Archived news and commentary: April 10 - 16, 2006

2006/04/10 - 2006/04/16
2006/04/03 - 2006/04/09
2006/03/27 - 2006/04/02
2006/03/20 - 2006/03/26
2006/03/13 - 2006/03/19
2006/03/06 - 2006/03/12

› From 2001/09/11 -

Sunday, April 16, 2006

News and commentary:

"Policy on Iran nukes seems to be off-target" (Mark Steyn, Chicago Sun-Times, 2006/04/16)
Iran II: "You know what's great fun to do if you're on, say, a flight from Chicago to New York and you're getting a little bored? Why not play being President Ahmadinejad? Stand up and yell in a loud voice, "I've got a bomb!" Next thing you know the air marshal will be telling people, "It's OK, folks. Nothing to worry about. He hasn't got a bomb." And then the second marshal would say, "And even if he did have a bomb it's highly unlikely he'd ever use it." And then you threaten to kill the two Jews in row 12 and the stewardess says, "Relax, everyone. That's just a harmless rhetorical flourish." And then a group of passengers in rows 4 to 7 point out, "Yes, but it's entirely reasonable of him to have a bomb given the threatening behavior of the marshals and the cabin crew."
That's how it goes with the Iranians."

"Iran suicide bombers ‘ready to hit Britain’" (Marie Colvin et al., The Sunday Times, 2006/04/16)
Iran I: "IRAN has formed battalions of suicide bombers to strike at British and American targets if the nation’s nuclear sites are attacked. According to Iranian officials, 40,000 trained suicide bombers are ready for action.
The main force, named the Special Unit of Martyr Seekers in the Revolutionary Guards, was first seen last month when members marched in a military parade, dressed in olive-green uniforms with explosive packs around their waists and detonators held high.
Dr Hassan Abbasi, head of the Centre for Doctrinal Strategic Studies in the Revolutionary Guards, said in a speech that 29 western targets had been identified: “We are ready to attack American and British sensitive points if they attack Iran’s nuclear facilities.” He added that some of them were “quite close” to the Iranian border in Iraq.
In a tape recording heard by The Sunday Times, Abbasi warned the would-be martyrs to “pay close attention to wily England” and vowed that 'Britain’s demise is on our agenda.'"

Added today:
"Ahmadinejad's Demons" (Matthias Küntzel, The New Republic, 2006/04/14)

Saturday, April 15, 2006

News and commentary:

"Clashes follow Egypt Copt funeral" (BBC News, 2006/04/15)
"Clashes broke out between Muslims and Coptic Christians in Alexandria in Egypt after the funeral of a Coptic worshipper killed in church on Friday.
Police fired tear gas and tried to separate the groups, who threw stones and attacked each other with sticks. Fifteen people were arrested.
The unrest followed the funeral of Nushi Atta Girgis, 78, who died in one of three knife attacks in Alexandria. ...
The government has said a "deranged" man was arrested for carrying out all the attacks at the three churches, but some Copts believe they were carried out simultaneously as part of an anti-Christian plot by extremist Muslims.
A judge has remanded the arrested man, Mahmoud Salah-Eddin Abdel-Raziq, 25, in custody.
"Certain papers speak of a madman. I don't believe a word. It is propaganda to silence us and to make us believe it is an individual incident," said Karim, a 78-year-old Copt at the funeral.
"We have always been peaceful, but we are always crushed by the Muslims," said 30-year-old Girgis Mina. 'If the state does not protect us, we will do it ourselves.'" (See also: "Attacks on Egypt churches: 1 dead" (CNN.com, 2006/04/14))

"To Bomb, or Not to Bomb - That is the Iran question" (Reuel Marc Gerecht, The Weekly Standard, 2006/04/24)
"What we are dealing with in the Islamic Republic's ruling revolutionary elite is a politer, more refined, more cautious, vastly more mendacious version of bin Ladenism. It is best that such men not have nukes, and that we do everything in our power, including preventive military strikes, to stop this from happening.
The opponents of military strikes against the mullahs' weapons facilities say there are no guarantees that we can permanently destroy their weapons production. This is true. We can't guarantee the results. But what we can do is demonstrate, to the mullahs and to others elsewhere, that even with these uncertainties, in a post-9/11 world the United States has red lines that will compel it to act. And one nonnegotiable red line is that we will not sit idly and watch a virulently anti-American terrorist-supporting rogue state obtain nukes. We will not be intimidated by threats of terrorism, oil-price spikes, or hostile world opinion. If the ruling clerical elite wants a head-on collision with a determined superpower, then that's their choice. ...
Given the Islamic Republic's dark history, the burden of proof ought to be on those who favor accommodating a nuclear Iran. Those who are unwilling to accommodate it, however, need to be honest and admit that diplomacy and sanctions and covert operations probably won't succeed, and that we may have to fight a war -- perhaps sooner rather than later -- to stop such evil men from obtaining the worst weapons we know."

