Archived news and commentary: October 30 - November 5, 2006

2006/10/30 - 2006/11/05
2006/10/23 - 2006/10/29
2006/10/16 - 2006/10/22
2006/10/09 - 2006/10/15
2006/10/02 - 2006/10/08
2006/09/25 - 2006/10/01

› From 2001/09/11 -

Sunday, November 5, 2006

News and commentary:

"Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein..."
(David Furst, AP, 2006/11/05)
"Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein yells at the court as a bailiff attempts to silence him as the verdict is delivered during his trial held under tight security in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, Sunday Nov. 5, 2006. Iraq's High Tribunal on Sunday found Saddam Hussein guilty of crimes against humanity and sentence him to die by hanging."

"Shiites praise, Sunnis protest verdict" (Qassim Abdul-Zahraap, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/11/05)
"BAGHDAD, Iraq - Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Shiites poured into the streets of the capital to rejoice at the death sentence for Saddam Hussein, but the former dictator's fellow Sunnis paraded through his hometown chanting, "We will avenge you Saddam." ...

In Sadr City, the Shiite stronghold of northeast Baghdad, youths took to the streets dancing and singing, despite a curfew declared for Sunday over the most restive parts of the country.

"Execute Saddam," they chanted. Many carried posters of Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical anti-American cleric whose Mahdi Army militia effectively runs the district. ...

In Tikrit, deep in the Sunni heartland north of Baghdad where support for Saddam runs hand-in-hand with deep distrust of Iraq's new Shiite-dominated government, gunshots rang out from rooftops and street corners as Saddam addressed the court. Sunni insurgents with AK-47s and heavy machine guns paraded in scores of vehicles in defiance of the curfew. A crowd about 1,000, including some policemen and many people holding aloft pictures of Saddam, chanted: 'We will avenge you Saddam.'"

"Saddam, 2 others sentenced to death" (AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/11/05)
"BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein was convicted and sentenced Sunday to death by hanging for war crimes in the 1982 killings of 148 people in the town of Dujail, as the former leader, trembling, shouted "God is great!"

As he, his half brother and another senior official in his regime were convicted and sentenced to hang, Saddam yelled out, "Long live the people and death to their enemies. Long live the glorious nation, and death to its enemies!" ...

"This government will be responsible for the consequences, with the deaths of hundreds, thousands or even hundreds of thousands, whose blood will be shed," Salih al-Mutlaq, the Sunni politician, told the al-Arabiya satellite television station. ...

Before the session began, one of Saddam's lawyers, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, was ejected from the courtroom after handing the judge a memorandum in which he called the trial a travesty.

Chief Judge Raouf Abdul-Rahman pointed to Clark and said in English, 'Get out.'"

"MSM Silence on “Wild West” in the Paris Subway" (Augean Stables, 2006/11/05)
"There is an article, now scanned and on the web, in the Parisien, a journal already with a record for publishing what the MSM papers won’t, that recounts the attack of some 100 “youths” from the “difficult neighborhoods” who attacked and robbed of their personal possessions passengers on the Metro inside Paris to the point that the police had to evacuate the station Chateau-Rouge, a site already on some people’s “dangerous sites in Paris” list.

This incident, which had people fleeing the subway in panic, and the police closed off the station to arrest the youth is not unprecedented. Last spring, just before the riots — in the daytime — passengers were jumped and relieved of their goods. Said one:

“They took my laptop and I didn’t move. I just tried to hide my bag,” said Thierry. “We went through ten minutes when we felt as insignificant as a straw in the wind.”

And that’s just what you were supposed to feel. You’ve been humiliated. And you took it lying down. Double victory for them.

And that double victory is then turned into a triple victory when the French MSM avoid any mention of the incident. Thus the French slowly but surely let some of the Metro stops and lines become “lost territories,” taken over by gangs whose information network is excellent, and the losers don’t even know it’s happening.

Why no report? Because it’s too embarrassing? Because if the tourists knew they wouldn’t come? Because if the French knew, they’d vote “right wing”? All apparently compelling reasons for the French MSM; all very bad reasons for the future of the French Republic."

"Bishop attacks 'victim' Muslims" (Christopher Morgan, The Sunday Times, 2006/11/05)
"THE Church of England’s only Asian bishop, whose father converted from Islam, has criticised many Muslims for their “dual psychology”, in which they desire both “victimhood and domination”.

In the most outspoken critique of Muslims by a church leader, Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, said that because of this view it would never be possible to satisfy all their demands.

“Their complaint often boils down to the position that it is always right to intervene when Muslims are victims, as in Bosnia or Kosovo, and always wrong when the Muslims are the oppressors or terrorists, as with the Taliban or in Iraq,” said Nazir-Ali.

“Given the world view that has given rise to such grievances, there can never be sufficient appeasement and new demands will continue to be made.”

The failure to counter such beliefs meant that radical Islam had flourished in Britain, spread by extremist imams indoctrinating children for
up to four hours a day, he said."

