the European Commission's Working Party on the Protection of Personal Data stresses that "tax and customs administrations" could take a peek at bank transfers without any rights being violated, as could "the services responsible for social security… and the supervisory bodies in the financial services sector".

So it's fine for the authorities to be given access to the details of the money you have transferred in order to ensure you pay your taxes. But it's a violation of human rights for the state to look at what money you've transferred if the purpose is merely to decrease the chance that someone gets killed by a suicide bomber.

This is a deranged inversion of any rational order of priorities. But it is the logic of the EU's argument.

Michael Chertoff, the US Secretary of Homeland Security, appealed to EU officials on the fifth anniversary of 9/11 to work with the US "to ease restrictions before another attack like those of 9/11 occurs".

Dream on, Michael: they'd rather we were dead than let you see our bank details.

To understand the Middle East today, turn to Romeo and Juliet
By Niall Ferguson
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 26/11/2006

Comment on this story Read comments

It was three years ago that a prescient Beirut journalist I know predicted that Iraq would end up as "Lebanon to the power of 10"; meaning Lebanon during its 16-year civil war between 1975 and 1991. This year, his prophecy has been fulfilled as Iraq has spiralled into bloody fratricidal strife.

By contrast, my friend was quite optimistic about Lebanon's future. But last week's assassination of the industry minister, Pierre Gemayel, raises the grim possibility that Lebanon may now go the way of Iraq.

Civil war is the disorder of the day in the Middle East. Unfortunately, politicians in the United States and Europe remain chronically incapable of understanding how civil wars work. As a result, not only do they struggle to stop them once they get going, they also sometimes inadvertently fan their flames - a good illustration being the way that Germany's ill-considered recognition of the independence of Slovenia and Croatia in December 1991 accelerated the break-up of Yugoslavia and the "ethnic cleansing" of Bosnia.

Today's equivalent idiocy is the enduring belief that, by over-throwing Saddam Hussein and "liberating" Iraqis, the United States could unleash a wave of democratisation throughout the Middle East. It was in those terms that many commentators interpreted the mass demonstrations in Beirut in March last year - the so-called "Cedar Revolution" - that led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon. Those events were also triggered by an assassination, that of former prime minister Rafik Hariri. It will be ironic indeed if this latest political murder sets the cedars of Lebanon blazing once again.

The dream of a democratised Middle East had its origins in another bad idea: the notion that the principal conflicts in the post-Cold War era would be clashes between civilisations, in particular those of Islam and the West. Turning Iraq into a democracy was supposed to initiate a fundamental transformation of Islamic civilisation: to westernise it politically and therefore to neutralise it strategically.

The reality, however, is that the majority of conflicts in our time have been within civilisations, not between them: civil wars, not holy wars. And, as the cases of Lebanon and Iraq clearly illustrate, such wars tend to be fought by neighbouring ethnic groups. Only occasionally are the Muslims all on one side and the "westerners" - shorthand for Christians and Jews - all on the other.
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The dagger at their throats
THE DAY after the 9/11 attacks, MIT professor Noam Chomsky wrote of the need "to understand what may have led to the crimes, which means making an effort to enter the minds of the likely perpetrators." What struck Daveed Gartenstein-Ross about Chomsky's response was that "Chomsky made no real effort to enter the minds of the perpetrators. Instead he simply projected his own grievances against the United States onto them."

Gartenstein-Ross had a much stronger idea as to what motivated the 9/11 attackers. After converting to Islam in college, he held a job at the Ashland, Ore., office of Al Haramain, a Saudi-funded charity that sent money to al Qaeda.

In a fascinating memoir due in stores in February, "My Year Inside Radical Islam," Gartenstein-Ross describes how he was drawn to Islam because he saw it as a religion of peace.

Over time, however, he watched himself and those around him seduced into a fanaticism that required them to loathe not only non-Muslims, but also Muslims who belonged to the wrong sect, listened to music or shaved. He had expected an open, accepting religion, only to hear sheikhs arguing that Muslims who leave the religion should be killed, that it is acceptable to kill civilians for jihad and that good Muslims should work to replace democratic governments with Shariah law.