"How to Lose Your Job at a Saudi Newspaper" (Fawaz Turki, The Washington Post, 2006/04/15)
"I was unceremoniously fired this month by my Saudi newspaper, a leading English-language daily called Arab News.
It didn't matter that I had been the senior columnist on the op-ed page for nine years or that my work was quoted widely in the European and American media, including this paper. What mattered was that I had committed one of the three cardinal sins an Arab journalist must avoid when working for the Arab press: I criticized the government.
The other two? Bringing up Islam as an issue and criticizing, by name, political leaders in the Arab or Islamic world for their brazen excesses, dismal failures and blatant abuses. ...
My first provocation was -- horror of horrors -- to criticize Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak after he cracked down on human rights activists several years ago. My second occurred soon after the failure of the Camp David accords when I called for the resignation of Yasser Arafat as head of the Palestinian Authority.
My last was to write about the atrocities Indonesia had committed during its occupation of East Timor from 1975 to 1999. For that transgression, my Saudi paper showed no mercy. I was out the door. No questions asked, no explanations given. You don't write about atrocities committed by an Islamic government -- even when they're already documented in the history books -- and hope to get away with it."

Friday, April 14, 2006

News and commentary:

"Ahmadinejad's Demons" (Matthias Küntzel, The New Republic, 2006/04/14)
Iran II: "During the Iran-Iraq War, the Ayatollah Khomeini imported 500,000 small plastic keys from Taiwan. The trinkets were meant to be inspirational. After Iraq invaded in September 1980, it had quickly become clear that Iran's forces were no match for Saddam Hussein's professional, well-armed military. To compensate for their disadvantage, Khomeini sent Iranian children, some as young as twelve years old, to the front lines. There, they marched in formation across minefields toward the enemy, clearing a path with their bodies. Before every mission, one of the Taiwanese keys would be hung around each child's neck. It was supposed to open the gates to paradise for them.
At one point, however, the earthly gore became a matter of concern. "In the past," wrote the semi-official Iranian daily Ettelaat as the war raged on, "we had child-volunteers: 14-, 15-, and 16-year-olds. They went into the minefields. Their eyes saw nothing. Their ears heard nothing. And then, a few moments later, one saw clouds of dust. When the dust had settled again, there was nothing more to be seen of them. Somewhere, widely scattered in the landscape, there lay scraps of burnt flesh and pieces of bone." Such scenes would henceforth be avoided, Ettelaat assured its readers. 'Before entering the minefields, the children [now] wrap themselves in blankets and they roll on the ground, so that their body parts stay together after the explosion of the mines and one can carry them to the graves.'"

"Iran Leader: Israel Will Be Annihilated" (Ali Akbar Dareini, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/04/14)
Iran I: "TEHRAN, Iran - The president of Iran again lashed out at
Israel on Friday and said it was "heading toward annihilation," just days after Tehran raised fears about its nuclear activities by saying it successfully enriched uranium for the first time.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called Israel a "permanent threat" to the Middle East that will "soon" be liberated. He also appeared to again question whether the Holocaust really happened.
"Like it or not, the Zionist regime is heading toward annihilation," Ahmadinejad said at the opening of a conference in support of the Palestinians. "The Zionist regime is a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm."
Ahmadinejad provoked a world outcry in October when he said Israel should be "wiped off the map."
On Friday, he repeated his previous line on the Holocaust, saying: "If such a disaster is true, why should the people of this region pay the price? Why does the Palestinian nation have to be suppressed and have its land occupied?"
The land of Palestine, he said, referring to the British mandated territory that includes all of Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, 'will be freed soon.'"

"Attacks on Egypt churches: 1 dead" (CNN.com, 2006/04/14)
"ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (AP) -- A man fatally stabbed an elderly Coptic Christian and wounded at least five other worshippers outside churches Friday, provoking about 600 Christians to demonstrate against what they saw as government indifference. ...
There were conflicting reports over the number of assailants and the number of wounded in the attacks.
The Interior Ministry said: "This morning a citizen attacked three worshippers inside the Mar Girgis Church in al-Hadhra with a knife and then fled and went into the Saints Church, where he attacked three other worshippers and again fled.
"While he was trying to enter another Mar Girgis church, he was stopped and arrested by police," the ministry said, adding that one of the wounded died later.
Police said three men were arrested after simultaneous attacks at three churches. A bid to attack a fourth church was foiled by the police. One victim died and 16 others were wounded, said the police officials, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the press.
The discrepancies could not be immediately explained. However, the government has often played down incidents that could be perceived as sectarian so as not to inflame tensions between the Coptic minority and Muslim majority.
The semi-official Middle East News Agency identified the person who died as Nushi Atta Girgis, 78."

Thursday, April 13, 2006

News and commentary:

"Comedy Central has refused to broadcast an image of Mohammed on their network."
(michellemalkin.com, 2006/04/13)

"Do the right thing! Show Mohammed!" (Michelle Malkin, michellemalkin.com, 2006/04/13)
The Danish cartoon affair: "Stephen Spruiell reports at The Media Blog..."I just got off the phone with a Comedy Central spokesman. I asked him about last night's episode of South Park in which, at a moment right before the prophet Mohammed was supposed to make a cameo, the words, "Comedy Central has refused to broadcast an image of Mohammed on their network" appeared on the screen. I asked him whether this truly was Comedy Central's decision or whether this was just another gag (with South Park, you never know). He said: 'They reflected it accurately. That was a Comedy Central decision.' Just in case there was any confusion, that settles it. Comedy Central censored the image."