Added today:
"Neo Culpa" (David Rose, Vanity Fair, 2006/11/03)

Saturday, November 4, 2006

News and commentary:

"From Suez to Iraq: how to weaken the will of the West" (Charles Moore, The Daily Telegraph, 2006/11/04)
"It is not mad ideology that got us into this war – or rather, the madness and the ideology come from our opponents, not from ourselves. If we do pull all our troops out, mock Blair and Bush, and hail some deal with Iran as "peace", we shall have a few weeks of self-congratulation, but that is all.

The Islamist movements that wait to cheer our withdrawal are not militarily strong, but they are good at what they call "the management of savagery", and they know that the West's attention span is much shorter than their own. It is a pity that we seem so determined to prove them right."

"Muslim 'wanted new 9/11'" (The Sun, 2006/11/04)
"A MUSLIM accused of inciting murder during a protest wanted a new 9/11 across Europe, a court heard yesterday.

Mizanur Rahman, 23, was also said to have called for the “indiscriminate killing” of American and British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He is alleged to have made the remarks as he demonstrated outside the Danish Embassy in London after cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad appeared in a Danish newspaper.

Rahman is said to have told fellow demonstrators: “Oh Allah, we want to see another 9/11 in Iraq, another 9/11 in Denmark, another 9/11 in Spain, in France, all over Europe. Oh Allah, destroy all of them.”

The Old Bailey was told he was filmed carrying placards with the slogans “let’s annihilate those who insult Islam” and 'behead those who insult Islam.'"

"Six Arab states join rush to go nuclear" (Richard Beeston, The Times, 2006/11/04)
"Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, UAE and Saudi Arabia seek atom technology

THE SPECTRE of a nuclear race in the Middle East was raised yesterday when six Arab states announced that they were embarking on programmes to master atomic technology.

The move, which follows the failure by the West to curb Iran’s controversial nuclear programme, could see a rapid spread of nuclear reactors in one of the world’s most unstable regions, stretching from the Gulf to the Levant and into North Africa.

The countries involved were named by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Saudi Arabia. Tunisia and the UAE have also shown interest.

All want to build civilian nuclear energy programmes, as they are permitted to under international law. But the sudden rush to nuclear power has raised suspicions that the real intention is to acquire nuclear technology which could be used for the first Arab atomic bomb."

Friday, November 3, 2006

News and commentary:

"Neo Culpa" (David Rose, Vanity Fair, 2006/11/03)
"As Iraq slips further into chaos, the war's neoconservative boosters have turned sharply on the Bush administration, charging that their grand designs have been undermined by White House incompetence. In a series of exclusive interviews, Richard Perle, Kenneth Adelman, David Frum, and others play the blame game with shocking frankness. Target No. 1: the president himself. ...

"The levels of brutality that we've seen are truly horrifying, and I have to say, I underestimated the depravity," Perle says now, adding that total defeat—an American withdrawal that leaves Iraq as an anarchic "failed state"—is not yet inevitable but is becoming more likely. "And then," says Perle, "you'll get all the mayhem that the world is capable of creating."

According to Perle, who left the Defense Policy Board in 2004, this unfolding catastrophe has a central cause: devastating dysfunction within the administration of President George W. Bush. Perle says, 'The decisions did not get made that should have been. They didn't get made in a timely fashion, and the differences were argued out endlessly.… At the end of the day, you have to hold the president responsible.… I don't think he realized the extent of the opposition within his own administration, and the disloyalty.'"

"Burning Buses: 'She was black but she looked white, her skin was peeled.'" (Nidra Poller, Pajamas Media, 2006/11/03)
"Now, as a 26 year-old French student burned in a Marseille bus fights for her life, the media are remarkably discreet. Slow on the uptake, stingy with details of this terrible crime, but also, as we discover in retrospect, strangely silent about lesser assaults that have become the ordinary fare of buses all over France. Suddenly we learn about the elaborate security systems developed in this or that city, in response to incessant attacks.

Mama Galledou suffered 2nd and 3rd degree burns over 70% of her body when the bus was ambushed and torched by five or seven punks in gangsta hoods. If she survives she will live a life of pain and sorrow, deformed, critically damaged by flames that ate deep into her body. Born in France, raised in her native Senegal, Galledou had just finished a degree in nutrition at the St. Jerome science college which is situated at the end of the line of the 32 bus. ...

The most moving description comes from 30 year-old Rachid, cited in Le Parisien. He was standing at the bus stop when the bus went up in flames. He saw the young woman get off the bus, almost fainted at the sight of her burning body, “she was black but she looked white, her skin was peeled.” Overcoming his fear that he would cause further harm by touching her, he carried her away from the bus, even more afraid that it might explode. He tried to douse the flames by covering her with his jacket and at the same time handed his cell phone to a friend who called for an ambulance."

"Hamas Urges Women, Children to Shield Gunmen in Mosque" (Julie Stahl, CNSNews.com, 2006/11/03)
"At least a dozen Palestinian gunmen eluded Israeli capture in the Gaza Strip on Friday, first by taking refuge in a mosque and then by calling on women and children to shield them so they could escape.

Palestinians reported at least one women killed and a second was in critical condition after they were shot during the fray. The Israeli Army said its soldiers had fired only at armed gunmen, who were firing at them from within the crowd.

