The Golden Gate

AnalPhilosoher asserts that it’s inappropriate for President Bush to call Jihadists fascists because “jihadists aren’t statists” (via Instapundit.)
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Okay, well, how can we square this assertion with the former Taliban government in Afghanistan or the current Iranian regime?
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If you read Paul Berman’s excellent book “Terror and Liberalism” (and everybody should), you’ll be AMAZED at just how many links there are between classic European fascism on the one hand and the Muslim movements we’re dealing with on the other. I mean what would you call the Baath movement of Iraq and of Syria but a classic fascist movement? (And you’ll find that their history is actually directly connected with European fascism). It’s true that the “Islamist” movements have some different wrinkles. But as the Buddhists say, are they more the same, or more different? And again, don’t forget about the Spanish Phalangists — widely considered to be a classic “fascist” movement — who incorporated the religous angle, albeit in a European and Christian form.

Here’s more Berman on the subject (but do check out his book.)

Also…we blogged about Berman and the meaning of Iraq at awhile back.

Personally, I am thrilled that Bush is finally articulating this.

Over at EU Referendum we see the Director’s Cut of Qana.

The narrative here is of how the combination of Hezbollah’s media management and modern photo-journalism has turned the recording of a tragic event into theatre, in the best tradition of Michael Moore.

As best we can, we have pieced together the jumble of evidence which surrounded the production of the iconic photographs which were published around the world, and put them in perspective. Many of the photographs have been used before, some are new to this site and others are video “grabs”. But it is not the pictures, per se, that tell the story, so much as their ordering and analysis. Make of this what you will, but I can assure you that you are not supposed to see them in this light.

The “story” - for that is what it is - starts here, in the wreckage of the buiding at Qana which is performing the temporary and unwholesome function of a morgue. It is from here, that the bodies are extracted, the essential props of this theatre. And standing on the left of the frame is one of the two star characters of our story, Mr “White Tee-Shirt”. With equal accuracy, though, we could call him Mr Hezbollah, for reasons which will become apparent [...]

A letter to the editor at the Lansing STate Journal:

Islam or death

I read Le Roy Barnett’s letter (“Muslims, speak up,” June 26) about Muslims’ opinion on Abdul Rahman’s conversion to Christianity.

Islam is not only a religion, it is a complete way of life. Islam guides Muslims from birth to grave. The Quran and prophet Muhammad’s words and practical application of Quran in life cannot be changed.

Islam is a guide for humanity, for all times, until the day of judgment. It is forbidden in Islam to convert to any other religion. The penalty is death. There is no disagreement about it.

Islam is being embraced by people of other faiths all the time. They should know they can embrace Islam, but cannot get out. This rule is not made by Muslims; it is the supreme law of God.

Please do not ask us Muslims to pick some rules and disregard other rules. Muslims are supposed to embrace Islam in its totality.

Nazra Quraishi
East Lansing

Hat Tip: LGF

Go check out lawhawk’s comprehensive roundup.

Meryl Yourish, who is always a pleasure to read, has the latest on the IDF’s response to the incursion, kidnapping, and murder by the “palestinians”.

Cox and Forkum weigh in.

Excellent response by Treasury Secretary Snow to Keller over at The Corner:

Mr. Bill Keller, Managing Editor
The New York Times
229 West 43rd Street
New York, NY 10036

Dear Mr. Keller:

The New York Times’ decision to disclose the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program, a robust and classified effort to map terrorist networks through the use of financial data, was irresponsible and harmful to the security of Americans and freedom-loving people worldwide.  In choosing to expose this program, despite repeated pleas from high-level officials on both sides of the aisle, including myself, the Times undermined a highly successful counter-terrorism program and alerted terrorists to the methods and sources used to track their money trails.

Your charge that our efforts to convince The New York Times not to publish were “half-hearted” is incorrect and offensive.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Over the past two months, Treasury has engaged in a vigorous dialogue with the Times - from the reporters writing the story to the D.C. Bureau Chief and all the way up to you.  It should also be noted that the co-chairmen of the bipartisan 9-11 Commission, Governor Tom Kean and Congressman Lee Hamilton, met in person or placed calls to the very highest levels of the Times urging the paper not to publish the story.  Members of Congress, senior U.S. Government officials and well-respected legal authorities from both sides of the aisle also asked the paper not to publish or supported the legality and validity of the program.