"Moussaoui: 'No Regret, No Remorse'" (Michael J. Sniffen, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/04/13)
"Reasserting his role in Sept. 11, al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui told jurors Thursday he has "no regret, no remorse," was disgusted by the heart-rending testimony of victims and relatives and only wished they had suffered more.
He said hearing a Navy officer sobbing in court made his day.
"So you would be happy to see 9/11 again?" Prosecutor Rob Spencer asked.
"Every day until we get you," the bearded 37-year-old Frenchman shot back. ...
Among his most startling statements, Moussaoui said Army Lt. Col. John Thurman's harrowing account of escaping the burning
Pentagon left him with "regret that he didn't die."
He mocked a Navy officer who wept as she described the death of two subordinates in the attack on the Pentagon.
"I think it was disgusting for a military person" to cry, Moussaoui said of Lt. Nancy McKeown. "She is military. She should expect people at war with her to want to kill her."
Asked if he was happy to hear her sobbing, he said, "Make my day."
He noted many relatives of victims wept on the witness stand, then walked past him in the courtroom and looked his way without crying. "I find it disgusting that people come here to share their grief over the death of some other person," he said.
"I'm glad there was pain, and I wish there will be more pain," Moussaoui said. "The children in Palestine and in Chechnya will have pain. I want you to share their pain."
So, Spencer asked: "You have no regret, no remorse?"
"No regret, no remorse," Moussaoui responded.
When he left court after the judge and jury, he yelled: 'God curse America. We will win. It's just a question of time.'"

"The Nuclear Power Beside Iraq" (James Fallows, The Atlantic, May 2006)
Iran II: "The inconvenient truth of American foreign policy is that the last five years have left us with a series of choices — and all of them are bad. The United States can’t keep troops in Iraq indefinitely, for obvious reasons. It can’t withdraw them, because of the chaos that would ensue. The United States can’t keep prisoners at Guantánamo Bay (and other overseas facilities) indefinitely, because of international and domestic challenges. But it can’t hastily release them, since many were and more have become terrorists. And it can’t even bring them to trial, because of procedural abuses that have already occurred. Similarly, the United States can’t accept Iran’s emergence as a nuclear power, but it cannot prevent this through military mean — unless it is willing to commit itself to all-out war. The central flaw of American foreign policy these last few years has been the triumph of hope, wishful thinking, and self-delusion over realism and practicality. Realism about Iran starts with throwing out any plans to bomb."

"After Diplomacy Fails" (Mark Helprin, The Washington Post, 2006/04/13)
Iran I: "Even were one to believe that, despite its low and stagnant per capita gross national product and having the world's second-largest reserves of petroleum and natural gas, Iran would invest uneconomically in nuclear power generation, one would also have to disbelieve that it wanted nuclear weapons. But with an intermediate-range strategic nuclear capacity, it could deter American intervention, reign over the Persian Gulf, further separate Europe from American Middle East policy, correct a nuclear imbalance with Pakistan, lead and perhaps unify the Islamic world, and thus create the chance to end Western dominance of the Middle East and/or with a single shot destroy Israel. ...
But because the Iranian drive for deployable nuclear weapons will take years, we have a period of grace. In that time, we would do well to strengthen -- in numbers and mass as well as quality -- the means with which we fight, to reinforce the fleet train with which to supply the fighting lines, and to plan for a land route from the Mediterranean across Israel and Jordan to the Tigris and Euphrates. And even if we cannot extricate ourselves from nation-building and counterinsurgency in Iraq, we must have a plan for remounting the army there so that it can fight and maneuver as it was born to do.
To make these provisions will secure our flanks and give us a freer hand in the potentially difficult project of denying to a rogue nation of 68 million people, with a well-developed military and a penchant for rash action, the nuclear weapons it is bent on acquiring and rushing to construct. Our problem in Iraq has been delusion and lack of foresight. Iran is bigger and more powerful. What a pity it would be either to do nothing or once again to lurch forward with neither strategy nor thought."

"At Trial, Flight 93 Myth Finally Becomes Reality" (Jerry Markon and Timothy Dwyer, The Washington Post, 2006/04/13)
"It began with a muted series of thumps from a sharp knife or maybe clenched fists. The sounds were muffled but unmistakable, one body blow after another, ending with a squishy thud.
"No, no, no, no, no. No," came the high-pitched voice of a crew member or flight attendant being subdued. " . . . Please, please don't hurt me," the person said later. " . . . I don't want to die." The desperate plea, captured by the cockpit voice recorder of United Airlines Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001, was played to a transfixed jury yesterday at the death penalty trial of Zacarias Moussaoui.
A foreign-accented voice, increasingly agitated, screamed: "Down. Down. Down!" as the whacking sound continued. Then there was silence. "That's it. Go back," a hijacker said calmly. "Everything is fine. I finished."
And with that, Flight 93 from Newark banked left toward Washington. But the terrorists would not strike their target that day because they were beaten -- as the voice recorder made clear -- by the passengers, who fought back. The 32-minute tape recounts an epic struggle as passengers surged forward to retake the plane using whatever low-tech weapons they could find.
"Let's get them!" one passenger yelled as dishes crashed to the floor. "In the cockpit. If we don't we'll die," screamed another amid more thumping and crashing and breaking of glass."