The standoff began on Thursday evening when some three dozen Palestinian gunmen -- fleeing Israeli forces -- took refuge in a mosque in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun. Gunmen and Israeli troops exchanged fire during the night and part of the mosque's roof collapsed.

On Friday morning, Hamas radio put out a call for women and children to come to the mosque - to form a human shield around the gunmen so they could escape. The Israeli Army said Hamas knows that Israeli troops would not shoot at women and children.

About 3,000 protestors, most of them women, turned out to protect the gunmen -- and the ploy worked. When soldiers searched the mosque later, it was empty, the army said."

"Backing a bigot" (Andrew Bolt, The Australian, 2006/11/03)
Uncovered Meat I: "Excuses over. The disgraced mufti of Australia set Muslims a test last month and they failed.
That test couldn’t have been easier: make Sheik Taj el-Din al-Hilaly pay for preaching that unveiled women invited rape.

Prove that Muslims can’t be led by a man who says raped women must be “jailed for life”. Prove we have nothing to fear from your faith.

Simple? Yet yesterday 34 Muslim groups signed a petition backing this bigot, while others were planning a big rally for Sydney tomorrow, denouncing not Hilaly but the non-Muslims who criticise him.

The results are in: Islam here—as represented by many of its leaders—is now a threat.

What’s more: our culture of self-hate makes us too weak to properly resist. ...

For a start, we make too many excuses for the Hilalys, as if they were mere children, or Australia the real villain.

Yesterday Suzanne Bassette, national secretary of the Australian Democrats, even said: “I’m willing to stand up with anybody else in this country who happens to agree with Sheik Hilaly’s sentiments . . . Unfortunately, how a woman dresses does affect her level of likeliness to be chosen.”

She said the “real lesson” from this fuss was this “latest opportunity to get angry”. The problem wasn’t the mufti who wants to jail raped women, but his critics." (See also: "Aus Muslims fight back" (SA/news24, 2006/11/02))

"Hilali seeks 'jury' verdict on sermon" (Dan Box, The Australian, 2006/11/03)
Uncovered Meat I: "SHEIK Taj Din al-Hilali has called for a jury of Australian people to judge him for the content of a Ramadan speech delivered last month in which he compared immoderately dressed women to meat that invites rape.

If found to have incited rape or have said women without veils are responsible for sexual assault, Sheik Hilali will stand down and wear tape over his mouth as punishment, he said.

The tape will be worn only in public places for six months "to punish my mouth for saying these things".

In a speech to thousands of worshippers at Lakemba Mosque in Western Sydney, Sheik Hilali also invited challengers to his position as Mufti of Australia to nominate themselves. ...

Sheik Hilali's departure from the Mosque was met with wild applause from his thousands of supporters, who also stripped bouquets of flowers from the building's walls to hand to the watching policemen, bought in after fears the speech might lead to some disturbance."

Added today:
"Mass sexual assault in downtown Cairo" (Forsoothsayer, 2006/10/29)

Thursday, November 2, 2006

News and commentary:

"Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall..."
(John Stillwell, AP, 2006/11/02)
"Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, leave Badshami Mosque, in Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday Nov. 2, 2006. Prince Charles on Thursday arrived in the eastern Pakistan city of Lahore to promote interfaith harmony and praise the efforts of British soldiers in Afghanistan."

"Islamic teaching could resolve world problems -- Prince Charles" (Robert Spencer, Dhimmi Watch, 2006/11/02)
"Dhimmi Prince Charlie prescribes Islam for what ails the world. Apparently he thinks it's a positive thing to come out publicly for the same thing for which Osama bin Laden, Omar Bakri, and others of like mind are striving. From the Kuwaiti News Agency (KUNA), with thanks to Voltaire:

ISLAMABAD, Oct 31 (KUNA) -- Prince Charles Tuesday said that the world problems could be resolve by following Islamic teachings, as Islam is a religion of peace and brotherhood.

Prince Charles while addressing a ceremony during his visit to Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU) stressed on better relations between Islam and other religions.

He said that clash of civilizations could be averted by following the teaching of Islam and Quraan."

"Aus Muslims fight back" (SA/news24, 2006/11/02)
"Sydney - Australian Muslims fought back on Thursday against what they called an hysterical attack on their community over remarks by the country's top Islamic cleric on women and rape. ...

A group of 34 Muslim organisations issued a statement condemning the reaction by media and politicians to the cleric's description of scantily-clad women as "uncovered meat" inviting rape.

The cleric, Sheik Taj Aldin al-Hilali, apologised for his comment after collapsing and being rushed to hospital on Monday as he came under relentless pressure to resign as Mufti of Australia.

"We believe that the public scrutiny of this matter should have ended with the sheik's apology," the statement said.

"Instead, it is clear that certain sections of the media and political establishment have used this incident as an opportunity to vilify the Australian Muslim community.

"What we have witnessed over the last week is nothing more than hysteria and sensationalism."

The statement was signed by groups including the United Muslim Women's Association and the Federation of Australian Muslim Students and Youth, but not by any of the state or national Islamic councils."

