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• The Islamic Law of Apostacy 
   Barnabas Aid magazine, www.barnabasfund.org , Pull-out Supplement, January-February 2009

  Pull-out supplement  

The Islamic Law of Apostacy

 
Introduction
   The right to religious freedom, including the right of individuals to change their religion, is taken for granted by most people in the West.  But in Islam people are only free to change from a non-Islamic faith to Islam; they are not free to change in the opposite direction.  All schools of shari'a (Islamic law) agree that adult male Muslims who leave their faith should be killed, in line with this view, the majority of Muslim scholars past and present hold that apostasy from Islam is a crime carrying the God-prescribed penalty of death.
   Likewise, for most ordinary Muslims today, across the spectrum of beliefs and ideologies, apostasy carries shocking and dreadful associations as a most abhorrent sin.  In 2007 a study found that 36% of British Muslims aged between 16 and 24 believed that those who convert from Islam to another religion should be punished by death. 1  Even for modernist and secularist Muslims apostasy carries negative ideas of treason against one's community.  Apostates are viewed as traitors, bringing great shame on their families and communities.  This attitude explains why so few Muslim voices are ever raised in defence of those accused of apostasy.
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The legal basis in Islam for the apostasy law
   Shari'a is based on the Qur’an [= Quran, Koran] and on Muhammad's example, as recorded in traditions called hadith.  In the early centuries of Islam, these sources were developed by consensus (ijma') and analogy (qiyas) into rules and regulations that were set down in the manuals of the various shari'a schools of law.
   According to criminal law in shari'a, the state must impose mandatory punishments (hudud, sing. hadd) for certain specific crimes that are supposedly committed against God and his rights.  These hudud crimes make up a separate category in shari'a criminal law, because they are the only ones to carry divinely-ordained punishments, which cannot be altered by humans.  Apostasy (irtidad) is included in the list of hudud crimes by three of the Islamic schools of law; apostasy is thus viewed as a very severe crime for which God himself has prescribed the death penalty.  The other schools of law, though giving judges greater flexibility in cases of apostasy, still decree the death penalty for apostates.
Qur’an
   Given the unanimous rulings of shari'a about the death penalty for adult male apostates, it is rather surprising to discover that the Qur'an itself, the primary source from which shari'a is derived, has no clear statement about the punishment of apostates in this life.
   Apostasy is mentioned in 13 verses of the Qur'an, but the emphasis of these verses is on God's punishment of apostates in the next life.  Here are some examples:
But if any turn away and reject God, God will punish him with a mighty Punishment. (Q 88:23-24)
   Anyone who after accepting faith in Allah utters unbelief except under Compulsion his heart remaining firm in faith but such as open their Breast to unbelief on them is Wrath from Allah and theirs will be a Dreadful Penalty. (Q 16:106)
   … and if any of you turn back from their faith and die in unbelief, their works will bear no fruit in this life and in the Hereafter; they will be Companions of the Fire and will abide therein. (Q 2:217)
Hadith
   Because the Qur'an is so ambiguous, the hadith are therefore the main sources used to justify the shari'a punishment of death for apostates.  For example:
Narrated 'Ikrima: Some Zanadiqa [Muslim heretics] were brought to 'Ali and he burnt them.  The news of this event reached Ibn 'Abbas who said, "If I had been in his place, I would not have burnt them, as Allah's Apostle forbade it, saying, 'Do not punish anybody with Allah's punishment (fire).' I would have killed them according to the statement of Allah's Apostle, 'Whoever changed his [Islamic] religion, then kill him.'" (Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 84, Number 57)
   There are also hadith that promise a special reward in paradise for someone who kills an apostate.
____________________
1 Ruth Gledhill, "British imam's daughter under police protection after converting to Christianity", The Times, 5 December 2007.
ii
  TABLE "The death sentence for apostates from Islam, according to the five main schools of shari‘a."  
[To obtain these details, contact Barnabas Aid, or obtain the publication from Reformed Church circles.]
Other punishments for apostasy
   The shari'a also lays down other types of punishment for an apostate.  These include confiscation of his/her property, separation from spouse and children, loss of inheritance and denial of burial in a Muslim graveyard.
   In practice the death penalty is rarely implemented by Muslim states today, but apostates are commonly deprived of all their civil rights.  This practice is termed "civil death" in Egypt.
A broader definition
   In Islamic law and tradition, apostasy (irtidad) has always been linked to the concepts of unbelief, blasphemy and heresy (all combined under the term kufr), which are sometimes used interchangeably.  In a sense kufr is the main category, while apostasy, blasphemy and heresy are its sub-categories.  Although apostasy, blasphemy and heresy are distinct terms in English, in Arabic kafir is often used to describe an apostate, a blasphemer or a heretic, and all three categories are closely linked, even interchangeable, in the minds of Muslims.
   Although the term "apostate" (murtadd) usually refers to a Muslim who has officially converted to another faith, individuals who consider themselves to be good Muslims also may be accused of unbelief, blasphemy and heresy as well as of apostasy, for reasons such as scepticism, atheism, or not obeying shari'a properly.  Some authorities list 300 different acts that could make a person a kafir, thus giving Muslims plenty of possible reasons for denouncing other Muslims as infidels liable to the death penalty.  This process is known as takfir. 2
   In many cases multiple charges of apostasy, blasphemy, unbelief, heresy and insulting Islam and Muhammad are brought against the accused, thus giving the judges greater flexibility in deciding under which category to define the crime and ensuring that the accused actually is convicted of something.   A feature of accusations of apostasy and blasphemy is the way they are often uncritically accepted as true by members of the police and of the criminal justice system, who require little or no evidence.
Shari'a in modern Muslim states
   Although most modern Muslim states have ratified international agreements on human rights, they limit their validity by adding that the agreements are subject to the authority of shari'a.  Human rights and equality of all before the law are thus interpreted by shari'a, which discriminates on the basis of both religion and gender.
   Many Muslim states had secular constitutions at independence but have engaged in a gradual process of Islamisation since then.  Most have declared Islam to be their state religion, and many have declared shari'a to be the primary source of their law.  Many Muslim states have two parallel legal systems operating: the Western secular system and the Islamic shari'a system.
   Although most states with a mixed system and a written constitution guarantee freedom of religion and equality of treatment to all citizens, in practice a Muslim who rejects his or her faith is often treated as if guilty of treason and liable to the death penalty even if there is no official punishment for apostasy laid down in the constitution or legal system.
Muslim states and apostasy
   In some countries the state legal system has adopted shari'a laws that enable official charges to be made within the state courts against converts from Islam.  (These blasphemy and apostasy laws also enable the state arbitrarily to detain citizens who for any reason are viewed with disfavour by the authorities or by militant Muslims.)
____________________
2 John L. Esposito, ed., The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, pp 439-443.
iii
   Though official proceedings against those who reject Islam are rare, apostasy is punishable by death in Afghanistan, Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen.  It is also treated as illegal in the Comoros, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia and the Maldives.
   Where legal provisions for punishing apostasy do not at present exist, the state or local authorities may harass converts by arresting them on various pretexts, such as public order offences, or by framing them for other "crimes".  These practices also help to avoid any unwelcome attention from Western media.
   Where state legal systems are not interested in such prosecutions, or where they dare not prosecute for fear of condemnation by the West, groups or individuals within the society may act instead to carry out the shari'a penalties.  Islamic scholars and mullahs may issue fatwas demanding the killing of the accused, and families may use force and violence against the convert, which sometimes end in murder as they try to remove the shame that they feel the conversion brings on the whole family.  In some contexts, mobs can be easily incited to frenzied attacks against an alleged apostate.  Individual Muslims zealous for their religion and its honour may take it on themselves to assassinate the accused, believing that they are doing a holy service to God and to Islam.
The application of the apostasy law in the world today
   The examples below focus on countries where there are laws against apostasy, but it is important to remember that everywhere - even in the West - unofficial persecution of converts by family and community is likely to occur.  Furthermore, those who perpetrate the unofficial persecution often go unpunished in Muslim countries, and sometimes even in the West.
Saudi Arabia
   The Qur'an is the state constitution and shari'a the legal system.  Judges have freedom to decide what constitutes apostasy.  In a 1992 case brought against a Shi'a Muslim, who had converted from Sunni Islam, it was reported that the judge told the accused: "Abandon your rejectionist beliefs or I will kill you".
   A young Saudi woman called Fatima al-Mutairi learned about Jesus Christ on the internet and decided to follow Him.  But in 2008 her family discovered her faith, and her brother cut out her tongue and then burned her to death.  It is apparently being considered an "honour crime", and her brother may therefore receive a relatively lenient sentence.  (Turn to page 12 to read a poem written by Fatima.)
Afghanistan
   The 2004 Afghan constitution states that "no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred law of Islam" (Article 3). On this basis an Afghan judge and prosecutor declared in 2006 that the death sentence for apostasy was part of Afghan law and threatened Abdul Rahman, a 41-year-old convert to Christianity, with death.  In the end, under pressure from Western governments, the Afghan authorities found a pretext to dismiss the case.
Egypt
   Although there is no direct law against apostasy, Egyptian Christians who have converted from Islam are often arrested and imprisoned, typically on charges of endangering social peace.  While in detention they may be beaten or tortured.
   Between 1970 and 1982 the courts decreed that apostates had neither the right to marry nor the right to inherit and that their existing marriages were invalid as they were civically dead according to Hanafi shari'a law. In 2002 Al-Azhar University recommended a change in the application of the apostasy law by giving the accused a lifetime to renounce the apostasy instead of the three-day period laid down in shari'a.  This recommendation was severely criticised by many religious leaders.
   A serious problem for Egyptian converts is the fact that they are never given permission to change the religion entered on their ID card from Muslim to Christian.  This makes it very difficult for them to live as Christians and their children also will be registered as Muslims.  On 29 January 2008 Mohammed Hegazy lost his court case against the Egyptian Interior Minister on this issue.  The judge ruled that, according to shari'a, it was lawful to convert only to Islam, not to any other religion.
Jordan
   The Jordanian authorities can be harsh in their treatment of converts from Islam.  On 24 March 2008 Mohammad Abbad, a Christian who had converted from Islam 15 years earlier, was charged with apostasy before the North Amman Shari'a Court.  Earlier that month he and his wife had sheltered in their home two converts who were receiving death threats from relatives.  But the relatives tracked them down and attacked both couples.  When Mohammad went to the police to report the assault, he found that his own father had already reported him to the police, seeking custody of Mohammad's two children.  Lawyers advised Mohammad that he would lose the case if he did not renounce his Christian faith.  Mohammad and his family fled the country on 28 March.  His father then started procedures to have his son's marriage dissolved.
Sudan
   President Nimeiri introduced shari'a law to North Sudan in 1983 and tried also to impose it on the South.  Two years later, an Islamic scholar, Mahmoud Muhammad Taha, was executed for apostasy because of his efforts to liberalise and reform Islam.  In 1989 the National Islamic Front came to power, and in the 1991 constitution the Islamic Code was again enforced.  The use of shari'a as the basis of law and government in North Sudan has since become ever more explicit. Section 126 of the Sudan Criminal Law 1991 makes apostasy from Islam a criminal offence punishable by death.  Although this extreme penalty is seldom implemented, apostates face arrest, imprisonment and torture.
Iran
   Since the 1979 Iranian revolution Shi'a Islam has been the state religion.  Article 4 of the constitution states: "All civil, penal [? ,] financial, economic, administrative, cultural, military, political, and other laws and regulations must be based on Islamic criteria."
iv
   Although the state [Iran] recognises Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism as official religions and gives their followers limited freedoms to worship within their communities, the Baha'is face severe persecution as unprotected infidels.  Various laws place restrictions on religious freedoms.  In cases where there are no specific codified laws to cover a particular case, judges have the right to deliver fatwas based on Islamic sources.  By use of this right, a number of converts from Islam have been sentenced to death for apostasy, and one of them, Hossein Soodmand, was hanged in 1990.  Another convert, Mehdi Dibaj, was sentenced to death in December 1993, released the following month, and then mysteriously murdered in July 1994.
   In recent years many converts active in Christian ministry have been arrested and charged not with apostasy but with, for example, "activities against Islam".  Others have been murdered by security forces.  For example, Ghorban Tori was kidnapped by security forces in November 2005 and stabbed to death.  In July 2008, a couple in their 60s, Abbas Amiri and Sakineh Rahnama Amiri, were beaten so badly by security officers that both later died of their injuries.
   On 2 September 2008, the Iranian Parliament gave provisional approval to a bill that mandates the death penalty for any male Muslim who converts from Islam to another religion, and lifelong imprisonment for female apostates.  If passed into law, this would introduce the death penalty for apostasy into Iranian law, so that judges no longer have to look to Islamic sources to justify death sentences.
Malaysia
   The constitution declares Islam to be the official state religion while guaranteeing religious freedom.  Two states, Kelantan and Terengganu, have passed laws to provide the death penalty for apostasy, but these cannot be enacted because of federal opposition.
   A 1993 law states that it is illegal for a Muslim to change his or her religion.  A convert named Lina Joy took her request for her conversion to Christianity to be formally recognised right to the top of the secular court system, but on 30 May 2007 the Federal Court ruled that the decision must be made by a shari'a court, which was equivalent to a refusal.
   Malays are given political and economic advantages as the indigenous people of the country.  But the legal definition of a Malay includes that the person must be a Muslim, so Malays who convert from Islam lose their ethnic identity and its associated privileges.
Maldives
   A new constitution for the Maldives was ratified on 7 August 2008.  It states that "a non-Muslim may not become a citizen of the Maldives" and "no law contrary to any tenet of Islam shall be enacted".  As a result, around 3,000 Maldivians - and any future converts from Islam - lose their citizenship and all the rights that accompany it, such as freedom of speech, freedom of movement and habeas corpus.
Amending the apostasy law?
   There have been Muslim calls for a reform of the harsh apostasy law and for Islamic leaders to proclaim that it is permissible for Muslims to choose other faiths, just as non-Muslims are allowed (indeed, encouraged) to choose Islam.
   Some modernist Islamic scholars argue from the Qur'an and from the historical context of the hadith that an apostate should not be put to death unless s/he is also a danger to the Islamic state.  They argue that the death sentence given to apostates in early Islam was for their rebellion against the Islamic state, not for their change of faith.  However, the definition of "danger to the Islamic state" is important.  Sheikh Tantawi, the Grand Imam of the influential Egyptian University Al-Azhar, says that an apostate "should be left alone as long as he does not pose a threat or belittle Islam".  It is hard to imagine how those who have left Islam could say anything about their conversion without in some sense being critical of Islam.  Muslims would then, by Tantawi's logic, be "forced to take action".  It is worth noting that he does not specify what that "action" should be, leaving open the possibility of killing the apostate.
[[Sub-heading to be supplied]]
   The Islamic law of apostasy, framed in medieval times, has a huge impact today.  Indeed, its impact is increasing.  This change is partly because of the rise of Islamism (Islamic fundamentalism) and the increased application of shari'a in new regions and states, not only in the Muslim world but also now in the West.  It is also because more Muslims are becoming Christians than ever before in history, so that there are more apostates to be dealt with.
   The apostasy law exerts its influence not only through direct application of the law but also indirectly by shaping Muslim minds, creating immense hostility towards those who leave Islam.
   Muslims are well aware that the rest of the world finds their apostasy law outrageous, and much has been written to try to defend it.  The only hope for real freedom of religion within Islam lies in the abolition of the harsh death penalty for apostasy, indeed any penalty, and allowing total freedom to leave Islam for those who want to do so.
   © Barnabas Fund, 2008
   [RECAPITULATION: Though official proceedings against those who reject Islam are rare, apostasy is punishable by death in Afghanistan, Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen.  It is also treated as illegal in the Comoros, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia and the Maldives. […]
   On 2 September 2008, the Iranian Parliament gave provisional approval to a bill that mandates the death penalty for any male Muslim who converts from Islam to another religion, and lifelong imprisonment for female apostates. […]
   The only hope for real freedom of religion within Islam lies in the abolition of the harsh death penalty for apostasy, indeed any penalty, and allowing total freedom to leave Islam for those who want to do so. ENDS.]
   [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  2:193 (or 2:189):- … Fight the unbelievers until no other religion except Islam is left. <www.submission. org/suras/ sura2.html #193>
   71:26-27 (or 71:27-28):- And Noah said, 'Lord, leave not one single family of Infidels on the Earth:  For if thou leave them they will beguile thy servants and will beget only sinners, infidels. DOCTRINE ENDS.]
   [HADITH:  Bukhari's, Vol. 2, Bk. 19, No. 173:- […] Later on, I saw him killed as a non-believer. < www.usc.edu/ dept/MSA/funda mentals/hadith sunnah/bukhari/ 019.sbt.html# 002.019.173 >
   9, 84:57:- … Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him. TRADITION ENDS.]
   [COMMENT: "East is East, and West is West, and …" -- Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), The Ballad of East and West. COMMENT ENDS.]
http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#the_islamic_law_of
[Received in Dec, to webpage Dec 23-24, '08] [Issue dated Jan-Feb 2009]
• Understanding Sharia Finance: The Muslim Challenge to Western Economics. 

Understanding Shari‘a Finance: The Muslim Challenge to Western Economics

   Barnabas Aid magazine, www.barnabasfund.org (Britain and international) , p 17, January-February 2009
   In this edition we profile a new book from Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, International Director of Barnabas Fund, and look at related resources from Isaac Publishing. Understanding Shari'a Finance, Patrick SOOKHDEO
   The last twenty years have seen a distinctively Islamic financial system become a major player on the world economic stage. Many Muslims have rejected Western financial products and institutions, which they believe to be incompatible with shari'a law. They have also generated a wide range of alternative economic tools, first in Muslim countries and now in the West, and an increasingly lucrative international market.
   Patrick Sookhdeo sees this fast-developing "shari'a finance" as part of the Islamist agenda to subvert and subjugate Western systems under the rule of Islam. In this study he discusses the history and ideas of the movement, the character and spread of the Islamic economy, and the problems and dangers that it may present. In particular he reveals the connections between Islamic finance and radical Islamist groups.
   This stimulating and accessible study will interest anyone concerned about the worldwide Islamic resurgence and its possible implications for global finance and politics.
   "This book is vital to educating businessmen and citizens about the threats posed to our economic and political system by Shari'a Compliant Finance (SCF). Read it and understand that if you accept SCF, you could face terrible unintended consequences." US Representative Sue Myrick, Founder and Co-Chair, Congressional Anti-Terrorism Caucus
   Isaac Publishing, http://www.isaacpublishing.com/, paperback, 114 pp, AU$17 + AU$5 postage #
   [COMMENT: With the banks themselves going bankrupt, and the gross dishonesty of another Ponzi scheme, perhaps Western economics NEEDS some sort of challenge, even if the Muslim challenge is not the right one.  Islamic finance aims to put Westerners, with people of Muslim lands, back into the Middle Ages or even earlier. ENDS.]
http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#understanding_sharia_finance
[Received in Dec, to webpage Dec 27 or 28, '08, copy also to submission reading.] [Issue dated Jan-Feb 2009]
• [Violence spreads when there are enough of them.] 

[Violence spreads when there are enough of them]

   Barnabas Fund "Prayer Focus Update," Issue 148, January 2009
   PRAYER FOCUS UPDATE is a monthly information bulletin with up-to-date news on the persecuted Church to help Christians pray for their suffering brothers and sisters. You can use this for prayer groups, your own information and for inclusion in church magazines.
   It can be sent via email ( info § barnabasfund org ) , is available as printable versions on the Barnabas Fund website ( www.barnabasfund.org ) or can be sent through the post FREE OF CHARGE.  Please contact your national Barnabas Fund office or the UK office if you would like to receive this in the post.
EGYPT – Church building attacked in mass riot  [Muslim majority country]    
   On 23 November an extension to a church building in a Cairo suburb was officially opened. Adjacent land had been purchased, and a large hall added. The church had taken five years to obtain all the required permissions (the country's president has to approve applications for new church buildings). The building, which was initially purchased in 2003 and converted from a textile factory, is used not only for worship but also for various kinds of Christian ministry.
   The sheikh of a nearby mosque that is still under construction had unexpectedly announced its opening on the same day and called for a large-scale protest. In the evening many Christians were inside their building, holding a prayer service, when a crowd of (at least) hundreds surrounded the premises and began to chant threats and throw stones, bottles and gas canisters. They broke down the doors, vandalised the whole of the ground floor and set part of the building on fire. Video footage shows protestors setting banners alight while chanting Islamic slogans. Those trapped inside were badly frightened, several people were wounded, and the glass front of the building was completely destroyed.
   Riot police and fire officers attended the scene, and eventually they used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the demonstrators. In the ensuing melee a car owned by a Christian was badly damaged. Three Christians and at least five Muslims were arrested, but they were later released. Many of the Muslims questioned by police claimed to be under 18 and so were released quickly. The next day all public worship was suspended at the church.
INDIA – Anti-Christian violence spreads to Mumbai  [Hindu rampages]   
   The acts of terror in Mumbai at the beginning of December focused the attention of the world's media on the city and on India. The same notice has not been taken of the sharp increase in anti-Christian violence that began in Orissa State in August and has since spread to many other parts of the country.
   In November this violence also erupted in Mumbai. A prayer meeting was attacked by members of the Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena and Bajrang Dal groups, who alleged that the Christians were involved in forcible conversions. The pastor who was conducting the meeting was manhandled and dragged into the street, where he fainted. Another pastor said, "What's happening around the country has finally affected us here." Police sources say that the attackers had warned the church against distributing literature, but the Christians maintain that they were giving out nothing except "peace pamphlets". They are fearful of a repeat, despite assurances from the police, and have changed the time of their meeting.
   Also in November, the Chief Minister of Orissa admitted that at least certain parts of the Kandhamal district, scene of some of the worst violence, were "not yet calm". For weeks he had been repeating that "everything was under control". His change of tone coincided with the arrival of three government ministers in the state.
   Officials are concerned that economic activity in Kandhamal could come to a complete standstill. Farming was suspended in August as many farmers fled to the forest and were afraid to return. Land has lain uncultivated amid the general insecurity, and unless the harvest can proceed most of the produce will certainly be lost.
   According to the official report, there have been 118 deaths in Orissa, although some sources suggest that the figure may be much higher. Most of the dead are Christians. More than 50,000 have been displaced.
  • Give thanks that eight people have been arrested and charged regarding the attack on the prayer meeting in Mumbai. Pray that the authorities in Orissa will be similarly firm in pursuing those responsible for anti-Christian violence. Pray too for Christian farmers in Kandhamal, that they may have enough to eat.
    IRAN – Intimidation and threats against Christians as Christmas approaches  [Muslim imam-ocracy.]   
       In August Ramtin Soodmand, minister of the Evangelical Church of Iran in Masshad, was arrested and detained by officers from the Iranian Ministry of Information. After a long delay, illegal in Iranian law, he was formally charged with the crime of "anti-government activities". The judge's office released him on bail but has yet to fix a date for his trial. His supporters believe that the real reason for his arrest is that the authorities regard him as an apostate who is involved in Christian ministry. In fact it was his father, Hossein Soodmand, who converted from Islam, and he raised his children as Christians. Hossein Soodmand was hanged for apostasy in 1990.
       As Christmas approaches there are also reports of intimidation and threats against other Iranian Christians, especially new believers from a Muslim background, at the hands of the secret police. Agents have summoned Christians in various places and have forced them to give a written guarantee not to celebrate Christmas by holding services. Some house church leaders have been accused of spying, and have been forbidden from having any contact with other leaders inside or outside Iran.
    SOMALIA – Fears grow for the safety of Christians as violence increases  [Islamist takeover area]     
       At the end of December Ethiopian troops are due to withdraw from Somalia after two years spent supporting the Western-backed government. It is feared that this change will herald the collapse of the administration. Violence against Christians is expected to increase further as a result, and to prompt more refugees to flee across the border to Kenya.
       In one area in the south of the country the militant Muslim group al-Shobab has declared an Islamic state, setting up a governor, security official and chief judge. This move is seen as the latest sign of the organisation's steady advance: it has become dominant in much of the war-torn country, and its fighters are even roaming the streets of the capital, Mogadishu.
       Al-Shobab has already encouraged attacks on Christians in refugee camps. It is reported that in October Salat Sekondo Mberwa of Mogadishu, who was living in the Dadaab camp, was threatened with death by extremists for being an enemy of Islam. He fought them off and was jailed by the camp authorities, but Christians raised the money for a large fine required for his release. On 26 November militants returned to the camp and shot and wounded him. Some Christians have also been abducted in Kenya.
       Aid groups have suggested that these incidents are part of a wider trend in Somalia of extremists' opposing Christianity and trying to impose sharia law. We have reported this year on the martyrdom of several Somali Christians.
  • Pray for the restoration of order in Somalia without recourse to the imposition of sharia law, and that the government will be able to check the advance of al-Shobab.
    BANGLADESH – Islamic parties pledge to enact blasphemy law  [Bangladesh has an overwhelming Muslim majority.]  
       The Jamat-e-Islami (JI) party of Bangladesh has announced its manifesto for the election on 29 December. It has pledged to enact a blasphemy law, and to introduce "mosque-based mass education", if it is voted into power. The party's leader, Motiur Rahman Nizami, said, "All will enjoy religious rights, but criticism or making bad remarks about others' religions is not acceptable," and he appealed to the existence of a blasphemy law in Britain to justify the proposal.
       The proposed law is, however, modelled not on the British blasphemy law but on the much stricter legislation in force in Pakistan, which includes a mandatory death sentence for defiling the name of Muhammad, life imprisonment for desecration of the Qu'ran, and no penalty for false accusations.
       JI is the largest Islamic party in Bangladesh. It is contesting the election as part of a four-party coalition led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party of former premier Khalida Zia. The smaller Jatiya party, not part of the coalition, has also undertaken to enact blasphemy laws.
       In an atmosphere of political corruption, social instability and economic weakness, extremist Islam has thrived in Bangladesh in recent years. It is particularly strong in rural areas, where 80% of the population live and work. Extremists lobby against religious minorities and the work of Christian relief agencies. Calls for the adoption of blasphemy laws are part of their campaign. In Pakistan, although many Muslims are accused of blasphemy, it is clear that non-Muslims are particularly vulnerable to it. Some 60 Christians are accused each year, and even those who are acquitted are vulnerable to attack by extremists.
       Christians make up less than 1% of the Bangladeshi population, which is more than 85% Muslim with a sizeable Hindu minority. Bangladesh was a secular state from its inception in 1971 until 1988, but in that year Islam was declared the state religion. Officially there is religious freedom, but this has been eroded by Islamist pressure and a legal system that gives no safeguards to religious minorities.
  • Please pray for the elections in Bangladesh, that the Islamic parties that have pledged to enact a blasphemy law will not gain the power to do so. Pray too that the progress of extremist Islam will be checked.
  • Pray that the Bangladeshi government will take seriously the country's constitutional commitment to religious liberty. Pray that the Lord will watch over the small Christian community, protecting it from violence and unjust accusations.
    CHRISTMAS – Season of celebration and of danger 
       Christmas should be a time of joy for Christians everywhere, as we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. But it is a time of fear for believers in many parts of the world, as it can be the occasion for an increase in anti-Christian violence. It was on Christmas Eve (24 December) 2007 that the first outbreak occurred in Orissa (see above), and this year a Hindu nationalist group are pressing for a nationwide shutdown on 25 December, raising fears of a further escalation. Here and in other parts of the world, Christmas celebrations have to be muted or even cancelled in case they provoke a hostile response.
  • Please pray for all persecuted Christians as they mark the coming of Christ, that despite their sufferings and insecurity they may know it to be good news of great joy. Pray too for their persecutors, that God will reveal Himself to them in His Son.
    •    [KORAN: 72:2-3:- … He … hath taken no spouse neither hath he any son. < www.usc.edu/ dept/MSA/ quran/072. qmt.html #072.002 >
       112:1-4:- … He begetteth not, and He is not begotten; … < www.usc.edu/ dept/MSA/ quran/112. qmt.html #112.001 > DOCTRINE ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#violence_spreads_when
    [rec'd Dec 24, '08. List as Jan 1; issue of January 2009]
    • [Still murdering each other, though Jews strike hard.] 

    [Still murdering each other, though Jews strike hard]

         The West Australian, Various pages, Monday, January 5, 2009
       Pages 1 and 12.

    Israeli troops launch night attack into Gaza

          GAZA CITY: Explosions shook the Gaza Strip and fires lit up the night skies as thousands of Israel ground forces surged into the battered Palestinian enclave after a week of punishing air and naval bombardments.
       Page 6.

    US asked Rudd to take Guantanamo Chinese

            CANBERRA: US President George Bush has been pushing Australia to accept Guantanamo Bay inmates from a persecuted Chinese ethnc group who could face torture and even execution if they are returned to Beijing.
       Page 6.

    CIA helps monitor UK's 4000 'terrorists'

            LONDON: The CIA has begun an unprecedented intelligence-gathering operation in Britain to help MI5 monitor 4000 suspected terrorists. […]
       Bruce Riedel, a former CIA and Middle East intelligence analyst for the White House National Security Council, said: "The 800,000 or so British citizens of Pakistani origin are regarded by the American intelligence community as perhaps the single biggest threat they have to worry about. …
       Page 10-11.

    Divided UN fails to agree on ceasefire resolution.

                NEW YORK: The United Nations Security Council has failed to agree on a statement calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.  Peaceful marches were held in various parts of the world.  In Paris about 500 of the demonstrators turned violent, burning cars.
       Page 10.

    Israel puts more than its soldiers' lives at risk with ground war: Analysis

          In the first eight days of Israel's battle against Hamas, the conflict was fought from the air.  Israeli fighter jets fired at targets in Gaza, and Hamas fired rockets that they hoped would land on Israelis as far as 40km away.  By a ground invasion at the weekend, Israel runs the risk of repeating its 2006 Lebanon incursion experience.  There they suffered high casualties against Hizbollah.  The Hamas goal is to win a psychological victory.
       Page 11.

    No escape for those trapped in the war zone.

            JERUSALEM: On the fertile plains that surround the Gaza Strip, there are many peaks and bluffs to watch the war from.  In the dense expanse of apartments, columns of black smoke rise at several intervals.  There is no getting through the concrete walls and barbed-wire fences of the borders with Israel and Egypt.  Just 40km long and 12km across at its widest point, all that people can do is stay inside the Gaza Strip and hope.  At least two mosques in Jabaliya, which Israel believed were storing weapons, have been bombed.  An Israeli said that rockets had been fired from the Strip up to 25 times a day.
       Page 12.

    Terrible obligations of being in Israeli.

     Opinion, by Yossi Klein Halevi, of the Shalem Centre, Jerusalem.         In the 1980s I was in a reservist unit that patrolled Gaza's refugee camps.  I initially supported the Oslo peace process that took a terrible gamble on Yasser Arafat's supposed transformation from terrorist to peacemaker.  I supported the withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, simply to extricate us from that region.  My son Gavriel and his friends confront Iranian-supplied anti-tank weapons, whereas we faced rocks and Molotov cocktails.
       Page 12.

    No new front: PM.

          ISRAEL: Israel is not interested in opening up a new front in the north, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says.  His comments were a reference to Lenanon's Hizbollah militia, with which Israel fought a war in 2006, just weeks into Israel's last major offensive against the Gaza Strip.  That war last 34 days, killing 1200 Lebanese and more than 160 Israelis.
       Page 13.

    We wait in fear to live or die.

      Opinion, By Eyad El-Sarraj, president of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, and a commissioner on the Palestine Independent Commission for Human Rights.      There were no lentils, rice, or flour in the shops before the bombardment.  The siege of Gaza meant a lack of medicines, gas, electricity, fuel, and almost everything else.  All our borders are sealed.  The terrible blasts frighten everyone.  The children see the fear in their mothers' eyes, and see that their fathers cannot protect them.  The chances seem great theat they will join Hamas, to find a protecting father figure.
       Hamas won the elections in 2006.  Since 1948 the expellees and their descendants in Gaza have not had a day of freedom or of equal rights.  UN Human Rights envoy Richard Falk said that what Israel was doing was a crime against humanity.  Similar sentiments were expressed by Desmond Tutu.
       Page 14.

    Refugees say boat people just want a chance at fulfilling life.

          PERTH: … Just a few short years ago, Afghanis Adam Janali and Hussain Sadiqi were refugees in immigration detention centres, not wealthy queue jumpers.  Now they are successful in Australia.
       Page 24.

    Killer quakes hit Indonesian province.

          JAKARTA: A series of powerful earthquakes killed at least four people and injured dozens more in remote eastern Indonesia yesterday. [Picture] Residents inspect a house in Sorong, Papua, damaged in a series of earthquakes yesterday. Picture: Reuters.
       Page 24.

    Woman suicide bomber in deadly blast at religious festival.

        BAGHDAD: A woman suicide bomber killed at least 35 people, including women and children, and wounded 65 others yesterday during a Shi'ite religious procession near the Kadhhimiyah shrine in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.  Pilgrims, many of them Iranians, took part in an Ashura procession.  The ceremonies mourn the killing of Imam Hussein by the armies of Sunni caliph Yazid in 680.  Usually there are processions of wailing, crying men beating their chests and whipping themselves. 
       The attack was the deadliest in Iraq since December 11, when at least 55 people were killed and 95 wounded in a suicide bombing at a restaurant outside the northern city of Kirkuk [near a Kurdish area].
       Page 27.

    Violent power struggle looms as Ethiopians leave Somalia

          MOGADISHU: Islamic insurgents took over police stations in the Samalian capital, Mogadishu, at the weekend as Ethiopian troops pulled out, after two years trying to support the legitimate government.  Abdirahim Issa Adow is a spokesman for the Union of Islamic Courts.  This is not allied to the most powerful insurgent group, al-Shabab.  The militants' strict brand of Islam terrified many people into submission.
       Page 27.

    Mumbai evidence US bound.

            NEW DELHI: Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram will travel to Washington this week with evidence linking Pakistan to the deadly Mumbai attacks in November in which 163 people were killed.  India has blamed the Laskhar-e-Taiba group for training and equipping the militants who stormed Mumbai (Bombay).
       Page 28.

    Lebanese city sees a return to Islamist militancy.

              TRIPOLI: Black banners with Koranic inscriptions crisscross the streets of the city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon, and dozens of free religious schools preaching rigid Islamic doctrines compete for fresh recruits.  More women have taken up the niqab, a head veil revealing only the eyes.  Joblessness and hopelessness have proven fertile ground for fundamentalist Islam.
       Lebanon is caught in a power struggle between Saudi Arabia and a Syrian-Iranian axis, aggravating the old fault line between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims.  There is a ceasefire in the city.  Last year, explosions and sectarian battles killed scores.  Syria, the backer of Lebanon's Shi'ite Hizbollah militants, has hinted that Lebanon's Sunni Salafists were behind an explosion in Damascus that killed 17 people last year.
       [TRIPOLI. Yes, there is another Tripoli, not in south-west Asia, but in terrorist-ruled Libya,   north Africa, south of Sicily.  It is a city that the U.S. Marines attacked in modern times to stop its piracy and slave-taking, as celebrated in the Marines' anthem.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#still_murdering_each
       [COMMENT: Even while the Judaists of Israel were pouring into the Muslim-occupied Gaza Strip of Palestine, some wicked people in Iraq convinced a deluded woman to blow up Shi'ites (that is, Muslims of one of the major sects).  If she was a Muslim, presumably she fondly believed they are the "hypocrites" that the Koran and other Muslim texts tell Muslims are as bad as the infidels, the Jews, and the Christians.
       The other thought is, with the latest boatload of illegals from Iraq and Afghanistan, entering Australian waters, why aren't they volunteering or being conscripted for the armies of those countries, or some other Muslim country, to fight lawless elements?  If Australian and other nations' troops and aid workers are in Iraq and Afghanistan, tying to bring order out of the chaos of previous Muslim governments and/or the invasion by BLUSH, BLIAR, and HOWODD, is it a case of "Take up the white man's burden">?  If so, wouldn't it be better to let the local people do all of "the heavy lifting"? COMMENT ENDS.] [Jan 05, 2009]
    • [Illegals ought to go back to join Allies fighting for freedom.]     

    [Illegals ought to go back to join Allies fighting for freedom.]

     
       The West Australian, letters§wanews.com.au , Various Letters to The Editor, p 22, Monday, January 5, 2009

    Test of mettle


       Further to the sensible letter by Shereen Zailanee (Running away, 1/1), I would like to add my suggestion to the refugees' dilemma.
       Given the benefit of the doubt that most of these young men are running away from groups who would shoot them like "rabid dogs", as suggested by University of New England academic Helen Ware, why not give these new arrivals the opportunity to join the Australian Army?
       In this way they will be able to go back (whence they came from) and fight for the just cause and way of life to which they aspire.
       Perhaps we could use this methodology as a condition of entry.  Join the Australian forces and after two years (having ascertained that the paperwork is in order) they can then become residents of Australia.  That's one way of separating the opportunists from the patriots.
    IN SHORT

    [Why aren't they backing their families?]


       In the past, South-East Asian refugees have been a familiar sight, with whole families, men, women and children all crammed into unseaworthy vessels.
       The recent influx of "refugees" from Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq, we are told by the experts, are leaving desperate circumstances facing persecution because of their ethnicity, religious beliefs or political views, but where are their women folk and children?
       In all the published photographs and TV reports, they (the refugees) appear to be all male. Are the women and children left at home to face desperate circumstances alone without the support of their men folk?

    [Compassion]


       Adam Ali (Will the economic argument win? Letters, 1/1) has my deep respect for his measured response to Ronan O'Connell's article about the asylum seekers on Christmas Island.
       I hope, Adam, you never have reason to believe that the views expressed in this paper are mandatory for - or shared by - all Australians.  And I also hope that, even though you are also now an Australian you will continue to have compassion for those less fortunate. Helen Leeder, Shenton Park.

    [Kind, empathetic]


       It's the start of a brand new year and here in WA we are still moaning about those desperate souls who risk their lives to get to a better place.  Thank you, Adam Ali and Rachael Roberts (Letters, 1/1).  Kind, empathetic, intelligent, wise and - above all - human.  Happy New Year to both of you. Milo Bell, Mt Lawley

    Terrorist risk


       Have our politicians gone mad? How could we be in a position where these lunatics are considering relocation of suspected terrorists in Guantanamo Bay to our homeland?
       If these individuals are in fear of their lives so be it, it was their choice to get involved with the animals who get pleasure out of killing civilians.
       The Government intends to scrutinise the individuals recommended for relocation. Well, that is comforting .. until one slips through the net and embarks on a campaign against our citizens.
       The Muslims who have already settled in Australia are campaigning against our way of life.  Throw in a terrorist and be prepared to shoulder the accountability, Kevin Rudd.

    Families next


       Now it is apparent Kevin Rudd is going to allow all the latest asylum seekers at Christmas Island to be granted visas to stay in Australia I wonder how long it will take them to apply to have all their families flown to Australia to join them.
       My comments may seem cynical but my concern is for Australia.
       In these tough economic times Australia faces we have to now put up with more financial drain on our health and social systems.
       These latest arrivals and the thousands before them will be the destruction of our nation, both socially and financially.
       It is also ironic most are of a Muslim background and travel through Muslim countries to come to Australia, a Christian nation.
       Maybe it is the generous welfare system and more rights than the average Australian?
       Just look at Britain and Western Europe. It costs them billions looking after these people, not to mention all the social unrest.

    Lives on line


       Thank you, Carryn McLean (Letters 30/12).  I also wonder why the young men and women in our defence forces are endangering their lives fighting the Taliban when young Afghans and Iraqis are in Australia enjoying a comfortable life at the expense of the Australian taxpayer.
       Letters to the Editor, WA Newspapers, GPO Box N1027 Perth WA 6843. Fax 08 9482 3830. E-mail to: letters /@/ wanews /./ com /./ au
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#illegals_ought_to_go
    [Jan 05, 2009]
    • Noam Chomsky On Gaza       

    Noam Chomsky On Gaza

       Information Clearing House, http://www. information clearinghouse. info/article 21788.htm , by Noam Chomsky, January 13, 2009

    Sponsored by MIT Center for International Studies.
    Date Recorded: 2009-01-13
    Part 1

    Download MP3
    Click Here For Part 2 – Question and Answer Session
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#noam_chomsky_on_gaza
    [Jan 13, 09]
    • Retailers want Islamic hijabs removed … security threat, retailers say.       

    Retailers want Islamic hijabs removed


    CUSTOMERS wearing Islamic hijabs in shops and banks are a security threat, retailers say
       The Advertiser (daily, Adelaide, S. Australia), http://www. news.com.au/ adelaidenow/ story/0,22606, 24918734- 5006301,00.html , By PETRINA BERRY and GABRIELLE DUNLEVY, in Brisbane; 10:30pm, January 15, 2009
       AUSTRALIA – The National Retailers Association yesterday called for all hijabs, helmets and hoodies to be banned in shops and banks for security purposes.
       But SA's Multicultural Affairs Minister Michael Atkinson said tonight a hijab was worn to cover the head but left the whole face exposed.
       "There should be no quibbles on security grounds," he said.
       "Many non-Muslim women wear headscarves, which are similar in all respects to the hijab."
       Earlier today, Brisbane radio presenter Michael Smith angered listeners after calling for Muslim women who wore a hijab to be fined.
       The 4BC drive-time presenter said on Wednesday that wearing the hijab or burka posed a security risk because it obscured the face, making it difficult to identify the wearer in the instance of a crime.
       Smith said it should be made an offence.
       Retailers Association executive director Scott Driscoll said it had been a long-accepted practice to require customers to remove helmets and other identity-obscuring headwear when entering a shop or bank.
       "Retailers should not have to fear any form of retribution or backlash for requiring the removal of any obscuring headwear, including hijabs, as a condition of entry," Mr Driscoll said.
       "This is about ensuring a more safe and secure retail environment for all and being able to readily identify any and all perpetrators of armed hold-ups or shop theft."
       Islamic Council of Queensland president Suliman Sabdia said he was disappointed by Smith's remarks.
       "He has every right to say it but we do say he displays intolerance, and a complete lack of understanding of the Muslim code of conduct," Mr Sabdia said.
       He said he did not think Mr Smith should be fired, instead inviting him to a meeting to discuss the issues.
       "Does revenge really, at the end of the day, solve anything? No," he said.
       "We forgive him for his lack of understanding, we pray that God almighty gives him the wisdom and the understanding to respect every other individual." #
       [COMMENT: How is the following for a pattern to "respect every other individual"? COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  5:33 (or 5:37):- The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His apostle and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; … DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [2nd COMMENT: Such respect and good manners!  And did you notice the profound ignorance of the Okker Minister of the Crown, who uses words about headgear, without knowing that in the end Muslim women (or men pretending to be women) could be going around with a slit for them to see through, and a dark net veil in front of their eyes? ENDS.]
       [ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: CC. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#retailers_want_islamic_hijabs
    [Jan 15, 09]
    • Brisbane shoppers support ban on helmets and hoodies.     

    Brisbane shoppers support ban on
    helmets and hoodies

       The Courier Mail (daily, Brisbane, Qld, Australia), http://www. news.com.au/ couriermail/ story/0,23739, 24919062- 3102,00.html , by James O'Loan, 11:00pm, January 15, 2009
       BRISBANE (Qld), Australia – A SURVEY of Brisbane shoppers has found support for a ban on sunglasses, helmets and hoodies at stores, but some Muslim women will not risk being seen by a man.
       The controversial suggestion mooted this week by a Brisbane radio broadcaster has been backed by the Queensland-based Retailers Association on the grounds it would stop thieves concealing their identity.
       Muslim mother and childcare trainee Iman Amin, 48, was shopping in her niqab at Underwood Marketplace yesterday, near a popular south Brisbane mosque.
       She told The Courier-Mail a ban would make shopping and banking difficult or impossible for law-abiding like herself.
       "If you want me to show my face to a lady - no problem," she said.
       "But not to a man, no."
       Under an interpretation of Islamic law followed in parts of the Muslim world, women cannot show their face or flesh to men outside their family.
       Ms Amin said she had happily removed her naqib on the rare occasions a visual identification check or photo was needed.
       Her daughter Jamila Higham, 17, said a suggestion to ban the hijab, the headpiece worn over the head but not the face, was unnecessary and extreme.
       "It would be like asking a Christian to take their cross off," she said.
       Friends and sunglass wearers Maserina Constantine and Gemma Paterson said they would reluctantly comply to remove their shades if shopkeepers asked.
       Motorbike enthusiast Keith Thomson said most shopping centres already banned helmets
       "It's no big deal. It's not as if it's a culturally sensitive issue so I'd just take it off," he said.
       Teens Kevin Gardiner and Courtney Vlaanderen agreed they would have little choice but to remove their hoodies if it stopped them from going to shops they wanted to browse. #
       [RECAPITULATION: … a ban would make shopping and banking difficult or impossible for law-abiding women like herself. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: What MAN made such a law?  In the past few years attractive Muslim ladies on television assured Australians that the "scarf" was what Muslim ladies would be wearing.  The "scarves" were colourful, and smiling faces shone out of them.  It all looked culturally enriching to those so inclined.  Scholars assured us it was NOT compulsory.
       But, in recent years non-scholars have found that when the mullahs rule, "religious police" cane women who show a wrist or an ankle.  Non-scholars have searched the Hadith, so read what one Hadith seems to be saying. COMMENT ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  Bukhari's 8, 74:257:- Narrated 'Aisha: (the wife of the Prophet) … So Allah revealed the Verse of veiling. (Al-Hijab; a complete body cover excluding the eyes). TRADITION ENDS.]
       [ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: CC. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#brisbane_shoppers_support
    [Jan 15, 09]
    • Enclave ? Editorial Column.     
    Editorial Column

    Enclave ?

       Crescent Times No. 3, www.crescenttimes.com.au , (Muslim community newspaper, Perth, W. Australia), Editorial Column, p 6, January, 2009
       The Western Australian newspaper staff is very clever at inventing trouble against and about the Muslim community out of nothing. Even as a journalist I have to admit that! Many of our Imams, leaders and ordinary Muslims have fallen victim to the West Australian's anti-Muslim attitude over the last few years.
       During the Howard government the media played many tricks to encourage misunderstanding and rejection of Australian Muslims. This seems to have abated somewhat since the election of the Rudd government but the media never seems to lose a chance to spin a story against Muslims.
       The project publicised by Imam Abdul Jalil Ahmed and his colleagues from ICWA gave the media a wonderful opportunity to make another scandal out of nothing. To make matters worse they go on to quote Imam Abdul Jalil saying that apartheid worked well and people may be offended by smells of exotic food. The funny side of the story is that this so-called enclave will be approximately 20 flats with an "activity room" not big enough for more than 60 people. What a silly story the West Australian chooses to focus on!
       During my last three months of marketing in the Perth metropolitan area for Crescent Times, I was amazed at the wide distribution of Muslim people throughout Perth. From Joondalup to Armadale, Rockingham to Toodyay - in almost every suburb. Hamdulilah that we do not have the Lakemba culture or attitude in Perth as they have in Sydney. So what enclave is the West Australian talking about? What a silly childish article dear respected staff of the West!!
       It may be a better idea if ICWA chooses to focus on people in need, to provide accommodation for new comers, people with disabilities, or our fragile elders. Such an idea would meet the needs of our community better and would certainly be much better from the point of view of publicity for the Muslim community rather than focusing on ordinary Muslims clinging together for "religious" reasons. The proposed housing for 20 families won't account for more than 1 in 5000 Muslims, the rest of us will just have to continue to inflict our exotic cooking smells on our non Muslim neighbours.
       Nonetheless, we defend all our Imams and community leaders without restriction. However, Crescent Times team would prefer if media matters could be discussed with someone with experience before going public, to avoid such incidents in future. The media are still chasing after mistakes made by Muslims in their naïve understanding of how the media works in this country when it comes to dealing with minorities, Muslim or Islamic issues.
       Be blessed our ICWA people! We stand with you regardless of what kind of trap you fell into! Do not talk to them any more! Is that among your choices ?
       Wasalam alaykom, The editor in chief
       [COMMENT: Read between the lines! COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#enclave_editorial_column
    [List as if Jan 15; January 2009]
    • [Muslims under pressure, Rockets at Jews, Lies to children, World media fails in Gaza as civilians murdered.] 

    [Muslims under pressure, Rockets at Jews, Lies to children, World media fails in Gaza as civilians murdered.]

         Crescent Times (Muslim community newspaper, Perth, W. Australia), Various pages, January 2009
       Page 6.

    Muslims in Australia have no rights!.

        AUSTRALIA: I have some terrible news for you all.  Muslims in Australia have no rights. … … Howard government … starting a war in Iraq that created enough chaos to enable al-Qaeda to establish a new front, to wreak havoc in yet another Muslim country. … We need a Charter of Rights. … Victoria and the ACT both have a Charter of Rights. … United Kingdom … Canada and New Zealand. … The risk in having a Charter is that it gives unelected judges the power to disrupt the law-making processes of our elected representatives.
       Page 7.

    Israel's Warped Self-justification for Murder.

          By Paul J. Balles (retired professor):-  […] Self-defence?  In its propaganda dissemination, Israelis have been getting instructions on how to paint Israel as angels and Hamas as devils.  What makes Hamas Beelzebubs?  They have sent 1000 rockets into Israel, killing four Israelis altogether. […]
       [YEHOVAH: You must not murder. (Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17) ENDS.]
       [JESUS: Love your enemies. (Matthew 5:54; Luke 6:27, 6:35) ENDS.
       [ALLAH: 5:59-60 (or 5:64-65):- O people of the Book! … some of them hath He changed into apes and swine … ENDS.]
       [MUHAMMAD: Sahih Muslim's collection, 41:6985:- … Allah's Messenger … saying The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree … ENDS.]
       Page 10.

    Islamic Education of our Children: Whose Responsibility?

          By Abdullah Khan (Principal of Al-Hidayah Islamic School):- […] … Many parents lie to their children by using the phrase "Insha'Allah" as a cover, so "Insha'Allah" becomes in their minds synonymous with insincerity, les and dishonesty. […]
       [KORAN: 66:2:- Allah hath allowed you release from your oaths. … ENDS.]
       Pages 11 and 15.

    When The World Media Fails In Gaza.

          By Yvonne Ridley (who presents The Agenda on Press TV every Thursday). 
       The media coverage of the war in Gaza by Western television companies is largely unfair and biased because of a refusal to show viewers the real images of the victims.
       One of the reasons for this is Israel's decision to to allow the Western media in to Gaza. […]
       Hamas rockets have killed just over 20 Israelis since 2001 whereas Israel's war on Gaze has killed more than 700 including more than 200 children in the last 13 days. […]
       The gaggle of belly-dancing Middle Eastern leaders are largely a disgrace and are about as much use as the increasingly toothless United Nations, but there is a backlash coming and its coming from ordinary citizens across the world. […]
       And beware of the latest lie about to hit the media about Hamas commander Mahmoud Zahar who, according to the Zionist propaganda said Jewish children across the world are targets.  … The Guardian quoted Zahar as saying: "The Zionists have legitimised the killing of their children by killing our children.  They have legitimised the killing of their people all over the world by killing our people." … Arabic translation … was incorrect […]
       Page 11.

    Melbourne Muslims protest Gaza bombing.

          By Nasya Behfen (Melbourne editor of Crescent Times, lecturer in journalism , School of Applied Commmunications, RMIT, Melbourne, reporter for ABC Radio Australia and SBS Radio). MELBOURNE: If the three January rallies (organised by the Social Alliance and Australians for Palestine) were anything to go by, Israel's bombardment of Gaza has galvanised support for the Palestinians among Melbourne's Muslim communities, drawing together people from backgrounds as divers as Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, India, Pakistan, and Indonesia.  Also in attendance were representatives of the Australian Independent Jewish Voices group. […] Around two thousand people went to the first … three to six thousand … the second and third rallies
       Page 11.

    The Times: Israel rains Gaza with internationally-banned white phosphorus.

          GAZA: The British Times newspaper said Israel rained Gaza with internationally-banned white phosphorus which can cause terrible burns to civilians.  In its issue published on Monday … the American and British occupation forced in Iraq used this weapon against civilians, but it said it is not illegal if used as a "smokescreen". […]
       Page 15.

    5526 Palestinians killed, including 1010 children since Sept. 2000-Oct.2008

          PALESTINE: At least 5526 Palestinians were killed, including 1010 children and 340 women during the second Intifada, the National and International Relations Department at the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) said in a report published Monday. … 33 thousand others were wounded, 3600 suffering serious permanent disabilities and 7500 with minor disabilities. […]
       … the wall Israel is building … uprooting of nearly 1.3 million trees … confiscated 300 thousand dunams (75000 acres) of land… 630 military roadblocks and checkpoints inside the West Bank … assaults by Israeli settlers … killed 167 Palestinian civilians, and burned fields …
       [YEHOVAH: … ye shall … cut down their groves … (Judaist Bible, Exodus 34:13)
       … This is what the LORD says, … 18 … he will also give you victory over the Moabites.  19  You will conquer all their beautiful fortified cities; you will cut down all their fruit-trees, stop all their springs, and ruin all their fertile fields by covering them with stones. … -- Judaist Bible, 2 Kings 3: 16, 18, 19 (Good News Bible / Internet AV). (4 Kings 3: 16, 18, 19 in RC Douay version.) ENDS.]
       Page 16.

    Kanouté fined for Palestine support.

                Freddy Kanouté was fined €3,000 Friday by the Spanish Competition Committee … after scoring … on Wednesday … because he lifted his top to reveal … Palestine, in English and Arabic … shown a yellow card.
       … Egypt and Al-Ahly's player Mohamed Aboutrika wrote … support for Palestine people on his club's official website. … money … to support the families of Palestinian victims. … pray for the Palestinians.
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#muslims_under_pressure
       [RECAPITULATION: … Hamas … have sent 1000 rockets into Israel, killing four Israelis altogether. […] Hamas rockets have killed just over 20 Israelis since 2001. ENDS.]
       [THE FATHER in HEAVEN: Thou shalt not kill. ENDS.]
       [ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: MCM. ENDS.] [List as if Jan 15; January 2009]
    • Cardinal warns Roman Catholic women against marrying Muslim men.  [Truth from Jose Cardinal Policarpo]   

    Cardinal warns Roman Catholic women against marrying Muslim men

       News.com.au , http://www. news.com.au/ story/0,27574, 24915130- 401,00.html , Agence France-Presse, From correspondents in Lisbon, 02:25am, January 15, 2009
       LISBON – A PORTUGESE cardinal has warned Roman Catholic women against marrying Muslim men.
       "Be careful with love. Think twice before marrying a Muslim, think seriously because it brings loads of hassle – and even Allah can't say where all that will end," Jose Policarpo, the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon, said during a public debate.
       "When you recognise what a young European of Christian upbringing is subjected to, given Muslim attitudes to women, the first time she goes to their countries, we can imagine what that entails.
       "You can only dialogue with someone who is willing to dialogue. With our Muslim brothers, for example, dialogue is very difficult," he said.
       "We have taken the first steps, but it's extremely difficult – because for them, their truth is the only way." #
       [RECAPITULATION: With our Muslim brothers, for example, dialogue is very difficult," he said.  "We have taken the first steps … ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: "First steps"!!!  Rubbish!  Ever since the first Muslim attacks in the 600s, people of other cultures have been trying to "dialogue" with them.  The Roman Catholic Church was one of the groups trying to find out what drove Muslims to keep stealing other people's countries.  The great capital of the Orthodox Christian world, Constantinople, was stolen off them by Turkish Muslims.  How can you dialogue, fruitfully, with people who have stolen so much land, and never give any back?  The historic sweep of Muslims stealing land after land makes Israel's 1940s to 1960s theft of much of Palestine look like petty theft! COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  2:193 (or 2:189):- … Fight the unbelievers until no other religion except Islam is left. DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  Sahih Bukhari's Volume 6, Book 60, Number 139:- Narrated Abdullah:  We used to participate in the holy wars carried on by the Prophet … TRADITION ENDS.]
       [2nd COMMENT: While this Cardinal talks, Vatican officials are still holding and/or arranging to hold more "dialogues" with Muslim clerics.  More than 1000 years of talks has yielded no change in Islamism!  You see, they believe that the Koran is a copy of a book in Heaven, and that the Hadith and biographies of Mahomet are the best examples of how to live a holy life! ENDS.]
       [3rd COMMENT: The RCC used to teach that it was wrong to marry anyone who was not an RC, and that marrying a non-Christian was forbidden.  But with the sex-abuse scandals in the RCC and other religions, how many women, or men, are listening any more?  There are films such as "Not without my daughter" and books like "Nobody takes my children" that tell of the horrors of marrying a Muslim -- but many women don't know and don't care, until their children are kidnapped, or they are bashed.
       [ALSO SEE: "Lisbon Cardinal warns on marriages to Muslims," CathNews (from the RCC Church Resources, Australia), http://www. cathnews.com/ article.aspx? aeid=11139 , Published: January 16, 2009. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#cardinal_warns_roman
    [Jan 15, 09]
    • Hijab row leads to death threats     

    Hijab row leads to death threats

       News Ltd., http://www. news.com.au/ story/0,27574, 24922112- 29277,00.html , AAP, 07:48pm, January 16, 2009
       BRISBANE (Qld), Australia - THE Brisbane radio announcer who suggested the hijab be removed in banks and shops has received death threats.
       4BC announcer Michael Smith on Wednesday said wearing a face-covering such as some Muslim women do posed a security risk because it made identification difficult in the event of a crime.
       Wearing a face-veil in certain places, such as shopping centres, was also offensive and scared little children, he said.
       In a recorded threat on the station website a caller says "you're head is on a plate (expletive beeped). You're going to be dead soon (expletive beeped), racist bitch".
       Station general manager David McDonald today said most of the calls seemed to emanate from Sydney and he said Smith's original comments had been taken out of context.
       "This has been really blown out of total proportion," Mr McDonald said.
       "There was never any racism in this at all. There was nothing about religion, it was all about purely security and safety issues."
       Mr McDonald said Mr Smith's call was only to show the face, not to remove headwear.
       "A lot of criminals have used this to sort of disguise themselves."
       Mr Smith, an ex-policeman, was aware of the trauma robberies cause, Mr McDonald said.
       "It was never about racism.
       Complaints, both to official channels and those phoned in to the radio station, were based on media interpretations of Mr Smith's comments rather than the comments themselves, the general manager said.
       "That is extremely disappointing that it's been hijacked for other purposes."
       Mr McDonald said upset staff had been counselled and security stepped up.
       On the station's website Mr Smith defends his comments.
       "It seems this country's media finds it difficult to talk sensibly about certain topics," today's entry reads.
       "I've been branded a racist in writing by a major national television network who should know better.
       "How could anyone say that my comments were racist?"
       Queensland police acknowledged that a complaint had been made by the radio station and said it was under investigation. #
       [RECAPITULATION: … a caller says "you're head is on a plate (expletive beeped). You're going to be dead soon (expletive beeped), racist bitch". ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: This is like the threats that were made against author Salman Rushdie, Pope Benedict XVI, and Queen Elizabeth II.  Yet, we are expected to believe that Islam gives success, through Qur'an and Hadith, in discipline, respect, responsibility, honesty, trustworthiness, compassion, empathy, justice, fairness, civic participation/service, kindness, integrity, the work ethic, and caring social skills (Al Hidayah Islamic School, Bentley, Western Australia, January 2009). COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  8:12:- … I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve.  Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them. < www.submission. org/suras/ sura8.html #12 >
       47:4-6 (or 47:4-7):- When ye encounter the infidels, strike off their heads till ye have made a great slaughter among them, … DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [CONTACT: 4BC, http://www.4bc.com.au/ . ENDS.]
       [ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: NM. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#hijab_row_leads
    [Jan 16, 09]
    • Scaled-down mosque in Swan Valley riles locals.     

    Scaled-down mosque in Swan Valley riles locals

       The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , By DANIEL HATCH, p 9, Friday, January 16, 2009
       PERTH (W. Australia) - Scaled-down plans for a mosque have failed to quell anger in the Swan Valley, with locals to hold a public meetiing against the proposal next week.
       Swan Valley Progress Association spokesman Rod Henderson said residents were furious the mosque was again being considered by the City of Swan, a year after locals objected to the development in Smallbrook Retreat, Caversham.
       The Bosnian Islamic Society's plan to build the $4 million mosque has been bogged down since February last year after public advertising for the proposal received 139 objections.
       The original plans for a 1277sqm mosque, complete with a 19m minaret, have been reduced by 40 per cent and include a smaller prayer hall, keeping the height to two storeys and moving the Imam's residence inside the main structure.
       It was also moved further from neighbours to create a landscaped buffer zone.
       But Mr Henderson said while the new proposal was slightly smaller in area, it still consumed all usable land and the minaret was now more than 22m high.
       A public meeting would be held at 7pm on Tuesday at Caversham Hall to advise residents how to make submissions against the plan.
       The Swan Valley Progress Association has consistently claimed a mosque does not fit within the character of the mostly tourist and horticultural area, which is protected by the Swan Valley Planning Act.
       Bosnian Islamic Society president Sajit Smajic said his group had been invited to the meeting to answer questions and would be disappointed if the meeting was designed to help people lodge objections. #
       [RECAPITULATION: … it still consumed all usable land and the minaret was now more than 22m high. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: 22 metres is about 72 feet 2 inches, or about eight to nine storeys high, or about 24 yards, that is, more than a chain in the old measurements.  The five daily "calls" from the minaret in modern times include loudspeakered curses on those who refuse to adopt Islam (i.e., general "infidels"), and those who received scriptures but supposedly corrupted them (i.e., Jews and Christians). COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  2:286:- … Thou art our protector: give us victory therefore over the infidel nations. 8:15-16:- O ye who believe!  When ye meet the Unbelievers in hostile array never turn your backs to them. […] Unless it be in a stratagem […] < www.usc.edu/ dept/MSA/ quran/008. qmt.html #008.015 >
       33:48 (or 33:47):- And obey not (the behests) of the Unbelievers and the Hypocrites, and heed not their annoyances, but put thy Trust in Allah. …
       47:35 (or 47:37):- Be not fainthearted then; and invite not the infidels to peace when ye have the upper hand … DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [2nd RECAPITULATION: … 139 objections. … … area, which is protected by the Swan Valley Planning Act. ENDS.]
       [2nd COMMENT: "Protected"?  By milk-and-water modern Westerners?  What a laugh!  "139 objections"?  The politically-correct Western Australian parliament has over-ridden three "No daylight saving" referendums, and so WA is currently on a daylight-saving "trial." ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  Bukhari's Volume 5, Book 59, Number 641:- Narrated Jarir: In the Pre-lslamic Period of Ignorance there was a house called Dhu-l-Khalasa or Al-Ka'ba Al-Yamaniya or Al-Ka'ba Ash-Shamiya.  The Prophet said to me, "Won't you relieve me from Dhu-l-Khalasa?"  So I set out with one-hundred-and-fifty riders, and we dismantled it and killed whoever was present there.  Then I came to the Prophet and informed him, and he invoked good upon us and Al-Ahmas (tribe) . TRADITION ENDS.]
       [SUGGESTION: Use the Internet search engine MetaCrawler or AltaVista to find out what sort of place the above "Dhu-l-Khalasa" was. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#scaled_down_mosque
    [Jan 16, 09]
    • Chomsky: Undermining Gaza.       