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

News and commentary:

"Iranian artists perform as they hold up samples of enriched uranium..."
(Reuters, 2006/04/12)
"Iranian artists perform as they hold up samples of enriched uranium after Iran said on Tuesday it had produced low-grade enriched uranium, in Mashad, April 11, 2006."

"Iran Could Produce Nuclear Bomb in 16 Days, U.S. Says" (Bloomberg.com, 2006/04/12)
Iran III: "Iran, defying United Nations Security Council demands to halt its nuclear program, may be capable of making a nuclear bomb within 16 days, a U.S. State Department official said.
Iran will move to "industrial scale" uranium enrichment involving 54,000 centrifuges at its Natanz plant, the Associated Press quoted deputy nuclear chief Mohammad Saeedi as telling state-run television today.
"Using those 50,000 centrifuges they could produce enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon in 16 days," Stephen Rademaker, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation, told reporters today in Moscow. ...
Iran has informed the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency that it plans to construct 3,000 centrifuges at Natanz next year, Rademaker said.
"We calculate that a 3,000-machine cascade could produce enough uranium to build a nuclear weapon within 271 days," he said."

"Iran says nuclear drive unstoppable" (AFP/Breitbart.com, 2006/04/12)
Iran II: "A defiant Iran vowed that nothing could halt its controversial nuclear program, in a direct challenge to the UN Security Council that could risk international sanctions.
With the country basking in national pride after regime scientists successfully enriched uranium to make nuclear fuel -- a milestone in its atomic drive -- officials pledged to move rapidly to industrial-scale work.
"When a people master nuclear technology and nuclear fuel, nothing can be done against them," boasted armed forces joint chief of staff, General Hassan Firouzabadi. ...
"The West can do nothing and is obliged to extend to us the hand of friendship," the ISNA news agency quoted Firouzabadi as saying. ...
"The nuclear fuel cycle is complete, the beginnings of a powerful Iran," the conservative Iranian daily Resalat trumpeted, calling for a week of "national celebration" and a new annual public holiday to mark the event.
State television was broadcasting non-stop images of nuclear sites accompanied by rousing patriotic music."

"Iran Vows to Ramp Up Uranium Enrichment" (Ali Akbar Dareini, AP/Breitbart.com, 2006/04/12)
Iran I: "Iran intends to enrich uranium on a scale hundreds of times larger than its current level, the country's deputy nuclear chief said Wednesday, signaling its resolve to expand a program the international community insists it halt. ...
Saeedi said Iran has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that it plans to install 3,000 centrifuges at its facility in the central town of Natanz by late 2006, then expand to 54,000 centrifuges, though he did not say when.
"We will expand uranium enrichment to industrial scale at Natanz," Deputy Nuclear Chief Mohammad Saeedi told state-run television.
Saeedi said using 54,000 centrifuges will be able to produce enough enriched uranium to provide fuel for a 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant like one Russia is finishing in southern Iran.
In theory, that many centrifuges could be used to develop the material needed for hundreds of nuclear warheads if Iran can perfect the techniques for producing the highly enriched uranium needed."

"This photograph introduced in the trial..."
(AFP, 2006/04/12)
"This photograph introduced in the trial of confessed Al-Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui shows the flight data recorder found at the scene in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, where United Airlines flight 93 crashed on 11 September 2001. US prosecutors aired a cockpit audio tape of a life-and-death passenger revolt on the doomed jet, in a compelling climax to their case for the execution of Moussaoui."

"Transcript of Flight 93 Voice Recorder" (AP/The Washington Post, 2006/04/12)
Flight 93 II: "The following is a transcript of the cockpit voice recorder aboard United Airlines Flight 93. All times are in EDT on Sept. 11, 2001. Text in parentheses was translated from Arabic. "Unintelligible" indicates that the tape couldn't be transcribed.":
"09:58:57 _ (They want to get in here. Hold, hold from the inside. Hold from the inside. Hold).
09:59:04 _ Hold the door.
09:59:09 _ Stop him.
09:59:11 _ Sit down.
09:59:13 _ Sit down.
09:59:15 _ Sit down.
09:59:16 _ Unintelligible.
09:59:17 _ (What?)
09:59:18 _ (There are some guys. All those guys.)
09:59:20 _ Lets get them. ...
10:00:06 _ (There is nothing.)
10:00:07 _ (Is that it? Shall we finish it off?)
10:00:08 _ (No. Not yet.)
10:00:09 _ (When they all come, we finish it off.)
10:00:11 _ (There is nothing.) ...
10:00:25 _ In the cockpit. If we don't, we'll die.
10:00:29 _ (Up, down. Up, down, in the) cockpit.
10:00:33 _ (The) cockpit.
10:00:37 _ (Up, down. Saeed, up, down.)
10:00:42 _ Roll it.
10:00:55 _ Unintelligible.
10:00:59 _ (Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest.)
10:01:01 _ Unintelligible.
10:01:08 _ (Is that it? I mean, shall we pull it down?)
10:01:09 _ (Yes, put it in it, and pull it down.) ...
10:03:09 _ (Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest.)
10:03:09 _ (Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest.)"

