Archived news and commentary: October 16 - 22, 2006

2006/10/16 - 2006/10/22
2006/10/09 - 2006/10/15
2006/10/02 - 2006/10/08
2006/09/25 - 2006/10/01
2006/09/18 - 2006/09/24
2006/09/11 - 2006/09/17

› From 2001/09/11 -

Sunday, October 22, 2006

News and commentary:

"Youths set passenger bus alight in Paris" (AP/The Age, 2006/10/23)
"A band of up to 30 youths forced passengers out of a bus in a southern Paris suburb in broad daylight, set it on fire and then stoned firefighters who came to the rescue, a police official said.
Police cordoned off the neighbourhood in Grigny, in the Essonne region, after the attack, which came five days before France marks the one-year anniversary of the start of three weeks of fiery riots by poor suburban youths.
District police chief Jean-Francois Papineau called Sunday's bus attack "deliberate". He said the vehicle was forced to stop at a road block at about 2 pm. Two youths then entered the back of the bus to clear out passengers before dousing it with petrol and setting it ablaze.
The blaze gutted the bus and spread to four parked cars, Papineau told LCI television.
When firefighters arrived, the youths began stoning them, he said. No-one was injured. At least one person was arrested. The local prefecture said nearly 30 youths were involved in the incident."

"Cops targeted in French housing projects" (Jamey Keaten, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/10/22)
"EPINAY-SUR-SEINE, France - On a routine call, three unwitting police officers fell into a trap. A car darted out to block their path, and dozens of hooded youths surged out of the darkness to attack them with stones, bats and tear gas before fleeing. One officer was hospitalized, and no arrests made.
The recent ambush was emblematic of what some officers say has become a near-perpetual and increasingly violent conflict between police and gangs in tough, largely immigrant French neighborhoods that were the scene of a three-week paroxysm of rioting last year.
One small police union claims officers are facing a "permanent intifada." ...
Michel Thooris, head of the small Action Police union, claims that the new violence is taking on an Islamic fundamentalist tinge.
"Many youths, many arsonists, many vandals behind the violence do it to cries of 'Allah Akbar' (God is Great) when our police cars are stoned," he said in an interview.
Larger, more mainstream police unions sharply disagree that the suburban unrest has any religious basis. However, they do say that some youth gangs no longer seem content to throw stones or torch cars and instead appear determined to hurt police officers — or worse.
"First, it was a rock here or there. Then it was rocks by the dozen. Now, they're leading operations of an almost military sort to trap us," said Loic Lecouplier, a police union official in the Seine-Saint-Denis region north of Paris. 'These are acts of war.'" (See also: "Anger Festering in French Areas Scarred in Riots" (Elaine Sciolino and Ariane Bernard, The New York Times, 2006/10/21))

"Washington Post Publishes Radical Islamic Propaganda" (Charles Johnson, Little Green Footballs, 2006/10/22)
"For a special article on “Islam and Women,” the Washington Post today gives column space to an utterly deranged, hard-core Islamofascist sympathizer, Yvonne Ridley—without identifying her as anything but the “political editor of Islam TV.”
And it’s titled: How I Came to Love the Veil. Ridley’s premise is that Islam respects women much more than the Western world.
I think the mainstream media can’t possibly surprise me any more. Then they do something like this.
Yvonne Ridley is a member of George Galloway’s RESPECT party, and has written numerous essays defending Islamic terrorism. She described those murdered in last year’s terrorist attacks in Jordan as “collaborators.” She wrote, “I think I’d rather put up with a brother like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi any day than have a traitor or sell-out for a father, son or grandfather.” She described Shamil Basaev, the mastermind of the massacre of Russian school children at Beslan, as “a Shaheed,” or martyr." (See also: "How I Came to Love the Veil" (Yvonne Ridley, The Washington Post, 2006/10/22): "A careful reading of the Koran shows that just about everything that Western feminists fought for in the 1970s was available to Muslim women 1,400 years ago.")

"We are biased, admit the stars of BBC News" (Simon Walters, Mail on Sunday, 2006/10/22)
"A leaked account of an 'impartiality summit' called by BBC chairman Michael Grade, is certain to lead to a new row about the BBC and its reporting on key issues, especially concerning Muslims and the war on terror.
It reveals that executives would let the Bible be thrown into a dustbin on a TV comedy show, but not the Koran, and that they would broadcast an interview with Osama Bin Laden if given the opportunity. Further, it discloses that the BBC's 'diversity tsar', wants Muslim women newsreaders to be allowed to wear veils when on air.
At the secret meeting in London last month, which was hosted by veteran broadcaster Sue Lawley, BBC executives admitted the corporation is dominated by homosexuals and people from ethnic minorities, deliberately promotes multiculturalism, is anti-American, anti-countryside and more sensitive to the feelings of Muslims than Christians.
One veteran BBC executive said: 'There was widespread acknowledgement that we may have gone too far in the direction of political correctness.
'Unfortunately, much of it is so deeply embedded in the BBC's culture, that it is very hard to change it.'"

"We Can't Just Withdraw" (Robert Kaplan, The Atlantic, 2006/10/22)
"Because it turned out we had no postwar plan, our invasion (which I supported) amounted to a bet. Our withdrawal, when it comes to that, must be different. If we decide to reduce forces in the country under the current anarchic conditions, then we are both morally and strategically obligated to talk with Iran and Syria, as well as call for a regional conference. Iraq may be closer to an explosion of genocide than we know. An odd event, or the announcement of pulling 20,000 American troops out, might trigger it. We simply cannot contemplate withdrawal under these conditions without putting Iraq's neighbors on the spot, forcing them to share public responsibility for the outcome, that is if they choose to stand aside and not help us. ...
What we will not be able to manage is a genocide, mainly of the Sunnis, that we alone will be seen as responsible for. Any withdrawal—with all of its military, diplomatic, economic aid, and emergency relief aid aspects—has to be as meticulously planned-out as our occupation wasn't. Staying the course may be a dead end. But don't think for a moment that "redeploying" is any less risky than invading."

