About al-Asadi
* * * * * * * * * *

Read Again ...
Democracy before Religion
The Strategy of Our War
I've Had It!
Join Humanity Instead
Lessons Learned
Cultural Clash
Master Plan
The Islamic Pipeline

Know more ..?
US CENTRAL COMMAND
Yemen Observer
Asharq Alawsat
Islam Online
Arab News
Reporters Without Borders
Iran News
Security Watchower
List of Islamic terror attacks
The Counterterrorism Blog

Blogs outstanding ..
al Bab: Arab Blogs
Wolfgang Bruno
Brussels Journal
Agora
Freedomszone
Freedom for Egyptians
Michelle Malkin
Dhimmi Watch
Or Does It Explode ...
JihadWatch

Global Voices Online - The world is talking. Are you listening?

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Sunday Morning: Read on

The Media and Islam

Diana West has a very illustrative story in Washington Times. Click headline.
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Offended Quisling Dhimmi Quote of the day

From Supreme Court's official home page:

"Muhammad (c. 570 - 632) The Prophet of Islam. He is depicted holding the Qur’an. The Qur’an provides the primary source of Islamic Law. Prophet Muhammad’s teachings explain and implement Qur’anic principles.

The figure above is a well-intentioned attempt by the sculptor, Adolph Weinman, to honor Muhammad and it bears no resemblance to Muhammad.

Muslims generally have a strong aversion to sculptured or pictured representations of their Prophet"

How the H*** does he know?
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EU-Ministers “considering” Arab demands

Photo is not from the EU Foreign Ministers Meeting. Foreign Ministers are not normally armed.

AGORA translated this from JyllandsPosten / ritzau today:

Jyllands-Posten, March 10, 2006

EU-Ministers considering Arab demands

It may no longer be enough to just combat discrimination, a presentation document at meeting of EU-ministers says.

As a pendant to the Muhammed-affair, the Foreign Ministers of the EU are considering complying with Arab demands to “fight defamation of religion.”

So far the EU has voted against these kinds of proposals at meetings of the UN General Assembly, but they are now considering reversing that. So a written presentation document aiming at bettering the relations between Europe and the Islamic countries.

- It raises the question of whether, considering recent events, we should reconsider the EU’s approach to these matters at the UN General Assembly, the document says.

Go to AGORA, click headline, for all of it and more plus comments and debate
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THE PSYCHOPATHS OF FAITH AND THEIR APPEASERS

Great comment by Wole Soyinka demanding that a fatwa be issued against the madmen of Islam

From NPQ, New Perspectives Quarterly, March 7, 2006
By Wole Soyinka, the Nigerian playwright, Nobel Prize winner Literature 1986

LAGOS, — Who is actually guilty of bringing disrepute to the religion of Islam? The individuals and mobs who invoke the name of their prophet in the commission of crimes that revolt our very humanity? Or the cynic who responds in the only way he knows how, but within the laws of his nation?

Click headline to continue.
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Papers silent on al Asadi's trial in Yemen

Neither Islam Online, Arab News, Asharq Alawsat, nor Khaleej Times so far mentioned the trial of their colleauge in Yemen, al-Asadi.

If you know of any Muslim world paper that has mentioned the trial - apart from Yemen Observer - please add a comment with a link.

Please continue to mail them and to monitor the complete lack of solidarity and the misleading of the public they serve.
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Friday, March 10, 2006

Time for Tea, Time for a Khartoon

Click Continue .. for a long story on Khartoum, Holger Danske Cartoon Awards, Hans Christan Andersen, Arab narcissism - and finally a cartoon

By Poul Højlund, March 10, 2006:


In grave times cartoons do well. Almost anywhere.

Why spell cartoon Khartoon? Well, in the past month or so, the Khartoon Battle has become the designation of what elsewhere is called Cartoon Jihad or just the Cartoon War.

I was checking some facts - oh, I will get back to the cartoon, promise – because what I remember about the Battle of Khartoum is mainly from memoirs and biographies on Churchill, - and as Churchill never trusted statistics he had not personally falsified, well, you know…

So: The Battle of Khatoum took place during the Egypt Campaign and became famous for what in the classic English world is known as General Gordons Last Stand, Khartoum 26th January 1885. The Sudanese were led by Muhammad Ahmad. The Sudanese captured British-occupied Khartoum.

Get it: The Battle of Khartoum was one that the British lost.

It’s funny, Khartoon Battle, it hangs to your lips – but it better be a wrong designation. We’re not going to lose this one, we cannot afford it. There is no coming back as the British did at Khartoom - that’s where Churchill enters the stage, - there’s no second chance on this one.

And then back to the cartoon: I received a mail from someone signing with a pen name, let’s call him Charles, who works on setting up a cartoon contest, a poem contest and more here.

You compete in different groups. The cartoon contest is called “The Holger Danske Cartoon Awards”, and if you never heard of Holger Danske, he is an old symbol of Denmark, way back in time.

Holger Danske sits in his chair in the casemates beneath Hamlet's Castle of Kronborg, part of the World Heritage, sleeping in gypsum, and he only wakes up in times of mortal danger to the old kingdom. During WWII, one of the most famous resistance groups took the name Holger Danske.


Hans Christian Andersen, yes him, has the whole story here, you know him by the very first words: In Denmark there stands an old castle named Kronenburg, close by the Sound of Elsinore, where large ships, both English, Russian, and Prussian, pass by hundreds every day. And they salute the old castle with cannons, “Boom, boom,” which is as if they said, “Good-day.” And the cannons of the old castle answer “Boom,” which means “Many thanks.” In winter no ships sail by, for the whole Sound is covered with ice as far as the Swedish coast, and has quite the appearance of a high-road. The Danish and the Swedish flags wave, and Danes and Swedes say, “Good-day,” and “Thank you” to each other, not with cannons, but with a friendly shake of the hand; and they exchange white bread and biscuits with each other, because foreign articles taste the best.



Now, the Holger Danske contest is split in three categories: (a) Ligthearted, to be run in Readers Digest, (b) “Clintonian Category on the other hand, should be sardonic, sarcastic, or satirical, and related to the political appeasement and Dhimm-witted idiocy that has bloomed since the cartoon war began” and (c) – well, taste differs, but - ”Satanic Category would be like those of Dante, who placed Mohammed squarely in hell, with his entrails hanging out. These are the kind that celebrate the freedom of the press and belief, and are not concerned with "offending" people who can't take a joke or defend their beliefs with persuasion”

Go check it; maybe it’s just it for some of you. Actually, quite funny entries so far.

I went for the Readers Digest cartoon, - coming up soon - and it came to mind that I read an article by an Arab psychologist recently, diagnosing the Arab problem as that of a case of severe narcissism. Can’t remember where, though, maybe someone can help?

Well, finally, last but not least, the cartoon, hope you can read the text, else go the contest version here, scroll down





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Mail the President of Yemen

To help Yemen Observer's Editor-in-Chief al Alsadi:

Click the headline, this will take you to a letter form for his Excellency, President of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

He has a most interesting site, and to my knowledge, he's trying hard to modernise his country and to install a free press as the means of true progress.


I tried to be 'short, sweet and to the point' as an Indian once put it, - if you want to read my letter, click continue.

Your Excellency,

You should know that the trial of Editor-in-Chief al-Alsadi is monitored with the greatest concern in many countries.

Personally I find it hard to belive that your legal system allows Shaykh Abd-al-Majid AL-ZINDANI to appear in court as a prosecutor, as he is on the US list as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.

I know that Your Excellency is striving to protect free speech in Yemen. Please, let not al-Asadi fall victim to the past.

What Yemen needs the most seems to me to be progress, prosperity, education, equal rights and as the founding stone of it all: free speech and a free press.

I know your Excellency works hard to achieve these goals; I wish you all good luck.

Yours sincerely
Poul Højlund, Denmark

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Boycot spreading to France

From Danish blog Uriasposten via Steen

"Our commitments have truly taken root in France, the key country behind the rise of the Carrefour group; eager to see progress shared, these same commitments are being put into action in other countries, in a manner that always respects local economic, cultural, social and environmental conditions."

From Carrefour's Ethical statement

I get sick!
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Verbal Sidearm: ISLAMOPHOBIA

By Katrine Winkel Holm, Cand.Theol, in Danish daily Politiken Thursday

"ISLAMOPHOBIA. A new, often used word. An effective verbal sidearm: That’s Islamophobia, they say, and the attacker is checkmate, for a while at least. Maybe it’s time to turn that weapon against those who use it. That is what this article intends to do.But first: What does it really mean? Literally, it simply means fear of Islam. In my opinion there may be good reasons for such a fear. Just ask Salman Rushdie[1] or Ayaan Hirsi Ali."