"Moussaoui Jurors Hear Flight 93 Tape" (Matthew Barakat, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/04/12)
Flight 93 I: "In the final minutes of doomed United Air Lines Flight 93, on Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers try to shake off passengers clamoring for control of the plane over Pennsylvania. Amid groans and sounds of a struggle, a voice says, "I am injured." A hijacker asks, "Shall we finish it off?"
Moments later, the plane hurtles out of control to the ground, according to a cockpit voice recording played for a jury on Wednesday by federal prosecutors seeking the execution of Zacarias Moussaoui. ...
In the last minute, voices could be heard in English saying "push up" and "pull down," as flight data showed the steering yoke moving wildly. Some interpreted that as a struggle for control in the cockpit between passengers and hijackers.
The hijackers for more than four minutes before that had been swinging the plane wildly in an effort to throw the rebelling passengers off balance.
At 10 a.m. a hijacker asks in Arabic "Shall we finish it off?" The response come back: "No, not yet."
Then a voice is heard in English: "In the cockpit! If we don't, we die!" ...
During the government's playing of the recording, a voice is heard from the cockpit, possibly that of a flight crew member, saying, "Please don't hurt me. Oh God!" A few seconds later, somebody says, three times, "I don't want to die."
But then, amid sounds of a struggle, a hijacker asks, "There is something, a fight?" The response is, "Yeah."
The last words heard as the plane nears the ground were repeated four times in Arabic: "Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest." Then, just the sound roaring static can be heard."

"Members of Islamic Defenders Front..."
(Achmad Ibrahim, AP, 2006/04/12)
"Members of Islamic Defenders Front tear an edition of Indonesian version of Playboy magazine apart during a protest outside the building housing the magazine's office in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, April 12, 2006. Muslim activists demanding that Playboy stop publishing the magazine in Indonesia stoned the company's editorial office and clashed with police officers guarding the building."

"Indonesia Muslim hardliners attack Playboy building" (Reuters/Yahoo! News, 2006/04/12)
Gateway Pundit: "The much anticipated release of Playboy magazine drew mixed reviews from hardline Muslims in Indonesia who couldn't wait to get their hands on that first edition.":
"JAKARTA (Reuters) - About 300 hardline Indonesian Muslims vandalized a building housing the office of Playboy magazine on Wednesday in a protest against its publication in the world's most populous Muslim nation.
Clad in white shirts and skull caps the protesters threw rocks at the front lobby, breaking the windows of the building in the south of Jakarta several days after the magazine hit news-stands for the first time.
Shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest), the protesters also ripped apart several copies of the Indonesian Playboy, which unlike the U.S. original does not show any nudity.
Despite being a much tamer version, the magazine sold out very quickly, partly thanks to controversy surrounding its publication and protests from some Muslim groups.
Apart from Playboy, Indonesia already had its own versions of men's magazines Maxim and FHM, as well as homegrown publications, which feature color pictures of women in minimal clothing.
Members of the hardline Muslim group that organized the demonstration, the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), are known for taking laws into their own hands, for example by attacking bars selling alcohol during the Muslim fasting period, and massage parlors."

"Miss Iraq goes into hiding from militants" (AP/MSNBC, 2006/04/12)
"Iraq’s newly crowned beauty queen has gone into hiding, fearing she will be targeted by Islamic militants who reportedly threatened to kill other women who participated in a Baghdad pageant last week.
Silva Shahakian, an Iraqi Christian, received the title of Miss Iraq when the initial winner stepped down after receiving death threats and two other runners-up also bowed out, a person familiar with the event said Wednesday.
Since receiving the crown, Shahakian has been lying low, fearing she will be targeted, he said. ...
Shahakian was quoted by ABC’s “Good Morning America” as saying she will keep her title but that she planned to change her residence.
“This chance does not come to every girl. So, I’m lucky to have that. I’m not going to lose it,” she said on the program Tuesday.
“I’ll take care. I will change my living place. I would like to take that chance. I will do my best,” she added." (See also: "Miss Iraq pageant winner steps down" (Haider Hazma, ABC News, 2006/04/10))

"I'll chop Bush up" (The Daily Telegraph, 2006/04/12)
"ONE of nine men arrested in terror raids last year asked that John Howard be told Australia would ultimately be ruled by Muslim law, a court heard yesterday.
Khaled Cheikho, who described Allah's law as the "only law worthy of ruling mankind", also allegedly said that democracy was "full of s . . t". "So you tell Howard this and pass it on to Bush the motherf. . .er, tell him (I'm) gonna come and chop him up."
Cheikho, 33, is charged along with eight other Sydney men over alleged preparations for a terrorist attack.
A revised federal police document tendered to Central Local Court for the bail application of one of his co-accused, Mirsad Mulahalilovic, on Monday also contained details relating to the other eight men.
It detailed an outburst by Cheikho after he was arrested on November 8, 2005, and warned anything he said would be recorded. ...
"This is who we worship, who do you worship, Howard and the legislators? Your democracy is full of hypocrisy, is that it?
"Sharia law is gonna prevail throughout the land . . . You tell Howard this, tell him Islam is gonna rule this land."
He told police to go and learn about Sharia law, because "you're us".
Cheikho allegedly continued: 'The land, all the land is Allah's land, Allah created it and he's given it to Muslims and the Muslims are going to rule it.'" (Hat tip: Tim Blair.)