Indeed, I invited you to my office for the explicit purpose of talking you out of publishing this story.  And there was nothing “half-hearted” about that effort.  I told you about the true value of the program in defeating terrorism and sought to impress upon you the harm that would occur from its disclosure.  I stressed that the program is grounded on solid legal footing, had many built-in safeguards, and has been extremely valuable in the war against terror.  Additionally, Treasury Under Secretary Stuart Levey met with the reporters and your senior editors to answer countless questions, laying out the legal framework and diligently outlining the multiple safeguards and protections that are in place.

You have defended your decision to compromise this program by asserting that “terror financiers know” our methods for tracking their funds and have already moved to other methods to send money.  The fact that your editors believe themselves to be qualified to assess how terrorists are moving money betrays a breathtaking arrogance and a deep misunderstanding of this program and how it works.  While terrorists are relying more heavily than before on cumbersome methods to move money, such as cash couriers, we have continued to see them using the formal financial system, which has made this particular program incredibly valuable.

Lastly, justifying this disclosure by citing the “public interest” in knowing information about this program means the paper has given itself free license to expose any covert activity that it happens to learn of - even those that are legally grounded, responsibly administered, independently overseen, and highly effective.  Indeed, you have done so here.

What you’ve seemed to overlook is that it is also a matter of public interest that we use all means available - lawfully and responsibly - to help protect the American people from the deadly threats of terrorists.  I am deeply disappointed in the New York Times.

Sincerely,

[signed]

John W. Snow, Secretary

U.S. Department of the Treasury

Amen.

AbbaGav was first to relay the information in my RSS feeder. Could be his time zone helped.

Cox & Forkum right on time:

From Allah:

And from MSNBC on how we got it done here. Excerpt:

Two U.S. F-16 jets on patrol over Iraq were scrambled Wednesday evening as part of an intense six-week manhunt for Iraq’s most-wanted terrorist. U.S. military officials tell NBC News the jets were tracking Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s top deputy, Abu Abdul Rahman, as he headed to a meeting with Zarqawi in an isolated two-story farmhouse 40 miles north of Baghdad.

When U.S. special forces confirmed Zarqawi was inside, they fired two 500-pound bombs. U.S. military officials, who swept the area after the attack, say Zarqawi, Rahman and four others were killed instantly.

“We have been able to identify al-Zarqawi through fingerprint verification, facial recognition and known scars,” said Gen. William Casey, the commander of the multinational force in Iraq.

Moonbat Reaction:

    Some Democrats, breaking ranks from their leadership, today said the death of terrorist leader Abu Musab Zarqawi in Iraq was a stunt to divert attention from an unpopular and hopeless war.
    ”This is just to cover Bush’s [rear] so he doesn’t have to answer” for Iraqi civilians being killed by the U.S. military and his own sagging poll numbers, said Rep. Pete Stark, California Democrat. “Iraq is still a mess — get out.”
    Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich, Ohio Democrat, said Zarqawi was a small part of “a growing anti-American insurgency” and that it’s time to get out.
    ”We’re there for all the wrong reasons,” Mr. Kucinich said.
    Officially, Democratic leaders reacted positively to the news and praised the troops that successfully targeted al Qaeda’s leader in Iraq with 500-pound bombs at his safe house 30 miles from Baghdad.
    ”This is a good day for the Iraqi people, the U.S. military and our intelligence community,” said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

Read it at the Washington Times.

Ok. I am being dramatic. Well, at least in this context. However, we all know that if you leave Islam, you can be executed as an apostate. Makes me a little hesitant to join.

Quotable:

“We expect the government to make the enemy understand that it should change its hostile positions, as the future belongs to Islam,” it said.

The paper also recalled a letter once sent by Iran’s late revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, in which he suggested conversion to Islam.

[...]

In his letter, Ahmadinejad proposed a return to religious principles as a means of restoring confidence between the two countries and revisits many of the grievances that Tehran has against Washington.

“Will you not accept this invitation?” asks Ahmadinejad in the letter, written in English and sent on Monday.

“That is, a genuine return to the teachings of prophets, to monotheism and justice, to preserve human dignity and obedience to the Almighty and His prophets?” read the letter.

While for some reason Iranian’s are all excited about their “clever audacity” they US…well, shrugs:

US officials have dismissed the rambling 18-page letter — the first open, top-level communication by Iranian leaders since ties with Washington were cut in 1980 — as more of a philosophical treatise than a political overture.

They also said it did not change Washington’s position in a worsening dispute over Tehran’s disputed nuclear-energy programme, which despite Iranian denials is seen in the West as a cover for weapons development.

Check it here.

Update and error correction: the original post [just moments ago] stated NYT. The organization with hoaxy sourcing revealed by Rusty and others was the Sunday Times.