"Turkey: Muslim vows to 'strangle' Pope" (AP/The Jerusalem Post, 2006/11/02)
"Police on Thursday detained a man who fired shots into the air outside the Italian consulate to protest an upcoming visit by Pope Benedict XVI, and the suspect later told a television reporter he wanted to "strangle" the pope with his bare hands.

"I don't want him here, if he was here now I would strangle him with my bare hands," the suspect, who identified himself as Ibrahim Ak, 26, told a Dogan news agency television cameraman as he was detained by police.

"I fired the shots for God," Ak said as he sat handcuffed inside a police van outside the consulate. "Inshallah (God willing), this will be a spark, a starter for Muslims."

"God willing, he will not come. If he comes, he will see what will happen to him," Ak said. ...

"That shameless, dishonorable pope will not come to this country!" Ak shouted as police escorted him to a nearby police station in the crowded Beyoglu district for interrogation. "I'm telling all Muslims, he won't come!" ...

"I'm a Turkish citizen, but before that, I'm a Muslim," Ak said."

"Saudi court sentences rape victim to 90 lashes" (DPA/The Jerusalem Post, 2006/11/02)
"A Saudi court has sentenced a gang rape victim to 90 lashes of the whip because she was alone in a car with a man to whom she was not married.

The sentence was passed at the end of a trial in which the al- Qateef high criminal court convicted four Saudis convicted of the rape, sentencing them to prison terms and a total of 2,230 lashes.

The four, all married, were sentenced respectively to five years and 1,000 lashes, four years and 800 lashes, four years and 350 lashes, and one year and 80 lashes.

A fifth, married, man who was stated to have filmed the rape on his mobile phone still faces investigation. Two others alleged to have taken part in the rape evaded capture.

Saudi courts take marital status into account in sexual crimes. A male friend of the rape victim was also sentenced to 90 lashes for being alone with her in the car.

The court heard that the victim and her friend were followed by the assailants to their car, kidnapped and taken to a remote farm, where the raping occurred."

"AFGESLACHT"
(De Telegraaf, 2004/11/03)

"Theo van Gogh" (Pieter Dorsman, Peaktalk, 2006/11/02)
"Today it is exactly two years ago that Theo van Gogh was murdered. Over the past few days I have written about some aspects of the murder and the incredible threats we face these days when it comes to ‘free speech’. Some time has passed, but I think that the attempts to regulate and control speech, stifle debate, silence commentators and cleanse history have only grown in intensity since that fateful day in Amsterdam. And I do not just refer to jihadists. Western governments and special interest groups are equally playing their part, the only difference being the sophistication and stealth by which they attempt – and sometimes succeed – to frame the boundaries of a debate." (See also: "Gunman kills Dutch film director" - News and commentary on the murder of Dutch film director Theo van Gogh in Amsterdam, Tuesday, November 2, 2004.)

"Muslims arrested in Old Bailey demo" (Duncan Gardham, The Daily Telegraph, 2006/11/02)
"Four Muslims were arrested outside the Old Bailey yesterday during angry protests against the trial of a man allegedly involved in protests against Danish cartoons.

Anjem Choudary, who helped organise the anti-Danish protests, was once more involved as was Abu Izzadeen, who confronted John Reid, the Home Secretary, on a recent visit to East London.

Mr Choudary said afterwards: "We should not be surprised at people doing something like 7/7. How else do you expect Muslims to express themselves?

"We are a community under siege. It's going to blow up one day in everyone's faces."

Male demonstrators, most wearing scarves across their faces, held placards reading 'Cartoonist free at large, protesters criminalised', 'Freedom to insult Mohammed, no freedom to defend his honour', and 'Biased government, biased CPS, biased police, biased judges'. Female protesters, in a separate enclosure from the men and wearing full veils, held placards reading: 'Shariah — the only option for the UK.'"

"The abandonment of the brave" (Melanie Phillips, melaniephillips.com, 2006/11/02)
Phillips on Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, "the immensely courageous Muslim editor of the Bangladeshi newspaper The Weekly Blitz, who condemned the power of radical Islam in his country and sought to provide his readers with unbiased news about the Middle East.":
"If he is jailed and tried, he faces torture and death by hanging — all for standing up for freedom, truth and justice, and against hatred, violence and bigotry. ...

The so-called liberal newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic are silent about the fate of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury. So too, as far as I know, have been the so-called human rights NGOs. There is, in short, widespread indifference to the persecution of a decent, truly moderate Muslim by the Islamist fascists who threaten all of us. When push comes to shove, therefore, all the pious talk about supporting Muslim reformers in their heroic stand against Islamic extremists is the purest cant and humbug. For western governments, Choudhury is too marginal, too inconvenient. For so-called western ‘multicultural’ liberals, he can’t be a cause to champion because he does not fit the stereotype — he actually supports Israel and Zionism, for heaven’s sake, and thus puts such ‘anti-racists’ to shame by exposing their own indefensible prejudice against Jewish self-determination.