Added in archive:
"EU lexicon to shun term 'Islamic terrorism'" (Mark Trevelyan, Reuters, 2006/04/11)
"U.S. Is Studying Military Strike Options on Iran" (Peter Baker et al., The Washington Post, 2006/04/09)

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

News and commentary:

"The chief of Iran's Astan Qods Razavi..."
(Reuters, 2006/04/11)
"The chief of Iran's Astan Qods Razavi carries a sample of enriched uranium after Iran said on Tuesday it had produced low-grade enriched uranium, in Mashad, April 11, 2006."

"Iran Hits Milestone in Nuclear Technology" (Ali Akbar Dareini, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/04/11)
Iran IV. "...our enemies cannot do a damned thing in their confrontation with us, and they know this very well.":
"TEHRAN, Iran - Iran has successfully enriched uranium for the first time, a landmark in its quest to develop nuclear fuel, hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday, although he insisted his country does not aim to develop atomic weapons.
In a nationally televised speech, Ahmadinejad called on the West "not to cause an everlasting hatred in the hearts of Iranians" by trying to force Iran to abandon uranium enrichment. ...
"At this historic moment, with the blessings of God almighty and the efforts made by our scientists, I declare here that the laboratory-scale nuclear fuel cycle has been completed and young scientists produced enriched uranium needed to the degree for nuclear power plants Sunday," Ahmadinejad said.
"I formally declare that Iran has joined the club of nuclear countries," he told an audience that included top military commanders and clerics in the northwestern holy city of Mashhad. The crowd broke into cheers of "Allahu akbar!" or "God is great!" Some stood and thrust their fists in the air." (See also: "Ahmadinejad: Tomorrow night, Iranians would be delighted hearing good news" (IRNA, 2006/04/11): "Addressing the families of Mashhad martyrs and war disabled veterans, Ahmadinejad added, "After hearing the entire good news tomorrow night the Iranians should prostrate before Almighty Allah, since it would be high time for thanks given to Him."
He added, 'By grace of Allah and relying on brave resistance of you, the families of the revolution's martyrs and war disabled veterans our enemies cannot do a damned thing in their confrontation with us, and they know this very well.'")

"Facing Down Iran" (Mark Steyn, City Journal. Spring 2006)
Iran III: "In the latest variation on Marx’s dictum, history repeats itself: first, the unreadable London literary novel; then, the Danish funny pages. But in the 17 years between the Rushdie fatwa and the cartoon jihad, what was supposedly a freakish one-off collision between Islam and the modern world has become routine. We now think it perfectly normal for Muslims to demand the tenets of their religion be applied to society at large: the government of Sweden, for example, has been zealously closing down websites that republish those Danish cartoons. As Khomeini’s successor, Ayatollah Khamenei, has said, “It is in our revolution’s interest, and an essential principle, that when we speak of Islamic objectives, we address all the Muslims of the world.” Or as a female Muslim demonstrator in Toronto put it: “We won’t stop the protests until the world obeys Islamic law.”
If that’s a little too ferocious, Kofi Annan framed it rather more soothingly: “The offensive caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad were first published in a European country which has recently acquired a significant Muslim population, and is not yet sure how to adjust to it.”
If you’ve also “recently acquired” a significant Muslim population and you’re not sure how to “adjust” to it, well, here’s the difference: back when my Belgian grandparents emigrated to Canada, the idea was that the immigrants assimilated to the host country. As Kofi and Co. see it, today the host country has to assimilate to the immigrants: if Islamic law forbids representations of the Prophet, then so must Danish law, and French law, and American law. Iran was the progenitor of this rapacious extraterritoriality, and, if we had understood it more clearly a generation ago, we might be in less danger of seeing large tracts of the developed world being subsumed by it today."

"Pakistan suicide bombing kills 57" (AFP/Yahoo! News, 2006/04/11)
"KARACHI (AFP) - A suicide attack in the Pakistani city of Karachi ripped through Sunni Muslims celebrating the birth of the Prophet Mohammed, killing 57 people including several religious leaders, officials said.
The bombing was the deadliest in the volatile Islamic republic for nearly 20 years and sparked fears of possible further sectarian violence between majority Sunnis and Pakistan's minority Shiite community. ...
One or possibly two attackers climbed onto a wooden stage in Karachi's historic Nishtar Park as around 50,000 people offered sunset prayers. They then approached the Sunni clerics and detonated powerful bombs, officials said.
The blast scattered body parts and corpses dressed in white ceremonial outfits across the park. Amid piercing screams and wails of grief, men wearing green turbans dragged the dead and wounded through the smoke to ambulances. ...
The influential chief of Pakistan's relatively moderate Sunni Tehreek religious party, Abbas Qadri, died in the blast, party official Abdul Rafey told AFP.
Qadri, 45, was a firebrand speaker who had a massive following in volatile Karachi and had survived several attempts on his life in the past.
The party's deputy chief Akram Qadri and spokesman Iftikhar Bhatti also died in the blast, along with the leaders of two other moderate Sunni factions: Hafiz Mohammed Taqi and Hanif Billo."