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A response to a lunatic commenter in this post over at the Jawa Report. A good post worth reading for the clarity around what we are dealing with in terms of the character of the enemy AND fact-checking the Sunday Times.

Anyway, on to the time I wasted spraying moonbat repellent:

Not even sure that reasoning is possible with this john fellow, BUT there was too much insanity in this comment for me not to do a hack summary refutation of all things moonbat mentioned:

The colonial occupation forces are responsible of
of the beheading of (IRAQ) and not this journalist!!

You’re not from around here, are you? Heh.

Colonialization requires full or partial political control. We have limited to moderate influence, but no control. Not since the dissolution of the CPA. It also requires settlers and an exploitation of the economy or resources. Our military personnel hardly qualify as settlers. And if we were really in it for the oil, we would have seized the fields and ensured cheap and exclusive export to the US. Hell, all we needed to do was lift the sanctions on Saddam if it was really just for the oil and therefor cheap energy/gas. War and its uncertainties _negatively impacts_ export systems, price stability, production, and a times, gross supply as a result of two of those and other factors. No one with any common sense thinks it is about the oil. Makes a great bumper sticker, though. And the analysis is about as deep as the thickness of one of those stickers.

The fanatics who do the beheading are responsible for their heinous actions. you know–cuz THEY do it, Not the US. They achieved barbarism all on their own. The war is simply intensifying their actions and increasing exposure. All one needs to do is spend some time researching the “justice” systems and culture in Iran and Saudi Arabia to see that Islam and its Sharia=barbarism, except by medieval standards. COme to think of it, Islam is stuck 700 years ago, so the barbarism actually fits. It also needs to be stopped.

The US is not a terrorist organization. Terrorism specifically means _targeting civilians_ for the purpose of creating fear in the populace, instability, and influencing policy, etc. That is simply not something we do. We are more careful with civilians than any military in the history of mankind. By far.

…they invade that country to ensure democracy!!!!who believes them??

Most who are clear about the perhaps hopelessly idealistic, but nevertheless strategic vision of democratizing the Middle East. That’s who. Although I must say, we should have enforced secular constitutions in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Separation of Koran and State, a free press, civilian control of the military, free markets, equal rights and universal suffrage, property rights, the rule of law and an independent judiciary…and the protection of the [negative not positive] rights of the individual above any group or organization…these are what is important. Democracy for democracy’s sake can get ugly with a tribal, islamofascist mentality. But yes, I believe them. Not the only reason we went to be sure, but certainly a major strategic element.

where is the mass weapons you came for???

Most who are informed think Bekka Valley and other points in Syria. Possibly Iran, but primarily Syria and the Bekka.

Abu Ghraib is a black spot in the forhead of the violent aggressive terrorists who invaded that country and destroyed it completely.

Abu Ghraib is certainly a black spot. And, in a military of hundreds of thousands of personnel strong, mistakes are made. To point to this and not to balance it with the attrocities of Saddam and other militaries [heck how about the UN Peacekeeping troops globally accused of child molestation?! only demonstrate a lack of clarity and balance [at best].

The larger point is war is always messy and mistakes will be made. What is important within that is to acknowledge our mistakes in a useful and forward fashion: learn and integrate the learning and change policy/standards where necessary.

that is the type of democarcy they want to establish! you can not fool people, these are more intelligent than the chief commander i.e. (Adolph) Bush!!

Ah yes. Bush is Hitler. All this assertion points out is the historical illiteracy of the writer. Bush is no Hitler. Hell, he is not even a Lincoln. Lincoln suspended Habeus Corpus, jailed newspaper editors and judges, etc. In terms of despotism/fascism Bush is a 2 on a Hitler scale of 10. And given we are AT WAR he should probably be a 3.

a simple question: what is the difference betwen
the Nazi actions and what we see now in Iraq?

Ummmm…it is less popular to kill Jews? Well, not really. Less organized/effective at same? Short answer: A Lot. Do a little research and get a grip.

they invaded that country for stealing the oil
and getting revenge for Sept. 11, and for the sake of Israel…

Not even gonna to waste more time on this tired tripe.

They will lose, in deed they lost the war: morally
(Abu Ghraib and Pucca), and militarilly (great
losses of the occupation forces every day…
the will of people can not be defeated!!??