    Chomsky: Undermining Gaza

       Foreign Policy in Focus, as displayed by Information Clearing House, http://www. information clearinghouse. info/article 21788.htm , By Sameer Dossani, (Editor: Emily Schwartz Greco), January 16, 2009
       DOSSANI: The Israeli government and many Israeli and U.S. officials claim that the current assault on Gaza is to put an end to the flow of Qassam rockets from Gaza into Israel. But many observers claim that if that were really the case, Israel would have made much more of an effort to renew the ceasefire agreement that expired in December, which had all but stopped the rocket fire. In your opinion, what are the real motivations behind the current Israeli action?
       CHOMSKY: There's a theme that goes way back to the origins of Zionism. And it's a very rational theme: "Let's delay negotiations and diplomacy as long as possible, and meanwhile we'll 'build facts on the ground.'" So Israel will create the basis for what some eventual agreement will ratify, but the more they create, the more they construct, the better the agreement will be for their purposes. Those purposes are essentially to take over everything of value in the former Palestine and to undermine what's left of the indigenous population.
       I think one of the reasons for popular support for this in the United States is that it resonates very well with American history. How did the United States get established? The themes are similar.
       There are many examples of this theme being played out throughout Israel's history, and the current situation is another case. They have a very clear program. Rational hawks like Ariel Sharon realized that it's crazy to keep 8,000 settlers using one-third of the land and much of the scarce supplies in Gaza, protected by a large part of the Israeli army while the rest of the society around them is just rotting. So it's best to take them out and send them to the West Bank. That's the place that they really care about and want.
       What was called a "disengagement" in September 2005 was actually a transfer. They were perfectly frank and open about it. In fact, they extended settlement building programs in the West Bank at the very same time that they were withdrawing a few thousand people from Gaza. So Gaza should be turned into a cage, a prison basically, with Israel attacking it at will, and meanwhile in the West Bank we'll take what we want. There was nothing secret about it.
       Ehud Olmert was in the United States in May 2006 a couple of months after the withdrawal. He simply announced to a joint session of Congress and to rousing applause, that the historic right of Jews to the entire land of Israel is beyond question. He announced what he called his convergence program, which is just a version of the traditional program; it goes back to the Allon plan of 1967. Israel would essentially annex valuable land and resources near the green line (the 1967 border). That land is now behind the wall that Israel built in the West Bank, which is an annexation wall. That means the arable land, the main water resources, the pleasant suburbs around Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and the hills and so on.
       They'll take over the Jordan valley, which is about a third of the West Bank, where they've been settling since the late 60s. Then they'll drive a couple of super highways through the whole territory – there's one to the east of Jerusalem to the town of Ma'aleh Adumim which was built mostly in the 1990s, during the Oslo years. It was built essentially to bisect the West Bank and are two others up north that includes Ariel and Kedumim and other towns which pretty much bisect what's left.
       They'll set up check points and all sorts of means of harassment in the other areas and the population that's left will be essentially cantonized and unable to live a decent life and if they want to leave, great. Or else they will be picturesque figures for tourists – you know somebody leading a goat up a hill in the distance – and meanwhile Israelis, including settlers, will drive around on "Israeli only" super highways. Palestinians can make do with some little road somewhere where you're falling into a ditch if it's raining. That's the goal. And it's explicit. You can't accuse them of deception because it's explicit. And it's cheered here.
       DOSSANI: In terms of U.S. support, last week the UN Security Council adopted a resolution calling for a cease fire. Is this a change, particularly in light of the fact that the U.S. did not veto the resolution, but rather abstained, allowing it to be passed?
       CHOMSKY: Right after the 1967 war, the Security Council had strong resolutions condemning Israel's move to expand and take over Jerusalem. Israel just ignored them. Because the U.S. pats them on the head and says "go ahead and violate them." There's a whole series of resolutions from then up until today, condemning the settlements, which as Israel knew and as everyone agreed were in violation of the Geneva conventions.
       The United States either vetoes the resolutions or sometimes votes for them, but with a wink saying, "go ahead anyway, and we'll pay for it and give you the military support for it." It's a consistent pattern. During the Oslo years, for example, settlement construction increased steadily, in violation of what the Oslo agreement was theoretically supposed to lead to. In fact the peak year of settlement was Clinton's last year, 2000. And it continued again afterward. It's open and explicit.
       To get back to the question of motivation, they have sufficient military control over the West Bank to terrorize the population into passivity. Now that control is enhanced by the collaborationist forces that the U.S., Jordan, and Egypt have trained in order to subdue the population. In fact if you take a look at the press the last couple of weeks, if there's a demonstration in the West Bank in support of Gaza, the Fatah security forces crush it. That's what they're there for. Fatah by now is more or less functioning as Israel's police force in the West Bank.
       But the West Bank is only part of the occupied Palestinian territories. The other part is Gaza, and no one doubts that they form a unit. And there still is resistance in Gaza, those rockets. So yes, they want to stamp that out too, then there will be no resistance at all and they can continue to do what they want to do without interference, meanwhile delaying diplomacy as much as possible and "building the facts" the way they want to. Again this goes back to the origins of Zionism. It varies of course depending on circumstances, but the fundamental policy is the same and perfectly understandable. If you want to take over a country where the population doesn't want you, I mean, how else can you do it? How was this country conquered?
       DOSSANI: What you describe is a tragedy.
       CHOMSKY: It's a tragedy which is made right here. The press won't talk about it and even scholarship, for the most part, won't talk about it but the fact of the matter is that there has been a political settlement on the table, on the agenda for 30 years. Namely a two-state settlement on the international borders with maybe some mutual modification of the border. That's been there officially since 1976 when there was a Security Council resolution proposed by the major Arab states and supported by the (Palestinan Liberation Organization) PLO, pretty much in those terms. The United States vetoed it so it's therefore out of history and it's continued almost without change since then.
       There was in fact one significant modification. In the last month of Clinton's term, January 2001 there were negotiations, which the U.S. authorized, but didn't participate in, between Israel and the Palestinians and they came very close to agreement.
       DOSSANI: The Taba negotiations?
       Yes, the Taba negotiations. The two sides came very close to agreement. They were called off by Israel. But that was the one week in over 30 years when the United States and Israel abandoned their rejectionist position. It's a real tribute to the media and other commentators that they can keep this quiet.
       The U.S. and Israel are alone in this. The international consensus includes virtually everyone. It includes the Arab League which has gone beyond that position and called for the normalization of relations, it includes Hamas. Every time you see Hamas in the newspapers, it says "Iranian-backed Hamas which wants to destroy Israel." Try to find a phrase that says "democratically elected Hamas which is calling for a two-state settlement" and has been for years. Well, yeah, that's a good propaganda system. Even in the U.S. press they've occasionally allowed op-eds by Hamas leaders, Ismail Haniya and others saying, yes we want a two-state settlement on the international border like everyone else.
       DOSSANI: When did Hamas adopt that position?
       CHOMSKY That's their official position taken by Haniya, the elected leader, and Khalid Mesh'al, their political leader who's in exile in Syria, he's written the same thing. And it's over and over again. There's no question about it but the West doesn't want to hear it. So therefore it's Hamas which is committed to the destruction of Israel.
       In a sense they are, but if you went to a Native American reservation in the United States, I'm sure many would like to see the destruction of the United States. If you went to Mexico and took a poll, I'm sure they don't recognize the right of the United States to exist sitting on half of Mexico, land conquered in war. And that's true all over the world. But they're willing to accept a political settlement. Israel isn't willing to accept it and the United States isn't willing to accept it. And they're the lone hold-outs. Since it's the United States that pretty much runs the world, it's blocked.
       Here it's always presented as though the United States must become more engaged; it's an honest broker; Bush's problem was that he neglected the issue. That's not the problem. The problem is that the United States has been very much engaged, and engaged in blocking a political settlement and giving the material and ideological and diplomatic support for the expansion programs, which are just criminal programs.
       The world court unanimously, including the American justice, agreed that any transfer of population into the Occupied Territories is a violation of a fundamental international law, the Geneva Conventions. And Israel agrees. In fact even their courts agree, they just sort of sneak around it in various devious ways. So there's no question about this. It's just sort of accepted in the United States that we're an outlaw state. Law doesn't apply to us. That's why it's never discussed.
       Sameer Dossani, a Foreign Policy In Focus contributor, is the director of 50 Years is Enough and blogs at shirinandsameer.blogspot.com
       [RECAPITULATION: Ehud Olmert was in the United States in May 2006 … announced to a joint session of Congress and to rousing applause, that the historic right of Jews to the entire land of Israel is beyond question … Israel would essentially annex valuable land and resources near the green line (the 1967 border). … the arable land, the main water resources, the pleasant suburbs around Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and the hills and so on. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: The Jews have no more right to Palestine than many Britons of Viking descent have to Sweden, Norway, Denmark, etc., or Roman Catholics have to Rome, or they and other Christians have to seize Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem.  The Arab Palestinians, too, have no historic right to Palestine -- their racial and religious homeland is in what we now call Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and nearby countries.
       But the Arabs and other residents of Palestine did have internationally-recognised rights by long-term occupation, use of the land, etc.  The Great Powers backed the Jewish invasion and establishment of the Israeli State, and one great power keeps arming and financing Israel, while the UN and the aid agencies try to keep the Arab Palestinians alive through food aid.  Islam being a warrior religion, and Arabs being prone to defend themselves, they have not "knuckled down" to being evicted.  Unfortunately their decades-long patriotic fight to regain their homeland has turned into terrorism, as did other similar peoples such as the Irish and the Tamils of Sri Lanka. COMMENT ENDS.]
       [ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Information Clearing House. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#chomsky_undermining_gaza
    [Jan 16, 09]
    • [Gaza attack, and, Illegals bypassing Muslim lands should be returned for their endless wars, or rebuild homelands.]           

    [Gaza attack, and, Illegals bypassing Muslim lands should be returned for their endless wars, or rebuild homelands.]

     
       The Sunday Times, www.perthnow.com.au , (Perth, W. Australia), letters § sunday times.news ltd.com.au , Various Letters to The Editor, "Your say WA," p 61, Sunday, January 18, 2009

    Total control


       PIERS Akerman, you have shown your total ignorance in "Deadly doctrine is mickey mouse" (TST, January 11).
       Your information could not have reached you from an independent reporter - because Israel has disallowed foreign journalists from entering Gaza since its aggression began. It is obvious it doesn't want to show the world its inhumane methods of treating the Palestinians, wrongdoing, murdering and the cruelty in which it is trying to win a war it created.
       Hundreds of tonnes of explosives have been dropped on a defenceless and already-hungry nation caused by Israel's total control disallowing it any contact with the outside world for the past two years. And it's all because the Palestinians elected Hamas for a government that (democratic) Israel did not like.

    Truth on Gaza


       BOUQUETS to Piers Akerman for telling the plain truth about Gaza.
       Hamas has ramped up its propaganda machine to white heat, pouring out unceasing torrents of blame and bile. Unfortunately, many people believe it without looking carefully at what is really happening.
       Yes, what is happening in Gaza is a humanitarian tragedy, but Hamas could have stopped it any time over the past 22 years, simply by moderating its extremism.
       If it had behaved in a civilised way, the pressure of world-wide opinion would have compelled Israel to make negotiated settlements, which would have avoided the current situation.
       There is no way the culture of Hamas can be called "civilised".  Hamas has demonstrated time and again that it cannot even tolerate other Palestinian factions without fighting and wholesale murder.  It is not civilised to indoctrinate young people to become suicide bombers.

    Keep troops here


       IN recent weeks, some correspondents have highlighted the absurdity of Australian troops being sent to Afghanistan, Iraq and other trouble spots while well-heeled, able-bodied illegal immigrants, or "refugees" are virtually passing them en route, island hopping to the good life in Australia.
       At the very least the illegals should be retrained and returned to their own countrties to rebuild infrastructure or continue fighting in their own never-ending, all-consuming wars.
       Better that our troops stay home and protect us all from the destructive policies of the political elites, including their determination to "culture bust" and destroy what's left of traditional Australia.

    Misery misnomer


       AUSTRALIAN Human Rights Commissioner Graeme Innes stated on talkback radio (6PR) that detainees were kept in "utter misery" in the new, $400 million detention centre on Christmas Island. He insisted it was a prison and said the illegals kept there were not even given "basic services".
       For Mr Innes's information, this "prison" not only has basic services, but airconditioning, a fully equipped gymnasium, computer rooms, recreation rooms/facilities, family accommodation units, telephones and free postal services for "prisoners".
       There are cooking facilities in the accommodation in addition to the main dining room, where individual food and cooking requirements are catered for.
       They are also given spending money, courtesy of the Australian taxpayer.
       I would think it unlikely that anyone other than Mr Innes could honestly describe these conditions as "misery".

    Claims disputed


       I AM disturbed by "Israeli propaganda fans Gaza conflagration" (your say WA, January 11). It contains a veiled often versed, anti-Semitic accusation of media and policy manipulation by Israel, which is far from the case.
       Further, the writer applies an offensive, false comparison of Israeli actions to those of the nazis in Europe and belittles the impact that continued, bellicose, sustained and unprovoked rocket attacks by Hamas have wrought on Israeli and Arab civilians.
       Israel is a democratic country that has specifically targeted active Hamas terrorist cells and avoided civilian casualties.  Hamas itself is akin to the nazis, aiming to eradicate Israeli/Jewish lives indiscriminately. NAME & ADDRESS SUPPLIED

    [Palestinians like Stalingrad citizens?]


       IF Hamas is hiding behind civilians in the Gaza strip, as claimed by Israel, does that mean the Red Army hid behind its civilians during the 400-day Nazi blockade of Leningrad, during World War II?

    [HOWODD and BLUSH oblivious to chaos they left.]


       JUST when I was getting withdrawal symptoms from not seeing John Howard, up he pops on TV, grinning as his best mate George Bush fastens the clasp on a Medal of Honour on the back of his neck.
       It made me feel all warm and fuzzy - followed by extreme nausea.  I could imagine the final scene, walking hand-in-hand into the sunset, oblivious to the chaos they have left in Iraq. J.WILKINSON, Edgewater
       [COMMENT: The last letter did not mention the third "warrior" in the Coalition of the Killing, BLIAR. COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#gaza_attack_and_illegals
    [Jan 18, 09]
    • Taliban warn US allies after suicide strike at Germans.           

    Taliban warn US allies after suicide strike at Germans

       The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , p 24, Monday, January 19, 2009
       KABUL, Afghanistan - The Taliban have warned all countries with troops supporting the US-led war in the region that they are targets for suicide bombers.
       The warning at the weekend came after an attack on a heavily guarded road near a US military base and the German Embassy in Kabul killed at least one US soldier and four Afghan civilians.  At least two dozen civilians and soldiers were wounded.
       Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid immediately claimed responsibility.
       He said suicide bomber Shumse Rehman carried out the attack and had targeted two vehicles believed to be carrying German military officers.
       "The Germans have forces in the north of Afghanistan and they are involved in the killing of innocent Afghans.  The Taliban will target all those countries that have forces in Afghanistan," he said.
       German officials in Berlin said several embassy personnel were wounded. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier condemned "this cowardly act of barbarity".
       About 3200 German troops are stationed in Afghanistan, mostly in the country's northern provinces where the Taliban recently tried with little success to gain a foothold.
       The embassy shares a small, two-lane road with Camp Eggers, a US base that serves as the headquarters for soldiers who train Afghan police and army personnel.
       The suicide bombing was one of three incidents on Saturday.
       A US service member died when militants fired at a CH-47 transport helicopter and it made a "hard landing" in eastern Kunar province.
       In the third attack, a suicide bomber in a minivan charged a convoy of NATO troops and Afghan police in eastern Nangarhar province, killing one civilian and wounding three others.  Three police also were wounded. #
       [RECAPITULATION: "The Germans have forces in the north of Afghanistan and they are involved in the killing of innocent Afghans.  The Taliban will target all those countries that have forces in Afghanistan," he said. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: By definition, all Muslims are "innocent," except those labelled as "hypocrites," who with all others are doomed to destruction and eventually hell fire. COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  3:110 (or 3:106):- Ye are the best folk that has been raised up unto mankind. …
       5:54 (or 5:59):- … lowly towards the faithful, haughty towards the infidels. … <www.submission. org/suras/ sura5.html# 54>
       9:28:- O Believers!  only they who join gods with God are unclean! …
       50:24 (or 50:23) and 50:25 (or 50:26):- Cast into Hell, ye twain, every infidel, every hardened one … Who set up other gods with God.  Cast ye him into the fierce torment.
       98:6 (or 98:5):- But the unbelievers among the people of the Book, and among the Polytheists, shall go into the fire of Gehenna to abide therein for aye.  Of all creatures are they the worst! DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [REJOINDER from "Western Scholar" (Jan. 19): There wouldn't be this trouble if the German Government (and ours) wasn't wantonly letting floods of Moslem colonists (as distinct from immigrants) into the country.  Girls in Australia have already been served notice by Moslems' chosen leader Al Hilaly: Expect rape - you are cats' meat. COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#taliban_warn_us_allies
    [Jan 19, 09]
    • Islamic extremists target girls' schools.       

    Islamic extremists target girls’ schools

       The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , p 24, Monday, January 19, 2009
      [Picture] Destruction: A government school wrecked by Islamic militants in Pakistan's Swat Valley.    Picture: Associated Press  
       ISLAMABAD - Violent religious extremists in Pakistan are moving to restrict girls' education as they seek to impose a draconian version of Islamic law.
       In a northern valley where Taliban guerrillas have waged a bloody war against security forces for more than a year, hardliners have blown up or burned down about 170 schools, most of them for girls.
       In December, a militant pirate radio broadcast warned all schools for girls had to close by January 15.
       This week, an association representing 400 private schools for boys and girls in the Swat valley said they would all remain closed after the winter break because of the threat.  Since the Taliban's warning, attendance in the schools had fallen by almost a half to about 20,000 students, association president Ziauddin Yousufzai said.
       Under Taliban rule in the 1990s, Afghanistan banned education for girls and forced most working women to return to their homes.
       Since their 2001 ouster, the hardline Islamist movement's followers have been blamed for scores of arson attacks on schools in Afghanistan, many built with Western aid.  An acid attack by Taliban insurgents last year maimed several girls.
       The rise of Taliban groups in neighbouring Pakistan has brought similar violence, especially in Swat, a relatively progressive area that until recently drew tourists from across Pakistan with its fine alpine scenery.
       The valley lies close to but outside Pakistan's tribally governed belt along the Afghan border where the West believes al-Qaida leaders have found refuge.  Residents complain that the local administration, including the police force, has collapsed as officials and lawmakers flee in fear.
       Militants spokesman Muslim Khan said they would not allow any girls' schools to operate until the army withdrew from the valley and Islamic law was imposed.  "These schools are being run under a system introduced by the British and promote obscenity and vulgarity in society," he said. #
       [RECAPITULATION: This week, an association representing 400 private schools for boys and girls in the Swat valley said they would all remain closed after the winter break because of the threat. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: So, terror works, then, and it was promised 1400 years ago.  And females are to be kept down.  And progressives are to be labelled, and sidelined, or worse. COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  8:12:- … I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. …
       33:1:- O Prophet, fear thou Allah and obey not the unbelievers and the hypocrites;
       33:48 (or 33:47):- And obey not (the behests) of the Unbelievers and the Hypocrites, and heed not their annoyances, but put thy Trust in Allah.  For enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs. ENDS.]
       [2nd RECAP.: An acid attack by Taliban insurgents last year maimed several girls. ENDS.]
       [2nd COMMENT: Such chivalrous, courtly, polite and good-mannered people!  Are they upholding Islamic values? ENDS.]
       [MORE KORAN:  4:34 (or 4:38):- … Virtuous women are obedient … DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [3rd COMMENT: And the super-rich landlord and professional classes of Pakistan have not yet got around to imposing enough taxes on themselves to teach every child in the country, instead leaving much of the load to foreign charitable and Christian funds.  There's another moral or two in that, too. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#islamic_extremists_target
    [Jan 19, 09]
    • Tensions high at public meeting over mosque.     

    Tensions high at public meeting over mosque

       The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , By GIOVANNI TORRE, p 12, Wednesday, January 21, 2009
       PERTH (W. Australia) - Tensions ran high as more than 200 residents met at Caversham Hall to debate the proposed Swan Valley mosque last night.
       The meeting, called by the Swan Valley Progress Association, was addressed by vice-chairman Rod Henderson, Bosnian Islamic Society president Sajit Smajic and architect Gorki Bogdanich.
       Mr Bogdanich said the Bosnian community had a cultural and recreational centre in Beechboro but Bosnian Muslims did not have a mosque.
       He said a traffic impact report found there would be no negative effect on the surrounding area.
       Mr Smajic said more than 50 per cent of the society's members lived near the proposed mosque site.
       "I know there are bad stereotypes about Islam," he said. "I know many of you came here to oppose this project but we Bosnian people have been living with you as neighbours for 15 years, sometimes 30 years and you have never had any problems with us."
       Mr Henderson said the proposed mosque would violate the Swan Valley Planning Act created in 1995 to stop the encroachment of urban infrastructure in the valley.
       A number of residents said they were concerned about parking and traffic problems.
       One man in the crowd yelled out, asking if the society was sponsored by Saudi Arabians. Another shouted out "give them the Gibson Desert."
       Ellenbrook resident Alyssa Hayden, recently elected as Liberal Member for East Metropolitan, said she opposed the mosque on planning grounds.  She asked people in the crowd to "refrain from racism or religious comments".
       Mr Henderson and Mr Smajic both said the meeting helped them understand people's concerns. #
      [Picture] Vocal: Residents raise concerns about a planned mosque in the Swan Valley at a meeting last night    Picture: John Mokrzycki  
       [COMMENT: One group of citizens somewhere in Europe has told the local mosque-applicants that they will get a building permit when a Christian church gets built in Saudi Arabia.  News for the "historically-challenged" -- the early Muslims tore down all the churches, synagogues, and temples in Arabia, and their successors have destroyed many more around the world in the following centuries. COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  fmosque-wanters 61:13:- And another (favour will He bestow), which ye do love - help from Allah and a speedy conquest.
       66:9:- O Prophet!  make war on the infidels and hypocrites, and deal rigorously with them. …
       71:26-27 (or 71:27-28):- And Noah said, 'Lord, leave not one single family of Infidels on the Earth:  For if thou leave them they will beguile thy servants and will beget only sinners, infidels. DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  Bukhari's, 6, 60:139:- Narrated Abdullah:  We used to participate in the holy wars carried on by the Prophet and we had no women (wives) with us.  So we said (to the Prophet ): "Shall we castrate ourselves?"  But the Prophet forbade us to do that and thenceforth he allowed us to marry a woman (temporarily) by giving her even a garment, and then he recited: "O you who believe! Do not make unlawful the good things which Allah has made lawful for you." [Koran 5:87]
       Bukhari's, 6, 60:250:- [***] Ya'la- said: Said said 'They found boys playing and Al-Khadir got hold of a handsome infidel boy laid him down and then slew him with a knife. [***] < www.usc.edu/ dept/MSA/ fundamentals/ hadithsunnah/ bukhari/060. sbt.html# 006.060.250 > TRADITION ENDS.]
       [2nd COMMENT: The Swan Valley near Perth is a WINE-GROWING region. ENDS.
       [MORE KORAN: 5:90 (or 5:92):- O believers!  surely wine and games of chance, and statues, and the divining arrows, are an abomination of Satan's work!  Avoid them, that ye might prosper. <www.submission. org/suras/ sura5.html# 90> ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#tensions_high_at_public
    [Jan 21, 09]
    • Cleric: Rape, beating OK for wives.  [Samir Abu Hamza]   

    Cleric: Rape, beating OK for wives

          The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, Australia), http://www. news.com.au/ dailytelegraph/ story/0,22049, 24945652-5001021, 00.html , By Mark Dunn and wires, 12:21pm, January 22, 2009
       AUSTRALIA - PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd has demanded an Islamic cleric apologise for telling male followers they can force their wives to have sex - and hit them if they're disobedient.
       Mr Rudd said Samir Abu Hamza's comments had no place in modern Australia.
       During a 2003 lecture also posted on the internet last year, Mr Hamza told followers that under Islamic law, men could demand sex from their wives.
       Despite Australian laws requiring consent, he said it was impossible for a man to rape his wife even if she refused to have sex.
       Remember Sheik Hilaly? Women are like 'uncovered meat'.
       He also said that Islamic law allowed men to hit their wives as a last resort - but were not allowed to leave them bruised or bloodied.
       Mr Rudd today said Mr Hamza should apologise.
       "Under no circumstances is sexual violence permissible or acceptable in Australia - under no circumstances," he said.
       "Under no circumstances are other forms of violence, physical violence, acceptable towards women in Australia nor are they acceptable in my view to mainstream Muslim teachings.
       "Australia will not tolerate these sort of remarks. They don't belong in modern Australia, and he should stand up, repudiate them and apologise."
       In the lecture, titled The Keys to a Successful Marriage, Mr Hamza mocks Australia's sexual assault laws that require consent for sex between a man and his wife.
       "Amazing, how can a man rape his wife?" he asks.
       Mr Hamza, a cleric in the Melbourne suburb of Coburg, said a man could hit his wife on the hand or leg - but not on the head.

       A former president of the Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV), Yasser Soliman, said wife beating and marital rape were not condoned by the Islamic community.
       "It is very much looked down upon," Mr Soliman said.
       "The prophet Mohammed never beat his wife or smacked the children.
       "To claim this is Islamic, or that the Koran forces wives to do things such as (Mr Hamza's) lectures suggest, is quite insulting to most of the Muslim world."
       He said Mr Hamza was a self-taught cleric and was popular with young Muslims in Melbourne's northern suburbs.
       "He has no formal qualifications, he's not really a scholar by any means," Mr Soliman said.
       He said Mr Hamza, a married man with several children, appeared to have moved into the mainstream since the 2003 lecture, giving evidence against Abdul Nacer Benbrika in last year's terrorism trial in Melbourne.
       "That was seen as a positive stand against terrorism and a more mainstream view," Mr Soliman said.

       Sherene Hassan, vice president of the ICV, said she was organising workshops for Victorian Imams on the issue of domestic violence.
       "There may be individuals who have interpreted this lecture as condoning violence against women - it's not the first time we have had this problem," she said.
       She said Imams would meet next week to plan workshops to find ways of discouraging domestic violence among followers.

       In his lecture, Mr Hamza said a man was entitled under Islamic law to demand sex from his wife.
       "If the husband was to ask her for a sexual relationship and she is preparing the bread on the stove she must leave it and come and respond to her husband, she must respond," he said.
       He also said men could advise their wives they would be beaten if they were disobedient.
       "First of all advise them," he said. "You beat them … but this is the last resort.
       "After you have advised them (not to be disobedient) for a long, long time then you smack them, you beat them and, please, brothers, calm down, the beating the Mohammed showed is like the toothbrush that you use to brush your teeth.
       "You are not allowed to bruise them, you are not allowed to make them bleed." #
       [COMMENT: Mr Yasser Soliman and Ms Sherene Hassan are using "takiyya".  Scourging a wife that is SUSPECTED of disobedience is laid down as a "divine law" in the Koran 4:34 (or 4:38).  This text is so well known to anyone really interested that it is a wonder the reporters let it be denied without actually asking the spokesperson to read out 4:34. ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  4:34 (or 4:38). DOCTRINE ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#cleric_rape_beating
    [Jan 22, 09]
    • Apologise for rape remarks, Rudd tells cleric.   

    Apologise for rape remarks, Rudd tells cleric

       Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), http://www. abc.net.au/ news/stories/ 2009/01/22/ 2471920.htm , January 22, 2009
       Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has called upon a Muslim cleric who said it was ok to rape and hit your wife to publicly apologise.
       It has been reported that cleric Samir Abu Hamza told his followers in Melbourne it is a man's right to demand sex and beat his wife.
       Mr Rudd said his remarks have no place in modern Australia.
       "I would call upon this Islamic cleric to publicly apologise and repudiate his remarks," he said.
       "Under no circumstances is sexual violence permissible or acceptable in Australia."
       Mr Rudd says Australians will not tolerate remarks which promote violence against women.
       "Under no circumstances are other forms of violence, physical violence towards women, acceptable in Australia, nor are they acceptable in my view to mainstream Muslim teachings," he said. #
       [COMMENT: But, it's written on a tablet with Allah, preserved, according to the Koran.  The KRUDD statement about Islamic violence in marriage is as empty as a previous statement to the effect that he would push the main trading nations around to his point of view -- though there was no effect! COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#apologise_for_rape
    [Jan 22, 09]
    • [Safety and health checks impossible in short time.] AND, US was right     
    I DISAGREE

    [Safety and health checks impossible in short time]

     
       The West Australian, letters§wanews.com.au , Letters to The Editor, p 22, Thursday, January 22, 2009
       There is something not quite right about the Rudd Government allowing eight Afghan boat people to be resettled on the mainland within weeks of arriving and if their applications are successful they will join the first wave of 28 so-called refugees who were granted permanent residency last week (report, 20/1).
       The word permanent is of great concern as there seems to be a blase attitude by the Government in allowing so soon visa applications to people they can't possibly know anything about.  Were any police checks done regarding where they came from?  How could mandatory health, security and identity checks be done so quickly?  Why were two unaccompanied minors allowed visas?  Why were they resettled in SA?
       In the past, all papers were destroyed deliberately and all of a sudden we have total strangers allowed in to Australia when others have to go through rigorous tests.  It seems once again that it is an all-male group, leaving their families back home, and they will draw all the benefits by way of Medicare, the dole and given government houses to live in.  What happens to their extended families back in Afghanistan?  How long will they have to wait to travel to Australia as well, [by] courtesy of the taxpayer?
       Immigration Minister Chris Evans is wilfully ignoring the fact that boat people take from other refugees the right to live in this beautiful country.  One has only to wait and see how many more boats will arrive in the near future due to the slack attitude of the Rudd Government.

    US was right


       Shane McDonald (Letters, 20/1) needs to be reminded why Iraq was invaded – so many UN resolutions not adhered to by Saddam, but above all, the fact that this man was responsible for 300,000 deaths was enough to justify the invasion and rid that country of a tyrant.
       Thank God for the US and its allies who rid the world of people like Saddam.  Others tyrants will follow, Mr McDonald, and you should remember, there comes a time when you have to stand up and be counted.  It doesn't matter if you are right or wrong in what you say, the fact is that freedom comes at a price and is never cheap. John Walker, Carramar.
       [RECAPITULATION: Why were two unaccompanied minors allowed visas? ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: Why indeed?  The first letter is so truthful it later drew supportive responses.
       The second letter forgets that the world's traders in chemicals, armaments, and food, had been falling over themselves, even breaking the "free world's" trade bans, to get Saddam Hussein's business.  The Australian Wheat Board directors were involved in this evil trade, but so far have not been indicted for treason or whatever other crimes they committed.  Just like the Second World War, if the dictators are not built up by Big Business, they do not become so dangerous, and so the super-profits from war do not come their way. COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#safety_and_health
    [Jan 22, 09]
    • OK to rape wife and beat her, says cleric.  [Samir Abu Hamza: Australians … boozers hooked on prostitution and gambling.]     

    OK to rape wife and beat her, says cleric

       The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , p 9, Friday, January 23, 2009
      [Picture] Samir Abu Hamza  
       MELBOURNE – Kevin Rudd led condemnation yesterday of an Islamic cleric who told his followers they were permitted to beat their wives for disobedience and have sex with them against their will.
       Self-taught cleric Samir Abu Hamza refused to speak to The West Australian about his videotaped sermon Keys to a Successful Marriage but claimed to senior Islamic people that he had been taken out of context.
       In the sermon, delivered about five years ago but put on YouTube late last year, Mr Hamza claimed it was permissible under Islam to "beat" a disobedient wife but not bruise or make her bleed. He also ridiculed the notion that non-consensual sex between a husband and wife was rape.
       The Prime Minister said the remarks were indefensible and called on Mr Hamza to apologise. Sexual and physical violence towards women was not acceptable in Australia. "Nor are they acceptable in my view to mainstream Muslim teaching," he said.
       Last night, details of another video surfaced in which Mr Hamza said Australians were boozers hooked on prostitution and gambling.
       "They think happiness can be achieved by being intoxicated, by going to the casino and blowing your money away, by going from one prostitute to the other," he said.
       "They don't know what life is all about, that's why they are on the booze, why they are binge drinking, why, unfortunately, suicide has skyrocketed, murder, anxiety and depression."
       WA Ethnic Communities Council president Ramdas Sankaran said Mr Hamza's comments were scandalous. "They are not reflective of Islamic people and definitely not the Islamic community in WA," he said.
       Islamic Council of Victoria president Ramzi Elsayed said Mr Hamza claimed he had been taken out of context. "He told me he was speaking in a metaphorical sense," Mr Elsayed said. #
       [RECAPITULATION: The Prime Minister said … "Nor are they acceptable in my view to mainstream Muslim teaching," … ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: Well, scourging any of the wives IS ACCEPTABLE to mainstream Muslim teaching, if the Koran's ruling at 4:34 is "mainstream" enough for PC people like PM Kevin Rudd.  There is less excuse for the ignorance shown by the spokespersons for the ethnic communities and for the Islamic council -- the latter knows the teaching perfectly well, or ought to. COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  4:34 (or 4:38):- Men are superior to women … chide those for whose refractoriness ye have cause to fear; remove them into beds apart, and scourge them … DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [FACTS on HADITH teaching:  Sex with women taken in combat circumstances is covered by Sahih Bukhari's Volume 6, Book 60, Number 139 and Sahih Muslim's, Book 008, Number 3371
       Having sex with a woman "married" without her knowledge or consent is covered by Bukhari's 9, 86:98, http://www. usc.edu/dept/ MSA/fundamentals/ hadithsunnah/ bukhari/086. sbt.html #009.086.098 . ENDS.]
       [2nd COMMENT: The Hadith traditions go part of the way to explain why there were mass-rapes when the West Pakistan forces attacked East Pakistan (separated shortly after with India's help to become Bangladesh) in an effort to overthrow the elected government of the then-united Pakistan.  Another explanation given at the time was that the people in the Bengal region could be considered by many Muslims in the attack as "Hypocrites" as taught in the Koran, who are to be killed as if they were kuffar, i.e., "infidels."  ENDS.]
       [CYNICAL QUESTION: While congratulating the journalists who have uncovered this teaching of the "cleric" with his "Abu" self-chosen name, why has a 2003 "sermon," put on YouTube last year, come into the news just now, as the Rudd Government's pro-Islam invasion policies are attracting more "immigrants" via sea?  The public ought to help Mr Rudd and his politically-correct advisers catch up on Islamic teaching. ENDS.]
       [RUEFUL ADMISSION: Mr Hamza's description of Australians' alcohol drinking, gambling, and whoring is true.  To check, visit the many liquor outlets and gambling places, and look at the many women going about dressed like whores. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#ok_to_rape
    [Jan 23, 09]
    • Why the surprise?       

    Why the surprise?

     
       The West Australian, letters§wanews.com.au , Letters to The Editor, p 22, Saturday, January 24, 09
      [Picture] Samir Abu Hamza  
       I don't know why everyone is so shocked at Muslim cleric Samir Abu Hamza's comments regarding beating wives (OK to rape wife and beat her, says cleric, 23/1). He is simply emphasising what has been written in the Koran.
       You need only read the section entitled "women", which is an entire chapter dedicated to the rights and treatment of women. The Koran says men have authority over women because God has made one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them.
       It says good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because God has guarded them. As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and forsake them in beds apart and beat them. Then if they obey you, take no further action against them.
       So, Mr Rudd, you can stand on your soapbox and beat your chest and demand an apology to appease the various women's rights movements and all others who show disdain for this man's beliefs, but previous governments have also emphasised the need for Australians to live together in peace and harmony and to respect each others' religious beliefs.
       If the woman does not obey, the Koran states: If any of your women commit a lewd act, call in four witnesses from among yourselves against them. If they testify to their guilt, confine them to their houses till death overcomes them or God finds another way for them.
       In fairness, homosexuality is frowned on by the Koran: If two men among you perform a lewd act, punish them both. If they repent and mend their ways then let them be. God is forgiving and merciful.
       Please do not look on me as a critic of Islam. I consider myself a scholar of religions and give equal study and time to many other religions as well.
       There are many wonderful passages in the Koran. The one subject that the Koran emphasises is that there is only one God and Allah be his name. We are seen as infidels or wrong-doers because we pray to God and the Son of God, Jesus.  Both the Jews and the Muslims refer to Jesus not as the son of God but as a messenger of God.  In fact, many of the Jewish religions regard Jesus as an intelligent rabbi who was able to inspire mankind and show them they should treat all people as they would wish to be treated themselves.  Sound familiar?
       Your move, Mr Rudd.

    [Does PC multiculturalism smooth rapes, beatings?]


       I do hope that none of the outrage being directed at the Islamic cleric Samir Abu Hamza for comments he made in relation to women is coming from the left-wing politically-correct multiculturalism-is-great lobby.
       After all, should you not be tolerant and accepting of every culture and its views, even one as backwards and prehistoric as Islam?
       That's what you people keep preaching to the rest of us.

    Please love our country

       January 26 is a special day for all Australians and I get a real buzz every time I see all the Aussie flags which people have been putting up on their cars lately. I think I am correct in assuming that they fly them as a statement of our thanks and pride to be living in such a wonderful and free nation and not as a statement for all other races to pack up and go home.
       I am a third-generation Australian and after many discussions with friends and my relations, some of whom have fought for the freedom of Australia, I find myself thinking more and more about whether or not they may have a point when they say that we have a potential problem with some of our Muslim friends.
       The first thing I did was to ask myself in all honesty whether or not I am a racist. I think no, I'm not, but then I look up the dictionary just to make sure before I finish writing this letter. No, I am not a racist. I do not feel that my race is superior to any other on Earth.
       However, I do feel that a democratic system is the only fair and just way to live because this system is based on freedom and respect for the common man. Our laws were written with the belief that every man and woman is seen as equal and every man and woman is given the freedom to choose the way he or she wants to live – provided that we live in a way which respects and upholds our laws.
       I assume that anyone making the huge step to sell up and travel to Australia does so to improve their life. I assume that new Australians would feel grateful to have been welcomed by our Government, especially if they came here to escape oppression. I assume that new Australians, after having tried to live here for a period of time, would naturally come to one of two decisions. Either they don't want to stay, having realised that they would rather return to their own country or that they do want to stay here because they prefer our way of life.
       So, if you are a Muslim and you read this letter, please see that all the majority of Australians want is that you respect and hopefully come to love our country as we do. Please don't try to change our way of life because it offends us, just as it would offend you if we went to your country to live and then tried to change your laws. We know that we would not have a chance to do this and I believe that we all know it would be wrong to try.
       Many of us have relatives who have fought and died to keep our sacrifices that they made be in vain. I am proud to be Australian and, yes, I love to watch our flag flying wherever I see it. I feel so grateful to have been born in such a beautiful, safe and free country. Let us hope that we can all live in peace with our new brothers and sisters so that we can make Australia even better in the future. Every day can be Australia Day.
       [RECAPITULATION, 1st letter, re Women's fate under Islam: You need only read the [Koran] section entitled "women" … ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  Sūrah Al-Nisā’, Women, āya 34, that is, 4:34 (or 4:38):- Men are superior to women on account of the qualities with which Allah hath gifted the one above the other, and on account of the outlay they make from their substance for them.  Virtuous women are obedient, careful, during the husband's absence, because Allah hath of them been careful.  But chide those for whose refractoriness ye have cause to fear; remove them into beds apart, and scourge them; but if they are obedient to you, then seek not occasion against them:  verily, Allah is High, Great.  http://www. usc.edu/dept/ MSA/quran/ 004.qmt.html #004.034 .
       [Women if sexually immoral:] 4:15
       [Two men if lewd act:] 4:16
       ["Son of God" belief condemned:] 19:35. DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [RECAPITULATION, 3rd letter, Flags: … Aussie flags … assuming that they fly them as a statement of our thanks and pride … we have a potential problem with some of our Muslim friends. ENDS.]
       [FLAGS SUGGESTION: For likely attitude to the Australian flag if the culture balance reaches the tipping-point, click: http://www. multiline. com.au/ ~johnm/submit/ subchron.htm# flagscrosses . ENDS.]
       [RECAPITULATION, 3rd letter, Migrants: I assume that anyone making the huge step to sell up and travel to Australia does so to improve their life. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: Some of them give large sums to the people smugglers.  Some of them come here to change OUR lives, and to sponsor more and more similar people. ENDS.]
       [RECAPITULATION, (2nd) 3rd letter, Respect freedom: … the majority of Australians want … you [to] respect and hopefully come to love our country as we do. Please don't try to change our way of life … ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#why_the_surprise
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#does_pc_multiculturalism
    http://www.multiline.com.au/johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#please_love_our_country
    [Jan 24, 09]
    • Poll: Minority of Population Support Wilders Trial.   

    Poll: Minority of Population Support Wilders Trial

       NIS News Bulletin, http://www. nisnews.nl/ public/240109_ 2.htm , January 24, 2009
       AMSTERDAM – Exactly half of the Dutch are opposed to Wednesday's decision of the appeal court in Amsterdam to prosecute MP Geert Wilders. A minority considers it right that he should be charged with incitement to hatred, discrimination and insulting Muslims as a group, pollster Maurice de Hond reported Friday.
       The court made the right decision, in the view of 43 percent. Fifty percent disagreed and 7 percent had no opinion. The highest level of support for prosecuting the MP, leader of the party for Freedom (PVV) was found among those who votes in 2006 for the leftwing Greens (GroenLinks) and Labour (PvdA), at 68 and 60 percent respectively.
       Of all those polled, 66 percent consider that in general, MPs can exceed the boundaries of free speech when they are outside parliament - they have parliamentary immunity inside - and that prosecution should be possible in such cases. A third (33 percent) did not think MPs should ever be prosecuted for anything they say, and 1 percent had no opinion.
       De Hond also asked whether respondents agreed with the court's opinion that Wilders' statements are aimed at "causing discord among the Dutch in connection with the Islamic community, to provoke the Dutch population to discrimination, intolerance, contempt and enmity towards believers and to stir up fear of them". In answer, 49 percent said 'no' and 48 percent 'yes'. A question on whether Wilders' statements are 'detrimental to the dignity of Muslims' elicited an almost identical response (48:48).
       De Hond reported that 54 percent want an acquittal for Wilders. About 17 percent hope for a suspended community service sentence, 12 percent for a (real) community service sentence, 6 percent for a prison sentence of more than two months, 2 percent for a prison sentence shorter than two months and 10 percent had no opinion.
       In the view of 51 percent, the court has 'unacceptably violated the position of a representative of the people who was supported by more than half a million voters'. This statement was disagreed with by 46 percent. Almost half (49 percent) said the court's decision was "politically motivated" while 43 percent opted for "legally motivated".
       For 13 percent, the decision has improved their image of the judicial system, 40 percent have become more negative on it and 45 percent did not change their opinion. Perhaps remarkably, 69 percent predict the court case will increase popular support for Wilders, while only 6 percent expect it to have "a negative electoral effect" for him.
       Finally, 26 percent said that the decision made them more inclined to vote for Wilders than they had been. Two percent are now less inclined to vote for Wilders, 11 percent had not changed their inclination and 60 percent said they had never been inclined to vote for Wilders and that this was still the case.  www.nisnews.nl #
       [COMMENT: With one of the most permissive societies in the Western World (sex, drugs, alcohol, abortion, euthanasia, etc.), about half of the Dutch don't even see that if the Muslim march to power continues, their "good times" will come to a violent end in a few years, and it will be too late then to rally behind a patriot.  A look at Eritrea, Somalia, Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan, descending into disorder because of violence by jihadist Islamists, ought to convince all Europeans that the nightmare doesn't go away just by itself.  Two Islamist murders in Holland has not alarmed the Establishment enough for it to realise that "incitement to hatred" is really coming from Islam, not from those who resent extremists, and defend democracy, free inquiry, and free speech. COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#poll_minority_of_population
    [Jan 24, 09]
    • [Bilal Skaf rape trial revealed shocking attitudes, then Al-Hilali, now Abu Hamza; and war comments]     

    [Bilal Skaf rape trial revealed shocking attitudes, then Al-Hilali, now Abu Hamza; and war comments]

     
       The Weekend Australian, letters§theaustralian.com.au , Various Letters to the Editor, p 18, January 24-25, 2009

    The burqa is a harrowing symbol of male oppression


       FIRST there was the Bilal Skaf rape trial with its revelations of shocking Muslim male attitudes to women, then Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali's infamous remarks about women presenting as uncovered meat.
       Now, another Muslim cleric, Samir Abu Hamza, back-pedals from public remarks approving violence and rape in marriage ("Muslim cleric told to apologise for video remarks on forced sex", 23/1).
       We see frequent, disturbing images of submissive Muslim women wearing the burqa which, for me, is a harrowing symbol of Muslim male oppression in our society where women's rights and equality are entrenched.
       Is it any wonder Australians of most backgrounds perceive Islam, especially in its fundamentalist manifestations, as alien, anathema and potentially threatening?

    [Abu Hamza -- in Oz, rape and slapping are crimes.]


       SELF-styled Islamic cleric Samir Abu Hamza should be reminded in the strongest possible terms that in this country rape is a crime and violence against women is a crime.
       If he and his followers choose to live in Australia, they are required to comply with Australian law.
       I encourage all women to report such crimes to the police.

    [Self-styled cleric advocating violence on women.]


       AND of course it goes without saying that any red-blooded, Christian, Australian male is free to belt in the mouth any cowardly, self-styled Muslim cleric exhorting violence on women.

    [Rape in marriage used to be legal here.]


       THE suggestions by Samir Abu Hamza that a man should be able to force his wife to have sex and slap her for disobedience are offensive and unsupportable.
       However, those stampeding to the high moral ground to fling clods of self-righteous outrage at the mad mufti should glance over their shoulders.
       They will see that in only the past 20 to 30 years has it been made an offence for a man to rape his wife in this country, and the law still authorises assault to prevent the repetition of insult.
       The repudiation and denunciation of such barbaric views is appropriate, but arrogating moral superiority should be avoided when so much remains to be done to make women safe in Christian homes.

    Defeatism on a grand scale


       HUGH White ("The new President has to tell the US 'No, we can't'," Opinion, 23/1) argues for realism, not idealism in his article on future US foreign policy.  But by calling for a slogan of "No, we can't" he appears to be arguing for defeatism on a grand scale.
       White first proclaims George W. Bush's objectives of "transforming Iraq, rebuilding Afghanistan, containing Russia, disarming North Korea and Iran and sustaining US primacy in Asia in the face of China's rise" as failures and then pessimistically asks whether anyone else could have done better.
       A statesmanlike response, according to White, would be to simply give up all notion of a better, freer and more secure world.
       To see fear-based societies flourish and not to counter them, not to strive for the spread of democracy and freedom, is to encourage despotism.
       Bush was right to strive for democracy in the world, and if Barack Obama seeks a similar road, then he too will be denounced.
       It will not, however, make such a policy line any less correct. William Briggs, Kingston Beach, Tas

    [Iraq can't be healed due to tribalistic Islam]


       FRANK Devine's true-believer support of George W. Bush ("History will smile on Bush, even if he didn't suit The Times", 23/1) is nicely countered by Hugh White's article.  For me, Bush's greatest folly was to overstretch and weaken US power.  This hubristic ignorance sprang from the naively simplistic world-view of a fundamentalist Christian (come-lately at that).
       It is true that the Iraq story is still to unfold, but if a united, secular liberal democracy was the desired outcome, I contend that it has a snowflake's chance in a Texas summer.
       Believing in it denies the realities in that artificial state of deep, long standing divisions and hatreds, mummied in tribalistic Islam.  Think Northern Ireland times 1000
       Being born in southeast Queensland in 1940, I have particular reason to be grateful for the existence and well-being of the US.
       However, any criticism of right-wing Republican policy has been snarlingly denounced as anti-American by Devine and his ilk over the past eight years.
       It will be interesting to see how objective will be their criticisms of Barack Obama as he struggles to deal with the Bush legacy.

    It is called self-defence


       MOAMMAR Mashni (Letters, 23/1) needs to be reminded that no one is trying to deny the hardships suffered by Gazans.  The point, however, is that Hamas cannot fire thousands of rockets at Israeli civilian communities and expect no response.  If you fire rockets and mortars at people with the intention of killing them, then do not complain if someone fires back.  It is called self-defence.
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#bilal_skaf_rape
    [Jan 24-25, 2009]
    • Wine-banning Muslims to build mosque? Ban on pork, dogs, TAB?     

    Wine-banning Muslims to build mosque? Ban on pork, dogs, TAB?

       Name withheld by request, Sunday, January 25, 2009
    The Mayor, Councillors, CEO, etc.,
    Swan City Council,
    PO Box 196
    Midland WA 6936
    Ladies and Gentlemen,
       I recommend that you copy and distribute these facts to other people.
       Isn't your wine industry worth more to your community than pleasing a group of people who have banned wine in every area they take over?  Read the Koran 5:90, please.  (By the way, pigs, pork, ham, and bacon are banned; so are ballet, ballroom dancing, night clubs, hotels, taverns, liquor stores, adult product shops, and pop music.)
       Many municipalities have in their areas racetracks and TAB offices for gambling, horse and greyhound training, etc.  Will future councils be considering calls to close them down because gambling offends the faith?
       Statues are in many places, public and private, around the modern world.  If people apply on religious grounds to have them removed, saying they are satanic, what is your council's view?  Some places of worship in your municipality have statues in them.  Would you bend to a clamour to have them banned and removed?  Read the rest of the Koran 5:90, please. http://www. usc.edu/ dept/MSA/ quran/005. qmt.html #005.090
       Are dogs allowed in your city?  What do you think of Bukhari's Hadiths 4, 54:539, and 540 http://www. usc.edu/dept/ MSA/fundamentals/ hadithsunnah/ bukhari/054. sbt.html #004.054.540 and 542 ? People who believe the traditions that a Messenger from Heaven ordered them to kill dogs are worthy of note, and will be difficult to please in the future.  Would their requests for special treatment ever end?
       How often will the loudspeaker "call to prayer" come from the proposed new mosque, complete with denigration, possibly in Arabic, of people who have supposedly twisted and defied the pre-Islamic scriptures (that is, the Christians and Jews), or are unbelievers, kuffar.  Don't believe the applicants won't apply for the "calls"; sooner or later they will realise they can't live, they say, a proper religious life unless the calls are made, as ordered in the Koran and Hadith.  Their souls would be in danger, some spokesperson will eventually tell you or your successors, or his congregation, if they don't have the calls!  And if overseas experience is any guide, the first application will be for THREE calls, but the full number really is FIVE.  With loudspeakers, these days!  And eventually businesses are forcibly closed during prayer time.
       Do your general ratepayers believe that your council should allow preachers to teach men that Allah has permitted the raping and/or beating of wives?  Mr Samir Abu Hamza in Australia during a 2003 sermon preached that rape and beating are acceptable, and his DVDs will probably be sold at various community buildings.  Don't say it is a matter for the police -- aren't your councillors also voters in State elections, and do you want "incitement to gender hatred" to be added to the green and rolling countryside of the Swan Valley?  This incitement to commit crimes is now on the internet, the news media reports.  Or is their one law for them, and another law for others?  Mr "Abu Hamza" has NOT been issued a fatwa by Muslim religious leaders, nor has he been stopped from preaching on Muslim property.  In fact, Muslim leaders have tried to deny he meant it!  It is standard teaching of the Koran, so their denials are in vain.
       Is Christmas evil?  Well, guess where the teachings of Mr Anjem Choudary, from Britain, will be disseminated?  It's on a website, and if not already on DVDs it probably will be soon.  Is his teaching "religious vilification," or does he have a special permit and exemption?
       Has anyone ever considered why Bosnian Muslims feel that they don't have anywhere to worship as Bosnian Muslims?  Do Bosnian Jews, Orthodox, or Catholics expect you to break planning by-laws to have their own synagogue or churches on land set aside for other purposes, or are they able to fit into the existing buildings of their respective religions?  Perth metropolitan area does have several mosques.  Also, are they Bosnian Muslims, or are they AUSTRALIAN people of Muslim faith?
       Is the expressed will of your ratepayers important to you -- or to the State Government?  Why has the matter come up again?  Wasn't it soundly rejected about a year ago?  On the other hand, theocracy (rule by Allah), not democracy, is the teaching of the group making the application.  Would you be willing to knuckle under to that, and retire gracefully from the council, if the numbers become large enough demanding Allah-law and a mosque in spite of zoning bylaws, and to have a base for adjudicating shariah law instead of Australian law?  Alternatively, has Koran 8:12 worked its way with you?  "I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve."  Read it at: http://www. usc.edu/dept/ MSA/quran/ 008.qmt.html #008.012 .
       Trusting that the enclosed facts will assist your deliberations, and that you will accept them in the spirit in which they are sent, namely, to give you the courage to refuse to make a great mistake,
       Yours faithfully,
       NAME WITHHELD BY REQUEST
    Enc. Koran 5:90 wine, Hadith 5, 54:540 dogs, Why the surprise? "Souad" Burned Alive, Mai In the Name of Honour, Koran women 2:222 ff http://www. usc.edu/dept/ MSA/quran/ 002.qmt.html #002.222 , Muslim lawyer Anjem Choudary brands Christmas 'evil' Dec 10, 2008. #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#wine_banning_muslims
    [Jan 25, 09]
    • Catch up on Islamic teaching, PM; AND, Beware armada; AND, [Granting visas -- High treason].       
    Catch up on Islamic teaching, PM; AND, Beware armada; AND, [Granting visas – High treason] 
       The West Australian, letters§wanews.com.au , Letters to The Editor, p 22, Monday, January 26, 2009

    Catch up on Islamic teaching, PM


       If the matter of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd telling Samir Abu Hamza to apologise was not so serious it would be hilarious.
       How can the self-styled "cleric" apologise for comments about beating and raping women when these actions are clearly taught in the Koran?
       Australians are in danger of having another "jihad fatwa" declared by some element of the disjointed clerical establishment of Islam.
       The Prime Minister also said "Nor are they acceptable, in my view, to mainstream Muslim teaching".  Scourging any of the wives is acceptable to mainstream Muslim teaching, if the Koran's ruling at 4:34 is "mainstream" enough for Mr Rudd.
       A cynical question is: while congratulating the journalists who have uncovered this teaching of the "cleric" with his "Abu" self-chosen name, why has a 2003 sermon, put on YouTube last year, come into the news just now, as the Rudd Government's pro-Islam invasion policies are attracting more immigrants via sea?
       The public ought to help Mr Rudd, and his politically correct advisers, catch up on Islamic teaching.
       There is less excuse for the ignorance shown by the spokesmen for the ethnic communities and for the Islamic council – the latter knows the teaching perfectly well, or ought to.

    Beware armada


       [Name withheld] (Letters, 22/1) questions the decision by the Rudd Government to allow eight Afghan boat people to be resettled on the mainland within weeks of arrival, with the prospect of being granted permanent residency and asks how could thorough checks on identity, health and criminal background be made in such a short time.
       Valid questions, particularly when they fly from the other side of the world through several different countries and deliberately destroy their papers before hiring criminals, at great expense, to ferry them here on unseaworthy boats.
       Perhaps it's time to get down to the nitty gritty.  Rather than beating the drum about "refugees fleeing persecution", it's more than likely all about left-wing politicians and activists whose ideology is based on international socialism, with its goal of a world without borders where people, especially those from Third World countries, can freely move into affluent Western countries.  This goes towards furthering their socialist cause of wealth distribution.
       Don't expect a public admission from them.  It wouldn't be a vote winner and maybe that's why policies relating to immigration are never raised by the major political parties during election campaigns.
       Will the complacent voters need an armada of boats to arrive before they wake up to what's really going on?
    IN SHORT

    [Granting visas – High treason]


       I endorse the letter by [Name withheld] (22/1). What this Federal Government is doing regarding the boat people is nothing short of high treason.
       If they find it too difficult to say no to these refugees then hold a referendum. I for one will accept the outcome. Please stop pulling the wool over the people and say that all checks have been done.
       [1ST letter, SENTENCES OMITTED after the words "enough for Mr Rudd":
       The Koran (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah), teaches at 4:34 (or 4:38):- Men are superior to women … chide those for whose refractoriness ye have cause to fear; remove them into beds apart, and scourge them … ( http://www. usc.edu/dept/ MSA/quran/ 004.qmt.html #004.034 ).
       Sex with women taken in combat circumstances is covered by the Hadith traditions at Sahih Bukhari's Volume 6, Book 60, Number 139 and Sahih Muslim's, Book 008, Number 3371.
       Having sex with a woman "married" without her knowledge or consent is covered by Bukhari's 9, 86:98 ( http://www. usc.edu/dept/ MSA/fundamentals/ hadithsunnah/ bukhari/086. sbt.html #009.086.098 ).     ENDS.]
       [MORE SENTENCES, left out after the end as printed:
       Denials should be checked by the PMs advisers and the reporters asking the Islamic apologists to explain the Koran 66:2:- Allah hath allowed you release from your oaths. … ( http://www. usc.edu/dept/ MSA/quran/ 066.qmt.html #066.002 )
       A rueful admission: Mr Hamza's description of Australians' alcohol drinking, gambling, and whoring is true. To check, visit the many liquor outlets and gambling places, and look at the many women going about dressed like whores. # ENDS.]
       [2nd letter, COMMENT: "Criminals" hired at great expense to bring the Afghans here, the writer says.  Yes, and The People Smugglers book was published on this subject of criminals' involvement, and some have been convicted in Australian courts.  In these days of Internet searches, there is little or no excuse for the ignorance on this and other subjects shown by the KRUDD Labor Government.  Naturally, the "Politically Correct" brigade would rather prosecute the writers of letters like the above for "hate speech," than prosecute the hate-mongers in the global pulpits of their "new settlers."  With the bank-caused economic "bubble" now bursting, Big Business's cry of "labour shortages" is somewhat muted, but hasn't quite gone away, in spite of mass retrenchments at minesites and generally through the economy. COMMENT ENDS.]
       [PREVIOUSLY the new Labor Government, replacing the Howard Pacific "Solution," granted 28 visas to Afghan and Iranian "asylum-seekers," according to The Weekend Australian, January 17-18, 2009, pp 1 and 3.  Anyone with a sense of history knows that ALL RESIDENTS of Muslim-dominated lands are at risk of murderous death or torture, due to its barbarous culture and its several sects, sub-sects, and even tribal loyalties, all supposedly authorised by Allah.  Therefore they could all truthfully claim to be "asylum-seekers" in fear of their lives.  Will there be enough drinking water and food in the West for 1,000,000,000 more Muslims? ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#catch_up_on
    [Jan 26, 09]
    • Damascus first stop on road to peace.  [Al-Shihri back on terror website.]                 

    Damascus first stop on road to peace

       The West Australian, letters§wanews.com.au p 11, Monday, January 26, 2009
       WASHINGTON – Barack Obama will seek to befriend Syria and enlist the rogue state's help in fighting terrorism in what US officials see as the first test of his plans to talk to America's enemies.
       Diplomats and Democrats in Washington confirmed the new President wanted to persuade Syrian leader Bashar Assad to cooperate with the West.  It is hoped he will loosen Syrian ties with Iran, also forcing Tehran to the negotiating table.
       During his presidential campaign, Mr Obama pledged to speak to states such as Iran and Cuba without imposing preconditions.
       He has made it clear he believes the key to improving the situation in the Middle East is to peel Syria away from its alliance with Iran, rather than immediately start negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear weapons.
       US officials believe it will be more palatable for voters if Mr Obama launches his rogue nation outreach effort with Damascus rather than Iran.
       Both countries are accused of arming the terrorist groups Hamas and Hizbollah, funnelling extremists into Iraq and attempting to buy and develop nuclear technology.
       One source, who has discussed foreign policy with Mr Obama in the past two weeks, said he was "spending a lot of time thinking about Syria and how to improve relations".

    [No 372, Said Ali al-Shihri, back on terror website.]