Added today:
"Turkish academic faces trial over headscarf article" (AFP/Middle East Times, 2006/10/19)

Saturday, October 21, 2006

News and commentary:

"Classroom assistant Aishah Azmi"
(The Daily Mail, 2006/10/21)

"Veil teacher link to 7/7 bomber" (Sam Greenhill and Laura Clark, The Daily Mail, 2006/10/21)
"The Muslim teacher suspended for refusing to work without her veil is connected to a hardline mosque where the ringleader of the July 7 bombers worshipped, it has emerged.
The family of classroom assistant Aishah Azmi, 24, plays a key role at the fundamentalist Markazi mosque in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire - which was attended by suicide bomber Mohammed Sidique Khan.
Until recently, Miss Azmi's father was joint headmaster of the secondary school attached to the building. ...
Tube bomber Khan and co-conspirator Shehzad Tanweer are said to have attended prayers at the mosque.
Khan, 30, who worked as a teaching assistant in nearby Leeds, lived in the town with his Indian wife Hasima Patel before killing himself and six others in the Edgware Road blast last year.
The mosque is run by Tablighi Jamaat, a radical Islamic movement believed by intelligence agencies to be a fertile source for recruiting young extremists." (Hat tip: LGF.)

"Police to avoid Ramadan arrests" (BBC News, 2006/10/21)
Via Dhimmi Watch: "I assume no arrest warrents are ever executed on Christmas Eve, either.":
"Police in Manchester have been told not to arrest Muslims wanted on warrants at prayer times during Ramadan.
Greater Manchester Police confirmed it had asked detectives not to make planned arrests during those periods for reasons of religious sensitivity.
The advice was emailed out to officers working in Moss Side, Hulme, Whalley Range, Rusholme, Fallowfield, Ardwick, Longsight, Gorton and Levenshulme.
Police said it was not a blanket ban, just a 'request for sensitivity.'"

"Russian FM calls int'l demands on Hamas 'unrealistic'" (Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz, 2006/10/21)
"Meanwhile, Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar of Hamas told demonstrators in Gaza on Friday that Israel is an abomination in the Middle East that will some day disappear. ...
Speaking at a rally in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, the Palestinian foreign minister said Hamas would never accept Israel's existence.
"We will never recognize Israel, and the end the [fate of] Zionists will be like that of the Crusaders, the Persians and the English, who left. We want all of Palestine, every centimeter, from the river to the sea, from Rosh Hanikra to Rafah. If we can form a state within the 1967 borders we will do so, but this doesn't mean that we will relinquish our right to every centimeter of Palestine's land," he said.
In his speech, Zahar also addressed the Palestinian prisoners in Israel and promised them that Hamas will do all that it can to secure their release, including kidnapping more Israeli soldiers."

"Anger Festering in French Areas Scarred in Riots" (Elaine Sciolino and Ariane Bernard, The New York Times, 2006/10/21)
"In fact, with the anniversary of those riots approaching, spiking violent crime statistics across the area suggest not only that things have not improved, but that they also may well have worsened. Residents and experts say that fault lines run even deeper than before and that widespread violence may flare up again at any moment.
“Tension is rising very dramatically,” said Patrice Ribeiro, the deputy head of the Synergie Officiers police union. “There is the will to kill.” ...
The anger of those young men is apparent in music popular in the suburbs. In her latest album, the rap singer Diam’s accuses Mr. Sarkozy of being a demagogue and the police of hypocrisy. The rapper Booba proclaims in one song, “Maybe it would be better to burn Sarko’s car,” while Alibi Montana, another rapper, warns Mr. Sarkozy, “Keep going like that, and you’re going to get done.” ...
Marking anniversaries is deeply embedded in French tradition, so a number of events are scheduled in the prelude to Oct. 27. But at a town meeting in the suburb of Aulnay-sous-Bois on Wednesday, some speakers worried aloud about the street chatter they were hearing from young people about “celebrating” it.
“The most violent of them think of it in terms of a celebration,” said Franck Cannarozzo, a deputy mayor there. 'For them, last year was a victory over authority.'" (See also: "Muslims are waging civil war against us, claims police union" (David Rennie, The Daily Telegraph, 2006/10/05). Also: "View of the Clichy-sous-Bois market..." - Photos of the youth riots in Paris suburbs, Friday, October 28 - Monday, November 14, 2005.)

Added in archive:
"A letter about Stoning to Death" (Azadeh Pourzand, mehrangizkar.com, 2006/08/19)

Friday, October 20, 2006

News and commentary:

"The future belongs to Islam" (Mark Steyn, Macleans.ca, 2006/10/20)
"The Muslim world has youth, numbers and global ambitions. The West is growing old and enfeebled, and lacks the will to rebuff those who would supplant it. It's the end of the world as we've known it. An excerpt from 'America Alone'. ...

In June 2006, a 54-year-old Flemish train conductor called Guido Demoor got on the Number 23 bus in Antwerp to go to work. Six -- what's that word again? -- "youths" boarded the bus and commenced intimidating the other riders. There were some 40 passengers aboard. But the "youths" were youthful and the other passengers less so. Nonetheless, Mr. Demoor asked the lads to cut it out and so they turned on him, thumping and kicking him. Of those 40 other passengers, none intervened to help the man under attack. Instead, at the next stop, 30 of the 40 scrammed, leaving Mr. Demoor to be beaten to death. Three "youths" were arrested, and proved to be -- quelle surprise! -- of Moroccan origin. The ringleader escaped and, despite police assurances of complete confidentiality, of those 40 passengers only four came forward to speak to investigators. "You see what happens if you intervene," a fellow rail worker told the Belgian newspaper De Morgen. "If Guido had not opened his mouth he would still be alive."