Above all, how can they condemn Bangladesh and hold it to account? Only western countries can be guilty of terrible deeds, after all; the third world is by definition the blameless victim of western imperialism (sic). So there will be no marches on Bangladesh High Commissions, no boycott calls from humbugging academics, no impassioned leading articles or op-eds in the posh papers in solidarity with one of their own profession who is being persecuted for telling the truth.

Shameful — and short-sighted. For the fate of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is our own."

More on Shoaib Choudhury:
"Pro-Israeli editor beaten in Bangladesh" (Michael Freund, The Jerusalem Post, 2006/10/18)
"Darkness in Dhaka" (Bret Stephens, OpinionJournal, 2006/10/15)
"Nightmare in Dhaka" (Shoaib Choudhury, The Jerusalem Post, 2005/05/19)
"The Muslim media's culture of death" (Shoaib Choudhury, The Jerusalem Post, 2005/04/12)
"An ambassador's lies" (Richard L. Benkin, The Jerusalem Post, 2005/04/12)

"Vicar Sets Himself Alight to Protest Islamization of Europe" (Paul Belien, The Brussels Journal, 2006/11/02)
"On Tuesday a Lutheran vicar set himself alight in the German town of Erfurt. The 73 year old Roland Weisselberg poured gasoline over himself and set fire to himself in the Erfurt monastery, where Martin Luther took his monastic vows in 1505. Bystanders rushed to extinguish the flames. The man later died of his injuries.

In a farewell letter to his wife the vicar wrote that he was setting himself on fire to warn against the danger of the Islamization of Europe. During the past four years the vicar had frequently expressed his concern about the expansion of Islam, urging the Lutheran Church to take this issue seriously. As the fire started the vicar cried: “Jesus and Oskar!” Oskar Brüsewitz was a 47-year old German vicar who died after setting himself on fire 30 years ago, on 18 August 1976, in the market square of the German town of Zeitz in protest against the Communist regime in East Germany. Both Erfurt and Zeitz are situated in the former East German province of Saxony."

"Moroccan wins Iran's Holocaust cartoon" (Reuters/The Age, 2006/11/02)
"A Moroccan won first prize today in Iran's International Holocaust Cartoons Contest, which had sparked outrage in Israel, the West and among Jewish groups.

Iran's best-selling newspaper, Hamshahri, launched a competition in February to find the best cartoon about the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were killed by the Nazis.

The contest was a retaliation for last year's publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad in Danish and other European newspapers that angered Muslims worldwide.

Presenting a prize to a representative of Moroccan cartoonist Abdellah Derkaoui, Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Mohammad Hossein Saffar-Harandi praised Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who has described the Holocaust as a "myth".

"Our president was the brave and freedom-seeking person who started this debate without being concerned about its consequences," Saffar-Harandi said.

Derkaoui's cartoon shows a crane with a Star of David sign, putting up blocks making a wall separating the Muslim shrine, the Dome of the Rock, from Jerusalem. The wall has a gate, shown in the distance, that looks like one at the Auschwitz concentration camp, where Jews were incarcerated and killed."

"Paris airport bars Muslim staff" (Clive Myrie, BBC News, 2006/11/02)
France II: "More than 70 Muslim workers at France's main airport have been stripped of their security clearance for allegedly posing a risk to passengers.

The staff at Charles de Gaulle airport, including baggage handlers, are said to have visited terrorist training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

One man is thought to have been a friend of Richard Reid, the so-called British shoe bomber.

Richard Reid tried to blow up a flight from Paris to the US in 2001. ...

Airport officials say some of the workers had frequently visited Pakistan and Afghanistan the previous year.

It is also believed another worker had been close to a senior figure in an Algerian terrorist group with links to al-Qaeda.

But some of the men who have lost their security clearance are suing airport authorities.

They claim they are being discriminated against because of their religion." (See also: "Muslim airport workers lose clearances" (Jamey Keaten, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/10/20))

"Youths challenge the French state" (David Rennie, The Daily Telegraph, 2006/11/02)
France I: "Symbols of the French state, including policemen, firemen and postmen, are under intensified attack from disaffected youths as the country faces the worst race relations crisis in its history.

Hardly a night passes without gangs — many of them from immigrant families — attacking police cars, buses and emergency rescue teams.

Yesterday, the weekly magazine Le Nouvel Observateur published a confidential report drawn up by a public service trade union, the CGT, containing scores of eye-witness accounts of brutal attacks on public servants who work in the worst suburbs, or "banlieues", from gas board workers to staff from the electricity company.

Its publication follows the revelation that attacks on police have soared this year, with some 14 a day, and a growing number of incidents in which officers have been lured into ambushes.

This has prompted a warning that the day France witnesses the lynching of a policeman is not far off.