Good. Cuz the “will of the people” is what Iraqi’s now get to exercise rather than the will of a person in Saddam. And they get to experience and evolve that process thanks to US intervention. There are many great reasons to have gone in that are still valid. But let’s just take one that is often not mentioned. Saddam violated DOZENS of U.N. Resolutions. The US military is [like it or not] the de facto enforcement body for the UN. No one else has the logistical capabilities, the precision, the skill, the will, and the volume of ordinance to do it. Even our allies have trouble communicating with us in the battle-space due to technology gaps we are closing with our anglo-shphere [you know, the credible countries] allies. The bottom line is that “mandatory” resolutions only mean something if they are back with swift and resounding force [or at least the credible threat of it]. Dude was makin’ a mockery of the UN Sec Council [and WMD's AND ties to training, supporting, funding [Palestinian suicide bomber families] terror. Plus, if we can get the Iraqis to be self-sustaining, Iraq makes a great staging ground for point East [Iran] and Northwest [Syria. Best point of entry in the longer war.

It would be great if our "allies" were wiling to do the peacekeeping/post major ops role to leave us free to do the heavy lifting elsewhere, but now I am really dreaming big.

/moonbat repellant

I am beginning to think that BDS [Bush Derangement Syndrome] is not a new ailment. Rather a renaming of one that existed already, and under recent events [including being out of the majority] just exposed the lunacy of many in the fevered left.

…for the pro-freedom rally at the Danish consulate yesterday:

The Only Republican in San Francisco has some first hand details:

“I just got back and it went well. We had 70-80 people, among them a Danish journalism student from Berkeley, many flags, a hottie handing out Havarti and a complete absence of local media.”

Let’s hope we see more events like this. I found out about it too late to make it over there, but I’d love to get to the next one…

Interesting to see that T.O.R.I.S.F. poses the following question in the header area of his blog: “Imagine being an empirical, free-market thinker in a liberal town.”

Hmmmmmmmm… Gee, I wonder what that WOULD be like?

Personal to TORISF: let’s talk.

Somehow “dumb idea” doesn’t quite convey the scope of this decision by the Bush Administration:

WASHINGTON - Two Republican governors on Monday questioned a Bush administration decision allowing an Arab-owned company to operate six major U. S. ports, saying they may try to cancel lease arrangements at ports in their states.

New York Gov. George Pataki and Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich voiced doubts about the acquisition of a British company that has been running the U.S. ports by Dubai Ports World, a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates.

The British company, Peninsular and Oriental, runs major commercial operations at ports in Baltimore, Miami, New Jersey, New Orleans, New York and Philadelphia.

“Ensuring the security of New York’s port operations is paramount and I am very concerned with the purchase of Peninsular & Oriental Steam by Dubai Ports World,” Pataki said in a news release.

According to the FBI, most of the funding for the 9/11 attacks came though UAE financial institutions. All it takes is this and Iran [with the shipped flagged UAE] floating a nuke into one of these ports on a cargo ship and we are fucked.

I am going to be generous and say that they just did nto think this through and they better fucking start thinking things through.

At least the governors still seem to have their wits about them. Jesus.

MAJOR UPDATE: Maybe I spoke too soon. Suddenly I am fascinated. This has become quite an interesting item with the President threatening a veto [it would be his first ever] of any legislation to bar this deal. Frist has spoken of overriding it. Hmmm.

Instapundit has a full round-up. Just go over there and keep on scrolling down this post.

More up-to-date UPDATE:

more at LGF.

This image of Pakistani protestors appeared on Germany’s TV station n-tv.de.

Hat tip: Little Green Footballs.

I don’t know about you, but seeing this picture makes me want to go out and by some Danish products.

Last July 4^th I wrote a piece defending our Founding Fathers against the accusation of being equivalent to Terrorists. In it, I pointed out that to call American Patriots terrorists was to sabotage the meaning of the word “terrorism.” It might be semantically possible, but it is spin doctoring at its worse.

Now, I would like to point out a similar dilution of language around what have been called “protests” by Muslim fanatics who are burning Italian embassies for Mohammed cartoons about that were published in Denmark. To call these acts “protests” is both to dignify them beyond their due, and to cast a pall on the
great tradition of social protest. These acts of vandalism and destruction are not organized attempts to raise the consciousness of a culture, but pointless and chaotic expressions of hate, fear, and frustration.

I can hear the liberal revisionists screaming at me even now – who am I to determine what is or is not a legitimate protest? Didn’t our Founding Fathers destroy property and kill to communicate their sense of injustice? Aren’t these protests the equivalent of our own revolutionary beginnings?