No, he wouldn't. He would be as dead as those 40 passengers are, as the Belgian state is, keeping his head down, trying not to make eye contact, cowering behind his newspaper in the corner seat and hoping just to be left alone. What future in "their" country do Mr. Demoor's two children have?" (See also: "'Youths' Kick Man to Death on Crowded Antwerp Bus" (Paul Belien, The Brussels Journal, 2006/06/26))

"Sex and Taboos in the Islamic World" (Amira El Ahl and Daniel Steinvorth, Der Spiegel, 2006/10/20)
"Sex is a taboo in conservative Islamic countries. Young, unmarried couples are forced to seek out secret erotic oases. Books and play that are devoted to the all too human topic of sex incur the wrath of conservative religious officials and are promptly banned.":
"The Internet is a refuge for hidden desires, even though it offers only virtual relief. Google Trends, a new service offered by the search engine, provides a way to demonstrate how difficult it is to banish forbidden yearnings from the heads of Muslims. By entering the term "sex" into Google Trends, one obtains a ranked list of cities, countries and languages in which the term was entered most frequently. According to Google Trends, the Pakistanis search for "sex" most often, followed by the Egyptians. Iran and Morocco are in fourth and fifth, Indonesia is in seventh and Saudi Arabia in eighth place. The top city for "sex" searches is Cairo. When the terms "boy sex" or "man boy sex" are entered (many Internet filters catch the word "gay"), Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are the first four countries listed." (Hat tip: Tim Blair.)

"Muslim airport workers lose clearances" (Jamey Keaten, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/10/20)
"PARIS - Authorities at Charles de Gaulle airport have stripped several dozen employees — almost all of them Muslims — of their security badges in a crackdown against terrorism, a government official said Friday. ...
The baggage handlers and other employees have been barred from secure areas at the airport since February, Jacques Lebrot, an official who oversees the airport, told The Associated Press in an interview.
The cases were "linked to terrorism, of course," he said, adding that the crackdown followed recommendations by France's anti-terrorism coordination unit, UCLAT, as part of an 18-month investigation.
"You don't strip people of their badges for small matters," he said. The crackdown was part of heightened security in France, after terror attacks in Britain, Spain and the United States in recent years.
Lebrot, citing security reasons, declined to say whether the "several dozen" people — he would not specify how many — who lost their badges had been involved in specific plots."

"Shiite militia seizes control of Amarah" (Christopher Bodeen, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/10/20)
"The Shiite militia run by the anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr seized control of a southern Iraqi city on Friday in one of the boldest acts of defiance yet by the country's powerful, unofficial armies, witnesses and police said.
Mahdi Army fighters stormed three main police stations Friday morning, residents said, planting explosives that flattened the buildings in Amarah, a city just 30 miles from the Iranian border that was under British command until August, when it was returned to Iraqi government control.
About 800 black-clad militiamen with Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenades were patrolling in commandeered police vehicles, witnesses said. Other fighters set up roadblocks on routes into the city and sound trucks circulated telling residents to stay indoors.
The militiamen later withdrew from their positions and lifted their siege of police headquarters under a temporary truce negotiated with an al-Sadr envoy. It was not clear on Friday afternoon whether security forces had reasserted control over the city or whether the cleric knew about his militia's planned takeover in advance."

"Iran says Europe may be hurt by backing Israel" (Alireza Ronaghi, Reuters/Yahoo! News, 2006/10/20)
"TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned Europe on Friday it was stirring up hatred in the Middle East by supporting Israel and said it "may get hurt" if anger in the region boils over.
"You should believe that this regime (Israel) cannot last and has no more benefit to you. What benefit have you got in supporting this regime, except the hatred of the nations?" he said in a speech broadcast on state radio.
"We have advised the Europeans that the Americans are far away, but you are the neighbors of the nations in this region. We inform you that the nations are like an ocean that is welling up, and if a storm begins, the dimensions will not stay limited to Palestine, and you may get hurt," he said."

"Muslims can never conform to our ways" (W F Deedes, The Daily Telegraph, 2006/10/20)
"Ministers appear whimsically to be shifting from the multi-cultural society towards an integrated one. They are whistling in the dark if they think that will play well with the followers of Islam in our midst. Muslims are rooted in their faith and it governs the way they live. It is the only faith on Earth that persuades its followers to seek political power and impose a law — sharia — which shapes everyone's style of life. ...
It is vain to say: "Well, if they come here, they must conform with British society and its easy ways." Muslims will not do that. Their religion forbids it.
Why do we suppose India had to be partitioned? There was no other way of keeping the peace in that great sub-continent. We cannot do that here, but perhaps we should be thinking in terms of a supreme council on which our principal religions, including Islam, would sit and try to resolve misunderstandings.
What is never going to work is telling followers of Islam here: 'You must conform to our ways!'"

"French TV station wins al-Dura case" (Stephane Elkaim, The Jerusalem Post, 2006/10/20)
The Al-Dura case: "Indeed, it is rare for the court to hand down a judgement more severe than that recommended by the public prosecutor. The prosecutor had recommended that the court rule in Karsenty's favor, arguing that he had conducted a thorough investigation of the France 2 report and had presented substantial evidence to support his case.
His hopes raised by this favorable recommendation, Karsenty was bitterly disappointed by Thursday's verdict. "If this judgement is upheld, Jews should ask themselves questions about their future in France," he told the Post's French edition by phone yesterday afternoon. 'Justice covers the anti-Semitic lies of a public channel. It's a strong signal, it is very severe.'"