Continue at AGORA, click headline.
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American Daughther Expressing Freedom

"My great-great-great grandfather took his gun off the peg on the wall, kissed his wife and children good-bye, and went to fight in the American Revolution. He knew that he might be killed. His family had no assurance that they would ever see him again. But he was willing to die, and his wife was willing to struggle on alone and raise the children, so that they could secure freedoms for the coming generations. "

UPDATE: I made some mistakes here, so I've corrected the links. It seems that I didn't know American Daughter neither. Anyhow, I hope I've got it right this time.

If you don't know Jane from American Daughter go read her profile. Great story, great words:

But wrong links, I received a kind mail explaining:

American Daughter http://www.americandaughter.com
Expressing Freedom http://www.americandaughter.com/arch_20050603freedom.html

"Expressing Freedom" is actually not a profile, but part of our series on Iran written in response to death threats I [Nancy] received for publishing the material smuggled out of Iran by freedom advocates.

The rest stands and the words speak:

"I cherish freedom of expression with all my heart. I WILL write. "
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Categorical demands and threats on conference in Copenhagen

Updated with this extraordinary and beautiful portrait by Esben Nielsen. In JyllandsPosten today.

Mr. Tareq al-Suweidan, Islamic scholar, Kuwait today spoke at the conference for Religious and Cultural Dialogue in Copenhagen to day. Mr. al-Suweidan used his part of the dialogue to demand an formal and unconditional excuse from the Danish government, to demand that the Danish people get rit of their government, and continued with demanding that free speech and the freedom of press not only in Denmark, but throughout Europe and the rest of the world be restricted in order to ban any criticism or defamation of Islam, according to Danmarks Radio's news.

After all, maybe our foreign minister, Per Stig Møller, who initiated the conference is more shrewd than I first thought.
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Al-Qaeda the prosecutor in Yemen trial

FROM THE US OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, February 24, 2004

"The Treasury Department today announced that Shaykh Abd-al-Majid AL-ZINDANI, a loyalist to Usama bin Laden and supporter of al-Qaeda, has been designated by the United States as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under the authority of Executive Order 13224 and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. His name will be submitted to the UN Security Council’s 1267 Committee’s consolidated list because of his support to bin Laden and al-Qaeda".

Yemen Observer Editor in Cheif Al-Asadi is facing death penalty in Yemen. The prosecutors in the case are lead by Al-Zindani, who is on the international list of terrorists closely linked to al Qaeda and bin Laden.

From American Daughter's blog:

"Abdul-Mahid al-Zindani is the leader of the Islamist political party and a member of the current government, the Chairman of Islah Shura Council (judiciary). He has imprisoned Mohammed Al-Asadi, the editor of the leading Yemeni English-language newspaper. The print operations of the Yemen Observer have also been suspended. (The talented journalists associated with the newspaper have so far managed to keep their website edition online.) And al-Zindani has commissioned a team of 21 lawyers to prosecute the case and seek the death penalty for the editor.

Al-Zindani is a leading radical Islamic cleric in Yemen. He is the founder and leader of the Al Iman University in Sanaa, Yemen, whose 5,000 strong student body is recognized as a breeding ground for terrorists. He is a known associate of Osama bin Laden, linked to financing and weapons procurement for al Qaeda."
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Offended Quisling Quote of the day


"I have read a number of commentators say that they would "defend to the death" the right of some crappy little Danish paper to print their nasty little cartoons.

But if I am going to die for a cause, then it is going to be a better one than the right of some Scandy cartoonist to print offensive rubbish. "

Tony Parsons of whom I know very little and have less desire to know more, really hits the nail in his defense for freedom of speech. Do not hit Continue.. - there is no more.
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Amr Khaled in Denmark to day


Amr Khaled is in Denmark to day. Our foreign minister invited him in the name of co-existence and dialogue.

The meeting is closed to the public. Only Amr Khaled and two Muslim scholars, two Danish ‘experts’ and 50 young Muslims and non-Muslims from Denmark are allowed in.

So her we have a meeting in the name of co-existence and dialogue, exclusive to all others but a few. Paid for by the public, but closed. Advocating the prophet, at least according to Amr Khaled, but secret.


Wow! Hopefully our foreign minister knows what he's doing. I don’t.

I had two questions to ask Amr: Is religion above democracy and human rights, or is it the other way round? And if the other way round: was Muhammed taking wrong notes?


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Mail Arab papers and Yemeni persons to help Mohammed al-Asadi

To help create attention and to put maximum pressure on Yemen, you may want to mail as follows:

Islam Online: iolenglishnews@iolteam.com
Arab News: almaeena@arabnews.com , Editor in Chief Mr. Khaled Al-Maeena
Asharq Alawsat: webmaster@asharq-e.com

I’ve mailed these three Arab papers, asking them at least to mention the case and far better to support their colleague. I’ve mentioned that it might be a way to ease the tensions between the Muslim World and the rest of the world. You may know more papers to mail, keep us informed.

American Daughter has a lot of background, names and addresses, read... The Shame Of Yemen
There's a lot more, click continue .. At least check them to watch if they at all mention the case. You’ll find links at PIA CAUSA right column. Protest if they don’t mention the case now.

You may also want to try these people at Yemen Political Development Forum, ‘an independent, non-profit, non-governmental institution for intellectual and cultural activities’. Both may be reached at support@pdf-yemen.com

Mr. Ali Saif Hassan (Executive Director)
“An independent political and human rights activist, Ali Saif Hassan renounced his membership in the Unionist Nasserite Party, where he had held a number of prominent positions, the last of which was the Assistant Secretary General of the Party. Previously, he had worked as an executive manager for a number of companies in private and public sectors. He has an M.A. in Business Management from the United States.”

Professor Mohammed Abdul Malik Al-Motawakel (Advisor)
“One of the most outstanding political and human rights activists in Yemen and Arab World, Professor Al-Motawakel is currently the General Coordinator of the Islamic and Pan Arab Conference, Assistant Secretary General of the Federation of the Popular Forces party in Yemen, and a professor of Political Science at San`a’ University. He has an M.A. in Communication Studies from the United States and a Ph.D. in Communication/Information from Egypt.”

YEMEN FACTS

To give you an impression of Yemen, check the CIA World Fact Book

Amnesty has a large number of reports on Yemen here

I found this abstract in English from a recent Danish thesis on Yemen Press Freedom by Lene Wind-Friis, University of Roskilde (RUC), January 2006:

“Since 1990 there has been an independent press in Yemen. Press freedom as a concept is still very young, and is therefore still debated. This thesis investigates how significant actors motivated by different ideals try to have an impact on press freedom in Yemen. It is also analyzed how specific concerns for the press in the Arab world influences these efforts.

Theoretically the thesis takes advantage of sociological new-institutionalism. The media in Yemen is approached as an institution on three levels, which offers the possibility to separate different impacts on press freedom. Impacts that can be legislative, normative or a result of an unconscious perception on how things are done, and how press freedom ought to be realized in Yemeni society.

The significant actors are the Yemeni government, a Danish media development programme, the Yemeni Journalist Syndicate, female journalists, journalists who are testing the boundaries and journalists from non-independent media.

Qualitative interviews conducted between 14th of May and 14th of June 2005 show that the most important difference between the actors concerning their ideal of press freedom, is centered around the liberal ideal of the journalist as a watchdog for democracy.

The critical, revealing journalism that is part of this ideal, is colliding with the Arab norms regarding that you should not – and mostly you are not allowed to – expose individuals or social or religious groups of society in the media. Some call it “press freedom with respect”, which means that you make sure, the journalistic product does not collide with these norms.

But the ideal of press freedom is not only normative. It is also a result of a restrictive legislation that limits the development of democracy.

Most journalists in Yemen wish for more freedom on a legislative level. But the norms and the
culture telling them what is acceptable or not, will still affect their journalism, even if legislation was to be eased.

In conclusion, the thesis shows the need for a path in between the watchdog and the respectful press freedom. It shows the need of further elaboration of the ideal of the journalist as a watchdog accommodated to the norms and culture of the Arab world – an Arabic watchdog.”
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Thursday, March 09, 2006

Demands for Capital Penalty for Al-Asadi


From YEMEN OBSERVER: Breaking NEWS

Lawyers Demand Capital Penalty for Al-Asadi and Observer Close
SANA’A – Up to 21 prosecution lawyers called for the death penalty against Mohammed Al-Asadi, the Editor-in-Chief of the Yemen Observer, and the permanent closure of the newspaper, during Al-Asadi’s trial on Wednesday. The lawyers, commissioned by Sheik Abdul-Majid Zindani, the Chairman of Islah Shura Council and led by Mohammed Al-Shawish, also called for the confiscation of all the newspaper’s property and assets, and for financial compensation to be paid to be the Muslim’s ‘Finance House’, which last existed during the time of the Caliphs, 1200 years ago. They recounted a story in which a lady was killed during the Prophet’s lifetime after she insulted him, and that the Prophet then praised the killer.