"EU lexicon to shun term 'Islamic terrorism'" (Mark Trevelyan, Reuters, 2006/04/11)
"The European Union, tiptoeing through a minefield of religious and cultural sensitivities, is discreetly reviewing the language it uses to describe terrorists who claim to act in the name of Islam.
EU officials are working on what they call a "lexicon" for public communication on terrorism and Islam, designed to make clear that there is nothing in the religion to justify outrages like the September 11 attacks or the bombings of Madrid and London.
The lexicon would set down guidelines for EU officials and politicians.
"Certainly 'Islamic terrorism' is something we will not use ... we talk about 'terrorists who abusively invoke Islam'," an EU official told Reuters.
Other terms being considered by the review include "Islamist", "fundamentalist" and "jihad". The latter, for example, is often used by al Qaeda and some other groups to mean warfare against infidels, but for most Muslims indicates a spiritual struggle.
"Jihad means something for you and me, it means something else for a Muslim. Jihad is a perfectly positive concept of trying to fight evil within yourself," said the official, speaking anonymously because the review is an internal one that is not expected to be made public." (Hat tip: Dhimmi Watch.)

"Judge Indicts 29 in Madrid Train Bombings" (Daniel Woolls, AP/My Way, 2006/04/11)
"MADRID, Spain (AP) - A Spanish judge issued the first indictments in the 2004 Madrid train bombings, charging 29 people Tuesday with murder, terrorism or other crimes after a probe that uncovered a hornet's nest of Islamic militancy but no apparent link to al-Qaida.
In a minutely detailed indictment spanning 1,471 pages, Juan del Olmo, the investigative magistrate spearheading the probe, described the birth and workings of a cell of longtime residents, most of them from Morocco and Syria.
Inspired by extremist Islamic doctrine, they are said to have risen up against their adopted homeland to kill 191 people and wound more than 1,700 in the coordinated attacks.
Three of the 29 people indicted were charged with 191 counts of murder and 1,755 counts of attempted murder, and three others with conspiracy to commit those crimes. ...
It said the central figure in the financing, planning and execution of the attacks was a Moroccan named Jamal Ahmidan. He and six other alleged ringleaders - including its ideological mastermind, Tunisian Serhan Ben Abdelmajid Fakhet - blew themselves up three weeks after the massacre as police moved in on their apartment hideout in the Madrid suburb of Leganes. One policeman died in that explosion."

"Quote Of The Day" (Booker Rising, 2006/04/11)
"'At one time it appeared that Europeans had no difficulty understanding why masses of Muslims must never be allowed to group within European borders. The history of the Muslim conquest of large sections of the Continent, and the eventual expulsion of said Muslims, was not some meaningless fairy tale. That earlier experience with the sons of Muhammad seemed to teach Westerners that Islam is a civilization unto itself, whose masses come to plant their way of life, not to be absorbed by or assimilated into another. Europe's committed assimilationists would, no doubt, be offended by Japan, whose officials declare they will never allow Japanese society to be overtaken by alien cultures. How did today's Europeans devolve into such a benighted condition that they would prefer to beat up on Brigitte Bardot, rather than listen to truth? The desire of commercial interests for ongoing sources of cheap labor is primarily why feckless Westerners now put their territories in danger and throw open their borders to alien populations. And then there is the ordinary European who, over several decades, much like his American counterpart, has been socialized to fixate on cleansing himself of possible sins of the mind, which might inspire 'white supremacist' thoughts. Anxious to show his zealous commitment to 'diversity,' lest anyone mistake him for a skeptic of the West's new multicultural religion, this man's fear of being labeled 'racist' far surpasses all other concerns. And so he sits and observes as one region after another of his homeland falls under the sway of foreigners. This time the Muslims did not have to come with a sword to conquer.' — Elizabeth Wright, black conservative editor of Issues & Views."

"Let's calm down. Messianic Bush isn't about to rain down nukes on Iran" (David Aaronovitch, The Times, 2006/04/11)
Iran II: "SEYMOUR HERSH was on a roll — top of the news. “It’s ten past eight,” John Humphrys told a million or more BBC listeners yesterday morning. “President Bush is making plans for a military attack on Iran.” That made me look up from my porridge. ...
Next week, having hopefully calmed down a bit, the FPC will launch a much needed discussion about the real, and not the imagined, Iran. It’ll be talking about Iran’s complicated power structure, the dangers presented by its President (you wanna talk messianic?), Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and also the constraints upon him. It will be examining the world’s dilemma that, when it comes to Iran’s nukes, tails we seem to lose and heads the hardliners still win. Act tough, and Mr Ahmadinejad benefits from increased nationalism, act soft and the regime gets the bomb and the idea that we’re unable to enforce even the most well-supported rules.
As of now we are nearly two weeks into the 30 days that the UN Security Council has given Iran to stop its nuclear research programme, or face the possibility of action, including sanctions. At this minute we ought to discussing what sanctions need to be imposed, or indeed whether any would work at all. For that discussion to happen the focus needs to move from Washington to Tehran, and at ten past eight some morning soon I hope to hear a discussion that does just that. God, I wish the Today programme was less obsessed with America!"