Thursday, October 19, 2006

News and commentary:

"Unveiling the Truth" (Daniel Johnson, New York Sun, 2006/10/19)
"As usual, Shakespeare said it first and best: "The smallest worm will turn, being trodden on." At long last, there are signs that the people of Britain are refusing to capitulate to the Islamicization of large enclaves of our cities.":
"After years when the media dared not publish stories about Muslim intolerance, reports suddenly began to appear of shocking incidents. One Muslim taxi driver was sued for refusing to allow a blind woman with a guide dog into his cab. Then there was the case of the wounded soldier in a hospital who was told to take off his uniform, or the four officers who were driven out of town by violence, threats, and intimidation.
Among the liberal commentators, confusion reigned. One Sunday Times columnist, India Knight, denounced such criticism in a manner that revealed her own prejudices. Declaring "Muslims are the new Jews," she tried to draw a parallel between the Muslim veil and the traditional dress of Hassidic Jews. Recalling a visit to a house in an Orthodox district of north London, she wrote, "I noticed a group of Hassidim were walking around us in a peculiar way. ‘They're avoiding our shadows,' the estate agent said, ‘because we're unclean.'"
Having lived for years among the Hassidim of Stamford Hill, I find this story as incredible as it is offensive. Orthodox Jews do not regard gentiles as "unclean," nor do they have superstitious beliefs about shadows. To attribute such attitudes to this notably law-abiding and peaceable community sounds like anti-Semitism to me."

"Al-Dura: The Verdict (Part Four)" (Nidra Poller, Politics Central, 2006/10/19)
The Al-Dura case III: "The hatred fueled by the al-Dura death scene did not stop with Israelis, did not stop with the Jews. French police are now using the term “intifada” to describe the situation in the banlieue. Four major incidents have occurred in the past month. Paramilitary actions against the police. Carefully prepared ambushes, hundreds against two or three, murderous violence. You may have read about youths attacking with stones. They are rocks, not stones. The punk jihadis go for the head. They smash skulls. Leave policemen permanently damaged. Over a thousand have been injured this year. Or is it in the past few months? I’ll check my figures tomorrow. I don’t draw a direct line from the al-Dura blood libel to these skirmishes that will, according to police sources, soon lead to another major outbreak of organized violence. The line is jagged. And the contradictions are closing in.
The police fired into the air during the last incident. One of the youthful jihadis fired into the air too. Will policemen fire into the crowd to save their lives? Or let themselves be torn to pieces and smashed to pulp? If they defend themselves, if they wound or kill one of their assailants, the banlieue will declare all out war.
And that puny victory in the 17e Correctionnel will be of no use when the French police find themselves in the same position as Israeli police and soldiers in October 2000. The media that are gloating over Karsenty’s defeat poured hellfire and damnation on Israel trying to defend itself in those years."

"Kafka in Wonderland: L’Express weighs in" (Richard Landes, Augean Stables, 2006/10/19)
The Al-Dura case II: "This is a tragic day for French republican values and the resilience of European culture. Philippe’s personal travails aside, no one but those who long ago wrote France off as a third-world country with first world pretensions, the jihadis with designs on Europe, and their third-worldist allies, can be pleased at such a failure of judicial reasoning."

"French TV station wins Palestinian boy libel case" (James Mackenzie, Reuters/Yahoo! News, 2006/10/19)
The Al-Dura case I: "PARIS (Reuters) - Broadcaster France 2 won a libel case on Thursday over accusations it faked a report into the killing of a Palestinian boy whose death in 2000 became a symbol of the uprising known as the second intifada.
The Court of First Instance in Paris ordered Philippe Karsenty, director of Media Ratings, a website that comments on the media, to pay France 2 and its Israel correspondent Charles Enderlin symbolic damages of one euro ($1.25) each. ...
Karsenty, who was also fined 1,000 euros and told to pay legal costs of 3,000 euros, said he would appeal the decision.
"It is a very somber day for France. The French justice system has validated a false report," he told reporters after the decision. 'We are going to appeal straight away. It is a very surprising judgment.'" (See also: "Camera Obscura" (Richard Landes, The New Republic, 2006/10/17))

"Eight youths arrested for assault on French policemen" (AFP/Expatica, 2006/10/19)
"PARIS, Oct 19, 2006 (AFP) - French police on Thursday arrested eight youths in a tough Paris suburb over the ambush last week of three police officers, one of whom suffered serious facial injuries.
The suspects, aged 17 to 21, identified by their fingerprints, were taken into custody and face possible charges of attempted murder with premeditation over the attack in the southern 'banlieue' of Epinay-sur-Seine, police said.
Friday's incident, in which a police patrol car was set upon by around 30 youths with stones and metal bars, was the third in as many weeks in the Paris area, prompting a chorus of alarm from police unions.
Serious clashes have also occurred at the Les Tartarets estate in Corbeil-Essonnes and at Les Mureaux, in the western Paris outskirts — sparking high profile police raids to root out the suspects." (Hat tip: Jihad Watch.)