CALL ALL PAPERS AND POLITICIANS TO GO AGAINST THIS DEFAMATION OF MANKIND
Read the interview with Al-Asadi further down this blog.
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Rewriting history: Muslims ask French to cancel 1741 play by Voltaire

By Andrew Higgins, The Wall Street Journal

"A municipal cultural center here on France's border with Switzerland organized a reading of a 265-year-old play by Voltaire, whose writings helped lay the foundations of modern Europe's commitment to secularism. The play, "Fanaticism, or Mahomet the Prophet," uses the founder of Islam to lampoon all forms of religious frenzy and intolerance.

The production quickly stirred up passions that echoed the cartoon uproar. "This play ... constitutes an insult to the entire Muslim community," said a letter to the mayor of Saint-Genis-Pouilly, signed by Said Akhrouf, a French-born cafe owner of Moroccan descent and three other Islamic activists representing Muslim associations. They demanded the performance be cancelled."

Offendeds sans frontieres!
Through Dhimmi Watch to Post Gazette and Waal Street Journal, click headline to get the amazing story
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UK Home Secretary lies on Danish prime in public meeting

By Hélène Mulholland, the Guardian, Wednesday March 8, 2006

"The British government has accused its Danish counterparts of making "a serious mistake" in the way it handled relations with Muslim countries after the publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad.

The home secretary, Charles Clarke, criticised the decision by the Danish prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, to snub a request from 11 Muslim countries for a meeting after the cartoons were published in the Jyllands Posten newspaper in September.

Mr Clarke told a public meeting in Willesden Green - primarily held to discuss law and order issues - that Mr Rasmussen had not even responded to the request."

Mr. Rasmussen did indeed respond to the inacceptable letter from the Ambassadors demanding him to interfere in the constituional rights of the Danish media. Now we're really offended, Mr. Clark, and you know where that leads ....

Continue the Guardian article, click headline. Tip: Dimmiwatch
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Offended Quote of the day

"As a people who have devoted ourselves to the Islamic faith and its values for nearly a millennium, we are deeply offended by the notion that terrorism is linked to Islam or Muslims.

On the contrary, Islam advocates peace, compassion, tolerance and peaceful coexistence. The portrayal of Islam as an enemy of civilization or of the free world is an insult to its noble principles. Such perversions are nothing but propaganda, hatched by evil people who wish to breed hatred among human beings, and their claims are no less harmful than terrorism itself."

FATHULLA JAMEEL, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Maldives at UN General Assembly 2001 dealing with terror after the 9/11 attack. The level of hypocrasy is impressive. To read more about the offended Jameel, read here in Dhivehi Observer, banned in the Maldives.
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Here we go again: Muslims offended in Sebta

Sorry, I'll correct the word Muslims to Islamists, - we must distinguish between the two:

Muslims are easily offended. We all know that by now, but is there a pattern in all the hurt feelings?

In Sebta, the Spanish enclave on the Moroccan coastline, local Muslims are trying to start a new cartoon Jihad, this time on a award winning song, alledgedly calling Muslims "animals" and "bastards" and furthermore mocking the call to prayer. The song won the best lyrics honor at a 'recently held' local festival.

Islam Online has more, click headline, - I'm trying to dig out more: when did this happen, what are the exact words of the song, what else is in the story apart from the usual being offended? Can someone do a search in Spanish?
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Wednesday, March 08, 2006

A sacred place violated

"Taheri-azar didn't just want nine funerals with nine gravestones to mark his crime. Taheri-azar wanted front-page photographs of our faces in anguish; he wanted to draw us into reactions of irrational violence against Muslims; he wanted his day in court.

He wanted us to fear standing in the Pit - the spot that represents everything Islamist terrorism seeks to eradicate.

On UNC's campus, the Pit is a literal place where worship, art, music, poetry, relationships, celebration and charity thrive. It is a sacred space on our campus - a brick sanctuary for dialogue, nestled between two libraries full of mankind's diverse ideas.

When Qutb [al Qaeda philosopher] says the West "does not possess anything which will satisfy its own conscience and justify its existence" he called our very existence a debauchery, an abomination and an unjustifiable stain on history."

This young lady sums it all up. All we are fighting for.

I guess you all heard of the Iranian madman driving his SUV into the pit at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill last Friday. Even at the very university where he committed his insane hate crime, not every one could make up there mind if this had anything to do with Islamic terror.

Ginny could, - take the time to read all of her impressing 'Letter to the Editor' in
Daily Tar Heel; click headline or Continue:

Islamist terrorists aim to alter our political landscape

By Ginny Franks, March 8, 2006

"Hit-and-run" names a crime in which people are unintentionally hit and discarded like dogs beside a highway. Drivers in hit-and-runs gain villainy for their cowardice.

But Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar - an Islamist who rented an SUV with the stated intent to kill students on campus to avenge Muslims worldwide - is not a "hit-and-run" criminal, as WRAL reported and others parroted.

He is a terrorist.

President George Bush quickly labeled terrorists as cowards following Sept. 11, 2001. We, a nation of bravado, were struggling to find words to describe what we experienced. So we chose coward.

Coward is the lowliest epithet we can fathom - in a society where we often fling nonsensical four-letter words to wound each other, the most degrading thing we can call someone is not an obscenity. It is cowardice that is offensive to us - being weak-willed, dishonorable and submissive to fear when we face evil.

Terrorists are wrong, and they are evil. But they are not cowards.

Our modern enemies have strength that cowards, by definition, do not possess.

Some have taken Islam and followed a succession of philosophers and false prophets to reach a conclusion that gives them strength and conviction that Western beliefs are dangerous.

"This was not a political or an economic or a racial struggle; had it been any of these, its settlement would have been easy, the solution of its difficulties would have been simple," wrote Sayyid Qutb, one of the philosophers who is the founder of al-Qaida principles. Qutb is right in arguing that this is instead a much more difficult struggle - a struggle of beliefs.

But we weren't afraid of ideas and beliefs, so they use weapons such as planes, bombs and SUVs.

And Qutb and Osama bin Laden's faithful, who mistakenly believe they are Muhammad's faithful, are transformed into soldiers.

They believe they are above morality - when they strike, they create unwilling martyrs in sacrificial acts or mete out God's punishment. To them, our way of life is incompatible with their interpretation of the divine. Terrorists must harden their hearts, endure physical torture and are called upon to sacrifice their lives in what is to them a sacred act of bravery.

Terrorists are evil, but they aren't cowards. The truth is that terrorists aim to make cowards of us.

Taheri-azar didn't just want nine funerals with nine gravestones to mark his crime. Taheri-azar wanted front-page photographs of our faces in anguish; he wanted to draw us into reactions of irrational violence against Muslims; he wanted his day in court.

He wanted us to fear standing in the Pit - the spot that represents everything Islamist terrorism seeks to eradicate.

On UNC's campus, the Pit is a literal place where worship, art, music, poetry, relationships, celebration and charity thrive. It is a sacred space on our campus - a brick sanctuary for dialogue, nestled between two libraries full of mankind's diverse ideas.

When Qutb says the West "does not possess anything which will satisfy its own conscience and justify its existence" he called our very existence a debauchery, an abomination and an unjustifiable stain on history.

We are a nation of disparate values. We cannot unite behind religion. We live among saints and sinners of every denomination and creed.

We cannot unite behind symbols - such as a flag that we alternately hail and ignite or a Bill of Rights some call gospel and others hypocrisy.

Islamist terrorists find one true path, while we embrace the possibility of multiple truths. There are few things in this country that we harmoniously coalesce behind and even fewer times when we speak with a united voice.

And that in and of itself is worth fighting for.

Above all we believe in - and demand - a political space where we can disagree.

And we need to believe in that political space just as strongly and be willing to sacrifice just as much in order to maintain it as those to whom its very existence is blasphemy.

That political space is the Pit. It is UNC.

It is a country in which we believe that the battle of beliefs need not divide us and need not inspire hatred of our brothers in humanity.

We must rise to defend our political space - a box on the editorial page for an offensive cartoon, a place on a shelf for an offensive book, a protest in the Pit with offensive signs - because in the end that is what we have that is worth fighting for.

It is our commitment to dialogue - to offend or be offended, to teach or to learn, to engage and to inspire - that saves us from cowardice while Taheri-azar smiles into the cameras.

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What is wrong with our media??