      [Picture] Return to terror: This image, taken from a website, shows former Guantanamo inmate Said Ali al-Shihri.  
       Yesterday, it emerged that a Saudi militant who was released from Guantanamo Bay after six years of confinement was now a top figure in the Yemeni branch of al-Qaida.
       Said Ali al-Shihri, who was released in 2007 to the Saudi Government for rehabilitation, emerged again last week, identified by a militant-leaning website as a top deputy in "al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula", a Yemeni offshoot of the terror group headed by Osama bin Laden.
       The Yemeni branch has been implicated in several attacks on the US Embassy in the capital, Sana.  Al-Shihri is one of a small number of deputies in the group.
       The militant website, which referred to al-Shihri under his terror nom de guerre Abu Sayyaf al-Shihri, also revealed his Guantanamo prisoner number, 372.
       The announcement from the militant site came the same day that Mr Obama signed an executive directing Guantanamo be closed within a year.
       A key question facing the Obama administration is what to do with the 245 prisoners still confined at Guantanamo.
       That means finding new detention facilities for hard-core prisoners while trying to determine which are harmless enough to release.   At least 18 former Guantanamo detainees have "returned to the fight" and another 43 are suspected of resuming terrorist activities. #
       [RECAPITULATION: … Said Ali al-Shihri … his terror nom de guerre Abu Sayyaf al-Shihri … At least 18 former Guantanamo detainees have "returned to the fight" and another 43 are suspected of resuming terrorist activities. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: But, how many of them were ordinary Muslim people sold for money?  And did the torture turn these men from being war-ready into men wanting to make war against the "infidels," i.e., anybody with a paler face?  In other words, how many were turned by the U.S. and Allied cruelty into terrorists? COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  2:193 (or 2:189):- … Fight the unbelievers until no other religion except Islam is left.
       47:35 (or 47:37):- Be not fainthearted then; and invite not the infidels to peace when ye have the upper hand … DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  Sahih Bukhari's Volume 6, Book 60, Number 139:- Narrated Abdullah:  We used to participate in the holy wars carried on by the Prophet …   TRADITION ENDS.]
       [WHAT TO DO: The US leaders have been asking countries around the globe to take some of the detainees.  Why can't U.S. people realise that if you kidnap or seize or arrest someone, and can't prove him/her guilty in a lawcourt, your job is to return him/her home, NOT ask other nations to take him/her in.  Having waterboarded and terrorised the detainees, including innocent people, what sort of people has former President George W. BLUSH, and his oil-hungry companions, turned them into?  How could al-Shihri be "rehabilitated" by the Saudis, who finance much of the world's extremist pro-terrorist preaching?
       And, will any of the U.S. officials be prosecuted for kidnapping people in other countries and taking them to other countries to be tortured? ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#damascus_first_stop
    [Jan 26, 09]
    • Ayatollah Khomeini's Religious Teachings on Marriage, Divorce and Relationships.  [Temporary "marriage" and other rulings by the founding leader of Iran Islamic Republic]   

    Ayatollah Khomeini's Religious Teachings on Marriage, Divorce and Relationships

       Dr. Homa Darabi Foundation, http://www. homa.org/ Details.asp? ContentID= 21373527 48&TOCID= 2083225413 , by Parvin Darabi, RECEIVED January 27, 2009
       IRAN -- "A woman may legally belong to a man in one of two ways; by continuing marriage or temporary marriage. In the former, the duration of the marriage need not be specified; in the latter, it must be stipulated, for example, that it is for a period of an hour, a day, a month, a year, or more."
       "A man can marry a girl younger than nine years of age, even if the girl is still a baby being breastfed. A man, however is prohibited from having intercourse with a girl younger than nine, other sexual act such as foreplay, rubbing, kissing and sodomy is allowed. A man having intercourse with a girl younger than nine years of age has not committed a crime, but only an infraction, if the girl is not permanently damaged. If the girl, however, is permanently damaged, the man must provide for her all her life. But this girl will not count as one of the man's four permanent wives. He also is not permitted to marry the girl's sister."
       "A father or a paternal grandfather has the right to marry off a child who is insane or has not reached puberty by acting as its representative. The child may not annul such a marriage after reaching puberty or regaining his sanity, unless the marriage is to his manifest disadvantage."
       "Any girl who is of age, that is, capable of understanding what is in her own best interest, if she wishes to get married and is a virgin, must procure the authorization of her father or paternal grandfather. The permission of her mother or brother is not required."
       "A marriage is annulled if a man finds that his wife is afflicted with one of the seven following disabilities: madness, leprosy, eczema, blindness, paralysis with after-effects, malformation of the urinary and genital tracts or of the genital-tract and rectum through conjoining thereof, or vaginal malformation making Coitus impossible."
       "If a wife finds out after marriage that her husband is suffering from mental illness, that he is a castrate, impotent, or has had his testicles excised, she may apply for annulment of her marriage."
       "If a wife has her marriage annulled because her husband is unable to have sexual relations with her either vaginally or anally, he must pay her as damages one-half of her mehryeh (her price) specified in the marriage contract. If the husband or wife annuls the marriage for any of the above-mentioned reasons, the man owes nothing to the woman if they have had sexual relations together; if they have not, he must pay her the full amount of the dowry."
       "A Moslem woman may not marry a non-Moslem man; nor may a Moslem man marry a non-Moslem woman in continuing marriage, but he may take a Jewish or Christian woman in temporary marriage."
       "A woman who has contracted a continuing marriage does not have the right to go out of the house without her husband's permission; she must remain at his disposal for the fulfilment of any one of his desires, and may not refuse herself to him except for a religiously valid reason. If she is totally submissive to him, the husband must provide her with her food, clothing, and lodging, whether or not he has the means to do so."
       "A woman who refuses herself to her husband is guilty, and may not demand from him food, clothing, lodging, or any later sexual relations; however, she retains the right to be paid damages if she is repudiated."
       "If a man who has married a girl who has not reached puberty possesses her sexually before her ninth birthday, inflicting traumatisms upon her, he has no right to repeat such an act with her."
       "A man who has contracted a continuing marriage may not leave his wife for so long a time as to allow her to question the validity of the marriage; however, he is not obligated to spend one night out of every four with her."
       "A husband must have sexual relations with his wife at least once in every four months."
       "A woman who has been temporarily married in exchange for a previously established dowry has no right to demand that her daily expenses be paid by her husband, even when she becomes pregnant."
       "A temporary marriage, even though only one of convenience, is nevertheless legal."
       "A man must not abstain from having sexual relations with his temporary wife for more than four months.
       "If a father (or paternal grandfather) marries off his daughter (or granddaughter) in her absence without knowing for a certainty that she is alive, the marriage becomes null and void as soon as it is established that she was dead at the time of the marriage."
       "To look upon the face and hair of a girl who has not reached puberty, if it is done without intention of enjoyment thereof, and if one is not afraid of succumbing to temptation, may be tolerated. It is however recommended that one not look upon her belly or thighs, which must remain covered."
       "To look upon the faces and hands of Jewish or Christian women, if this is not done with intention of enjoyment thereof, and if one does not fear temptation, is tolerated."
       "A woman must hide her body and her hair from the eyes of men. It is highly recommended that she also hide them from those of prepubic boys, if she suspects that they may look upon her with lust."
       "If a man is called upon, for medical reasons, to look upon a woman other than his wife and to touch her body, he is permitted to do so, but if he can give such care by only looking at the body he must not touch it, and if he can give it by only touching, he must not look at it."
       "A woman who becomes pregnant as a result of adultery must not have an abortion. If a man commits adultery with an unmarried woman, and subsequently marries her, the child born of that marriage will be a bastard unless the parents can be sure it was conceived after they were married."
       "A child born of an adulterous father is legitimate."
       "The best person to breast-feed a newborn baby it its own mother. It is preferable that she not ask to be paid for such service, but that her husband pay her for it of his own free will. If the sum the mother asks for is greater than that charged by a wet nurse, the husband is free to take the child from its mother and turn it over to the wet nurse."
       "A man who repudiates his wife must be of sound mind and past the age of puberty. He must do so of his own free will and without any constraint; therefore, if the formula for divorce is spoken in jest the marriage is not annulled."
       "A woman temporarily married, say, for a month or a year, has her marriage automatically annulled at the end of that time, or at any other time when the husband releases her from the balance of her engagement. It is not necessary for this that there be any witnesses, or that the woman have had her period."
       "A woman who has not yet reached the age of nine or a menopausal woman may remarry immediately after divorce, without waiting the hundred days that are otherwise required."
       "A woman who has had her ninth birthday, or who has not yet entered menopause, must wait for three menstrual periods after her divorce before being allowed to remarry. If a woman who has not reached her ninth birthday or who has not entered menopause gets temporarily married, she must, at the end of the contract or when the husband has released her from part of it, wait two menstrual periods or forty-five days before marrying again."
       "If the father or paternal grandfather of a boy has him marry a woman for a temporary marriage, he may prematurely cancel it in the boy's interest, even if the marriage was contracted before the boy reached the age of puberty. If, for example, a fourteen-year-old boy has been married off to a woman for a period of two years, they may return her freedom to the woman before this time has run its course; but a continuing marriage cannot be broken in this way."
       "If a man repudiates his wife without informing her of it, and continues to meet her expenses for a period of, say, a year, and at the end of that time informs her that he got a divorce a year earlier and shows her proof of it, he may require that she return to him anything he has bought or given her during that time, provided that she has not used it up or consumed it, in which case he cannot demand its return."
       "If a child dies within the mother's womb and it is a danger to her life to leave it there, it must be extracted in the easiest way possible; it can. if need be, cut into pieces; this should be done by the woman's husband or a midwife."
       "A woman who wishes to pursue her studies toward the end of being able to earn her living through respectable work, and who has a male teacher, may do so if she keeps her face covered and has no contact with men; but if-that is inevitable, and religious and moral tenets are thus undermined, she must give up her studies. Girls and boys who attend coeducational classes in grammar schools, high schools, universities, or other teaching establishments, and who, in order to legalize such a situation, wish to contract a temporary marriage may do so without the permission of their fathers. The same applies if the boy and girl are in love but hesitate to ask for such permission."
       (Teachings of Ayatollah Khomeini, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution) #
       RECAPITULATION: "A man can marry a girl younger than nine years of age, even if the girl is still a baby being breastfed. A man, however is prohibited from having intercourse with a girl younger than nine, other sexual act such as foreplay, rubbing, kissing and sodomy is allowed. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: Sodomy, if it means anal sex, with a child younger than nine, is such a horror that really pious people would not have written down his wicked fatwa. 
       Amazing as it might be to believers in multiculturalism, "marrying" a girl aged under nine years was reported in the case of Mohammad.  He "married" Aisha when she was six, and consummated the "marriage" when she was nine. (Sahih Bukhari's Vol. 5, Bk. 58, No. 236)
       But similar practices had been taught in ANCIENT times long before Mohammad was born. (Sanhedrin 54 b)
       In general, Ayatollah Khomeini's teachings are a mish-mash of prehistoric ignorance, Islamism, and despisement of womankind.  He is the same man who declared a death sentence for the author of The Satanic Verses, for which he ought to have been condemned by Islam, but he wasn't. ENDS.]
       [2nd RECAPITULATION: "If a wife has her marriage annulled because her husband is unable to have sexual relations with her either vaginally or anally, he must pay her as damages one-half of her mehryeh (her price) specified in the marriage contract…." ENDS.]
       [2nd COMMENT: If Khomeini is reported correctly, by seeming to allow anal sex, he seems to be contradicting an Islamic teaching.  See below. ENDS.]
       [HADITH: Sunan Abu-Dawud's, Book 11, Number 2157: … He who has intercourse with his wife through her anus is accursed. TRADITION ENDS.]
       [ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: NM. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#ayatollah_khomeini_s_religious
    [RECEIVED Jan 27, 09]
    • Society has moved on.  Set an example.      [And, is Australia "ours"?]  
    WE DISAGREE
       The West Australian, letters§wanews.com.au , Letters to The Editor, p 22, Thursday, January 29, 2009

    SOCIETY HAS MOVED ON


       Having read [NAME WITHHELD]'s letter (Catch up on Islamic teaching, PM, 26/1), I checked with Chapter four of the Koran and, sure enough, it does say "beat them" if wives are disobedient.
       But much of the rest of the chapter is instructing men how to treat widows and orphans fairly, and how not to pray when drunk.
       In other words, the chapter is, I consider, a practical tract of instruction for those times, some 12 centuries ago.
       The same chapter also states "he that kills a believer by design shall burn in hell for ever".
       Present-day fanatical Muslims who say that every word of the Koran should be taken literally don't do so when it suits them.
       Let us not forget, too, that the Bible says we can beat our slaves, and hopefully most Christians have moved on from such practices.
       Generally speaking, these holy books, and I include the Torah and the Old Testament, are founts of universal wisdom and moral guidance: but to take every word literally after hundreds, in some cases thousands, of years would imply that humankind has not moved on morally or spiritually.
       Thank God the great majority of humankind has passed beyond slavery and wife-beating!
       Because Australian law forbids these in any case, it is surely time for all religions to move on beyond such ancient dogmatics and on to a more civilised understanding of the common source of all the great religions. Arthur Abdullah Pope, Glen Forrest

    SET AN EXAMPLE


       I agree with writers about not tolerating people (clerics or not) who say it is OK to harm women (or men for that matter) through verbal or physical abuse.
       However, I am once again disappointed (but not surprised) that as soon as another Muslim cleric makes headlines about preaching such uncaring methodology on male and female relationships, certain people come out of the woodwork to give their own idealistic thoughts on how others should fit into our country.
       The letters on Saturday about the comments of Samir Abu Hamza took an ugly turn to include attacks on what seemed to be the Muslim community as a whole.
       Unfortunately for people who come from communities such as these, it appears that whenever someone with fanatical views makes the headlines these decent people seem to be grouped with such fanatics and are looked on as being different and un-Australian!
       To the people who wrote these letters, perhaps you should set an example by being the first to extend a hand of acceptance, then perhaps others will follow.
       To the writer of Please love our country (Letters, 24/1), you may not have realised this but words used in your well-thought-out piece such as "our" country, "our" government and "our" laws imply that you still consider them (perhaps people who have lived here all their lives but choose Islam as a way of life for themselves) to be outside of the "multicultural" Australian community.
       Of course, we all need to respect and abide by the same laws of the country, but let's respect other cultures and accept them into the Australian community.  We may even learn a thing or two. A. Davey, Lesmurdie
       [RECAPITULATION: Generally speaking, these holy books, and I include the Torah and the Old Testament, are founts of universal wisdom and moral guidance … ENDS.]
       [1st Letter, COMMENT: The cruelties supposedly ordered by Yehovah in the Jewish scriptures are obviously NOT "universal wisdom and moral guidance."  (The author ought to learn that the Torah is a PART of what Christians call the Old Testament.)  If anyone replies, s/he ought to say that the Koran's chapter 4 has plenty of UNFAIRNESS towards widows and orphans. ENDS.]
       1st Letter, 2nd RECAPITULATION: Thank God the great majority of humankind has passed beyond slavery and wife-beating! ENDS.]
       COMMENT: Slavery in Muslim lands is on the increase.  In addition, Muslim piracy broke out in sea lanes off Somalia, and the world "leaders" have let it go on and on, and so far seem unable to learn history's lesson -- piracy must be defeated on LAND, not at sea. ENDS.]
       [2nd Letter, COMMENT: The writer seems to think that Australians have no right to say that Muslims, with some fanatic leaders, are different and un-Australian.  Well, they are.  While the right to free speech prevails, Australians ought to say so.  One ex-minister of the Howard Government, after going out of government, said that no more Muslims ought to be allowed into Australia.  It's strange how this policy was not heard of while he was on a ministerial salary!  Perhaps he feared he would be disendorsed, as Graeme Campbell (Labor) was.
       The second-last paragraph is evidence of the desire to take over Australia, because it is not "ours," meaning the Australians'.  As a British Muslim said in a public discussion to an Anglo-Celt Briton, "Who said Britain was yours?"  In fact, Islam believes the whole world belongs to Allah and his people, the Muslims, so they have the right to take it over, and never to give any land back.  Hence, the refusal to let Israel exist, and the fanaticism about the occupying armies trying to bring Afghanistan and Iraq from prehistoric tribalistic barbarism and warlordism into the modern age.
       This sentence came through rose-coloured glasses: "Of course, we all need to respect and abide by the same laws of the country, but let's respect other cultures and accept them into the Australian community."  Would the writer welcome practising cannibals from the Cannibal Islands, for instance?  The Torres Strait islanders were headhunters when the British came, but none were allowed into Australia until that culture had been replaced with something better.  There is a religion that believes in making "medicine" by feeding a child special items, and then killing him/her -- would that be a "culture" that the writer would welcome into Australia?  In west Africa children, mainly boys, are being declared "witches" and cruelly treated, starved, beaten, etc.  Is this a "culture" Australians wish to share? COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#society_has_moved
    [Jan 29, 09]
    • Chapter 4 of Koran unfair to women. 

    Chapter 4 of Koran unfair to women

       Letter SENT to The Editor, The West Australian, letters§wanews.com.au , Thursday, January 29, 2009
       Chapter 4 of the Koran is full of verses ordering that women, daughters, and slave-girls, be treated unfairly, so I can't accept Arthur Abdullah Pope's second paragraph (Letters 29/1).
       Neither can I accept his theory that only fanatical Muslims would take the wife-beating verse literally, because their preachers tell them the Koran is a copy of words preserved on a tablet (85:21 http://www. usc.edu/dept/ MSA/quran/ 085.qmt.html #085.021 ) supposedly in Heaven -- which its contradictions show is unbelievable, but so are many texts of other religions.
       Women's evidence regarding debt is half the worth of a man's, says 2:282 http://www. usc.edu/dept/ MSA/quran/ 002.qmt.html #002.282 .
       Inheritance rules are that if they have no children the wives (plural) get a quarter of the estate (4:12 http://www. usc.edu/dept/ MSA/quran/ 004.qmt.html #004.012 ), but if they have children only an eighth part.
       Injustice to the females can start even perhaps in childhood.  If their father dies, the Koran 4:11 says that the sons are to get double what the daughters get, however an only daughter is to get half. http://www. usc.edu/dept/ MSA/quran/ 004.qmt.html #004.011 .
       But notice the MAN-made doctrine that half what a childless wife leaves shall go to the husband (4:12 http://www. usc.edu/dept/ MSA/quran/ 004.qmt.html #004.012 ) -- do male relations get the other half?
       Our news media has given us news of rape victims, of an imam saying that lightly-clad Australian women were like uncovered meat, of girl children being stoned to death, of fathers and uncles murdering young women who won't submit to a rape-style marriage to a man they have sold her to, of a child of eight being sold into marriage, and recently of a British doctor being kidnapped by her own parents to enter a forced marriage overseas.  The wailing in court by her father was, I am guessing, because of the money repayment he might have to make.
       The doctor says she has forgiven her parents -- but how can humanity forgive religious teachers who keep parroting the Koran 4:34 that "Virtuous women are obedient … " http://www. usc.edu/dept/ MSA/quran/ 004.qmt.html #004.034 , or that men can "… marry but two, or three, or four … or the slaves whom ye have acquired." http://www. usc.edu/dept/ MSA/quran/ 004.qmt.html #004.003 .  Slave "marriage" and concubinage means a rape relationship.
       Western society has moved on from the cruelties, genocides, selling daughters, the near-burning of a son, and the whole-burnt offering of a daughter in the Old Testament, and from the pro-slavery and obedient-wife verses in the New Testament.  But Muslim society has not made that shift, and judging by its growing numbers, is not likely to.
       Besides the recent shutdown by Taliban forces of girls' schools in a part of Pakistan, we had the previous horror of three Christian schoolgirls being beheaded in the Philippines.  The Koran at 8:12 http://www. usc.edu/dept/ MSA/quran/ 008.qmt.html #008.012 and 47:4 says to strike off the heads of disbelievers http://www. usc.edu/dept/ MSA/quran/ 047.qmt.html #047.004 -- and they did.  The Bali bombers, Saddam Hussein, and Osama Bin Laden quoted Koran verses to support their evil actions.  A shrine is planned for the Bali bombers!
       The dozens of evil verses have NOT been outlawed and condemned by the main Muslim religious teachers in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, or Indonesia -- and neither have the coal-bag women's clothing rules (Hadith 8, 74:257 http://www. usc.edu/dept/ MSA/fundamentals/ hadithsunnah/ bukhari/074. sbt.html #008.074.257 ).
       In fact, Muslim leaders want the Koran, shariah law and the dress code practiced in Britain, Australia, and other lands.
       Mr Pope's last sentence about the common source of all great religions intrigued me -- If he meant Babylonia, I doubt that it also infected Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and several folk religions, which I see as equally great as others. #
       [COMMENT: It is almost unbelievable that an apologist, in these days of the World Wide Web and Internet search engines, plus the many public libraries, and the cheap Koran editions by Penguin and Phoenix, would try to "kid" people that chapter 4 of the Koran is instructing men how to treat widows and orphans fairly, and how not to pray when drunk.  But then, we read of other religions still pretending to be holy and virtuous, while their clergy are sexually corrupting children and others, and some are stealing the contributions and romancing "gay partners" and/or mistresses. COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  66:2:- Allah hath allowed you release from your oaths. … DOCTRINE ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#chapter_4_of_koran
    [Jan 29, 09]
    • Nicky Reilly, Muslim convert, jailed for 18 years for Exeter bomb attack.     

    Nicky Reilly, Muslim convert, jailed for 18 years for Exeter bomb attack

       Times Online, From The Times, http://www. timesonline. co.uk/tol/ news/uk/crime/ article561 9151.ece, by Adam Fresco, Crime Correspondent , January 31, 2009
       BRITAIN – A vulnerable Muslim convert who was persuaded by extremists to attempt a suicide bomb attack was jailed for a minimum of 18 years yesterday.
       Nicky Reilly, 22, who has Asperger's syndrome and a mental age of 10, was described by his lawyer as the "least cunning" person ever to have been charged with terrorism.
       He was directed online to build nail bombs, which he tried to set off at the Giraffe restaurant in Exeter in May.
      [Picture] Nicky Reilly, who was jailed for at least 18 years today.    (Lewis Whyld / PA)  
       The devices went off prematurely and he was the only person injured. At his trial in October last year Reilly, from Plymouth, Devon, who appeared in court as Mohamad Abdulaziz Rashid Saeed, pleaded guilty to attempted murder and preparing an act of terrorism.
       Sentencing him to life imprisonment at the Old Bailey yesterday, Mr Justice Calvert-Smith said that although the attack was "an unsophisticated attempt", Reilly was a "significant risk" to the public.
       After his conviction, counter-terrorism officials said that extremists had taken advantage of his low IQ to groom him.
       Reilly, who has an IQ of 83, had first been taken to see a pyschiatrist when he was 9 and tried to take an overdose at 16. Kerim Faud, representing him, said: "He may comfortably be deemed to be the least cunning person ever to have come before this court for this type of offence."
       He is thought to have met British-based Muslim radicals in internet cafés near his council home, which he shared with his mother.
       Security sources said that radicals encouraged him to visit internet chat rooms and other websites, where he encountered men based in Pakistan who helped to mould a violent hatred of the West. He discussed with the men what his targets should be and they directed him to bomb-making websites.
       In a suicide note left in his home he paid tribute to "Sheikh Osama" (bin Laden) and called on the British and US governments to leave Muslim countries. He said that Western states must withdraw their support of Israel, and that violence would continue until "the wrongs have been righted".
       On May 22 Reilly put his plan into action. He left his home with six bottles in his rucksack filled with paraffin, caustic soda and nails. When he arrived at the Giraffe restaurant he ordered a drink and sat for ten minutes before heading to the lavatory to make the bombs.
       Fortunately for the 24 customers and 11 staff in the restaurant and the 20 more people lunching outside, the bombs exploded in the cubicle.
       Mr Justice Calvert-Smith said yesterday: "I am quite satisfied that these offences are so serious that only a life sentence is appropriate. This defendant currently represents a significant risk of serious harm to the public.
       "The offence of attempted murder is aggravated by the fact that it was long planned, that it had multiple intended victims and was intended to terrorise the population of this country. It was sheer luck or chance that it did not succeed."
       He accepted that the attack was unsophisticated but added: "Those who attempt to commit suicide and in doing so murder other people are almost invariably unsophisticated in many aspects. That lack of sophistication saved many Londoners on July 21, 2005."
       Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, said: "This case demonstrates that the threat to the UK from violent extremists remains real and serious." Reilly was the 86th person to be convicted in a significant terrorist case since 2007, she added. #
       [RECAPITULATION: Reilly was the 86th person to be convicted in a significant terrorist case since 2007, she added. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: Well, the deportation policy of Queen Elizabeth I looks better and better!  Investigate a criticism of it at http://www. asamst.ucsb. edu/courses/ readingslawso 194/12_ bartels.pdf COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  8:67 (or 8:68):- It is not for any prophet to have captives until he hath made slaughter in the land.  Ye desire the lure of this world and Allah desireth (for you) the Hereafter, and Allah is Mighty, Wise. DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: ReligionNewsBlog.com . ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#nicky_reilly_muslim
    [Jan 31, 09]
    • Police 'ran away' from jeering Gaza demonstrators.   

    Police ‘ran away’ from jeering Gaza demonstrators

       The Daily Mail (England), http://www. dailymail. co.uk/news/ article- 1133120/ Police-ran- away-jeering- Gaza- demonstrators. html , (with two videos, including strong language), By Christopher Leake, Last updated at 2:47 PM on February 1, 2009
       LONDON – Video footage posted on a website shows police officers running way from chanting demonstrators who took part in a violent protest in London against Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip.
       The ten-minute amateur film shows 30 officers being chased by a crowd of up to 3,000 people who broke away from an official protest march last month.
       The video, posted on YouTube, shows protesters chanting 'Allahu Akbar' (God is Greatest) and 'Fatwa', a death threat under Islamic law.
       Under the headline Metropolitan Police Humiliated At The Hands Of Muslim Demonstrators In London, protesters are shown shouting: 'Free, Free Palestine.'
       As they walk past St James's Palace, demonstrators throw traffic cones and stones at the police, who are seen running away from the threat before turning to walk backwards.
       One demonstrator shouts: 'Run, run, you cowards. Run, you poof. Allahu Akbar.'
       * MAIL ON SUNDAY COMMENT: A backwards step
       A female steward attempting to calm down the protesters pleads, 'Back, back' as the crowd advances on the police. But she is ignored as one male protester shouts: 'They're going to get it.'
       After coming into Piccadilly, near the five-star Ritz Hotel, demonstrators goad police as they draw their batons, screaming 'Free, Free Palestine' once more and a policeman is seen punching a young man in the face.
       Despite pleas from another officer asking the crowd to 'calm down', the protesters laugh at him and throw more traffic cones. One shouts: 'You swine.' #
       [VIDEO COMMENT by Religion News Blog: Followers of the 'Religion of Peace' show their true nature. Caution: includes hate speech and cursing. ENDS.
       [COMMENT: "Fight until no religion is left except Islam," and "Strike off the heads of the disbelievers" are two of the quotes the land-hungry crowd could have shouted.
       You see, Israel in the mid-1900s stole the land from the Arabs, who had stolen it in the 600s from the Christian Roman Empire, which had stolen it from Jews, Samaritans, etc. shortly before Christ.
       So, for Arabs to claim that Jews stole Palestine is the pot calling the kettle black. COMMENT ENDS.]
       [ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Religion News Blog ReligionNewsBlog.com , Item 23235 (posted Feb 3). ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#police_ran_away
    [Feb 1, 09]
    • Muslim cleric jailed 15 years in Australia terror case.  [Benbrika]         

    Muslim cleric jailed 15 years in Australia terror case

       Yahoo!xtra News, http://nz.news. yahoo.com/a/-/ world/5298425/ muslim-cleric- jailed-15- years- australia- terror-case/ , Reporting by Michael Perry; Editing by Jerry Norton, 10:12 pm, February 3, 2009
       MELBOURNE (Reuters,) – An Australian court sentenced a Muslim cleric to 15 years jail Tuesday for leading a terrorist cell that planned to bomb a football match in Melbourne in 2005, ending Australia's biggest terrorism trial, local media reported.
       The attack, aimed at forcing Australia to withdraw troops from Iraq, did not take place.
       Abdul Nacer Benbrika, 48, was sentenced on three charges, receiving 15 years for directing a terrorist group, seven years for being a member of a terrorist group and five years for possessing a CD connected with the planning of a terrorist act.
       Benbrika will serve the terms concurrently.
       The Victoria state Supreme Court sentenced six other Muslims to jail terms ranging from four to seven-and-a-half years, said local media at the court.
       Court officials confirmed the seven men were sentenced, but could not immediately release the details.
       Australia's largest terrorism trial saw 12 men initially charged with planning to attack a grand final football match in Australia's second-largest city, Melbourne , attended by 97,000 fans. Seven were convicted in late 2008.
       "The group may have indeed only have been an embryonic terrorist organization … but the organization fostered and encouraged its members to engage in violent jihad and to perform a terrorist act," said Judge Bernard Bongiorno in handing down the sentences.
       He said Benbrika still supported violent jihad as an integral part of religious obligations, reported local radio.
       "All the evidence points to the conclusion that he maintains his position with respect to violent jihad," the judge said.
       The court heard during the trial that Benbrika, a former aircraft engineer, migrated to Australia from Algeria in 1989.
       Bongiorno said terrorist acts in modern times were carried out by unskilled fanatics like Benbrika.
       Australia has never suffered a major peacetime attack on home soil, but more than 90 Australians were killed in bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali since 2002.
       Australia withdrew its 550 combat troops from Iraq in June 2008, but still has about 1,000 troops in Afghanistan. #
       [COMMENT: The land of Iraq, also, was stolen by Arab raiders from its rulers many centuries ago.  And so was Algeria, from whence Benbrika came to Australia in 1989.  Did Aussies agree to pot-pouri Australia by referendum before 1989?  Would they vote Yes now? COMMENT ENDS.]
       [ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: ReligionNewsBlog.com , Item 23236 (posted Feb 3).
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#muslim_cleric_jailed
    [Feb 3, 09]
    • Muslims suspect race bar by Liberals.     

    Muslims suspect race bar by Liberals

       The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , By NICK BUTTERLY, Exclusive, p 9, Monday, February 9, 2009.
       CANBERRA – Prominent Muslims from Perth's southern suburbs have called for an inquiry into whether their attempts to join the Liberal Party were blocked on the basis of their religion.
       Feizel Chothia, an Islamic community leader and imam, claims about 20 Muslims recently had their applications to join branches of the blue ribbon Liberal division of Tangney rejected.
       He says they were told they were refused because they did not live in the correct areas for the branches that they applied for, but Sheikh Chothia is certain that they all do and has questioned whether the religion of the applicants played a role in the knock-back.
       "We are definitely going to write to the Liberal Party and ask for an explanation," he told The West Australian.
       "We are going to ask why is it so, is it possibly because of religion?"
       But insiders say the membership rejections have more to do with a looming power struggle between sitting member Dennis Jensen and political aspirant Matt Brown.
      [Picture of eight men, four wearing religions headgear, and three bearded.] Questions: Sheikh Feizel Chothia and worshippers at Canning Vale.  He heads a collective of moderate Muslims known as the Lighthouse Group.    Picture: Barry Baker  
       Mr Brown won a hotly contested preselection battle for the seat in 2006, only to see that win overturned by the party's State council after former prime minister John Howard personally intervened to back Dr Jensen.
       "I am 100 per cent confident that it's got nothing to do with then: religion at all," Liberal State director Ben Morton said.
       He said their applications had not been rejected by the Liberal Party, but by branches of the Tangney division. He said they would have the right to challenge their rejections at a meeting of the State executive of the party on Saturday.
       "When there is an influx of members into a particular branch by non-locals it is reasonable for that branch to question that membership and refer that matter to State executive and that's what's happening," he said.
       Sheikh Chothia, who heads a collection of moderate Muslims known as the Lighthouse Group, said he was not aware of any tension in the Tangney division or any challenge to Dr Jensen.  The group, which included professionals, academics and successful businessmen, had simply wanted to "dip their toes in the water" of politics for the first time.
       Dr Jensen refused to comment over his fight to retain his seat, saying only that Tangney was a "diverse electorate". #
       [RECAPITULATION: Mr Brown won a hotly contested preselection battle for the seat in 2006, only to see that win overturned by the party's State council after former prime minister John Howard personally intervened to back Dr Jensen. ENDS.]
       [HISTORICAL PARALLEL: It is said that the Norman French invasion of Ireland by Strongbow started when one Irish king invited him to help in a fight he was having with another Irish king.  Hundreds of years later the occupation of part of Ireland, a direct successor of that land grab, continues. COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  2:193 (or 2:189):- … Fight the unbelievers until no other religion except Islam is left. … DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  4, 53:386:- Narrated Jubair bin Haiya: Umar sent the Muslims to the great countries to fight the pagans.  When Al-Hurmuzan embraced Islam, Umar said to him. "I would like to consult you regarding these countries which I intend to invade." […] TRADITION ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#muslims_suspect_race
    [Feb 9, 09]
    • Baptism sees foster carer struck off.   

    Baptism sees foster carer struck off

       The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , letters§wanews com au p 32, Tuesday, February 10, 2009
       LONDON – A foster mother with 10 years experience has been struck off the register after a Muslim girl in her care converted to Christianity.
       The local council banned her for failing to prevent the teenager getting baptised, even though the girl was 16 and made up her own mind to change religion.
       The carer, a churchgoer in her 50s who has fostered more than 80 children, has been forced to move out of the farmhouse she rented to look after vulnerable teenagers because of loss of income.  Another girl she was looking after has been taken back into care.  She has launched a legal challenge to the council's ruling.
       "I just want to get my life back," she said.  "I still hope to resolve this so that I can possibly foster again in the future as I simply enjoy helping young people."
       Religious groups and fostering charities condemned the council's decision, which comes amid a nationwide shortage of foster parents.
       The ruling has increased concerns that Christians are becoming victims of discrimination in Britain, following the case of Caroline Petrie, the nurse suspended for offering to pray for a patient. She was subsequently reinstated.
       The foster mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, insists that she did not pressure the teenager to convert, and tried to discourage her initial interest.
       The girl, who is now 17, was taken into care after being assaulted by a family member and saw baptism "as a washing away of the horrible things she had been through and a symbol of a new start", the woman said.
       "I offered her alternatives.  I offered to find her places to practise her own religion," she said.
       "I offered to take her to friends or family. But she said to me from the word go: 'I am interested and I want to come (to church)'."
       The carer claimed that social services were aware the girl was attending her evangelical church, and council officers objected only when they found out she had been baptised.
       Apostasy, the repudiation of one's faith, is strongly condemned in the Koran and is considered taboo in Muslim communities.
       Officials advised the teenager to reconsider her decision and stop attending Christian meetings, and in November struck the carer off their register, claiming she breached her duty of care as a foster parent.
       "They consider that in some way she should have taken steps to prevent the conversion," solicitor Nigel Priestley, who is representing the carer, said.
       He is demanding a judicial review into the council's decision, claiming it breaches Article 9 of the Human Rights Act, which guarantees freedom of religion for both the carer and the girl.
       He said that the teenager, who was now back with her parents, was "distressed" that her private faith had such repercussions, and was supporting her former carer's legal bid.
       Mike Judge of the Christian Institute, which is funding the carer's legal case, said: "This is the sort of double standard that Christians are facing in Britain."
       Mr Priestley said that the council had now offered to review its decision. #
       [RECAPITULATION: The ruling has increased concerns that Christians are becoming victims of discrimination in Britain, following the case of Caroline Petrie, the nurse suspended for offering to pray for a patient. She was subsequently reinstated. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: Surprise, surprise!  Humbling the Christians and Judaists is part of the religion!  (Mind you, if the Christian sect had any decency it would have told the young lady to wait until she was 21 to be baptised.)  Read also the next newsitem. COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  3:83 (or 3:77):- Are they seeking a religion other than Allah's, when every soul in the heavens and the earth has submitted to Him, willingly or by compulsion? …
       9:29:- Make war upon such of those to whom the Scriptures have been given … until they pay tribute out of hand, and they be humbled.
       93:4:- And verily the Hereafter will be better for thee than the present. DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  Sahih Bukhari's, Volume 9, Book 84, Number 57:- Narrated 'Ikrima: Some Zanadiqa: (atheists) were brought to 'Ali and he burnt them.  The news of this event reached Ibn 'Abbas who said, "If I had been in his place, I would not have burnt them, as Allah's Apostle forbade it, saying, 'Do not punish anybody with Allah's punishment (fire).'  I would have killed them according to the statement of Allah's Apostle, 'Whoever changed his [Islamic] religion, then kill him'. "
       Bukhari's Vol. 9, Bk. 84, No. 58:- [Regarding a Jew who had become a Muslim, then returned to Judaism:]  Mu'adh said, I will not sit down till he has been killed. … and he was killed. TRADITION ENDS.]
       [FOLLOW-UP COMMENT: Of course, the council striking the woman off their register could be for fear of the Muslims, or because of political correctness gone mad.  Another newsitem around this time tells of the European Union's highest "court" ordering Britain to allow a convicted killer prisoner to have a child by a woman who has befriended him, because he has a right to a "family life."  The PC mindset is akin to insanity, it seems.  The costs of the repeat court appeal must have been prodigious, so it seems that elements of the moneyed classes are behind such insanity. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#baptism_sees_foster
    [Feb 10, 09]
    • Polish hostage beheaded on Pakistani Taliban video.     

    Polish hostage beheaded on Pakistani Taliban video

       The West Australian, p 32, Tuesday, February 10, 2009
       ISLAMABAD – Taliban militants have released a graphic video of a Polish engineer being beheaded because, they said, Pakistan refused to free detained insurgents.
       The tape was released a day after a spokesman for Pakistan's umbrella Taliban group said its men had decapitated Piotr Stanczak, who was kidnapped in the north-west in September.
       Mr Stanczak, who was working in Pakistan for a Polish energy company, was seized in Attock, a town about 70km north-west of Islamabad. His driver and bodyguard were killed.
       Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Jacek Najder said he was still awaiting official confirmation that the Tehreek-e-Tali-ban Pakistan had killed Mr Stanczak.
       Prime Minister Donald Tusk previously said Poland had "informal confirmation" of the death and the Polish Embassy in Islamabad rated the Taliban claim "99.99 per cent" likely.
       The video, released on Sunday, shows Mr Stanczak sitting cross-legged on a carpet in a khaki shalwar kameez shirt.
       He made a brief statement in English to questions from his captors, urging his Government to withdraw its contingent of about 1100 troops from Afghanistan.
       In the next scene, Mr Stanczak is in the same position but blindfolded and a masked man beheads him with a knife while two others stand guard with AK-47s pointed at the hostage's head.
       A masked militant then says Mr Stanczak was killed because Taliban prisoners were not released and warns that other foreign hostages could meet the same fate, without saying who. #
       [COMMENT: The genuine "pious" Muslim is PROUD of his wickedness, and puts it into a movie and on the internet.
       One could ask how much energy was being released in Muslim lands before the non-Muslims invented modern methods?  So what on earth is the use of bringing modernity to them, when they attend religious services that teach them that this life is but play and amusement, and the hereafter will be better for them?  The poverty, squalor and cruelty in many Muslim lands is NOT just a coincidence, or a result of the wickedness of non-Muslims around the world.  The Polish engineer would have been better off helping the Polish people, or others nearby who actually believe that life is worth living, here and now. COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  8:12:- … I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve.  Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.
       6:32, 47:36 (or 47:38), and
       93:4:- And verily the Hereafter will be better for thee than the present. DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  Bukhari's, 6, 60:250:- [***] Ya'la- said: Said said 'They found boys playing and Al-Khadir got hold of a handsome infidel boy laid him down and then slew him with a knife. [***]
       Sahih Muslim's 19:4450:- […] We arrived at Hudaibiya with the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) […] I drew my sword and attacked these four while they were asleep. […]     TRADITION ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#polish_hostage_beheaded
    [Feb 10, 09]
    • [Killings, threats, anarchy, women repressed -- situation normal in the Islamic umma.] 

    [Killings, threats, anarchy, women repressed -- situation normal in the Islamic umma.]

         The West Australian, Various pages, Wednesday, February 11, 2009
       Page 13.

    Aboriginals oppose Swan Valley mosque.

      By Daniel Hatch.       PERTH, W. Australia: Plans to build a mosque in the Swan Valley have upset Noongyar elders, who claim the Caversham land is a sacred site, protected under the Aboriginal Heritage Act since 1984.
       The land is a burial ground, very sacred; Aboriginals had been massacred there, 45 elders said in a submission to the City of Swan, opposing the Bosnian Islamic Society's application.
       Page 34.

    Shocked Poles vow justice for dead engineer.

      [with picture]           WARSAW, Poland: The Polish Government vowed to hunt down his murderers and bring them to justice.  The murder of Piotr Stanczak is judged to be authentic.  He was a geologist working for a Polish oil and natural gas exploration company when he was kidnapped in the north-west of PAKISTAN on September 28.  His driver and bodyguard were killed.
       "Never in Poland have we had such a situation," Jacek Cichocki, security adviser to Prime Minister Donald Tusk, said.
       The kidnappers had originally demanded the release of 60 Islamist fighters held in Pakistan.  They also wanted Poland to withdraw the 1600 Polish troops in AFGHANISTAN as part of a United Nations-mandated and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.
       [COMMENT: Perhaps the modern Poles ought to read how a Polish king centuries ago led a force that helped raise the siege of Vienna by people of the same culture as those who cruelly murdered this engineer -- who had actually gone along with his captors and made a speech, in English, calling for the non-Muslim armed forces to leave.  Even this was not enough for people who recite violent Koran verses at regular intervals. COMMENT ENDS.]
       Page 38.

    Muslim militants jailed in Indonesia

        JAKARTA, Indonesia: An Indonesian district court sentenced three Muslim militants up to nine years in prison on Monday after they were convicted of assisting and hiding leaders of the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist network.  They are Abu Husna, Agus Purwanto, and Parmin (alias Yaser Baara).  Purwanto allegedly funnelled proceeds from the sale of stolen gold jewellery to Abu Dujana, and provided information on clashes between Muslims and Christians in Poso, Sulawesi, in 2000 and 2001.
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  5:38 (or 5:42):- And (as for) the man who steals and the woman who steals, cut off their hands as a punishment … DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       Page 42.

    Saudi princess stirs up debate on women drivers.

        RIYADH, Saudi Arabia: The wife of one of Saudi Arabia's richest men, Princess Amira al-Taweel, wants women to be allowed to drive in the kingdom.  She said " … I drive a car in all the countries I travel to."  The kingdom is the only country in the world to ban all women from driving.  Supporters of this policy say driving would expose women to sinful temptation.
       [TEACHINGS: Our scholars have said: " … the husband … the right of rulership over the woman … she cannot fast … go on pilgrimage … leave the house, except by his permission. … " (Ibn al-’Araby, as quoted in Women in Islam, Fourth Edition 2006 (orig. 1995), P.Newton and M. Rafiqul Haqq, publisher and city not stated, ISBN 0-88264-310-x, page 29) ENDS.]
       Page 43.

    Men get abuse shelters.

        AMSTERDAM, Holland: Male victims of domestic abuse in the Netherlands will be able to seek refuge in a chain of 40 special shelters (half of them secret) in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht.  It is a one-year pilot programme.  Domestic abuse of men ranges from physical and mental abuse and includes men who refuse to commit murder in the name of "family honour."
       Page 45.

    Obama's man faces flak on US drones in Pakistan.

            ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Richard Holbrook, appointed by new US President Barack Obama, flew in to Islamabad on Monday amid a growing row over America's use of Predator drones to attack al-Qaida leaders.  Pakistan has demanded an end to the attacks by unmanned drones on targets in the lawless tribal areas close to the Afghan border.
       The US has leaked a list of al-Qaida leaders allegedly killed to a Pakistani newspaper.  One of those supposedly killed was Rashid Rauf, the British chief suspect in the 2006 plot to blow up a transatlantic airliner.
       Law and order has collapsed in the Swat Valley, once a popular tourist destination.   Islamists have dumped bodies of people they claim are prostitutes, dancers, and drug dealers, in the main square of Mingora.  The Islamists broadcast target lists on illegal radio stations.
       The Pakistani army does not hold the ground of areas they attack with artillery and helicopter gunships, and there is no equipment, salaries, or training for government forces, so they retreat, a diplomatic source claimed.
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#killings_threats_anarchy
    [Feb 11, 09]
    • [3/4 pants for slides, swim; Sudan genocide charges.] 

    [ ¾ pants for slides, swim; Sudan genocide charges.]

         The West Australian, Friday, February 13, 2009
       Page 3.

    Muslims' attire not allowed at fun park.

          PERTH, W. Australia: Five Muslim families visited Adventure World, wearing three-quarter pants in accordance with their religion, but were not allowed on rides and swimming pools.  Some mothers sitting with children in the baby pool when lifeguards said a friend could not go into the water with her clothes on, because it was unhygienic and against the rules.  But such rules were not on display, the Muslim spokesperson said. [With picture of men, women, and chuildren.]
       Mrs Paleeza Shaikh (29) said the friends had visited the amusement park at least three times this summer and always wore three-quarter pants and long shirts in swimsuit material.  Ethnic Communities Council president Ramdas Sankaran said the incident appeared blatantly discriminatory, and Adventure World should apologise and compensate the women for the humiliation they had suffered.
       [KORAN: 4:76 (or 4:78); 9:29. DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: How many Australian swimming costumes are allowed on beaches in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, etc.?  Will the Ethnic Communities Council of WA seek apologies and compensation for non-Muslims in those Muslim lands? COMMENT ENDS.]
       Page 38.

    World court to issue warrant for leader

          THE HAGUE: International Criminal Court judges will issue an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.  It is over alleged genocide in Darfur (a western province of Sudan, inhabited by black Africans, not by Arab Muslims).
       The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon urged Khartoum to ensure the safety of UN peacekeepers in Darfur.  There are also aid workers and African Union peacekeepers in the province.  Since the beginning of the attacks in February 2003, 300,000 have died and more than 2.2m people have fled.
       [COMMENT: Why wasn't former U.S. President George W. Bush indicted for waging a war to grab oil in Iraq?  The Iraqi parliament has been delaying the passage of a bill to give the oilfields, which were put into Iraqi hands years ago, to U.S.-backed multinational corporations.  Ain't "demahcracy" grand?  And, why has it taken the judges all these years to indict an Arab Muslim leader, when the regime's previous attacks in south Sudan have been notorious for years?  Does oil make the leaders immune?
       Overall comment: What makes a religion great?  Close attention to so-called "modesty" of clothing in public, or the prevention of mass-murder and stealing of black people's lands?  What should the Ethnic Communities Council of WA, and the anti-discrimination "industry," put as the higher priority? COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#3/4 pants for slides
    [Feb 13, 09]
    • The fatwa that changed the world.  Feature: Twenty years of Fatwa.  [1989 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini]     
    Feature: Twenty years of Fatwa

    The fatwa that changed the world


       West Weekend Magazine (supplement to The West Australian), westweekend § wanews com au , by Andrew Anthony, pp 14-19, Saturday, February 14, 2009
       Twenty years ago today – Valentine's Day 1989 – Iran's religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini pronounced a death sentence on Salman Rushdie for his novel The Satanic Verses.  Andrew Anthony reports on the profound effect on Rushdie, the rise of the culture wars, Western notions of freedom of speech and Islam's own goal for religious tolerance.
      [Picture of men with clenched fists, wearing religious hats, holding banner "Death Rushdi", with placards in English and Arabic.] Opposite page: Protesters in Pakistan chant slogans to condemn Britain's knighting of Salman Rushdie, June 22, 2007 A leading Iranian cleric said at the time that the death sentence fatwa issued against him in 1989 was still valid.    Picture: Getty Images  
       THE PHRASE "literary London" is usually employed to nebulous effect but it accurately describes the gathering that took place at the Greek Orthodox church in Bayswater on February 14, a clear blue St Valentine's Day, in 1989. The occasion was Bruce Chatwin's memorial service, and it was attended by a large contingent of what was and remains an exceptional generation of British or British-based writers. Among them were Martin Amis, Paul Theroux and Salman Rushdie.
       According to Theroux, Chatwin's funeral "was the high-water mark of that decade's creative activity". For Amis, Chatwin, a recent convert to Greek Orthodoxy, had played a last joke on his friends by subjecting them to "a religion that no one he knew could understand or respond to". If so, it was a joke destined to be overshadowed by a very different kind of theological offering that was far more of a challenge to understand or respond to. That same morning, Rushdie had been informed of the fatwa issued by the Iranian leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, calling for his execution for the crime of writing the novel, The Satanic Verses.
       Word of the death sentence had spread among the mourners. Thinking the fatwa was little more than the empty threat of a faraway tyrant, Theroux called out to Rushdie: "Next week, we'll be back here for you!" But Khomeini's pronouncements in such matters were seldom without consequence. As far back as 1947, when merely a cleric, he had ordered the death of an Iranian education minister who, within days, was shot dead. And thereafter, countless other political and intellectual opponents were to lose their lives on Khomeini's command. Chatwin's memorial service was to be Rushdie's last public appearance for some time.
       He spent the remainder of that day searching for his son, Zafar, then he went into hiding. The headline of the London evening paper read: EXECUTE RUSHDIE, ORDERS THE AYATOLLAH. "Salman had disappeared into the world of block caps," wrote Amis. In fact, he had moved with a Special Branch protection team to the Lygon Arms Hotel in the Cotswolds in south-western England. That same evening, Britain's Channel 4 broadcast a prerecorded interview with Rushdie. "It's very simple," said the author, when asked about the demands that his book be withdrawn from shops. "If you don't want to read a book, you don't have to read it. It's very hard to be offended by The Satanic Verses – it requires a long period of intense reading. It's a quarter of a million words."
       Four days after Rushdie received his "unfunny Valentine", he issued an apology: "I profoundly regret the distress that publication has occasioned to sincere followers of Islam." At first, the apology was rejected then accepted in Iran, before Khomeini stated that even if Rushdie repented and "became the most pious man of all time", it was still incumbent on every Muslim to "employ everything he has got" to kill him. So much for the spirit of forgiveness.
       What the mixed responses pointed to was that, right from the start, The Satanic Verses affair was less a theological dispute than an opportunity to exert political leverage. The background to the controversy was the struggle between Saudi Arabia and Iran to be the standard-bearer of global Islam. The Saudis had spent a great deal of money exporting the fundamentalist or Salafi version of Sunni Islam, while Shi'ite Iran, still smarting from a calamitous war and humiliating armistice with Iraq, was keen to reassert its credentials as the vanguard of the Islamic revolution. Both the Saudis and Iranians saw a new constituency, ripe for exploitation, in the small British protest groups that initially responded to The Satanic Verses with book-burning demonstrations. But in fact, the protesters who took to the streets in Bradford and other mill towns were themselves the offspring of other far-off theocratic politics in the subcontinent.
       The Satanic Verses was published on September 26, 1988, and, after pressure from the Janata Party, banned in India by Rajiv Gandhi's government nine days later. Flushed with this success, Indians working for the Saudi-financed Islamic Foundation of Leicester suggested trying to get the book banned in Britain. According to Malise Ruthven, author of A Satanic Affair: Salman Rushdie and the Rage of Islam, the campaign was then orchestrated by Jamaat-i-Islami, the party founded in Pakistan by Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi. A journalist-cum-theologian, Maududi preached that "for the entire human race, there is only one way of life which is Right in the eyes of God and that is al-Islam".
       Nevertheless, it was the Saudis who funded the United Kingdom Action Committee on Islamic Affairs, the protest body set up to maximise pressure on The Satanic Verses. It featured Islamists like Iqbal Sacranie, the future head of the Muslim Council of Britain. (Sacranie famously opined that "death, perhaps, is a bit too easy" for Rushdie. He was later knighted for services to community relations.) And it was the Saudi clerics who were planning a trial of Rushdie in absentia.
      [PICTURE, all of page 15: "Death, Rushdi" banner, with men behind it giving clenched-fist gesture, wearing religious hats, mouths open.  Placards, some in English, some in Arabic characters, are behind them.  
       In keeping with most Muslim countries, Iran did not ban The Satanic Verses. It was even reviewed in an Iranian newspaper. But noticing the protests in India and Britain, a delegation of mullahs from the holy city of Qum read a section of the book to Khomeini, including the part featuring a mad imam in exile, which was an obvious caricature of Khomeini. As one British diplomat in Iran said: "It was designed to send the old boy incandescent." So it was that the Iranians delivered the fatwa, thus winning the competition to be the greatest haters of Rushdie, and therefore the West, and all that entailed.
    What they said at the time
    Harold Pinter, playwright
    "A very distinguished writer has used his imagination to write a book and has criticised the religion into which he was born and he has been sentenced to death as well as his publishers. It is an intolerable and barbaric state of affairs."
    John Berger, author and critic
    "I suspect that Salman Rushdie, if he is not caught in a chain of events of which he has completely lost control, might, by now, be ready to consider asking his world publishers to stop producing more or new editions of The Satanic Verses. Not because of the threat to his own life, but because of the threat to the lives of those who are innocent of either writing or reading the book."
    Germaine Greer, writer and academic (left)
    "I refuse to sign petitions for that book of his, which was about his own troubles."
    Jimmy Carter, US president, 1977-81
    "Rushdie's book is a direct insult to those millions of Muslims whose sacred beliefs have been violated. The death sentence proclaimed by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, however, was an abhorrent response. It is our duty to condemn the threat of murder (but) we should be sensitive to the concern and anger that prevails even among the more moderate Muslims."
    John le Carre, author
    "Again and again, it has been within his (Rushdie's) power to save the faces of his publishers and, with dignity, withdraw his book until a calmer time has come .. It seems to me he has nothing more to prove except his own insensitivity."
    Roald Dahl, author
    "(Rushdie) knew exactly what he was doing and cannot plead otherwise. This kind of sensationalism does indeed get an indifferent book on to the top of the bestseller list – but to my mind, it is a cheap way of doing it."

       As Khomeini put it in a speech nine days after the fatwa, The Satanic Verses was very important to what he called the "world devourers" because they had mobilised the "entire Zionism and arrogance behind it". The book, he went on, was a "calculated" attack by "colonialism" on the greatness and honour of the clergy. It's worth noting here that the book, written by an arch anti-colonialist, was indeed in part an attack, or at least satire, on the role of the clergy, the caste of priests that has no Qur'anic authority. In The Observer newspaper, just before the fatwa, Rushdie had written: "A powerful tribe of clerics has taken over Islam. These are the contemporary Thought Police."
    THOUGH KHOMEINI WAS
    NOW DEAD, THE IRANIAN
    CLERGY CONFIRMED
    THAT RUSHDIE STILL
    HAD TO BE KILLED.  
       The next decade was a dangerous and isolating time for Rushdie. He was shadowed round the clock by bodyguards, and moved each time the security services became aware of one of the series of plots to kill him. Because there were British hostages held by Islamic extremists in Lebanon, Rushdie was advised by the authorities not to say or do anything that might antagonise their captors. Politicians remained at a safe public distance from him. Travel had become a logistical and administrative nightmare. The subcontinent was ruled out. British Airways told him not to fly with it because it might endanger its staff. And when he did manage to go abroad, staying with friends was a cramped affair.
       As Christopher Kitchens, an old friend and staunch advocate, recently recalled of a Rushdie visit to Washington DC: "When he was staying at my house back at Thanksgiving of 1993, so were about a dozen heavily armed members of the United States' finest anti-terrorist forces." In' contemplating these sorts of details, it's hard to keep in mind that the person at the centre of them was just a writer. "I said somewhere," he told me last year, "that it was like a bad Salman Rushdie novel."
      [Picture] Far left: Salman Rushdie with his book The Satanic Verses, in 1989, the year of its release.  Left: Ayatollah Khomeini, who ordered the fatwa against Rushdie from Iran in 1989.  Above: Members of the British Muslim Action Front with their legal team outside the British High Court during its battle to bring Salman Rushdie to trial under blasphemy laws, June 21,1989.  
       The years following the fatwa were also a damaging and sometimes lethal period for many of those associated with The Satanic Verses, few of whom had any protection. In April 1989 in London, Collets, the left-wing bookshop, and Dillons were firebombed for stocking the Rushdie novel. A month later, there were explosions in High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire and King's Road, London. There was a bomb in the Liberty department store which housed a Penguin bookshop (Penguin was the publisher of The Satanic Verses) and at the York Penguin bookshop.
       In August the same year, Mustafa Mahmoud Mazeh accidentally blew himself up in a Paddington hotel room while priming a bomb intended to kill Rushdie. Meanwhile, Rushdie's marriage to American author Marianne Wiggins did not long survive the pressures of life in hiding. Rushdie was at a low ebb and writing very little. Amis wrote: "I often tell him that if the Rushdie Affair were, for instance, the Amis Affair, then I would, by now, be a tearful and tranquillised 300-pounder (136kg), with no eyelashes or nostril hairs, and covered in blotches and burns from various misadventures with the syringe and the crack pipe."
       Rushdie sought another way out. On Christmas Eve 1990, he issued a statement bearing witness that "there is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his last prophet". Claiming to have renewed his faith in Islam, he said he did not agree with any character in The Satanic Verses who "casts aspersions … upon the authenticity of the holy Qur'an, or who rejects the divinity of Allah".
       He also said he would not release a paperback of the book. That evening, he was so disgusted with himself that he was physically sick. Playwright Arnold Wesker, a Rushdie supporter, said: "The religious terrorists have won." Hitchens recalled: "I told Salman that it didn't make any difference to my support for him but that I didn't think it would 'work' and that I didn't think it was dignified. I think he felt much better after he re-apostasised: it was a sort of Gethsemane – if you will forgive the expression – after which he was determined to see the whole thing through." Years later, Rushdie would publicly say it was the biggest mistake of his life, a "deranged" moment when he had hit rock bottom.
       In the event, it made no difference. Though Khomeini was now dead, the Iranian clergy confirmed that Rushdie still had to be killed. The following year, Hitoshi Igarashi, Rushdie's Japanese translator, was stabbed to death and Ettore Capriolo, the Italian translator, seriously injured in another knife attack. In 1993, William Nygaard, the publisher in Norway, was shot and injured, and Aziz Nesin, the Turkish translator, was the target of the Silvas massacre in Turkey that left 37 dead in an arson attack on a hotel.
       For years, the novel was withdrawn from display in shops around the world but it still became a bestseller in several countries, including America, and was published, despite all the demands and threats, in paperback.
       Moreover, Rushdie has gone on to enjoy a successful career, writing seven more novels and several other books, and he has also attained a measure of normalised liberty since the Iranian government effectively withdrew its backing from the fatwa in 1998. To this extent, Khomeini's edict and the murderous campaign it engendered failed abysmally. But Rushdie and The Satanic Verses, it should be remembered, were not the only target of the fatwa. In his original statement, broadcast on Iranian radio, Khomeini not only called for the death of all those consciously associated with the book but also said they should be executed "so that no one will dare to insult the Islamic sanctity". In this respect, and several others, Khomeini's terror has proved far more effective.
       Who would dare to write a book like The Satanic Verses nowadays? And if some brave or reckless author did dare, who would publish it? The signs in both cases are that no such writer or publisher is likely to appear, and for two reasons. The first and most obvious is fear. The Satanic Verses is a rich and complex literary novel, by turns ironic, fantastical and satirical. Despite what is often said, mostly by those who haven't read it, the book does not take direct aim at Islam or its prophet. Those sections that have caused the greatest controversy are contained within the dreams or nightmares of a character who is in the grip of psychosis. Which is to say that, even buried in the fevered subconscious of a disturbed character inside a work of fiction – a work of magical realism fiction! – there is no escape from literalist tyranny. Any sentence might turn out to be a death sentence. And few, if any, of even the boldest and most iconoclastic artists wish to run that risk.
       The recent case of The Jewel of Medina, a work by Sherry Jones which is neither bold nor iconoclastic, exemplifies the problem. In 2007, the American publishers Random House bought the rights to this historical novel about the prophet Mohammed's wife, Aisha.  By all accounts, the book is something of a cheesy romance. Jones herself believes it is a circumspect fiction which "portrays the prophet Mohammed as a gentle, compassionate, wise leader and man respectful toward women and his wives".  But a professor of Middle Eastern studies named Denise Spellberg advised Random House that it might provoke violence. The publishers duly cancelled the publication.
       "We stand firmly by our responsibility to support our authors and the free discussion of ideas, even those that may be construed as offensive by some," Random House explained in a statement. "However, a publisher must weigh that responsibility against others that it also bears, and in this instance, we decided, after much deliberation, to postpone publication for the safety of the author, employees of Random House, booksellers and anyone who would be involved in distribution and sale of the novel."
       This has become a familiar conceit in recent years: we defend the right of freedom of expression but prefer not to exercise it in situations that might endanger us. Random House publishes Rushdie, and he was angered by what he saw as a capitulation to the threat of Islamic reprisals. "This is censorship by fear, and it sets a very bad precedent indeed," he said.
       In Britain, the book was taken up by the independent publisher, Gibson Square. But on September 27 last year, the London home of Martin Rynja, Gibson Square's publisher, was firebombed. As things stand, the book's British publication is postponed indefinitely.
       Nor is this self-censorship restricted to literature. Ramin Gray, associate director of the Royal Court Theatre, recently admitted he would be reluctant to stage a play that was critical of Islam. "You would think twice," he said. "You'd have to take the play on its merits but given the time we're in, it's very hard because you'd worry that if you cause offence then the whole enterprise would become buried in a sea of controversy. It does make you tread carefully."
       The Royal Court cancelled a new version of Aristophanes' Lysistrata last year because the play is set in Muslim paradise. In 2006, Berlin's Deutsche Oper dropped a production of Mozart's Idomeneo because it depicted Mohammed. As Kenan Malik, author of the forthcoming book From Fatwa to Jihad: The Rushdie Affair and its Legacy, has written: "The fatwa has in effect become internalised."
       Fear is not the only explanation why a global religion which, rightly or wrongly, is invoked as the inspiration for terror has become a non-subject for critical (or uncritical) works of art. The other reason is sympathy. And here, Khomeini has proved prescient. Back in 1989, only the most conspiracy-minded Islamists took seriously Khomeini's claims that The Satanic Verses was part of a Zionist-imperialist plot to persecute Muslims.
      FEW OF THOSE WHO HAVE FOUND THEMSELVES TARGETED BY ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS IN THE WAKE OF THE RUSHDIE FATWA RECEIVED WHOLEHEARTED SUPPORT FROM THE LIBERAL COMMUNITY.  QUITE THE OPPOSITE. 
       The world has since changed. Following the events of September 11, 2001, the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, Guantanamo Bay and the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, the idea that the West is engaged in a military and cultural war with Islam is now far more widely entertained. A conflation has taken place in which the war in Iraq and the plight of the Palestinians have become somehow indivisible from the situation of Muslims in Britain. So that to be opposed to the war is to be, if not actively in favour of Islamism at home (the position of much of the Far Left), then at least not against it. And by extension, open criticism of Islamism, religious censorship and violence are often automatically viewed as an expression of "neocon" or "imperialist" politics.
       Although there were exceptions at the time – among them Germaine Greer, John Berger and John le Carre – many prominent cultural figures on the Left extended Rushdie their support both in Britain and abroad. Even a critic of The Satanic Verses, Egyptian novelist and Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz, who felt the book was insulting to Islam, signed a petition stating that "no blasphemy harms Islam and Muslims so much as the call for murdering a writer". Five years later, Mahfouz was stabbed in the neck by Islamic extremists.
       In the years since the fatwa, there have been many more flashpoints in which artists and writers have been threatened, attacked or killed for criticising Islam, and not all have been Muslims.
       Christopher Hitchens thinks this is a development that has been overlooked. "Salman was raised as a Muslim," he said, "so in theory, he's within the jurisdiction. He can be sentenced as an apostate, and the same can be done to writers Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Taslima Nasreen (the Bangladeshi novelist under threat of decapitation who has just been offered refuge in Paris). But what people haven't noticed sufficiently is that now people who are not Muslims, like the Danish cartoonists, have been threatened with violence for criticising Islam. That's sort of new and ought to be more controversial than it is."
       Yet few of those who have found themselves targeted by Islamic extremists in the wake of the Rushdie fatwa received wholehearted support from the liberal community. Quite the opposite. Hirsi Ali, threatened with death and placed under police protection for writing a film about women in Islamic societies after director Theo van Gogh was slaughtered on a busy street in Amsterdam; the Danish cartoonists who responded to Jyllands-Posten's commission to draw the prophet Mohammed and were forced into hiding – in each of these cases, the victims of intimidation were castigated and shunned by a wide swathe of progressive opinion.
       "Right-wing", "provocateurs", "reactionaries" and "racist" are some of the more restrained epithets aimed at the above names by their liberal critics. (Incidentally, surely the defining example of the absurdity of self-censorship is that the Danish cartoon that did not feature an image of the prophet but instead the legend "Jyllands-Posten's journalists are a bunch of reactionary provocateurs" was also deemed too dangerous to publish by every newspaper in Britain.)
       The word, though, that is most frequently launched at the heirs of Rushdie is Islamophobic. Almost any criticism of Islam or any of its adherents is likely to trigger accusations of Islamophobia. For example, in 2007, the (British) Channel 4 documentary Undercover Mosque exposed various preachers making hateful and violent statements regarding women, Jews, homosexuals and infidels. By any journalistic measure, it was a compelling and revelatory documentary. But in the media storm that followed, it was not the inflammatory preachers but the program-makers who found themselves subject to an inquisition. The police tried to prosecute them for broadcasting "material likely to stir up racial hatred". And when that failed, they referred the film to communications regulator Ofcom for censure. It took nine months before the filmmakers were fully vindicated and their professional reputations restored.
       Muslims, in all their myriad variety and differences, have morphed, or been corralled, into a unitary socioeconomic-cultural block. To take vocal exception to one aspect of Islam or one particular leader or sect is, almost by definition, to be an opponent of all Muslims. The Satanic Verses affair was the first test case in Britain of Muslimhood – many were to follow – in which the mark of a true Muslim was to be in favour of banning the novel, and the distinction of an even truer Muslim was to be in favour of killing Rushdie. 
      [Pictures] Far left: Salman Rushdie today, 20 years on from the fatwa.    Picture: Andrew Crowley  
    Left: Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-born writer in hiding in the Netherlands, is known for her criticism of Islam. Picture: Michael Kooren
       Inayar Bunglawala, spokesman for the Jamaat-i-Islami-influenced Muslim Council of Britain, probably the most-often-cited Islamic organisation in the country, passed both tests with flying colours.  He was, in his own words, "elated" when Khomeini delivered the fatwa.  "It was a welcome reminder that British Muslims did not have to regard themselves just as a small, vulnerable minority; they were part of a truly global and powerful movement." Nowadays, he accepts that book-banning is wrong, though he looks back with gratitude on the protests. "It was a seminal moment in British Muslim history," he told me. "It brought Muslims together. The Satanic Verses brought them together and helped develop a British Muslim identity, which I'm sure infuriates Salman Rushdie."
       One reason for Rushdie's fury could be that an identity forged on terrorising a fiction writer, with its direct associations of violence and censorship, is not a fair one to hang on two-million Britons. Kenan Malik suggests that it is a myth that "all Muslims were offended by The Satanic Verses. In fact, most-Muslims were little concerned about it." But as with most political arguments, in this particular identity parade, apathy never got a look in. Instead, the most outspoken "community leaders" claimed, and were duly assigned, the mantle of authentic representatives of Muslim Britain.
       Yet again, Khomeini was on to something. The expressed intention of his fatwa was to defend and strengthen the clergy, and one of its effects in Britain has been to create a kind of pseudo-clergy, a class of Islamist intellectuals and militants who presume to speak not just for their co-religionists in Britain but 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide. At the same time, in the late 80s and early 90s, another group of fundamentalist preachers, often refugees from despotic Middle Eastern regimes, began to attract
      UNDER DRACONIAN ANTI-TERROR LAWS, IT IS NOW ILLEGAL TO BE IN POSSESSION OF A WHOLE RANGE OF READING MATERIAL .. ONE OF THE TERRIRLE IRONIES OF THE CONFLICT WITH REACTIONARY ISLAM.  
    a disaffected constituency that had been radicalised by The Satanic Verses protests. As Hirsi Ali put it to me: "The paradox in the UK with regard to freedom of expression is that most of the radical literature and most of the radical mosques moved from Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia and established themselves in the liberal West, where there is freedom of religion and expression, with the bizarre purpose of destroying those freedoms."
       In the 20 years since the fatwa, the parameters of cultural debate in Britain and elsewhere have undoubtedly narrowed. If the Islam of Khomeini and other fundamentalists has played a key role in redefining what is and is not acceptable, then it is not the only factor. Other religions have also got in on the censorship act. In 2004, the play Behzti (Dishonour) was cancelled at the Birmingham Rep after a riot by Sikh protesters on the opening night. Christian groups, too, have taken to organising more intimidating protests – though with less success – against shows and productions they deem offensive.
       Taken together, they are all part of a multicultural accommodation that has come to determine the terms of public discourse. In hindsight, The Satanic Verses was published at a turning point in progressive politics. Throughout much of the 20th century, a battle had been waged against discriminating on the basis of race (The Satanic Verses itself was avowedly anti-racist) and class. In other words, those aspects of humanity that are biologically inherited or socially imposed.
       For a variety of reasons, including the fall of the Berlin Wall later on in 1989 and the emergence of minority-group activism, a new identity politics emerged. Class and race were replaced or trumped by culture. The emphasis moved to combating cultural discrimination. All cultures were deemed equal, and therefore all components of culture – religion, tradition, beliefs – had to be protected from critical appraisal. Respecting culture has come to mean restricting debate. Malik quotes sociologist Tariq Modood on this issue: "If people are to occupy the same political space without conflict, they mutually have to limit the extent to which they subject each other's fundamental beliefs to criticism."
       To some extent, this sensitivity has been achieved by coercion – the fatwa model. But there has also been a more voluntary adoption of multicultural manners, chief among which is the duty not to offend. And where that has failed, the British Government has shown itself all too willing to step in with prescriptive legislation. Three years ago, Britain came within a single parliamentary vote of being saddled with a law (the Religious Hatred Act) that meant anyone could be imprisoned for seven years for using insulting language, even if the insult was unintentional and referred to an established truth.
       Furthermore, under draconian anti-terror laws, it is now illegal to be in possession of a whole range of reading material. This is one of the terrible ironies of the conflict with reactionary Islam, previewed in the attempt to censor (and kill) Rushdie. In 1989, the British government defended freedom of expression against Islamic extremists.
       By this year, Islamic extremists could accuse the British Government of withdrawing freedom of expression. That the extremists dream of a far more extensive (and violent) censorship is no comfort or excuse.
       Rushdie has now moved on, figuratively and geographically, from the fatwa years. Back from the front pages, he has once again relocated, having lived in Mumbai and London, to New York (he is not alone in noting that all three cities have suffered Islamic terror attacks). But The Satanic Verses remains a book about the struggles of migration and the frictions of cultural exchange. It pokes fun at all manner of targets, not least America and Britain. Above all, perhaps, it dramatises the conviction that there is nothing more sacred than the freedom to question what is sacred.
       Twenty years on, it's a principle that urgently needs to be remembered, #
       [COMMENT: The murder threat is still there from the nation of Iran, but the "international community" seems paralysed. COMMENT ENDS.]
       [RECAPITULATION: … Khomeini … As far back as 1947, when merely a cleric, he had ordered the death of an Iranian education minister who, within days, was shot dead. And thereafter, countless other political and intellectual opponents were to lose their lives on Khomeini's command [ … ] In April 1989 in London, Collets, the left-wing bookshop, and Dillons were firebombed for stocking the Rushdie novel. A month later, there were explosions in High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire and King's Road, London. There was a bomb in the Liberty department store which housed a Penguin bookshop (Penguin was the publisher of The Satanic Verses) and at the York Penguin bookshop. [ … ]
       Though Khomeini was now dead, the Iranian clergy confirmed that Rushdie still had to be killed. The following year, Hitoshi Igarashi, Rushdie's Japanese translator, was stabbed to death and Ettore Capriolo, the Italian translator, seriously injured in another knife attack. In 1993, William Nygaard, the publisher in Norway, was shot and injured, and Aziz Nesin, the Turkish translator, was the target of the Silvas massacre in Turkey that left 37 dead in an arson attack on a hotel.  RECAP. ENDS.]
       [2nd COMMENT: So people in authority, opponents, and people earning an honest living as translators and booksellers are violently attacked!  But, apologists say that Islam has a dogma forbidding the slaying of even one innocent person!  And that humanity is all of one creation!  And Muslim schoolchildren of Western Australia wrote to a newspaper that Islam was a pure and beautiful religion!  How darkly must they view the non-Muslim way of life! ENDS.]
       [2nd RECAPITULATION: Jimmy Carter … we should be sensitive to the concern and anger that prevails even among the more moderate Muslims. ENDS.]
       [3rd COMMENT: Muslims who follow the Koran / Qur'an dogmas to fight until there is no other religion than Islam might find it difficult to be "moderate."  Does "moderate" include throwing stones at a 15-year-old girl, buried up to her neck, who has been raped? ENDS.]
       [3rd RECAPITULATION: The recent case of The Jewel of Medina, … about … Mohammed's wife, Aisha. … Random House … decided, after much deliberation, to postpone publication for the safety of the author, employees of Random House, booksellers and anyone who would be involved in distribution and sale of the novel. ENDS.]
       [3rd COMMENT: Casting terror into the hearts of the disbelievers is working!  Defending Free Speech is too hard!  Sneering at the Inquisition and the Index is easy, but for Western leaders to declare a similar faith-set intrinsically evil is not politically correct.  Is there cowardice in this matter? ENDS.]
       [4th RECAPITULATION: Salman was raised as a Muslim," he said, "so in theory, he's within the jurisdiction. He can be sentenced as an apostate, and the same can be done to writers Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Taslima Nasreen (the Bangladeshi novelist under threat of decapitation who has just been offered refuge in Paris). ENDS.]
       [4th COMMENT: Since when was the allegedly divine command "You shall not murder" set aside by a mere man, Mohammed?  Read on:
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  66:9:- O Prophet!  make war on the infidels and hypocrites, and deal rigorously with them. … DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  Bukhari's, Vol. 2, Bk. 19, No. 173:- […] Later on, I saw him killed as a non-believer. TRADITION ENDS.]
       [5th RECAPITULATION: That the extremists dream of a far more extensive (and violent) censorship is no comfort or excuse. ENDS.]
       [5th COMMENT: This author has not addressed the fact that the earliest Islamic texts report with approval or as by command the murder of critics of Mohammed and his religious theories, and even innocent bystanders such as the Jewish merchant, in addition to conquest and the taking of booty and slaves. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#the_fatwa_that
    [Feb 14, 09]
    • Founder of Islamic TV station accused of beheading wife.  [2009 Muzzammil Hassan]   

    Founder of Islamic TV station accused of beheading wife

       CNN, http:// edition. cnn.com/ 2009/CRIME/ 02/16/ buffalo. beheading/ index.html , From Deborah Brunswick and LaNeice Collins, Updated 0246 GMT (1046 HKT), February 16, 2009
       NEW YORK (CNN) – The founder of an upstate New York TV station aimed at countering Muslim stereotypes has been arrested on suspicion of killing his wife, who was beheaded, authorities said.
       Muzzammil Hassan was charged with second-degree murder after police found the decapitated body of his wife, Aasiya Hassan, at the Bridges TV station in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, said Andrew Benz, Orchard Park's police chief.
       Hassan was arrested Thursday.
       His wife filed for divorce February 6, and police had responded to several domestic violence calls at the couple's home, Benz said.
      [Picture] Muzzammil Hassan has been charged with murder in the death of his wife, Aasiya Hassan.   
       On Monday, Benz told CNN that Hassan went directly to the police station after his wife's death Thursday and confessed to killing her. However, Benz on Tuesday denied that he'd said Hassan confessed.
       Hassan told Orchard Park police his wife was dead, led officers to her body and was arrested Thursday, Erie County District Attorney Frank Sedita III told CNN on Tuesday. Hassan is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.
       Attempts to reach an attorney for Hassan were unsuccessful Monday, and his family didn't return calls from CNN.
       He had two children, 4 and 6, with his wife. He had two other children, 17 and 18, from his previous marriage.
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          • Pakistan unsure of man's ID beheaded in Taliban video [Muslim culture group. Victim might be Polish professional. February 11, 2009]
       He launched Bridges TV, billed as the first English-language cable channel targeting Muslims inside the United States, in 2004. At the time, Hassan said he hoped the network would balance negative portrayals of Muslims following the attacks of September 11, 2001.
       The station's staff is "deeply shocked and saddened by the murder of Aasiya Hassan and the subsequent arrest of Muzzammil Hassan," a statement from Bridges TV said.
       "Our deepest condolences and prayers go out to the families of the victim," the statement said. #
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  4:34 … Virtuous women are obedient, …
       8:12:- … I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve.  Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them. < www.submission. org/suras/ sura8.html #12 >
       8:39 (or 8:40):- Make war on them until strife shall be at an end, and the religion be all of it Allah's … DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [LINK/S: Bridges TV: http://www.bridgestv.com/.
       "An Islamic TV Channel Expands Its U.S. Audience," The Sun (New York), http://www. nysun.com/ national/islamic- tv-channel- expands-its- us-audience/ 41877/ , By STEVEN STALINSKY | October 19, 2006.
       [ … ] Every night, Bridges TV shows a news program, "Talking Points." Its guest on October 4 was Imam Mohammad Alo Elahi, whom it described as a leading "interfaith figure." According to his Web site, Imam Elahi was a spiritual leader in Ayatollah Khomeini's Iranian navy and also is the leader of "one of the largest mosques in the U.S.," in Dearborn, Mich.
       The Web site describes his meetings with world leaders and shows photographs of him with the spiritual adviser of Hezbollah, Ayatollah Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah; Ayatollah Khomeini; Presidents Khatemi and Rafsanjani of Iran; Secretary-General Annan of the United Nations; and Minister Louis Farrakhan.
       Throughout the day, Bridges TV airs segments of Koranic verses, quite a few of which denounce "unbelievers." One notable verse that aired October 9 praised martyrdom. [ … ] ENDS.]
       [INTERNET COMMENT: "ISNA's Beheading: How the Islamic Society of North America bears responsibilty for 'honor' killing," By Joe Kaufman, FrontPageMagazine.com | Friday, February 27, 2009, re-displayed on Militant Islam Monitor webpage, http://www. militantislam monitor. org/article/ id/3887 , ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#founder_of_islamic_tv
    [Feb 16, 09]
    • Liberal Party accepts half of frustrated Muslim applicants.     