"Turkish academic faces trial over headscarf article" (AFP/Middle East Times, 2006/10/19)
"ISTANBUL -- An eminent 92-year-old Turkish archaeologist is to go on trial for inciting religious hatred, because she angered Islamist circles with a scientific paper saying that the use of headscarves by women dated back to pre-Islamic sexual rites.
Muazzez Ilmiye Cig, who devoted her career to studying the Sumerians, the first known urban civilization dating from the fourth millennium BC, is to appear in court November 1 in Istanbul, her editor Ismet Ogutucu said.
In a book published last year, Cig said that the headscarf - a controversial issue in Turkey - was first worn by Sumerian priestesses initiating young people into sex, but without prostituting themselves.
A lawyer from the western city of Izmir took offense and filed a complaint against Cig, resulting in a prosecutor charging both her and her publisher with "inciting hatred based on religious differences." If convicted, the two risk up to three years in jail." (Hat tip: Fjordman.)

"Research councils halt Islamist project" (Debbie Andalo, The Guardian, 2006/10/19)
"Research councils today confirmed they have put on hold their involvement in a government-backed project that aimed to identify the growth of Islamist groups around the world.
The decision by the Economics and Social Research Council and the Arts and Humanities Research Council followed accusations by academics that they would be putting the lives of British researchers at risk in Muslim countries.
In a joint statement this afternoon, the two councils said "a section of our academic community" had raised concerns about the research, which they 'have to take seriously.'" (Hat tip: LGF.)

"Northern Iraq cities blitzed in multiple attacks" (Dave Clark, AFP/Yahoo! News, 2006/10/19)
"A series of deadly suicide bomb attacks launched another day of violence in Iraq as a fierce debate over how to prosecute the war gripped London and Washington.
The northern city of Mosul shuddered under apparently coordinated attacks coming every 20 minutes, including several suicide car bombs, mortar fire and small arms assaults against coalition forces and Iraqi police.
The bloodiest attack was a massive suicide truck bomb against a police station that local authorities say killed 11 and wounded 26 -- the vast majority of them innocent bystanders -- but more blasts followed. ...
According to US military spokesman Major General Caldwell, the past three weeks have seen a shift in focus of attacks from civilians to both US and Iraqi security forces.
So far in October, he added, 73 US soldiers have been killed, he said. US forces are losing an average of four soldiers a day and are on course to lose more in October than in any month since the battle of Fallujah in November 2004.
"The violence is indeed disheartening," Caldwell said. 'In Baghdad alone we have seen a 22 percent increase in attacks during the first three weeks of Ramadan as compared to the three weeks proceeding Ramadan.'"

"Britain now No 1 al-Qaida target - anti-terror chiefs" (Rosie Cowan and Richard Norton-Taylor, The Guardian, 2006/10/19)
"Britain has become the main target for a resurgent al-Qaida, which has successfully regrouped and now presents a greater threat than ever before, according to counter-terrorist officials. They have revised their views about the strength of the network abroad, and the methods terrorists are able to use in the UK.
Intelligence chiefs with access to the most comprehensive and up to date information have told the Guardian that al-Qaida has substantially recovered its organisation in Pakistan, despite a four-year military campaign to seek out and kill its leaders. In that time, the organisation has become much more coherent, with a strong core and a regular supply of volunteers. ...
Intelligence experts fear the UK is a target as never before, with extremists intent on carrying out a huge spectacular, on the scale of the US atrocities in 2001.
"They viewed 7/7 as just the beginning," said one senior source. "Al-Qaida sees the UK as a massive opportunity to cause loss of life and embarrassment to the authorities." A second source agreed: 'Britain is sitting at the receiving end of an al-Qaida campaign.'"

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

News and commentary:

"Eritrea: Two Christians tortured to death" (Compass Direct, 2006/10/18)
"Eritrean security police tortured two Christians to death yesterday, two days after arresting them for holding a religious service in a private home south of Asmara.
The deaths came just after officials detained a U.S. citizen and re-imprisoned a popular Christian singer who was hospitalized as a result of spending 29 months in a metal shipping container.
Immanuel Andegergesh, 23, and Kibrom Firemichel, 30, died from torture wounds and severe dehydration in a military camp outside the town of Adi-Quala, eyewitnesses told Compass.
The military buried the two unmarried men yesterday in the southern Eritrean town near the Ethiopian border, where they had been performing their military service.
Andegergesh and Firemichel were arrested on Sunday (October 15), along with 10 other Christians, while attending a worship service in the home of Teklezgi Asgerdom.
The three women and seven men, all members of the evangelical Rema Church, were kept in military confinement, along with Andegergesh and Firemichel, and subjected to “furious mistreatment,” one source said.
The fate of the 10 other Christians remains unknown." (Hat tip: Dhimmi Watch.)

"Star pulls 'Daily Fatwa' page" (Stephen Brook, The Guardian, 2006/10/18)
Via Tim Blair [including emphasis]: "Journalists at British tabloid the Daily Star allow themselves to be censored by scary Muslims":
"The Daily Star last night pulled a page that mocked Muslim law by turning the tabloid into the "Daily Fatwa" following a newsroom revolt.
Management acted after the Daily Star's National Union of Journalists' chapel held a stop work meeting that produced a resolution condemning the page.
The page included a "Page 3 burqa babes special" showing a woman in a niqab, as part of a feature billed as "How your favourite paper would look under Muslim law".
The page also contained a blank editorial stamped with the words "censored" and "Allah is great" while across the top of the page were the words "no news no goss no fun".
A competition told readers to "Burn a flag and win a Corsa", while a picture of the US president, George Bush, was accompanied by a caption "death to infidels".
At a hastily arranged stop work NUJ chapel meeting, staff voiced fears of violent reprisals and carried a motion that condemned the feature.
"This National Union of Journalists chapel expresses its deep concern at the content of page 6 in tomorrow's Daily Star which we consider to be deliberately offensive to Muslims," the motion read.
'The chapel fears that this editorial content poses a very serious risk of violent and dangerous reprisals from religious fanatics who may take offence at these articles. This may place the staff in great jeopardy. This chapel urges the management to remove the content immediately.'"