Perhaps I am old fashioned, but I suggest that rebelling against your government for political freedom is fundamentally different than mindless vandalism against innocents out of a desire to control the world. American Patriots were not rebelling against the British to force the British to believe their beliefs but fighting so that each person could have their own. They were not offering million dollar rewards to quell the speech of (murder) the cartoonists that dared to disagree with them, but fighting for the freedom of speech for all.

To highlight the difference between considered social protest to further the rights of all and mindless rioting against innocents to silence the rights of others, I suggest we spin the language to its limits and elevate these “protests” to the status of rebellion – The Cartoon Rebellions. It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? Only these aren’t rebels without a cause, only rebels without a clue.

The Cartoon Rebellions – a world-wide swath of destruction so absurd that we would think it was a bad comic strip. Cartoons causing people to act like cartoons, while cartoon apologists strive to find politically correct ways to appease the rioters. An elaborate joke that would be hilarious if it were not so tragic, unbelievable if it were not so real.

Over at the Jawa Report.

For those of you who do not know, it was Flynt, Hustler Magazine’s Publisher, in the landmark Supreme Court case Flynt v. Falwell [yes, that Falwell] that forced this Country to decide that offending religious sensibilities was protected speech.

That was only 30 years ago folks.

Flynt:

Freedom of speech is only important if you’re gonna offend someone; if you’re not gonna offend someone, you don’t need free speech.

No shit.

Read the rest of the interview here.

Read the whole thing.

Sample:

We are being pissed upon

I think it was the long departed H.C. Hansen, one of the great Danish statesmen of the last century, who – as the communists were demonstrating in front of Christiansborg [the Danish Parliament] – cast his gaze across the palace square and remarked: “I will not be pissed upon.”

Then he did what was necessary.

I feel that currently my beloved country is being pissed upon rather too much. Denmark has not been neglecting its duties on the international stage. We have supported poor people with acts and advice, we have worked for peace, we have sent soldiers, policemen and experts to all the far flung corners of the world. We have democracy, a rule of law and a welfare state. Not all is perfect, but we harbor no malice towards our fellow men.

And yet Denmark is being pissed upon. The spokesman of the US State Department is pissing on Denmark, the British Secretary of Foreign Affairs is pissing on Denmark, the President of Afghanistan is pissing on Denmark, the Government of Iraq is pissing on Denmark, other Muslim regimes are pissing on Denmark. In Gaza, where Danes for years have provided humanitarian aid, crazed Imams encourage people to cut off the hands and heads of the cartoonists who made the drawings of Mohammed for the Jyllands-Posten newspaper.

Excuse my choice of words, but all this pissing is pissing me off.

What is going on? I am not referring so much to the threats against Danish citizens and Danish commerce. Nor to the burnt down Embassies. I am thinking of a word that keeps popping up whenever the Mohammed cartoons are mentioned.

That word is BUT. A sneaky word. It is used to deny or qualify what one has just said.

How many times lately have we not heard people of power, the Opinion Makers and others say that of course we have freedom of speech, BUT.

They have said it, all of them, from Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General, to our own Bendt Bendtsen [a Danish Politician]. Once we had to be sensitive to the easily hurt feelings of the Nazis, then came the Communists, now it is the Islamists. The reason I say ‘Islamists’ is that I do not for a moment believe all the world’s Muslims are pissing on us. I think we are dealing with thugs, fools and misled people. Those are the ones we have to deal with, and then the chickenshit politicians.

Can I get a fucking “amen”?

I say again, be sure to read the whole thing.

Tom Paine over at silent running thinks that this is unacceptable.

I disagree. And I say:

I actually think it is not only perfectly acceptable–but a good thing.

The islamofascists are showing the world it is not the American “imperialism” or our “irrational” support of the joooooos, or our foreign policy of the past, but rather the fevered mentality of a religiosity filled with hate and edicts to force all to submit to the will of Allah.

Perhaps now the appeasers and softball MSM will actually see the truth and begin to call an islamofascist an islamofascist rather than a “militant”, “dissident”, etc.

Maybe they will actually use “terrorist” to describe an attack on Paris. An attack, that while would be horrifying, may actually be needed to wake up the appeasers of all appeasers–the French.

No, I fear this is not only acceptable, but necessary to wake up the Left in America and the Europeans in general to the true threat we face. I hope they wake up quickly and join us in joining the enemy in Iraq, Iran, and Syria.

Sad, but true.

See Tom’s post here.

The cause of the tsunami has been discovered.

Glad they figured that out.

Alexandra over at All Things Beautiful has a great post on The Clash of Civilizations. You get three guesses as to which civilizations [and the first 2 guesses do not count].