"The West can't let Iran have the bomb" (Con Coughlin, The Daily Telegraph, 2006/04/11)
Iran I: "'Iran's strategy all along has been to talk and at the same time proceed with its nuclear programme,' said an official closely involved in the IAEA's negotiations with Iran. "The longer we draw out the diplomatic process, the closer they get to fulfilling their nuclear ambitions."
The mounting frustration, particularly within the Bush Administration, over the UN's impotence to prevent Iran fulfilling its nuclear destiny explains the recent hysterical reports suggesting that George W. Bush is seriously contemplating nuclear air strikes against Iran's bomb-making infrastructure. ...
The suggestion, contained in Seymour Hersh's article in this week's New Yorker, that Washington is prepared to use tactical nuclear weapons, might appear far-fetched: the ground-penetrating bombs used to destroy Saddam's state-of-the art German-built bunkers at the start of the Iraq war three years ago adequately accomplished the task using conventional munitions.
But if the current round of diplomacy is to stand any chance of success, then the Iranians must be made to understand that their prevarication tactics at the UN can no longer be tolerated over an issue of such importance for international security.
For while Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, regards the concept of military action against Iran as "nuts", it would be even nuttier to allow Teheran to have an atom bomb." (See also: "The Iran Plans" (Seymour M. Hersh, The New Yorker, 2006/04/10))

Added in archive:
"July 7 bombs were a 'demo' not terrorism, claims professor" (Andrew Alderson and Chris Hastings, The Sunday Telegraph, 2006/04/09)
"Illiberal Europe" (Gerard Alexander, AEI, 2006/04/03)

Monday, April 10, 2006

News and commentary:

"Miss Iraq pageant winner steps down" (Haider Hazma, ABC News, 2006/04/10)
"Iraq's newly crowned beauty queen, Tamar Goregian, has decided to step down -- just four days after her election, making this the shortest reign in the pageant's 60-year history. ...
On April 9, the 23-year-old, who was the first Armenian Iraqi to win the Miss Iraq pageant, announced her resignation after receiving threats by a group of religious extremists who referred to her as "the queen of infidels" for participating in the contest.
The pageant director said: "I respect her decision. The country is undergoing rough times, and we understand her desire to protect herself and her family." ...
The pageant organizers will now pass the crown to the runner-up, or "Maiden of Beauty," Mona Hilmi, an Iraqi Sunni Muslim. One of the organizers said she was "equally intelligent and beautiful." ...
During her acceptance speech, Goregian told the crowd, "Maybe beauty is the final step to end violence and preach world peace after all." The Iraqis who disagree have forced her to give up her crown and flee her country." (See also: "Royalty for a Year: Iraq Elects a Beauty Queen (Discreetly)" (Haider Hazma, ABC News, 2006/04/05))

"Bush Calls Iran Talk 'Wild Speculation'" (Nedra Pickler, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/04/10)
"President Bush said Monday that force is not necessarily required to stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon, and he dismissed reports of plans for a military attack against Tehran as "wild speculation."
Bush said his goal is to keep the Iranians from having the capability or the knowledge to have a nuclear weapon.
"I know we're here in Washington (where) prevention means force," Bush said during an appearance at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. "It doesn't mean force necessarily. In this case it means diplomacy." ...
Several reports published over the weekend said the administration was studying options for military strikes, and an account in The New Yorker magazine raised the possibility of using nuclear bombs against Iran's underground nuclear sites.
Bush did not directly respond to that report but said, 'What you're reading is just wild speculation.'" (See also: "The Iran Plans" (Seymour M. Hersh, The New Yorker, 2006/04/10))

See the archive for earlier news and commentary.

 

 

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"When people accept futility and the absurd as normal, the culture is decadent. The term is not a slur; it is a technical label."

Jacques Barzun

Articles of the week

"Losing the Enlightenment" (Victor Davis Hanson, OpinionJournal, 2006/11/29)

"Allah’s England?" (Daniel Johnson, Commentary. November 2006)

"'Sex in the Park': The latest doings of the Danish imams" (Henrik Bering, The Weekly Standard, 2006/11/18)

"Narcissism on Stilts" (Harold Evans, New York Sun, 2006/11/16)

"Terrorists are recruiting in our schools, says MI5 boss" (Philip Johnston, The Daily Telegraph, 2006/11/10)

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From the archives

Oriana Fallaci, R.I.P.

"The Rage, the Pride and the Doubt" (Oriana Fallaci, The Wall Street Journal, 2003/03/13)

"How the West Was Won and How It Will Be Lost" (Oriana Fallaci, The American Enterprise, from the January/February 2003 issue)

"On Jew-hatred in Europe" (Oriana Fallaci, dennisprager.com, 2002/04/13)

"Anger and Pride" (Oriana Fallaci, dennisprager.com, 2001/12/19)

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