"Pro-Israeli editor beaten in Bangladesh" (Michael Freund, The Jerusalem Post, 2006/10/18)
"A Muslim journalist facing charges of sedition for advocating ties with Israel was recently attacked and beaten by a crowd in Bangladesh that allegedly included leading officials of the country's ruling party, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, editor of the Weekly Blitz newspaper, an English-language publication based in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka, was working in his office on October 5 when nearly 40 people stormed the premises.

The mob beat Choudhury, leaving him with a fractured ankle, and looted cash that was kept in the company safe. Choudhury was briefly hospitalized. ...

As the Post first reported last month, Bangladesh is moving forward with plans to try Choudhury on charges of blasphemy, sedition, treason and espionage in connection with his articles critical of Islamic extremism and favorable to Israel.

After several delays, his trial is due to start in Dhaka on Thursday. If convicted, Choudhury faces the death penalty." (Hat tip: LGF. See also: "Darkness in Dhaka" (Bret Stephens, OpinionJournal, 2006/10/15))

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

News and commentary:

"Camera Obscura" (Richard Landes, The New Republic, 2006/10/17)
"How French TV fudged the death of Mohammed Al Durah.":
"In 2000, anyone told of Muslim plans to Islamicize the West laughed with scorn. It was the least of Western worries. Today, some have already given up Europe for lost; others see it in the balance; and others are finally awakening with shock to the radical shift in the balance of forces. And every aspect of l'affaire Al Durah is emblematic of why: from the Palestinian forces that staged it; to the Western mainstream press and the NGOs that presented it as news without asking hard questions (and that believed any subsequent Palestinian claims of Israelis killing children and resisted efforts at correction); to the Muslim world that turned it into an icon of hatred and a call to genocidal holy war; to the "leftist" revolutionaries who jumped on the jihad bandwagon in Durban, South Africa; to a public distressingly eager for "dirt" on Israel and unaware of the forces empowered by diffusing such poisons.
Three court trials, then--in which France2 seeks to bury any serious assessment of their coverage--are also trials of France's ability to defend her republican values against an Islamist onslaught that it seems ill-equipped to resist. And, as France goes, so goes Europe. (Would France have it any other way?)" (See also: The Second Draft.)

More on the Al-Dura affair:
"Al-Dura: The Trial (Part One)" (Nidra Poller, Politics Central, 2006/09/13)
"Myth, Fact, and the al-Dura Affair" (Nidra Poller, Commentary, from the September 2005 issue)
"Anatomy of a French Media Scandal" (Ricki Hollander, CAMERA, 2005/02/23)
"French TV Sticks by Story That Fueled Palestinian Intifada" (Eva Cahen, CNS News, 2005/02/15)
"Photo of Palestinian Boy Kindles Debate in France" (Doreen Carvajal, The New York Times, 2005/02/07)
"The Israeli Crime That Wasn’t" (Alyssa A. Lappen, FrontPageMagazine, 2004/12/28)
"The mythical martyr" (Stephane Juffa, The Wall Street Journal/Backspin, 2004/12/06 [2004/11/26])
"Who Shot Mohammed al-Dura?" (James Fallows, The Atlantic, from the June 2003 issue)
"Probe: Famous 'martyrdom' of Palestinian boy 'staged'" (David Kupelian, WorldNetDaily, 2003/04/26)

"Reuters Cameraman Remanded for Inciting Rock Attacks" (Nissan Ratzlav-Katz, Arutz Sheva, 2006/10/17)
"On Tuesday, a Reuters cameraman was remanded to prison until trial for his part in rock-throwing attacks on security forces in Bil'in, where the separation fence is a constant target of protesters.
The cameraman, Imad Muhammad Intisar Boghnat, was arrested and charged as a result of violent riots in the Arab village of Bil'in, in the Modi'in region, on October 6, 2006. A videotape that the prosecution presented to the judge shows Boghnat encouraging and directing rioters in Bil'in to throw large chunks of rock at Israeli vehicles in such a way as to cause maximum damage. The accused is heard shouting, "Throw, throw!" and later, 'Throw towards the little window!'" (Hat tip: LGF.)

"Last night I watched a webcast of a panel..." (Bruce Bawer, brucebawer.com, 2006/10/17)
"Last night I watched a webcast of a panel, held earlier in the day at UN Headquarters in New York, called 'Cartooning for Peace.'":
"All in all, the cartoonists left a better taste in one's mouth than did smarmy, smooth-talking Under-Secretary-General Shashi Tharoor, who in his concluding “summary” sent out a message that was sharply at odds with the spirit of the cartoonists' actual remarks. Tharoor did not explicitly mention the Danish cartoons, but they were clearly at the center of his remarks.
He began by speaking of cartoonists’ “ability, perhaps their responsibility, to be confrontational. But,” he added, “as we are all aware there is a balance that must be struck. It’s one thing to administer bitter medicine and quite another to poison a patient.”
Want to talk offensive? This is offensive: equating a cartoon with murder. By comparing cartoons to poison, Tharoor is implying that murders committed in supposed reaction to the Danish cartoons were in fact the fault of the cartoonists, not the actual murderers. ...
Tharoor: “Since contemporary technology can transmit cartoons from one cultural context to another where they might be considered offensive, “the responsibility of cartoonists is perhaps greater than it has ever been before.”
In other words, cartoonists’ responsibility not to offend is greater. But cartoonists, or anyone else with an opinion to express in a free society, can't be held responsible for the easily triggered “outrage” of others. To take Tharoor’s position is to allow people who are either genuinely outraged – or ready to pretend to be outraged – to act, in effect, as censors. That’s a one-way road to a Taliban planet and worldwide sharia law." (See also: "Image of Muhammad" - News and commentary on the Danish cartoon affair.)