Just keep scrolling, reading, and clicking. She really has put together an impressive post.

And as I have mentioned before in passing we should be looking at this clash through the lens of Spiral Dynamics.

Islam is Red, GW Bush is Blue, those profiting in the War on Terror are Orange, those anti-war are Green. Those who see all sides as well as their limitations…are integral or yellow.

Those who see the dangers of Red, are grateful Blue is keeping them in check, can understand Orange’s desire for profit and appreciate the services they are providing [especially logistics], demands that Green, if it is going to condemn GW that is also condemns Islamo-fascism and Saddam and can see the need for war at times, are Yellow or Integral.

Oh Man. I read this story a couple of days ago, but Jeff Goldstein of Protein Wisdom hits it out of the park on exposing the hearts and minds of the Moonbat Brigade. Funniest thing I have read in a long time. I wonder if the loony left gets just how badly out of touch with the reality of this enemy they are. Is it just Bush Derangement Syndrome? Or do they really think we can take Islamists and “hug ‘em and squeeze ‘em and call ‘em George”?

Forgive them, American, for they know not what they do. From Cox and Forkum:

DUBAI — Al Qaeda frontman in Iraq Abu Musab Al Zarqawi has said Islam permits the killing of “infidel” civilians, according to an audiotape broadcast on the Internet early Saturday.

“In Islam, making the difference is not based on civilians and military, but on the basis of Muslims and infidels,” said the voice attributed to the fugitive leader who has a 25-million-dollar price on his head.

“The Muslim’s blood cannot be spilled whatever his work or place, while spilling the blood of the infidel, whatever his work or place, is authorized if he is not trustworthy,” said the tape, whose veracity could not be determined.

The recording comes a day after US officials claimed to have seized a letter allegedly sent to Zarqawi by Al Qaeda number two Ayman Zawahiri, in which he raised concerns over the impact on Arab opinion of videotaped executions.

Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born Islamist extremist, is Iraq’s most wanted man.

His Al Qaeda Group of Jihad in the Land of Two Rivers has claimed responsibility for some of the most gruesome attacks in Iraq, including the beheadings of foreign hostages and Iraqis.

An Islamic Guide to Beating your Wife

MADRID — An imam who wrote a book on how to beat your wife without leaving marks on her body has been ordered by a judge in Spain to study the country’s constitution.
    The judge told Mohamed Kamal Mustafa, imam of a mosque in the southern resort of Fuengirola, to spend six months studying three articles of the constitution and the universal declaration of human rights.
    Mr. Mustafa was sentenced to 15 months in jail and fined about $2,600 last year after being found guilty of inciting violence against women.
    A judge released him after 22 days in jail on the condition that he undertake a re-education course.
    The Spanish government has set up a commission to find ways for the Muslim community to regulate itself. A central recommendation is that imams speak Spanish and have a basic knowledge of human rights and Spanish law.
    In his book “Women in Islam,” published four years ago, Mr. Mustafa wrote that verbal warnings followed by a period of sexual inactivity could be used to discipline a disobedient wife.
    If that failed, he argued that, according to Islamic law, beatings could be judiciously administered.
    ”The blows should be concentrated on the hands and feet using a rod that is thin and light so that it does not leave scars or bruises on the body,” he wrote.

Remember, multiculturalists, that when you tolerate all cultures, you are co-signing this behavior.

Things that offend Islam.

and its treatment of women:

MULTAN, Pakistan - A Pakistani man cut off the nose and lips of his 19-year-old sister-in-law after she went to court for a divorce in a tribal area of the central province of Punjab, police said on Thursday.

Abbas then attacked the girl, hacking off her nose and slicing off her lips.

A doctor treating the girl said her nose had been cut off from the bridge and her lips partially severed.

Numerous cases have also been reported of women being disfigured as punishment for offending a man‘s honour.

Full story here.

And if you can stand it, here are National Geographic photos of a similar case. Extremely disturbing. Be forewarned. See them here and
here.

This is the ideology we are at war with, people.

Hat Tip Dhimmi Watch

“Legacy of September 11th, 2005: Israel Spawns Terror Base for the Enemy” by David Bedein

As Israel pulled its troops out of the areas where 21 Jewish communities had thrived in the Katif district of Gaza and four more Jewish communities in Northern Samaria, the Israeli public was under the mistaken impression that the IDF handed over a piece of scorched earth to the Palestinian population. Hundreds of bulldozed homes from 26 Jewish communities of Katif and Northern Samaria were shown on the Israeli media being turned into rubble by Israeli army bulldozers.