The CGT report painted a graphic picture of violence: blocks of cement dropped on paramedic crews; washing machines pushed off balconies on to fire engines; electricity company agents too scared to cut off customers who have not paid bills, after being attacked with knives, guns and fists." (See also: "Muslims are waging civil war against us, claims police union" (David Rennie, The Daily Telegraph, 2006/10/05))

Added today:
"Cleric: Criticizing Islam threatens peace" (Selcan Hacaoglu, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/11/01)
"France 2 TV crew attacked with iron bars" (Reporters sans frontières, 2006/11/01)
"Turkey: Converts charged under speech law" (Compass Direct, 2006/10/31)
"French TV crew attacked in Paris suburb" (Reuters, 2006/10/31)
"Mass sexual assault in downtown Cairo" (Forsoothsayer, 2006/10/29)
"The future belongs to Islam" (Mark Steyn, Macleans.ca, 2006/10/20)

Wednesday, November 1, 2006

News and commentary:

"Cleric: Criticizing Islam threatens peace" (Selcan Hacaoglu, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/11/01)
Via Robert Spencer: "Step back for a moment and substitute any other word for "Islam" in that lead paragraph. "A leading cleric called criticism of Christianity a serious threat to world peace." "A leading Chinese official called criticism of China a serious threat to world peace." Would anyone see such statements as anything but expressions of thuggery -- which is what this one is?":
"ANKARA, Turkey - A leading Turkish cleric called criticism of Islam a serious threat to world peace, speaking Wednesday as Turkey prepared for a controversial visit by Pope Benedict XVI later in the month. ...

Ali Bardakoglu, head of the country's religious affairs, said "it was saddening" to see Islam being criticized while the religion's contribution to civilization is ignored.

"This attitude, which fuels division and lack of mutual trust, is seriously threatening world peace," Bardakoglu told a conference in Istanbul attended by several African Muslim leaders."

"France 2 TV crew attacked with iron bars" (Reporters sans frontières, 2006/11/01)
"Reporters Without Borders has condemned a brutal attack on a France 2 TV crew in Clichy-sous-Bois in the eastern suburbs of Paris while interviewing family members of a teenager who had suffered an eye injury at the hands of police three days earlier on 28 October. ...

Deploring the violence, France 2 editor Roger Motte told Reporters Without Borders that it was unfortunately becoming more and more common. The cameraman in this crew had already been assaulted nearly a month ago. “We are discussing between ourselves what steps we can take to afford better protection to our reporting teams,” he added.

Agence France-Presse reported that one of its photographers was physically attacked in the same town on 27 October while he was taking shots of burning cars. His assailants ran off after snatching his camera." (See also: "French TV crew attacked in Paris suburb" (Reuters, 2006/10/31))

"End of free speech?" (Pieter Dorsman, Peaktalk, 2006/11/01)
This week Peaktalk "focuses entirely on Theo van Gogh, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and free speech." Meanwhile, the latest from Sweden is that Kent Ekeroth, a trainee on the Swedish embassy in Tel Aviv, has been forced to leave his job immediately because he is an active member of the anti-immigrant Sverigedemokraterna and "openly presents his views on the Internet." [both links in Swedish]:
"Two years after Theo's death it seems nothing has changed, in fact, things are getting progressively worse in Europe. The latest from Germany:

A Turkish-born lawmaker who urged Muslim women in Germany to take off their head scarves has received death threats and is now under police protection, a spokesman for her party said Tuesday.

Two weeks ago, Ekin Deligoz, a member of Germany’s opposition Green Party, said “the head scarf is a symbol of women’s oppression.”

And then there is this nugget from Britain, which would probably do well in the jawdropping moment of the week contest (where John Kerry outdid everyone else):

A reader from Worthing, West Sussex, recently attempted to buy a copy of Ian Buruma's Murder In Amsterdam: The Death of Theo Van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance in her local bookshop. 'I'm sorry,' said the sales assistant, 'but the book has been banned.'

Atlantic Books, who publish Mr Buruma, assure us that the book is not only freely available but also selling well. It turns out a wholesaler misinformed the bookshop. However, the assistant must take responsibility for the following - startling - suggestion: 'Why not try Mein Kampf instead?'

What?" (See also: "Lawmaker threatened for head scarf comments" (AP/MSNBC, 2006/10/31) and "Literary life" (Mark Sanderson, The Daily Telegraph, 2006/10/31))

"Men 'provoked' into sex assaults: imam" (Amanda O'Brien, The Australian, 2006/11/01)
"THE most senior Muslim cleric in Western Australia has called on women not to leave their homes unaccompanied and insists sexual assaults happen only because "the man is provoked".

The comments, which follow those of Taj Din al-Hilali comparing women to uncovered meat, were condemned by Premier AlanCarpenter as "totally unacceptable".

Imam Abdul Jalil Ahmad yesterday said women would be safer if they dressed appropriately and did not go out alone.

The imam rejected the idea that women were to blame for rapes, as suggested by Sheik Hilali last week, but urged women to protect themselves as he said assaults happened when men were provoked.

"Crime is always the fault of the criminal, but sometimes we have to take also preventative measures, like you would secure your home," he said.

"Especially when they are alone, there's a problem. That's why the ideal is to have company with them all the time.

"They should try to take precautions, to wear (clothes) decently, not necessarily to cover from top to toe.

'In democratic countries they are free to dress as they like but you see the assault only happens because the man is provoked sexually or something like that.'" (Hat tip: Western Resistance.)