The hate chased Gartenstein-Ross from Islam, but only after it sucked him into believing that unacceptable actions were holy.

The book's message is not that Americans should distrust all Muslims. "The message is the exact opposite of that," he told me over the phone. Gartenstein-Ross understands that America needs to enlist moderate Muslims to fight the extremists. More important, in the course of his journey he saw the many benign stripes of Islam as he befriended good people whose faith made them stronger, better human beings.

He believes Americans need a more fact-based understanding of Islam, which requires the media to do a better job of reporting what Muslims think and say -- instead of papering over radical rhetoric. Once when a local reporter visited Al Haramain to write a piece on Ramadan, a co-worker refused to shake her hand, launched a defense of sorts of Algerian terrorists and lambasted a French policy that prohibited schoolgirls from wearing the hijab in class. The comments never made the story. Gartenstein-Ross writes, "And so, as I often did, the reporter chose not to acknowledge that a real clash of values existed here."

Islam's approach to homosexuality is another area that the left ignores in deference to multiculturalism. (Think of Bay Area liberals who voice outrage at the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, but are silent about the Shariah policy on homosexuals -- 100 lashes or death.) Ditto the status of women.

Gartenstein-Ross also takes issue with those rose-colored-glass wearers who deny that there is any theological basis for Islamic extremism. "It's important to note that they do have an argument," he told me, if only to be able to engage them in argument and understand where they get their ideas.

Gartenstein-Ross is a strong storyteller, who enables the reader to feel the ineluctable draw to fanaticism, as well as the anguish and disillusionment that led him to support violent jihad, but ultimately reject it. He has no use for those who, a la Chomsky, pat themselves on the back for having the intellectual fortitude "to enter the minds of the likely perpetrators."

There are forces in this world that would kill these elites for the apostasy, but elites are so blinded with their sense of superiority over their political enemies -- like President Bush -- that they can't even see the dagger pointed at their throats.

UK Muslims Still Considered Freest in Europe
By ABDULHAMIT BILICI, LONDON
Sunday, November 26, 2006
zaman.com

[NEWS ANALYSIS] -- Until countries such as India, Egypt and Malaysia gained independence, millions of Muslims lived under British rule.

Now the United Kingdom is a new homeland for more than two million Muslims from former colonial territories and elsewhere.

Until London was hit by terrorist attacks in July 2005, British Muslims were living in relative peace and freedom.

Many Muslims living in Islamic countries were envious of this free environment in the UK.

The libertarian British model was shown to contrast France’s prohibitive understanding of secularism.

There was a freedom of expression that allowed even the most radical religious discourse. Muslims were able to set up their own parliaments, open their own schools and receive financial aid from the state, albeit little.

Muslims also had broad liberties in clothing. Muslim women were able to wear all manner of headscarves, veils and even burqas.

Things have changed however.

The debate on the Muslim veil still continues, first ignited by remarks from former Foreign Minister Jack Straw.

Almost every day, newspaper headlines talk about a problem with Muslims. A terrorist who reportedly plans to blow the London subway occupies the newspaper pages…

The newspapers talk about a “Muslim Threat.”

Muslims in the UK are complaining about the British press.

Khurshid Ahmed from the British Muslim Forum said that constant negative press on Islam was causing reactions in society and making people more radical.

Andleen Razzaq, a young Pakistani Muslim, said, “The press does not prefer to talk to a modest Muslim like me; instead they want to talk to an extremist. They do not care that they are instigating mutual hatred.”

Even still, some say those living in the UK are still the luckiest Muslims in the West.

We asked London-based Pakistani journalist Shahed Sadullah, who frequently appears on the BBC, to compare the UK with other European countries.

“The UK still is the country where Muslims live the most comfortably in the West,” he responded.

When we asked whether the situation in the UK was better than the one in the United States, he stressed that it was, “a millions times better.”

It is not merely a subjective opinion that Muslims have benefited from civil liberties in Britain.