    Liberal Party accepts half of frustrated Muslim applicants

       The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , By LINDSAY McPHEE, p 7, Monday, February 16, 2009
       PERTH (W. Australia) – Half of a group of Muslim men who called for an inquiry into whether their attempts to join the Liberal Party were blocked because of their religion have been accepted into the party.
       Nine of the prominent Muslims, from Perth's southern suburbs, were accepted into branches of the Liberal division of Tangney after a meeting of the State executive on Saturday.
       Ten more are still having their applications assessed and will find out if they have been accepted in the coming weeks when the State executive meets again.
       The group, made up of businessmen, academics and professionals, said earlier this month they were told they had been refused because they did not live in the correct areas for the branches they had applied to.
       However, Islamic community leader Feizel Chothia said he did not believe this to be the case and he questioned if the men's religion had some bearing on their rejection for membership.
       Liberal State director Ben Morton said religion had played no part in the case and the men had not been rejected.
       Their applications had been referred to the executive because in some cases it had been unclear which branch the prospective members wished to join and it was unusual to have so many applications for the one branch at the same time.
       "No one throughout this process has been rejected as a member of the Liberal Party," he said. "We wrote to everyone but we didn't hear back from some of them so we need to make contact with them and discuss with them exactly (which branch) they want to go to."
       Sheikh Chothia declined to comment yesterday before he had discussed the latest developments with the group. #
       [COMMENT: Don't you love journalism?  Previously unknown people are referred to as "prominent." COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  33:48 (or 33:47):- And obey not (the behests) of the Unbelievers and the Hypocrites, and heed not their annoyances, but put thy Trust in Allah. …
       66:2:- Allah hath allowed you release from your oaths. … DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  Sunan Abu-Dawud, Book 39, Number 4491:- Narrated Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-'As: The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: A believer will not be killed for an infidel.  If anyone kills a man deliberately, he is to be handed over to the relatives of the one who has been killed.  If they wish, they may kill, but if they wish, they may accept blood-wit. TRADITION ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#liberal_party_accepts
    [Feb 16, 09]
    • Islamic academic gives credit to WA tolerance.     

    Islamic academic gives credit to WA tolerance

       The West Australian, By DAWN GIBSON, p 9, Monday, February 16, 2009
      [Picture] World vision: University of WA professor Samina Yasmeen is an internationally renowned expert on Islam and global politics.    Picture: Nic Ellis  
       PERTH (W. Australia) – When Samina Yasmeen recalls her first impression of Australia, austere angles of concrete and glass office towers spring to mind.
       It was an unconventional introduction to a country famous for its wide-open spaces, but these were the snapshots that her father sent back to his family in Pakistan while studying architecture at Melbourne University in the 1960s. Dr Yasmeen remembers receiving pictures of Melbourne streetscapes, along with snaps of a half-built Sydney Opera House.
       In her 20s, she followed her father's lead by netting a scholarship to study [for] her masters [degree] in international relations in Canberra, kick-starting a career that would lead to her becoming one of Australia's most prominent Muslim academics, a prolific author and an internationally renowned expert in Islam and world politics. It also brought her to Perth, where she settled, met the love of her life and became the director of the University of WA's Centre for Muslim States and Societies.
       Dr Yasmeen is the first of several overseas-born women who have made their mark on WA whom The West Australian will profile over several weeks in the lead-up to a State conference on refugee and immigrant women early next month.
       Dr Yasmeen is regularly asked how she sees Muslim women fitting into Australian culture. The affable professor becomes heated when she hears of incidents like one that occurred last week at Adventure World, where Muslim families claimed to have been refused entry to rides and swimming pools and told to leave because they were covered up in accordance with their religion.
       While the hijab had become a highly visible target for racism, she believed West Australians were generally a more tolerant community than we gave each other credit for.
       "There is a real sense of acceptance and a society that is open," she said. #
       [RECAPITULATION: The affable professor becomes heated when she hears of incidents like one that occurred last week at Adventure World, where Muslim families claimed to have been refused entry to rides and swimming pools and told to leave because they were covered up in accordance with their religion. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: Yes, the rejection of Western society is simmering away, no matter what the outward appearance.  For the photograph she was not wearing the all-over coverings laid down in the commentary on the most "acceptable" of the English translations of the Koran, and she showed her hands, wrists, and a foot - all banned by the puritanical teachings of the Koran and Hadith. 
       So being covered up "in accordance with their religion" is not her own rule of life.
       Television pictures from Islam-dominated lands like Saudi Arabia and Iran show that the all-over "coal-bag" complete with the "helmet" are the only costumes girls and women dare wear out in the street, and that the rule is that no woman may leave home unless her husband permits her.  In Arabia no woman may drive a motor vehicle.  And in that "theocracy" the first woman cabinet minister has just joined the ministry.
       And more than 50 per cent of women in Muslim lands like them, Egypt, and Indonesia, are likely to be living in squalor, while an elite lives in extravagant splendour.  In fact, in the Swat Valley of Pakistan women will be denied an education, as the girls' schools have been getting blown up, and the Pakistan Government is submitting to the demands of the "pious" Taliban to introduce stonings, whippings, amputations, etc. - sharia law.
       West Australians paying taxes could well ask why isn't the University of Western Australia's "Centre for Muslim States and Societies" transferred to the countries where Shi'ite processions are attacked by suicide bombers, the stonings of rape victims take place, foreign aid workers are beheaded and the murders is proudly shown on the internet, and people have their hands struck off for theft, following Koranic dogmas.  Or has overseas money, such as at Griffith University, been used to pay for running this centre?  And will it be a conduit for Islamists to come to Western Australia under study grants? COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#islamic_academic_gives
    [Feb 16, 09]
    • Secret Saudi funding of Australian institutions.     
      NATIONAL SECURITY  

    Secret Saudi funding of Australian institutions

       News Weekly, www.news weekly. com.au , (issued fortnightly, Melbourne, Vic., Australia), by Dr Mervyn F. Bendle, National Security segment, pp 12-13, February 21, 2009
       Many Australian universities, now driven entirely by financial priorities, have uncritically welcomed Saudi sources of funding, even though this creates a major national security problem, writes Mervyn F. Bendle.
    M assive funding is presently being provided by Saudi Arabia to promote Wahhabism, the fundamentalist, exclusivist, punitive, and sectarian form of Islam that is both the Saudi state religion, and the chief theological component of Sunni versions of Islamism, the totalitarian ideology guiding jihadism and most of the active terrorist groups in the world.
       Globally, this money is flowing to terrorist groups, political parties and religious and community groups, as well as to universities and schools. In Australia, there is concern that such funding could damage and even corrupt the Australian university system, especially given the existing ideological bias, political naivety, opportunism, managerialism, and the pseudo-entrepreneurial attitudes of many university academics and administrators.
       The question of how foreign powers and agents are able to influence, direct or even control tertiary education in Australia and other Western countries is vitally important. This is because the rise of Islamism, jihadism and the present terrorism crisis increasingly involve fourth-generation warfare (4GW).
       This operates through various networks, franchises, and forms of leaderless jihad, and proceeds in an undeclared or unacknowledged manner, in accordance with Ayman al-Zawahiri's description of the Islamist approach to war ascribed to the Prophet Muhammad: "War is deceit [and] triumph is achieved [through] deception".
    Role of Saudi Arabia
       Fearing a revolution or coup, the Saudi king, Fahd bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, who ascended the Saudi throne in 1982, vigorously courted the Wahhabi religious establishment. He adopted the title of "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques", entrenched the position of Wahhabism as the Saudi state religion, and initiated massive spending programs to promote Wahhabism across the Muslim world and beyond, largely under the guidance of the World Muslim League.
       In order to ensure that the Muslim world knew of the massive scale of the regime's commitment, the Saudi government English weekly Ain Al-Yaqeen published an article in March 2002 on the "billions spent by Saudi royal family to spread Islam to every corner of the earth". It described how oil revenues would allow the Saudi regime to "fulfil its ambitions".
       The article continued: "In terms of Islamic institutions, the result is some 210 Islamic centres wholly or partly financed by Saudi Arabia, more than 1,500 mosques and 202 colleges, and almost 2,000 schools for educating Muslim children in non-Islamic countries in Europe, North and South America, Australia and Asia".
       As a result, in 2005 it was estimated by former CIA director R. James Woolsey that the Saudis had spent some $90 billion since the mid-1970s to export Wahhabism on a global scale, and there has been no evidence of decreased activity in this proselytising effort.
       With respect to the Saudi financing of terrorism, Stuart A. Levey, the Under-Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, and head of the Office of Terrorist Finance and Financial Crime, testified to the US Senate Finance Committee on April i, 2008, that "Saudi Arabia today remains the location where more money is going to terrorism, to Sunni terror groups and to the Taliban than any other place in the world".
       As Levey further testified, Saudi Arabia is the leading financial supporter of Al Qaeda and other terrorist networks, and huge amounts of money are channelled through complex networks of private, government and charitable organisations. Moreover, the Saudis have failed to implement vital measures requested by the US to stop the flow of such funds.
    "The Project"
       This vast program to promote Wahhabism, Islamism, and Jihadism is directed by various agencies within Saudi Arabia or associated with it. And these generally operate under the ideological and organisational control of the Muslim Brotherhood, whose motto is: "Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Qur'an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope", while its oath of allegiance declares that "I believe that … the banner of Islam must cover humanity".
       This vision was subsequently developed and nurtured by subsequent Islamist ideologues such as the late Sayyid Qutb and Said Ramadan, and Sheikh Yousef al-Qaradhawi, who is the head of the department of Islamic law at the University of Qatar and one of the most influential Islamist ideologues in the world today.
       This in turn derives much of its material from the mysterious document "Towards a world strategy for political Islam" (also known as "The Project"), which was prepared in 1982 by the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood as a blueprint for their global strategy for Islamist supremacy.
       Its likely principal author was Said Ramadan, who was the son-in-law and personal secretary of Hassan al Banna (the Egyptian who founded the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928) and has been described as "the ideological grandfather of Osama bin Laden". He was also the actual father of Tariq Ramadan, a highly controversial Islamist ideologue who is banned from visiting the US, but was nevertheless invited by Queensland's Griffith University to be the keynote speaker at a conference in March 2008.
       "The Project" has been described as "revealing a top-secret plan developed by the oldest Islamist organisation with one of the most extensive terror networks in the world to launch a program of 'cultural invasion' and eventual conquest of the West that virtually mirrors the tactics used by Islamists for more than two decades". This involves "a totalitarian ideology of infiltration which represents, in the end, the greatest danger for European societies".
       It came to light after police raided the Bank Al Taqwa in Switzerland in November 2001 at the request of US security agencies, and experts recovered a copy from the computer of the bank's CEO.
       Initially, access to "The Project" was limited to Western intelligence agencies, and it only came to public attention through the efforts of the Swiss investigative journalist Sylvain Besson, who regards it as one of the most tightly guarded secrets in the history of Islamism, and analysed it in his 2005 book La conquête de l'Occident: Le projet secret des Islamistes ("The Conquest of the West: The Islamists' Secret Project"), which has been described as possibly "the most important book on the rise of Islamism in Europe".
       "The Project" can be summarised as follows. It outlines a covert strategy for the gradual and secret promotion of Islamism on a global scale. It involves a complex process of organisational development and subversion, involving mosques, community groups, schools, hospitals, charities, advocacy groups, academic centres, Islamist think-tanks, and publishing companies, all of which are to be linked internationally.
       The strategy also involves ordinary political activity in existing structures (e.g., political parties), and alliances with "progressive" Western organisations (e.g., NGOs) that share attitudes and goals with Islamism (e.g., anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism, anti-Americanism, anti-Zionism, etc). It requires extensive network-building, and the infiltration of existing or potentially sympathetic organisations – Muslim and non-Muslim – while avoiding open alliances with publicly-known terrorist groups; always promoting q public profile of moderation, coupled with a relentless insistence on Muslim "victimhood", with a special focus on the situation of the Palestinians, which is to be dramatised at every opportunity.
       All target organisations are to be gradually realigned ideologically in accordance with the principles of Islamism and Jihadism, using whatever tactics of proselytising, re-education, subversion, manipulation, deception and dissimilation are required.
       During this stage of development "The Project" emphasises that it is vital to avoid or minimise any conflicts with or within Western societies that might provoke a backlash and lead to restrictions on Islamist activities. In the longer term, the aim is to develop "security forces" that will protect Islamist organisations and intimidate enemies.
       All of this is to be promoted through the media, which has to be carefully cultivated and monitored, while extensive use is to be made of strategically placed agents of influence and useful idiots in the media, universities, etc.
    Case study: Griffith University
       An excellent case study of how Saudi funding can impact on Australian universities is the recent fiasco at Queensland's Griffith University. In April 2008, it was revealed that Griffith University "practically begged the Saudi Arabian embassy to bankroll its Islamic campus for $1.3 million", assuring the Saudis that arrangements could be kept secret if required. (The Australian, April 22, 2008).
       These concerns had first surfaced in September 2007, when it was revealed that Griffith was to receive the Saudi funding, and moderate Muslims expressed an anxiety that "the Saudis [were] using their financial power to transform the landscape of Australia's Islamic community and silence criticism of Wahhabism {and especially} its link to global terrorism and national security issues". (The Australian, September 17, 2007).
      [Picture] Tariq Ramadan  
       Shortly beforehand, it had been revealed that the Saudi government was planning a $2.7 billion scholarship fund for Australian universities, designed to facilitate the entry of Saudi students into Australia to undertake tertiary education in the face of restrictions on their entry into the US and UK in the post-9/11 security environment. (Weekend Australian, March 17-18, 2007).
       Subsequently, in March 2008, Griffith invited Tariq Ramadan, the Islamist ideologue mentioned earlier, to be the keynote speaker at a conference pointedly called "The challenges and opportunities of Islam in the West: the case of Australia". (The Australian, March 3, 2008).
       The event was organised by the university's Griffith Islamic Research Unit (GIRU) and the chair of the opening ceremony was the director of the unit, whose salary was supplemented by the Saudi grant, while the Saudi ambassador made the welcoming remarks.
       In the subsequent revelations, documents obtained under Freedom of Information provisions showed not only had Griffith University "begged" for the funds, but that its vice-chancellor, lan O'Connor, promoted Griffith as the "university of choice" for Saudis and "offered the embassy an opportunity to reshape the Griffith Islamic Research Unit (GIRU) during its campaign to get "extra noughts" added to the Saudi cheques". (The Australian, April 22, 2008).
       Concerns also emerged at the time about the director of the GIRU, Dr Mohamad Abdalla, who apparently played a central role in pursuing the Saudi funding. Dr Abdulla is also co-director of the National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies, and is an associate investigator at the Centre of Excellence for Policing and Security at Griffith, which is a federally-funded academic facility, mandated to produce high-level research and policy advice on terrorism.
       – Mervyn F. Bendle, PhD, is senior lecturer in History and Communications at James Cook University, Queensland. This article is part of a speech delivered at the National Civic Council's national conference in Melbourne on February 7. #
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  Fight until no other religion is left except Allah's. DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [MORE READING: "How to be a useful idiot," by Mervyn Bendle, October 13, 2008, http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2389000.htm . ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#secret_saudi_funding
    [(Received early; to webpage Feb 18) Dated Feb 21, 09]
    • Hate-Filled Cleric Is A Fanatic.  Now get him out of here.           

    HATE-FILLED CLERIC IS A FANATIC


    Now get him out of here
       The International Express (Britain), West Australian edition, intexreaders § hotmail com au , ISSN 1324-776X, Pages One and 7, Feb 24 - 2 Mar, 2009
      [Picture] Terrorist and hate-filled cleric Qatada  
       PREACHER of hate Abu Qatada has launched a desperate 11th-hour bid to stay in Britain – at yet further cost to the taxpayer.
       The move came despite Law Lords giving the go-ahead last week for him to be kicked out. Dubbed Osama Bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe, Qatada faced immediate deportation to Jordan after losing a House of Lords appeal.
       But within hours of the decision, the father-of-five's legal team vowed to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights, meaning a delay of at least a year – and yet more cost to the taxpayer through benefits.
       And to add insult to injury, the European Court later awarded Qatada £2,500 for "having his human rights breached" when he was detained without trial after the 9/11 terror attacks. While the Law Lords ruling to kick him out of the country was a victory for Home Secretary Jacqui Smith in the four-year government campaign to get rid of one of the world's most dangerous terrorists, the delaying tactics sparked fury.
       Susie Squire, campaign manager at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "It shouldn't be up to Europe to decide if and when we can deport this poisonous hate preacher. It is taxpayers who are footing the bill for his presence in our country, and if our courts say he needs to go, he goes now."
       Former Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said it was vital that the ruling was now carried out.
       He said that Abu Qatada has been convicted of terrorist offences in Jordan, and the UK had every right to deport him now that there was a memorandum of understanding that he would not be tortured on his return. The onus now lay on the Government to ensure that Jordan fully adheres to its obligations, he added.
    ‘This hate preacher should go right now’
      [Picture] Abu Qatada, 48, faces a life sentence in Jordan for bomb attacks  
       Shadow Counter-terrorism Minister Crispin Blunt said: "This is a victory for common sense. We hope his deportation proceeds as soon as possible and that there are no further delays."
       In theory, the ruling clears the way for Qatada – whose family in the UK are receiving around £47,000 a year in benefits – to be booted out of the country.
       Last week the European Court of Human Rights ruled the Government's policy of detaining the men without trial in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks had breached their human rights. So Qatada has also now been awarded £2,500 of taxpayers' cash to "compensate him for having his human rights breached".
       Five Law Lords also 'dismissed appeals by two suspected Algerian terrorists – known only as RB and U – over returning them to their native land.
       Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said: "I have signed Abu Qatada's deportation order. I am keen to deport this dangerous individual as soon as I can.
       "I'm delighted with the Lords' decision in the cases of Abu Qatada and the two Algerians. It highlights the threat these individuals pose to UK security and vindicates efforts to remove them. My top priority is to protect public safety and ensure national security."
       Palestinian-born Qatada, 48, has lived in Britain at the taxpayers' expense since he slipped into the country on a false passport in 1993.
       In 1999, he was convicted in his absence of conspiracy to carry out bomb attacks on two hotels in the Jordanian capital Amman and providing finance for other terror attacks. He was jailed for life.
       The decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal in June on the grounds that some of the evidence against him was obtained by torture.
       In a sensational move, the judges freed Qatada on bail. But he was back inside a top security cell at HMP Belmarsh in December after MIS uncovered a plot involving him.
       Now, the five Law Lords have reversed the Court of Appeal decision and ruled there were no reasonable grounds for believing Qatada would be denied the right to a fair trial.
       Lord Hope said: "Most people in Britain, I suspect, would be astonished at the amount of care, time and trouble that has been devoted to the question whether it will be safe for aliens to be returned to their own countries."
       But Lord Hope said the freedoms guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights were for everyone. The Home Secretary signed Qatada's deportation order last year after the Government signed understandings with countries, including Jordan, that deportees would not be tortured or ill-treated on their return.
       But fellow controversial figure, the cleric Omar Bakri, warned that the decision by the Law Lords would "badly backfire". The fanatic, vho fled Britain after praising the 9/11 and 7/7 terrorists, said the whole Islamic world would now see the UK as an enemy.
       Speaking from his Beirut bolthole he said: "It is inhumane and shows that the British Government is anti-Muslim."
       Qatada's lawyer Gareth Peirce, has confirmed that the case would now go to the European Court.
       She said: "This judgment will pour a dose of cold water on our belief that we have indeed advanced in our willingness to confront the ugly issue of the use of torture. It puts into reverse the ethos created by an earlier Lords decision. This was a chance to reaffirm that decision." #
       [RECAPITULATION: … Omar Bakri, warned that … the whole Islamic world would now see the UK as an enemy. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: Only now, Mr Bakri?  Or ever since the Christians of Mohammad's time declined to join his then-new twist on older savagery, and the pro-tolerance "revelations" were put aside for threats? COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  5:14 (or 5:17):- … Christians … forgot a good part of the Message that was sent to them: so We stirred up enmity and hatred between the one and the other, to the Day of Judgment. …
       5:72 (or 5:76):- Infidels now are they who say, 'God is the Messiah, Son of Mary.' …
       47:4:- When ye encounter the infidels, strike off their heads till ye have made a great slaughter among them, and of the rest make fast the fetters. DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  Sahih Muslim's, Book 037, Number 6670:- Ibn Shihab reported that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) made an expedition to Tabuk and he (the Holy Prophet) had in his mind (the idea of threatening the) Christians of Arabia in Syria and those of Rome. [***] TRADITION ENDS.]
       [2nd RECAPITULATION: Omar Bakri … said: "It is inhumane and shows that the British Government is anti-Muslim." ENDS.]
       [2nd COMMENT: How can sending a man to JORDAN show that the British Government is anti-Muslim?  Jordan is a MUSLIM COUNTRY, and its king is, so it is said, descended from the PROPHET Mohammad's family !!!  (Incidentally, so is the British royal family, we are told.)  Can't the silly Westerners see that they are being "gulled"?  So are those Muslims who are gullible   : - )   ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#hate_filled_cleric
    [Feb 24- 2 Mar, 2009]
    • Chechen leader imposes strict brand of Islam.  [Moscow's man approves men murdering seven women in "honour" killings.]       

    Chechen leader imposes strict brand of Islam

       International Herald Tribune (global edition of The New York Times), http://www. iht.com/ articles/ ap/2009/02/28/ europe/EU- Russia- Ruling- Chechnya. php , The Associated Press, Published: February 28, 2009
       GROZNY, Russia: The bullnecked president of Chechnya emerged from afternoon prayers at the mosque and with chilling composure explained why seven young women who had been shot in the head deserved to die.
       Ramzan Kadyrov said the women, whose bodies were found dumped by the roadside, had "loose morals" and were rightfully shot by male relatives in honor killings.
       "If a woman runs around and if a man runs around with her, both of them are killed," Kadyrov told journalists in the capital of this Russian republic.
       The 32-year-old former militia leader is carrying out a campaign to impose Islamic values and strengthen the traditional customs of predominantly Muslim Chechnya, in an effort to blunt the appeal of hardline Islamic separatists and shore up his power. In doing so, critics say, he is setting up a dictatorship where Russian laws do not apply.
       Some in Russia say Kadyrov's attempt to create an Islamic society violates the Russian constitution, which guarantees equal rights for women and a separation of church and state. But the Kremlin has given him its staunch backing, seeing him as the key to keeping the separatists in check, and that has allowed him to impose his will.
       "Kadyrov willfully tries to increase the influence of local customs over the life of the republic because this makes him the absolute ruler of the republic," said Yulia Latynina, a political analyst in Moscow.
       Kadyrov's bluster shows how confident he is of his position. "No one can tell us not to be Muslims," he said outside the mosque. "If anyone says I cannot be a Muslim, he is my enemy."
       Few dare to challenge Kadyrov's rule in this southern Russian region of more than a million people, which is only now emerging from the devastation of two wars in the past 15 years. The fighting between Islamic separatists and Russian troops, compounded by atrocities on both sides, claimed tens of thousands of lives and terrorized civilians.
       Kadyrov describes women as the property of their husbands and says their main role is to bear children. He encourages men to take more than one wife, even though polygamy is illegal in Russia. Women and girls are now required to wear headscarves in all schools, universities and government offices.
       Some Chechen women say they support or at least accept Kadyrov's strict new guidelines.
       "Headscarves make a woman beautiful," said Zulikhan Nakayeva, a medical student whose long dark hair flowed out from under her head covering, her big brown eyes accentuated by mascara.
       But many chafe under the restrictions.
       "How do women live in Chechnya? They live as the men say," said Taisiya, 20, who asked that her last name not be used for fear of retribution. She was not wearing a headscarf while shopping in central Grozny, which she said was her way of protesting.
       Most women now wear headscarves in public, though the scarves rarely fully cover their hair and in some cases are little more than colorful silk headbands. Women who go out without a headscarf tend to tuck one into their bag for use where headscarves are required.
       Many people suspect Kadyrov is branding the seven late November slayings honor killings to advance his political agenda. He said the women were planning to go abroad to work as prostitutes, but their relatives found out about it and killed them.
       Few Chechens believe that.
       "If women are killed according to tradition then it is done very secretly to prevent too many people from finding out that someone in the family behaved incorrectly," said Natalya Estemirova, a prominent human rights activist in Grozny.
       Estemirova said two of the women were married, with two children each. Their husbands held large funerals and buried them in the family plot, which would not have happened if the women had disgraced their families, she said.
       Kadyrov's version also has been contradicted by federal prosecutors in Moscow, who have concluded relatives were not involved. No arrests have been made and the investigation is continuing. Kadyrov's office refused to comment on the investigators' conclusion.
       The Moscow newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported that some of the women worked in brothels frequented by Kadyrov's men. Many Chechens say they suspect the women were killed in a police operation. The truth of the killings may never be known, given how much Kadyrov is feared.
       Rights activists fear that Kadyrov's approval of honor killings may encourage men to carry them out. Honor killings are considered part of Chechen tradition. No records are kept, but human rights activists estimate dozens of women are killed every year.
       "What the president says is law," said Gistam Sakaeva, a Chechen activist who works to defend women's rights. "Because the president said this, many will try to gain his favor by killing someone, even if there is no reason."
       Sakaeva also said she worried that Chechen authorities would now be less willing to prosecute men suspected of killing women.
       Kadyrov inherited his position from his father, Akhmad Kadyrov, a Muslim cleric and former rebel commander who fought the Russians during Chechnya's war of independence in 1994-1996. Shortly after war broke out again in 1999, the elder Kadyrov switched sides and brought Chechnya back into Moscow's fold.
       Ramzan Kadyrov worked as the head of his father's security force, which was accused of kidnapping, sadistic torture and murder. After Akhmad Kadyrov was killed by a terrorist bomb in 2004, power passed to his son.
       Vladimir Putin, then president and now prime minister, embraced the younger Kadyrov, who has succeeded in ending a wave of terror attacks that haunted the early years of Putin's presidency. But as Kadyrov has consolidated his power, many of his critics and political rivals have been killed. Some have been gunned down on the streets of Moscow, including journalist Anna Politkovskaya, whose death in 2006 shocked the world.
       In one of the most recent killings, a Chechen who had accused Kadyrov of personally torturing him was shot last month as he walked out of a grocery store in Vienna, Austria.
       Kadyrov has denied any involvement in the killings.
       The Kremlin appears willing to continue allowing Kadyrov to rule as he wishes, as long as he prevents another outbreak of violence. And Kadyrov has won the grudging respect of many Chechens for bringing a measure of peace and stability.
       "People want to believe that things are getting better," said Sakaeva. "They are tired of war." #
       [RECAPITULATION: [Read the last few paragraphs again.  Russia has a murder agent in Austria.] ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#chechen_leader_imposes
    [Feb 28, 09]
    • Brawls can Lebanese gang flick.   

    Brawls can Lebanese gang flick

       Sunday Telegraph (Sydney, Australia), http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,25122225-5001021,00.html , 10:00am, March 01, 2009
       SYDNEY – GREATER Union has pulled an Australian movie about Lebanese gang violence in Sydney within days of its release after brawls erupted outside screenings.
    Gallery: Gritty scenes from The Combination
       The film's distributor, Australian Film Syndicate, said Greater Union informed them of its decision to end screenings of The Combination last night following violence outside cinemas.
       The Combination, made in Sydney's multi-cultural western suburbs, deals with violence and racism among young white and Middle Eastern Australians.
       The cinema chain withdrew the film from four key cinemas after violence flared among patrons in Parramatta and Liverpool on Saturday, although the decision may be reviewed.
       The film's director David Field, said the move was a crushing blow.
       "We've worked so hard, had so little sleep in recent weeks, we're devastated," he said today.
       "I'd hoped to get nine hours sleep last night. At midnight I got a text message that they were pulling the film."
       He denied the incidents were connected to race or ethnic conflict.
       Greater Union said on Sunday the safety of staff and patrons was paramount.
       "Maintaining the safety and security of our staff and patrons is our main concern and priority," Greater Union general manager of operations Robert Flynn said in a statement.
       "As such, a decision has been made to suspend all sessions of this film within NSW."
       AFS was also upset by the decision.
       "The first Australian film to be released in 2009 is experiencing exceptional box office in its first week of release, which makes this unprecedented move all the more devastating for everyone involved, especially for the audiences that are now going to miss out," AFS spokeswoman Allanah Zitserman said in a statement.
       Although we do not support the decision by Greater Union to pull the film from its NSW sites, we respect and understand their position."
       Despite the Greater Union ban, the film was showing in 27 other locations nationwide, including Hoyts and independents.
       However the four cinemas which withdrew the movie - Sydney's George Street, Liverpool, Parramatta and Burwood - were located in the key target market where most of the box office takings were expected, Ms Zitserman told AAP.
       Mr Field hoped a way could be found to reverse the decision.
       "It's a beautiful film, it doesn't advocate violence, I hope people can calm down and I'm hoping we can find a way to amend the situation."
       Screen Australia CEO Dr Ruth Harley said the film was still playing in many other theatres and she encouraged people to see it.
       "I believe it's a good film that's had terrific reviews and is a film of our times," she said.
       " … we would encourage people to see it."
       Greater Union spokeswoman Melissa Kesby said the chain was investigating complaints and the film may re-open at a later date.
       "If we feel that our staff and patrons will be in a safe environment then yes, we will," she told the ABC.
       Keysar Trad, the president of the Islamic Friendship Association, said there was no need to suspend the movie.
       "From what I know, the incidents were not connected to the movie which itself doesn't glorify violence.
       "This is a society which celebrates free speech and suspending this movie is an infringement of that," he said. #
       [COMMENT: Is cultural opposition really "racism," or is that just a PC way to avoid responsibility for indiscriminate immigration policies?  In Britain a show exposing Sikh forced marriages was pulled out of a theatre after violence and threats.  A British-trained Muslim doctor was imprisoned by her parents for refusing to submit to a Muslim forced marriage.  "Honour" killings are quite common in Britain, which also has a PC immigration policy.  But worse, British judges, who have ordered a terror-supporting preacher out of the country, are prevented by the European Union's court system from actually returning him to his homeland.  The Iranian dictator's murder fatwa against author Salman Rushdie has been supported by a majority of Muslims living in Western lands for years.  Is detailing these newsitems "racism," or should the PC brigade try to introduce "culturalism" as a political swearword into the English language? COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#brawls_can_lebanese
    [Mar 1, 09]
    • What's so bad about 'Satanic,' anyway?   

    What’s so bad about ‘Satanic,’ anyway?

       Jihad Watch, http://www.jihadwatch.org/ , by Henrik Raeder Clausen, Mar 01, 2009
       An exclusive Jihad Watch article by Henrik Raeder Clausen, editor of EuropeNews: [ http://europenews.dk ]
       It raised a couple of eyebrows when the Organisation of the Islamic Conference quoted two pages from an article on EuropeNews, discussing if Muhammad was, in fact, a messenger for Satan rather than for God.
       In the article based on a television broadcast, Father Zakaria Botros, based on relevant scripture, made a brief analysis of the qualities of Jewish/Christian prophets and compared those to the qualities of Muhammad.  What the article did not go into, however, was an analysis of what 'Satanic' actually means.  We are commonly assuming that 'Satanic' means 'bad', 'evil', 'wrong' – to such an extent that even discussing the actual nature of this badness is irrelevant.  But if we do not understand what 'bad' or 'Satanic' means, how can we choose to reject it?  Some knowledge of Right and Wrong behaviour is needed for this to be functional.
       We first encounter Satan in the Book of Job, which is part of the Old Testament, and the Torah.  In this intriguing tale, Satan gets permission (!) by God to tempt Job to disavowing God through a multitude of loss, disease and suffering.  Job, staunchly true to God, refuses in spite of poverty and failing health, and is eventually rewarded by even more wealth than he had initially.  The morale [? moral] of this tale, of course, is that one should be true to God under all circumstances, and redemption will come eventually.
       An interesting point is that Satan is working by permission from God, not as a separate, opposing entity.  Being true to God also implies being true to his teachings, the Ten Commandments etc.  Those were good guidelines then and have not lost their value as a moral compass even today.  Being a good Jew or a good Christian implies being generally true to these guidelines.  Muhammad, born and raised in pagan Arabia, never talked of these and personally broke most of them, as recorded in the Sirat (Ibn Ishaq & Al-Tabari).  The Ten Commandments are not generally used in Islam, and as Muhammad violated most, if not all, of them, should be proof that Islam is not an Abrahamic religion, despite claims to the contrary.
       The Satanic Verses
       Satan earns a few mentions in the life of Muhammad.  The first is at the incident known as "The Satanic Verses".  This takes place after Muhammad had been mocking the Meccans for eight years for their paganism and their false gods, calling them to worship the one god he worships.  This is interesting, not least because the Meccans had been worshipping Allah for generations before Muhammad – see for instance the chapter on Muhammads' 5th generation forefather Qusayy (al-Tabari VI pages 19-26).
       The events are set in motion by the Quraysh:
       Al-Tabari VI p. 106-107:
    Quraysh promised the Messenger of Allah that they would give him so much wealth that he would become the richest man in Mecca, would give him as many wives as he wanted in marriage, and would submit to his commands.
       One may consider this the ultimate in Satanic temptation for a holy man:  Money, sex and power – the core objects of worldly desire.
       Al-Tabari VI p. 107:
    They said, "This is what we will give you, Muhammad, so desist from reviling our gods and do not speak evilly of them.  If you will not do so, we offer you one means which will be to your advantage and to ours."  "What it is?" he asked.  They said, "You will worship our gods, al-Lat and al-Uzza, for a year, and we shall worship your god for a year."  "Let me see what revelation comes to me from my Lord, he replied.
       Remarkably, Muhammad chooses to consider their offer.  And he refers to 'my Lord', not Allah, as the source of revelation.  That is less mysterious than it would seem, however, for the Meccans were already worshipping Allah.  The distinction is made clear in the revelation quoted in response:
       Al-Tabari VI p. 107:
    Say: O disbelievers! I worship not what you worship; nor do you worship what I worship.  And I shall not worship that which you worship, nor will you worship that which I worship.  To you your religion, and to me my religion.
       It is not made quite clear who has which religion.  We know with reasonable certainty (see the chapter on Qusayy mentioned previously) that the Meccans through generations were practising worship of Allah and the other idols of the Kaaba, were in charge of the rituals of pilgrimage (Hajj & Umra) that we know as part of Islam today, including details such as the standing ('mawqif') at Arafat, the dispersal from Mina, and stoning the 'jimar' (in Islam considered the Devil) at sunset.  Muhammad, who swore that he never participated in pagan rituals, is not making the details of his religion clear.
       The reconciliation proceeds in spite of these differences:
       Al-Tabari VI p. 108:
    When the Messenger of Allah saw how his tribe turned their backs on him and was grieving how they were shunning his message he had brought to them from Allah, he longed in his soul that something would come to him from Allah which would reconcile him with his tribe.  With his love for his tribe and his eagerness for their welfare (…)
       Now, genuine revelation is obviously not created by human desire, but one can't fail Muhammad for trying.  The concern for the welfare of his tribe is noted and appreciated.  And indeed revelation comes:
       Al-Tabari VI p. 108:
    Then Allah revealed:
    By the star where it sets, your comrade does not err, nor is he deceived, nor does he speak out of desire. …
       This is good to know.  We are navigating perilous water with risk of deception.  We now have a clear word that deception will not be encountered.  The verses quoted are from Quran 53:1-3 and 53:19-20.  The revelation continues:
       Al-Tabari VI p. 108:
    Have you thought upon al-Lat and al-Uzza and Manat, the third, the other?
    Satan cast upon his tongue, because of the inner debates and what he desired to bring to his people, the words:
    These are the high-flying cranes; verily their intercession is accepted with approval.
       Waitaminute …
       Wouldn't Satan casting 'revelation' on the tongue of a prophet constitute deception?  But we have just been told that no error takes place, nor any deception!  This simply isn't logical.  But it sure goes down well on all sides:
       Al-Tabari VI p. 108:
    When Quraysh heard this, they rejoiced and were happy and delighted at the way in which he spoke of their gods, and they listened to him, while the Muslims, having complete trust in their Prophet in respect of the messages which he brought from Allah, did not suspect him of error, illusion, or mistake.
       All's well that ends well.  The deal goes down very well on all sides.  'Intercession' is a traditional concept where one asks a god to intervene one one's behalf on the Day of Judgement.  After the deal is entered, Muhammad and all Muslims prostrate themselves to the gods in the Kaaba, and so do the Meccans.  It is a little unclear whether the practice of prostrations were pagan or introduced by Muhammad, but most likely it was pagan, as it looks like a novelty that the Muslims prostrate themselves.
       In another account (al-Tabari frequently has several), the Quraysh respond like this after the prostrations:
       Al-Tabary VI p. 111:
    They were satisfied with what Muhammad had uttered and said, "We recognize that it is Allah who gives life and death, who creates and who provides sustenance, but if these gods of ours intercede for us with him, and if you give them a share, we are with you."
       Peace and reconciliation prevails.  Also at this time, the first wife of Muhammad, Khadija, dies, and Muhammad is given Aisha (then 6) and an adult woman in marriage.  Also the protector of Muhammad, Abu Talib, dies, which causes Muhammad some trouble.  It is even related (on page 115) that one of the Quraysh poured dust on the head of Muhammad!
       The exact chronology of the events here is not quite clear, but the marriage to Aisha gives a clue.  She was six at this time, and nine at the time of the Hijra (flight to Medina) and the consummation of the marriage.  Sex with minors probably was normal in Arabia at this time and should in this context not be considered Satanic.
       Unfortunately, the reconciliation didn't last.  It is presented in the scripture as if it was cancelled immediately, but this is [sic] doesn't add up.  The truce had lasted long enough for news of it to reach the Muslims who had immigrated to Abbysinia, who, hearing the news, decided to return to Mecca.  Since news would travel by foot, camel- or horseback in these time,[sic] some time must have gone by.  Possibly most of the remaining three years up to the Hijra.  In any case, further revelation cancels what had been given:
       Al-Tabari VI p. 109:
    Then Gabriel came to the Messenger of Allah and said, "Muhammad, what have you done?  You have recited to the people that which I did not bring to you from Allah, and you have said that which was not said to you."
       This is complicated.  If the earlier revelation is not to be trusted, how can this be unconditionally trusted?  And how can we trust the identification of this being as 'Gabriel'?  Further, do angels have their own will, as is seen here?  Usually they are portrayed as executing the will of God, not of their own.  There's really no way we can know with certainty, so let's move on, for Allah resolves the matter with a revelation (Quran 22:52):
       Al-Tabari VI p. 109:
    Never did we send a messenger or a prophet before you but that when he recited, Satan cast words into his recitation.  Allah abrogates what Satan casts.  Then Allah established his verses.  Allah is knower, wise.
       Unfortunately, this is disingenuous.  Not only does Allah debase all prophets of all times by stating they were occasionally speaking for Satan.  We see the abrogation (cancellation) of verses created out of the desire to benefit others.  The assurances we received just one page earlier (that the revelation was not in error, not deceptive nor spoken out of desire) were false.  Finally, a lingering doubt is introduced:  Could there be other verses in the Islamic scripture induced by Satan?  What about the Jewish or Christian scripture?
       These concerns are not addressed, so we'd better move on.  Quran 5:101 (not quoted, but relevant in context) gives the authority not to be too concerned about self-contradictory passages:
       Qur'an 5:101
    Believers, ask not questions about things which if made plain to you may cause you trouble when the Qur'an is revealed.  Some people before you asked questions, and on that account lost their faith.
       That's better.  Back to the scriptural abrogations and the Quraysh reactions.
       Quran verses 53:21-23, 26 corrects the errors by reducing the status of the idols from gods to mere labels created by humans.
       This, of course, has the Quraysh quite annoyed.  They thought they had made Muhammad a lavish offer and settled the conflict, but now Muhammad backs out:
       Al-Tabari VI p. 110:
    When Muhammad brought a revelation from Allah cancelling what Satan had cast on the tongue of His Prophet, the Quraysh said, "Muhammad has repented of what the said concerning the positions of your gods with Allah, and has altered it and brought something else."  Those two phrases which Satan had cast on the tongue of the Messenger of Allah were in the mouth of every polytheist, and they became even more ill-disposed and more violent in their persecution of those of them who had accepted Islam and followed the Messenger of Allah.
       There is no doubt that revelation from Satan is Bad News.  The schism breaks out anew, and eventually, for reasons not described in the Sirat, the Quraysh decide to beat up Muhammad, which leads to the escape to Medina, the Hijra.  That things can develop this brutally naturally makes Muhammad seek protection, that he needs not fear any further violence from the Meccans.  This leads to a core event of the Hijra: The second pledge of Al-Aqabah
       Another place where Satan is mentioned in Islamic history is at the Second Pledge of al-Aqabah (Al-Tabari VI page 130 onwards).  This takes place around the time of the Hijra, the escape from Mecca to Medina.  It is stated (Al-Tabari VI page 132) that the Muslims departed their encampment secretly at about one third into the night.  Assuming the movement and gathering takes some time, this meeting and the pledge took place around midnight.  This is a somewhat eerie setting, but Satan does not play quite the role one would usually expect in such situation. [sic] Al-Tabari VI, page 133:
    We said to him:  "We have heard what you have said.  Speak, Messenger of Allah, and choose what you want for yourself and your Lord."  The Messenger of Allah spoke, recited the Quran, summoned us to Allah, and made us desirous of Islam.  Then he said, "I will enter a contract of allegiance with you, provided that you will protect me as you would protect your wives and children."
       The [sic] al-Bara' b. Ma'rur took his hand and said:  "By Him who send you with the truth, we shall defend you as we would our womenfolk.  Administer the oath of allegiance to us, Oh Messenger of Allah, for we are men of war and men of coats of mail; we have inherited this from generation to generation."
       There is little space for doubt about the non-non-violent nature of their promise.  This is about war.  Al-Tabari proceeds to describe the actual oath on page 134:
    When they gathered to take the oath of allegiance to the Messenger of Allah, al-Abbas b. Ubadah, the brother of the Banu Salim b. Awf, said:  "People of the Khazjraj, do you know what you are pledging yourselves to in swearing allegiance to this man?"  "Yes," they said.  He continued: "In swearing allegiance to him, you are pledging yourselves to wage war against all mankind."
       A small pause here, for there is a subtle shift:  In the introduction to the oath, it was about protecting Muhammad.  At the actual oath, it is about waging war against all mankind.  Something that Muslims, even today, at times appear to be doing.  The details and expected circumstances are comparable with current events, too:
    "If you think that when your wealth is exhausted by misfortune and your nobles are depleted by death, you will give him up, then stop now, for, by Allah, it is disgrace in this world and the next if you later give him up.  But if you think that you will be faithful to the promises which you made in inviting him, even if your wealth is exhausted and your nobles killed, then take him, for, by Allah, he is the best thing for you in this world and the next."  They answered:  "We shall take him even if it brings the loss of our wealth and the killing of our nobles.  What shall we gain for this, Oh Messenger of Allah, if we are faithful?"  He answered: "Paradise."  "Stretch out your hand," they said.  He stretched out his hand, and they swore allegiance to him.
       This is grim.  The pledge to wage war on all mankind is expected to lead to dire circumstances and death for the Muslims – not to mention those the war will be waged against.  But one must say that the Muslims have been faithful.  Even now, almost 14 centuries after the death of Muhammad, many still declare to love Muhammad more than their family, and to be willing to sacrifice anything and everything to defend his honour.
       The point of the oath is unconditional obedience.  In this context, 'Satanic' would presumably mean trying to dissuade the Muslims from obeying Muhammad.  Al-Tabari relates exactly this:
    When we had all sworn the oath of allegiance to the Messenger of Allah, Satan shouted from the top of Al-Aqabah in the most piercing voice I have ever heard: "People of the stations [sacrificial places] of Mina, do you want a blameworthy [a mocking reference to 'Muhammad', which translates to 'praiseworthy'] person and the apostates with him who have gathered together to wage war on you?"  The Messenger of Allah said:  "What does the Enemy of Allah say?  This is the Azabb of al-Aqabah, the son of the devil Azyab.   Listen, Enemy of Allah.  By Allah, I shall deal with you!"
       This is not easy to make sense of.  The named references are not found elsewhere, nothing is known of them.  What we see here is 'Satan' actually warning against what can be considered unethical behaviour, that Muhammad and the early Muslims would wage war against their kin in Mecca.  This is, of course, not a warning Muhammad is fond of hearing.  One possible interpretation is that 'Satan' in this tale of midnight is simply a person who disagrees with Muhammad and the pledge given, who would prefer that Muhammad and the Muslims stay faithful to the Meccan religion, and who therefore discourages obedience to Muhammad.
       What is clear, however, is that unconditional obedience trumps all other matters.  This is dangerous, for throughout history we have seen that absolute obedience to persons of dubious character has led to rather significant disasters.  One could of course hope that Muhammad would be a better example for mankind.  But the Sirat (life story of Muhammad) as well as the behaviour of Muslims, past and present, seems to disprove this.
    The expedition to Naklah
       The oath sworn by the Muslims to Muhammad was soon to be tested.  Muhammad launched several expeditions after his move to Medina, but they generally failed without any fighting.  Only at the expedition to Naklah, when he changed procedure and gave the orders in form of a secret letter, did the mission yield a result.  The Muslims had refined their approach, and by disguising themselves as pilgrims were able to ambush the caravan.  But not without hesitation:
       Al-Tabari VII p. 19:
    The (Muslims) consulted one another concerning them, this being the last day of Rajab, and said, "By Allah, if you leave these people alone today, they will get into the Haram (the sacred territory of Mecca) and be out of your reach there; and if you kill them (today) you will have killed them in the sacred month."  They hesitated and were afraid to advance upon them, but then they plucked up courage and agreed to kill as many of them as they could, and seize what they had with them.
       This is where having the better religion gives an advantage:   One is not bound by the traditions of the outmoded religion to be replaced.  Unfortunately, creating a tradition of assault and plunder in the otherwise sacred months is bad for trade, as well as for mutual relations.  Indeed, Muhammad initially considered this a significant 'public relations' problem:
       Al-Tabari VII p. 20:
    The Messenger of Allah said, "I did not order you to fight in the sacred month," and he impounded the caravan and the two captives and refused to take anything of it.
       Actually, the account of Naklah is full of contradictions as to what Muhammad ordered in the letter and what he didn't.  He settles it by making it clear that there was no order to fight in the holy month, leaving open the interpretation that there was an order to fight, but no order concerning the fact that the expedition was sent out during a holy month.  The Muslims conducting the expedition feared the strongest of punishment.  Indeed, this issue caused much debate in Mecca as well as in Medina, for it was a matter of grave concern that Muhammad and his men had broken the tradition.  The matter was resolved with the revelation of Quran 2:217:
       Al-Tabari VII p. 20:
    Allah revealed to his Messenger:  "They question thee with regard to warfare in the sacred month …"  When the Quranic passage concerning this matter was revealed, and Allah relieved the Muslims from the fear in which they found themselves, the Messenger of Allah took possession of the caravan and the two prisoners.
       It is convenient, even profitable, to have a prophet able to deliver scripture appropriate for the situation.
       The battle of Badr
       A key event of Islam is the battle of Badr.  This is described in extensive detail in the Islamic scripture, and the unexpected victory of a small group of Muslims over a much larger defending force was a major boon to the fledgling religion, and to the status of Muhammad.  Without going into full detail, we'll look at some of the key elements of this battle, which can be found in Al-Tabari vol. VII. First, the date:
       Al-Tabari VII p. 26:
    In this year [AH 2] the greater battle of Badr took place between the Messenger of Allah and the Unbelievers of Quraysh.  This was in the month of Ramadan.
       Arabs would traditionally abstain from plunder and bloodshed during their four holy months, one of them being Ramadan.  This was traditionally a fairly safe time for the caravan trade.  But since Muhammad had declared that expelling them from the Kaaba was worse than killing and plunder, this was no longer respected by the Muslims.  The event is of the utmost importance in Islamic theology.  (See also Quran 8:41):
       Al-Tabari VII p. 27:
    On this morning Allah distinguished between truth and falsehood, and on this morning he made Islam mighty, and on it he revealed the Quran, and on it he humbled the leaders of unbelief; and the battle of Badr was on a Friday.
       The motivation for the battle is explained quite candidly.  After hearing about a Quraysh caravan of significant size coming out of Syria, led by Abu Sufyan, Muhammad held council:
       Al-Tabari VII p. 28:
    When the Messenger of Allah heard about them he called together his companions and told them of the wealth they had with them and the fewness of their numbers.  The Muslims set out with no other object than Abu Sufyan and the horsemen with him.  They did not think that these were anything but (easy) booty and did not suppose that there would be a great battle when they met them.
       Abu Sufyan, being a skillful caravan leader, got news of the pending ambush and reacted in two ways: By calling on his kin in Mecca to come to the rescue, and by choosing an alternative, safer route for the caravan itself.  Caravans such as this were quite large undertakings and would each account for a very significant amount of the tradeable Quraysh property.  The caravan managed to reach Mecca unharmed, but the rescue force, lured by the market of Badr, decided to remain away for some days to enjoy good food, wine and women.
       This caused some concerns among the Muslims, in particular those from Medina.  They had pledged themselves to defending Muhammad, but not in participating in offensive campaigns with him.  Eventually they were persuaded to proceed into battle anyway, for how could the Messenger of Allah be at fault? Details of the deliberations are given in Al-Tabari VII pages 41 onwards.
       Paradoxically, the caravan managed to reach Mecca safely, but the rescue force, which consisted of all but two of the noblemen of Mecca, encountered the Muslims in a fierce battle.
       The Quraysh, though numerically superior by about 3 to 1, have their doubts about proceeding into battle. Al-Tabari VII p. 51:
    Utbah b. Rabiah: O people of Wuraysh, you will achieve nothing by meeting Muhammad and his companions in battle.  By Allah, if you defeat him you will not be able to look one another in the face without loathing, for you will see someone who has killed the son of your paternal or maternal uncle, or a man from your clan.
       The Quraysh, however, seeking revenge from the skirmish of Naklah, eventually decide not to retreat, assuming their numerical superiority would give them victory.  The battle itself is described by both Ibn Ishaq and Al-Tabari in graphic detail.  The concept of martyrdom for death in battle is emphasized.  One of the Muslims, while having some dates, responds:
       Al-Tabari VII p. 55:
    "Excellent! All that stands between me and entering Paradise is being killed by those people!" Then he threw down the dates, took his sword,and fought the enemy until he was killed.
       This ferocity gives the Muslims the upper hand in the battle, and they manage to kill many of the nobles of Quraysh, and take many others as prisoners.  Some deliberation about who is to be killed and who not follows.  Some post-battle hacking and killing follows.  Muhammad singles out Abu Jahl, whom he knows from childhood, to be found among the dead.  They find him, badly wounded:
       Al-Tabari VII p. 62:
    Some men of the Banu Makhuzum assert that Ibn Masud used to say: "Abu Jahl said to me, 'You have ascended a difficult ascent, you little shepherd.'  Then I cut off his head and brought it to the Messenger of Allah, and I said, 'O Messenger of Allah, this is the head of the enemy of Allah, Abu Jahl.'  Then the Messenger of Allah said, 'Is this so, by Allah, than whom there is no other deity?'  This was the oath of the Messenger of Allah.  I said, 'Yes, by Allah, than whom there is no other deity.'  Then I threw down his head in front of the Messenger of Allah.  He said, 'Praise be to Allah!'"
       After the battle, with the deceased being in a somewhat unpleasant state, they are thrown into a well near Badr, except Umayyah b. Khalaf, who was no longer in a state where he could be moved.  Muhammad had this to tell them in the depth of the night:
       Al-Tabari VII p. 63:
    "O people of the well, O, Utbah b. Rabiah, O Shaybah b. Rabiah, O Umayyah b. Khalaf, O Abu Jahl b. Hisham – and he enumerated those who were with them in the well – have you not found what your Lord promised you to be true?  For I have found what my Lord promised me to be true."  The Muslims said, "O Messenger of Allah, are you addressing people who have putrified?"  He replied, "You hear what I say no better than they, but they cannot answer me."
       This gloating over the dead might look Satanic.  But Islamic scholars should be able to explain that it isn't.  Not an issue to worry about.
       Dividing booty
       After the battle comes another problem:  The division of booty.  This issue causes quarrels, and is eventually decided by revelation of a relevant sura (8, "The Spoils of War"), and it was divided equally between those participating, with Muhammad getting his holy share (Khums), 20 %.  A footnote mentions that Arab warlords at the time would usually take 25 % – thus the Muslims were getting a better share under the command of Muhammad than elsewhere.
       Upon returning to Medina, there is great celebration.  Salamah b. Waqsh wonders why:
       Al-Tabari VII p. 65:
    "What are they congratulating us on?  By Allah, we met nothing but bald old women like hobbled sacrificial camels, so we slaughtered them."  The Messenger of Allah smiled and said, "My nephew, those were the mala'."
       Muhammad knew the men he had met in battle, that these were the leaders, and that by defeating them, their position against the Quraysh had improved significantly.  This defeat of the infidels was highly significant, and is still celebrated by Muslims every year in the month of Ramadan.
       In a scene where some prisoners are brought to Sawdah bt. Zamah, one of the wives of Muhammad, we encounter an interesting detail:
       Al-Tabari VII p. 66:
    This was before the veil was imposed on the women.
       This, of course, is a reference to:
       Quran 33:59:
    O Prophet!  Tell your wives and daughters and the believing women that they should cast their cloaks over their bodies so that they be recognized as such and not be molested.
       Islam is unique among religions in having a strict dress code imposed on women.  It has been debated whether the veiling is mandatory or voluntary, but the scripture is clear:  This is an imposed obligation.  It is like this that women will be recognized as Muslims and 'not molested'.  This moves religion from the private to the public sphere, which is somewhat difficult to handle.  Further, the 'not molested' is widely abused by 'religious' police in many Islamic countries, who routinely molest, assault and arrest women who do not adhere sufficiently to the veiling standards required.
       This gives rise to some weird scenes.  In Yemen in 2006, 80,000 women turned out for a huge demonstration against a cartoon in a small country in faraway Europe.  All clad in black.  All in order to defend the honour of a man who died over 13 centuries ago, but still has a deep impact on their clothing and their entire lives.  'Voluntary submission' to his will may be a proper term to describe this.  There is no doubt that Muhammad was a person of intense will to direct the lives of those who followed him.  This drive for power, of course, should not be considered Satanic.
       After this segue, let's return to the events after the battle of Badr.  The following 20-odd pages of al-Tabari deal with handling of the prisoners, taking of ransom and some rough negotiations over the matter.  It includes the following strange passage concerning ransom, as related by Umar b. al-Khattab:
       Al-Tabari VII page 81:
    The next day I went to the Prophet in the morning.  He was sitting with Abu Bakr, and they were weeping.  I said,"O Messenger of Allah, tell me, what has made you and your companion weep?  If I find cause to weep, I will weep with you, and if not, I will pretend to weep because you are weeping."
       This is the utmost in unconditional, unquestioning loyalty.  The passage continues:
    The Messenger of Allah said, "It is because of the taking of ransoms which has been laid before your companions.  It was laid before me that I should punish them, more nearly than this tree (and he pointed to a nearby tree)."  Allah revealed: "It is not for any Prophet to have captives until he hath made slaughter in the land … "
       This is in Quran 8:67-69.  Muhammad is not frequently seen [? to] regret what he had done, but the preference of ransom to killing has earned him a stern lesson from Allah.  Who, fortunately for the economy of the Muslims, permits ransom verse 8:69.  It is also here that booty at large is made legal for Muhammad and the Muslims.  From the battle of Badr until the death of Muhammad, many such raids (probably around 70) were made.
       This essay is by no means a complete account of the life of Muhammad.  We are examining passages to underline that the OIC worry about the term 'Satanic' is probably exaggerated.  Many interesting and formative episodes, such as the treaty of Hudaibayah, are skipped.  There is even a short chapter (17 lines, Al-Tabari IX p. 159-160) praising the bravery and generosity of Muhammad.  Readers are encouraged to read the complete life story to get the complete picture.
       One more episode, this one dating from the very last days of Muhammad:
       Al-Tabari IX p. 168:
    The Messenger of Allah sent for me in the middle of the night, saying, "O Abu Muwayhibah, I have been ordered to seek forgiveness for the [dead] inhabitants of al-Baqi [cemetery], so come with me."  I went with him, when he stood before them he said, "Peace be upon you, O people of the graves!  Happier are you in your state than the people [here] in their present state!  Dissension [fitna] has come like segments of a pitch dark night one after the other, the last being worse than the first."  He then turned to me, saying, "O Abu Muwayhibah, I have been given the keys of the treasuries of this world, long abode in it, then Paradise.  I have been given the choice between it and meeting my Lord and Paradise, so I have chosen my Lord and Paradise."  I said, "May you be ransomed with my parents!  Take the keys of the […]
       This is a weird passage.
       First, it is made clear that Islam, and all he had conquered through it, had not made Muhammad a happy man.  No worry, for obedience, not happiness, is the purpose of Islam.  The envy of the dead is somewhat uncanny.  But not unheard of, as even modern-day Hamas celebrates the fact that they have made an industry of death, which gives them strength over those who are attached to life.
       Second, it is clear that dissension (conflict, disobedience) is what Muhammad detests the most.  The fact that people would have the audacity to disagree with their prophet and undermine his absolute authority didn't become him well.
       Third, it seems strange that Muhammad, if he loves his followers and really is able to choose himself between life and death, chooses death.
    A different approach to 'evil'
       A different approach to what may be considered 'Satanic' or 'evil' is taken by Buddhism.  In Buddhist thinking, each individual is unconditionally responsible for their lives and their circumstances, as opposed to the Islamic view, where Allah is considered responsible for every single event that takes place, including the activities of Jihad warriors.  This, in a sense, makes Buddhism the antithesis of Islam.
       Buddhism describes this in the widely known concept of 'karma', which is not popular in Islamic circles.  Here from Harun Yahya (of Atlas of Creation fame) who has dedicated an entire web site to denouncing the concept.  The idea that man, not Allah, is responsible for his actions is generally considered one of the worst possible forms of heresy.
       A further source of conflicts is the fact that Buddhist temples have statues.  Islamic warriors up to the present day confused those statues with the idols that Muhammad threw out of the Kaaba, destroyed the statues and converted or decapitated the Buddhists for being 'polytheists'.  This is an unfortunate mistake, for Buddhists are atheists.   The statues represent states of mind obtainable through meditation, which the Islamic invaders in northern India could have discovered had they not destroyed the large Buddhist university of Nalanda and many Buddhist monasteries.
       Among the surviving kinds of Buddhism is what is today known as Tibetan Buddhism.  One of the foremost scholars of Tibetan Buddhism is Jé Gampopa (1079-1153), author of a large volume on Mahayana Buddhism, Gems of Dharma, Jewels of Freedom.  In this volume, Gampopa describes in detail what kinds of behaviour lead to suffering, what leads to happiness, and what leads to freedom.  Comparing these descriptions with the life and actions of Muhammad reveals another source of controversy and strife between the two religions.
       Technically, we now face a minor problem, for Buddhism doesn't respect gods.  Gods can be found in Buddhism, but they are too confused (with pride in particular) to be worth paying attention to, not to mention worshipping.  Neither is there an anti-God, Satan, to despise.  But Buddhism does have Hells, lots of them.  Further, it has stringent descriptions of what leads beings to fall into these Hells, and that is unethical – well, criminal – behaviour.  It is generally agreed between religions (at least those that have a Hell) that bad behaviour will send people to Hell.  Let's review the Buddhist situation.
       Gampopa, in chapter 5, Suffering (pages 57-62) describes several forms of hell:
    Where are these hot hells?  They are situated beneath this world, for there are many who go from here to there.  Lowest live those who inhabit the worst agony hell.  Above them, working upwards, are the extremely hot, hot, great wailing, wailing, gathering & crushing, black line and reviving hells, respectively.
       A footnote draws the attention of the reader to the fact that these hells represent states of mind, not actual worlds.
       The hells are then described in further detail:
    The first is the reviving hell where people bind and impale each other and hack each other to death.  Then a cold wind blows to revive them.  This continues relentlessly throughout their stay there.
       In the black line hell, a black line is traced on the body, which is then sawn with blazing saws and chopped with flaming red-hot axes.
       This goes on for several pages with a great variety of the suffering encountered.
    Actions that lead to Hell
       Not less interesting is the actions that will cause rebirth in these states of suffering.  This is described in chapter 6, Karma, from which we'll sample some.
       First, killing, subdivided into three categories (page 75):
    -- Killing through desire and attachment
    -- Killing through anger and aversion
    -- Killing through stupidity
       The first of these is killing for the sake of meat, hides and so forth, or for sport or financial gain, or in order to safeguard oneself or one's loved ones.  The second is killing those to whom one feels averse on account of grudges or competition and the like.  The third is killing in order to make offerings.
       It is worth noting that Muhammad and the early Muslims did all of these.  Killing was done at the expeditions against the caravans, out of the grudges Muhammad held against his kin in Mecca, against people who criticized him, and finally in the form of animal sacrifice at the Kaaba, which still takes place.
       The result of killing is described:
    The fully-developed result is rebirth as a hell-being.  The result corresponding to the cause is that even if one is born human, one will have a short life and many sicknesses.  The resulting influence is to be reborn in an ill-fated and unattractive land.  The particular instance or worst case among all the forms of killing, the most sinful one, is that of killing an Arhat who is also one's father.
       Page 78 describes the results of lying:
    Lying is of three types: lies that are one's undoing, big lies and trivial lies.
       The first concerns "false guruhood"; pretence about achievement.  The second are lies designed to benefit oneself or harm others.  The third concerns lies that are neither beneficial nor harmful.
       Of the three types of result, the fully-developed result is to be reborn as an animal.  The corresponding result is that even should one be reborn human, one will be derided by others.  The resulting influence is to have bad breath.  The worst sin is to have slandered the Tathagatha [Buddha] and then lied to one's guru.
       This absolute code of conduct is different from that found in Islam, where lying is tolerated and even endorsed if it benefits Islam.  An example of how lying is freely used by Muhammad can be found in Al-Tabari VII page 95, where Ibn al-Ashraf has composed poems deemed offensive to the Muslims:
    Muhammad said: "Who will rid me of Ibn al-Ashraf?"  Muhammad b. Maslamah, brother of Banu Abd al-Ashhal, said: "I will rid you of him, O Messenger of Allah. I will kill him."  "Do it then", he said, "if you can".  Muhammad b. Maslamah went back and remained for three days, neither eating or nor drinking more than would keep him alive.  The Messenger of Allah got to hear of this, so he summoned him and said to him: "Why have you left off food and drink?"  "Oh Messenger of Allah", he said, "I said something, and I do not know whether or not I can fulfill it."  "All that you are obliged to do is try", he replied.  "Oh Messenger of Allah", he said, "we shall have to tell lies."  "Say what you like," he replied.  "You are absolved in the matter."
       Al-Tabari then goes on to relate how the murder was planned and executed.  According to Buddhist thinking, this would lead to quite negative results for the lying killer, as for Muhammad.  Note also that Muhammad pushes to overcome the hesitation of the volunteer assassin, and the curious fact that the would-be assassin appears to be more worried about the lying than about the killing proper.
       Gampopa proceeds in Gems of Dharma, Jewels of Freedom to list actions and their corresponding results.  About malevolence is stated (page 80):
    Malevolence is of three types: due to hatred, jealousy or resentment.
       The first is to harbour, because of hatred, the idea of killing another, as in the times of war.  The second is to harbour, through competitiveness and the like, the idea of killing and harming another through fear of being surpassed.  The third is to harbour, through long-standing resentment, the idea of killing or hurting someone who has previously wronged one, etc.
       Of the three types of result of malevolence, the fully-developed result is rebirth in hell.  The corresponding result is that even if one is reborn human, hatred will dominate one's mind.  The resulting influence is to be reborn in a place where the food is bitter and coarse.  Of all types of malevolence, the worst instance, the greatest sin, is to plan to commit one of the acts bearing immediate consequence (patricide, matricide, killing holy persons etc.)
       One systematic feature worth mentioning is that hurting ones' family, ones' parents in particular, is very harmful, and will lead to particular dire consequences.  A footnote explains that the 'acts bearing immediate consequences' causes one to experience their effects (like being reborn in Hell) immediately after death without the intermediate ('Bardo') stages experienced by most.
    Beneficial actions
       Buddhism also teaches which actions are considered beneficial. Gampopa lists ten categories of virtuous actions (page 83):
    -- to protect the lives of others,
  • to give lavishly,
  • to maintain sexual purity,
  • to speak the truth straightforwardly,
  • to dispel unfriendliness and bring harmony,
  • to speak peacefully, appeasingly and in a way that is pleasant for others,
  • to speak in a way that is meaningful,
  • to reduce desires and be content with what one has,
  • to cultivate loving kindness and so forth
  • to penetrate the highest meaning.
    •    Buddhism of various schools has methods to remove the consequences of previous negative actions.  Gems of Dharma, Jewels of Freedom explains this in detail in pages 129 through 137.  The four main points are:
  • The power of thorough application of total regret
  • The power of the thorough application of remedy
  • The power of renouncing evil
  • The power of support
    •    The practical details includes sincerity, good actions, performing specific meditations and more.  While these teachings are interesting, it is beyond the scope of this essay to discuss them in detail.   Gems of Dharma, Jewels of Freedom uses over 200 pages to explain how to improve ones conduct and benefit other beings.  Since Islam has no similar teachings, further comparison is not relevant.
       Likewise, Christianity has dealt with this problem in a variety of ways, confession being the best known.  Islam does not concern itself much with this, emphasizing instead the need to follow the word of Allah and the example of Muhammad.
       While we are on the subject of comparing Islam with Buddhism, it is worth noting that in Buddhism, asking questions about the teachings is not only permitted, it is actively encouraged, as abstaining from doing so may cause vital points not to be understood.
       It is safe to say that Islam and Buddhism cannot be reconciled.  Islam favours obedience to the word of Allah and the example of Muhammad, at the expense of absolute moral codes.  Buddhism, on the other hand, considers the individual behaviour and the consequences of actions as crucial, including absolute personal responsibility.  Also, since the teachings of Buddhism can be seen as insulting to Muhammad, it is no wonder that Islamic warriors through the centuries have killed millions of Buddhists, destroyed large amount of Buddhist art and burned many monasteries and libraries.
       By Buddhist measure, much of the behaviour endorsed and exemplified by Muhammad would lead to an extended visit to the nether realms.   And how else to define 'Satanic' as behaviour that will result in falling into hell?  Buddhism, at least, does not list any worse actions or more severe consequences.
    Modern-day Satanism
       Traditional religions aside, there are people today who willfully consider themselves Satanists.  There is a smaller group who consider Satan to be an alternative deity to be worshipped, but the more common variation is that represented by the Church of Satan, whose founder Anton LeVay considered Satanism to be a more authentic lifestyle in the pursuit of happiness than Christianity.  Church of Satan emphasises worldly pleasures and overt selfish behaviour as the path to happiness, discarding gods and speculations of otherworldly rewards/punishments as irrelevant and life-defeating.  Three examples:
    Satan represents man as just another animal, sometimes better, more often worse than those that walk on all-fours, who, because of his "divine spiritual and intellectual development," has become the most vicious animal of all.
       Given the crimes committed in the name of religion, this would seem to have some merit.  But it is superficial, in that it doesn't acknowledge the civilizing effect of several religions, Christianity in particular.  But when compared to religions waging holy wars, it would seem as if the position of Church of Satan would be the lesser evil.
    Satan represents all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification.
       Now, Islam does not recognize any absolute sins, and Muhammad himself was known for fondness of worldly goods, and women in particular.   Practically anything can be permitted, as long as it serves propagating Islam.   In this way, Satanism would seem closer related to Islam than to Christianity or Buddhism, who both employ absolute codes of conduct for its adherents.  This is logical, for Muhammad himself, as recorded in the Sirat, committed all of the Seven Deadly Sins of Christian theology.  Having an absolute code of conduct related to the Christian one would render Muhammad a sinner, which obviously is not a viable option for Islam.
       Since the Anton LeVay 'Satanism' is atheistic (Satan is not seen as any kind of divine entity to be worshipped), it would, in orthodox Islamic theology, be considered a severe form of heresy.
       It is worth noting that Christianity and Buddhism both consider the gratification obtained from these sins - or indulgence to use a less burdened word – to be temporary and short-sighted, leading to later suffering.  It can be tricky to ascertain which position is, in an absolute sense, correct.  Reading the observations of Theodore Dalrymple, or considering the fact that one does not stay young and attractive forever, the Christian and Buddhist warnings against attachment to carnal desire does have merit.
    Satan has been the best friend the Church has ever had, as he has kept it in business all these years!
    Satan as the aide of God
       This holistic, almost NewAge-like statement leads us to the position of esoteric Christianity.  Here it is attempted to find an approach where Satan is not an entity of absolute evil, but rather an accomplice to the work of God, in his efforts to teach man responsibility and ethical behaviour.  For if God guaranteed man a pleasant life regardless of his actions, there would be no reason for man to behave in an ethical manner.  If no action led to suffering, there would be no cause for man to choose virtue over harm.  Satan, in his long separation from God, ever since the temptations of Job, just might return when his work is done.
       In the words of James Stephens:
    The Fullness of Time
    On a rusty iron throne
    Past the furthest star of space
    I saw Satan sit alone,
    Old and haggard was his face;
    For his work was done and he
    Rested in eternity.