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

News and commentary:

"Turkey: Converts charged under speech law" (Compass Direct, 2006/10/31)
"A Turkish prosecutor slapped criminal charges against two converts to Christianity earlier this month, accusing them of “insulting Turkishness,” inciting hatred against Islam and secretly compiling data on private citizens for a local Bible correspondence course.

Hakan Tastan, 37, and Turan Topal, 46, joined the ranks of 97 other Turkish citizens hauled into court in the last 16 months over alleged violations of the country’s controversial Article 301 restricting freedom of speech.

Haydar Polat, attorney for the two Christians, said a state prosecutor in the Silivri Criminal Court filed a formal indictment against his clients on October 12. If convicted, the accused men could be sentenced from six months up to three years in prison." (Hat tip: Dhimmi Watch.)

"French TV crew attacked in Paris suburb" (Reuters, 2006/10/31)
"PARIS (Reuters) - Hooded youths attacked a crew working for French state television on Tuesday in a violence-prone suburb near Paris, injuring a cameraman, police and France 2 television said.

The youths attacked the six-strong team with iron bars as they tried to film in the Clichy-Sous-Bois neighbourhood early in the afternoon. The cameraman suffered a blow to the head and needed hospital treatment.

Clichy-Sous-Bois was the centre of riots that rocked France's poor, ethnically-mixed suburbs one year ago. Violence has flared regularly in the run up to the anniversary but police say most neighbourhoods have remained relatively calm."

"Did imam's sermon incite Van Gogh murder?" (Barry Thorne and Claire Cavanagh, Radio Netherlands, 2006/10/31)
"Mohammed Bouyeri, the man who murdered Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh almost exactly two years ago is serving a life prison sentence, but now questions are being asked about whether the sermon of a Muslim cleric played a role in the crime.

During the ongoing trial of another Dutch terrorism suspect, Samir Azzouz, it's emerged that Imam Fawaz of the as-Sunnah mosque in The Hague gave a sermon condemning Theo van Gogh just a few weeks before his murder. A recording of the sermon exists and in it the imam is heard uttering a curse against the Dutch director for his film Submission, which is critical of Islam. The film had been shown on television shortly before the sermon.

Criminal bastard
In the recording of the sermon, Imam Fawaz calls Theo van Gogh a 'criminal bastard' and beseeches Allah to visit an incurable disease upon the filmmaker. He also condemns former Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali who was involved in writing the script for Submission. The imam asks Allah to make Ms Hirsi Ali go blind and give her cancer of the tongue and brain." (Hat tip: Jihad Watch.)

"Livingstone backs terrorist's Tube job" (The Daily Mail, 2006/10/31)
Ken Livingstone today defended the right of Abu Hamza's son to work for a Tube contractor - despite his conviction for terrorism in Yemen.

Mohammed Kamel Mostafa, 25, from Wembley, was given a security pass and had access to restricted areas - including tunnels under Parliament - during his time as a labourer at nights and weekends on the Underground.

But the Mayor said he doubted the veracity of any conviction from Yemen and said Mostafa had passed Tube security checks.

He said it was wrong to restrict his ability to work simply because he was the son of Abu Hamza. Mr Livingstone said: 'Has he broken any laws here in Britain? The answer is no. We are happy to have him working for us.'"

"Taliban group threatens Pakistan forces" (Habibullah Khan and Sadaqatjan, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/10/31)
"KHAR, Pakistan - Thousands of pro-Taliban tribesmen threatened to send suicide bombers to attack Pakistani forces and execute people found spying for the Americans in a fiery protest Tuesday denouncing the Pakistani air raid the killed 80 people a day earlier.

The rally in Khar, the main town in the tribal Bajur district and close to the village where Monday's missile attack on a religious school took place, drew 20,000 protesters and was the largest of several demonstrations to denounce the raid held across Pakistan. ...

Inayatur Rahman, a local pro-Taliban elder, said he had prepared a "squad of suicide bombers" to target Pakistani security forces in the same way that militants are attacking Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"We will carry out these suicide attacks soon," he said, asking the crowd if they approved the idea. The angry mob yelled back in unison, "Yes!"

The crowd railed against Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and President Bush. They chanted: "God is Great!" "Death to Bush! Death to Musharraf!" and "Anyone who is a friend of America is a traitor!"

The rally also adopted a verbal resolution to stone to death anyone found spying for the Pakistan army or U.S. government." (See also: "Pakistan strikes at al Qaeda-linked compound" (Anwarullah Khan, Reuters/Yahoo! News, 2006/10/30))

"Muslim Rape? They Were Asking for It" (Robert Spencer, FrontPageMagazine, 2006/10/31)
Spencer on Taj al-Din al-Hilali's "uncovered meat" sermon:
"It was also somewhat surprising that Al-Hilali’s remarks generated any uproar at all. After all, the idea that a woman is responsible if she is raped did not originate with him, and this was not the first time it has been enunciated in the West. One notorious example occurred in September 2004 in Denmark, when the mufti Shahid Mehdi of the Islamic Cultural Center in Copenhagen said on the Danish television program Talk to Gode that women who venture outside without a hijab are “asking for rape.” ...