Sunnis helping clear and rebuild
Danish state owned though not state controlled (get that?) Radio and TV Broadcasting Company DR has been very busy creating a civil war in Iraq. They are now busy calming down the war again as it becomes impossible to hide the fact that Iraq is a nation of civilised people haunted by terrorists, not an area of uncivilised barbarians cutting the throats of one another as the MSM depicts the country.

I found this on Security Watchtower; - why are the MSM lying to the public? Why didn't they report that the Sunni's immediately started rebuilding the Shia's Golden Mosque? Bloggers known it since Feb. 26. What is the MSM agenda? Will anyone explain it to me, I simply don't get it.

March 07, 2006
Iraq: The Untold Truths
Ralph Peters over at the New York Post discusses the media's prefabricated 'civil war' that imploded before the instructions were out of the box. Click Continue to get the full story


AMONG the many positive stories you aren't being told about Iraq, the media ignored another big one last week: In the wake of the terrorist bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, it was the Iraqi army that kept the peace in the streets.
It's routinely declared a failure by those who yearn for the new Iraq to fail. But an increasingly capable Iraqi military has been developing while reporters (who never really investigated the issue) wrote it off as hopeless.
What actually happened last week, as the prophets of doom in the media prematurely declared civil war?
* The Iraqi army deployed over 100,000 soldiers to maintain public order. U.S. Forces remained available as a backup, but Iraqi soldiers controlled the streets.
* Iraqi forces behaved with discipline and restraint - as the local sectarian outbreaks fizzled, not one civilian had been killed by an Iraqi soldier.
* Time and again, Iraqi military officers were able to defuse potential confrontations and frustrate terrorist hopes of igniting a religious war.
* Forty-seven battalions drawn from all 10 of Iraq's army divisions took part in an operation that, above all, aimed at reassuring the public. The effort worked - from the luxury districts to the slums, the Iraqis were proud of their army.
AS a result of its nationwide success, the Iraqi army gained tremendously in confidence. Its morale soared. After all the lies and exaggerations splashed in your direction, the truth is that we're seeing a new, competent, patriotic military emerge. The media may cling to its image of earlier failures, but last week was a great Iraqi success.
This matters. Not only for Iraq's sake, but because standing up a responsible military subordinate to an elected civilian government is the essential development that will allow us to reduce our troop presence in the next few years. Much remains to do - and much could still go wrong - but I, for one, am more optimistic after this visit to Baghdad.
Let's go deeper and probe into the growth of Iraq's army. On Saturday, The Post conducted an exclusive interview with the commander of Iraq's ground forces. It was Lt.-Gen. Abdul Qadir's first sit-down with the press - he's been a busy man.
The general looks like a vigorous, good-natured grandfather in uniform. But his affable dignity masks a heroic past. An armor officer with extensive battlefield experience, Qadir stood up to Saddam, stating that his adventure in Kuwait was destined to fail. The reward for his integrity - the patriotism of the honest soldier - was seven years in prison. Only his history of combat valor saved him from death.
Now Saddam's in prison and Qadir's determined to build a better Iraq.
SITTING in his office in the Defense Ministry - an ornate building whose marble halls and crystal chandeliers predate Saddam - Qadir beamed with pride at the performance of his troops over the previous 10 days.
"Not one unit had sectarian difficulties," he stressed. "Not one. And when we canceled all leaves after the mosque bombing - we expected trouble, of course - our soldiers returned promptly to their units. Now it is as you see for yourself: Iraqis are proud of their own soldiers."
Any nation would rather rely on its own forces than on a foreign military in its streets - no matter how well-intentioned that alien force may be. I asked the general when he thought American troops should leave Iraq.
"We must not be in too great a hurry for you to go," he said, stressing that patience and cooperation were crucial to ultimate success. American troop levels could be reduced in the next few years, but with over 40 years of military service - and as a member of an old Sunni-Arab military family - Qadir has no illusions about the challenges ahead.
Iraqi combat units have made significant progress, but sustaining that success depends on building a reliable logistics infrastructure, on building up communications and intelligence capabilities and on developing a training system that aims at Western standards.
Given the mess Saddam left behind, Qadir's mission is formidable. And the progress to date is impressive to any knowledgeable observer.
QADIR'S principal Ameri can adviser, Col. Tom McCool (whose family lives in Pelham), said of the recent mini-crisis, "It's a good-news story. The Iraqis performed every bit as well as we expected." A firm believer in the general's vision and abilities, McCool stresses that Qadir's a "true soldier," not a political hack, personally incorruptible.
Paraphrasing one of his own U.S. Army superiors, McCool said, "The Iraqi army has to build an airplane while it's already flying. And they're doing it amazingly well."
If Qadir and McCool are confident, so is Brig.-Gen. Dan Bolger, our Army officer charged with "assisting the Iraqis in forming their military." On the day of the Samarra bombing, Bolger expected trouble and headed out into the streets with the Iraqi military.
Instead of widespread strife in the districts of Baghdad he visited, he found "the most average day in the world."
BOLGER'S a story himself. He looks like a taller, more-muscular Gary Cooper and has a distinguished career behind him as an Infantryman. But he's also written a rucksack full of superb books ranging from military history to fiction, and he's one of the most respected thinkers-in-uniform of his generation.
He's the right man for his assignment. In an exclusive interview with The Post, Bolger stressed that the coverage of the past few weeks - and of the Iraqi army overall - had been just plain inaccurate.
Building a military from scratch and changing its culture profoundly is incredibly difficult, yet Bolger's impressed that, after some undeniable birth pains (before Bolger's tenure), the Iraqi army's development is accelerating impressively.
"We bail the Iraqis out less and less," he told The Post, observing that the Iraqis want to do things by themselves - although they'll need some U.S. support for the next few years. "They want us to make a long-term commitment," he said, referring not to a heavy U.S. troop presence, but to a mutually beneficial strategic partnership.
Sitting behind his desk in a Spartan office in Baghdad, Bolger exploded another myth - that the new Iraqi military's been infiltrated by militia members. "It's actually hard to penetrate the army," he said. "They're not garrisoned locally, but mixed into truly national units and deployed around the country." In the recent flare-up, sectarian issues had not been a problem in a single Iraqi unit.
Bolger mused about the terminology Iraqi officers employ. They refer to terrorists as "terrorists," but call the native insurgents "criminals" and despise them. He stresses that the Iraqis have it right: "The criminal element is an underestimated element in the violence. A lot of these people are just predators."
Bolger's a man whose judgment I trust, having known him for 20 years (we all knew back then that Dan was destined for high rank). If he's confident, I'm confident. And Dan believes that, if we have a reasonable amount of patience, the new Iraqi military will emerge as the best in the Arab world - and a firm ally in the region.
AS I head home after far too short a stay with our won derful soldiers, I can only offer Post readers my honest assessment:
Serious problems remain. No question about it. We'll hear more bad news (some of it may even be true). But from my heart I believe that the odds are improving that, decades from now, we'll look back and see that our sacrifices were worth it. I found Baghdad a city of hope, its citizens determined not to be ruled by terrorists, fanatics, militias or thieves.
We are doing the right thing.
Nor do I say this lightly. I just learned that the son of an old friend was seriously wounded in Iraq and evacuated to a military hospital in Germany (the latest news I have is that the young man will make a complete recovery - let's pray that it's so).
This is a gigantic struggle for indescribably high stakes. We're trying to help a failing civilization rescue itself, to lift a vast region out of the grip of terror and fanaticism, and to make this troubled world safer for our own citizens. Don't let anyone tell you we're failing in Iraq.
The future remains undecided, but the last few weeks may have been a decisive turning point - against our enemies. Iraqis, military and civilian, stood up for their own country, for reason, for peace.
What more could we ask?
Ralph Peters says he has been privileged to spend the last few weeks with America's men and women in uniform.
I'm embarrassed for our media. Really, I am.

Click headline to go to Watch Tower's story

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BoingBoing blocked

Blocking blogs seem to the fastest growing game of the season and it must candidate for the Olympics in Bejing 2008. Several countries exercise at full speed all ready, preparing to go for the gold in an attempt to beat the host, Peoples Republic of China. Click headline for what happened to Boing Boing.

Tip from Or-Does-it-exlode?

Even this humble blog was banned on a Swedish forum, reason unknown. Lost the details though, maybe a Swedish reader will fill me in?
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Another innocent victim of the Islamic madmen

Remains of French hostage Michel Seurat handed over to French ambassador in Lebanon on March 4.

07/03/2006 BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - A military band played somber music Tuesday as the remains of Michel Seurat, a French history researcher kidnapped by Muslim militants here in 1985, were handed over to the French ambassador.