Not one Israeli media outlet showed the 400 public buildings that the IDF did not bulldoze - schools, youth clubs, town council buildings, shelters, and electric grids - which Israel handed over to the Palestinian Authority, founded by the PLO - an entity defined by the preamble of Israel’s own disengagement plan as anything but a “peace partner”.

It is hard to find anyone in Israel who knows that a premise of the Disengagement plan was to leave the buildings and economic infrastructure ONLY for a “Palestinian population not involved in terror”, and that the Israeli government completely ignored that fundamental requirement.

Meanwhile, the PLO, which runs Gaza through its Palestinian Authority. is comprised of rival Arab terror organizations, all of whom remain in a state of total war with Israel, including the Fateh, headed by the titular leader of the Palestinian Authority - Machmud Abbas.

Yet in a generation weaned on the hopes of the Oslo process, it is hard to find anyone in Israel who knows that the Arab League, created for the sole purpose of destroying Israel, pioneered the PLO back in 1964 to fulfill that same goal, which has never changed.

It is hard to anyone in Israel who knows that the creation of a Palestinian entity in a section of “Palestine” was in keeping with the PLO’s “strategy of phases”, which was conceived by Abbas himself as an amendment to the PLO Covenant of war with Israel.

It is hard to find anyone in Israel who knows that the PLO never nullified its covenant of war to destroy Israel, albeit in stages.

Read it all. Hat tip: Dhimmi Watch

An on-line chat transcript: why we must stay in Iraq.

Furthermore, Israel is no more a racist state for creating a haven for Jews then Saudi Arabia is a racist state for creating a haven for Arabs. Whosoever points an accusing finger toward Israel in this regard will find four fingers pointing back at them, because Israel is a democratic state where freedom of religion is enjoyed by a multitude of ethnic groups. Charges of racism are empty and inflammatory.

Jews are willing to share their land with the Palestinians. But peace also depends upon the willingness of Palestinians to share their land with the Jews. Please ask yourself a basic question: If Israel laid down her weapons and retired her army, navy and air force, how long do you think it would take for Israel to be conquered by Muslims? Days? Weeks? Or Months?

Now, ask yourself the question in reverse. If all of Israel’s neighbors laid down their weapons in the same manner, is it likely Israel would attempt to conquer Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia? I believe honest answers to these questions clarify the essence of the conflict. Namely that only one party seeks the destruction of the other.

Go read it all.

In Indonesia:

JAKARTA (ANS) — The three women charged with violating Indonesia’s 2002 Child Protection Act by Christianizing Muslim children were found guilty today of all charges in an Indonesian court charged with anti-Christian radicals.

Jeff Hammond, director of Bless Indonesia Today, told ANS Dr. Rebecca Laonita, Mrs. Ratna Mala Bangun, and Mrs. Ety Pangesti, who conducted a “Happy Week” (or “Happy Sunday”) program in their homes in early May, were found “guilty of all charges” and given a sentence of three years.

Hammond pointed out that the guilty verdict was pronounced, even though the children had their parents’ permission to attend, and none of them had changed their religion.

Full Story here. VIA the indispensable Robert Spencer.

And here is another one from his site:

August 30 (Compass) — Bektas Erdogan never expected his Christian faith of 11 years to jeopardize his career as a fashion designer in Turkey.

Hired five months ago by a designer jeans company in the Beyazit district of Istanbul, Erdogan was assured by his Muslim boss that he would be evaluated on the basis of his work, not his religion.

After his first collection sold successfully in Russia, Erdogan thought the phone call he received earlier this month from his employer — asking him to come to work on a Sunday afternoon — boded well. Maybe there was a surprise company dinner.

But that evening at the shop, his supervisor angrily accused him of “missionary work” and “brainwashing.” With the help of two employees and a relative, he beat Erdogan for two hours. The men repeatedly struck the designer’s head and face with their fists and the butt of a pistol. Three times Erdogan’s boss attempted to shoot him, but the gun failed to fire.

“He really wanted to kill me. It wasn’t just to scare me,” said Erdogan, who told Compass that he prayed for help and meditated on Bible verses while his attackers threatened to murder him and hide his body.

His co-workers released the 32-year-old Erdogan with a swollen and bloody face around 9 p.m., warning that they would kill him later. Since then, he has received three anonymous phone calls threatening his life.

Spencer asks the very poignant question: what would happen if Christians in the West did this to Muslims? I wonder.