"Iraq’s Christians Flee as Extremist Threat Worsens" (Michael Luo, The New York Times, 2006/10/17)
"Over the past three and a half years, Christians have been subjected to a steady stream of church bombings, assassinations, kidnappings and threatening letters slipped under their doors.
Estimates of the resulting Christian exodus vary from the tens of thousands to more than 100,000, with most heading for Syria, Jordan and Turkey.":
"Asaad Aziz, a 42-year-old Chaldean Catholic, is one of those trying to leave the country. After the ouster of Mr. Hussein, he bought a liquor store in a mostly Shiite neighborhood. Nine days after he opened, the store was bombed. Mr. Aziz was hospitalized for a month.
The employees rebuilt the store. But several months later, a note slipped under the door gave Mr. Aziz 48 hours to close.
“Otherwise, you will blame yourself,” it said.
Mr. Aziz closed. But after an unsuccessful stint at a friend’s printing company, he returned to the business he knew best, opening a liquor store in a mostly Christian neighborhood. Last month, a gunman riddled the new storefront with bullets as Mr. Aziz cowered in a back room.
He told another story: the teenage daughter of another Christian family he knows was kidnapped recently. The captors initially demanded a ransom, but later sarcastically said the pope was the only one who could release her. She was eventually killed." (See also: "Iraq: Kidnappers Behead Priest In Mosul" (Compass Direct, 2006/10/12) and "Abducted and raped, young Christian women and girls are driven to suicide in Iraq" (AsiaNews, 2006/10/11))

"Fanatics lay claim to separate Sunni state" (Oliver Poole, The Daily Telegraph, 2006/10/17)
"An alliance of Sunni insurgent groups claimed yesterday to be establishing a separate Sunni state in the west of Iraq in the latest demonstration of the growing fragmentation of the country.
The statement by the Mujahideen Shura Council, an umbrella organisation of fanatical Sunni groups that includes al-Qa'eda, is the first time a Sunni body has supported the break-up of Iraq. ...
The size and nature of the state it says it intends to form provides an indication of future battle lines. Not only the Sunni-dominated provinces of Anbar, Diyala, Salaheddin and Nineveh would be included but also the oil-rich region of Kirkuk, which the Kurds claim, and parts of Babil and Wasit, which are predominately Shia.
The council also claims all of Baghdad and pledges to implement a fundamentalist form of Shura law reminiscent of the Taliban."

"U.S. Faces Obstacles To Freeing Detainees" (Craig Whitlock, The Washington Post, 2006/10/17)
Europe in a nutshell: "BERLIN -- British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett last week issued the latest European demand to close down the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The existence of the prison is "unacceptable" and fuels Islamic radicalism around the world, she said, echoing a recent chorus of complaints from Europe about U.S. counterterrorism policy.
Behind the scenes, however, the British government has repeatedly blocked efforts to let some prisoners leave Guantanamo and return home.
According to documents made public this month in London, officials there recently rejected a U.S. offer to transfer 10 former British residents from Guantanamo to the United Kingdom, arguing that it would be too expensive to keep them under surveillance. Britain has also staved off a legal challenge by the relatives of some prisoners who sued to require the British government to seek their release.
Other European governments, which have been equally vocal in assailing Guantanamo as a human rights liability, have also balked at accepting prisoner transfers."

Added today:
"Leftists For a Second Holocaust" (Paul Bogdanor, The Jewish Press/paulbogdanor.com, 2006/10/11)

Monday, October 16, 2006

News and commentary:

"Saddam says Iraq 'liberation is at hand'" (Jamal Halaby, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/10/16)
"Saddam Hussein has told his countrymen that Iraq's "liberation is at hand" and called on insurgents to be merciful with their enemy, according to an open letter obtained Monday.
In the three-page letter, dictated to his lawyers, Saddam also urges Iraqis to set aside sectarian and ethnic differences and focus instead on driving the U.S. forces out of Iraq.
"The hour of liberation is at hand, God willing, but remember that your near-term goal is confined to freeing your country from the forces of occupation and their followers and not to be preoccupied in settling scores," Saddam writes in the Arabic-language letter, which is dated Sunday and signed by 'Saddam Hussein al-Majid, President and commander-in-chief of the holy warrior armed forces.'"

"Turkish youths turning to radical Islam: terror report" (Expatica, 2006/10/16)
"AMSTERDAM — The continued radicalisation of especially young Muslims remains concerning, the national anti-terrorism co-ordination office NCTb said on Monday.
The NCTb also said it was "remarkable" that a rising number of Turkish youths were finding their way into networks of radical Muslims prepared to use violence against western society.
Earlier, Dutch Turkish youths were appearing occasionally in "jihad networks" made up primarily of North Africans, but there now appears to be whole groups of youths susceptible to radical Islam.
"Frustration over the position of Muslims in the Netherlands and anger over the events in conflict regions give food to the feeling that 'something' must be done," the NCTb said in its quarterly report on the terrorism threat in the Netherlands." (Hat tip: Jihad Watch.)

"Blind sheik's lawyer gets 28 months" (Larry Neumeister, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/10/16)
"NEW YORK - Civil rights lawyer Lynne Stewart was sentenced Monday to 28 months in prison on a terrorism charge for helping a client who plotted to blow up New York City landmarks communicate with his followers, a sentence far less than 30 years prosecutors wanted.
Stewart, 67, smiled as the judge announced he would send her to prison for less than 2 1/2 years. ...
Stewart, who was treated last year for breast cancer, was convicted in 2005 of providing material support to terrorists. She had released a statement by Omar Abdel-Rahman, a blind Egyptian sheik sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted in plots to blow up five New York landmarks and assassinate Egypt's president."