When we visited the Muslim College in London, founded by Dr. Zaki Badawi'nin, we were told that there had been a Sharia council in Britain since 1978.

The council has the right to judge legal and divorce issues of Muslims.

The right to apply to such councils, for many denominations, was granted in 1920.

Now, attempted terrorist attacks by several British-born Muslims have apparently disrupted this atmosphere.

The British government is taking more severe measures against terrorism with new laws while at the same time it is trying to establish closer relations with the Muslim community and limit the number of extremists.

Government working out solutions to radicalism

The British government attaches great importance on advertising its policies against terror and a growing radicalism among youngsters.

This was the main objective of the British foreign ministry program organized for 12 foreign journalists from places like Austria, the United State, Pakistan and Bahrain.

During the week-long program, we got the chance to hear how Britain and Muslims view terrorist attacks.

Ethnic minority groups make up nine percent of the 60 million people in the UK, including over two million Muslims.

A British Council media guide tells us that Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Indians make up half of the ethnic population. Other major groups are Algerians, Nigerian, Turks, Iraqis and Afghans.

The guide stated that 14,200 Britons had converted to Islam, such as Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens.

Media foments problems

Andleen Razzaq, member of the City Circles, a debate platform for local administrations, is also complaining about the media.

Razzaq said a careless media had disfigured Muslims: “Quality newspapers such as the Guardian and the Independent pose no problem. However, others never interview ordinary Muslim youth like me, while there are so many extremists to quote because sensational news brings in ratings. They do not care that such publications foment mutual hatred, make life harder for Muslims and push them to defensive position through constant pressure.”

During our one-week stay in Britain, Muslims were featured in the headlines almost every day.

Discussion on the Jack Straw veil debate was still ongoing.

Suddenly an alleged terrorist attack on the London subway was foiled.

Later a racist letter sent to voters by a female member of the conservative party was revealed. This was followed by the removal of a Muslim police officer who was guarding Prime Minister Tony Blair’s office.

Moreover, the chief of the British intelligence service MI5 stated that 1,600 terrorist suspects were being monitored.

A newspaper headline proclaiming a “Muslim threat” was quite depressing.

Two weeks after the July 7 attacks on London, attacks on Muslims increased seven fold.

Lack of legal regulations regarding Muslims has an impact on the rise of verbal and physical attacks.

The 1976 law foresees severe punishment for racial discrimination, but it is not applicable to crimes against Muslims. The law only covers Jews and Sikhs because they are recognized as race.

A notable case was that of Nick Griffin, leader of the conservative BNP party tried for insulting Muslims who was acquitted in November thanks to this loophole.

Abdurrahman Cafer, member of the Muslim Council of Britain, stressed certain problems were caused by mistakes in the implementation of recently enacted anti-terrorism laws.

Three youngsters were arrested and kept in prison for three months, but released by the court for lack of evidence. The same youngsters were later arrested for a credit card problem.

Rafsanjani: Benazir failed to control Taliban
26-11-2006

By Muhammad Ali Siddiqi

TEHRAN, Dawn: Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto expressed her helplessness vis a vis fundamentalists in Pakistan when Iranian leader Hashmi Rafsanjani told her not to support the Taliban, because her government’s backing for the religious militants was spoiling Islamabad’s relations with Tehran.

“She told me that as a woman she was unable to assert herself because she knew what they thought of women. Besides, they had a vast presence in the madressahs, and for that reason she was unable to control them”. Talking to a Pakistani media delegation, the former Iranian president and now head of the powerful Expediency Council, said Afghanistan was the single biggest cause of differences between Pakistan and Iran, and the two governments seemed to have distanced themselves. This was regrettable, he said, because –- if handled carefully -- Afghanistan had the potential to strengthen the friendship between Pakistan and Iran since both had a stake in that country’s stability.

Asked by Dawn whether it was Pakistan’s American connections which had soured relations between the two, Hojjatul Islam Rafsanjani said the deterioration in relations between the two had begun even before 9/11.