As long as we are at it, here is a video [.WMV] to download if you can stand to watch people being stoned to death for adultery by members of the “Religion of Peace”. Watch it at your own risk knowing what they are doing.

One of these days, multiculturalist will eventually wake up and realize that some cultures are vile and must not be allowed in civilized societies. Muslim Sharia Law is one of them. Period.

From WorldNetDaily: How Pakistan’s Dr. X sold al-Qaida Islamic bomb

Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, the “father of the Islamic bomb” and the “godfather of nuclear proliferation,” provided nuclear expertise, nuclear materials, and designs for atomic weapons to Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri to assist in the realization of the “American Hiroshima.”

The American Hiroshima plan represents al-Qaida’s plan for the nuclear destruction of the United States. It calls for the detonation of seven tactical nuclear devices in seven U.S. cities at the same time. Each device, according to the plan, must be equipped to produce an explosive yield of 10 kilotons to equal the 1945 blast in Hiroshima that killed 242,437 Japanese civilians.

go and read the rest now.

And this as well:

Al-Qaida’s prime targets for launching nuclear terrorist attacks are the nine U.S. cities with the highest Jewish populations, according to captured leaders and documents.

As first revealed last week in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence newsletter published by the founder of WND, Osama bin Laden is planning what he calls an “American Hiroshima,” the ultimate terrorist attack on U.S. cities, using nuclear weapons already smuggled into the country across the Mexican border along with thousands of sleeper agents.

The series of attacks is designed to kill 4 million, destroy the economy and fundamentally alter the course of history.

At least two fully assembled and operational nuclear weapons are believed to be hidden in the United States already, according to G2 Bulletin intelligence sources and an upcoming book, “The al-Qaida Connection: International Terrorism, Organized Crime and the Coming Apocalypse,” by former FBI consultant Paul L. Williams.

The cities chosen as optimal targets are New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Boston and Washington, D.C. New York and Washington top the preferred target list for al-Qaida leadership.

Yes… all of it.

The Weekly Standard
See No Evil, Hear No Evil
From the September 5 / September 12, 2005 issue: What the 9/11 Commission narrative left out: Iraqis.
by Stephen F. Hayes
09/05/2005, Volume 010, Issue 47

AHMED HIKMAT SHAKIR IS A shadowy figure who provided logistical assistance to one, maybe two, of the 9/11 hijackers. Years before, he had received a phone call from the Jersey City, New Jersey, safehouse of the plotters who would soon, in February 1993, park a truck bomb in the basement of the World Trade Center. The safehouse was the apartment of Musab Yasin, brother of Abdul Rahman Yasin, who scorched his own leg while mixing the chemicals for the 1993 bomb.

When Shakir was arrested shortly after the 9/11 attacks, his “pocket litter,” in the parlance of the investigators, included contact information for Musab Yasin and another 1993 plotter, a Kuwaiti native named Ibrahim Suleiman.

These facts alone, linking the 1993 and 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, would seem to cry out for additional scrutiny, no?

The Yasin brothers and Shakir have more in common. They are all Iraqis. And two of them–Abdul Rahman Yasin and Shakir–went free, despite their participation in attacks on the World Trade Center, at least partly because of efforts made on their behalf by the regime of Saddam Hussein. Both men returned to Iraq–Yasin fled there in 1993 with the active assistance of the Iraqi government. For ten years in Iraq, Abdul Rahman Yasin was provided safe haven and financing by the regime, support that ended only with the coalition intervention in March 2003.

Readers of The Weekly Standard may be familiar with the stories of Abdul Rahman Yasin, Musab Yasin, and Ahmed Hikmat Shakir. Readers of the 9/11 Commission’s final report are not. Those three individuals are nowhere mentioned in the 428 pages that comprise the body of the 9/11 Commission report. Their names do not appear among the 172 listed in Appendix B of the report, a table of individuals who are mentioned in the text. Two brief footnotes mention Shakir.

Why? Why would the 9/11 Commission fail to mention Abdul Rahman Yasin, who admitted his role in the first World Trade Center attack, which killed 6 people, injured more than 1,000, and blew a hole seven stories deep in the North Tower? It’s an odd omission, especially since the commission named no fewer than five of his accomplices.

Why would the 9/11 Commission neglect Ahmed Hikmat Shakir, a man who was photographed assisting a 9/11 hijacker and attended perhaps the most important 9/11 planning meeting?

And why would the 9/11 Commission fail to mention the overlap between the two successful plots to attack the World Trade Center?

The answer is simple: The Iraqi link didn’t fit the commission’s narrative.

Go and read it all.