Click headline for the sad story. French REUTERS has all the details here.
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UPDATE: Cencorship in Denmark by state company


UPDATE: Party leaders across have condemned Banestyrelsen, and the Minister for Transport and Energy, Mr. Flemming Hansen, who is the governmental responsible for Banestyrelsen stated, that the decission to ban the add was a "mistake" which would be corrected right away.

State owned Danish railway track company Banestyrelsen, in charge of operating all Danish railway tracks and stations, banned an add for a book called: What is Islam from the largest station Nørreport in Copenhagen today, according to Danish Radio.

The book, on its third reprint, was written by the director of the Danish Institute in Damascus, Islam expert dr. phil. Jørgen Bæk Simonsen, former employee of the Carsten Niebuhr Institute and known for his soft approach towards Islam. The book cover had no pictures, just the title on a neutral background. The ban was substantiated with 'not wanting to add to the disturbance' and 'not using public buildings for a political or religious debate' .

More to follow as the politicians wake up, - hopefully!

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Charges filed against the Koran in Germany

A German national coalition during the weekend filed charges against the Koran in several of the German Bundesländer, according to JyllandsPosten Monday morning.

Bundesverband der Bürgerbewegungen, Federation of Citizens Movement, working for integration of immigrants, protection of the constitutional rights and a stop for the building of “parallel societies” in Germany, claims that the Koran is irreconcilable with the German constitution, and that the circulation of the book must be stopped.
Click Continue to get the full story

Turkish born author, Serap Cileli on January 29. this year said, that “it is irreconcilable with our federation and Human Rights”. Spokeswoman of the movement, Jutta Starke, calls the Koran not only a historical book, but a very "political potent" book.

For readers outside Europe: Germany is a federation of 16 highly autonomous Bundesländer, compatible with the federal system of the US. Germany has since WWII banned all copies of Hitler’s Mein Kampf.

From Wikipedia: 'As of 2004, about 7.5 million foreign citizen residents were living in Germany. By far the largest number came from Turkey, followed by Italy, Greece, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and more. Thanks to reform of German nationality law, many of these immigrants are eligible for naturalisation. 9% of the population is not ethnically German.'

Bundesverband der Burgerbewegung estimates on their homepage that the Muslim part of the German population will outnumber the non Muslim German population in 2045.
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"Religions Don't Have Human Rights and Islam Has No Special Place"

Though a bit late I'll link to this great letter of support to Free Speech by Roy Brown, President of The International Humanist and Ethical Union, an NGO devoted to the defence of human rights. Click headline.
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Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Cartoon War and Rushdie Case: Same Pattern

The Satanic Precedent of the Mohammad Cartoons, an article by Helle Merete Brix in Weekendavisen, a Danish weekly, points to the common patterns of the Cartoon War and the Rushdie Case.

AGORA has it, translated for the Free Press Society 2004 / Sappho.

If you'd care to read "The Project" which is an article on the script for the Islamic move for supremacy from 1982, you'll start to see what we are up against.

The interesting thing, however, is the multitude of the agendas involved in the Cartoon War:

  • The Islamic Brotherhood, their long term strategy and their interrelations with al Qaeda; note the latest threats from al-Zahwrahi and his connections to Danish imam Abu Laban
  • The secular regimes of the majority of the Muslim countries trying to outbalance the Islamists by fighting the Cartoon War to a certain degree - this explaines why Abu Laban, persona non grata in Egypt suddenly gained access to high level politicians in that same country;
  • Arafats people trying to demonstrate that Hamas is not in total control yet;
  • OIC trying to meet their agenda of strengthening the ummah and the Islam Nation by their claim on a ban of defamation of religion, i.e. Islam;
  • The hardliners among the Western Muslims trying to gain control over both their softer co-emmigrants and the countries, they live in;
  • ... and several more agendas for which the cartoons were Gefundenes Fressen
The odd thing is that these patterns haven't become clear to the Western media yet, and that we see high leveled politicians on the wrongs side.
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CAIR: Islamists Fooling the Establishment

"The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), headquartered in Washington, is perhaps the best-known and most controversial Muslim organization in North America. CAIR presents itself as an advocate for Muslims' civil rights and the spokesman for American Muslims."

A thorough piece of documentation from Middle East Quarterly, spring 06 by Daniel Pipes and Sharon Chadha. CAIR turns out to be something quite different than it pretends, - actually just another cover up for Islamic world wide supremacy. Click headline. And in case you missed "Koran should be the highest authority" a few days ago, it's all about the same.
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The Geography of Terror

A newly completed interactive global map lists all Islamic terror attacks in this millennium. Very illustrative and frightening indeed. I haven't checked details and sources yet, but my first impressions are that it seem's to be very professional and highly reliable.

The global map is provided by Gates of Vienna through their Bloody Borders project. It has taken them months to complete the work, based on data from Religion of Peace. The background and working method for the project is described here.

Click the headline and spend some time discovering the patterns. Click the 'animation' on the entrance site.
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Two Muslim Women in their Own Words about Religions in Egypt الحرية للمصريين

A very interesting discussion on daily life of two young women in the tensions between the modern world and the Islamic. Click headline for the famous block Freedom for Egyptians الحرية للمصريين:
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Words from the past

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
Rev. Martin Niemüller, 1945

"Niemoeller was one of the most respected Protestant leaders in Germany. After a signal career as a young man, a decorated U-Boat captain in the First World War, he became an activated Christian. In 1933, when he became the most high profile of Hitler's Christian opponents, he was in charge of a prestigious suburban parish in Berlin-Dahlem.

Niemoeller was a leader in the mobilization of the Pastors' Emergency League, in the Synod that denounced the abuses of the dictatorship in the famous "Six Articles of Barmen," and in other visible joint actions and sermons that finally led to his arrest on 1 July 1937. There were then a few honest judges still functioning in Germany, and when the court let him go with a slap on the wrist Hitler personally ordered his incarceration. Niemoeller was in concentration camp, including long periods of solitary confinement, until the end of the war."

Quoted from Littell's article in Christian Ethics Today
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al Qaeda on Westbank and in Gaza


Terror cells directly linked to Abu Mussab al Zarqawi in Iraq are now operating both on the West Bank and in Gaza, admits Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas according to The Guardian, quoting Arab paper al Hayat.

Abbas previously denied any al Qaida activity in the areas, speaking to AP Television News in May, last year.

Photo from Gaza city (Scanpix). Click headline for the full story.
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Monday, March 06, 2006

Fighting the Ideological War

By Jed Babbin, former Deputy UnderSecretary of Defense (Bush)

"We aren’t fighting a war against terrorists to win the hearts and minds of the Middle East. We are fighting it to end the threat of terrorism. Victory can’t be achieved with bullets and bombs alone. This is, at its core, an ideological war. Just as we defeated communism by defeating the communists’ ideology, we need to attack and destroy that of the radical Islamists."

Continue reading, click the headline.
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Pictures you don't want to see

Pictures and text from FaithFreedom, click continue to see them, click the headline to see all. Do not click if you don't want to see another face of Islam as portrayed at FaithFreedom's gallery.

Why show these cruel pictures? FaithFreedom argues convincingly that at the very core of the religion of peace you'll find punishment, hate, violence, dead. When you stay within the boundaries of the Shariah, you'll see the religion of peace, - when you brake the eternal laws, you'll face the most violent punishment and hate to a degree you cannot imagine.

When Islamists threaten the infidels with violence, beheading and holocaust, you better believe them.


A Hindu being beaten by Muslims in a mosque in Bangladesh. He was captured outside the mosque while going home. After Friday prayers were over, the Muslims came out and grabbed the first Hindu they could. Mr. Vimal Patak a Bangladeshi born Hindu was beaten to death with sticks as the Muslim mullahs (priests) chanted "kill the Kafir!" (non-Muslim). With folded hands he begged for his life and died a brutal death.

Another young Iranian victim of Islam. PayAm Amini, was hanged in public on Sunday Sep. 29, 2002. He screamed: "..we didn't kill anyone, we don't deserve to die. So many terrible crimes are committed in this country every day and yet no one is punished for it.."


Palestinian crowd waves entrails of butchered Israeli victims. in Ramala. The expression on their faces show they are orgasmic. This level of hate is only possible in Islam




Muslims protesting the cartoons. From London. When Muslims threaten, take it seriously.













Preparing for a stoning for violating the laws of Shariah

Saluting


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"The Koran should be the highest authority in America"

"I wouldn't want to create the impression that I wouldn't like the government of the United States to be Islamic sometime in the future," he told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "But I'm not going to do anything violent to promote that. I'm going to do it through education."

Such sentiments echo those of CAIR chairman Omar M. Ahmad, who in July 1998 told a crowd of California Muslims, "Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran . . . should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth."