At one stage, he said, Pakistan and Iran were working for a common goal. While Iran was supporting Shia militias in the north, Pakistan was backing the Taliban, their common aim being to drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan. But once the Soviets pulled back, Pakistan came on the side of the Taliban, whom he called narrow-minded. Told that a reversal of Pakistan’s policy toward the Taliban had become inevitable after 9/11, Rafsanjani said “you could have done this without bringing the Americans in”. Nevertheless, Pakistan’s cooperation with the US in the war on terror had served to weaken Islamabad’s relations with Tehran.

He was clear in his mind that Iran believed its relations with Pakistan were more important than Tehran’s ties with Kabul. Even now the two countries had a stake in Afghanistan, since lawlessness in that country had led to a phenomenal increase in poppy cultivation and the consequent increase in drug trade. “When I was president, I was not satisfied with the level of our bilateral relations, even though the Taliban were not there on the scene. I was keen on the pipeline project materialising, and we used to call it ‘peaceline’. But (since my departure from the office of president), things have not moved forward, and the bilateral relations have either been static or further gone down.”

However, the misunderstanding between the two countries was at the state level, and so far as the peoples of the two countries were concerned, there were no differences. As president he had excellent relations with both the government and the opposition. As an example, he pointed out that when he visited the National Assembly, the opposition walked out and refused to listen to Ms Bhutto, but when he rose to speak the opposition came back.

The former president attacked the United States for pursuing policies that were destabilising the entire Middle East and said Washington’s policies in Afghanistan and Iran had failed, and terrorism had spread its tentacles to Somalia. Now the entire region from Afghanistan to Lebanon was in turmoil.

The United States, he said, wanted to change the Middle East’s map, but the events in Iraq and Afghanistan and what happened last July-August in Lebanon had demonstrated clearly that America had failed in its aim. He feared that America would leave behind it in the Middle East enormous problems, because the Americans have proved themselves to be “more destructive than the Taliban”.

The Expediency Council (Tashkhees-i-Maslehat-i-Nizam), which Rafsanjani heads, plays a key role in breaking a deadlock if the Guardian Council, the parliament and the government fail to agree on a constitutional or political issue in a country which has several centres of power.

CNN Exposes Islamic Incitement
15:35 Nov 26, '06 / 5 Kislev 5767
by Hillel Fendel

Shocked at never having seen scenes of Islamic hatred and incitement before, show host Glenn Beck hosted an hour-long special designed to show Americans that which they have never seen.


Several days ago, CNN broadcast in the United States a Glenn Beck special entitled: "Exposed: The Extremist Agenda." The show featured several shocking video clips of sheikhs being cheered as they vow to "cut off the Jew's head," Iranian President Ahmedinejad preaching hatred and threatening war against the West, and little children expressing the abhorrence for Jews with which they have imbued.

Beck, whose syndicated radio show is broadcast on 200 stations around the United States, emphasizes throughout the program that the American people are simply not aware of the threat posed to them by radical Islam. He and his guests attribute this to purposeful camouflaging of the message by people such as Ahmedinejad, the American tendency towards political correctness, and dangerous complacency similar to that of the 1930's in the face of the Nazi menace.

The entire show can be seen at "www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PWIK8YTZS8&eurl="

The show begins with a wildly dramatic sheikh preaching to a large crowd in a Baghdad mosque and railing against "the Americans and their president and the British and their allies and the Zionists, the spoiled offspring of this entity! [The sheikh says:] Allahu Akbar! If Allah permits us, O Nation of Mohammad, even the stone will say, 'O Muslim, a Jew is hiding behind me, come and cut off his head,' and we shall cut off his head! By Allah [brandishing a sword], we shall cut it off! [scenes of a cheering audience] O Jews, Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Jihad for the sake of Allah! Victory to Allah! Allahu Akbar! The believers [Muslims] will triumph!"