    And to him from out the sun
    Came his father and his friend
    Saying, now the work is done
    Enmity is at an end:
    And he guided Satan to
    Paradises that he knew.

    Gabriel without a frown,
    Uriel without a spear,
    Raphael came singing down
    Welcoming their ancient peer,
    And they seated him beside
    One who had been crucified.
       So, if OIC is still reading, there may not be that much reason to worry about the label 'Satanic'.  It may not be as bad as it seems, and it can be handled in a wide variety of ways.  On the other hand, it might be advisable to worry about the actual acts of Muhammad, as recorded in the Sirat, which seem similar or worse than the code of conduct advocated by modern-day Church of Satan and the like.
       On the other hand, to unconditionally discard the label, going into the details would be good.  That means identifying immoral behaviour on the part of Muhammad, declaring these to be non-holy, no longer an example for Muslims today would be good.  Dealing first with Muhammads' endorsement of terrorism would be an appropriate place to start, and dealing with the Ten Commandments would be beneficial for the relationship to the Jewish and Christian societies.
       Finally, it would be good to make a clear as to what is most important:
       Unconditional obedience to every element of Muhammad's example – or the application of an universal moral code?
       Addendum: Analysis of "Sympathy for the Devil"
       The Rolling Stones, masters of hedonism and reckless abandon, created this masterpiece.  It has been taken as an incitement to Satanic worship, but a closer analysis reveals something quite different.  The song goes in a tight samba rhythm (yes!), and has been covered by many bands.  But none have the discipline and the calm to do the lyrics justice.  Time to dive in.
    Please allow me to introduce myself .. I'm a man of wealth and taste
    I've been around for long, long years .. stole many man's soul and faith
       Introductions are nice.  Wealth and taste not to be snuffed at.  Or?  Temptation has led man astray from his real potential through the millenia.
    I was 'round when Jesus Christ .. had his moment of doubt and pain
    Made damn sure that Pilate .. washed his hands and sealed his fate
       Archetypical.  As is most of the song.  First line probably a reference to the temptation in the desert, where the Devil tempted Jesus with worldly power, which he politely declined.  Second obviously to the Crucifixion, where Pilate absolves himself of responsibility for the event.   Abandoning responsibility is not exactly man realizing the best of his potential, another human weakness.
    Pleased to meet you .. hope you guess my name
    But what's puzzling you .. is the nature of my game
       Names we have aplenty – Satan, Devil, Lucifer, Mara etc.  But the nature of the game?  Puzzling indeed.
    I stuck around St. Petersburg .. when I saw it was a time for a change
    Killed the Czar and his ministers .. Anastasia screamed in vain
       A reference to the Russian Revolution (Lenin was, as a historical fact, a paid agent of Imperial Germany with the mission to destabilize Russia), and then to the killing of the Czar family in Yekatarinburg, Ural mountains, during the civil war.  Killing children is evil, indeed.
    I rode a tank .. held a general's rank
    When the blitzkrieg raged .. and the bodies stank
       WWII.  Doesn't get much worse than this.  Loyal generals whirled into the game of Hitler, doing their part for their country, but actually being pieces in another human atrocity.  Including the Holocaust, which is probably what the last phrase refers to.
    Pleased to meet you .. hope you guess my name
    Ah, what's puzzling you .. is the nature of my game
       Looks like we're getting in on the game.  It's called 'Evil' – but then, what is it, really?
    I watched with glee .. while your kings and queens
    Fought for ten decades .. for the gods they made
       This would be a reference to the Hundred Years War, but it is flawed in that the war was not really about religion, in contrast to the later 30 Years War.  But there's no doubt that any one who takes delight in suffering would enjoy these endless conflicts mercilessly.
    I shouted out, .. "Who killed the Kennedys?"
    When after all .. it was you and me
       John Kennedy had been assassinated in 1963, and in 1968, while this song was being recorded, the same fate befell his brother Robert.   Killing is evil enough in itself, but targeting the elected representatives of democracies constitutes an assault on democracy itself.  It could hardly be worse.
    Let me please introduce myself .. I'm a man of wealth and taste
    And I laid traps for troubadours .. who get killed before they reached Bombay
       The second line here has been puzzling, but is probably a reference to musicians and artists setting out for mystical India, getting trapped in the drug temptations – attraction to sensesual [? sensual] experience and very temporary happiness distracts people.  Lethally.
    Pleased to meet you .. hope you guessed my name
    But what's puzzling you .. is the nature of my game
       The nature of Evil has been puzzling us for millenia.  No firm solution has been found, though much experience has been collected along the way.  Puzzling, indeed.
    Pleased to meet you .. hope you guessed my name
    But what's confusing you .. is just the nature of my game
       Puzzling, confusing, troubling, you name it.  The song remains the same.
    Just as every cop is a criminal .. and all the sinners saints
    As heads is tails, just call me Lucifer .. 'cause I'm in need of some restraint
       And, at the very point where we dive into complete relativism, cops criminals, sinners saints, heads is tails – comes the killer sentence:  We need restraint.  Lucifer, the symbol of endless temptation in particular, is in desperate need of restraint.  As Diana West noted in The Death of the Grown-up, people unable to rule themselves will have to be ruled by others.  Restraint is a precondition for a genuinely civilized society.  If we do not learn the art of genuine restraint, we cannot respect others and we will do things, tempted by the illusion of material happiness, that will cause harm to others, and eventually ourselves.  People may contrieve all kinds of excuses to circumvent restraint.  To no avail.  Genuine restraint, willfully abstaining from what will cause harm to others, is a sine non qua of civilized behaviour.  Learn it or perish.
    So if you meet me .. have some courtesy, have some sympathy, and some taste
    Use all your well-learned politesse .. or I'll lay your soul to waste.
       Near the end of the song comes what are probably the most surprising lines to ever have come from the creative, hedonistic minds of the Rolling Stones:  It is a call to civilized behaviour, of the kind that many today would consider ridiculously conservative and oppressive:  The application of courtesy, sympathy, taste and politesse.  The instruction is unmistakenly clear.  As is the punishment for not doing your absolutely, very best:  Your soul will be laid to waste.
    Pleased to meet you .. hope you guessed my name
    But what's puzzling you .. is the nature of my game
       Naming the enemy makes sense.  Understand his game even more so.  A crucial difference between civilization and barbarianism is restraint, wilful discipline.  If we waste our intelligence devising workarounds from that, Lucifer, Satan, the Devil, Mara – (note the chorus: "Who, who, who") – wins.  Likewise if we use our power to usurp the wealth of others rather than creating some ourselves.  But when we restrain ourselves, use our potential constructively, do our utmost to act in a civilized way – in that case the Devil will have no choice but to head off into the desert and, hopelessly abandoned, wither into dust.
    Posted by Robert at March 1, 2009 5:55 PM Email this entry | Print this entry | Digg this | del.icio.us |
       [RECAPITULATION: "In swearing allegiance to him, you are pledging yourselves to wage war against all mankind." ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: Correct.  The evidence of the various Islamic texts makes it plain that constant warfare, with no limit to the victims, is really the aim of Mohammedanism. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#what_s_so_bad
    [Mar 01, 2009]
    • Religious Intolerance In Indonesia In 2008.   
       Annals Australasia, annalsaustralasia |§| gmail |DOT| com , by Adianto P. Simamora, p 27, January-February 2009
    ANNALS AUSTRALASIA     27     JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2009
    TERROR AND BIGOTRY
    265 cases of violence against other religions

    RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE IN INDONESIA IN 2008

     
    By Adianto P. Simamora
    J AKARTA: Religious intolerance is getting worse here, with state agencies, radical groups and community organisations involved in violations of freedom of faith and religion, according to a report released Tuesday.
       The recent sealing of the synagogue in Surabaya, East Java, by Muslims in a protest against the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip was the latest case of religious intolerance in Indonesia.
       The incident was not included in the 2008 Report on the Condition of Religious and Faith Freedom in Indonesia, which was released by the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace.
       But Setara Institute chairman Hendardi said the closure of the Jewish place of worship was against the principle of religious tolerance.
       "It is clearly part of religious violence and cannot be tolerated," he told The Jakarta Post after launching the report.
       The report found 265 cases of violence against religions from January-December last year, a significant increase from only 135 cases in 2007.
       "The increase is spurred by the rising persecution against the Jamaah Ahmadiyah by Islamic organisations to pressure the government to issue a presidential decree banning the minority sect," the report said.
       Last year, the government issued a joint ministerial decree forbidding Ahmadiyah from spreading its religious teachings, bowing to pressure from extremist groups that had attacked its followers, their mosques and houses across the country.
       Out of the 265 incidents; the institute recorded 367 violations against freedom of religion and faith.
       "Of the 367 violations, the state was involved in 188 cases of violence both by 'commission and omission'," Hendardi said.
       The report said police were involved in 121 cases of religious intolerance, regents and mayors in 28 cases while 52 others involved courts and regional legislative councils.
       "What is worrying is that more individuals and unidentified groups launched sporadic religious attacks, which reached 91 cases last year," Hendardi said.
       The report blamed the radical Islamic Defender Front (FPI) and the Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI) as the main actors in the religious violence.
       "We record the MUI involved in 42 cases and the FPI in 27 cases including in the Monas incident last year," he said, referring the brutal attack on activists during a pro-tolerance rally in the National Monument, Central Jakarta.
       The Setara conducted investigations in North Sumatra, South Sumatra, West Sumatra, Jakarta, Banten, West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, South Sulawesi, South Kalimantan and West Nusa Tenggara.
       West Java was the province recording the highest rate of religious violence with 73 cases, followed by West Sumatra and Jakarta provinces with 56 and 45 cases, respectively.
    – Source:http://www.thestar.com.my/news/stoiy.asp?file=/2009,/1 /14/nation/20090114102335&se(?=nation. ANN/ The Jakarta Post.
    ANNALS AUSTRALASIA     27     JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2009
       [RECAPITULATION: Last year, the government issued a joint ministerial decree forbidding [Jamaah ] Ahmadiyah from spreading its religious teachings, bowing to pressure from extremist groups that had attacked its followers, their mosques and houses across the country. …
       "Of the 367 violations, the state was involved in 188 cases of violence both by 'commission and omission'," Hendardi said. …
       "What is worrying is that more individuals and unidentified groups launched sporadic religious attacks, which reached 91 cases last year," Hendardi said. …
       "We record the MUI involved in 42 cases and the FPI in 27 cases including in the Monas incident last year," he said, referring the brutal attack on activists during a pro-tolerance rally in the National Monument, Central Jakarta. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: Even the generals and the other rich Javanese have to bow to the extremist demands of Islamists, to be left free to keep making money. ENDS.]
       [SUBSCRIBE: In Australia Aus$33 (pensioner $26), overseas enquire annalsaustralasia |§| gmail |DOT| com ; PO Box 13, Kensington, NSW, 2033, Australia.  Tel 02 9662 7894, or 02 9662 7188 ext. 252. Fax 02 9662 1910. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#religious_intolerance_in_indonesia
    [Rec'd Mar 03, 09 (list as late Feb); p 27; dated Jan-Feb 2009]
    • Middle East Christians Persecuted. Victims of Political Correctness.     
       Annals Australasia, annalsaustralasia |AT| gmail |DOT| com , by 'Abd al-Nasser al-Najjar, p 35, January / February 2009
    ANNALS AUSTRALASIA     35     JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2009
    VICTIMS OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS
    ‘Let us remember that [many of ] the tribes of Arabia were Christian’

    MIDDLE EAST CHRISTIANS PERSECUTED

     
    By ‘Abd al-Nasser al-Najjar
    I N IRAQ, a crime is currently being committed – another in a series of iniquities brought by the winds of change that came in the wake of the [U.S.] occupation, which sought to impregnate Iraq with the seed of democracy.  [But] the [resulting] fetus emerged deformed and weird. The worst outcome of this situation is, possibly, the carnage against ethnic communities and minorities that has swept through Iraq.  Neither Sunnis, nor Shi'ites, nor Christians, nor Kurds, nor Turkomen, nor [members of] other [groups] have managed to escape it.
       However, the string of murders and expulsions of Christians, which has been going on for several months, is by far the most grievous – [and] it [must be taken as] a warning that hostility and crimes against minorities may spread to the neighboring countries [as well].
       Christians are being persecuted not only in Iraq, but in most Arab countries, regardless of their numbers there. They are subjected to every possible kind of discrimination, as well as expulsion. The problem is that it is not only Arab officials who are remaining silent [in the face of these crimes] – [they do so] because their primitive mentality is centered on the cult of the ruler – but, alarmingly, so are Arab intellectuals, the elites, non-government organizations, and leaders of the private sector. All these groups look on at these unprecedented [acts of] folly without apprehending the danger with which these crimes are fraught.
       Statistics show that in 2005 the number of Christians in Iraq was as high as 800,000. By early 2008, it had dropped by half, [indicating] that 50 percent of Iraqi Christians had been expelled from their homes and lands.
       Today, this problem is also rampant in Egypt, Lebanon, Algeria, and Palestine – and while the situation may be slightly different in Palestine, the trend is the same.
       Let us be honest with ourselves and courageously say out loud that Palestinian Christians are taking many severe blows, yet are suffering in silence so as not to attract attention. I do not refer here to the suffering caused by the occupation … but to actions of the past 20 years at least – that is, since the beginning of the occupation in 1967 – involving the confiscation of Christian property, especially in Bethlehem, Ramallah, and Al-Birah.
       What makes things worse is that those who are plundering [the Christians'] property are either powerful [in their own right] or are backed by various elements, among them high-ranking military officials or influential members of large clans.
       Attempts by the political leadership to partially rectify this situation have failed. Nor has the judicial system been able to [resolve] many of the problems, which we still face today. Over the past few years, several of my Christian friends have told me of the harm they have suffered, including various threats, even death threats, for trying to gain access to their lands after they were taken over by influential Bethlehem residents.
       Furthermore, there has been an attempt to marginalize Christian culture in Palestine, even though it is rich and deeply rooted [there]. This began with [accusations] of unbelief [against Christians] – a move that ultimately harmed Palestinian society as a whole …
       Despite all the injustices [against the Christians], no one has seen or heard of any constructive action to curb it and to [defend] the Christians' rights – whether by the elites, by any of the three branches (executive, legislative, and judiciary), by non-government organizations, or even by the political factions themselves.  [Such action should have been forthcoming] not out of kindness and compassion, but [due to] regarding Palestinian Christians as indigenous to this land, and [therefore] no different from us, with the same rights and obligations [as Muslims].
       But the most fundamental problem here may be related to culture. We continue to instill a horrific culture in our children, one that sees Christians as infidels … and as 'the other.' We need an injection of humanistic and national awakening; we must raise an outcry and stand up to restore the Christians' rights, of which they have been deprived – [and we must do this] in order to preserve the demographic balance, which will safeguard the unity of our homeland and the justness [of] the Palestinian cause.
       [Let us] remember that [many of] the tribes of Arabia were Christian.  The best writers and poets were Christian, as were [many] warriors and philosophers … It is they who bore the banner of pan-Arabism. The first Palestinian university was established by Christians.
       Enough [examples] !  It is not words that we need, but progressive attitudes, and the truth, so that it can be presented to tyrannical rulers, and so that priests and old men will not be the only Christians left in the Holy Land and in the city of [Jesus'] birth."
    ____________________
    The above excerpts were taken from an article by 'Abd Al-Nasser Al-Najjar that appeared in Al-Ayyam (Palestinian Authority), October 25, 2008.  The translation is taken from MEMRI Special Dispatch | No. 2112 I November 12, 2008 #
    ANNALS AUSTRALASIA     35     JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2009
       [EXPLANATION: Except in one case, all the square brackets "[" and "]" in the above article, are as they were in the printed article.  (Usually this Website reserves square brackets for the Webmaster's additions or explanations.) ENDS.]
       [1st RECAPITULATION: All these groups look on at these unprecedented [acts of] folly … ENDS.]
       [1st COMMENT: "Unprecedented"?  Come on, persecution of other people and stealing from them has been the general rule from the time that Mohammad led raiders against the trading caravans belonging to his relations and former neighbours, the people of Mecca, and took booty from them and many others.  Read, in Sura 8, Al-Anfāl, or the Spoils of War, 8:1, 8:41, and 8:68-69.  Also see 48:15. ENDS.]
       [2nd RECAPITULATION: … may be related to culture. We continue to instill a horrific culture in our children, one that sees Christians as infidels … ENDS.]
       [2nd COMMENT: Of course Muslims would!  Read 5:72 (or 5:76):- Infidels now are they who say, 'God is the Messiah, Son of Mary.' …
       That's the whole problem -- there is no way of having "an injection of humanistic and national awakening" while people are taught and believe that the Koran is the very word of Allah, a copy of an original "tablet preserved," unable to be changed or re-interpreted.
       Read! 5:73 (or 5:77):- They surely are Infidels who say God is one of three. 
       The plain teaching of the Koran is that the Christians are infidels, and so ought to be killed or taken prisoner.  Look up that and other Koranic condemnations of Christians and Christianity at Koran Key # Christians.
       If the author keeps wanting "humanistic" awakening there will be some people who will use physical force to silence him, saying that humans only need to know what is in Allah's law.  Unlike the imam's daughter in Britain who went under police protection when she left Islam, this writer will not be well-protected by whatever passes for police forces of the fractured Palestinian Authority.  (See: Ruth Gledhill, "British imam's daughter under police protection after converting to Christianity", The Times, December 5, 2007.) ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#middle_east_christians
    [(List as late Feb) p 35, Jan-Feb 2009]
    • [Egyptians push Bedouin Arabs out.  Bombs.]  - "They have pushed us from our land"  

    [Egyptians push Bedouin Arabs out.  Bombs]

       National Geographic, nationalgeographic.com/magazine, Selected extract from: "The Sinai: A Separate Peace," By Matthew Teague (Photography by Matt Moyer), Vol. 215, No. 3, March 2009
       [P 109:] […] After Israel fully ceded control of Sinai in 1982, the Egyptian government dismantled the Bedouin program and formed the Tourism Development Authority, designed to stake a claim on valuable land. …
       … in the Sinai mountains, [P 112:] I spoke with a tiny elderly Bedouin woman named Sheikha Salima … 70 or 80 … "It was better when the Israelis were here," she said, "They have destroyed our customs," … "They have pushed us from our land." […]
       [P. 115] … When Egypt took over control of the Sinai, the state -- eager to stamp the territory as its own -- bulldozed Bedouin camps and homes to make way for wealthy mainland investors.  One hundred per cent of Sharm el Sheikh's coastline now belongs to developers.  Bedouin tribe members believed in a principle called wadaa-al-yad -- literally, "put your hands" -- by which a man owns land when he improves it with irrigation, for instance, or trees.  So some Bedouin laid concrete foundations beside their homes, hoping the nod to permanence might impress the state and save their property.  But the government bulldozed those as well.
       One powerful Bedouin tribal leader, Sheikh Ishays, refused to abandon his camp … north of Sharm el Sheikh in … Nuweiba.
       [P. 118] … northern Sinai … El Arish … more than nine out of ten people age 20 to 30 have no full-time job, much less any hope of obtaining a work permit for resorts in the south. […]
       [P. 119] The third target was the Hilton … the bomb killed 31 people […]
       [GEOGRAPHY: Egypt (north Africa) is dominated by Arab Muslims, whose ancestors invaded from Arabia (Asia).  Sinai is in Asia, east of the Gulf of Suez.  This is an example of Muslims being unjust to Muslims, which is wicked, similar to Westerners having wars with Westerners over trade, like World Wars I and II. ENDS.]
       [ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: S.McG. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#egyptians_push_bedouin
    [March 2009]
    • Fleeing Persecution: Converts and Western Asylum Procedures. Focus.     
       Barnabas Aid magazine, Focus, pp 6-8, March-April 2009
    Focus

    Fleeing Persecution:  Converts and Western Asylum Procedures

       Barnabas Aid magazine, info § barnabasfund org , Focus, pp 6-8, March-April 2009
    According to the teachings of sharia (Islamic law), leaving Islam is a crime on a par with treason. It is therefore punishable with death (or, according to some schools of sharia, life imprisonment if the apostate is a woman). A range of other penalties are also listed in sharia, including forced dissolution of the former Muslim's marriage, loss of children and disinheritance.
       Some of these punishments - even the death penalty - are included in the legal systems of a number of Muslim-majority countries in the 21st century. Furthermore, the concepts of such punishments for those who leave Islam are well known to the majority of ordinary Muslims, and particularly to radical Muslims.
      [PICTURE:) Asylum seekers behind wire in an Australian detention camp (Source: Video Teppista, photograph by Richard Schweizer)  
       Family members or Muslims from the local community may attempt to enforce such punishments themselves, believing that what they are doing is correct in God's eyes. Many converts from Islam are arrested and imprisoned by the authorities, even if apostasy is not forbidden by the laws of the land; some other legal pretext will be used.
       A convert from Islam can therefore be in severe physical danger whether or not there is any law against apostasy on the statute books of his or her country, and whether or not any such laws are enforced. Although many converts remain in their homelands, some face such threats or violence that they may seek refuge in non-Muslim countries.
    Christian converts from Islam
       The persecution that Christian converts from Islam face is often not recognised by Western governments. Several Christian converts from Islam have been refused asylum in recent years, and immigration officers frequently fail to distinguish between Christians who comei from a Christian background and those who have converted from Islam.
       A briefing by the British Evangelical Alliance (EA), published in 2007, expressed concern at the way in which asylum decisions were often based on inaccurate and out-of-date background information. Many countries rely on United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recommendations in deciding whether Christians are in real danger of persecution in the country that they have fled. Barnabas has heard of cases of Iranian converts being refused asylum in the UK, Germany and New Zealand. Sometimes church leaders vouch for the genuineness of conversions, but the New Zealand Minister for Immigration has reportedly claimed that this is irrelevant in the case of Iran.
       The issue is whether the fear of persecution is well founded and, according to the UNHCR, it is not. He was reported as saying, "We are governed by the advice of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, not vested interest groups, and not representations from others, though they are taken into account. To date … the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees does not support the contention that Christians face these dangers if returned to Iran."
      [PICTURE:] A mosque in Tripoli, Libya. A Libyan Christian convert who fled to the UK was beaten almost to death by Muslim detainees at a Removal Centre, where he was placed after being refused asylum (Source: Luca Galuzzi - www.galuzzi.it )  
       Many Western people also do not understand that persecution can come from community and family rather than from police or government authorities. One such example is the case of "George" and his wife, who fled to the UK after receiving death threats from his family. George grew up in Syria in a Muslim family. When he converted to Christianity in 2003, his family was furious. He soon began to receive death threats, including a video of a beheading, and his family told him that if he did not return to Islam they would "wash their shame", meaning that they would kill him.
       After living in hiding for several years, George and his wife (who converted in 2005) fled to the UK, and they applied for asylum. They provided their case worker with George's baptism certificate and a letter from their previous church leader. However, the Home Office initially refused their request for asylum, claiming that it would be safe for the couple simply to re-locate within Syria, further away from their families. Another reason given for the refusal was that the Home Office did not believe that George's father would actually hurt his son. George said, "What could I do in this situation? Should I ask my father for a note forwarded to the Home Office, guaranteeing for them he will hurt me if he catches me?"
       This perception shows the wide gap between the Western (and Judeo-Christian) worldview and the Islamic one. It is almost impossible for many in the West to imagine that a father would kill his own child, but this action is accepted as legitimate and even necessary in many Muslim contexts if the child dishonours the family. A case in point was the murder of Fatima AI-Mutairi, a young Saudi Christian woman, by her Muslim brother after he found out that she had converted from Islam to Christianity. In some Muslim countries this principle is taught from a very young age.
       Western ignorance of Muslim attitudes to apostasy can have serious consequences for asylum-seeking converts even without their being deported to their home countries. According to reports, a Libyan Christian convert from Islam was beaten almost to death by Muslims while at West Drayton Removal Centre in the UK. Twenty-eight-year-old Moftah Abdulghani, who had fled Libya after converting to Christianity, was awaiting a review of his case following the failure of his application for asylum in the UK. His Christian faith became known to the hundreds of Muslim detainees at the same Removal Centre, who began to abuse and threaten him. The assault, allegedly at the hands of Yemeni and Somali detainees, happened as Moftah left the makeshift church at the Removal Centre. After the attack, he was moved to another detention centre and kept in solitary confinement for his own safety. Moftah has since been given temporary leave to stay in the United Kingdom.
    How to prove one's faith
       To qualify for refugee status in Western countries, displaced Christians have to go through the often lengthy "process of verification". During this process the respective authorities will try to determine whether the person applying for asylum will face real danger if returned to his or her home country. In the cases of Christians asking for asylum on grounds of religious persecution, authorities will also try to establish if their Christian faith is genuine.
       Unfortunately the way in which Western immigration and asylum officers try to verify the claims of asylum seekers often displays a great deal of ignorance and insensitivity. Immigration and asylum officers frequently struggle to understand the severity of the danger converts may face from their government, community or family. Insufficient knowledge of the Christian faith and of asylum seekers' social and political background is a serious obstacle to determining the validity of asylum claims on grounds of religious persecution.
       A UNHCR paper on verifying claims for protection on religious grounds pointed out as early as 2002 that in many cases the questions asked during interviews were inappropriate and did not help to establish whether claims were genuine or not. The paper explained that
    … knowledge of a particular faith does not necessarily correlate to sincerity of conviction. This is especially true where the test of knowledge is being conducted cross-culturally … judging an applicant's knowledge or consistency of actions with beliefs runs the risk of being subject to error as the adjudicator may not have a sufficiently adequate understanding of the religion to be able to make these type of assessments. 1
       Despite reports such as this, the problem of Christian asylum seekers being deported even though they genuinely face severe danger seems to persist. The EA briefing listed a number of questions asked of Christian asylum seekers. 2  An Iranian convert to Christianity was asked questions such as "Who was turned into a pillar of salt?", "Who had a coat of many colours?" and "What was Daniel famous for?" As he had never read the Old Testament he was unable to answer and failed. One convert was asked to "recite the [Catholic] mass"; another one, "How do you cook a turkey for Christmas?" 3 ; yet another, "What were the names of the thieves either side of Jesus as he was crucified?" (they are not named in the Bible). One asylum seeker was asked, "What was the forbidden fruit?" His application was refused because he did not name it as an apple (the Bible does not identify the fruit). 4
       A further problem that often weakens the case of Christian asylum seekers is the failure to provide them with Christian interpreters. While asylum seekers have the right to demand a female or male interpreter, they cannot request someone who is a Christian or at least neutral and objective towards the Christian faith. It often happens that Christian converts from Islam are given Muslim interpreters. At best these interpreters may be unfamiliar with Christian terms. But what the convert asylum-seekers fear most is a hostile interpreter who deliberately mistranslates what they say, or even reports their story to the Muslim community in the UK or the authorities in their home country, thus potentially putting the converts in huge danger.
    A positive sign
       In a landmark victory on 29 September 2008 George and his wife were finally granted asylum in Britain. Their legal representative said, "This is a significant and groundbreaking decision that clearly puts the focus on the fact that many converts to Christianity from Islam face real danger, including the ultimate penalty of death." Please join with us in praying that the decision will mark the beginning of a better-informed and more sympathetic approach to Christian converts who flee to the UK for protection, and that other countries will take note and reform their practices too.
      Refugee: a person who has fled his/ her country owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his/her nationality, and is unable or, owing to such fear is unwilling to avail himself/ herself the protection of that country. 5  
    ____________________
    1  Karen Musalo, "Claims for Protection Based on Religion or Belief: Analysis and Propose Conclusions", Legal and Protection Policy Research Series, UNHCR, 2002.
    2  Jennifer Coton, Altogether for Asylum Justice: Asylum seekers' conversion to Christianity. London: Evangelical Alliance UK, 2007.
    3  Joanna Sugden, "How the Government tests for faith", The Times, 18 July 2007.
    4  Coton, pp14-17.
    5  Pocket Guide to Refugees, UNHCR, May 2008.
       [RECAPITULATION: A case in point was the murder of Fatima AI-Mutairi, a young Saudi Christian woman, by her Muslim brother after he found out that she had converted from Islam to Christianity. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: This violence-oriented mind-set is so ingrained in the scripture, traditions, and early biographies of Islam, that it ought to be known to the academic and religious "Establishment."  But in spite of famous authors writing about their coming up against it ever since Islam was invented, the Establishment, including politicians and the civil service, seem to be blind to it. COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#fleeing_persecution_converts
    [List as early March; March-April 2009]
    • Enemy Within; British Muslims are killing our troops.     

    ENEM Y  WITHIN


    British Muslims are killing our troops
       The International Express (Britain), West Australian edition, intexreaders § hotmail com au , ISSN 1324-776X, Pages One and 5, March 3-9, 2009
       BRITISH troops in Afghanistan are being killed by Muslim fanatics from the UK who have joined forces with the Taliban.
       The radicals have linked up with insurgents in Helmand where thousands of British troops are fighting on the frontline of the war against terror. Last week it claimed four more soldiers' lives.
       On a visit to Afghanistan, Foreign Secretary David Miliband was shown Taliban bombs containing British-made components. They had either been sent from Britain or brought from the UK by a home-grown recruit.
       Taliban fighters with Yorkshire and West Midlands accents have also been heard talking in intercepted communications, according to a security agency briefing.
    The Taliban fighters with English accents
       Radicalised young British-born Muslims are known to have been going to Iraq and Afghanistan as "seemingly committed jihadists" to join the insurgencies. One analyst said British soldiers were effectively in a "surreal civil war" being fought thousands of miles from home.
       The evidence for British jihadists in Afghanistan is based on radio eavesdropping by British forces, both by troops on the ground and on RAF Nimrods above the war zone.
       One senior military source said: "We have been hearing a lot more Punjabi, Urdu and Kashmiri Urdu rather than just Pashtu, so there appears to be more men from other parts of Pakistan fighting with the Taliban than just the Pashtuns who have tribal allegiances with the Afghan Pashtuns.
       "It is this second group, the Urdu, Punjabi speakers etc, who fall back into English in, for example, Brummie accents. You get the impression that they have been told not to talk in English but sometimes simply can't help it." The former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, Brigadier Ed Butler, said: "There are British passport holders who live in the UK who are being found in places such as Kandahar.
       "There is a link between Kandahar and urban conurbations in the UK. This is something the military understands but the British public does not."
       Tory MP and former infantry officer Patrick Mercer, chairman of the Commons counter terrorism sub committee, said: "I am aware from the troops I have spoken to that there are British-born insurgents working and fighting with the Taliban.
       "The evidence is principally from intercepting their radio communications. But in Iraq British troops found bodies of insurgents and they were as certain as they could be that they were British.
       "We know the problem we have with UK-based jihadists. We also know that a number of them have been arrested trying to leave the country. With the UK intelligence services at full stretch, it is not surprising some of these jihadists have ended up in Afghanistan."
       Tory defence spokesman Gerald Howarth said that Britons who joined the Taliban must be prosecuted but the actions of a minority should not threaten community relations in Britain. The numbers are thought to be in the dozens rather than hundreds, reflecting the fact that the vast majority of British Muslims want to live in peace.
       Earlier this year the head of MI5, Jonathan Evans, said the number of extremists heading to Iraq had "tailed off significantly" as Britain prepared to withdraw. But there was "traffic" into Pakistan and Afghanistan.
       "What happens in Afghanistan is extremely important because what happens there has a direct impact on domestic security in the UK," he added. #
       [RECAPITULATION: [Re-read the third-last paragraph.] ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: Wanting "to live in peace" would make it hard to keep hearing the scriptures in their religion. COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  2:191 (or 2:187):- And kill them wherever you find them, …
       8:12:- … I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve.  Therefore strike off their heads … www. sub mission. org/suras/ sura8.html #12
       8:39 (or 8:40):- Make war on them until strife shall be at an end, and the religion be all of it Allah's …
       33:61:- Accursed, they will be seized wherever found and slain with a (fierce) slaughter.
       71:26 (or 71:27):- And Noah said, 'Lord, leave not one single family of Infidels on the Earth: … DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [2nd COMMENT: The real "enemy within" were those unpatriotic politicians and other people of influence who, from the end of World War II, unceasingly strove for indiscriminate immigration, without regard for issues of domestic wholeness and even physical health.  These "PC" people have been beavering away throughout most countries in the world.  They are like the people who thought the Fascists and Nazis were either harmless, or positively good, and those who saw Soviet Russia as the Workers' Paradise or the start of the New Humanity.  There are successors to these unpatriotic people right to this day. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#enemy_within_british
    [Mar 3-9, 2009]
    • Eight die as terrorists attack Test cricketers.     

    Eight die as terrorists attack Test cricketers

       The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , letters§wanews com au , Page One, Wednesday, March 4, 2009
      [Picture] Horror: Two gunmen fire at a police vehicle which was guarding the Sri Lankan cricket team on its way to a Test match against Pakistan in Lahore.    Picture: Reuters  
      [Pictures] Took cover: Mahela Jayawardene.  In hospital: Thilan Samaraweera  
       LAHORE – The cricket world was reeling last night after masked gunmen launched a brazen attack on the Sri Lankan team in the Pakistani city of Lahore, killing at feast eight people and wounding seven players and a team official.
       Gunmen attacked the team's convoy in a square near Gaddafi Stadium with rockets, hand grenades and automatic weapons, triggering a 25-minute gun battle with security forces.
       "They appeared to be well-trained terrorists," Lahore police chief Habib-ur Rehman said.  Security officials said the estimated 12 gunmen managed to escape on four main roads leading from Liberty Square. Witnesses said the exclusive district, home to designer boutiques, was turned into a battlefield as gunmen hidden behind trees opened fire.
       "The bus came under attack as we were driving to the stadium, the gunmen targeted the wheels of the bus first and then the bus," Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene said. "We all dived to the floor to take cover."
       Another cricketer said a rocket was fired at the bus but missed.
       Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse condemned the "cowardly terrorist attack" against his country's "ambassadors of goodwill".
       Sri Lankan Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge said a plane had been chartered to take the cricketers home as soon as possible.
       Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani strongly condemned the terrorist attack and ordered an immediate inquiry.
       After the ambush, security experts defused two car bombs and recovered a stash of weapons, including grenades, 3kg of explosives, a pistol and a detonating cable, a police official said.
       Two civilians and six police officers who were guarding the players were killed in the attack, which happened as the team was heading for the third day's play in the second Test against Pakistan.
                INSIDE
                India demands action on terror groups   P4
                Australian umpires sees van driver die   P5
                Grim future for game in Pakistan   Back page
       Television footage showed several gunmen creeping through trees, crouching to aim their weapons andn then running on to the next target. Broken glass littered the road next to an empty rocket-propelled grenade launcher. A police motorcycle was crashed sideways near the scene of the attack.
       There was no immediate claim of responsibility but fears of attacks by Islamic militants linked to al-Qaida have caused cricket teams to cancel tours to Pakistan in recent years.
       The shooting came as the Sri Lankan army pushed its final offensive against ethnic Tamil rebels in the north of the country in a civil war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
       Pakistani officials said the attack bore all the hallmarks of the assault on the Indian city of Mumbai in November, which was blamed on Pakistan-based Islamic militants.
       India's immediate reaction was to say Pakistan needed to dismantle its "infrastructure of terrorism".
       Sri Lankan officials said eight members of the touring party – seven players and an assistant coach – were wounded and that the team would immediately end its tour of Pakistan.
       Sri Lanka vice-captain Kumar Sangakkara said the squad was safe. "There are a few injuries, but everyone is safe and all the players are out of danger," Sangakkara told Indian television.
       Batsman Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavitana were in hospital for a short time with shrapnel wounds in the leg and chest respectively.
       Jayawardene, Sangakkara, Ajantha Mendis, Thilina Thushara and Suranga Lokumal received minor injuries, mainly shrapnel wounds.
       Assistant coach Paul Farbrace, a Briton, was also hurt.
       The team's coach, Australian Trevor Bayliss, phoned his wife in Sydney and assured her he was unhurt, though shaken. Australian umpire Steve Davis told of seeing a van driver killed in front of him.
       The attack has raised doubts about the 2011 World Cup, which is due to take place in Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
       "What has happened is shocking," N. Srinivasan, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, said. "We have been saying there was a lack of security and safety in Pakistan." #
       [COMMENT: Were the terrorists Tamil Tigers (which arose out of religious discrimination by Buddhist majority interests years ago)? or Islamists (punishing "unislamic behaviour," i.e., playing cricket)? or gangsters employed by a gambling syndicate? or "cloak and dagger" forces of Pakistan, Britain, the United States, or others?  COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  8:12:- … I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. … DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  6, 60:139:- Narrated Abdullah:  We used to participate in the holy wars carried on by the Prophet … TRADITION ENDS.]
       [COMMENTS: Who sold these terrorists the weapons they used?  What culture-group/s do the shippers, arms-dealers and arms-makers belong to?  Ain't global free trade grand!
       And did you notice that the cricketers were on their way to Gaddafi Stadium in Pakistan, southern Asia?  Does that name honour Colonel Gaddafi, the (supposedly reformed) dictator of the Islamic terrorist regime of Libya, in northern Africa?  Yet we are told that Pakistan is an ally in the "War on Terror."  Please explain! ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#eight_die_as
    [Mar 4, 09]
    • Iranian acid-attack victim awaits eye-for-eye justice.     

    Iranian acid-attack victim awaits eye-for-eye justice

       The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , letters § wanews com au , p 37, Friday, March 6, 2009
      [Picture] Angry: Ameneh Bahrami is waiting for news from Tehran.    Picture: Associated Press  
       MADRID – An Iranian woman living in Spain has said she welcomed a Tehran court ruling that awards her eye-for-an-eye justice against a spurned suitor who blinded her with acid.
       Ameneh Bahrami, 30, told Cadena SER radio: "I am not doing this out of revenge but rather so that the suffering I went through is not repeated."
       Late last year an Iranian court ruled that the man – identified only as Majid – who blinded Ms Bahrami in 2004 after she rejected him, should also be blinded with acid based on the Islamic law system of "qisas", or eye-for-an-eye retribution, Iranian reports say.
       But Ms Bahrami, who moved to Spain after the attack to get medical treatment, said that under Iranian law she is entitled to blind him in only one eye, unless she pays €20,000 ($39,223).
       In Iran, women are not considered equal to men.  "They have told us that my two eyes are equal to one of his because in my country each man is worth two women.  They are not the same," she said.
       Ms Bahrami said she was waiting for a letter from the court to go back to Iran for the punishment to be carried out.
       After treatment in Barcelona, Ms Bahrami recovered 40 per cent vision in one eye but since then doctors have not been able to prevent her going totally blind.
       She also suffered horrific burns to her face, scalp and body.
       She says she now survives on €400 ($785) a month in aid from the Spanish Government.
       Ms Bahrami said Majid would be blinded by having several drops of acid put into one eye, whereas she had acid splashed all over her face and body.
       No one at the Iranian Embassy was available for comment. #
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  2:282:- … When ye contract a debt …call to witness two witnesses of your people:  but if there be not two men, let there be a man, and two women of those whom ye shall judge fit for witnesses.  http://www. usc.edu/dept/ MSA/quran/ 002.qmt.html# 002.282 .
       4:34 (or 4:38):- … Virtuous women are obedient, … refractoriness … scourge them …
       5:45 (or 5:49):- And We decreed for them in it that:  the life for the life, the eye for the eye, the nose for the nose, the ear for the ear, the tooth for the tooth, and an equivalent injury for any injury. …
       4:11 (or part of 4:12):- With regard to your children, Allah commandeth you to give the male the portion of two females. … DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  1, 6:301: […] The women asked, "O Allah's Apostle! What is deficient in our intelligence and religion?" He said, "Is not the evidence of two women equal to the witness of one man?" They replied in the affirmative. … TRADITION ENDS.]
       [ALSO SEE: http://www.razoo.com/articles/Acid_Attack . ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#iranian_acid_attack
    [Mar 6, 09]
    • [Koran not about killing.]     

    [Koran not about killing]

     
          The Sunday Times (Perth, W. Australia), Letter to The Editor, p 61, Sunday, March 8, 2009
       I CANNOT believe that terrorists think they are doing awesome things for God.  The Koran is not about killing at all. CHRIS, via PerthNow
       [RESPONSE: Chris, via PerthNow (8/3), wrote that the Koran "is not about killing at all."
       Slaughter, terror, striking off infidels' heads, cutting off hands and feet, crucifying, "a life for a life," kill, slay, make war, victory, capture, fetters, besiege, fight, humble those who had received the scriptures, be ruthless to unbelievers, enmity and hatred, battle, slave, and conquest are words I find in the Koran.
       I know it can be hard to imagine that people dressed in special costumes, worshipping their god or gods in grand architecture, could actually be planning conquest or terror -- but the ancient Roman and other such empires did. ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  2:191 (or 2:187), 8:12, 8:39 (or 8:40), 33:61, and 71:26 (or 71:27). DOCTRINE ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#koran_not_about
    [p 61, Mar 8, 09]
    • Women can give peace a chance     

    Women can give peace a chance

       The Sunday Times (Perth, W. Australia), by Hilary Clinton, United States Secretary of State, p 62, Sunday March 8, 2009
    O N a trip to China 11 years ago, I met women activists who told me about their efforts to advance conditions for women in their country. [* * *]
       The problems we face today are too big and too complex to be solved without the full participation of women.
       […] Today, more women are leading governments, businesses and nongovernmental organisations than in previous generations! But that good news has a flip side.
       They are still subjected to rape as a tactic of war and exploited by traffickers globally in a billion-dollar criminal business.
       Honour killings, maiming, female genital mutilation and other violent and degrading practices are still tolerated in too many places today.
       Just a few months ago, a young girl in Afghanistan was on her way to school when a group of men threw acid in her face, permanently damaging her eyes, because they objected to her seeking an education.
       Their attempt to terrorise the girl and her family failed. She said: "My parents told me to keep coming to school even if I am killed."
       That young girl's courage and resolve should serve as an inspiration to all of us, women and men, to continue working as hard as we can to ensure girls and women are accorded the rights and opportunities they deserve.
       Especially in the midst of this financial crisis, we must remember what a growing body of research tells us: Supporting women is a high-yield investment resulting in stronger economies, more vibrant civil societies, healthier communities and greater peace and stability. […]
       Even in developed nations, the full economic power of women is far from being realised. Women in many countries still earn much less than men for doing the same jobs – a gap President Barack Obama took a step toward closing in the US this year, when he signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which strengthens women's ability to challenge unequal pay. [* * *]
       [COMMENT: Will this earn her a fatwa? COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#women_can_give
    [p 62, Mar 8, 09]
    • Bicycle bomber kills police.  [In capital city of Iraq, Muslim murders ≥ 28 Muslims, aiming at 72 virgins.]  

    Bicycle bomber kills police

       The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , p 27, Monday, March 9, 2009
       BAGHDAD – A suicide bomber on a bicycle killed at least 28 people and wounded 58 yesterday when he set off his explosives outside a police academy in the Iraqi capital, officials said.
       The bomber activated his explosive vest as he ploughed into a crowd on busy Palestine Street in central Baghdad, an Interior Ministry official said.
       The majority of the dead were police or recruits.
       Police academies across Iraq have come under repeated attack as al-Qaida and other insurgents continue to target security forces around the country.
       The latest attack, the bloodiest in weeks, came at a critical time for the new Government, which has seen the death toll in the country drop dramatically since late 2007.
       The improved security has brought a fragile stability that helped US President Barack Obama announce an end to combat operations in Iraq within 18 months.
       Iraqi Government spokesman Ali Dabbagh announced yesterday that the US would pull 12,000 troops out of Iraq by the end of September in an acceleration of the US withdrawal.#
       [COMMENT: The last sentence shows that the Muslim Iraqi government in a land of Muslims believes it can handle Muslimism! The ideas of police and evolving laws based on reason are alien to Islam.  It is against their religion to point out its weak points, as shown by the death threat fatwa against Salman Rushdie 20 years ago (for example, see news feature of February 14, 2009).
       The origins of the creed included a "highwayman" approach to the traders transporting goods by caravan from Mecca.  In parts of the Islamic world dictators have held power, but if they are removed, whoever seizes control of the mosques appoints his own "religious" police, whose main tasks are forcing businesses to close five times a day, shutting certain traders down, thrashing or arresting women for showing their face, wrist, or ankles, and attacking civil liberties generally.  If violence is opposed by an imam, he will be removed -- one such was knifed to death in his own mosque in Iraq after the Coalition overthrew Saddam Hussein.  Because Allah is supposed to rule in all matters, anyone else in charge can be quickly labelled as an unbeliever or hypocrite, and the self-appointed leaders do as they please, in His name, of course!
       Crime is dealt with by a sort of "kangaroo court" without real scientific examination of evidence, or correct interviewing techniques, and brutal punishments include chopping off hands or heads, with or without flogging.  Rape victims are regularly stoned to death in various Islamic lands.  The theoretical "eye for an eye" judgements are loaded against women and the poor, as is evidenced by the Iranian decision for a horrific dropping of acid into an eye of a criminal ("Iranian acid-attack victim awaits eye-for-eye justice," The West Australian, March 6, 2009).
       Mohammed's way of punishing opponents or critics was to say "Who will rid me of so-and-so?" and keen volunteers would then murder the victim/s, whether man or woman.  So why wouldn't "pious" Muslims murder police trainees, even though they are Muslims?  And, taught by Islam that this world is nothing but "play and amusement," why not go straight to the daily-renewing virgins of Paradise?  With non-intoxicating choice wine to quaff? COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  33:48 (or 33:47):- And obey not (the behests) of the Unbelievers and the Hypocrites, and heed not their annoyances, but put thy Trust in Allah.  For enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs.
       33:60:- If the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is a disease and the agitators in the city do not desist, We shall most certainly set you over them, then they shall not be your neighbours in it but for a little while. DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  Bukhari's Volume 5, Book 59, Number 641:- … The Prophet said to me, "Won't you relieve me from Dhu-l-Khalasa?"  So I set out with one-hundred-and-fifty riders, and we dismantled it and killed whoever was present there.  Then I came to the Prophet and informed him, and he invoked good upon us and Al-Ahmas (tribe) . < www.usc.edu/ dept/MSA/ fundamentals/ hadithsunnah/ bukhari/059. sbt.html#005. 059.641 >. TRADITION ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#bicycle_bomber_kills
    [Mar 9, 09]
    • Cricket's world is changed for ever: Community Comment. 

    Cricket's world is changed for ever

       Wanneroo Times (northern suburban region of Perth, W. Australia), Editorial, p 8, Tuesday, March 10, 2009
       FROM the day terrorists brought down the World Trade Center buildings in New York came warnings that the world would never be the same.
       Western leaders often put on a brave face and claim they will not allow terrorists to dictate our way of life.  But beneath the brave faces lies the truth that terrorism is, in fact, a major element of the way of the world today.
       Terror abroad claims innocent lives weekly and sometimes daily, yet most accounts remain unheard of in Australia as it has remained relatively sheltered from the grip of terrorism.
       It takes an event with ramifications close to home, or which "seem close to home" – such as last week's attack on Sri Lanka's cricketers in Pakistan – to awaken our disdain towards events "on the other side of the world".
       Yet cricket, like many of life's simple pleasures, has not been immune to these events for a long time.  Maybe the perceptions of cricket fans globally had [? not], but cricket authorities have long held grave fears for players on international duty.
       Especially in Pakistan, a country Australia has not toured in 11 years and as recently as last year cancelled a tour of because of security concerns.
       The Sri Lankan team was in Pakistan last week only because India had pulled out in the aftermath of terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November.
       Seven years ago, New Zealand abandoned its series in Pakistan after a suicide bomb blast outside an hotel injured the team physiotherapist and killed 13 people.
       Cricket tragics consider their sport a microcosm of life, but cricket would want no semblance to this dark side of the world's evolution.
       If Pakistan is removed from the international cricket map, as many predict will occur, the cricket world will never be the same.
       This act would demonstrate the truth contained in the Twin Towers warnings eight years ago, and exemplify that in years to come, terrorism will be remembered as the defining word of this age. #
       [COMMENT: The situation is normal, if one reads the texts! COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  2:193 (or 2:189):- … Fight the unbelievers until no other religion except Islam is left.
       3:83 (or 3:77):- Are they seeking a religion other than Allah's, when every soul in the heavens and the earth has submitted to Him, willingly or by compulsion? … < www.submission. org/suras/ sura3.html #83 >
       6:32:- Nothing is the life of this world, but play and amusement.  But best is the Home in the Hereafter …
       8:12:- … I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. … < http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/008.qmt.html#008.012 > DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  Bukhari's, 6, 60:250:- [***] 'They found boys playing and Al-Khadir got hold of a handsome infidel boy laid him down and then slew him with a knife. [***] < www.usc.edu/ dept/MSA/ fundamentals/ hadithsunnah/ bukhari/060. sbt.html# 006.060.250 > TRADITION ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#cricket_s_world_is
    [Mar 10, 09]
    • [Tying up Britain's courts, Afghan 20yrs for reporting, Bangla acid attacks, ID cards forbidden, Iran's rocket, 40 lashes for Syrian (75) mingler.] 

    [Tying up Britain's courts, Afghan 20yrs for reporting, Bangla acid attacks, ID cards forbidden, Iran's rocket, 40 lashes for Syrian (75) mingler.]