Even more significantly, Ahmed conceded that “what Hilali says is consistent with a strict, conservative interpretation of Islam. ... This is a man who knows the Koran in intimate detail and his views are consistent with a strict reading of the Muslim holy book.” ...

What’s more, in traditional Islamic law rape cannot be established except by the testimony of four male witnesses who saw the act, as stipulated by Qur’an 24:4 and 24:13. Consequently, it is even today virtually impossible to prove rape in lands that follow the dictates of the Sharia. Unscrupulous men can commit rape with impunity: as long as they deny the charge and there are no witnesses, they get off scot-free, because the victim’s account is inadmissible. Even worse, if a woman accuses a man of rape, she may end up incriminating herself. If the required male witnesses can’t be found, the victim’s charge of rape becomes an admission of adultery. That accounts for the grim fact that as many as seventy-five percent of the women in prison in Pakistan are, in fact, behind bars for the crime of being a victim of rape." (See also: "Political uproar after mufti's remarks" (The Copenhagen Post, 2004/09/24))

See also:
"Cleric linked to terror groups" (Jim Dickens and Glenn Milne, The Sunday Telegraph, 2006/10/29)
"Briton backs imam in 'uncovered meat' row" (Bernard Lagan, The Times, 2006/10/28)
"Metaphor hides mufti's real message" (Caroline Overington, The Australian, 2006/10/28)
"Relaxed sheik gets rock star treatment" (John Stapleton, The Australian, 2006/10/28)
"Hilali blasts the US" (The Australian, 2006/10/27)
"I won't quit, says sheik" (Alan Mascarenhas, The Sydney Morning Herald, 2006/10/27)
"Read Sheik Hilaly's comments" (SBS, 2006/10/26)
"Mufti rules: No hijab invites rape" (Andrew Bolt, The Herald Sun, 2006/10/26)
"Mufti threatened with ban from mosque" (Dan Box, The Australian, 2006/10/26)
"Muslim leader blames women for sex attacks" (Richard Kerbaj, The Australian, 2006/10/26)

Monday, October 30, 2006

News and commentary:

"Mystery of Israel's secret uranium bomb"
(The Independent, 2006/10/28)

"Indie's Uranium Charges" (HonestReporting, 2006/10/30)
"Over the years, Israel has been accused of many diabolical acts and condemned before the full evidence is presented. The Jenin "massacre" and Gaza Beach libels are but two examples. Now, the Independent of 28 October has run a front page exclusive by Robert Fisk alleging Israeli use of a "secret uranium bomb" in Lebanon during the recent war.

The charge is based on two soil samples showing "elevated radiation signatures". We are not experts in this field and perhaps those investigating will eventually find something to stain Israel's image. But unlike Fisk who rushes to judgement, even the Middle East director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has stated: "If uranium was in fact used we will find this out and make an announcement. We cannot confirm anything at this stage, and we will wait for the results." ...

In this case, the accusatory finger - the Independent - has consistently demonised Israel on its front pages, as previously noted by HonestReporting UK. Robert Fisk has a long history of anti-Israel invective, blaming Israel for all of the Palestinians' ills and the West for Muslim disguntlement. [sic] "

"Pakistan strikes at al Qaeda-linked compound" (Anwarullah Khan, Reuters/Yahoo! News, 2006/10/30)
"KHAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan Army helicopters destroyed an al Qaeda-linked compound housing 70 to 80 militants in a dawn attack near the border with
Afghanistan on Monday, Pakistan's military spokesman said.

"It was a madrasa (Islamic school) compound but was used for terrorist activities and not as a madrasa," spokesman Shaukat Sultan said.

Sultan said no prominent militant was believed to be in the compound in Chenagai village, 10 km (six miles) north of Khar, the main town in the Bajaur tribal region, when it was attacked.

"The compound has been destroyed," he said.

He said the madrasa belonged to local Taliban commander Maulana Liaqatullah, a militant cleric wanted by the authorities for providing sanctuary to al Qaeda militants and for 'terrorist activities.'"

"Diversity's Oppressions" (Thomas Sowell, OpinionJournal, 2006/10/30)
"What is it that has made Iraq so hard to pacify, even after a swift and decisive military victory? In one word: diversity.

That word has become a sacred mantra, endlessly repeated for years on end, without a speck of evidence being asked for or given to verify the wonderful benefits it is assumed to produce.

Worse yet, Iraq is only the latest in a long series of catastrophes growing out of diversity. These include "ethnic cleansing" in the Balkans, genocide in Rwanda and the Sudan, the million lives destroyed in intercommunal violence when India became independent in 1947 and the even larger number of Armenians slaughtered by Turks during World War I.

Despite much gushing about how we should "celebrate diversity," America's great achievement has not been in having diversity but in taming its dangers that have run amok in many other countries. Americans have by no means escaped diversity's oppressions and violence, but we have reined them in."

Added today:
"14 Year Old Assyrian Boy Decapitated By Muslim Group" (AINA, 2006/10/29)

 

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

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› Ajami, Fouad - Johnson, Paul
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