Scenes of television programs purporting to show Israelis stealing Palestinian children's eyes, punching old women, and stealing Arab blood are shown. State-owned media in Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority run cartoons of US President Bush, Secretary of State Rice and Ariel Sharon dripping with blood and the like. "News reports" are shown reporting as fact items such as Coca-Cola's willingness to spend billions of dollars to topple Iran, or the "fact" that Pepsi stands for 'Pay Each Penny, Save Israel.'

Beck's background commentary states: "Coca-Cola wants to topple Iran. Obviously ridiculous. But the average Iranian citizen has no reason not to believe these claims."

Iranian President Ahmadinejad
Beck later says, "Iran's President Ahmadinejad has recently said that his country's nuclear program will be up and running by the end of March... The International Atomic Energy Agency has found traces of plutonium and enriched uranium at an Iranian nuclear waste site. Still, there are those who say that Iran should be a partner in constructing the future of the Middle East. Those people are probably only seeing the flowery interviews Ahmadinejad has given to Brian Williams or Mike Wallace here in the U.S. Unfortunately, as many of you will see now for the very first time, they are not hearing the whole story."

Iranian President Ahmadinejad in an interview: "Our message is the message of peace and brotherhood with all nations, with all people. We love the American people as we love our own."

Ahmadinejad in a speech in Iran: "If you want to have good relations with the Iranian people in the future, you should acknowledge the right and the might of the Iranian people. If you do not accept this, the Iranian people will force you to bow and surrender!"

Ahmadinejad in an interview: "So what I'm saying is quite fair. We want peace to be established there [in Israel]. We care for the Jews who live under pressure there, as well."

Ahmadinejad in a speech in Iran: "I have said to the leaders of some western countries, stop supporting these corrupt people. Behold the rage of the Muslim people is accumulating! The rage of the Muslim people may soon reach the point of explosion!"

Cheering crowd: "Death to Israel! Death to Israel! Death to America! Death to America!"

A commentator: "I think the threat that he [Ahmadinejad] poses is similar to the threat posed in the rise of Hitler in the 1930s when the world just sat relatively silent, silently watching Germany arm itself, watching Germany pose a threat and ultimately carry out that threat against its neighbors, and the world reacted much too late."

Binyamin Netanyahu, Author of Terrorism: How the West Can Win
Interviewing former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Beck says: "You have said in a speech in Los Angeles that this is 1938 all over again and they are preparing a Holocaust, the second Holocaust. How frustrating is it that you can't get people to pay attention to that?"

Netanyahu: "It's frustrating. It makes you understand how the `30s happened, because Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, is openly saying, while he denies the original Holocaust, he's openly saying that he's preparing another Holocaust to wipe Israel off the face of the earth with Iranian atomic bombs.

Beck: "I talked to Condoleezza Rice, and... I said, 'Look, this has not stopped. This guy has a doomsday apocalyptic view. He is clearly saying it.' And she said to me that we need to take him at his word but watch his actions, not necessarily all of his words. I think that's suicide."

Netanyahu: "I think we should watch his actions and listen to his words. His words are matched by his actions. Iran is racing to build power plants, nuclear power plants. They have more oil coming out of their ears. They don't need nuclear power plants... They need and are seeking to build nuclear weapons. I believe the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, just found traces of plutonium and uranium for the production of atomic bombs. These bombs are, in the first instance, aimed at Israel. Make no mistake about it. But they don't intend to just hit Israel. Iran is gearing up to produce 25 atomic bombs a year, 250 bombs in a decade. The missiles already reach into every European capital and they are blooming to reach the eastern seaboard of the United States, i.e., New York City, the studio we're sitting in. So this is like Nazism: they start with the hatred of the Jews, and they want to annihilate the Jews. But that's only the first stop. Their goal is western civilization."

Beck: "...This man has an apocalyptic view. He has already said that he wants to march in through ancient Babylon and set up a global Islamic empire. Do you believe that? Do you believe this guy has that apocalyptic doomsday view?"

Netanyahu: "I read an interview with a Holocaust survivor about a year ago in one of the European papers. And the interviewer asked the Holocaust survivor, 'What is your main lesson from the Holocaust?' And the Holocaust survivor said, 'My main lesson is that if somebody tells you he's going to exterminate you, believe him.' I believe that the president of Iran intends to exterminate Israel."