       Jihad Watch Digest, http://www.jihadwatch.org/ , Tuesday, March 10, 2009
         UK Muslim cop sues: other cops "laughed at his beard".  Don't you dare Javid Iqbal, poor lamb, says that the big bad mean "white" police officers made fun of him. Shouldn't police officers be made of stronger stuff? Could it be that Javid Iqbal is merely trying to stir… Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025164.php . AOL users: Click here.
           Russians allowing elements of Sharia in Chechnya.  Putin's Russia continues its short-sighted and ultimately suicidal complicity with the global jihad, allowing elements of Sharia in Chechnya, which appears to be Islamizing at a rapid clip. "Chechnya asks newborns to be named after Mohammad," from Reuters, March 9… Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025163.php . AOL users: Click here.
         Quadriplegic Muslim sues UK spy service after spy application rejected.  "Suleman, a Muslim, said he wanted to protect Britain and to take a stand against extremists." If he really wanted to protect Britain, he wouldn't tie up its resources with frivolous lawsuits like this. Litigation Jihad Update: "Wheelchair-bound man sues… Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025162.php . AOL users: Click here.
       • Fly the friendly skies with Stealth Jihad!  I'm not accustomed to seeing my books in airport bookstores -- books with titles like Stealth Jihad and Onward Muslim Soldiers don't do much to reassure the guy in the seat next to you who is afraid of flying…. Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025161.php . AOL users: Click here.
         Ibrahim, Spencer, Pipes at Middle East Forum today.  Ibrahim, Spencer, Pipes, in that order This afternoon I addressed the Middle East Forum in Philadelphia about the stealth jihad.  Our own Raymond Ibrahim, Jihad Watch writer and associate director of the Middle East Forum, was there, as was… Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025160.php . AOL users: Click here.
         Afghan supreme court upholds 20-year sentence for journalist accused of blasphemy.  Sharia Alert from Afghanistan's highest court, and an update on this story. "Afghanistan: Court upholds jail term for 'blasphemous' reporter," from AdnKronos International, March 9: Kabul, 9 March (AKI) - Afghanistan's Supreme Court has upheld a 20-year jail term for… Click http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025159.php.
         Bangladesh: Land of "rampant" acid attacks.  Her father used to put drops of acid on parts of her body every day.  He also used to feed her acid. After all, he wanted a son. To demonstrate how rampant acid attacks against women and children are… Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025150.php . AOL users: Click here.
           Obama trying to win hearts and minds in Turkey -- land of the most recent caliphate.  In his effort to "reboot America's image … in the Muslim world in particular." "President Barack Obama to use Turkey visit to court Muslims," by Toby Harnden for the Telegraph, March 8: President Barack Obama will seek to extend America's key… Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025149.php . AOL users: Click here.
         Pakistan: Taliban forbids women from obtaining ID cards.  It is "un-Islamic." Women thinking otherwise will "face the consequences." "Pak Taliban warn govt against 'un-Islamic' I-cards for women," from the Times of India, March 8:ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani Taliban in the troubled Khyber tribal region have warned authorities not to… Full article: Click here.
           Iran test-fires new missile capable of reaching Israel.  Search our archives for "1938 Alert" to track the empty threats and hand-wringing from Western governments and the International Atomic Energy Agency over Iran's nuclear program and related projects through the past five years. The only party making any progress… Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025158.php . AOL users: Click here.
         Saudi court sentences 75-year-old woman to 40 lashes for "mingling" with unrelated men.  Piety. "Saudis order 40 lashes for elderly woman for mingling," from CNN, March 9 (thanks to Kapil): CNN -- A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced a 75-year-old Syrian woman to 40 lashes, four months imprisonment and deportation from the kingdom… Full article: Click here.
         UK funds meant to counter Muslim "radicalization" being used to…radicalize Muslims.  Oops. "£90m anti-terrorism project is fanning the flames of extremism," by Duncan Gardham in the Telegraph, March 9 (thanks to David):  A new generation of Muslims is being radicalised using the very Government funds that are supposed to be fighting… Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025156.php . AOL users: Click here.
           Obama to step up strikes in Pakistan in effort to force "moderate" Taliban to negotiate.  This is curious. We seem to hear a lot about how fighting back against jihadists "radicalizes" people who were once mild-mannered moderates save for the brutish and insensitive workings of American foreign policy. Interesting. Has there been a breakthrough in… Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025155.php . AOL users: Click here.
         Iran: Adviser to Ahmadinejad says female engineers "can serve society from home".  Take the women out of the workforce to save the economy: Good luck with that. Perhaps worst of all, it is a female adviser who is advancing this argument. Inherent in this flawed reasoning is the notion that women's contributions… Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025154.php .  AOL users: Click here. #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#tying_up_britain_s
    [Mar 10, 09]
    • Our heroes; Britain's answer to the preachers of hate   
    Britain’s answer to the preachers of hate

    OUR HEROES

       The International Express (Britain), West Australian edition, intexreaders § hotmail com au , pp 1 and 5, March 17-23, 2009
       THIS was the British people's defiant response to sickening attacks on our soldier heroes.
       In a moving demonstration of the bulldog spirit, the biggest crowd since VE Day poured into a city centre to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in support of the nation's armed forces. The outpouring of unity at the home-coming parade in Lincoln for the 2nd Battalion the Royal Anglian Regiment was prompted by shameful taunts from Islamic extremists.
       The fanatics had tried to hijack a welcome-home march earlier in the week, denouncing the brave troops as "criminals, murderers and terrorists". The situation was inflamed further when hate preacher Anjem Choudary and banned cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed praised Muslims who branded the soldiers as cowards.
    Just like VE day as thousands of people turn out to support heroes
      [Picture of a man with mouth open holding placard "War against Islam & Muslims.  ANGLIAN SOLDIERS: COWARDS KILLERS (and another word/s), and other people, one different placard being partially obscured but might be worded "Muslims rise against British (plus word with a double S in it)"] ABUSE: Islamic radicals protest at soldiers  
       But the hatred has only served to unite the British public. What had started as a respectable turnout from well-wishers in Luton, Bedfordshire, last week, ended up with 6,000 supporters lining the streets of Lincoln two days later - the largest crowd in the city centre since VE Day in 1945.
       Conservative MP and Express columnist Ann Widdecombe said: "I am delighted that Britons are turning out in such support. This is the perfect answer to these protesters and preachers."
       And she issued a rallying cry for future homecoming parades. "I hope we can get 10,000 out on the streets at the next parade," she said.
       Flag-waving wellwishers in Lincoln were packed 10-deep in places. Many had to climb on walls or phone boxes to see the 200 marching soldiers dressed in desert fatigues.
       The Red Arrows also showed their support with a spectacular flypast.
       In stark contrast to the ugly scenes in Luton, friends and family held up banners reading "Heroes" and "God Bless You All". And there was a special ovation when Brigadier David Clements, deputy Colonel of the Royal Anglians, praised the soldiers' work in Basra. He described them as "the British infantry at its best".
       He was loudly cheered as he told the crowd: "Some of the people holding up placards in Luton simply could not have been more wrong."
       Many of the troops in Lincoln took part in the Luton parade but said they cared more about those who had turned up to support the regiment than the anti-war protesters.
       Private Dane Briggs, 21, from Grimsby, said: "It feels amazing. It is one of the great privileges of being in the Army. It stirred me inside. Luton didn't really affect me because those who turned out to support us outshone them."
       It was the second day in a row that the soldiers had been given a hero's welcome, following a similar parade which saw 5,000 supporters in Watford. Among the crowd was proud mother Melanie Rawdon, 48, whose three sons have all served with the regiment in Iraq, the first deployment of three "brothers in arms" in the British Army since the Second World War.
       Among the marchers was her eldest son John, 26, a sergeant, and looking on were his brothers, Corporal Erik Rawdon, 23, and Lance Corporal David Rawdon, 19. "I am so proud of them and the job they do," she said.
       Second World "War veteran Jack Summers, 86, said: "We are here to let them know we support and respect them." The regiment also^taged another parade through Derby, which was watched by thousands more people.
      [Picture] PARADE: Police surround Muslim demonstrators to protect them from angry supporters and well-wishers who had gathered to cheer troops as they marched through Luton. Below, it was a very different story in Lincoln  
       • THE Muslim airport baggage-handler who spat hatred at British troops was last week suspended and had his airside security pass taken away.
       Ahmed works part-time at Luton airport for Menzies Aviati&n and handles baggage there for easyJet and other airlines.
       He was pictured taking part in the protest by hard-line Islamist group Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah.
       Their target was a homecoming parade of the 2nd Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment in Luton #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#our_heroes_britain_s
    [Mar 17-23, 2009]
    • The last Acceptable Prejudice? 

    The last ACCEPTABLE PREJUDICE?

       The Record (R.C. weekly, Perth, W. Australia; cathrec § iinet.com. au, by George Cardinal Pell, Vista pages 2-4, Wednesday, March 18, 2009
    In a noteworthy speech delivered to Oxford University's Newman Society on March 6, Cardinal George Pell of Sydney charted the ascendancy of new currents of anti-Christian intolerance.
    Let me begin with two tales of intolerance. On November 4 last year, the day Barack Obama was elected president of the United States, California and two other states also voted to amend their constitutions to define marriage as between a man and a woman only. This brought to 29 the number of American states with constitutional amendments recognising only marriage between a man and a woman as valid, including Arizona which amended its constitution in 2008 after rejecting a proposed amendment in 2006.
       Forty-two states also have statutes defending the traditional understanding of marriage. Only Massachusetts and Connecticut have legalised same-sex marriage -- by court decisions, not legislation -- and California's Supreme Court had also legalised same sex marriage in May 2008, when it struck down a marriage amendment made to the state constitution in 2000. The new amendment passed last November -- known as Proposition 8 -- is now itself before the California Supreme Court, which yesterday {March 5} heard argument in three cases claiming it is unconstitutional. We can expect a decision from the court within the next three months.
       Proposition 8 passed with a little over 52 per cent of the vote, with a turnout of just under 80 per cent of registered voters. Supporters of same sex marriage have not taken this defeat well. Mormon temples in particular, as well as Catholic and Evangelical churches, have been the focus for demonstrations, often attended by violence, vandalism and intimidation. White powder has been sent to places of worship, and some blogs are calling for them to be burnt down.
       Individual supporters of Proposition 8 have received death threats and been assaulted. Businesses which contributed to the campaign in favour of Proposition 8 are being boycotted, and individuals who made personal donations are being blacklisted and in some cases forced to resign from their jobs. .
       The situation is so serious that the non-partisan Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which takes no position on same-sex marriage and works with churches and organisations on both sides of the question, ran a full-page advertisement in the New York Times on 5 December condemning the harassment and anti-religious bigotry being directed at Proposition 8 supporters.
       Little about this prolonged campaign of payback and bullying has been reported internationally, and I suspect that for some, or even many of you here tonight this is the first time you have heard anything about it. It is being waged against Christians and others who have done nothing more than take part in a political campaign in a democracy, endeavouring to persuade a majority of the electorate to their point of view. Few human rights activists have objected to the vilification and hate-speech that has been directed at supporters of Proposition 8. In general, the media has shown scant interest in a form of organised intimidation, which even extends to making people unemployable, simply because they do not agree with same sex marriage.
       And you have to search long and hard if you want to hear the stories of those who have been assaulted or abused because they believe that marriage can only mean the marriage of a man and a woman. It hardly needs saying that there would have been no strange lack of attention if supporters of same sex marriage were being targeted for bullying and blacklists.
       Before beginning my second tale of intolerance let me make clear a number of presuppositions.
       I approve of legislation outlawing incitement to violence and acknowledge that tightly limited anti-hate legislation is appropriate. But this second category of legislation should be used sparingly, lest it stifle robust legitimate criticism, so deepening tensions and exasperation under the surface, indirectly encouraging what it aspires to prevent. No-one has tried to use anti-hate legislation (so far) against Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens!
       With the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1918 an increased number of Muslims came to live outside Muslim majority societies, a practice not encouraged traditionally. In the new situation Western countries with Islamic minorities must respect their full range of democratic freedoms, encourage participation and foster inter-community and interreligious dialogue. Both within Australia and internationally in South East Asia I have been a regular participant in these dialogues.
      [Picture] Cardinal George Pell speaks with journalists in 2008. Some secularists seem to like one-way streets and their intolerance of Christianity seeks to drive it not only form the public square but from the provision of education, healthcare and social services to the wider community, he said this month.    PHOTO: CNS / NANCY WIECHEC  
       However I believe it is a mistake in principle and prudentially to try to prevent criticism of any major religious tradition, religiously, sociologically or philosophically. In a democracy criticism can be made and can be answered. No-one today in the West would suggest that criticism of Christianity should be outlawed. A recent Prime Minister of Australia claimed that if Catholics were to riot every time they were criticised there would be regular riots!
       My second tale of intolerance is really a collection of tales following the same narrative. Some of these you will know. In separate cases in Canada last year, human rights tribunals brought charges of hate crime against the publisher Ezra Levant (for republishing the cartoons of Muhammad which were first printed in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in 2005), and the weekly magazine Macleans (for publishing an excerpt from Mark Steyn's 2006 book America Alone under the title "The Future belongs to Islam"). In 2006 Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci was charged with vilifying Islam in her book The Force of Reason, and in 2004 two Australian evangelical pastors were brought before a tribunal in the Australian state of Victoria for critical remarks about Islam which were alleged to be in breach of Victorias "religious tolerance" legislation.
       The charges against Ezra Levant were dismissed, and Macleans was grudgingly cleared. Fallaci died of cancer before her case came to court, and the verdicts against the two Australian pastors were set aside on appeal. While a retrial was ordered, this was abandoned when the complainant, the Islamic Council of Victoria withdrew its complaint. It would be a mistake, however to think that all these complaints came to nothing. Levant was left with legal bills of $100,000, and one estimate puts the legal costs of the two Australian pastors, whose case and appeal ran for two and half years, at somewhere between $750,000 and $1 million.
       I have not used the examples of Geert Wilders, the Dutch parliamentarian ordered to stand trial for inciting hatred and discrimination against Muslims in his short film Fitna. As I have not seen the film I am unable to judge whether it does incite hatred, although I note Wilders has not been charged with inciting violence.
       The expense of defending frivolous hate speech allegations, the time consumed in dealing with them, and the anxiety that comes from being enmeshed in a legal process straight out of Kafka all have an effect on the climate of openness, stifling robust discussion and fermenting intolerance under the surface. Since Ayatollah Khomeini placed a death sentence on Salman Rushdie twenty years ago last month, many in the West have grown used to practising self-censorship when it comes to Islam, just as we seem to accept that ex-Muslims who criticise Islam and extremism, such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali, require round the clock police protection.
       What do these two tales of intolerance tell us? We should note the strange way in which some of the most permissive groups and communities, for example, Californian liberals in the case of Proposition 8, easily become repressive, despite all their high rhetoric about diversity and tolerance.
      [Picture] A woman prays during a Roman Catholic service. However, as Cardinal Pell has spelled out in a speech to the Newman Society at Oxford University, Christianity is increasingly under attack from forms of modern liberalism that are ultimately more totalitarian in nature in their attitudes to those things they do not like.    PHOTO: CNS / NANCY WIECHEC  
       There is the one-sidedness about discrimination and vilification. Opposition to same-sex marriage is a form of homophobia, and therefore bad; but Christianophobic blacklisting and intimidation is passed over in silence. You can be prosecuted for hate speech if you discuss violence in Islam, but there is little fear of a hate speech prosecution for Muslim demonstrators with placards reading "Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas".
       It is a fundamental truism that not all religions are the same. This might be an obvious point to us, but the idea that all religions are basically concerned with the same things and more or less morally equivalent in the goodness and badness they have brought to human history is very pervasive. Major differences exist between religions, within religions, and in the contributions they make to culture and society. In a democracy, believers and non-believers must be free to talk about these differences, to criticise each other's beliefs (what Catholics used to call apologetics), and to evangelise, (or propagandise) while always respecting the freedom of the individual. Reciprocity in this is essential: it is not a one way street.
       Some secularists seem to like one way streets. Their intolerance of Christianity seeks to drive it not only from the public square, but even from the provision of education, healthcare and welfare services to the wider community. Tolerance has come to mean different things for different groups.
       One of the preferred means for addressing perceived intolerance is anti-discrimination legislation.
       As experience from across the Anglosphere has shown, the idea of anti-discrimination has enormous power to shape public opinion. It has been used very effectively to redefine marriage and to make a range of relationships acceptable as the foundation for various new forms of the family. Anti-discrimination legislation in tandem with new reproductive technologies has made it possible for children to have three, four or five parents, relegating the idea of a child being brought up by his natural mother and father to nothing more than a majority adult preference. The rights of children to be created in love and to be known and raised by their biological parents receives scant consideration when the legislative agenda is directed to satisfying adult needs and ambitions.
       Until relatively recently anti-discrimination laws usually included exemptions for churches and other religious groups so that they could practise and manifest their beliefs iN freedom. These exemptions are now being refused or defined in the narrowest possible terms in new antidiscrimination measures, and existing exemptions are being eroded or "strictly construed" by the courts. [And the article continues, mainly on sexuality, abortion, and marriage themes.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#the_last_acceptable
    [Mar 18, 09]
    • Lyrical beauty from shattered lives: Book review.  - Book The Wasted Vigil, 2008    

    Lyrical beauty from shattered lives

       West Weekend Magazine (supplement to The West Australian daily paper), westweekend § wanews com au , Book Review, by Bron Sibree, pp 26-27, Saturday, March 21, 2009
      [Full-page picture of man's face etc.]    Picture: Richard Lea-Hair  
    Nadeem Aslam tells Bron Sibree why his latest offering is as much about the abiding power of love and beauty as it is about ugliness and brutality
    There aren't many novelists who'll confess to deciding the direction of their literary career on the toss of a coin. But Pakistani-born British novelist Nadeem Aslam likes to tell people he did exactly that. It happened that way, explains the 42-year-old novelist, because after he wrote his award-winning debut novel, Season of Rainbirds (1993), he had two novels inside him, bursting to get out. One was his much acclaimed recent novel The Wasted Vigil (2008), the book he calls "my Afghanistan novel", and the other was Maps for Lost Lovers (2004), which was hailed as a masterpiece and explores the tensions within a working-class Pakistani community in a northern English town in the wake of a double honour killing.
       "The Afghanistan story was important to me, because I would not be here in the West if it weren't for Afghanistan. I was living in the West in an immigrant neighbourhood and certain things were happening within that community – the Muslims were finding it difficult to fit into the host society – and that to me seemed like an urgent matter as well.  So I tossed a coin and then began writing my immigrant novel, which 11 years later became Maps for Lost Lovers, Aslam said.
       … it won him the 2005 Kiriyama Prize for fiction, the British Society of Authors 2005 Encore prize, … en route to becoming a New York Times Notable Book. …
       Immediately after the Soviets left Afghanistan, the West and the rest of the world withdrew its gaze, … But terrible things were happening there
       … it tells of a group of disparate people who seek shelter in the half-ruined home of Marcus, an elderly British doctor and perfumier, who has lost his locally born wife and his daughter, as well as his hand, to the violence engulfing the country. But he refuses to give up his search for his missing grandson, Bizhad, … Marcus' wife Qatrina, also a doctor, … lost her sanity in the face of the horrors visited on her country. Daubed on the walls of the house is a thick layer of mud to hide its hand-painted murals … from the Taliban.  In the garden lie the ruins of Marcus' once-thriving perfume factory …
       … "the key battle in the world, perhaps, at the moment, the battle between the moderates and the militants which was going on before 9/11 …
       He recalls a fundamentalist uncle who, as he described in a [? an] essay published in Granta, titled God and Me, would wait for his sister, Aslam's mother, with a cane to heat her for attending devotional music for a type of Islam, which he did not believe (in), the kind that Saudi Arabia does not support.
       "He appears on the pages of my very first novel, Season of Rainbirds," Aslam continues. "He takes toys from children's hands and he breaks them and he hands them back, because toys are idols. My uncle used to do that to us, and yet there were other uncles who actually would buy us toys, so I was aware of these tensions, long before the world became aware of it." Interestingly, he notes, "30 years ago, my uncle had links with the same mosque (in Leeds, England) where those boys who blew themselves up on the London underground later became radicalised". …
       His family and their friends were among those who voiced their concerns about the long-term consequences of the weapons and money the US lavished on Islamic fundamentalists at that time, to help defeat the Soviets and …
       One of the things Aslam wanted to explore … was "whether it was possible for a superpower to go into a smaller, weaker country, play its geopolitical games, then withdraw and expect there not to be any consequences. And I hope I proved that, no, you can't.
       "I wanted to write it because I thought that Afghanistan had been forgotten. Now this sounds like a very strange thing to say, because Afghanistan is on the news every single day. But it's in the news for what it is doing to the rest of the world. So many American soldiers have died there, so many Canadian soldiers, so many NATO soldiers. But what the world did to Afghanistan over the past 30 years seems to be news to most people."
       But he also wanted to celebrate the beauty of this world, and ascribes the lyricism and intense visual imagery of his writing to his ambitions to become a painter as well as to his desire to give life to his father's thwarted ambitions to become a poet. For Aslam too, all writing is political. "For me it's about feeling a certain responsibility toward the world I live in, and if the darkness is there it must be acknowledged."  He believes too, that he, like all moderate Muslims, must speak up for a moderate Islam.
       "The Taliban said that the Koran was the only book allowed … I don't want to live in a world, where the Koran is the only book." …
      [Picture: Book front cover] The Wasted Vigil, published by Faber, $32.99, is out now  
       [RECAPITULATION: … "the key battle in the world, perhaps, at the moment, the battle between the moderates and the militants which was going on before 9/11 … He takes toys from children's hands and he breaks them and he hands them back, because toys are idols. My uncle used to do that to us … His family and their friends were among those who voiced their concerns about the long-term consequences of the weapons and money the US lavished on Islamic fundamentalists at that time, to help defeat the Soviets … I don't want to live in a world, where the Koran is the only book. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: Not only did the United States lavish weapons and money on the extremists, but so did Britain, as Internet documentation claims. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#lyrical_beauty_from
    [Mar 21, 09]
    • Preacher's tirade of hate against Britain.  [Omar Bakri Mohammed]     

    Preacher’s tirade of hate against Britain

       The International Express (Britain), West Australian edition, intexreaders § hotmail com au , p 2, March 24-30, 2009
       BRITAIN – FURY erupted after exiled preacher of hate Omar Bakri Mohammed was allowed to address a public meeting and warn of fresh terror attacks on Britain.
       The fundamentalist cleric came out of hiding to issue a chilling warning that Britain should prepare for a September 11-style atrocity.
       Speaking from his bolthole in Lebanon on Friday, Bakri, who was kicked out of Britain four years ago, gave his support to fanatics who abused brave British soldiers in a vile attack during their homecoming parade in Luton.
       Addressing a meeting held at an east London hotel by telephone, he said British troops had declared war on Islam and must suffer the consequences – along with innocent civilians. "You want to declare war against us, we will declare Islam against you," he said. "It is time for you to wake up before it is too late.
      [Picture] Preacher Bakri in full rant  
       "If you put pressure on Muslims and push them underground, people will come and rise and retaliate against you.
       "The 7/7 bombers were just ordinary Muslims in the community. It shows how your evil policies have pushed them. Enough is enough."
       Despite the highly incendiary nature of the remarks, Scotland Yard refused to take any action against the organisers of the meeting.
       A spokesman said: "A formal complaint will have to be made before an investigation could be considered."
       Conservative MP Patrick Mercer, the chairman of the Commons counter terrorism sub committee, said it was time the Government acted to stop such activities taking place.
       "Surely those who accept and broadcast these telephone calls are guilty of the crime of incitement. The government must stop soft-pedalling with this and stamp the laws of the country on them.
       "It is also worth noting that if you tried to get away with this sort of thing in Northern Ireland you would not be able to because the Parades Commission would stop it under the Prevention of Terrorism Act."
       Former Conservative Home Secretary Ann Widdecombe said: "These people should be prosecuted for incitement. It is quite disgraceful. If I was to hold a meeting like this and make these kinds of comments about members of the Muslim community, I would be prosecuted.
       "The government has failed to act on these matters for a very long time and I am afraid that the law has now become quite toothless."
       During the meeting Bakri attacked British soldiers, saying: "Those who return as a 'hero' are killers and murderers in the eyes of Muslims around the world.
       "Soldiers are flying all the way to Afghanistan to commit atrocities and killing and murders, regardless if they are men, women or children.
       "Whenever you try to speak about it you are told to shut up and go back to your own country.
       "The moment you start arresting us because we are Muslim you are digging a hole and it is going to be a big hole. Be careful, you are attacking our brothers and sisters." #
       [COMMENT: The British Conservative Party was in office for quite a long time, during which millions of people migrated into Britain, which had been rather crowded for a very long time.  The spokespeople's squawks of protest now do not include any word of how to remove the anti-British citizens they and the whole "Establishment" welcomed into the country, on various pious grounds, while the real reason was to lower real wages for Britons, with a trace of "love all countries but one's own" for good measure.
       British "Labour" ought to be ashamed of itself.  One Labour minister in the BLIAR Government had the decency to resign rather than support a Cabinet joining in the illegal invasion of Iraq.  (A real patriot would have gone further, and asked that the BLUSH-HOWODD aggressive war for oil be opposed by British forces.) COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#preacher_s_tirade_of_hate
    [Mar 24-30, 2009]
    • 16-year-old burnt in Gzb honour killing.   

    16-year-old burnt in Gzb honour killing

       Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Lucknow/16-year-old-burnt-in-Gzb-honour-killing/articleshow/4311952.cms , letters § wanews com au , Lalit Kumar, TNN, 0331 hrs IST, Mar 25, 2009
       BHOJPUR (GHAZIABAD) – A 16-year-old girl, Imrana, was set on fire inside her house on Monday in a case of what the police called 'moral vigilantism'.
       The victim had screamed for help for about 20 minutes before neighbours arrived only to find her still smoldering. She was admitted to a local hospital where she later succumbed to her injuries.
       Two of the four accused – Arif and Asim – arrested on Monday night, told the police that Imrana's father had himself asked them to straighten out his daughter as one Irfan was visiting her too frequently. Imrana reportedly used to weave carpets at home for an export firm. On Monday, her father, Abdul Hakim, had gone to Hapur to visit someone, while her mother, Vakila, had gone visiting someone in the village.
       Weeping bitterly, Imrana's sister Afsana (14) told Times City, "Arif banged hard on the rear door of our house. I thought he would break the door, so I unlatched it. While he was accusing my sister of befriending Irfan, three others, including Zalis and Asim, barged in. They threw me out and locked the door from inside. I heard my sister's screams for 20 minutes." #
       Go to source website for a "Click here" panel to comment on this story.
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  For them garments of fire will be cut.  Get a discussion on it at Islam Question and Answer: http://www. islamqa.com/ en/ref/5627/doc . Of course, it means in the Afterlife.  Then use a Search Engine to find "women obedient Koran". DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [TEACHINGS: But please "enjoy" this gem from the above webpage: "Secondly: the majority of scholars are of the view that music is haraam, as is indicated by a great deal of evidence from the Qur'aan and Sunnah. This was narrated from Ibn 'Abbaas, Ibn Mas'ood, al-Shu'bi, al-Thawri and other scholars."  ENDS.]
       [ALSO SEE: "Villagers burn girl alive in 'honour killing' " The Scotsman, http://news. scotsman.com/ latestnews/ Villagers- burn-girl- alive-in. 5103494.jp , March 24, 2009. ENDS.]
       [LEARN FROM: Christian Science Monitor, from the December 19, 2001 edition, "What the Koran says about women: Marriage and divorce" at: http://www. csmonitor.com/ 2001/1219/ p10s1-wogi. html%0A ENDS.]
       [ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Jihad Watch, http://www. jihadwatch.org/ archives/ 025382.php ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#16_year_old_burnt
    [Mar 25, 09]
    • Nehru's great-grandson arrested over Muslim hate speech.   

    Nehru’ s great-grandson arrested over Muslim hate speech

       Reuters, http://www. reuters.com/ article/ latestCrisis/ idUSB291258 , 9:55am EDT, Sat Mar 28, 2009
       LUCKNOW, India, March 28 (Reuters) – Police in northern India on Saturday arrested a great-grandson of the country's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, over allegations he made inflammatory comments against Muslims.
       Police fired in the air and baton-charged a crowd of at least 10,000 of Varun Gandhi's supporters shouting pro-Hindu slogans as he was arrested in his constituency in Uttar Pradesh, a crucial state in the April-May general election.
       The arrest of Gandhi, a member of India's powerful Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and election candidate for the Hindu-nationalist opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), could be an embarrassment for the BJP weeks before the polls start.
       A speech in early March by Gandhi has been widely played in the local media in which he allegedly threatens to cut off the hands of those who harm Hindus, and crudely compares a rival Muslim candidate to Osama Bin Laden.
       The 29-year-old Gandhi, who unlike most of his family chose not to join India's ruling Congress party, has said footage of his speech was doctored in a political conspiracy to tarnish his image.
       "I am ready to go to jail. And I have come here to boost the morale of my people," Gandhi told his supporters before his arrest. "I believe in whatever I have said."
       India's election commission has demanded the BJP drop Gandhi as a candidate and said it will monitor his future campaign rallies. The BJP so far has stuck by its candidate.
       Last week Gandhi unsuccessfully petitioned a high court in Uttar Pradesh to quash police reports of the speech he made in his Pilibhit constituency.
       "Varun will remain in judicial custody in Pilibhit jail till Monday when his bail plea will be decided", said Mani Ram Rao, the investigating police officer in the case.
       The BJP has been accused in the past of stoking tensions to pander to its large Hindu vote base. Muslims make up around 13 percent of India's 1.1 billion-plus population.
       Many opinion polls show the BJP-led main opposition alliance trailing the Congress-led ruling coalition. (Editing by Matthias Williams and Myra MacDonald)
       © Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved #
       [RECAPITULATION: … a crowd of at least 10,000 of Varun Gandhi's supporters shouting pro-Hindu slogans … A speech in early March by Gandhi has been widely played in the local media in which he allegedly threatens to cut off the hands of those who harm Hindus … Gandhi … has said footage of his speech was doctored in a political conspiracy to tarnish his image. ENDS.]
       [KORAN, Muslim scripture: (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah): 
       5:33 (or 5:37):- The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His apostle and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides …
       8:12:- … I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve.  Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them. < http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/008.qmt.html#008.012 >
       47:35 (or 47:37):- Be not fainthearted then; and invite not the infidels to peace when ye have the upper hand … DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  4, 53:386:- … Umar sent the Muslims to the great countries to fight the pagans.  When Al-Hurmuzan embraced Islam, Umar said to him. "I would like to consult you regarding these countries which I intend to invade." […]
       9, 84:57:- … Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him. TRADITION ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: The Muslims attacked and conquered the Indian subcontinent centuries ago, and in some places carried out forced circumcisions and "conversions."  The Europeans came later.  In the 1940s India was divided into the secular state India, and the Muslim secular two-part state Pakistan, which later divided into Pakistan (the west), and Bangladesh (in the east). COMMENT ENDS.]
       [ALSO SEE: "Gandhi jailed for Muslim taunts," The West Australian, p 35, April 1, 2009.  (Reuters version copied from cont21.htm .) ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#nehru_s_great_grandson
    [Mar 28, 09]
    • New York Muslim child: "Who are struck by Allah's wrath?"  "The Jews"   

    New York Muslim child: “Who are struck by Allah's wrath?”  “The Jews”


    2-Year-Old Girl Answering Questions About Islam!
       Youtube.com , http://www. youtube.com/ watch?v=gGF jkfKoECc& feature= player_ embedded , As reproduced by Jihad Watch at http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025424.php , March 28, 2009
       More on teaching children to hate: watch this cute little Muslim girl answer a series of questions about Islam (thanks to Martin for the heads-up). Note the ones about hating Jews and Christians, and about rejecting the idea that the Qur'an was created, rather than existing eternally with Allah, identical to the "Mother of the Book, in our presence" mentioned in Qur'an 43:4. This complicates the possibility of historical criticism and reform.
       Note also all the approving comments from Muslims in the YouTube thread.
       Posted by Robert at March 28, 2009 6:05 AM [ … ]
    Comments
       (Note: The Comments section is provided in the interests of free speech only. It is mostly unmoderated, but comments that are off-topic, offensive, slanderous, or otherwise annoying stand a chance of being deleted. The fact that any comment remains on the site IN NO WAY constitutes an endorsement by Jihad Watch or Dhimmi Watch, or by Robert Spencer or any other Jihad Watch or Dhimmi Watch writer, of any view expressed, fact alleged, or link provided in that comment.) …
       Comments (70) … +10
       Go_Geert: One word: Disgusting
       Spirit_Of_1683: A few more words: Deport her and her entire family. We don't want or need them here.
       Celsius: So the most powerful verse in the koran is 2:255. That's a bit odd, as the next one "Let there be no compulsion in religion" is widely regarded as being abrogated by those in chapter 9. Perhaps Allah was putting so much effort into the most powerful verse that he fluffed his next line. If only he'd used a teleprompter
       danielmoriah: [Withdrawn by Submission Study Unit, because it seemed to be misleading to novices.]
       Go_Geert: OT: The name "Freedom Tower" has been dropped for the World Trade Center replacement: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090327/us_nm/us_usa_ … Before I read the article, my first thought was that our Mohammedan president had ordered it. I kid you not - well, after "enemy combatants" dropped, and after - what's that new Orwellian non-description? - "overseas contingency operation?" - my initial conclusion was not far-fetched at all. Not at all. In fact, I was surprised to see that Hussein had not ordered the change.
       pulsar182: I get the picture of small children being drilled over and over throughout the day, every day, with this political indoctrination … you can hear it in the voice of the speaker … There have been cases of small Muslim children being executed for failing to answer the questions correctly according to the answers as dictated by the Muslims … It is no small wonder young Muslims are so prone to violence … it has been drilled into them since their birth … they know nothing else … There is evil in the world today … and it is Islam … .
       Sorrow01: By the time they are adults, this stuff has for the most part been irreversibly lodged in their brains. Even if never acted upon, the material lies just beneath the surface waiting to be triggered. The clearest evidence can be found in the media in Moslem countries(see MEMRI)with its bizarre fixation on Jews, even if there are few no Jews in the areas in which the broadcasts originate.
       baseballmaven: People like Nonie Darwish give me hope that they can see the light if they get away from the evil.
       Sorrow01: Even before her change of heart, she was fairly Westernized and from a fairly elite family in Egypt. I wish her well in all that she does, but we cannot expect this from the masses in the Islamic world.
       --- On Sat, 3/28/09, IntenseDebate Notifications wrote:
       jdamn: Yeah, she went to a Christian school, and while Egypt was still very 3rd-World back then, it wasn't populated almost entirely by complete savages. The Ikhwan were regarded as the cavemen they are. Today they're set to take over the government.
       Hesperado: How would your "hope" be translated concretely into policy? I can understand having hope in a general sense that more and more Muslims might leave Islam. But in terms of our policies geared toward protecting our societies from Muslims, those policies have to be based on assuming the worst. To do otherwise might very well be perilous.
       ExDemocrat: And this child is in New York, not Saudi Arabia. Do any of these children go to public school? If so, how does their indoctrination mesh? The others go to schools taught by Saudi Arabia. This sh*t doesn't belong here in the US. Feeling helpless. Sick.
       Rita Infidel: I doubt they go to public school. more like islamic school where the right over and over "Jews are the enemies Jews are the enemies"
       jdamn: Yeah, she would get beaten up for wearing a slave rag in elementary school, which is sad, because it's her parents who should be beaten for even thinking of forcing her to wear than evil, let alone inflict it upon other children.
       Knox1776: what a shame they have to start brain-washing their children at such a tender age … .they don't have a clue what they are saying now, but will hear those words ringing in their heads for the rest of their lives. It's no wonder there is simply no reasoning with Islamists, not after having words like this pounded in your head all your life. What a waste.
       gmccal: Hate for anything non-Islamic must begin early in life for the cult to continue. Breaking the transfer of this hatred from one generation to the next is key to defeating Islam.
       jdamn: This comment has been deleted by the administrator. [* * * and MANY MORE]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#new_york_muslim
    [Mar 28, 09]
    • Islamophobia is a fabrication.     

    Islamophobia is a fabrication

       The Sydney Morning Herald, http://www. smh.com.au/ opinion/ islamophobia- is-a-fabrication- 20090329- 9fjm.html?page=-1 , by Paul Sheehan, March 30, 2009
       I've been considering a request from a post-graduate student who wants to do a thesis on Islamophobia in Australia. She writes: "I am researching the topic Islamophobia, and I am trying to prove whether Islamophobia is based on religion fear or cultural fear of Islam."
       What about proving that Islamophobia exists at all? That would be the logical, ethical and scholarly starting point. But it appears the outcome has already been decided. This would fit the prevailing orthodoxy in academia that the default position for Muslims in Australia is victim. The jargon, "Islamophobia" is part of this ideological construct. Literally, it means fear of Muslims.
       I reflected on all this while on holiday in Malaysia and the Maldives last week. This was my twelfth visit to Muslim societies because I do not "fear" Muslims and do not "fear" Islam. Yes, there is ample evidence that Australians have become uneasy about Muslims in general and hostile in specific cases, but this is about cause and effect.
       Consider the series of blows to the image of Muslims in just the past three weeks, where the everyday decency of the majority have been collaterally damaged by the antics of the few.
       On March 8, the night of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, police say a group of about 100 young Muslim men, allegedly members of a loose gang called MBM - Muslim Brotherhood Movement - moved through the centre of the city intimidating, harassing and beating bystanders.
       On March 15, Abdul Darwiche was murdered, shot to death in a shopping centre in the latest hyper-violence involving two warring Lebanese Muslim clans. Police later arrested Darwiche's brother, Michael, for driving around with a loaded pistol. A third brother, Adnan, appeared in the NSW Supreme Court three years ago to be sentenced for a double murder. He and his fellow accused, Nasaem El-Zeyat and Ramzi Aouad, laughed and joked, going out of their way to express their contempt for Australian law. After the three men were all given life sentences they shouted "God is great!" This was the same Adnan Darwiche who purchased rocket launchers stolen from the Australian Army, which have never been recovered.
       Hundreds of mourners attended Abdul Darwiche's funeral at the Lakemba Mosque, where, within days, Sheik Taj el-Din al Hilaly was involved in yet another controversy. Channel Nine obtained a copy of a video surveillance tape which shows the former mufti of Australia kicking in a door, then returning soon after in the company of police. Apparently he called police over vandalism which he committed, blaming others who are engaged in a power struggle at the mosque. Sheik Hilaly has been embroiled repeatedly in controversy and provocation, making numerous inflammatory remarks about Australia and Australians.
       A few days later, yet another rape sentence was handed down to one of the K brothers, three of whom, during their various trials for gang rape, claimed they were victims of an anti-Muslim conspiracy. Between them, four K brothers have been convicted of gang-raping five girls.
       This sentencing followed closely on the conviction of seven Sydney schoolboys for the aggravated sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl in a toilet block in Yagoona in 2007. According to police, the ring-leader was on his phone speaking in Arabic during the assaults and most or all of the boys are of Muslim background.
       If this is so, these latest convictions produce a morbid tally of more than 30 young Muslim men involved in serious proven sexual assaults of non-Muslim girls in Sydney, involving the Skaf brothers, the K brothers, the E-M cousins, the Yagoona schoolboys and various others. Because sexual assault is the least reported crime (about 15 per cent of incidents are reported to police) this particular phenomenon was certainly much broader.
       Finally, there has been fatal violence between bikie gangs, accompanied by news that there has been an infusion of young Muslim men into the bikie culture. There is now warring between new gangs and traditional Anglo criminal gangs for control of the drug and protection markets. Gang leaders named Mahmoud and Hassan and Ismail have been prominent. Gangs like MBM, Notorious and Asesinoz have flaunted their ethnicity. Overtly racist videos have been posted on YouTube, such as the message that "Asesinoz is now targeting Aussies", with an image of a vandalised Australian flag.
       The events of the past week have been a variation on a theme police have been dealing with for years. It erupted spectacularly in 2005 when a self-styled "intifada" by armed Muslim men, travelling in convoys, staged numerous co-ordinated assaults across the eastern beach suburbs of Sydney. The attacks were in response to the most notorious case of anti-Muslim feeling in Australia, the Cronulla riot in December, 2005. The roots of this demonstration was the failure of the police, who for years had preferred to pretend the problem did not exist.
       Given the abundant evidence of violent cause and fearful effect, involving a small percentage of antagonists, the general charge of Islamophobia is an ideological fabrication.
       As for the criminal gangs, for more than 10 years I have argued that Australia needed anti-gang laws similar to the RICO laws (racketeering influenced corrupt organisations) used in the United States, which smashed the code of silence and solidarity by criminal gangs. Finally, the state Labor Government has begun to stir on this issue.
       [1st RECAPITULATION: Consider the series of blows to the image of Muslims in just the past three weeks … If this is so, these latest convictions produce a morbid tally of more than 30 young Muslim men involved in serious proven sexual assaults of non-Muslim girls in Sydney, … ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  4:34 (or 4:38):- … Virtuous women are obedient …
       2:193 (or 2:189):- … Fight the unbelievers until no other religion except Islam is left.
       64:14:- O ye who believe!  Verily, in your wives and your children ye have an enemy:  wherefore beware of them. … < www.usc.edu/ dept/MSA/ quran/064. qmt.html #064.014 > DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  1, 6:301: […] The women asked, "O Allah's Apostle! What is deficient in our intelligence and religion?" He said, "Is not the evidence of two women equal to the witness of one man?" They replied in the affirmative. He said, "This is the deficiency in her intelligence. Isn't it true that a woman can neither pray nor fast during her menses?" The women replied in the affirmative. He said, "This is the deficiency in her religion." < www.usc.edu/dept/ MSA/fundamentals/ hadithsunnah/ bukhari/006.sbt. html#001.006.301 >
       Sahih Muslim's, Book 008, Number 3371:- … We went out with Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) on the expedition to the Bi'l-Mustaliq and took captive some excellent Arab women; and we desired them, for we were suffering from the absence of our wives, (but at the same time) we also desired ransom for them.  So we decided to have sexual intercourse with them but by observing 'azl (Withdrawing the male sexual organ before emission of semen to avoid conception). … TRADITION ENDS.]
       [2nd RECAPITULATION: … the Cronulla riot in December, 2005. The roots of this demonstration was the failure of the police, who for years had preferred to pretend the problem did not exist. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: Police?  No, the "Establishment," buoyed up by wishful thinking, but imagining they were backing "inclusion," kept demanding that the police be "non-discriminatory."  So well trained are the police in most Australian jurisdictions that if a person reported any offence and was naive enough to volunteer the information that the person was of Middle Eastern appearance, or had an olive skin, etc., the police would mentally label them as "racist" or even "xenophobic" (if they could spell that word!) 
       This is common to the Establishment and the Politically-Correct in most Anglo-Celtic and European jurisdictions, and in nearly every Christian Church, with the honourable exception of the Orthodox Churches.  Western Christians' blindness is hard to understand, because the persecution by Muslims of Christians and other non-Muslims is well-reported in ordinary and religious news media.
       This refusal to allow the facts to govern thinking and law enforcement is similar to the comatose mental set of Europe as the Fascists and Nazis came to power in the 1930s, and afterwards in many influential circles as country after country fell to the Communists.  In recent times, when China's head persecutor had secret talks with Australian leaders, people who reported this were told they were reviving the "Yellow Peril" "phobia." ENDS.]
       [2nd KORAN quote (Allah's supposed opinion of Christian leaders): 9:34-35:- 34.  O ye who believe!  There are indeed many among the priests and anchorites, who in falsehood devour the wealth of men and hinder (them) from the Way of Allah.  And there are those who hoard gold and silver and spend it not in the Way of Allah:  announce unto them a most grievous chastisement- 35.  On the Day when it will be heated in the fire of Hell, and with it will be branded their foreheads, their flanks, and their backs, -"This is the (treasure) which ye hoarded for yourselves: taste ye, then, the (treasures) ye hoarded" < www.usc.edu/ dept/MSA/ quran/009. qmt.html# 009.034 > ENDS.]
       [ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Jihad Watch, http://www.jihadwatch.org/ . ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#islamophobia_is_a_fabrication
    [Mar 30, 09]
    • [Tolerance leading to U.N. permitting intolerant practices.] 
       Annals Australasia, annalsaustralasia |AT| gmail |DOT| com , by Jude P. Dougherty, mainly extracts from pp 20-21, March 2009
    ANNALS AUSTRALASIA     20-21     MARCH 2009
    The constitutive elements of “Christendom” cannot be maintained without reference to their source.

    TOLERANCE


    By Jude P. Dougherty
    W HEN Oswald Spengler published his multivolume study, The Decline of the West, few outside of professional academic circles understood his thesis or took the epitaph seriously.  Today, a century later, no attentive historian can ignore the cultural shift that took place in the West in the last half of the twentieth century, one that seriously eclipsed the spiritual resources which formerly animated it. [ … ]
       Procedural democracy itself is supported by two ancillary principles, one, the seemingly innocent call for "tolerance," and the other, the malevolent doctrine of "separation of church and state." The principle of tolerance augurs against an unabashed defence of one's own tradition, whereas the separation principle surrenders moral authority to the state or, worse still, is employed to eradicate religion from both the academy and the public square.
       To offer an egregious example of misplaced tolerance, one need recall only that the 57-member Muslim Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has prevailed on the United Nations Human Rights Commission to adopt a resolution requiring the effective evisceration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Henceforth, the guaranteed right of free expression will not extend to any criticism of Islam on the grounds that it amounts to an abusive act of religious discrimination. Western officials and governmental agencies appear increasingly disposed to go along with efforts to mute warnings about the danger that the recognition or incorporation of Sharia law poses to the West. The liberal attempt to silence criticism of Islam threatens to criminalize behaviour that has long been regarded as merely "politically incorrect." If we follow the liberal agenda vis-a-vis Islam and its demand to recognize Sharia, we will mutate Western law, traditions, values, and societies beyond recognition.
    III
       Calls for tolerance abound, from papal statements to European conferences. Bumper stickers and postal imprints proclaim its value. One can understand John Paul II and Benedict XVI seeking tolerance for a Christian minority living amongst a largely Hindu population, but one is mystified by an apparent campaign for tolerance in the open societies of Western Europe, Australia, and North America. Considered abstractly, it would be easier to make the case that tolerance is a vice than to justify its putative status as a virtue. To employ a few homey examples: a parent cannot tolerate disobedience in the child; a teacher, sloppy homework or cheating on an examination; a military officer insubordination; a CEO, deviance from company policy; or an ecclesiastical body, divergent doctrinal teaching or liturgical practice within its ranks.  … nor can any state permit disrespect for its laws.  An entity must preserve its unity to preserve its very being.
       The promotion of the notion that tolerance is a virtue is of relatively recent origin.  Tolerance is not mentioned as a virtue by Aristotle or by the Stoics.  Nor does Aquinas speak of tolerance as a virtue. […]
    ANNALS AUSTRALASIA         MARCH 2009
       [RECAPITULATION: … the 57-member Muslim Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has prevailed on the United Nations Human Rights Commission to adopt a resolution requiring the effective evisceration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Henceforth, the guaranteed right of free expression will not extend to any criticism of Islam … ENDS.]
       [KORAN: 2:193 (or 2:189):- … Fight the unbelievers until no other religion except Islam is left.
       9:29:- Make war upon such of those to whom the Scriptures have been given as believe not in Allah, or in the last day, and who forbid not what Allah and His Apostle have forbidden, and who profess not the profession of the truth, until they pay tribute out of hand, and they be humbled. DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH: 9, 84:57:- … Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him. TRADITION ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: These are a selection of the INTOLERANT teachings that the decadent West is now allowing to be protected from Free Speech.  In Australia, the Victorian Parliament and authorities were shown up when a person at a court-like hearing, when READING OUT KORAN TEXTS, was told he was more or less adding to discrimination and intolerance against Muslims!
       In reality, Muslim societies allow violence, destruction, and death, not only of people of other religions, but also among their own sects.  In Iraq at present, Shi'ites are bearing a heavy load of suicide bombings, a recent case being of a mosque during prayers.  In other lands, the Sunnis are being persecuted by Shi'ites.  The scripture and traditions drive the culture.
       When even the United Nations Human Rights Commission pretends that a slave-owning and jihad-teaching religion must be exempt from criticism, sensible people can only compare it to a recent Western Australian court decision to allow a teenage killer to walk free. ENDS.]
       [SUBSCRIBE: In Australia Aus$33 (pensioner $26), overseas enquire annalsaustralasia |§| gmail |DOT| com ; PO Box 13, Kensington, NSW, 2033, Australia.  Tel 02 9662 7894, or 02 9662 7188 ext. 252. Fax 02 9662 1910. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#tolerance_leading_to
    [File as March 31; (whole article pp 19-22), March 2009]
    • Let posterity be the judge:  Violence and self-delusion. 
       Annals Australasia, annalsaustralasia |AT| gmail |DOT| com , p 30, March 2009
    ANNALS AUSTRALASIA     30     MARCH 2009
    Violence and self-delusion

    LET POSTERITY BE THE JUDGE

    T HE PRINCE of Seville {Mu‘tadid}'s hatred, on the other hand, was an insatiable passion:  his victims were pursued by it after their death; he loved to whet his savage appetite by gloating over their mutilated remains.  Following the example of the Khalif Mahdi, he caused flowers to be planted in the skulls of his enemies, and set them in the court of his palace.  A label attached to each bore the name of its former owner.  He often took pleasure in visiting what he called his 'garden'.  But the 'garden' did not contain the heads most precious in his sight, namely, those of princes whom he had conquered:  these were preserved with great care in a coffer beneath his palace. 
       And yet this monster of cruelty was in his own eyes the best of princes.  'If it is Thy will, O God' he exclaims in poetic fervour, 'that felicity should be the lot of mortals, suffer me to reign over Arabs and barbarians alike ; for never have I strayed from the right way, never have I treated my subjects save as becometh a generous and magnanimous prince.  I have ever shielded them from the aggressor, and turned aside the calamity that threatened them!'
    – Reinhart Dozy, Spanish Islam, Chatto and Windus, London, 1913, p. 633, describing Abu Amr Abbad bin Muhammad al-Mu‘tadid, 1014-1068 AD, ruler of Seville during the alleged Golden Age of Islam in Spain.  Dozy, a Dutch Protestant, is an acknowledged authority on this period of Spanish history.
    ANNALS AUSTRALASIA     30     MARCH 2009
       [RECAPITULATION: … ruler of Seville during the alleged Golden Age of Islam in Spain. ENDS.]
       [KORAN: 2:193 (or 2:189):- … Fight the unbelievers until no other religion except Islam is left. DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH: 4, 53:386:- … Umar sent the Muslims to the great countries to fight the pagans.  When Al-Hurmuzan embraced Islam, Umar said to him. "I would like to consult you regarding these countries which I intend to invade." … TRADITION ENDS.]
       [SUBSCRIBE: In Australia Aus$33 (pensioner $26), overseas enquire annalsaustralasia |§| gmail |DOT| com ; PO Box 13, Kensington, NSW, 2033, Australia.  Tel 02 9662 7894, or 02 9662 7188 ext. 252. Fax 02 9662 1910. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#let_posterity_be
    [File as March 31; p 30, March 2009]
    • Answers that raise Questions. 

    Answers that raise Questions

       Annals Australasia, annalsaustralasia § gmail com , p 37, Issue 2009 - 2, March 2009
    Who was Muhammad?  Muhammad was born in 570 and orphaned as a young child.  As he grew up people noticed that he was a truthful, generous and sincere person.  He was deeply religious and contemplative.  He was known as a fair arbitrator.  According to Islamic belief when Muhammad was forty years old he received his first revelation from God through the Angel Gabriel.  His revelations continued for 23 years.  The revelations were written down and formed the Islamic holy book or Qur'an (Koran).  The Qur'an has passages very similar to the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, plus unique revelations that Muhammad received.
    Do Christians believe in Muhammad?  Christians recognize Muhammad as a great religious leader.  The Catholic Church has a high regard for Muslims.
    – Information prepared by Sister Beryl Amedee of the Brisbane [Australia] Catholic Commission for Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations regarding Muslims and Related Issues.  September 2001.
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#answers_that_raise
       [HEADING EXPLANATION: The heading on this item is a clever play on words.  The trendy part of the Roman Catholic Church follows every disuniting fad; the answers provided by Sister lead people astray, thus raising the question -- how could she be so wrong about Islam, and why on earth are the Catholic leaders allowing her to continue as if she was promulgating authentic teachings?  Her answers raise questions. ENDS.]
       [RESPONSE TO THE ARTICLE: In reality, during the time of his supposed revelations Muhammad, son of Abdullah, started agitating to stop the free practice of worship by various religions, including Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, possibly Buddhism, and other faiths, in his home town of Mecca.  Some of his preaching there had a conciliatory tone.  However, overall his preaching led to ill-feeling, so he and a few followers went north to Medina, while others went across the sea to Ethiopia.
       Supposed revelations in Medina had a different tone to the previous ones – there was now condemnation and threats of terror and violence on earth, and punishments after death, to people of other faiths.  By then he had realised that there would be no mass conversions from the monotheistic religions to his new faith, which he branded as the old faith of his god Allah from which others had strayed.
       He began leading parties of armed men to attack the trade caravans coming from Mecca, asking his followers to attack their former relations and friends.  Step by step his raiding parties (urged on by promises of a wonderful sensual Paradise with daily-renewing virgins or "houris," and non-intoxicating wine) won most battles, and his "empire" spread around Arabia.  His successors, after a big split, carried on attacking other peoples and governments.
       The Koran was gathered from various sources and written down long after he had died.  It contradicts much of the narrative of the Old and New Testaments, "promoting" Abraham from being the ancestor of the Israelites, to being a Muslim, and demoting Jesus from Son of God to being a totally human Messenger of God, with the title of Messiah.  A substitute was executed instead of Jesus, according to the Koran, so although the book contains a promise of a "resurrection" it gives no details of when this pseudo-Jesus died, but does claim He will return at the end of the world.  Besides angels, there is another group of invisible beings, the "djinn," in Islamic writings, presumably copied from the folklore of the Arabs or other peoples of the peninsula.
       The very ideas of Allah having a Son, and the Trinity, are condemned in various ways, and the Jews are pilloried as greedy and as apes and swine.  The Christian clergy are described as lording it over people and misleading them, and being so greedy for money that they will be branded with hot precious metals in Hell for ever.
       It is no wonder that hundreds of years ago a Pope praised Frankish and other warriors who had freed Jerusalem from "the filth of the pagans."
       Besides the anti-women and anti-oecumenical Koran, which talks of extorting ranson and taking booty, other writings -- the Hadith or Sunnah, and the biographies of Mohammad -- give even more worrying insights into Muslim belief.  Terrorists, Muslim dictators of today, and pirate Muslims both past and present, quote from these writings, and some of the discriminatory texts are recited in daily prayers, and in loudspeaker calls to prayer five times a day from mosques.
       The Second Vatican Council in the 1960s seemed to want to forget all the history and the current practices of Islam, as it did about Judaism and Protestantism.  Yet in Muslim lands, Christian churches and Jewish synagogues have been forbidden and/or attacked sporadically, and Muslim-dominated lands threaten and sometimes do execute any converts to other faiths.
       The suppression of women and violence towards them is an ever-present feature of the religion, and cruelty in circumcision (male officially, and female semi-unofficially), and towards animals, is normal for Muslims in many Islamic lands.  Slavery is a part of the doctrine, and is being practised openly in Sudan and Saudi Arabia.  Halal abattoirs are similar to the Judaists' Kosher abattoirs, and pig meat is banned, due to similar teachings. ENDS.] [List as if Mar 31; p 37, Issue March 2009]
    • Murdered for music.         
    CENSORSHIP

    Murdered for music

       New Internationalist (UK, N. America and Australia), Editorial, England: ni § newint org Editorial, Australia: chrisr § newint com au p 11, April 2009
       Censorship of musicians is increasing across the world. In December, in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province, popular Pashto singer Sardar Yousafzai and 11 members of his orchestra were ambushed and shot at by an armed group, on their way home from a wedding performance. Five of the musicians were seriously injured, and the harmonium player Anwar Gul died. The attackers remain at large.
       Gul was a victim of the Taliban's violent campaign against musical expression. His son Naveed, who is also a musician, fears that no-one else in his family will now think of adopting music as a career. 'My family is facing hard times these days. I don't know how to survive in this suffocating environment. We are helpless,' he says.
       The past few months have seen a number of stories of music censorship come to light around the world.
       There's Bülent Ersoy, a transsexual singer from Turkey, who has been charged with 'turning the public against military service' over remarks on a popular TV show criticizing Turkey's incursion into Northern Iraq and saying that if she had a son, she would not send him to war.
       In Yemen, singer and comedian Fahd al-Qarni is facing renewed charges of 'insulting the President'. The charges date back to September 2006, when al-Qarni made cassette tapes that mixed traditional folk songs with comedy and criticism of government policies. Although al-Qarni was pardoned in September 2008, he is being charged again for the same crime.
       Also that month, Cameroonian singer-songwriter Lapiro de Mbanga - known as an outspoken critic of the Government - was sentenced to three years in prison for allegedly inciting an anti-Government riot through one of his songs.
       Their stories are just some of the reasons why 3 March was Music Freedom Day.
       Find out more at: www.freemuse.org #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#murdered_for_music
    [April 2009]
    • [False hope, no Taliban beards, hijabbed firepersons, legalizing rape in marriage, threat on Washington to 'amaze' the world.] 

    [False hope, no Taliban beards, hijabbed firepersons, legalizing rape in marriage, threat on Washington to ‘amaze’ the world]

       Jihad Watch Digest, http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025468.php , E-mail, Wednesday, April 1, 2009
           A recurring source of false hope -- Over the years many, many people have sent in articles stating that the Qur'an actually promises the Land of Israel to the Jews, and that therefore the claims of Hamas and Hizballah et al are illegitimate on Islamic grounds. It …
       Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025468.php . AOL users: Click here .
         CIA recruits among Muslims-- What could go wrong? Surely the CIA will thoroughly vet prospective spies for adherence to the doctrines of jihad and Islamic supremacism -- as well as the old adage of Muhammad, "war is deceit" -- won't they? One may hope …
       Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025469.php . AOL users: Click here .
         India Supreme Court: "No Talibanisation of India" -- It's just a beard. What's the big deal? Justice Markandeya Katju sees the larger issues involved. If only we had a judge this far-seeing and courageous in the United States. "SC rejects Muslim's plea to sport beard, says no 'Talibanisation …
       Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025467.php . AOL users: Click here .
           Latest Gitmo releasee: Al-Qaeda operative accused of taking part in anthrax plot -- He also was accused of aiding terrorist-charities and repeatedly meeting with Osama bin Laden. All rubbish, insists his lawyer; as for his meetings with bin Laden, well, they were all merely "chance encounters." "U.S. Decides to Release Detainee at Guantanamo," …
       Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025466.php . AOL users: Click here .
         Dangerous al-Qaeda prisoners try to escape by hijacking helicopter -- Once a hijacker -- of planes, not religions -- apparently always a hijacker. "Al-Qaeda terrorist prisoners plotted to escape in hijacked helicopter," from the Telegraph, March 31: Al-Qaeda terrorists in a British jail were caught planning to escape in a hijacked …
       Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025465.php . AOL users: Click here .
         UK fire service introduces hijab for Muslim workers -- Reasonable accommodation or cultural acquiescence? "Now fire service introduces hijab headscarves for Muslim workers," by Jaya Narain for the Daily Mail, March 31: Pop into the firestation and the chances are there'd be a group of reassuringly burly men … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025464.php .
         Afganistan's moderate Prez Karzai a Misunderstander of Islam? Signs law "legalizing rape in marriage" -- It will be forever ignored or denied by those who insist that Islam is a Religion of Peace, but in reality there is no Misunderstanding of Islam going on here. Every provision of this law as stated in this article, …
       Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025463.php . AOL users: Click here .
           Fitzgerald: Who's minding the store? -- Long ago at Jihad Watch I posted about the destruction, through Islam-inspired vandalism, of statuary both in churches in Northern France and in Rome, in the Piazza del Popolo. Remember: statues are banned in Islam. Why? Because a famous hadith … http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025462.php .
         Hillary backs reconciliation talks with Taliban "if they are willing to abandon violence" -- So apparently, if they are willing to abandon violence and pursue their goal of implementing Islamic law by other means, that is just fine with her. Here is yet another demonstration of the danger of misdiagnosis of the global jihad …
         Taliban promises attack on Washington that will "amaze" the world -- Mehsud: Not the "moderate Taliban" I'm guessing that Mehsud is not one of the vaunted "moderate Taliban" with whom Obama wants to chat. In any case, he has issued such threats before. "Taliban promises attack on Washington that will …
         Italy: Muslims try to blow up 14-century fresco -- Because it depicts Muhammad being dragged into hell by a demon. Respect Europe's culture and history? Pah! It is all worthless trash, jahiliyya! Eurabia Alert: "Corridors of Power in Milan, Italy: Bad Manners, Bad Intentions and More," by Roland … http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025459.php .
       • More on Mahdi Bray's criminal history and current questionable activity -- Here is an excerpt from part 2 of the Investigative Project's illuminating expose of the slick Muslim spokesman Mahdi Bray, "Mahdi Bray: Voting With Conviction: An IPT Investigation," from IPT News, March 27 (thanks to Axel): Radical Defender Beyond his … http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025458.php . #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#false_hope_no
    [Apr 1, 09]
    • [Pak. soldiers re-aligning with Taliban; Don't want to be Swedish; American jihadist killing in Somalia.] 

    [Pak. soldiers re-aligning with Taliban; Don’t want to be Swedish; American jihadist killing in Somalia.]