"UK teachers asked to spy on Muslims" (The Jerusalem Post, 2006/10/16)
"Senior university personnel throughout Britain have been asked to spy on Muslim or Asian students who are suspected of being involved in terrorist activities, the British newspaper The Guardian reported Monday morning.
According to the report, police are enlisting university professors to help locate potential suspects who might be supporting terror. From now on, professors and other senior staff will be asked to look out for suspicious activity on the part of their Muslim and Asian students. ...
The article also reported that the British government is convinced that a Muslim terrorist network is currently being established within univerity campuses."

"Jihad Then and Now" (Lee Harris, Policy Review, October & November 2006)
A review of "The Legacy of Jihad", edited by Andrew Bostom:
"In his acknowledgments, Bostom expresses the touching wish that his own children and their children may “thrive in a world where the devastating institution of jihad has been acknowledged, renounced, dismantled, and relegated forever to the dustbin of history by Muslims themselves.”
Yet, after reading and pondering this invaluable book, it is difficult not to ask, Why should Muslims renounce and dismantle an institution that, while it may have been devastating to those who have been its victims, has nevertheless been the historical agent by which Islamic culture has come to dominate such a vast expanse of our planet? What would prompt any culture to abandon a tradition that has permitted it not only to expand immensely from its original home, but also to make permanent conquests of so many hearts and minds?"

"Cowboy Nation" (Robert Kagan, The New Republic, 2006/10/16)
"We hope that we can either return to the policies of that imagined past or approximate some imagined ideal to recapture our innocence. It is easier than facing the hard truth: America's expansiveness, intrusiveness, and tendency toward political, economic, and strategic dominance are not some aberration from our true nature. That is our nature. ...
Americans, from the beginning, measured the world exclusively according to the assumptions of liberalism. These included, above all, a belief in what the Declaration of Independence called the "self-evident" universality of certain basic truths--not only that all men were created equal and endowed by God with inalienable rights, but also that the only legitimate and just governments were those that derived their powers "from the consent of the governed." According to the Declaration, "whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it." Such a worldview does not admit the possibility of alternative truths. Americans, over the centuries, accepted the existence of cultural distinctions that influenced other peoples to rule themselves differently. But they never really accepted the legitimacy of despotic governments, no matter how deeply rooted in culture. As a result, they viewed them as transitory. And so, wherever Americans looked in the world, they saw the possibility and the desirability of change."

"THE VEIL IS WOMENS LIBERATION"
(AFP, 2006/10/14)
From a demonstration outside Bangor Street Community Centre where Labour MP for Blackburn and leader of the House of Commons Jack Straw was holding a constituency meeting in Blackburn, England, Saturday Oct. 14, 2006. On other placards: "ARREST JACK STRAW FOR INCITING RELIGIOUS HATRED", "JACK STRAW JUDEO-CHRISTIAN TERRORIST".

"Rifts over veil threaten British race relations" (Rochelle Mutton, The Age, 2006/10/16)
"BATTLES over religious symbols in Britain continued when a Christian woman took on British Airways over her cross necklace and a Muslim teaching assistant defended her stance on wearing the veil. ...
Britain's Race Minister also waded in, saying a 24-year-old Muslim teacher who refused to either remove her veil while teaching young children or to work with men, breached sex discrimination rules.
In this latest incident, the teacher, Aishah Azmi, was suspended after complaints from parents that their children could not understand her, especially as many had English as a second language. ...
The Sunday Mirror quoted Race and Faith Minister Phil Woolas as saying: "She should be sacked. She has put herself in a position where she can't do her job. She is denying the right of children to a full education … she is taking away the right of men to work in schools."
His comments came as about 60 Muslims demonstrated against Mr Straw, calling him a "Christian fascist". ...
Stories of people wanting to protect or protest against a particular expression of faith inundate the British media every day.
A married mother in Rotherham, who had a contraceptive method fail, was aghast that a Muslim-owned pharmacy was allowed to cite religious beliefs in denying her the morning-after pill." (Hat tip: Tim Blair. See also: "Straw branded a 'Christian fascist'" (David Paul, Daily Express, 2006/10/15) and "Muslim pharmacist refuses to give morning after pill 'on religious grounds'" (The Evening Standard, 2006/10/13))

Added today:
"One in 10 Indonesia Muslims back violent jihad: poll" (Reuters/Yahoo! News, 2006/10/15)
"Do Muslims really want apartheid here?" (David Davis, The Sunday Telegraph, 2006/10/15)
"BBC mounts court fight to keep 'critical' report secret" (Chris Hastings and Beth Jones, The Sunday Telegraph, 2006/10/15)

 

See the archive for earlier news and commentary.

 

Copyright © Watch 2001-2006.
Copyrights of quoted materials belong to their respective owners.

"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)

› AOTW Archive



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)

Weekly archive

2006/12/04 - 2006/12/10
2006/11/27 - 2006/12/03
2006/11/20 - 2006/11/26
2006/11/13 - 2006/11/19
2006/11/06 - 2006/11/12
2006/10/30 - 2006/11/05

› From 2001/09/11 -



Monthly index

December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006

› From September 2001 -



Author index

› Ajami, Fouad - Johnson, Paul
› Kagan, Robert - Ye'or, Bat



Support Watch

Please feel free to donate if you enjoy the daily content and links Watch provides:

Contact Watch

Email:
watch-at-windsofchange.net