Great documentation by John Perazzo in FrontPageMagazine. Click the headline to read all of it.
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Why leaving Islam is not an option

Rajesh put this op-ed on FaithFreedom. I've cut a few pieces - click continue .. to get all the pieces, but click the headline to enjoy this vintage bottling. And while you're there take the opportunity to get some real insight in the religion of Peace....

"If a few mild cartoons can make Muslims so angry, Sina's web-site deserves an atom bomb. But why is the Muslim world so uncharacteristically silent? Faithfreedom.org is read by more people than those cartoons were originally seen in Denmark. (...)

But you can rest assured; no Muslim will ever publicly voice his dissent regarding Ali Sina. No mullah will ever declare in his Friday sermon - Ali Sina is devil incarnate.
Ali Sina is an apostate, an ex-Muslim. It is preferable to deny the existence of such breed. If his existence was made public or his web-site denounced openly in the Muslim world, the entire Muslim world stands to collapse almost instantaneously.

For the average 'faithful' Muslim, the option of leaving Islam never enters his or her head. Popularising Ali Sina, even through assassination, will do just that. It will make Muslims notice that people are leaving Islam and some of them may read the site and start thinking. This is a risk no mullah can afford to take.

For the first time in the bloody 1400 years history of Islam, the hooliganism, the shameless taqia has found its match. www.faithfreedom.org is the Achilles heel of Islam. No Muslim will ever expose this Achilles heel to anyone - Muslim or non-Muslim.

Uncle Sam - this multi-trillion dollar war against the hydra headed evil monster called Islam can be won with this ubiquitous web-site. Just popularise it."
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Op Blog: The strategy of our war


By Poul Højlund, March 6, 2006:

Bloggers worldwide have engaged in this battle with an overwhelming eager and with great results so far.

We dug out the information that lifted the debate from the virtuous indignation on bad taste cartoons to the perspective of a shrewdly planned Jihad against Western freedom, first and foremost Free Speech.

But are we preaching among the converts? Are we gaining ground, or will we end up as the intolerant minority of Free Speech extremists, as several mainstreamers already baptized us?

The battle against Islamization has only just begun, and our opening position is not the best.

We have lost ground through several decades as the West allowed The Islamic Brotherhood to march on. We lose every day when UN accepts the violation of Human Rights committed by the Muslim countries, and when the OIC can sign their own Islamic Human Rights without the slightest protest from UN.

We lose when Free Speech is balanced against religious freedom, - even without anyone stating the obvious: that religious freedom also include the right not to have any religion at all, or the right to choose a religion on your own behalf.

We lose whenever Free Speech cannot be mentioned without the little ‘but…’. We lose when we fail to meet our Muslim neighbours world wide with the same demands as we meet our selves. We lose when we mistake Muslims for Islamists, the oppressed for their oppressors.

We lose when we accept the hypocrisy of protesting against depicting Muhammad while the same protesters silence on the massive violations of Human Rights in the name of the same prophet.

It’s so easy to lose this battle, and it will be the last battle lost. There is no turning back to freedom once Islam is installed world wide.

Now they are closing down our blogs, not only in Pakistan but also in Finland and Sweden.

How to win this battle?

First we must face the fact that we already are far behind. We’re defending our remaining strongholds, not against the Islamists but against our own. In the name of tolerance an co-existence our own act as Franco’s fifth column, decomposing our liberty from inside. The first battle to win is that against our own Quislings of religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence.

Why are we left to fight in the blogoshere and not in the mass media? Why haven’t US and UK papers printed and reprinted the cartoons again and again? Why are not they fighting for their Muslim colleagues imprisoned for doing what they didn’t dare: to print and to challenge the Islamists?

The first battleground is the Western mass media. We must conquer that ground by convincing the editors that if they do not fight for free speech, they’ll end up like their Muslim colleagues: either imprisoned or silenced.

The mass media must be forced to draw their own conclusions based on the facts of the Cartoon Jihad.

We must document to them the links between the Islamic Brotherhood and the OIC demand for international legislation against defamation of religion, the links between al Qaida and the nutritional ideology of Islam, the links between Abu Laban, the Islamic Brotherhood, the Global Jihadist Group of 2003 and the Cartoon War, and all the other links in the global Islamic spider’s web.

The first battle to win is that of the Western mass media.

Let’s shell them with facts and patterns, let’s force them to realize that none of this is what it pretends to be, let’s make them face the facts.

Get hold of any journalist or editor that you know. Work with them, help them, feed them with facts. Let’s do this world wide, and some day we will begin to see them changing their course.

Let’s get on with it, and let’s keep our flag flying, - regardless.
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Pakistan blocks blogs

According to BBC and Jihad Watch Pakistan forced internet providers to shut down several blogs on the ground of offending the prophet.

As some of the blogs were harboured on blogspot.com, authorities closed down the whole site, thus blocking all blogs regardless of content.

The order to block was issued February 27.

The BBC article mentions without details that "Pakistan, meanwhile, is seeking an internationally applicable law against blasphemy."

To readers of this blog the attempt will not come as a surprise. It's part of the OIC plan for defending the prophet and protecting Islam against all criticism, for details check "What's in the Islamic Pipeline", February 15.

They can't get Osama, but they sure as Hell can get the bloggers. Tell me who offended the Prophet? Or is it that we now know what offends the guy and what doesn't? Beheading, okay! Depicting, no way!
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Sunday, March 05, 2006

Islam Online to clarify misinformation on Denmark

From my mailbox, click continue to get the full story. I guess it should be added that Denmark since 1849 by constitution has granted anyone the freedom of religion.
Dear Sir

Thank you very much for your interest in IslamOnline.net. We highly appreciate your valuable clarification. We will take it up with our correspondent.
Regards
English News Desk

----- Original Message -----
From: Webmaster_E
To: English News
Sent: Friday, March 03, 2006 2:16 AM
Subject: FW: Inquiries and Suggestions, Misinformation on Denmark
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: poa@xxx.xxx [mailto:poa@xxx.xxx]
Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2006 4:40 PM
To: WebmasterE@islam-online.net
Subject: Inquiries and Suggestions, Misinformation on Denmark

From
Poul Hّjlund

Subject
Misinformation on Denmark

Message Text
Sirs,

You might want to correct the information on http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2006-02/14/article05.shtml. Nidal Abu Arif, IOL Correspondent in Copenhagen on February 14, 2006 states, that “Islam, however, is not recognized by the state unlike Christianity and Judaism.”

Though not wrong as such, it is definately not the true picture. Until 1970 Denmark by royal resolution recognized 11 various communities, the Mosaic Community the only non Christian. After 1970 no more royal resolutions have been issued due to legislative and administrative changes.

Communities are now ‘sanctioned’ instead as an administrative matter. Sanctioned communities are exempted from tax and other duties. They carry the right to perform weddings with legal status, the right to set up cemeteries and the right to invite spiritual leaders from abroad to work in Denmark.


Building a mosque in Denmark needs no other official approval than that of any other building and has nothing to do with being recognized or sanctioned.

The distinction between sanctioned and recognized has little if any practical consequence. Among the recognized communities since 1970 are Islam, Hinduism, The Coptic Church, The Mormons and several others.



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Submission by Danish Consul

'You can also turn around and say, this had a positive impact on Islam. The realization has come that you have to respect Islam, and the prophet. Now Europe is more aware of this aspect. There is positive thinking in this respect...and people will now be more careful (about hurting others' feelings). People have now been more careful', said Danish consul in Dubai, Thomas Bay, according to Khalej Times Online, February 26, 2006.

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"The Project": A plan for Islamic regimes in Europe

Muslim Brotherhood scripted a plan called "The Project" back in 1982, revealed by Swiss authorities in 2002. It was recently (October 2005) analyzed and published by Le Temps journalist Sylvian Besson in a French book: La conquête de l'Occident: Le projet secret des Islamistes, according to this article .

Click continue to get the whole story and more.


From the article:

The Project" is a roadmap for achieving the installation of Islamic regimes in the West via propaganda, preaching, and, if necessary, war. It's the same idea expressed by Sheikh Qaradawi in 1995 when he said, "We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America, not by the sword but by our Dawa [proselytizing]."

Thus, "The Project" calls for "putting in place a watchdog system for monitoring the [Western] media to warn all Muslims of the dangers and international plots fomented against them." Another long-term effort is to "put in place [among Muslims in the West] a parallel society where the group is above the individual, godly authority above human liberty, and the holy scripture above the laws."

A European secret service agent interviewed by Besson explains that "the project is going to be a real danger in ten years: We'll see the emergence of a parallel system, the creation of 'Muslim Parliaments.' Then the slow destruction of our institutions will begin."