Suicide Bombers to Hit U.S.
Apparently-genuine video clips are shown of Moslem terrorists setting out on suicide-bombing missions, with background commentary emphasizing such attacks as "the ultimate smart bomb," "the most perfect precision weapon of our time," and "the apotheosis of hatred."

U.S. Army Lt.-Col. Ralph Peters sums up, "You've got religious faith, primal hatred and the promise of ecstasy combined... What a powerful, powerful incentive to kill yourself and be a martyr to your family, to your friends, to your civilization, to your god."

Beck: "Although suicide bombers have been used in parts of the Middle East for years, some people believe that, because of how effective they are at spreading fear, it's only a matter of time before the phenomenon reaches the U.S."

Nonie Darwish
The Moslem founder of Arabs for Israel and outspoken daughter of a Moslem shahid (martyr), Nonie Darwish: "Americans must realize the danger. It's very important we understand it is a major fight, and it [crept up] on us. We didn't take it seriously. And now after 9/11, we must take it seriously."

Walid Shoebat, former terrorist: "[When] I was 6 years old, all kids [in kindergarten had] to sing a song, it was called, 'Arabs are Beloved, and Jews are Dogs' ... By the time you got to high school, the songs got even more... calling the Jews all killers."

Beck (voice-over): "By hiding propaganda in songs, children almost become immune to what they're actually saying. And when children hear the same propaganda in their songs as they do from their parents, it quickly becomes fact. Listen to this Kuwaiti sheikh preaching to parents about what to teach their children."

Sheikh: "O mothers and fathers, you must train your children every night before they go to bed to go on raids in order to liberate Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa. And when he goes to sleep after reading the Koran and the bedside verses, they should recite together with you the prayer of martyrdom, 'Allah, I pray to you in all honesty to be martyred for your sake.' Do this every night."

Brigitte Gabriel
Beck, introducing Brigitte Gabriel: "She grew up in Lebanon, was a victim early on of radical Islam. She`s now a U.S. citizen and author of a new, bestselling book, 'Because They Hate.'"

Gabriel reads from a text book that describes "Jews and Christians cursed by Allah and turned into apes and pigs... The lesson explains that Jews and Christians have sinned by accepting polytheism and, therefore, incurred Allah's wrath. To punish them, Allah had turned them into apes and pigs... This is what the West needs to understand and realize about Islam. We are dealing with a radical ideology right now spreading all throughout the world with one goal, and that is the establishing of an Islamic caliphate throughout the world."

Beck: "Wait, explain that, because most people don't even know what that is."

Gabriel: "A caliphate is an Islamic government ruled by Sharia law where everybody has to obey and live under Islam. In Islam, there is no difference between the state and the religion. The religion is the state, and the state is the religion... And this is why we are seeing suicide bombers right now who are spreading throughout the world, screaming, 'Allahu Akbar' as their last words, praising Allah as they die and go to Heaven. But this is what they're taught from the time they were little, from the time they were children... Our [Lebanese] government, which controlled the media - what we used to watch on television at night was 'Israel is the Name of the Devil,' 'The Jews are Evil,' and 'The Jews are Barbaric.' The only time we will have peace in the Middle East is when we kill all of the Jews and throw them into the sea. This was the propaganda being espoused all throughout the media."

Gabriel: "...Political correctness is killing us. Political correctness is the disease that is killing the West. It is the apathy by which the Muslims are killing us one by one. We have got to throw it in the garbage where it belongs. People have to develop the backbone to stand up and identify the enemy, because the West right now is plagued with Islamofascism, a disease worse than cancer, that is going to kill our body unless we fight it and kill it first. And unless people come to that understanding -- and hopefully we [won't] have to suffer a nuclear attack on American soil nor on British soil or any other westernized nation -- but this is where we're heading. And the media is the first front in getting the message to the American public, and it is their duty to do that."