          Jihad Watch Digest, http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025468.php , E-mail, Thursday, April 2, 2009
         Iran: Converts from Islam ordered to stop "Christian activities," threatened with apostasy trial.  But they just got probation. This time. Islamic Tolerance Alert from the Islamic Republic of Iran: "Iran: Three Converts Ordered To Stop 'Christian Activities'," from Compass Direct, March 31 (thanks to Jeffrey Imm): LOS ANGELES, March 31 (Compass Direct News) …   Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025484.php .  AOL users: Click here .
             Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan pledge military cooperation against "Islamist extremists".  Let's see. Afghanistan's Constitution already enshrines Islamic law as the highest law of the land. Pakistan has already allowed for Sharia in the Swat valley. And Gul's party in Turkey is a known foe of that country's secular government. So …   Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025483.php .  AOL users: Click here .
           Pakistani military allying with Taliban.  Sharia for Peace! Peace In Our Time! "Re-emerging Alliance between Pakistani Military and Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan," by Tufail Ahmad for MEMRI, April 1 (thanks to Andrew Bostom): Introduction In the recent months, an old-new alliance has been re-emerging …   Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025482.php . AOL users: Click here .
         "At heart they don't really want to be Swedish. They tell me so themselves."  Eurabia Alert from Sweden: Muslim immigrants don't want to integrate -- not that this will stop the learned analysts from blaming European governments for not doing enough to integrate them. " … : Integration in the eye of the storm," …   Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025479.php . AOL users: Click here
           "Cringing diplomats" hear new Israeli FM say concessions to Palestinians will bring war, not peace.  He told them the truth -- after all, the intransigence of the jihad doctrine makes those who hold it see a willingness to negotiate and grant concessions only as a sign of weakness. Lieberman told them the truth, and it …   Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025478.php . AOL users: Click here .
       |   Iraq: Al-Qaeda infiltrating pro-U.S. militias.  This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. After all, there is no reliable way to distinguish between Muslims who abhor al-Qaeda and its jihad, and those who support it -- and in any case, political correctness prevents U.S. forces …   Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025477.php .  AOL users: Click here .
               State Department ignores "especially dire" religious freedom violations in Iraq.  "The State Department also granted waivers for Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia, where religious freedom violations have been called 'appalling.'" Hmmmm … Now what could Iraq, Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia have in common? Of course, they are all Muslim countries in which non-Muslims …   Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025476.php .  AOL users: Click here .
         Minnesota: Muslims at chicken plant win $1.35 million in discrimination suit.  The $365,000 in cash payments was settled last November, as we noted here. The settlement as a whole seems based on Muslim worker complaints that they were denied prayer breaks during work hours, and that they had to sign "forms …   Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025475.php .  AOL users: Click here .
             Israeli Arab Knesset member: Iran should have nukes, Israeli nukes "dangerous to the world".  An enemy of the state in the parliament of that state -- a fact that in itself belies the oppressive and racist character of the state as she describes it. "New Balad MK praises Iran's nuke quest," by Samuel Sokol …   Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025474.php .  AOL users: Click here.
         Taliban: U.S. offer of "honorable reconciliation" with "moderate Taliban" a "lunatic idea"  Craaaaazy "They have to go and find the moderate Taliban, their leader and speak to them. This is a lunatic idea." Uh, yeah. "Taliban say U.S. reconciliation offer 'lunatic,'" by Sayed Salahuddin for Reuters, April 1 (thanks to Abandoned): …   Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025473.php .  AOL users: Click here.
               Netanyahu to Obama: Stop Iran -- Or I Will.  "The Obama presidency has two great missions: fixing the economy, and preventing Iran from gaining nuclear weapons.  " I wonder if Obama sees it that way. "Netanyahu to Obama: Stop Iran -- Or I Will," by Jeffrey Goldberg in the Atlantic, March 31 …   Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025472.php .  AOL users: Click here.
             An American jihadist in Somalia.  "An English speaker with an American accent appears in a Jihadist video, laughing and talking about ambushing and killing Ethiopian and Somali soldiers." From The Age (thanks to JE) … .  Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025471.php .  AOL users: Click here.
           Melanie Phillips: "a lie which is now generally assumed in the west to be true … is driving the genocidal hysteria against Israel".  Melanie Phillips quotes extensively from "The Two-State Solution is 87 Years Old," an article by Victor Sharpe in the American Thinker, March 29. It is a superb and important piece, as she says, detailing Britain's long record of …   Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025470.php . AOL users: Click here. #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#pak_soldiers_re_aligning
    [Apr 2, 09]
    • [Economist and Canada awaken to Free Speech, death is victory, stabbing 7-y-o, right to kill 'pigs'] 

    [Economist and Canada awaken to Free Speech, death is victory, stabbing 7-y-o, right to kill ‘pigs’]

       Jihad Watch Digest, http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025468.php , E-mail, Friday, April 3, 2009
         Saudi religious police arrest famous actors because men and women were performing together.  And remember, there's no reason why we can't bring elements of the Sharia to the States! Sharia Alert from the Kingdom of the Two Holy Places: "Religious police arrest famous actors, because men and women were performing together," from AsiaNews, …   http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025506.php .
         Italian authorities carry out raids against "Islamist radicals" across country.  "The raids were carried out in properties around the northern cities of Vicenza, Venice, Padova, Brescia, Como, Cuneo and Trento, the central city of Florence and the southern city of Caserta." Eurabia Alert: "Misunderstanding" of Islam breaking out all over …  
       • CAIR demands reprimand of radio hosts who told the truth.  This is not the first time that Islamic groups have become outraged over what were essentially accurate statements about Islamic belief or practice. In Islamic law, the definition of slander doesn't involve falsehood.  The Shafi'i manual of Islamic law 'Umdat …  
         "Teach the children that death is honor and victory".  So says a Hamas TV show for kids, in this Palestinian Media Watch video (thanks to Hello Dave). Yet another example of Muslim children being taught Islamic peace and tolerance … . 
       • Why freedom of speech must include the right to "defame" religions.  Explained in, of all places, the generally hard-dhimmi Economist.  "The meaning of freedom: Why freedom of speech must include the right to 'defame' religions," from The Economist, April 2 (thanks to Elias):  AT FIRST glance, the resolution on "religious defamation" …  
           Canada grants asylum to Iranian couple who "angered authorities" by converting to Christianity.  "Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him," said the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (Bukhari 9.84.57).  Anti-dhimmitude from, of all places, Canada: "Iranian couple granted asylum: Christian faith angered authorities in Iran," by Doug Ward and Darah Hansen in the …  
           Judge says Afghan prisoners in Afghanistan can challenge their detention in U.S. civilian courts.  If this stands, it will make it impossible for the U.S. to wage war.  Soldiers will be afraid to take prisoners for fear of being tied up in lawsuits -- and given the experience with Litigation Jihad that American Muslim …  
           Obama bows to Saudi King.  Breach of protocol. "Americans do not bow to foreign monarchs because that act signified the monarch's power over his subjects."  "Obama bows down to Saudi King (updated)," by Clarice Feldman at The American Thinker, April 2 (thanks to Doc …  
         Child on Egyptian TV:  "This war will never be over. It will continue until the day comes when the stones and the trees say: "Oh Muslims, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him."  If the mainstream media takes any notice of this at all, which it almost certainly won't, it will present it as children learning "extremism."  But in reality there is nothing "extreme" about what they're saying -- almost all of …  
         Swat: New video reveals Taliban beating 17 year-old girl.  Watch the Times Online video and hear the girl howl.  Incidentally, this whipping is part of the same sharia law that the government of Pakistan -- not to mention the Obama administration -- have conceded to.  "Video: radicals beat girl, …  
         Egypt: "Villagers" burn Bahai homes, threaten death.  Aside from the ambiguity regarding the identity or motivation of these random "villagers," this report repeatedly misrepresents what's really going on in Egypt.  For instance, even though the Copts are systematically persecuted, this report presents their plight as "clashes" between …  
           "Pakistan has, over past several decades, been using terrorists as a strategic tool against India".  Friend and Ally Update:  a Congressional panel hears the truth about Pakistan's involvement in the jihad against India.  " 'Pak using terrorists as strategic tool against India,' " from ExpressIndia, April 2 (thanks to A.M.):  Pakistan has, over past several decades, been …  
         Dutch report concludes "radical imam" not a security threat.  Nothing threatening here.  Yet this is not a tale of total dhimmitude:  "Fraction chairman Roel Lauwerier says that his party didn't change it's point of view. 'Really, there is just one place where imam Salam belongs: with a one-way …  
           Pakistani government wants US to keep hands off its jihadi/terrorist component, ISI.  Which is why the Pakistani government demands "unconditional aid" from the U.S.  More on the Pakistani government's Taliban alliance.  "Pakistan wants US to keep hands off ISI," from the Times of India, March 31:  ISLAMABAD: Following the intense heat that the …  
           OBL surrogate: "Soon we will launch an attack in Washington that will amaze everyone in the world".  Jihadi "rising star".  "Terrorism experts … say his threat to carry out an attack in Washington should not be discounted."  Incidentally, back in December, the Pakistani army -- U.S. "friend and ally" -- declared that this same man was a "patriot." …  
         Episcopal Church defrocks "Muslim-Christian" priest.  Certainly not your traditional "priest".  And so the heretical Ann Holmes Redding saga has come to an end.  Yet lest you accuse the Episcopal church of turning its back on its trademark "liberalism" and "tolerance," consider the fate of …   http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025480.php .
         "You were wise, oh Hitler, to rid the world of some of these wild pigs".  Who said that?  Some pro-Israel European neofascist?  Some pro-Israel American cryptofascist neo-Nazi sympathizer?  No, this one doesn't come from the realm of mythical beasties -- this one is from a "poem" published by the Saudi poet Sa'd Al-Bawardi in the …   http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025493.php .
         Spencer: Sharia OK with Obama's Top Lawyer.  In Human Events today I discuss Harold Koh and the implications of his appointment:  President Obama has tabbed the former dean of Yale Law School, Harold Koh, to become the legal adviser for the State Department.  Among numerous questionable and …   Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025492.php . AOL users: Click here
           Israel: Axe-wielding jihadist kills teenager, stabs 7-year-old; Hamas says it's part of "resistance".  A "natural reaction," they said.  "Axe-wielding terrorist kills boy, 16, wounds 7-year-old," from the Jerusalem Post, April 2: An axe-wielding terrorist infiltrated the West Bank settlement of Bat Ayin Thursday afternoon, killing a 16-year-old boy after hitting him in the …  
           Chief Islamic cleric of Palestinian Authority: Death to those who sell land to Jews.  But they really sincerely want peace, deep down.  All the learned analysts tell us so.  "PA: Death to those who sell land to Jews," by Khaled Abu Toameh in the Jerusalem Post, April 1 (thanks to Vaughan):  The Palestinian Authority …   http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025490.php. #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#economist_and_canada
    [Apr 3, 09]
    • Germany's Merkel blasts Afghan law.     

    Germany’s Merkel blasts Afghan law

       Associated Press, http://hosted. ap.org/dynamic/ stories/E/ EU_ GERMANY_ AFGHANISTAN? SITE= OHCIN& SECTION= HOME& TEMPLATE= DEFAULT ; By GEIR MOULSON, Associated Press Writer, 10:25 AM EDT, Apr 6, 2009
       BERLIN and AFGHANISTAN (AP) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel pressed Afghanistan's president to review carefully a new law that critics say legalizes marital rape, a spokesman said Monday.
       Merkel was on a surprise visit to northern Afghanistan to meet German troops and view rebuilding efforts. Spokesman Thomas Steg said she did not plan talks with officials in Kabul, but had spoken by telephone with President Hamid Karzai on Sunday.
       During that conversation, Merkel "appealed urgently" to Karzai to review "very carefully" the much-criticized new law, intended to regulate family life inside Afghanistan's minority Shiite community, Steg said.
       Merkel "stressed … that this law does not correspond with the government's ideas and with her personal ideas regarding the equality of men and women," Steg said.
       Karzai said he would "occupy himself intensively with the issue," Steg told reporters.
       Under one article legislating the frequency of sexual relations between Shiite husbands and wives, husbands have the right to sex every fourth night unless the wife is ill. The United Nations Development Fund for Women has said the law legalizes the rape of a wife by her husband.
       On Saturday, responding to criticism that included sharp comments from President Barack Obama, Karzai ordered that the law be reviewed in consultation with scholars and religious leaders. Still, he complained that Western media outlets had mistranslated it.
       Merkel welcomed the announcement in comments published Sunday, saying it was "urgently needed."
       "NATO is not just a defense alliance; it is also a community of values," Merkel was quoted as saying in the Bild am Sonntag newspaper. Germany has 3,800 troops in the NATO-led security force in Afghanistan.
       The issue of women's rights is a source of tension between Afghanistan's conservative establishment and more liberal members of society.
       The Taliban government that ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 banned women from appearing in public without a body-covering burqa and a male escort from her family. Now, millions of girls attend school and many women own businesses.
       On Monday, Merkel and Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung visited a German base in the northern town in Kunduz and continued to Mazar-e-Sharif, Steg said at a regular government news conference.
       The German military said two rockets were fired at the Kunduz base after Merkel had left, but both landed outside the perimeter and caused no damage. Steg said Merkel had departed 20 minutes earlier.
       German troops in Afghanistan serve under a mandate from parliament that allows the deployment of a maximum 4,500 soldiers. Germany has said it will send 600 extra troops in the run-up to elections later this year. #
       [RECAPITULATION: The German military said two rockets were fired at the Kunduz base after Merkel had left, but both landed outside the perimeter and caused no damage. Steg said Merkel had departed 20 minutes earlier. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: Have any readers checked how much even ONE rocket costs?  Is there a rich nation that is PAYING for all these rockets, and other nations BUILDING and SELLING them?
       Now, what is this Western idea about EQUALITY of women?  Let us consult the Heavens. COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  4:34 (or 4:38):- Men are superior to women on account of the qualities with which Allah hath gifted the one above the other, and on account of the outlay they make from their substance for them. … DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  1, 6:301: […] The women asked, "O Allah's Apostle! What is deficient in our intelligence and religion?" He said, "Is not the evidence of two women equal to the witness of one man?" They replied in the affirmative.  He said, "This is the deficiency in her intelligence. Isn't it true that a woman can neither pray nor fast during her menses?" The women replied in the affirmative. He said, "This is the deficiency in her religion." < www.usc.edu/dept/ MSA/fundamentals/ hadithsunnah/ bukhari/006.sbt. html#001.006.301 > TRADITION ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#germany_s_merkel_blasts
    [Apr 6, 09]
    • [UK student visa suspects, Paki murder, Michigan stands firm, Iran charges U.S. reporter, Nevarda bows to veil, Obama to Turk mosque, Belgium has scarfless schoolgirls.] 

    [UK student visa suspects, Paki murder, Michigan stands firm, Iran charges U.S. reporter, Nevarda bows to veil, Obama to Turk mosque, Belgium has scarfless schoolgirls.]

       Jihad Watch Digest, director § jihadwatch org , Thursday, April 9, 2009
           "Most" of 12 arrested in U.K. counterterror sweep were from Pakistan on student visas.  An unsurprising update on this story. "Dozen anti-terror arrests made in Britain," from UPI, April 8: LONDON, April 8 (UPI) -- British authorities said Wednesday they arrested a dozen men in early counter-terrorism raids after a document about the investigations… http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025593.php .
           Somalia: Islamists rape, and impregnate, Canadian captive.  Desperately missing home And demand 2.5 million as ransom. Here's another arrangement: Instead of returning the Somali-Canadian terrorist just arrested back to Canada, Somalia can keep him and return in his stead these captive Canadians to Canada. Something of…
         Pakistani Christian man -- the "lowest of the low" -- murdered.  "Explaining the reason behind rising incidents of discrimination, abduction, forced conversion and rapes {and murders, of course} involving vulnerable segments of society," a human rights advocate in Pakistan said, "You can always expect occurrence of such incidents in presence of…
           Jews "must drink from the blood of Muslims, but mix it with soda water".  A Hamas TV program is depicting Jews as feeding on the blood of Muslims. A Jewish father tells his son: "In order to please God, Shimon, my son, I'd like to teach you something. You must hate the Muslims." Interestingly,…
           Pakistan insists on receiving "unconditional support" from U.S.  Its top officials are "irked" that the billions Obama has pledged in aid actually have strings attached -- probably conditions such as "this money is not to be given to the Taliban or al-Qaeda," and other unreasonable demands. To further…
         U.S. Defense Secretary: Obama outreach to Islamic world will pay dividends.  "This isn't a war against Islam, and I think that the president's communicating this message. I think the challenge for the rest of the government is to figure out how to do that on a more comprehensive and continuing basis."…
         Ten arrested for jihad plots amid blundering in UK.  Keystone Kops Alert from Absurd Britannia. Note that these suspected Al-Qaeda plotters are identified only as "men." Their guiding ideology and motivations are apparently irrelevant. "Ten arrested amid anti-terror blunder," by Gordon Rayner in the Telegraph, April 8 (thanks to… Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025591.php . AOL users: Click here
           White House says Obama didn't bow to the Saudi King.  Judge for yourself.  Libelblogger Charles Johnson of the once-worthwhile site Little Green Footballs, careless with the facts as ever, has claimed that Bush also bowed to the Islamic supremacist monarch. In reality, Bush didn't. But it is certainly true…
         Detroit anti-dhimmitude: Appeals court says Islamic divorce not legal in Michigan.  What's sauce for the Islamic goose is not sauce for the Michigander. "Mich. court overturns ruling in Muslim divorce," by Ed White for the Associated Press, April 8 (thanks to Islam In Action): DETROIT - Declaring "I divorce thee" three…
           Iran charges Iranian-American journalist with espionage.  When Obama issued his Nowruz message to Iran, it looked like appeasement. And now it is bearing the fruit of appeasement: increased bellicosity from the one being appeased. "Iran charges Iranian-American with espionage: report," from Reuters, April 8 (thanks to…
         Muslim girl gets $400,000 from Nevada school district in headscarf bully case.  $400,000 for schoolyard bullying -- and with no proof, and no description of the alleged threatener! Do you think Jana Elhifny had some high-priced legal support from Islamic advocacy groups? If she actually received any death threats, that is abominable,…
             Fitzgerald: Islam has "shaped the world for the better"?  According to some reports, Obama said yesterday that Islam has "shaped the world for the better." Did the "gift of the Arabs" to Iran make Iranian civilization better? Is it not truer to say that despite Islam, Iranian poets such…
               Biden warns Israel not to attack Iran.  Better to let them nuke Israel and be done with it, eh, Joe? "Biden warns Israel off any attack on Iran," by Paul Richter for the Los Angeles Times, April 8 (thanks to Errol Phillips): Reporting from Washington -- Vice…
             Obama wouldn't go to Normandy, but goes to Istanbul mosque.  Priorities. He wouldn't go to Normandy to avoid offending…Germans. And of course he wants to avoid offending Muslims also, so he went to the Blue Mosque. The signals are clear. "Obama ends Europe trip with tour of Istanbul mosque," by…
           Somali pirates hijack U.S. ship.  As we have shown here before, this piracy is jihad-related. What will Obama do? Offer to talk without preconditions with the pirates? "Somali pirates hijack U.S.-flagged container ship," by Daniel Wallis for Reuters, April 8 (thanks to all who sent…
         Spencer: Arab League Backs Darfur Genocide.  In my Human Events column today I discuss the Tiny Minority of Extremists who make up the Arab League, and other spokesmen in the Islamic world who have backed the Sudanese government's jihadist genocide in Darfur -- as well as…
           Australia hospital removes Christian symbols from chapel to avoid offending Muslims.  Even though the hospital already has a Muslim prayer room. Dhimmitude in Oz: "The chapel without a crucifix," by Paul Tatnell for the Mosman Daily, April 8 (thanks to Michelle): THE home of God at Royal North Shore hospital has… http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025576.php .
       •   Taliban threat to kill founder of jihadist website: Never mind.  For the moment: "The abduction of Ms. Giesbrecht, 53, has become a sensitive issue, and tribesmen of the embattled area are reluctant to speak on the matter openly." An update on this story. "Taliban militants shelve plans to kill Canadian…
           Somalia: Al-Shabab jihadist with Canadian passport held in plot to bomb rival faction.  Funny how things like this keep happening: They're "misunderstanding" Islam in Canada, too. "Canadian arrested in Somalia allegedly member of Islamist militia," by Stewart Bell for the National Post, April 7: TORONTO - A Canadian has been arrested in Somalia…
         Belgium: Top court upholds headscarf ban in schools.  Two schools prohibit "any type of head-covering or political or religious symbol." Any type: Everyone has to play by the same set of rules. Imagine that. "Belgium: Top court upholds headscarf ban in schools," from Adnkronos International, April 7: Brussels,… http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025573.php . #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#uk_student_visa
    [Apr 09, 09]
    • Our armchair jihadists     

    Our armchair jihadists

       From The Sunday Times (Britain), http://www. timesonline. co.uk/tol/ news/uk/ article 6077229.ece , April 12, 2009
       After being shot, Sami Yousafzai fled Pakistan for London, thinking he was escaping Islamic extremism. He was shocked by the menacing support for the Taliban he found here
       I still don't know who wanted me dead. I'd been sitting in my car one day last November, not far from my house in the northwest Pakistan city ofPeshawar, when a group of strangers walked up. One of them pointed a pistol through my window.
       I remember that he wore a turban and shalwar kameez – the tunic and baggy pants common in the area – and that he had a long beard, dyed red with henna.
       He shot me in the chest, hand and arm and then fled with his friends.
       Miraculously, none of the bullets hit any arteries or vital organs. As soon as a doctor had patched me up, I booked a flight to London, where I planned to lie low for a while to rest and seek further medical help for a bullet that was lodged in my arm.
       But more than that, I just wanted to be somewhere calm and safe, far from AK-toting gunmen, the suicide bombers and the daily, random violence of Pakistan's borderlands.
       My sense of relief at being in London didn't last long. In one of the city's many south Asian neighbourhoods I saw a tall young Afghan who reminded me of my would-be assassin, striding down the street like a bad dream. He, too, had a long beard and wore a shalwar kameez plus a big, loose turban of white silk.
       Anyone dressed like that in Islam-abad would immediately have been picked up for questioning by the police. I had flown halfway across the world to get away from killers who resembled this young Londoner. I stared after him until he was gone from view.
       But as the days passed I spotted him again and again. He stood out even in a neighbourhood full of Asians dressed in traditional garb. The locals had a nickname for him: "Talib Jan". It's a friendly Afghan slang term for a Taliban member, rather like GI Joe for Americans.
       The crowded, run-down terraced houses in this area and others like it have become home to hundreds of Afghans who arrived in England as fugitives from the Taliban's brutality. Nevertheless, most of Jan's neighbours spoke of him tolerantly or even approvingly.
       In fact, during my three-month stay in England I met a surprising number of Muslims who shared Jan's fascination with the Taliban. The older generation had little love for the extremists. But among some younger men, frustrated and marginalised in British society, I discovered a fury that was depressingly familiar.
       Many immigrants were blatant, vocal and unquestioning in their support for what they imagined to be "jihad". Few seemed troubled by the brutality that had characterised the reign of Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban leader, or by his banning of music or of education for girls.
       Indeed, many looked back on Omar's rule as a kind of Islamic utopia and eagerly snapped up the Islamist leaflets handed out after Friday prayers at various mosques.
       I introduced myself to Jan at one of those mosques and complimented him on his taste in clothes: that's how people dress back home in Afghanistan, I said. (I was born in northern Afghanistan; my family fled to Pakistan in 1979 to escape the Soviet invasion.)
       Despite his fierce appearance, Jan turned out to be friendly and outgoing. He listened with interest to my story, but mostly he talked about himself, his Islamist views, his fierce support for the Taliban and his contempt for the Brits and Americans fighting them.
       His vehemence surprised me. Now 23 years old, Jan had been born in eastern Afghanistan and attended a madrasah in Pakistan. The Taliban were still ruling Afghanistan when his parents paid a people-smuggler to sneak him to England at 14.
       There he applied for political asylum, claiming the Taliban had persecuted him and his family. Now, of course, he's a legal resident yet openly cheers for his supposed oppressors to defeat troops from his adopted homeland. The irony seems lost on him.
       In London he prowls the streets as a one-man, self-appointed morality patrol. He castigates any young Muslim couples whom he sees holding hands in public and he criticises acquaintances for shaping their beards into what he disapprovingly calls a "French cut" that frames the mouth.
       His diatribes can be frightening. Several young men told me they were afraid Jan had friends who could create problems for them or their relatives in Afghanistan or Pakistan. Some feared they might be disowned if Jan got word to their families about their "immoral" lives in London.
       At a neighbourhood restaurant one day, I noticed that my waiter looked miserable. Khalil, a clean-shaven, broad-shouldered young Afghan who wears a gold ring in one earlobe, told me that he'd been dumped a few days earlier by his girlfriend, a beautiful young Englishwoman.
       They'd been out walking when Talib Jan marched up and began denouncing Khalil, threatening to let his family back in Afghanistan know that their son was having a forbidden affair.
       The girl was frightened by Jan, but more than that, she was furious at Khalil for lying to her: he had told her he was Turkish. She told him they were through.
       Now Khalil worries that same routine will be repeated with every girl he meets. He's also convinced that Jan knows how to find his family in Afghanistan and can make big trouble for him there.
       "I wanted to marry that girl, but now I have no hope," he told me. "My family lives in the insecure countryside. If I go back and the Taliban know I have an English girlfriend, they will behead me."
       I asked if he thought Jan was a member of the Taliban. "No," Khalil answered. "He is not with the militias, but he is a big headache for every Afghan who knows him."
       As far as I can tell, Jan is an armchair jihadist. Certainly I saw no sign that he had direct ties to the Taliban, or that anyone was paying him to proselytise. On the contrary, he works hard to support himself with business deals – such as buying and selling used cars.
       I often found him in a little shop that sells mobile phones and watches. A crowd of young bearded men hang out there: more armchair jihadists.
       The shop's 35-year-old owner, a Pakistani from Peshawar, loves to show them the latest Taliban videos on his mobile phone, featuring beheadings of alleged antiTaliban "spies" and ambushes of US forces.
       When asked if he was worried the authorities might discover his collection of videos, he told me: "If our Taliban brothers can stand up to B-52 bombing and modern US war technology, it would be cowardly of me to be afraid to watch and share their heroic actions."
       The shopkeeper disturbed me: he is relatively well educated and a former banker, yet makes no secret of his Islamist leanings. Giving change, he avoids touching a woman's hand.
       He also claims that in his days as a radical religious student in Peshawar in the mid1990s, he and a group of friends murdered several prostitutes in what he calls a "moral cleansing drive". (This may or may not be true.) He warned me about speaking against the Taliban, even in London: people's loved ones at home could get hurt, he said darkly.
       Jan, too, is always glad to pull out his Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone and share videos of Taliban training camps and coalition convoys hit by IEDs. He even has Taliban ringtones – fire-and-brimstone sermons and Koranic recitals from jihadist mullahs. If you want copies, he'll transfer them to your phone or point you to the right website.
       "I'm winning converts to a holy cause every day," he says. As for the police, Jan says he's never had problems with them. They seem to regard him as a deeply religious man, he says, or at least as a harmless eccentric.
       In fact, Jan embodies a powerful need among many young Muslims in Britain to preserve a sense of identity in a foreign land.
       One 50-year-old engineer told me he worries constantly about his four children – particularly his two sons, aged 19 and 20. They seem addicted to internet porn, he says, but what scares him even more is the amount of time they spend on jihadist websites. He worries as well about extremist operatives who hang out at local mosques, trying to recruit young people to the Taliban cause.
       The appeal of extremism is especially strong for immigrants fed up with hard times and bigotry.
       In Birmingham I met an unemployed man from Kandahar who said he'd just lost his job and feared he wouldn't be able to feed his family.
       "If I get hit by a car or bus one day crossing the street, who will look after my family?" he asked. "It would be better for me to go and fight and die with the Taliban. Then at least I could see paradise."
       One 35-year-old British Muslim, an office worker, told me he was infuriated by widespread discrimination. He hadn't had a promotion in 10 years, he said, and he believes this is because he's an ardent Muslim who has a long beard and never joins his colleagues at the pub.
       "This kind of behaviour is what makes Muslims extremist," he said.
       Jan himself says most Britons look on him with "love and kindness", but others occasionally stare at him with "hate" and won't sit next to him on the train.
       Most of these young men, even Jan, will probably never give up their lives in Britain to join the jihad in Afghanistan. But something of that far-off fight, some tinge of blood and chaos and hatred, has certainly seeped into the streets of London.
       Alokozai, 27, arrived in the city a year ago after an arduous trip via the Afghans' underground network. He used to be an interpreter/fixer for British troops in Kandahar. The pay was excellent by Afghan standards – some $1,600 a month – but then the death threats began. His family's lives would be worthless unless he left his job, the anonymous letters warned.
       He quit. In Britain he applied for political asylum, thinking he had finally escaped the Taliban's wrath. Then the phone woke him one night at 3am. "Death angels will soon clutch at your throat," an Afghan voice warned. "Remember, we have Islamic brothers in the UK. Your family should not rest easy in Kandahar, either."
       He says he could only listen to the voice, too scared to say anything himself.
       Now Alokozai worries all the time. Too many Afghans in London sympathise with the Taliban, he says. He thinks many recent asylum seekers, especially those from southern Afghanistan, have ties to the Taliban and remain under the sway of extremist ideas. "They will create trouble for Britain in the near future," he predicts.
       Equally disturbing to him are the thoroughly assimilated Muslims, who also treat him like a traitor to his religion. When they find out he worked for British forces in Afghanistan, they ask him: "How many houses did you bomb?" And: "How many innocents did you kill?"
       "These people are as narrow-minded and have as much hate in their eyes as the Taliban do in Afghanistan," he says. "I cannot understand how these Afghans and Pakistanis can wear western clothes, dance and drink and then condemn me and see the Taliban as their heroes."
       Neither can I. On a train one day I met Owais, a 27-year-old Pakistani from Kashmir, who began praising the Taliban and talking seriously of going to live in Afghanistan after Mullah Omar returned to power.
       "My fervent wish is that, next winter, we may be able to breathe freely in the restored Islamic state of Afghanistan," he declared in Urdu.
       Here you can breathe freely, too, I told him.
       At this point his travelling companion butted in. "No, only in a true Islamic state can we be free," said Ishaq, a 25-year-old Afghan immigrant who was wearing a long white tunic over his jeans. "The West is destroying the spirit, soul and values of Islam. Muslims should avoid contact with the West."
       As I go home to my family, I too wonder and worry about such men. There is too much of Peshawar in them – and in London. #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#our_armchair_jihadists
    [Apr 12, 09]
    • Ghost in the terror machine.       

    Ghost in the terror machine

       From The Sunday Times (Britain), http://www. timesonline. co.uk/tol/ news/uk/ article 6078397.ece , by David Leppard, (Additional reporting: Kevin Dowling, Philip Cardy, Daud Khattak in Peshawar), April 12, 2009
       Last week's raids were the result of a long investigation into a wider campaign plotted by an Al-Qaeda chief before his apparent death
       Early last Wednesday evening, Phil Harrow, a blood service courier from Toxteth, Liverpool, was sitting in front of his computer in his living room, his attention occasionally distracted by the sounds of the local children playing football on the street outside his front window on Cedar Grove.
       At about 5.30pm, the peace was shattered and the children scattered in terror. "Eight armed officers, dressed in black from head to toe and wearing body armour and ski masks, jumped from an unmarked white van, screamed at the children to get out of the street and battered their way into the house two doors down from mine," recalled Harrow.
       Within minutes three unmarked police cars and four large yellow police vans had cordoned off the street and about 30 more officers were shouting at residents to stay indoors with their doors and windows shut.
       Three Asian men were arrested and quickly driven off. The officers also took away a blue Nissan Micra and a black Vauxhall Corsa after neighbours told them the vehicles belonged to the men.
       It was a pattern repeated across the city and the northwest of England as police swooped simultaneously as part of Operation Pathway, which was targeting an alleged Al-Qaeda-driven terror plot aimed at unspecified targets in Britain.
       Elsewhere in Liverpool, a man was hauled out of a flat above an off-licence on Earle Road, Wavertree, about half a mile from Cedar Grove. At Liverpool John Moores University across the city, a student was dragged from the library and arrested.
       In Manchester two men were picked up in a flat in the Cheetham Hill area, another couple were seized in a cybercafe and a fifth man was arrested on the M602 motorway. Two other men were held in Clitheroe, Lancashire, where they had been staying at a local B&B.
       The arrest of the 12 men – 11 Pakistanis and one Briton – had been rushed forward because of a career-ending blunder earlier that day by Bob Quick, the Metropolitan police assistant commissioner who was Britain's chief anti-terror officer.
       Quick had been running late for a morning meeting with Gordon Brown at No 10, at which he was to tell the prime minister about the raids which had been planned for 6am the next day. In the taxi on the way, he was reading a document headed Secret: Briefing Note Operation Pathway. Quick was in such a rush that he forgot to put the document back in its buff folder before he got out of the cab.
       A photographer snatched a picture of the document which was then transmitted to media outlets around the world. The operation had to be hastily brought forward by 12 hours.
       Thankfully, Quick's error had serious consequences only for himself – he resigned on Thursday morning – but it added unnecessary drama and danger to an operation that had already been a close-run thing – and which security sources fear is part of a much bigger threat.
       THE trail to the Manchester raids is thought to have begun last December with the arrest of 14 suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists by Belgian police.

       Officials believed a suicide bombing aimed at a two-day summit of European leaders, including Brown, was imminent after learning that one of the suspects had received a green light from his paymasters abroad.
       During their detention, few of the men were prepared to co-operate with the Belgian authorities but one – whose identity remains a closely guarded secret – was willing to talk. In a series of interviews he described how he had been personally "tasked" to carry out a suicide attack in Belgium. His instructor was Rashid Rauf, a fugitive on the run from British police in Pakistan.
       The would-be suicide bomber said that the Belgian plot was just one of a number of large-scale attacks that Rauf had planned across Europe. The targets were unidentified cities in Belgium, France, Holland and the UK.
       Interviewed later by a member of MI5, the supergrass said that all he knew was that Rauf had dispatched a mastermind – whose pseudonym he gave – to a British city to make preparations for an attack. His tip-off was vague but it sparked one of the largest manhunts in MI5's recent history.
       Rauf, who was born in Pakistan but was brought up in the Midlands, has already been linked to a series of alleged high-profile Islamist terror plots, including the failed July 21 suicide bomb plot that targeted London in 2005.
       Despite this known track record, Rauf's real importance had been underestimated. About four years ago he became Al-Qaeda's director of European operations.
       Last November Rauf was reportedly killed when three American Hellfire missiles from a CIA predator drone destroyed a mud-built bungalow in a village in North Waziristan, in the lawless tribal lands that span the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
       Aerial photographs taken by the Americans after the missile strike show a body, originally thought to be Rauf's, covered in a shroud being carried from the rubble. But original assessments that he is dead have been revised. "There is nothing definitely to say he's actually dead," said a senior western intelligence official last week.
       "It may take a long time to find out. We honestly don't know."
       Pakistani intelligence officials remain convinced that he was killed in the strike.
       A few months earlier Rauf had sent several cells to Europe to carry out a series of linked attacks which were driven by Al-Qaeda's hatred for Barack Obama – "a house negro" as Osama Bin Laden's deputy has called him. Informed sources said it is now believed that the alleged northwest cell was part of this Europe-wide network.
       The suspected members of the northwest cell had first came to the attention of MI5 about two months after the thwarted Brussels attack in December.

       At any given time MI5 monitors about 2,000 people in Britain who form an estimated 230 networks suspected of links to violent extremism. Each individual is subject to a sliding scale of monitoring depending on the agency's assessment of the threat they pose and how close they are thought to be to "attack planning".
       Each week a committee of senior MI5 officials meet at the agency's headquarters in Westminster to review the status of each operation, upgrading and downgrading different investigations as appropriate.
       Well placed officials say the alleged northwest cell had been the subject of investigation for several weeks since January. About a month ago that was suddenly stepped up after fresh information indicated that the members of the cell might be serious about attack planning. Operation Pathway was moved to the top of MI5's priority list. Hundreds of police and MI5 officers were assigned to the investigation.
       A number of suspects, many of them Pakistanis on student visas, were put under full-time surveillance. Their homes were bugged, their telephone calls were intercepted and they were followed night and day by officers from MI5's A4 surveillance division.
       This department specialises in covert surveillance. At terror camps in Afghanistan and the tribal areas of northwest Pakistan, Al-Qaeda terrorist recruits are routinely trained in counter-surveillance tactics. This can include switching back on their route, stopping suddenly in the street and generally being aware of everybody around them.
       To circumvent this, MI5 employs people who look the opposite of the stereotypical spy. The agency has at its disposal an army of elderly women – many in their sixties and seventies – and young mothers with babies in prams.
       There is also a range of James Bond-style devices which are the agency's most closely guarded secrets. It is rumoured, for example, that MI5 has developed a colourless chemical which is "painted" on a suspect's clothing or shoes during a covert entry of the suspect's home while he or she is out. The suspect will then leave a trace of the chemical wherever he goes, allowing a trained MI5 dog to follow his trail.
       It is not known whether any of these tactics were used in Operation Pathway. But about a fortnight ago surveillance officers reported that the suspects had been taking photographs of four locations in Manchester. These included the Arndale shopping centre, the smart shopping area of St Ann's Square, the Trafford shopping centre and the Birdcage nightclub.
       Critically, their e-mails were monitored – a highly sensitive task usually assigned in such operations to technical experts at GCHQ, the government's eavesdropping agency at Cheltenham.
       The turning point came about a week ago when a series of e-mails thought to have been received by at least one of the suspects indicated a specific timeframe for the alleged plot. The e-mails suggested that the cell had moved into the stage of attack planning. They showed a "window" for a possible attack of about five or six days from Good Friday. "Dates around the Easter holiday were mentioned," one senior police source said this weekend.
       Yet there remained serious gaps in the Pathway investigation. Despite the photographs, police say they had no definite evidence of the planned target. Neither had Pathway uncovered any evidence that the suspects had acquired explosives, arms or ammunition.
       There was no indication, either, as to whether the planned operation was a suicide attack, or how many of those arrested would be directly involved and which of them were simply supplying logistical support such as purchasing materials or acting as drivers and reconnaissance scouts.

       For MI5 officers running Pathway from the agency's Northern Operations Centre (opened amid great secrecy last year in a northern city), these were good reasons to watch and wait. But the risks of letting the suspects run overrode that.
       "There is always a challenge to balance the need to gather more intelligence with the need to protect the public. There was clear intent and signs of organisation, very clearly something was going on, so we acted to protect the public," said a security source.
       Early last week senior police and MI5 officers met at Scotland Yard and agreed that the suspected members of the cell should be arrested. The date for "executive action" was set for 6am last Thursday when the suspects would almost certainly be at home and asleep. But then came Quick's unwitting intervention.
       AS the police questioning of the arrested men continues at three separate locations, few details have emerged of their lives in Britain. Neighbours in Liverpool spoke last week of cars coming and going from addresses late at night and the playing of loud Islamic music from a flat occupied by one of the men, but the suspects appear to have had little interaction with people other than at work.
       Two of the men worked as security guards at the Homebase DIY store in Clitheroe, but had been there for only two weeks. Two more were believed to have worked as contractors for Cargo2go, a delivery firm based at Manchester airport, because one of the men was driving one of the company's vans when he was arrested.
       However, Ian Southworth, a director, said yesterday that he was mystified at the suggestion. "All our drivers are owner-drivers. It could be a driver that used to work for us that's left and sold the vehicle and the logo's still on it, or it could have been a lost or stolen vehicle," he said.
       A number of the 11 Pakistanis arrested were from the tribal areas and had been admitted to Britain on student visas.
       This has stoked up a political row, with Islamabad and Downing Street trading blows over who was responsible for lax checks on immigrants, especially those entering Britain on student visas which are notoriously abused.
       Gordon Brown said Pakistan "has to do more to root out terrorist elements in its country". The prime minister had said previously that two out of three terror plots uncovered by MI5 and police were hatched in Pakistan. But Wajid Shamsul Hasan, the Pakistan high commissioner, retaliated by saying the problem was "at your end".
       This weekend a senior immigration judge dismissed as "bluster" claims by Phil Woolas, the Home Officer minister, that the system for checking student visas had been recently tightened up and was "one of the best in the world".
       The judge pointed to the six-month closure, on security grounds, of the main visa office at the British high commission in Islamabad, which meant that cases were being channelled through an outpost in Abu Dhabi, 1,300 miles away. He said that at 50% of the appeals, by those on student visas refused entry to Britain, there was no Home Office representation. In many cases the only documentation produced as evidence was that provided by the appellant, "which can often be forged or inadequate", said the judge.
       His comments were echoed by John Tincey, chairman of the Immigration Service Union which represents border staff, who said that the proposed introduction of the e-borders system involving automated checks on visitors was fraught with danger.
       "Foreign nationals could be allowed into Britain without being interviewed by an immigration officer," he said.
       "There is real danger that our immigration controls will be able to catch only those who are already known to the authorities and will be helpless to detect first-time terrorists and illegal immigrants."
       Chris Grayling, the shadow home secretary, said: "This is a completely shambolic system."
       THE arguments about the immigration system will continue for some time but this weekend the police priority was the continuing search of 10 properties in Manchester and Liverpool.
       Yesterday police released an 18-year-old, the youngest of the suspects, into the custody of the UK Border Agency. They have 28 days to hold the 11 other men, who are aged between 22 and 41, before either charging them or releasing them.
       The fate of Operation Pathway will hinge on whether they can gather enough evidence from the interviews and seized property for prosecutors to press charges.
       Rauf's plans for Europe-wide attacks leave intelligence agencies rushing to locate and defuse a group of ticking timebombs. Whether he is dead or alive, those ticking bombs are his real legacy.
       Additional reporting: Kevin Dowling, Philip Cardy, Daud Khattak in Peshawar #
       [RECAPITULATION: Officials believed a suicide bombing aimed at a two-day summit of European leaders, including Brown, was imminent after learning that one of the suspects had received a green light from his paymasters abroad. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#ghost_in_the
    [Apr 12, 09]
    • The student visa warning signs.   

    The student visa warning signs

       From The Sunday Times (Britain), http://www. timesonline. co.uk/tol/ news/uk/ article 6078475.ece , by Steve Moxon, April 12, 2009
       The controvery surrounding student visas is anything but a revelation – especially to ministers like Phil Woolas, who have had their noses rubbed in this issue for the past five years.
       This was after I, acting as a whistleblower, exposed dubious practices in the Home Office's Managed Migration division in The Sunday Times in 2004.
       The most ridiculous aspect of processing the great floods of student visas was, and is, the ubiquity of the bogus college.
       We caseworkers observed that very many, if not most, of the English language schools the supposed students said they were to attend were obvious fraudulent set-ups.
       The abuse is rife because it's so very easy to do and get away with. You can hide among the sheer volume of students, and sign up to a course - real or fake - for a very low fee.
       My own reaction to this was to run a cursory check on the supposed college: just to ring it up and/or to check if it had a website.
       To my amazement the reaction of my team leader was a written reprimand delivered in an official meeting that: "making in-depth inquiries is not the job of caseworkers".
       You always won not appreciation but opprobrium for any initiative to actually administer according to the law.
       Ex-caseworking colleagues of mine who remain in situ tell me that still they are not allowed to refuse to grant more than a tiny percentage of applications, irrespective of how meritless they may be.
       Exceed this quota, and you face a dressing-down by your manager, pending disciplinary action.
       Staff are also still told by senior caseworkers that they must not refuse an application if there is any risk of the would-be migrant appealing the decision. Most of the legally required evidence to support an application is still not checked.
       I vividly recall that even if the address of a supposed student applying for an extension was not their residential address: this giveaway indication of fraud had to be ignored; as was anything at all about a "sponsor".
       A "sponsor" could write in Chinese or Urdu, and untranslated it would be deemed supporting evidence.
       Of all people, ministers cannot pretend they're only now becoming aware of the student visa problem. It's a matter of public record that could hardly be more prominent. But then this has never stopped ministers feigning ignorance about anything when it suits them.
       Steve Moxon is a former immigration service civil servant #
       [COMMENT: Australia, and presumably the U.S.A., Canada, New Zealand, European Union, have similar laughable "laws" about student visas.  One could ask, if Islam is really Allah's way, what else is worth learning?  Or, why not stay in one's homeland to study, if other studies are of interest? COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#the_student_visa
    [Apr 12, 09]
    • Somali militants fire at U.S. lawmaker.     

    Somali militants fire at U.S. lawmaker

       Reuters, http://www. reuters.com/ article/ worldNews/ idUSTRE53A1 LP20090414 , By Abdi Sheikh and Abdi Guled, 9:21pm EDT, Mon Apr 13, 2009
       MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Somalia's militant Islamist rebel group al Shabaab said Monday it fired mortars at a plane carrying a U.S. lawmaker, a day after U.S. snipers killed three Somali pirates and freed the American ship captain they had been holding hostage.
       An al Shabaab spokesman said his group fired at the plane carrying Representative Donald Payne as he left the anarchic Horn of Africa country following a rare one-day visit by a U.S. official. Payne's plane took off safely and no-one was hurt.
       The successful rescue of Captain Richard Phillips, who had been held by pirates for five days in a drifting lifeboat after their attempt to hijack the U.S.-flagged container ship Maersk Alabama failed, was hailed in the United States as a "feel-good" story that temporarily lifted the country's spirits in gloomy economic times.
       Three U.S. snipers each fired a single shot virtually simultaneously, each killing his target. A fourth pirate was captured alive.
       The successful conclusion boosted President Barack Obama, who had authorized the U.S. navy to use force if the commander on the spot felt Phillips's life was in danger.
       Obama, in brief comments Monday, called Phillips a hero and reiterated that he was resolved to work with other countries to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia.
       "We're going to have to continue to work with our partners to prevent future attacks," Obama said. "We have to continue to be prepared to confront them when they arise."
       More than 250 hostages of many nationalities are still being held along the Somali coast by pirates who have seized dozens of vessels, from tankers to yachts, in recent months.
       Helicopters once again flew over pirate bases near Eyl on the Somali coast overnight after Phillips' rescue.
       "They killed our friends on the lifeboat and we thought helicopters would bomb us in Eyl last night," a pirate in Eyl, who called himself Farah, told Reuters.
       "We were mourning for dead friends and then roaring planes came -- grief upon grief. America has become our new enemy."
       Al Shabaab, which condemns both piracy and anti-piracy patrols by international navies off Somalia, said the attack on Payne's plane was a message to the United States but did not directly link it to the hostage issue.
    ENCOURAGE PROSECUTION
       State Department spokesman Robert Wood said Washington was encouraging states to prosecute suspected pirates and working with the shipping industry to avoid future hijacks. He cautioned that the problem would not be solved overnight.
       Responding to threats by the pirates to kill foreign hostages in retaliation for the rescue, Wood said: "These folks are bandits. They're lawless."  Continued …
       Phillips was the first American taken by pirates who have plundered ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean for years.
       The U.S. Navy said the decision to shoot his kidnappers was a split-second one, taken because he appeared to be in imminent danger.
       "They were pointing the AK-47s at the captain," Vice Admiral William Gortney, head of the U.S. Naval Central Command, said.
       Phillips contacted his family after the rescue, received a medical check, and rested aboard the USS Boxer.
       His crew set off flares, hoisted an American flag and jumped for joy at the news of their captain's rescue. They called on Obama to take the lead in combating piracy.
       The Maersk Alabama, carrying food aid for the region, was attacked far out in the Indian Ocean Wednesday, but its 20 American crew regained control. Phillips volunteered to go with the pirates in a lifeboat in exchange for the crew's safety.
       So far, pirates have generally treated hostages well, sometimes roasting goat meat for them and even letting them phone loved ones. The worst violence has been the occasional beating. No hostages are known to have been killed by pirates.
       (Writing by Alan Elsner. Additional reporting by David Morgan and Randall Mikkelsen in Washington, Abdi Sheikh and Ibrahim Mohamed in Mogadishu, Jack Kimball, Celestine Achieng and Njuwa Maina in Mombasa, Andrew Cawthorne and Abdiaziz Hassan in Nairobi, Abdiqani Hassan in Garowe; editing by Andrew Roche and Frances Kerry) © #
       [COMMENT: Ask yourself: Who SELLS the weapons that are fired towards such people as the United States politician, Representative Donald Payne, and the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel?  Are the MAKERS and SELLERS people of "Middle Eastern appearance," or are they more likely to have light skins, hair, and eyes?  Think!  Who profits?  Could it be the "military-industrial complex" that President Eisenhower warned Americans about decades ago?
       Unbelievable?  How come that the pirates have been operating for years, getting millions of dollars in ransom, in a high-tech world with satellites taking continuous pictures of everything on earth? COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  47:4:- Therefore, when ye meet the Unbelievers, smite at their necks; at length, when ye have thoroughly subdued them, bind firmly: therefore either generosity or ransom …
       48:18-19:- … Allah … the believers … He … rewarded them with a speedy victory, And with the rich booty which they took … < www.usc.edu/ dept/MSA/ quran/048. qmt.html #048.018 > DOCTRINE ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#somali_militants_fire
    [Apr 13, 09]
    • Legislator shot dead by Taliban.  [- Mrs Sitara Achikzai martyred by Koranists.  Taliban accept responsibility.]  

    Legislator shot dead by Taliban

          The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , letters § wanews com au , p 33, Tuesday, April 14, 2009
      [Picture] Voice silenced: Provincial legislator and high school teacher Sitara Achikzai was shot dead outside her Kandahar home on Sunday.    Picture: Agence France-Presse  
       KABUL – Taliban gunmen on motorcycles gunned down a woman provincial legislator on Sunday as authorities said they had killed 40 more Taliban in their battle to defeat the extremists.
       Sitara Achikzai, a high school teacher and women's rights activist in her 50s, was shot dead outside her home in the volatile southern city of Kandahar, head of the council Ahmad Wali Karzai said.
       "She has been martyred by two men on motorbikes and the case is being investigated," Mr Karzai, brother of President Hamid Karzai, said.
       Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said his militia was responsible. Ms Achikzai was killed because she did not have a "good background", he said. He did not explain what this meant.
       She had returned from years of exile in Germany with her husband, a doctor and university lecturer, to work in the city, provincial governor Turyalai Wesa said, describing her as a "brave woman".
       "They left their family, their children and their comfortable life behind in the West and came to Kandahar to live with their people and to serve their people," he said. The couple had a son and a daughter in Germany.
       Provincial police chief Mutaiullah Kate said Ms Achikzai's lone unarmed bodyguard reported there were four gunmen on two motorcycles. "Members of the provincial council are allowed five bodyguards each but I don't know why they don't use them," he said.
       The Taliban, who had restrictive policies against women when they were in government between 1996 and 2001, including barring them from work outside of the home, have carried out similar killings in Kandahar. They admitted shooting dead the country's highest-profile female police officer in the city last year and are suspected of killing the head of the provincial women's affairs department in 2006.
       The fundamentalists also were blamed for an attack in Kandahar in November in which acid was sprayed into the faces of schoolgirls.
       Provincial councils are elected authorities that act as provincial parliaments and are a key facet of the war-torn country's attempts to install democracy after the ousting of the Taliban government.
       Kandahar province, where the Taliban rose as a militia in the early 1990s, had three women on its provincial council. One, Zarghona Kakar, survived a murder bid two years ago in which her husband was killed.
       On Sunday, security forces reported that they had killed 40 Taliban militants in battles at the weekend. #
       [RECAPITULATION: The Taliban … have carried out similar killings in Kandahar. They admitted shooting dead the country's highest-profile female police officer in the city last year and are suspected of killing the head of the provincial women's affairs department in 2006.
       The fundamentalists also were blamed for an attack in Kandahar in November in which acid was sprayed into the faces of schoolgirls. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: The Taliban were people trained in Pakistan madrassas teaching the use of modern arms and Islam based on the texts, such as the obedient-woman teaching of the Koran 4:34 (or 4:38), plus the "Paradise" doctrine for fighters who die for Allah.  These schools were paid for by the USA and the UK, possibly with other countries' help.  To those who organised such schools, fanaticism looked good when it was planned to use them to remove the Soviet armed forces from Afghanistan.  But history ought to show that it is not right to deceive people, even patriots.  This evil training is now blowing back in the faces of those who planned it, and other people -- including Muslims, 50 per cent of whom are the first victims of such teachings. COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#legislator_shot_dead
    [Apr 14, 09]
    • Afghan cleric defends marriage law.  [Ayatollah Mohammad Asif Mohseni sticks to Allah's prescription for rape.]  

    Afghan cleric defends marriage law

       The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , letters § wanews com au , p 33, Tuesday, April 14, 2009
       AFGHANISTAN – A key backer of an Afghan law that critics say legalises marital rape and rolls back women's rights has rejected an international outcry as foreign meddling and has insisted the law offers women many protections.
       The law, passed last month, says a husband can demand sex with his wife every four days unless she is ill or would be harmed by intercourse, and regulates when and for what reasons a wife may leave her home alone.
       "It is essential for the woman to submit to the man's sexual desire," the law says.
       The legislation has raised the spectre of the deposed hardline Taliban regime, which fell in 2001 after the US invaded Afghanistan. The Taliban required women to wear all-covering burqas and banned them from leaving home without a male relative.
      [Picture] Defiant: Ayatollah Mohammad Asif Mohseni stands by the law.    Picture: Reuters  
       Following an international uproar over the new law, which US President Barack Obama called "abhorrent", Afghan President Hamid Karzai put it under review. The move put enforcement on hold.
       Mohammad Asif Mohseni, a top Afghan cleric and one of the law's main authors, said that the legislation could not be revoked or changed because it was enacted through a legislative process.
       "The Westerners claim that they have brought democracy to Afghanistan," Ayatollah Mohseni said. "What does democracy mean? It means government by the people for the people. They should let the people use these democratic rights."
       Surrounded by supporters, he unfurled reams of paper with hundreds of women's signatures and thumbprints backing the law.
       The legislation was drafted after three years of debate and revision involving Islamic scholars and MPs, Ayatollah Mohseni said.
       He said the law simply reiterated rules from the Koran, Islam's holy book.
       Earlier this week, dozens of Afghan MPs and officials condemned the legislation, saying it encouraged a return to Talibanisation. #
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah): 
       33:51:- You may put off any of your wives you please and take to your bed any of them you please.  Nor is it unlawful for you to receive any of those whom you have temporarily set aside. … DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  Sahih Bukhari's 6, 60:139:-… the Prophet … thenceforth … allowed us to marry a woman (temporarily) by giving her even a garment, and then he recited: "O you who believe! Do not make unlawful the good things which Allah has made lawful for you."
       Sahih Muslim's, Book 008, Number 3371:- … We went out with Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) on the expedition to the Bi'l-Mustaliq and took captive some excellent Arab women; and we desired them, for we were suffering from the absence of our wives, (but at the same time) we also desired ransom for them.  So we decided to have sexual intercourse with them but by observing 'azl (Withdrawing the male sexual organ before emission of semen to avoid conception). …
       Sahih Muslim's, Book 008, Number 3383:- Jabir (Allah be pleased with him) reported that a man came to Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) and said:  I have a slave-girl who is our servant and she carries water for us and I have intercourse with her, but I do not want her to conceive.  He said: Practise 'azl, if you so like … TRADITION ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#afghan_cleric_defends
    [Apr 14, 09]
    • Taleban 'shoot eloping couple dead' outside mosque in Afghanistan   

    Taleban ‘shoot eloping couple dead’ outside mosque in Afghanistan

       The Times Online (London), http://www. timesonline. co.uk/tol/ news/world/ asia/article 6092631.ece , by Tom Coghlan, April 14, 2009
       Taleban militants murdered a young couple trying to elope in southwestern Afghanistan after accusing them of immoral acts, local Afghan officials reported today.
       The incident occurred in Nimroz Province, a bleak desert region on the Iranian border. The governor of the province, Ghulam Dastagir Azad, said that the couple, an unnamed girl of 19 and a man of 21, were condemned by a council of clerics and shot by firing squad. He called the killing an "insult to Islam".
       "An unmarried young boy and an unmarried girl who loved each other and wanted to get married had eloped because their families would not approve the marriage," he said.
       Nimroz lies largely outside government control, and officials offered limited and sometimes varying details of the couple's last hours.
       Sadiq Chakhansori, the chief of Nimroz's provincial council, said that the pair attempted to flee to Iran, where several million Afghan refugees take up low-paid jobs.
       However, their families were reported to have dispatched gunmen to pursue them, said Mr Chakhansori, and they were caught. Reports differ over whether the families turned them over to local Taleban voluntarily or the Taleban took them by force.
       "Three Taleban mullahs brought them to the local mosque and they passed a fatwa that they must be killed. They were shot and killed in front of the mosque in public," the governor said.
       The couple were shot in the remote district of Khash Rod yesterday, said the provincial council chief. The Nimroz police chief, Jabar Pardeli, said that the Government had no access to the area.
       Elopements are regarded as deeply damaging to family honour across Afghan society and murders of women by male relatives are frequently reported. In this instance it is not clear whether the families were complicit in the murders.
       Even in government-held areas killings in which there is a clear honour motive are rarely investigated. #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#taleban_shoot_eloping
    [Apr 14, 09]
    • [Shredding society, mortars at lawmaker, nine ships this month, harmony, daughter-killers charged, kidnap couple freed.] 

    [Shredding society, mortars at lawmaker, nine ships this month, harmony, daughter-killers charged, kidnap couple freed.]

         The West Australian, Various pages, Wednesday, April 15, 2009
       Page 5.

    People smugglers 'getting smarter'

          CANBERRA: People smugglers are getting smarter, and international co-operation is vital, Rudd Government ministers have conceded.  Three boats carrying 147 people arrived in the past two weeks.  Ministers are in Bali for a summit on people smuggling and other international crime.
       Page 22.

    [Colluding to break up European society.]

        Letter: The excellent letter from [name] (New arrival no surprise, 11/4) cuts right through the political spin, deception and camouflage surrounding asylum seekers.
       Unfortunately, Federal politicians will continue the blame game and petty point-scoring designed to mask their total inactivity.
       If anything, they collude to devise new schemes and scams to admit more and more immigrants from non-European source.
       The whole political apparatus seems to be dedicated to the break-up and transformation of Christian European society, apparently to appease globalists and unelected international agencies.
       [COMMENT: But, we Australians want multiculturalism, so that we can take hostages for ransom, blow up people praying in mosques and the like, and kill any family member who misbehaves, as part of our cultural heritage and traditions, don't we?  Not! COMMENT ENDS.]
       Page 22.

    We disagree: Always be cautious.

        Letter: I read with great trepidation the words written by Bartek Klimczak regarding the "asylum seekers" (Letters, 11/4) whereby The West Australian is taken to task for daring to publish a report (Delivered to our doorstep, 9/4) on its front-page showing how easy it was for these "new arrivals" to slip into our waters undetected by the so-called Federal Government's security.
       Mr Klimczak's words are distasteful when he writes about "the vast majority of self-absorbed, lazy, dare I use the word Australians, whose idea of a true Australian is to close the borders to breed a master race of white, over-paid, middle-class bogans".
       These words are a disgrace from someone who purports to be an immigrant and yet sees his fellow Australian as "self-absorbed and lazy".
       We live in very dangerous times. Our young Australians are being injured and killed in the very countries these "asylum seekers" are coming from and without a doubt are fully conversant with the new Rudd Labor Government and how the rules have been changed.
       There are those who seem to see the world through rose-coloured glasses.  There has to be only one person on each of these boats who could possibly do harm to Australia and that is one person too many.  We must always be cautious.
       When women and children have been placed on these boats it does not become a "humanitarian" issue, it becomes a quick way to get around our welfare system whereby they are also given homes to live in well before those who have waited for years to obtain them – people who are not "white, over-paid, middle-class bogans."  They also deserve to be looked after.
       Page 22.

    We disagree: why so ungrateful?

        Letter: Bartek Klimczak should feel lucky to be here in Australia, to be able to express his feelings in a country that has the right to free speech. But to chide and denigrate others who have the same right is the easiest way to reveal himself as ungrateful for the opportunity of making a life here.
       Hypocrisy or ungratefulness? Mr Klimczak, you have displayed both, so be ashamed of both. But don't assume that you are better than others because you made an effort with yourself. That is what you are supposed to do. L. Ford, St James.
       Page 30.

    Iran says it is ready to help train Afghan police.

              IRAN: Iran is prepared to join the international effort to train Afghanistan's police force, Iranian authorities say.
       "We have announced our readiness to train the Afghan police," national police chief Esmaeel Ahmadi-Moghadam said.  But there had been no talks with NATO on "direct co-operation with foreign forces in Afghanistan," he said.
       The US had made overtures to Iran in a bid to include Afghanistan's powerful neighbour in a new strategy to defeat the Afghan insurgency. TELEGRAPH GROUP, LONDON
       [COMMENT: Top marks for a good sense of humour to Iran's top cop! COMMENT ENDS.]
       Page 32.

    Congressman gets a hot send-off.

          MOGADISHU -- Insurgents fired mortar rounds at a plane carrying a US congressman as he left the Somalian capital, Mogadishu, marking a dramatic end to the first visit by a US official to the volatile city in years.
       Donald Payne, a New Jersey Democrat, flew into Mogadishu on Monday flanked by armed bodyguards and drove around the bomb-blasted seaside city.
       He met newly-elected President Sharif Ahmed, a moderate Islamist, and other Somalian officials.
       As the privately chartered plane took off from the airport hours later, insurgents fired mortar rounds at it.
      [Picture] Relieved: Donald Payne  
       The shells killed at least five Somalian civilians, according to Mogadishu residents.
       Insurgent group al-Shabab, which has ties to al-Qaida, claimed responsibility for the attack.
       "It was not exactly a typical day in the life," Mr Payne said. "But we felt it was safe enough to go in. We have no regrets about going in."
       The visit, which had been planned for weeks, occurred at the same time as the high seas military operation that freed a US captain held hostage by Somalian pirates in the Indian Ocean for five days.
       In what appeared to many Somalis as a bewildering show of force against four young men, US navy snipers killed three of the pirates.
       Mr Payne said Somalia's fragile transitional Government supported the action. #
       [RECAPITULATION: In what appeared to many Somalis as a bewildering show of force against four young men, US navy snipers killed three of the pirates. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: If seizing ships and demanding ransom is part of the culture / religion, of course such people would be "bewildered" if three out of four criminals were shot dead.  But if the pirates had been in charge of a warship, how many "young men" and others would have been murdered?  Seizing land and date-palms, making war on unbelievers and hypocrites, taking prisoners, demanding ransom, and raping prisoners are all reported approvingly in Islam's early history. ENDS.]
       Page 32.

    Bold Somalian pirates strike back, seizing Greek vessel.

                NAIROBI – Somalian pirates have seized a Greek merchant ship, showing no signs of halting their attacks despite losing five of their men in robust rescue operations by the French and US navies.
       Pirates snatched yesterday the MV Irene, a Greek-operated merchant vessel flagged in St Vincent and the Grenadines, in at least the ninth hijacking in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean since the start of the month.
       "It's a Greek ship, it was seized early today," Andrew Mwangura, from the Kenya-based East African Seafarers Assistance Program, said.
       The 35,000-tonne bulk carrier was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden, the European Union's naval mission said. Its 22 Filipino crew is believed to be safe.
       On Monday, the head of the group that seized the US ship Maersk Alabama vowed to retaliate for the deaths of three pirates in the military operation which rescued an American captain held on a lifeboat at the weekend.
       "The American liars have killed our friends after they agreed to free the hostage without ransom … this matter will lead to retaliation and we will hunt down particularly American citizens travelling our waters," Abdi Garad said from the pirate lair of Eyl.
       "We will intensify our attacks even reaching very far away from Somalia waters and, next time we get American citizens, they should expect no mercy from us."
       The captain of the US ship was saved when navy Seals fired three shots, one for each pirate, bringing an end to the high-seas drama which prompted US President Barack Obama to call for renewed vigour in efforts to defeat the pirates.
       Sources close to the pirates said French ships also were prime targets after the rescue of the Tanit yacht in which one hostage was killed, together with at least two pirates.
       French commandos had already launched rescue operations in two previous cases in the past year, killing and capturing pirates.
       Somalian pirates have never executed hostages, seeking instead to release ships in exchange for ransoms.
       International Maritime Bureau head Noel Choong backed the tough approach against the pirates, whose relentless attacks have disrupted one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes.
       However, he admitted that revenge attacks were a risk. #
       [1st RECAPITULATION: … at least the ninth hijacking in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean since the start of the month. ENDS.]
       [1st COMMENT: There are satellites instantly photographing and recording everything on land and sea, and yet the "Great Powers" have allowed this piracy to go on for years. ENDS.]
       [2nd RECAPITULATION: "The American liars have killed our friends after they agreed to free the hostage without ransom … this matter will lead to retaliation and we will hunt down particularly American citizens travelling our waters," … ENDS.]
       [2nd COMMENT: "Our waters."  When did the open ocean become the property of the Somalian pirates – unless they follow the Islamic belief that the whole earth belongs to Allah and his people, the Muslims?  What sort of culture openly threatens retaliation when evil-doers are killed while holding someone prisoner, and had been demanding a ransom?  Refer to the Koran 47:4. ENDS.]
       Page 32.

    Spy trial begins in Iran.

          TEHRAN – US-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi, who has been detained in Iran since January, has been put on trial for spying for the US, a spokesman for the judiciary says.
       "Yesterday, the first session of the trial was held and she was given an opportunity to speak in the court to present her defence," Ali Reza Jamshidi said. Ms Saberi, who has been detained in a jail in the capital, Tehran, was accused of "spying for foreigners.. . for America", he said.
       Mr Jamshidi said the verdict was expected in one or two weeks.
       He also dismissed remarks by US State Department spokesman Robert Wood who said last week that the charges against Ms Saberi were baseless.
      [Picture] Held: Roxana Saberi.  
       "It is really funny that someone comments on a case without even seeing it," Mr Jamshidi said.
       Ms Saberi, 31, reportedly was detained initially for buying alcohol, which is prohibited in the Islamic republic. #
       Page 38.

    [Address Intolerance, Community Grants for Diverse Australia].

        Advertisement: AUSTRALIA –
    Australian Government
    Department of Immigration and Citizenship
    Applications open for Diverse Australia Program
    Community Grants
    (incorporating the National Action Plan to Build on Social Cohesion, Harmony and Security)
    Addressing Intolerance
    Eligible organisations are invited to apply for community grants under the Diverse Australia Program (DAP) and the National Action Plan to Build on Social Cohesion, Harmony and Security (NAP). Funding is available to help incorporated not for profit community organisations address issues of cultural, racial and religious intolerance. Projects should work towards developing strong social cohesion by bringing all Australians together, and encouraging people to participate in Australia's social and economic life.
    In 2009 $2 million is available for community grants. This includes funds to help build the capacity of small organisations to implement community relations projects and manage government funding. Under this arrangement, amounts of up to $5000 are available for less complex projects and activities.
    Funding of between $5000 and $50 000 will be available for major projects.
    Application process
    Applicants should read the 2009 'Guidelines for Community Grants' before applying. The guidelines contain detailed information about the selection criteria and the priorities for 2009.
    The guidelines and application forms are available at www.harmony.gov.au   Enquiries should be directed to 1800 782 002. More information on the NAP is available from www.immi.gov.au/nap
    Information can be provided in languages other than English by calling TIS National during business hours on 13 14 50.
    The deadline for submitting completed applications is 6 pm AEST Friday 8 May 2009.
    People our business #
       [COMMENT: Let's hope we all can tolerate Greek or American seamen on ships, Shi'ite Muslims praying, a woman provincial legislator in Kandahar, the author Rushdie, the Queen, the Pope, and daughters wearing miniskirts!  If not, apply for funds!  Get the training! COMMENT ENDS.]
       Page 40.