One point emphasized in "The Project" is that Muslims must constantly work to support Islamic Dawa and all the groups around the globe engaged in jihad. Also vital is to "keep the Ummah [the Muslim community] in a jihad frame of mind" and--no surprise here--"to breed a feeling of resentment towards the Jews and refuse any form of coexistence with them." (On February 2, At-Tajdid, a Moroccan Islamist daily close to the Brotherhood, explained to its readers that the Danish cartoons were "a Zionist provocation aimed at reviving the conflict between the West and the Muslim nation.")

By inflaming a controversy such as the current one, the Muslim Brotherhood attempts to widen the rift between the West and Islam. It specifically targets Muslim communities living in the West, aiming to radicalize their moderate elements by continually pointing out the supposed "Islamophobia" all around them. Right on cue, the Saudi daily Al Watan reports that the Council of Islamic Countries decided in December to create a worldwide Islamophobia watchdog organization that will lobby for the adoption of "anti-Islamophobia" laws, as well as promoting a common position against states or organizations it sees as attacking Islam.

Under the scheme outlined in "The Project," the Muslim Brotherhood would seek to become the indispensable interlocutor of Western governments on issues relating not only to Islam but also to international issues touching the Islamic world, notably the Israeli-Arab conflict, the war in Iraq, and even the war on terror.

The same approach turns up in Qaradawi's 1990 book Priorities of the Islamic Movement in the Coming Phase. Qaradawi sees the presence of large Muslim populations in the West as a major opportunity. For him, "the Islamic presence" in the West is necessary "to defend the interests of the Muslim Nation and the land of Islam against the hostility and disinformation of anti-Islamic movements." He actually calls on Western Muslim communities to reform their host countries.


From www.nuitdorient.com I've copied this discussion and resume of the book.

I've put a Google translation at the bottom in case you don't read French:

L'ISLAMISME À LA CONQUÊTE DU MONDE

En novembre 2001, lors d'une perquisition, des enquêteurs suisses découvrent le "Projet", une ambitieuse stratégie destinée à établir le règne de Dieu sur toute la terre.

Sylvain Besson - jeudi 6 octobre 2005 - © Le Temps, 2005

Est-il possible que le développement de l'islamisme dans le monde depuis vingt ans soit, au moins en partie, le produit d'une stratégie occulte, d'un plan délibéré de conquête du pouvoir? C'est la question politiquement incorrecte que pose l'étonnante découverte faite par des policiers suisses et italiens durant une perquisition menée près de Lugano, en novembre 2001. Dans la villa de Youssef Nada, un banquier égyptien que les autorités américaines accusent d'avoir soutenu le terrorisme, les enquêteurs saisissent alors un document étonnant, demeuré secret depuis presque deux décennies: le "Projet", texte stratégique dont l'ambition suprême est d'établir le règne de Dieu partout dans le monde. L'enquête criminelle ouverte contre Youssef Nada, qui dirigeait la banque islamique Al-Taqwa de Lugano depuis sa création en 1988, a été classée en mai dernier. Mais le financier arabe, qui a démenti tout lien avec le terrorisme, a reconnu avoir été durant des années l'un des principaux dirigeants de la branche internationale des Frères musulmans, l'un des plus importants groupes islamistes contemporains. Fondée en Egypte en 1928, l'organisation des Frères musulmans a donné naissance à un vaste "Mouvement islamique" inspiré par ses idées, qui représente aujourd'hui la principale force se réclamant de l'islamisme dans le monde. Le Projet est un texte de 14 pages, daté de décembre 1982, qui s'ouvre par le passage suivant: "Ce rapport présente une vision globale d'une stratégie internationale pour la politique islamique. Selon ses lignes directrices, et en accord avec elles, les politiques islamiques locales sont élaborées dans les différentes régions". Le document préconise d'étudier les centres de pouvoir locaux et mondiaux, et les possibilités de les placer sous influence, d'entrer en contact avec tout nouveau mouvement engagé dans le djihad où qu'il soit sur la planète, de créer des cellules du djihad en Palestine» et de «nourrir le sentiment de rancœur à l'égard des juifs. Tout cela dans le but de coordonner le travail islamique dans une seule direction pour [...] consacrer le pouvoir de Dieu sur terre. Les enquêteurs suisses qui ont étudié le dossier Al-Taqwa ont consacré plusieurs analyses au Projet et à ce qu'il représente. Un document confidentiel de la "Task Force" antiterroriste mise sur pied après les attentats du 11 septembre 2001 évoque ainsi un texte fondamental pour comprendre les buts à long terme des Frères [musulmans]: Intitulé Le Projet, ce document décrit par le menu la stratégie envisagée pour assurer une prise d'influence grandissante de la Confrérie sur le monde musulman. Il y est stipulé que les [Frères musulmans] ne doivent pas agir au nom de la Confrérie mais s'infiltrer dans les organismes existants. Ils ne peuvent ainsi être repérés puis neutralisés. Un second rapport des enquêteurs suisses affirme que le Projet, et les autres documents découverts chez Youssef Nada, confirment le rôle joué par les Frères musulmans à la fois dans l'inspiration et dans le soutien, direct ou indirect, à l'islam radical dans le monde entier. Dans cette optique, le Projet a pu jouer un rôle dans la création par les Frères musulmans et leurs héritiers d'un réseau d'institutions religieuses, éducatives et caritatives en Europe et aux Etats-Unis. Le Projet préconise en effet de construire des institutions sociales, économiques, scientifiques et médicales, et pénétrer le domaine des services sociaux pour être en contact avec le peuple. Dans ce but, il faut étudier les environnements politiques divers et les probabilités de réussite dans chaque pays. Un responsable occidental qui l'a étudié décrit le Projet comme une idéologie totalitaire d'infiltration qui représente, à terme, le plus grand danger pour les sociétés européennes. Le Projet, ce sera un danger dans dix ans, dit-il, on va voir émerger en Europe la revendication d'un système parallèle, la création de parlements musulmans, ce qui existe déjà en Grande-Bretagne... Commencera alors la lente destruction de nos institutions, de nos structures. Pour ce fonctionnaire, qui a demandé à ne pas être cité nommément, le Projet n'est pas un simple texte de réflexion, mais une "feuille de route" dont certains éléments ont été mis en œuvre dans le monde réel: il préfigure notamment le début de la guérilla contre Israël dans les territoires palestiniens occupés, et le soutien apporté ces dernières années par les Frères musulmans à divers groupes islamistes armés, de la Bosnie aux Philippines. La découverte du Projet soulève aussi beaucoup de questions qui, pour l'heure, demeurent sans réponse. L'identité de son auteur, par exemple, reste inconnue. Youssef Nada, le gardien du Projet durant près de vingt ans, a simplement dit aux enquêteurs suisses qu'il n'a pas écrit ce texte. Approché à de multiples reprises par Le Temps, il a fini par expliquer que le document a été rédigé par des chercheurs islamiques mais qu'il ne représente pas une position officielle des Frères musulmans. Je ne suis d'accord qu'avec 15 ou 20% de ce texte, affirme-t-il. Pourquoi, dans ce cas, l'avoir conservé chez lui? Je ne sais pas. J'aurais dû le jeter.
L'importance du Projet tient autant à son histoire, et celle des hommes qui l'environnent, qu'à son contenu. Ses origines intellectuelles remontent aux années 1960, lorsque le théoricien en che» des Frères musulmans, Saïd Ramadan (1), trouve refuge à Genève. En septembre 1964, son journal El Mouslimoun publie un texte appelant à lancer une guerre idéologique contre l'Occident. Il s'agissait alors de répondre à la création de l'Etat d'Israël, considérée par les islamistes comme un élément d'un vaste complot contre la religion musulmane et ses fidèles. C'est pourquoi nous sommes convaincus que ce plan idéologique élaboré doit être contré par un plan idéologique tout aussi élaboré, et qu'il faut répondre à ses attaques idéologiques, à sa guerre idéologique, par une guerre idéologique. L'article fait explicitement référence au "Protocole des Sages de Sion", un document fabriqué par la police tsariste et qui décrit une conspiration juive pour dominer le monde. Bien qu'il s'agisse d'un faux, ce texte antisémite continue d'être pris au sérieux dans les milieux islamistes. En août dernier, le Wall Street Journal révélait que le "Protocole" a été cité durant une récente séance du Conseil européen des fatwas et de la recherche (CEFR), un organisme destiné à conseiller les musulmans d'Europe dans leur vie quotidienne. Selon un participant à la réunion, le Protocole démontre l'existence d'un complot juif destiné à détruire les valeurs morales des familles musulmanes. On comprend qu'animés de telles idées, les islamistes aient voulu réagir en développant leur propre Projet. Le maître à penser du Conseil des fatwas, Yousouf al-Qaradawi, était l'un des principaux actionnaires de la banque Al-Taqwa de Lugano. Il est sans doute le prédicateur islamiste le plus populaire d'Europe et du monde arabe, et certaines de ses idées s'inscrivent dans la droite ligne du Projet. Ainsi, dans un texte publié en 1990, il proposait de développer la présence du Mouvement islamique au sein des «groupes du djihad», afin d'éliminer toutes les influences étrangères des terres d'islam, du Maroc à l'Indonésie. Malgré ces ressemblances idéologiques évidentes, et les liens historiques de grands penseurs des Frères musulmans avec ce document, l'histoire récente de l'islamisme ne se résume pas au seul Projet. Et l'expansion de l'islam en Occident au cours des dernières décennies n'a été planifiée par personne: elle résulte de l'installation progressive d'immigrés musulmans en Europe et aux Etats-Unis. Mais les héritiers des Frères musulmans ont su profiter de cette évolution pour ouvrir un nouvel espace à leur action et à leurs idées. Leur objectif déclaré a toujours été de «protéger» les communautés musulmanes, selon l'expression du cheikh Qaradawi, du«tourbillon des idées matérialistes qui prévalent à l'Ouest. Loin de ce discours convenu, le Projet offre un témoignage important de ce que peuvent être les arrière-pensées et les objectifs cachés du Mouvement islamique, au moment où ce dernier tente de renforcer son emprise sur les communautés musulmanes d'Occident. Le "Projet" est publié pour la première fois dans le livre de Sylvain Besson, "La conquête de l'Occident", qui sera disponible en librairie dès le 7 octobre.


(1) père de Tareq Ramadan, devenu le conseiller de Tony Blair, pour les affaires musulmanes et gendre de Hassan el Banna, créateur de l'organisation des Frères Musulmans en Bgypte

Google translation:

ISLAMISM With the CONQUEST OF the WORLD In November 2001, at the time of a searching, Swiss investigators discover the "Project", an ambitious strategy intended to establish the reign of God on all the ground. Is Sylvain Besson - Thursday October 6, 2005 - © Time, 2005 possible that the development of Islamism in the world for twenty years has been, at least partly, the product of an occult strategy, a plan deliberated on conquest of the capacity? It is the politically incorrect question which raises the astonishing discovered one made by Swiss police officers and Italian during a searching carried out close to Lugano, in November 2001. In the villa of Youssef Nada, an Egyptian banker that the American authorities show to have supported terrorism, the investigators have then seized an astonishing document, remained secret for almost two decades: the "Project", strategic text of which the supreme ambition is to establish the reign of God everywhere in the world. The open criminal investigation against Youssef Nada, which directed Islamic bank Al-Taqwa of Lugano since its creation in 1988, was classified last May. But the Arab financier, who contradicted any bond with terrorism, admitted having been during years one of the principal leaders of the international branch of the Moslem Brothers, one of the most significant contemporary islamists groups. Founded in Egypt in 1928, the organization of the Moslem Brothers gave rise to vast "an Islamic Movement" inspired by its ideas, which represents the principal force today claiming Islamism in the world. The Project is a text of 14 pages, gone back to December 1982, which opens by the following passage: "This report/ratio presents a global vision of an international strategy for the Islamic policy. According to its hot lines, and in agreement with them, the local Islamic policies are elaborate in the various areas ". The document recommends to study the local and world centers authority, and the possibilities of placing them under influence, of coming into contact with all new movement engaged the djihad where that it is on planet, to create cells of the djihad in Palestine "and" to nourish the feeling of rancour with regard to the Jews. All that with an aim of coordinating Islamic work in only one direction for [... ] devoting the capacity of God on ground. The Swiss investigators who studied file Al-Taqwa devoted several analyses to the Project and so that it represents. A confidential document of the "Task force" antiterrorist setting-up after the attacks of September 11, 2001 evokes a fundamental text thus to include/understand the long-term goals of the Brothers [ Moslem ]: Heading the Project, this document describes by the menu the strategy planned to ensure a catch of influence growing of the Brotherhood on the Moslem world. It is stipulated there that them [ Moslem Brothers ] do not have to act in the name of the Brotherhood but to infiltrate in the existing organizations. They cannot thus be located then neutralized. A second report/ratio of the Swiss investigators affirms that the Project, and the other documents discovered at Youssef Nada, confirm the role played by the Moslem Brothers at the same time in the inspiration and the support, direct or indirect, with radical Islam in the whole world. Accordingly, the Project could play a role in creation by the Moslem Brothers and their heirs to a network of religious, educational and caritatives institutions in Europe and in the United States. The Project indeed recommends to build institutions social, economic, scientific and medical, and to penetrate the field of the social services to be in liaison with the people. To this end, it is necessary to study the various political environments and the probabilities of success in each country. A Western person in charge who studied it described the Project as a totalitarian ideology of infiltration which represents, in the long term, the greatest danger to the European companies. The Project, it will be a danger in ten years, says it, one will see emerging in Europe the claim of a parallel system, the creation of Moslem Parliaments, which already exists in Great Britain... The slow destruction of our institutions, our structures will start then. For this civil servant, who asked not to be quoted by name, the Project is not a simple text of reflexion, but a "passenger waybill" whose certain elements were implemented in the real world: it precedes in particular the beginning of the guerrilla against Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories, and the support brought these last years by the Moslem Brothers to various armed islamists groups, of Bosnia in the Philippines. The discovery of the Project raises also many questions which, for the hour, remain unanswered. The identity of its author, for example, remains unknown. Youssef Nada, the guard of the Project lasting nearly twenty years, simply said to the Swiss investigators that he did not write this text. Approached very often by Time, it ended up explaining why the document was compiled by Islamic researchers but whom it does not represent an official position of the Moslem Brothers. I agree only with 15 or 20% of this text, affirm it. Why, in this case, to have preserved it at his place? I do not know. I should have thrown it. The importance of the Project is due as much to its history, and that of the men who surround it, that with his contents. Its intellectual origins go back to the years 1960, when the theorist in che "of the Moslem Brothers, Saïd Ramadan (1), finds refuge in Geneva. In September 1964, its newspaper El Mouslimoun publishes a text inviting to launch an ideological war against the Occident. It was then a question of answering the creation of the State of Israel, considered by the islamists an element of a vast plot against the Islamic religion and its faithful. This is why we are convinced that this elaborate ideological plan must be countered by an ideological plan quite as elaborate, and that it is necessary to answer its ideological attacks, with its ideological war, by an ideological war. The article explicitly refers to the "Protocol of Wise of Sion", a document manufactured by the police force tsarist and which describes a Jewish conspiracy to dominate the world. Although it is about a forgery, this text continuous anti-semite to be taken with serious in the islamists mediums. Last August, Wall Street Journal revealed that the "Protocol" was quoted during a recent meeting of the European Council of the fatwas and research (CEFR), an organization intended to advise the Moslems of Europe in their everyday life. According to a participant in the meeting, the Protocol shows the existence of a Jewish plot intended to destroy the values morals of the Moslem families. It is understood that animated such ideas, the islamists wanted to react by developing their own Projet. The intellectual guide of the Council of the fatwas, Yousouf Al-Qaradawi, was one of the principal shareholders of bank Al-Taqwa of Lugano. He is undoubtedly the preacher the most popular islamist of Europe and the Arab world, and some of its ideas fall under the line line of the Project. Thus, in a text published in 1990, it proposed to develop the presence of the Islamic Movement within the "groups of the djihad", in order to eliminate all the foreign influences from the grounds of Islam, of Morocco in Indonesia. In spite of these obvious ideological resemblances, and the historical bonds of large thinkers of the Moslem Brothers with this document, the recent history of Islamism is not summarized with the only Project. And the expansion of Islam in Occident during last decades was planned by nobody: it results from the progressive installation of Moslem immigrants in Europe and in the United States. But the heirs to the Moslem Brothers knew to benefit from this evolution to open a new space with their action and their ideas. Their declared objective always was "to protect" the Moslem communities, according to the expression of the sheik Qaradawi, du"tourbillon of the ideas materialists which prevail in the West. Far from this speech agreed upon, the Project offers a significant testimony of what can be the ulterior motives and the hidden objectives of the Islamic Movement, at the moment when the latter tries to reinforce its influence on the Moslem communities of Occident. The "Project" is published for the first time in the book of Sylvain Besson, "the conquest of the Occident", which will be available in bookshop as of October 7.

(1) father of Tareq Ramadan, become the adviser of Tony Blair, for the Moslem businesses and son-in-law of Hassan el Banna, creator of the organization of the Moslem Brothers in Bgypte

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