    Top candidates cry foul after Indonesian vote.

        JAKARTA (Precis) -- Indonesian general elections last week were marred by widespread fraud and disorganisation, a group of political leaders led by presidential hopeful Megawati Sukarnoputri said yesterday.
       She and another former president Mr Adburrahman Wahid, with about a dozen others leaders and parties, issued a statement to that effect.
       Incorrect voters' lists had led to millions losing the right to vote, they said.
       The Democratic Party of President Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono got 10.48 per cent. […]
       Page 40.

    Daughter 'killed over miniskirt'.

        RUSSIA – An Azeri immigrant in the Russian city of St Petersburg has been charged with hiring hit men to kill his 21-year-old daughter for wearing a miniskirt, police say.
       It followed the detention last week of two other Azeris who confessed to shooting dead the medical student.
       [MEDITATION: Koran 4:34 (or 4:38), 9:73, 64:14. ENDS.]
       Page 40.

    Kidnapped Dutch couple freed.

          YEMEN -- A Dutch couple held for two weeks by armed Yemeni tribesmen were freed yesterday.
       The Government denied paying a ransom or meeting any demands for the release of Heleen Janszen and her husband, Jan Hoogendoorn, who live in the country.
       They were seized by tribesmen in Sana on March 31. #
       [KORAN: 47:4:- Therefore, when ye meet the Unbelievers, smite at their necks; at length, when ye have thoroughly subdued them, bind firmly: therefore either generosity or ransom … ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: The lady reporter Roxana Saberi was alleged by Iranian officials to have bought alcohol, which is prohibited in the Islamic republic.  What a pity that, in spite of some contradictory texts, murder, kidnapping, and extorting ransom are actually recommended in the texts. COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  48:18-19:- … Allah … the believers … He … rewarded them with a speedy victory, And with the rich booty which they took … < www.usc.edu/ dept/MSA/ quran/048. qmt.html #048.018 > DOCTRINE ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#shredding_society_mortars
    [Apr 15, 09]
    • Religious insanity: Taleban murders mixed-sect couple for trying to elope.  [Miss Gul Pecha (19), Mr Abdul Aziz (21), martyred.]     

    Religious insanity: Taleban murders mixed-sect couple for trying to elope

       ReligionNewsBlog, http://www. religion newsblog. com/23405/ taleban- religious- barbarism , Item 23405; Posted Wednesday, April 15, 2009
       Eloping mixed-sect couple executed by firing squad in remote Afghanistan area
       A young couple have been executed for trying to elope, by being shot with AK-47s by a Taleban firing squad in front of a crowd, it emerged yesterday.
       The woman, Gul Pecha, 19, and the man, Abdul Aziz, 21, had been accused by the militants in south-western Afghanistan of immoral acts, and a council of conservative clerics decided they should be killed on Monday, officials said.
       The two had hoped to travel to Iran, which borders their home province of Nimroz, but their parents sent villagers to bring them home, said provincial council chief Sadiq Chakhansori.
       Miss Pecha was said to be an ethnic Pashtun and a member of the Sunni sect of Islam, while Mr Aziz was from the Shia sect. […]
       - Source / Full Story: Eloping mixed-sect couple executed by firing squad in remote Afghanistan area, Amir Shah and Rahim Faiez, AP via The Scotsman, Scotland, UK, Apr. 15, 2009 – Summarized by Religion News Blog
       Nimroz lies largely outside government control, and officials offered limited and sometimes varying details of the couple's last hours. […]
       Sadiq Chakhansori, the chief of Nimroz's provincial council, said that the pair attempted to flee to Iran, where several million Afghan refugees take up low-paid jobs.
       However, their families were reported to have dispatched gunmen to pursue them, said Mr Chakhansori, and they were caught. Reports differ over whether the families turned them over to local Taleban voluntarily or the Taleban took them by force.
       "Three Taleban mullahs brought them to the local mosque and they passed a fatwa that they must be killed. They were shot and killed in front of the mosque in public," the governor said. […]
       Elopements are regarded as deeply damaging to family honour across Afghan society and murders of women by male relatives are frequently reported. In this instance it is not clear whether the families were complicit in the murders.
       Even in government-held areas killings in which there is a clear honour motive are rarely investigated.
       - Source / Full Story: Taleban 'shoot eloping couple dead' outside mosque in Afghanistan, Tom Coghlan, The Times, Apr. 14, 2009 – Summarized by Religion News Blog
       The Taleban adhere to Wahhabism, an extreme interpretation of Islam.  Adherents consider it to be the purest form of Islam, but most Muslims reject it.
       'Honour' killings are a form of barbarism based on Wahhabism. In recent years incidences of 'honor killings' committed by Muslims have risen in the civilized world. #
       [RECAPITULATION: … Wahhabism, an extreme interpretation of Islam. … most Muslims reject it. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: Sorry!  Any Moslem studying the Islamic scripture and other texts would be battling to "reject it," without rejecting that faith.  Wahhabism just follows what Mahomet and his early followers said and did.  Texts saying the opposite are all contradicted by other texts.
       Comment from Muslims on some newsmedia's websites show that they are making excuses, denying that the RELIGION had anything to do with this public murder.  Unfortunately for these excuses, three clergymen took them to a place of worship, pronounced a religious fatwah, and the murders occurred in front of a huge crowd outside the mosque.  The links to religion are obvious.
       It is some years now since the Westerners went in to arrest Osama Bin Ladin and to overthrow the barbarous Taleban, but then went off to oil-rich Iraq, moving their main effort there!  The flow of invaders -- sorry, refugees -- heading to civilised Western countries with the Welfare State continues year after year. COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#religious_insanity_taleban
    [Apr 15, 09]
    • Harvard Muslim chaplain sees "wisdom" of Islamic death penalty for apostasy.   

    Harvard Muslim chaplain sees “wisdom” of Islamic death penalty for apostasy

       Jihad Watch Digest, director § jihadwatch org , http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025694.php , April 15, 2009
      [Picture] "Great wisdom" in killing apostates, he said   
       But of course it was all a misunderstanding. And that's no surprise. When has a Muslim spokesman in the West who espoused traditional Islamic teachings ever been understood correctly? The poor lambs are forever being misunderstood and misconstrued.
       Note also the Muslim student who said Abdul-Basser shouldn't be chaplain, but "asked that he not be named to avoid conflicts with Muslim religious authorities." Diana West has some keen observations about that.
       "Chaplain’s E-mail Sparks Controversy," by Melody Y. Yu in the Harvard Crimson, April 14 (thanks to all who sent this in):
    Harvard Islamic chaplain Taha Abdul-Basser ’96 has recently come under fire for controversial statements in which he allegedly endorsed death as a punishment for Islamic apostates.
       In a private e-mail to a student last week, Abdul-Basser wrote that there was "great wisdom (hikma) associated with the established and preserved position (capital punishment [for apostates]) and so, even if it makes some uncomfortable in the face of the hegemonic modern human rights discourse, one should not dismiss it out of hand."
       The e-mail was forwarded over Muslim student e-mail lists and later picked up by the blogosphere, sparking debate and, in many cases, criticism of Abdul-Basser from those who have interpreted his statement as supporting the execution of those who leave the Islamic religion.
       "I believe he doesn’t belong as the official chaplain," said one Islamic student, who asked that he not be named to avoid conflicts with Muslim religious authorities. "If the Christian ministers said that people who converted from Christianity should be killed, don’t you think the University should do something?" {SEE CLARIFICATION BELOW}
       According to the student, many of Abdul-Basser’s other views are "not in line with liberal values, such as notions of human rights. He privileges the medieval discourse of the Islamic jurists, and is not willing to exercise independent thought and judgment beyond a certain limit," the student said. [ … ]
       A Muslim student at MIT, who also asked to remain anonymous to preserve his relationship with the Islamic community, said the chaplain’s remarks wrongly suggested that only Westerners and Westernized Muslims who did not fully understand Islam would find the killing of apostates objectionable.
       "If what he said was what I thought, then it is very shocking and not something that I would expect or want coming out of a chaplain at any major American university," he said.
       But relax. It was all just a function of the inevitable misunderstanding by Islamophobic idiots of these abstruse and complex thinkers:
    Abdul-Basser wrote in a later e-mailed statement that he "never expressed the position that individuals who leave Islam or convert from Islam to another religion must be killed. I do not hold this opinion personally." He explained that he was not advocating for the positions mentioned in his e-mail, but rather "addressing them in the context of the evolution of an Islamic legal doctrine."
       "[Abdul-Basser] was speaking as a chaplain to a student in a private e-mail exchange. One of these e-mails was misinterpreted, misconstrued, and posted on the blogosphere," said Harvard Islamic Society spokesperson Nafees A. Syed ’10, who praised Abdul-Basser for promoting diversity within HIS and the campus at large.
       "His immeasurable contributions should not be overlooked in this matter," she said … .
       CLARIFICATION: The April 14 article "Chaplain's E-mail Sparks Controversy" included a quotation from a named Harvard student, who was later granted anonymity when he revealed that his words could bring him into serious conflict with Muslim religious authorities.
       Hmm. Why is that?
       Posted by Robert at April 15, 2009 9:47 AM Comments (Note: The Comments section is provided in the interests of free speech only. It is mostly unmoderated, but comments that are off-topic, offensive, slanderous, or otherwise annoying stand a chance of being deleted. The fact that any comment remains on the site IN NO WAY constitutes an endorsement by Jihad Watch or Dhimmi Watch, or by Robert Spencer or any other Jihad Watch or Dhimmi Watch writer, of any view expressed, fact alleged, or link provided in that comment.) #
       [COMMENT: Did you notice his attempt to wriggle out of what he had written, and what is clearly part of the Islamic religion and way of life?   How could a supposedly religious person wriggle like that? COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  66:2:- Allah hath allowed you release from your oaths. … DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  9, 84:57:- … Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.
       9, 86:98: … "If a virgin is not asked for her consent and she is not married, and then a man, by playing a trick presents two false witnesses that he has married her with her consent and the judge confirms his marriage as a true one, and the husband knows that the witnesses were false ones, then there is no harm for him to consummate his marriage with her and the marriage is regarded as valid." < www.usc.edu/ dept/MSA/ fundamentals/ hadithsunnah/ bukhari/086. sbt.html# 009.086.098 > TRADITION ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#harvard_muslim_chaplain
    [Apr 15, 09]
    • [Jihad shouts, recruiting at mosques, US shields its students, democracy counter to Islam, Somalia cover-up order, NATO chief major enemy.] 

    [Jihad shouts, recruiting at mosques, US shields its students, democracy counter to Islam, Somalia cover-up order, NATO chief major enemy.]

       Jihad Watch Digest, http://www.jihadwatch.org/ , Friday, April 17, 2009
           Muslims protest Jews praying at Temple Mount.  'The Al-Aqsa Mosque is in our blood; we will never abandon it,' said Sheikh Kamal Hatib, vice-chairman of the Islamic Movement. However, members of the Islamic Movement said they would keep the peace at the site throughout the day so… http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025708.php
         "Jihad, jihad!" shout Misunderstanders of Islam as Red Mosque cleric returns.  These Misunderstanders of Islam don't seem to know that jihad is primarily an interior spiritual struggle, not warfare to impose Sharia. One would think that Abdul Aziz, being a cleric, would know that. When is the Council on American-Islamic Relations…
         Taliban using mosques as recruitment centers.  But of course that could never happen in mosques in the United States, and only greasy Islamophobes would even dare to suggest otherwise. "Taliban using mosques as recruitment centres: Media reports," from the Times of India, April 13 (thanks to…
         Michigan Muslims complain to Attorney General about FBI asking them to spy.  One would think that any group of loyal Americans would be honored to help law enforcement root out those dedicated to destroying their country.  "Mich. Muslim group says FBI asking people to spy," by Jeff Karoub for Associated Press, April…
           New DoD adviser: LA Times columnist who casually dismisses the al-Qaeda threat.  Feel safer now?  This, of course, is only to be expected and part of the pattern.  After all, if the U.S. War College hires professors who apologize for the terrorist organization Hamas and intentionally shelter students from Islamist doctrines…
         Wilders planning follow-up to Fitna.  And the response is predictable: the Islamic world, let by the Organization of the Islamic Conference, will fulminate, threaten, and demand curbs on free speech, while spineless dhimmi Western politicians will denounce Wilders and rush to appease them. "Dutch anti-Islam…
         "To continue to use McVeigh as an example of the stereotypical 'disgruntled military veteran' is as unfair as using Osama bin Laden as the sole example of Islam". 
       So says the commander of the American Legion, David Rehbein, in his letter to Janet Napolitano protesting the characterization of veterans in the DHS report about "right-wing extremists."  (By the way, we're all still waiting for the DHS report on…
         "Deluded" French Muslim starves, beats his eight children.  Motivation? Making them "better Muslims."  " 'Deluded' French Muslim charged with starving children," from the Telegraph, April 15: A delusional French father has been charged with starving and beating his eight children in the belief that it would make them good Muslims….
         Syrian Islamic scholar: "Democracy runs counter to Islam on several issues".  He said it.  Yet in the West to suggest that democracy and Islam are not fully compatible is to commit the crime of "Islamophobia."  Abd Al-Karim Bakkar must be some kind of Islamophobe.  And of course, no Western analyst…
           Hamas accuses Israel of using Gaza beggars as spies.  Will those crafty Zionists stop at nothing?  First it was squirrels, and now it's beggars.  Conspiracy Paranoia Alert: "Hamas suspects Gaza beggars are spies," by Khaled Abu Toameh in the Jerusalem Post, April 16 (thanks to Louis): Hamas is convinced …
         Somalia's Al-Shabab jihadists: "We are giving a three-day deadline to all women living in the region to cover their body with thick veils".  Sharia: Where "government knows best" meets "Allah knows best."  "Islamists order Somali women to wear full veils," from Agence France-Presse, April 15: BAIDOA, Somalia (AFP) - Hardline Islamists in the southern Somali town of Baidoa have ordered women to wear. …
           Taliban say Danish PM, new NATO chief, is "Islam's major enemy" -- for defending free speech and publication of the Motoons.  Freedom of speech: Apparently they didn't fall for his non-apologizing apology.  "New NATO chief is Islam's 'major enemy': Taliban," from Reuters, April 16 (thanks to James):  KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents say the incoming NATO chief is the… http://www. jihadwatch. org/ archives/ 025697.php . #
       [COMMENT: The Somali religious leader who threatens WOMEN doesn't seem to be threatening Somali PIRATES.  His faith tells him whom to pick on!  And his Koran, in the chapter called "The Booty," allows the pirates to steal other people's things, and the Koran verse about taking ransom helps the pirates to feel good about demanding ransom. COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#jihad_shouts_recruiting
    [Apr 17, 09]

    • CLAYDON, David (ed.); 2009;  Islam:    Human Rights and Public Policy  

         
    A review of   Islam: Human Rights and Public Policy.   Edited by David Claydon
    Acorn Press, 2009.
       Culture Watch, http://www. billmuehlenberg. com/2009/04/21/ a-review-of- islam-human- rights-and- public-policy- edited-by- david- claydon/ ; by Bill Muehlenberg, April 21, 2009
       The nineteen essays contained in this book deal with a number of aspects of Islam, and how politicians and policy makers should think about this faith. It examines a number of topics, including: sharia law, the role of women in Islam, the nature of jihad, Islamic financing, the place of Muhammad, and the state of human rights in Muslim nations.
       Although this is mainly an Australian work (it is published in Australia and 9 of its 15 authors are Australian), most of this volume looks at Islam from a global perspective. Only several chapters deal specifically with the Australian situation. Thus all Western policy makers can find much of profit in these pages.
       Australian expert on Islam Mark Durie [ex Holland, USA, now of Australia] has written a number of chapters in this volume. One deals with the importance of Muhammad in Islam. He is viewed by Muslims as the perfect model for human behaviour. What he said and did serves as the template for all Muslims.
       Durie reminds us that reformation movements in Christianity drive us back to its founder – Jesus Christ. But the question arises, if Islam was to be reformed, and a strict return to the example of Muhammad was urged, would it result in Islam becoming more moderate or more radical?
       Given what we know about Muhammad, Durie suggest the latter. While positive aspects of his life can be mentioned – his faithful twenty-year marriage to Khadijah, his compassion on the poor and orphaned, eg. – his less than ideal traits are what should worry us.
       These negative aspects to his character “fall far short of the ethical standards accepted in modern secular democracies”. These include his general treatment of women, his treatment of enemies, his military career, and his use of violence.
       As John Azumah [ex West Africa, now a Professor in England] notes in his chapter, Muhammad “took part in 27 battles and ordered 46 raids against non-Muslims”. He discusses jihad, and reminds us that Islam teaches a “perpetual struggle between Allah and Satan, good and evil … Islam and non-Islam, Muslim and non-Muslim”.
       Seen in this light, there is “no room for dialogue or compromise. Islamic teaching is absolute and demands complete approval”. And Azumah warns that we should not be lulled into thinking that jihad is simply a spiritual struggle: “Muslims have always taken pride in the military exploits of Muhammad and have written books on these as proof of Muhammad’s prophetic mission. In fact, a very large portion of Muhammad’s biography written by early Muslim observers deals with battles, raids, plunder, killings and assassinations ordered or carried out by the Prophet of Islam.”
       Patrick Sookhdeo [ex Guyana, now of England] examines Islamic finance, and notes how Western institutions and governments have been eager to introduce it into the Western system. Sookhdeo shows how Islamists have been pushing this, thus weakening the position of moderate Muslims. They are using it as part of the takeover of Western financial systems, and the eventual rule of global sharia.
       Elizabeth Kendal [of Australia] writes on the lack of religious freedom in most Muslim nations. She especially focuses on apostasy laws and blasphemy laws: “These laws, combined with the demographic trend of particularly high Muslim birth rates, guarantee an expanding community, but one that is experiencing repression through the denial of freedom of belief and freedom of expression.”
       Daniel Pipes [of Stanford University, USA] examines the situation in Europe. It is not looking too good: “The secularism that predominates in Europe, especially among the elites, leads to a sense of alienation about the Judeo-Christian tradition, empty church pews, and a fascination with Islam.”
       This makes for ideal growth conditions: “Muslims display a religious fervour that translates into jihadi sensibility, a supremacism toward non-Muslims, and an expectation that Europe is waiting for conversion to Islam.”
       Paul Stenhouse [of Australia] documents how Islamic “humanitarian NGOs” in Australia may be anything but. He reminds us that government attempts to promote and understand Islam are often really pushing the radical Islamist agenda. For example, Griffith University’s Islamic Centre has “links with the International Institute of Islamic Thought based in Malaysia, which is currently under investigation in the United States for funding terrorism”.
       He also notes that Australian taxpayers have been “funding madrasas {Koranic schools} in Indonesia to the tune of many millions of dollars” through overseas aid programs. Says Stenhouse, this “should be ringing alarm bells in government and security circles”.
       Peter Day [of Australia] looks at how misguided and naive Australian government attempts to educate people about Islam in fact simply become the channel for Islamic propaganda. For example, in 2004 the [Australian] Federal Government produced a glossy booklet on Islam entitled Muslim Australians.
       It was designed to teach Australians that Muslim are just like us, and that Islam is a peaceful religion, allowing full freedom of religion. The author of the booklet was Abdullah Saeed. But as Day informs us, Saeed penned another book in 2004, which did not get a mention in the glossy government publication.
       That book was called Freedom of Religion, Apostasy and Islam, and it paints a very different picture from that found in the tax-payer funded booklet.  In it Saeed admits that death for apostasy is clear Islamic teaching. Anyone who dares to convert out of Islam is regarded as an apostate, and death is the just punishment for this.
       Saeed even admits that the “vast majority of Muslim scholars writing on the issue of apostasy today follow the pre-modern position” – namely, that apostasy warrants death. Strange, but readers of the Government booklet are never informed of this.
       All in all this collection of essays is indispensable reading, certainly for government officials, but for all concerned citizens. David Claydon and the authors featured here have produced a valuable resource and reference on how the West should think about Islam, especially in terms of public policy. It deserves a very wide reading indeed. [957 words] #
       [Other authors are: Rev. John Arnold; Rev. Abdallah Bahri of Sydney, Australia; Rev. Canon David Claydon formerly of Palestine and Egypt, now of Australia; Bishop John Harrower of Tasmania, Australia; Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali of Rochester, England; Mrs Rosemary Sookhdeo, formerly of New Zealand, now of England; Kit Wiley of Australia.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#islam_human_rights
       DETAILS: Acorn Press, Editor: David Claydon. Format: paperback. ISBN: 978 0908 284764. Price: AUD$36.00
       [ORDER FROM PUBLISHER: Acorn Press, https:// acornpress. net.au/ component/ page,shop. product_ details/ category_id, 27/flypage, shop.flypage/ product_id, 105/option, com_virtuemart/ Itemid,26/ vmcchk,1/ . (Sighted August 12, 2009) ENDS.]
       [RECAPITULATION: Muhammad … These negative aspects to his character “fall far short of the ethical standards accepted in modern secular democracies”. These include his general treatment of women, his treatment of enemies, his military career, and his use of violence.   … Muhammad “took part in 27 battles and ordered 46 raids against non-Muslims”. … Islam teaches a “perpetual struggle between Allah and Satan, good and evil … Islam and non-Islam, Muslim and non-Muslim”. […]
       Abdullah Saeed … penned another book in 2004, which did not get a mention in the glossy government publication.   That book was called Freedom of Religion, Apostasy and Islam, and it paints a very different picture from that found in the tax-payer funded booklet.  In it … Anyone who dares to convert out of Islam is regarded as an apostate, and death is the just punishment for this. ENDS.]
       [REVIEW IN PRINT: News Weekly (fortnightly comment magazine, Vic., Australia), www.news weekly. com.au , "How the West should think about Islam," reviewed by Bill Muehlenberg, pp 22-23, August 8, 2009.  Note new address; PO Box 251, Balwyn, Vic., 3103, Australia; Tel. 03 9816 0800.  13 issues AUD $44, 24 issues $80 (incl. GST), MasterCard and Visa accepted. ENDS.] [Book 2009; review April 21, 2009]
    • Churches unite against Islamic school in Camden.  [Beachhead to take over, then change district.]    

    Churches unite against Islamic school in Camden

       The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, Australia), http://www. news.com.au/ story/0,27574, 25366957- 421,00.html , April 22, 2009
       SYDNEY (NSW), Australia – FOUR Christian churches have joined in an unprecedented attack on the Islamic faith in an attempt to stop a Muslim school being built.
       Calling the religion an ideology driven by world domination, a submission to the Land and Environment Court yesterday said a proposed school at Camden was a "beachhead" in Islamic takeover of southwestern Sydney, threatening the Australian way of life.
       The attack, co-signed by local heads of Baptist, Anglican, Presbyterian and the Evangelical Sisters of Mary churches, formed the spearhead of Camden City Council's defence to a court challenge over its rejection of a development application for the Muslim school.
       "Islam is not simply a private religion. It is driven by a powerful political agenda, it is an ideology with a plan for world domination," the letter said.
       "The Quranic Society application to establish an Islamic school in Camden is typical of a regularly repeated pattern to form a beachhead in an area for the development of a sub-culture which, for the most part, regards its own legal system as superior to the current Australian law."
      Related Coverage
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  • Reader's Comments: Catholic school OK - not Muslim - The Daily Telegraph
       They said the Muslim community would seek to dominate public space in Camden "as we have seen in Auburn, Bankstown, Lakemba and more recently Liverpool".
       The provocative submission was penned by Camden's Baptist Pastor Brian Stewart, St John's Anglican Rector Tony Galea, Presbyterian minister Warren Hicks and Sisters of Mary's sisters in charge Sister Simone and Sister Gideona.
       Use of the letter is a turnaround from previous claims that the council's ruling was on the grounds of traffic congestion.
       The first day in the society's court challenge began with a visit to the proposed site on Cawdor Rd, Camden. Chris Gough, heading the Quranic Society's legal team, said there were no planning grounds why the school, for 900 students, should not be approved.
       "The constitution of Australia talks about freedom of religion," Mr Gough said.
       In their objection, the Christian ministries said they may be seen as racists or hypocrites but they were trying to preserve a rich, hard-won way of life that was incompatible with Quranic Society teachings.
       "The Quranic Society espouses a world view which is not compatible with broader, Australian egalitarian culture," they said.
       "A fundamental tenet of the faith is that Muslims are not required to obey any law that does not come from Allah." #
    •    [1st RECAPITULATION: (Re-read the last sentence.)  ENDS.]
       [1st COMMENT: Now can you see why blowing up Shi-ites at prayer in Iraq and Christians likewise anywhere, death threats to authors and other writers, stoning rape victims to death, raids on black villages in Sudan, and piracy off Somalia's coast, are all part of the Islamic world?  That last sentence is an accurate summary, based on a number of Islamic texts. COMMENT ENDS.]
       [2nd RECAP.: "The constitution of Australia talks about freedom of religion," Mr Gough said. ENDS.]
       [2nd COMMENT: No it doesn't.  The constitution forbids the adoption of an established religion.  A lawyer ought to know better! END.]
       [3rd RECAP.: They said the Muslim community would seek to dominate public space in Camden "as we have seen in Auburn, Bankstown, Lakemba and more recently Liverpool". ENDS.]
       [3rd COMMENT: It is refreshing to note that four Christian sects have woken up that Islam is not just like the Unitarians in robes, with a few extra ceremonies and prohibitions!  That Muslims aim to overwhelm any "sacred space" they can intrude into.  What a pity that the headquarters of each of these Churches will probably disavow the statements that these clerics' close study, and observations in other parts of Sydney and elsewhere, have shown to be true. ENDS.]
       [ALSO SEE: http://www.camdenadvertiser.com.au/article.aspx?id=1492339&storypage=0 . ENDS.]
       [OTHER LINKS: http://aussienewsviews.blogspot.com/ ; http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ . ENDS.]
       [RECOMMENDED READING: SOOKHDEO, Patrick, 2008, Faith, Power and Territory; A Handbook of British Islam, http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/reading.htm#faith_power_and_territory . Once Muslims have occupied an area, it becomes "sacred space," and others are not allowed to take it from them.  All the world is Allah's. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#churches_unite_against
    [Apr 22, 09]
    • "You infidels have to convert to Islam or die."  - Irfan Masih (11) murdered, others shot.   

    “You infidels have to convert to Islam or die”

       Jihad Watch Digest, director § jihadwatch org , http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025853.php , April 26, 2009
       Islamic Tolerance Alert.  But why didn't they demand the jizya?  And why are these fanatical adherents of Islam and proponents of the imposition of Islamic law so thoroughly clueless about what we are constantly told is the true, peaceful nature of Islam? Why are Islam's foremost Misunderstanders almost invariably the most devout and dedicated believers?
       And why won't the mainstream media even allow such questions to be discussed?
       Final thought: just imagine what might happen if these people take control in Islamabad and gain control of the Pakistani nuclear arsenal.
       An update on this story. "Taliban Attack, Kill Christians in Pakistan Town," by Ethan Cole for the Christian Post, April 26 (thanks to Sr. Soph):
    Masked Taliban militants attacked and killed at least one Christian and injured dozens of others this past week in a Christian colony in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, according to local media.
       Irfan Masih, 11, was shot execution style by the Taliban and died in the hospital, the government of Sindh province confirmed, according to Pakistan Christian Post on Friday. Meanwhile, Imran Masih and Qadoos Masih, who were also shot, are in critical condition in the hospital.
       More than 100 Taliban militants with machine guns had reportedly attacked the Christian colony in Taiser town on April 21. A few days prior to the attack, the group had chalked threats on local churches and on Christian homes in the town, insisting that Christian residents convert to Islam. Residents of Taiser are overwhelmingly Muslim.
       When the Christians saw the threats, they organized a demonstration to call on authorities to protect their community. The police, however, refused to send officers or guards for the church.
       Hmmm. Why not?
    A few days later, the Taliban came to Taiser and dragged Christians out of their homes at gunpoint. According to Pakistan Christian Post, the gunmen shouted, "You infidels have to convert to Islam or die. Why did you clean off the warnings we chalked on your church and the doors of your houses? How dare you stage a procession against the Taliban?"
       In total, three churches were burned down along with dozens of Christian owned shops.
       Dr. Nazir Bhatti, president of the Pakistan Christian Congress, said an attacked [sic] by the Taliban had been feared for months but no preventative action was taken.
       He said the attack on Christians is "a warning bell" for the Sindh government and warned that the Taliban is planning to expand Shariah, or Islamic law, in Karachi. The Christian colony, he added, was the "first victim" of the group’s goal…. #
       [RECAPITULATION: Why did you clean off the warnings we chalked on your church and the doors of your houses? How dare you stage a procession against the Taliban? ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: Those remarks reveal the attitude of the CONQUERORS to the conquered.  There is no limit to the demands, and even conversion might not stop the persecution of the dhimmi.  .  It is not for nothing that a whole chapter (surah 8) of the Koran is called "The Spoils" (Al-Anfāl). COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  5:72 (or 5:76):- Infidels now are they who say, 'God is the Messiah, Son of Mary …
       8:12:- … I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve.  Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them. < http://www. usc.edu/ schools/ college/crcc/ engagement/ resources/ texts/muslim/ quran/008. qmt.html# 008.012 >
       48:20 Allah has promised you rich booty, and has given you this with all promptness. DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [ALSO check 48:15 , and 59:6-7 . ENDS.]
       [FOOTNOTE (No. 4883) to 48:15 in a Saudi Arabian Koran, page 1579:  "… Jihād is hard striving, in war and peace, in the Cause of Allah." ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  Sunan Abu-Dawud, Book 39, Number 4491:- … The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: A believer will not be killed for an infidel. … TRADITION ENDS.]
       [2nd COMMENT: Apologists for Islam, and some authors, make much of the wishful thinking that Muslims believe that Christians and Jews are to be treated more leniently than infidels.  The "holy" writings contain contradictions of that.  The Muslims in that part of Pakistan evidently knew the appropriate Koran text, calling the Christians infidels, and threatening them with death, which is taught in the Koran for those who disbelieve.
       Remember, this took place in the largest city in Pakistan, not in some isolated village.  So the police's inaction is another bad fruit of a theocratic constitution, like Pakistan's. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#you_infidels_have
    [Apr 26, 09]
    • Different world, AND, Debus pathetic.     

    Different world, AND, Debus pathetic

     
       The West Australian, letters § wanews com au , Letters to The Editor, p 22, Monday, April 27, 2009

    Different world


       May Elen Goves (Why are you all so hostile? 24/4) reminisces about the times when she came to this country. It needs to be pointed out that the world is a vastly different place to what it was then.
       The terrorism in those days, if any, was limited to a few small countries, and the followers of Mohammed were not exhibiting the aggression that they do today.
       It is evident that many Muslim immigrants have no intention of integrating into Australian society.

    Debus pathetic


      [Picture] Convenient excuse: Bob Debus.  
       Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus gave a pathetic performance when commenting on the invasion (which it is) of boat people. Instead of blaming Labor's "open door" policy for the current invasion, he conveniently grabs at the global recession as an excuse, saying that we can expect many more to head our way from Sri Lanka.
       Instead of border protection, the ineffectual Mr Debus waffled about Australia's "responsibilities" to these people, making irrelevant comments about how European nations have to "accept" many more "refugees".
       In making these highly dangerous (to Australia's security and to our social fabric) comments, Mr Debus has sent an open invitation to Sri Lanka: come on over and we'll welcome you with open arms and handouts of every description.
       This won't stop with Sri Lanka, the invasion will then go from the thousands to millions as the Third World takes advantage of Australia's generosity.
       Can he guarantee the populations of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and every other Third World country won't now be preparing to head our way?
       And why aren't ordinary Australians out in the streets protesting at the policies of the most dangerous and irresponsible government in Australia's history? After all, when the Howard government started detaining boat people to our shores there was a seething mass of hippies out there causing as much damage and disruption as they could.
       The Rudd Government, on this issue of illegal immigrants, is as dangerous an organisation to Australia's security as any ASIO will encounter, so surely something can be done to remove them from power before the damage they are doing to Australia becomes irreparable.
       Letters to the Editor, WA Newspapers, GPO Box N1027 Perth WA 6843. Fax 08 9482 3830. E-mail to: letters /§/ wanews /./ com /./ au
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  5:51 (or 5:56):- O you who believe!  do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people. < www.submission. org/suras/ sura5.html #51 >
       8:12:- … I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve.  Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them. < http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/008.qmt.html#008.012 >
       33:1:- O Prophet, fear thou Allah and obey not the unbelievers and the hypocrites; – Truly Allah is Knowing, Wise. < www.usc.edu/ dept/MSA/ quran/033. qmt.html #033.001 >
       33:48 (or 33:47):- And obey not (the behests) of the Unbelievers and the Hypocrites, and heed not their annoyances, but put thy Trust in Allah.  For enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs. DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  4, 53:386:- … When Al-Hurmuzan embraced Islam, Umar said to him. "I would like to consult you regarding these countries which I intend to invade." […]
       9, 84:57:- … Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him. TRADITION ENDS.]
       [SUPPORT LETTER: The Editor, The West
       Somali piracy part of the invasion policy
       Congratulations to [name withdrawn] (Different world 27/4) and [name withdrawn] (Debus pathetic 27/4) calling Australians to back opponents of the boatloads of invaders.
       The pirates of Somalia are also part of the resurgence of the Sons of the Prophet.  A passenger ship was attacked by more than 20 pirate ships, showing that those who sell weapons and boats to evildoers are making a lot of money.  Could our leaders stop them, please?
       Also worthy of praise were the recent letters saying that "asylum-seekers" from Afghanistan and Iraq ought to be enrolled in some special force, trained, and then sent back to try to save those countries from imam-induced anarchy, mass-murder, suicide-bombing and chaos.  Good luck to them!
       And I liked Tricia Gibson's letter expressing opposition to allowing any Australian company to be more than 49 per cent owned by overseas interests.  Wake up, Australians.
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#different_world_and
    [Apr 27, 09]
    • Taliban-Inspired Attacks in Pakistan Hit Christians.  [Sikhs charged protection money.]  

    Taliban-Inspired Attacks in Pakistan Hit Christians

       ReligionNewsBlog, http://www. religionnews blog.com/ 23429/ taliban- pakistan , ReligionNewsBlog.com, Item 23429, Posted Tuesday April 28, 2009, dated April 27, 2009
       Armed militants fire into crowd, seriously injuring three; jizye tax imposed in Orakzai.
       ISTANBUL, April 27 (Compass Direct News) – As Taliban control hits pockets of Pakistan and threatens the nation's stability, Christians worry their province could be the next to fall under Islamic law.
       Violence on Tuesday night and Wednesday (April 21-22) near the port city of Karachi – some 1,000 kilometers (nearly 700 miles) from the Swat Valley, where the government officially allowed the Taliban to establish Islamic law this month – heightened fears. Christians in Taiser town, near Karachi, noticed on the walls of their church graffiti that read, "Long Live the Taliban" and calls for Christians to either convert to Islam or pay the jizye, a poll tax under sharia (Islamic law) paid by non-Muslims for protection if they decline to convert.
       As members of the congregation erased the graffiti, armed men intervened to stop them. Soon 30-40 others arrived as support and began to fire indiscriminately at the crowd, leaving several injured. Among those seriously injured were three Christians, including a child, according to a report by advocacy group Minorities Concern of Pakistan: Emrah Masih, 35, Qudoos Masih, 30, and Irfan Masih, 11. A Pashtun named Rozi Khan was also among the injured.
       Policemen and military forces arrested seven suspects at the scene and recovered an arms cache of semi-automatic pistols and a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
       The Taliban is an insurgent movement of primarily Pashtun Islamists ousted from power in Afghanistan in 2001. Pakistani media portrayed the Karachi violence as a sectarian clash between Christians and Pashtuns that escalated into a gunfire exchange and that Christians committed arson attacks. The Daily Times claimed that the Christians protested the graffiti by setting ablaze some shops, including roadside stalls and pushcarts.
       But a legal advocacy worker told Compass that police scattered the Christians when they began their protests and stood by as a Taliban-assembled mob attacked them.
       "The Christians do not have guns, they do not have weapons, but only a little bit of property and the few things in their houses," said Sohail Johnson, chief coordinator of Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan. "They are poor and have no courage to fight them. How can Christians, who lived like animals here, stand against them?"
       Johnson said that local Christians, terrified over recent Talibanization campaigns, may not pursue legal action against the arrested men, although Asia News reported that Qudoos Masih filed an initial report at the Sarjani town police station. The Christians fear inciting violence by taking a stand against elements connected with the Taliban, Johnson said.
       Eyewitnesses to the attacks against Christians in Karachi said they were religiously motivated. A representative of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) regional party told Compass that after firing on the crowd, the Taliban went through Christian houses, ransacked them and burned one down. He said they also burned Bibles and beat women on the street. Reports of two execution-style killings of Christians could not be verified.
       Karachi police and administration reportedly claimed that the Karachi attack came not from the Taliban but from Pashtuns who resettled in the area from the NWFP. The MQM, however, has long suspected Taliban presence in Karachi.
    Expanded Campaign of Violence
       Local officials are worried that the Taliban is making inroads into Karachi, the financial center of Pakistan, in the same way it did within the Swat Valley in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
       In mid-February Pakistan's fertile Swat Valley turned into a Taliban stronghold ruled by sharia under a "peace agreement," but instead of honoring the accord with an end to bombings and other violence, the Islamic militants have expanded their campaign to outlying areas and other parts of the country. Of the 500 Christians remaining in Swat Valley when sharia was initially established in February, many have migrated to other provinces while those who stayed live in fear of a rise in violence against non-Muslims.
       In the Federally Administered Tribal Area adjacent to the NWFP, the Taliban this month demanded a jizye payment of 50 million rupees (US$625,000) from Sikhs living in Orakzai Agency. Those who did not flee paid a combined total of 2 million rupees (US$25,000), and Christians worry they could be next. Relegating non-Muslims to dhimmi status – the second-class state of those subject to an Islamic administration and its jizye tax in exchange for protection – is part of the writings of the founder of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Assembly of Islamic Clergy), one of Pakistan's main Islamic parties with ties to the Taliban in Afghanistan and similar parties in Bangladesh and Egypt.
       Last week the Taliban effectively took control of Buner district, just 60 miles from the capital of Islamabad, and it has begun battling government soldiers in Malakland Agency.
       Non-Muslims make up 3 percent of the population in the Muslim-majority nation of 176 million. They are frequently marginalized, particularly in the sharia-influenced justice system that gives precedence to Muslims. But they fear Taliban infiltration will accelerate their marginalization in a stealth manner, as they cannot tell the difference between a Taliban fighter and a community member.
       "We cannot identify who is a Taliban fighter because there are an uncountable number of people who have a beard and wear a turban," Johnson said. "We cannot recognize who belongs to the Taliban because they penetrate every corner of Pakistan."
       The MQM official in Karachi said many of the Christians in the area are poor and illiterate. They are on the lower rungs of the social ladder and have nobody to protect their interests except for the church.
       "Nobody is going to help them," he said. "The church can help them get education, but they are not also able to give them [security] help."
       His statements were backed by MQM leader Altaf Hussein, who called on Pakistan's Interior Ministry to take emergency preventative measures to ensure the safety of minorities against the "rising activities of armed lawless elements," according to The News International.
       A local teacher said that during the looting police only stood by, making no effort to stop the Taliban as they ransacked Christian houses.
       "Rather than stopping them, they allowed them to burn the houses, [harass] the Christian women and burn Bibles," he said.
       Although Pakistani politicians and security forces have said openly in recent weeks that the Taliban was closing in on Islamabad and could trigger a government collapse, they claimed the pro-Taliban slogans in Karachi were scrawled not by the Taliban but conspirators wanting to incite violence.
       Maulana Fazlur Rehman, an Islamist party leader, said talk of the Talibanization of Karachi was merely a ruse to allow the United States to invade Pakistan as it had done to Afghanistan.
       "Those raising this slogan are trying to create another Osama for America in this part of the world," he said, according to The News International.
       The Karachi attacks were part of escalating violence throughout the country. The government informed the National Assembly on April 20 that 1,400 people had been killed in terrorist attacks in the last 15 months.
    - Taliban-Inspired Attacks in Pakistan Hit Christians, Roger Elliot and Michael Larson, © Compass Direct News, Apr. 27, 2009. Published in Religion News Blog by permission
       [RECAPITULATION: Last week the Taliban effectively took control of Buner district, just 60 miles from the capital of Islamabad, and it has begun battling government soldiers in Malakland Agency. … they cannot tell the difference between a Taliban fighter and a community member. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: Well, Muslims all follow the same Book, so what real difference is there?
       In the Sudan, the blacks of the south and the west had to resort to arms in order to keep the Islamists at bay.  Non-Muslim governments helped the south (could it be the oil?) and they now have a truce, but non-Muslims only pay lip service to opposing the Islamists in the west (Darfur). COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#taliban_inspired_attacks
    [Apr 27, 09]
    • [Convert or die, Somali beheaded, Bomb kills 16 kids, Baldies for music, Girls' school blast.] 

    [Convert or die, Somali beheaded, Bomb kills 16 kids, Baldies for music, Girls’ school blast.]

       Jihad Watch Digest, Monday, April 27, 2009
       • "You infidels have to convert to Islam or die".  Islamic Tolerance Alert. But why didn't they demand the jizya? And why are these fanatical adherents of Islam and proponents of the imposition of Islamic law so thoroughly clueless about what we are constantly told is the true, peaceful nature … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025853.php . AOL users: Click here
           Iraqi government rushes to defend Iranian-backed jihadists.  "I always knew my man Nouri would carry my water for me" The Iraqi Democracy Project, which I thought was doomed even before it started, was always liable to create a Shi'ite client state for the benefit of Iran, … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025852.php . AOL users: Click here
         Somalia: Land of jihad, piracy, and Christian persecution.  This is to be expected considering that "many of Somalia's Christians have come to the faith from Islam, so they're Muslim-background believers," also known as apostates, such as this Somali man who was beheaded for converting to Christianity. "Somalia - … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025851.php . AOL users: Click here
           Saudi officials fear al-Qaeda attack from Yemen.  Probably led by those many al-Qaeda members Yemen recently released. "Saudi Officials' Fears: Al-Qaeda Planning to Attack Saudi Arabia from Yemen," by Sahar Al-Sharjabi for the Yemen Post, April 26 (thanks to Jeffrey Imm):A British newspaper quoted General Mansoor Al-Turki, … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025850.php . AOL users: Click here
         Pakistan to West: Stop lecturing us; help us.  In other words, stop it with the demands to root out Talibani terrorism, and just pay up already. "Stop lecturing, help us, Pakistan tells West," from Times of India, April 26:NEW YORK: Pakistan's ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani has … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025849.php . AOL users: Click here
         Taliban bombs kill 16 children.  To which a Pakistani minister asserts, "The Taliban have exposed their real face by killing innocent children." His point, apparently, is that by killing children, the Taliban have proven that they are behaving un-Islamicly: after all, did the prophet himself … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025848.php . AOL users: Click here
         Taliban shave men's heads for listening to music.  For years many people have pointed out that most music is contrary to traditional Islamic law. For this they have been called "Islamophobic." The Taliban must be Islamophobic as well. Here is a glimpse into the West's future if it … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025847.php . AOL users: Click here
         Pakistani jihadist says there is no need for jihad in Kashmir.  It seems that he was recruited via grievance-mongering, the likes of which jihadists employ frequently and in multiple contexts. But when he got to Kashmir, he didn't see any oppression, and thus decided there was no need for jihad. This … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025846.php . AOL users: Click here
       • Charles Johnson's latest libels answered.  Tedious, yes, but necessary. Jihad news will resume shortly; those who don't want to read this, pleas skip it rather than writing to tell me not to post it. I am not going to let this man's reckless smears go … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025845.php . AOL users: Click here
         Four children killed in bomb blast outside girls' school in Pakistan.  The jihad against the education of girls continues. ""The children had found the bomb outside a girls' primary school in Luqman Banda village of Lower Dir town." "Children killed in Pakistan bomb blast," from AFP, April 25 (thanks to James): … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025844.php . AOL users: Click here
       [LINK/S:
    Atlas Shrugs http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2009 ;
    Blog Runner /Islam http://www.blogrunner.com/snapshot/topics/0/8/386D97E000220808 ;
    Foehammer's Anvil http://foehammer.net/tag/war-with-islam ;
    Gates of Vienna http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com ;
    Resettlement Watch http://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com . ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#convert_or_die
    [Apr 27, 09]
    • [Pressure, persecution, killing, of non-Muslims continue, but 2 MPs object to apostasy murders.] 

    [Pressure, persecution, killing, of non-Muslims continue, but 2 MPs object to apostasy murders]

         Barnabas Aid magazine, www.barnabasfund.org , Various pages, May-June, 2009
       Pages 3 and 8.

    Nigeria: Helping Riot Victims.

        Large-scale anti-Christian violence breaks out periodically in parts of Nigeria.  In November 2008 hundreds were killed during two days in Jos, and more than 7000 fled.  In February 2009 in Bauchi similar fighting left at least 11 dead, 9 of whom were Christians.  Between 6 and 13 churches were burnt down -- Christians evidently fought back, and three mosques were destroyed.  So were more than 200 houses.  Christian leaders claim that the government has done little to prosecute those who instigated the attacks.
       Page 5.

    Sierra Leone: Supporting a Growing Church in the Face of Persecution.

        This predominantly Muslim country, with mosques everywhere, has a 12 per cent Christian population which is periodically attacked.  On September 5, 2008, one church was attacked and people were injured; the police arrested 25 Muslims.  Donation requests include Project 46-761 to provide safe houses for converts from Islam, who are thrown out of their families' homes.
       Page 6.

    Iraq: Hope for the Future.

        The beleaguered Christians of Iraq will get help from three grants made by Barnabas Aid.  Sixty-eight families who fled from anti-Christian violence are staying in a Christian theological centre in a relatively safe area of the country.  A drought having ruined families in the Nineveh Plains area, northern Iraq, some will be helped by the Fund.  Help is being given for training courses in English, Kurdish, and computer skills for Christians displaced to the Kurdish areas of Iraq by the anti-Christian violence elsewhere.
       [COMMENT: The military commanders of the Coalition of the Killing, early in their illegal occupation of Iraq, told Christians that the invaders would not protect them. COMMENT ENDS.]
       Page 6.

    England: Synod Honours Persecuted Asian Christians

      [who are in Britain.]   In February the General Synod of the Church of England held a minute's silence to honour the persecuted Asian Christians in England.  British-born Asians who converted to Christianity were treated as traitors by their friends and relatives.  Mrs Zajida Mallard told those present that the persecution went on in Britain, not just in places such as Iraq, Palestine, and Pakistan.
       Page 6.

    Egypt: Christians jailed for Violating Ramadan.

        Six Egyptian Christians, the Morris Ghatas brothers, who refused to close their Port Sa’id café during the month of Ramadan fasting, in February 2009 were imprisoned for three years, with hard labour.  They had been arrested in September 2008.  Video footage shows about a dozen police attacking people, smashing glasses, and beating people with sticks, breaking arms in the process.
       [COMMENT: Just imagine being a suppressed minority, with not much savings in an overcrowded country, having to close your main source of income in daylight hours for four weeks every year.   (In May 2009, hearing of the outbreak of so-called "swine 'flu," the Egyptian government gave orders for all the pigs in the country, all owned by Christians etc., to be killed.  Most other health authorities in the world say that there is no danger from the pigs if care is taken.  The slaughter is, of course, yet another way of persecuting and humiliating "the unbelievers.") COMMENT ENDS.]
       Page 7.

    Pakistan: Christian Girl Gang-Raped at Gunpoint.

        On February 7, 2009, an impoverished 13-year-old Christian girl in Sangla Hill region, the Punjab, Pakistan, was gang-raped at gunpoint by five Islamic extremists.  She was in a critical condition, but the family rescued her and a judge ordered a medical examination, which proved that the girl had been molested.  A case was registered against the alleged rapists, but 12 days after the attack not one had been detained by the authorities.
       [COMMENT: Anyone who doubts that raping any woman, Muslim or otherwise, is permitted, please contact Submission Study Unit for the chapters and verses -- or look it up yourself. COMMENT ENDS.]
       Page 7.

    Saudi Arabia: Christian Blogger Arrested.

        Hamoud Bin Saleh has been repeatedly detained by the authorities since January 2008 for blogging on the World Wide Web about his conversion from Islam to Christianity.  The authorities also blocked the blog.  He was released in November 2008 around the time of an inter-faith meeting at the United Nations initiated by Saudi Arabia, but he was re-arrested immediately afterwards.  There is no real freedom of religion in Saudi Arabia, and the law is that of sharia, which prescribes the death sentence for changing from Islam. In the northern summer of 2008 a member of the Saudi religious police burned his sister to death for converting to Christianity.
       [COMMENT: " … an inter-faith meeting at the United Nations initiated by Saudi Arabia … "  Inter-faith!  Now, that IS rich! ENDS.]
       Page 7.

    Kazakhstan: Proposed Law on Relgion Declared Unconstitutional.

        The Constitutional Council of Kazakhstan announced on February 11, 2009, that a draft law severely restricting freedom of religion and belief is unconstitutional.  Yevgeni Zhovtis, head of the country's International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, said that his judgement implied that the current law on religion is also contrary to the constitution.  In practice, officials flout Kazakh law and violate citizens' rights. On February 4, 2008, a pastor was fined for unregistered religious activity.
       Page 8.

    India: Continuing Problems for Christians in Orissa

      [from HINDUS.]   About 70,000 Christians of Orissa who lost their homes in last year's violence fear they may now be unable to vote in the forthcoming elections, because the Hindu mobs tore up their documentation.  Thousands fled in August 2008 when Hindu extremists attacked.  Many children are missing school, and government help is inadequate, with no housing provided.  Compensation was less than AUD $290 per person.  In January two Indian mission workers were injured, and in February a father of two was murdered.
       Page 9.

    [Apostacy killings opposed by British Foreign Secretary.]

          Britain's Foreign Secretary on October 7, 2008, in the House of Commons, said: "We deplore the way in which the Iranian Parliament is also now discussing a draft penal code that would set out a mandatory death sentence for the crime, quote unquote, of apostacy.  If adopted, that would violate the right of freedom of religion, which is also an important basis of any civilised society." http://www. parliament. the-stationery- office.com/ pa/cm200708/ cmhansrd/ cm081007/ debtext/ 80007-0001. htm
       Page 9.

    [Australian parliamentarian raises apostasy issue.]

        Mr Luke Simpkins, MP, raised the question of apostasy killings by Islam, speaking in the Australian Federal Parliament on Monday, March 16, 2009, during a debate on religious persecution.  http://www. openaustralia. org/mp/luke_ simpkins/cowan .
       Pages 14-17.

    [Pakistan heading to extremism.] Country Profile: Pakistan.

        Although the Pakistani flag includes a white stripe representing the country's non-Muslim minorities, it has been sliding since independence in 1947 towards unfree Islamism.  Over the years a succession of politicians, led largely by the well-off, has alternated with military dictatorships.  General Musharraf (1999-2008) slowed the move towards religious intolerance and sharia law, but the increasing influence of Islamist groups prevented real progress.
       Since Musharraf was forced out in 2008, a wide range of militant groups are engaged in revolts in the so-called North-West Frontier Province, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and the province of Balochistan (in the south-west).  Foreign fighters are coming in and the extremists are declaring sharia law.
       About four million Christians and about 1.3m Hindus live in Pakistan.  In the 1980s the blasphemy law's new provisions provided life imprisonment for desecrating the Qur'an, and execution for defiling the name of Muhammad.  There was a big increase in genuine and not so genuine blasphemy cases, and the Islamic courts tend to believe the testimony of Muslims over that of Christians.  So rivalries etc can spark false accusations.  If cleared by a court, the accused is in danger of being murdered by extremists -- several have.
       Permission to build or repair churches is held up, and at times when a mob decides to burn a church the police do not come.  Christian girls and women are being abducted, forced to recite a Muslim creed, and then put into forced marriages.  Christian children are being sold into slavery, with funds going to the Jamaat-ud-Daawa (JUD), which is linked to Al-Qaeda.
       Page 18.

    Day of Prayer for Sudan.

        Sunday 21 June is a Day of Prayer for Sudan.  A Country Profile on Sudan was in the March-April issue http://www. barnabasfund. org/_images_ files/content/ BFAid/ Magazine_ MAR_APR_O9 _Web.pdf .
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont158.htm#pressure_persecution_killing
    [List as May 1; May-June 2009]
    • The Crusades     
       Barnabas Aid magazine, www.barnabasfund.org , Pull-out Supplement, May-June 2009

      Pull-out supplement  

    The Crusades

     
       The Crusades were a series of military campaigns aimed at securing the Holy Land so that Christian pilgrims could visit and also at taking back lands conquered during the expansion of Islam. Nine Crusades were undertaken between 1095 and 1272 with varying degrees of success. In recent years they have become very controversial, being heavily criticised both in the West and in the Muslim world. They have also become a source of embarrassment for the Church, with many Christians calling for apologies to be made to Muslims.
       However, one of the main grounds on which the Crusades are criticised, especially by Muslims, is historically inaccurate: they were not an unprovoked attack on the Muslim world. They were both a reaction to the harassment of and threats to Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land and a response to centuries of aggressive Islamic conquest and the continuing threat to the Christian Byzantine Empire and to Europe posed by Muslims. If Christian history is tarnished by the Crusades, then so is Muslim history by the centuries of aggressive jihad that provoked them.
       This article is an attempt to give a balanced overview of the Crusades in their context, neither excusing the violence nor dismissing the historical reasons for the counter-attack from medieval Christendom. It must be honestly admitted that the Crusaders often behaved with extreme brutality towards those they conquered, which caused suffering not only for Muslims but also for Jews and Eastern Christians. Such behaviour, by those claiming to represent the Prince of Peace, was utterly indefensible.
    Why did the Crusades begin?
       The Crusades can be seen as a delayed reaction to the Muslim jihad of the 7th and 8th centuries, which had conquered many Christian regions including Palestine, Syria, Egypt, North Africa and Spain. The loss of the Holy Land in particular was deeply mourned by Christians. This wresting of these territories from Christian control over a long period created a powerful motive for reclaiming formerly Christian lands, especially the most important place for Christians, Jerusalem. Christian Europe also felt that it was being threatened by a Muslim encirclement from the south-west (Spain), from the south (Fatimid North Africa) and from the east (the Seljuk attack on Byzantium). Its sense of insecurity was compounded by the ill treatment of Christians and the destruction of churches in the conquered lands.
       The rise of Islam had been swift and overpowering; it was spread primarily by military conquest of non-Muslim lands. After the death of Muhammad in 632 the Muslim Empire expanded at great speed. Three of the major cities of the Byzantine Christian Empire fell rapidly to the invaders: Damascus in 635, Jerusalem in 638 and Alexandria in 641. In 697 the Arabs took Carthage, which was the chief city of Roman North Africa. In 711 they crossed the Mediterranean to Gibraltar and proceeded to advance into Spain and then France. By 732, only a century after the death of Muhammad, half of the world's Christians were under Muslim domination. The Muslim empire stretched from Spain and Morocco in the west to India and the borders of China in the east.
       It is thus clear that in its early days Islamic dominion was spread by the sword. Many who would not accept Islam were killed or enslaved, and huge tracts of land were confiscated for the Islamic state and the Arab settlers.
       The conquered subjects entered a long period of Muslim domination in which they were relegated to the status of second-class citizens. After the initial conquest by the sword there followed a process of soft and hard coercion, gradually leading to the majority of the population adopting the religion of their conquerors. Christians and Jews were regarded as dhimmi:  they were made to pay a humiliating poll tax (the jizya) and were subject to widespread discrimination. Over the centuries they lost their majority status as many converted to Islam. In regions such as North Africa, Christianity went into sharp decline. Throughout the Middle Ages attacks by Arab raiders occurred regularly in Europe and even Britain experienced Moorish slave raids up until the 15th century.
       By the late eleventh century the once great Byzantine Empire was on its knees in the face of the Muslim onslaught. The sixth Fatimid caliph al-Hakim (996-1021), whose realm had included Egypt and Palestine, had confiscated church property and destroyed some 30,000 churches. He had also destroyed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem (1009-10). Pilgrims to the Holy Land were constantly being harassed. Then in 1071 the Seljuk Turks defeated the Byzantines at the battle of Manzikert. This battle was a disaster for the Byzantines and initiated the near-complete decline of Byzantine military power. It also resulted in a huge loss of Byzantine territory in Anatolia (in what are now parts of Turkey and the Middle East) to the Seljuks.
       This loss of territory in the Middle East and of military power finally convinced the West that the Byzantines could no longer defend Eastern Christianity and could not be relied upon to protect pilgrims. Moreover, Christianity's other holy sites were
    ii
    believed to be in danger and in need of protection. The destruction of the holy places of Christendom thus became the last impetus that moved Western Christianity to try and reclaim a small part of the Christian lands that had fallen to the jihad over previous centuries. In 1074, Pope Gregory VII called for the milites Christi ("soldiers of Christ") to go to the aid of the hard pressed Byzantines. Although this call was largely ignored, it did focus attention on the plight of Eastern Christians.
       Meanwhile the Reconquista in Spain was well underway. By the time of the First Crusade increasing numbers of foreign knights were already travelling to Spain to assist in the struggle against the Muslims. So the desire to help rid Christian lands of Islamic invaders was already becoming widespread. Motivation was often mixed among Crusaders. A love of adventure and battle and a desire for loot were common, but chivalry, religious fervour and an ambition to liberate Christian brothers and sisters were also widespread.
    The Crusades
       The first Crusade began in 1095 and ended in 1099. The Byzantine Emperor Alexius I appealed to Pope Urban II for help in protecting Eastern Christians and reclaiming territory conquered by the Muslims. In response to this plea several different groups of Crusaders assembled, including organised armies of knights and a spontaneous "People's Crusade" made up of ordinary people who followed a preacher called Peter the Hermit. The "People's Crusade" was unarmed and had no military experience; they were massacred when they entered the territory of the Seljuk Turks.
       The other Crusaders, professional warriors, began their campaign with the siege of Antioch, which was taken from the Seljuk Turks in 1098, and other cities were taken in Anatolia. In 1099 the Crusaders took Jerusalem. At this point occurred the most notorious event of any of the Crusades, the sack of Jerusalem.
    Modern Muslim approaches towards the Crusades
       Some contemporary Muslims have seized on the Crusades as a convenient tool against the West, seeking to extract statements of guilt from modern Westerners uneasy about the evils of imperialism, colonialism, cultural insensitivity and two world wars. Muslims present the Crusades as a prototype of modern Western imperialism, an unprovoked and barbaric war of conquest and extermination waged against peaceful and tolerant Muslim states. Many Western intellectuals and Christians have accepted these allegations at face value.
       But the claims are historically inaccurate. The Muslim world was affected much more seriously by the rise of Genghis Khan and the Mongols than it was by the Crusades. The Mongols arrived in the Middle East around 1220, and they reached and destroyed Baghdad in 1258. Their invasion was a much greater concern to the Muslims than were the Crusades: they caused much more loss of life and destruction, and Islam in the Middle East was almost wiped out by them after 1258. It could be argued that the Muslim world was saved only because the Mongols themselves eventually converted to Islam. Until the modern era Muslim historians did not play a great deal of attention to the Crusades. According to the historian Jonathan Riley-Smith it was not until 1899 that the first Islamic history of the Crusades was written. 1
       The history of the Crusades as told by modern Muslims is hardly a balanced study of historical facts. Their accounts are a reaction to the weakness of the Muslim world in modern times and its domination by nominally Christian colonial powers in the 20th century. They do not mention the events that preceded the Crusades, such as the jihad that conquered and subjugated Christians and Jews throughout the Middle East and Central Asia for centuries, the conquest of Spain, the raids into Europe and the harassment of pilgrims in the Holy Land.
       A typical standard description of the Crusades as an unprovoked and unjustifiable attack is seen here in a Muslim book for children called "Muslim heroes of the Crusades":
    Enough {sic}, before the First Crusade, Muslims, Jews and Christians had lived in Jerusalem in peace and harmony for many years. In fact, the Christians never needed rescuing from the so-called "barbaric Muslims" as the Pope had suggested. Each religion respected the rights of the others and the city had various quarters where each religious community congregated and lived. 2
       However, the truth was different. Both Christians living under Muslim rule and pilgrims who visited the Holy Land faced severe persecution before the Crusades.
       Meanwhile, some Muslims refer to the Crusades (which began almost a thousand years ago) to try to deflect criticism of contemporary Muslim practices, such as Islamist terrorism or the treatment of non-Muslims in modern Muslim states. While Christians have repeatedly expressed regret and offered apologies for the actions of the Crusaders, Muslims have shown no inclination to offer apologies for the attacks that have been inflicted upon non-Muslims throughout the history of Islam. Rather, they have seized on the Christian apologies as a pretext to harass Christian minorities in the modern Muslim world.
       The definition in some recent Muslim thought of any Christian as a "Crusader" has been employed to foster antagonism against the West (notably by Bin Laden) and exploited to justify attacks on Christians living in Muslim states.
    ____________________
    1 Jonathan Riley-Smith, Jihad Crusaders: What an Osama bin Laden means by "crusade", National Review, 5 January 2004, http://www. nationalreview. com/comment/ riley-smith 200401050839. asp .
    2Shahnaz Husain, Muslim Heroes of the Crusades: Salahuddin and Nuruddin. London: Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd, 1988, p26.
    iii
       Many inhabitants (Jews, Muslims and Eastern Christians) were massacred, and much pillaging and looting occurred. Yet it was not unusual in this brutal society for towns to be looted if they resisted, and at the time the sack aroused comparatively little comment. To modern eyes, however, the murder of civilians by Christian knights appears atrocious.
       The Crusaders consolidated their control of the areas they had captured and established four states: the kingdom of Jerusalem, the County of Edessa, the Principality of Antioch and the County of Tripoli. These states were to last for decades in a period of relative peace until the Muslims began to unite against the Crusaders. The opposition from Muslims to the Crusaders was weak at this point because the Muslims were divided by infighting.
       The Crusader states and their Muslim neighbours generally got on very well over the following years. Trade, alliances and cooperation were the norm. Often groups of Crusaders and Muslims would mount joint military operations against common enemies. It was only much later that there was any unified Muslim effort to throw the Crusaders out of the area.
       Throughout the 12th century the Crusader states gradually came under increased pressure and were the subject of raids. Edessa was by far the most precarious, and in 1144 it was taken by Imad ad-Din Zengi, the ruler of Mosul.
       The second Crusade (1147-49) was called in response to the loss of Edessa. This Crusade was unsuccessful, but some of the forces that took part helped to defeat the Muslim invaders of Lisbon on their way to the Holy Land. After they had arrived in the Holy Land, the Crusaders failed in a disastrous attack on Damascus. In the aftermath of this failure the leaders blamed each other. One of them, Bernard of Clairvaux, was humiliated by the defeat, and in a letter to the Pope he claimed that the cause of the Crusaders' misfortune and failures was their sins.
       The defeat at Damascus started a trend that gradually forced the Crusaders out of the Middle East. In 1187 the great Kurdish general, Saladin, captured Jerusalem after the battle of Hattin. Saladin had united the Muslims behind him and used a revival of the jihad doctrine as a motivating and unifying tool. This led to a hardening of Muslim attitudes to Christians, including the Eastern Christians within Muslim lands.
       In response to the loss of Jerusalem the Third Crusade was launched. It is sometimes known as the Kings' Crusade because it was led by some of the most important leaders in Europe at the time: Philip II of France, Richard I of England (Richard the Lionheart), and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor. The Third Crusade was successful in taking several key cities, but was unable to re-capture Jerusalem.
       There were several more Crusades, which had some success: Jerusalem was re-taken for several short periods, and other cities and territories were conquered. However, ultimately they were unsuccessful in achieving their goals, and sometimes they were counter-productive. During the Fourth Crusade Constantinople was attacked by the Crusaders, which exacerbated the schism between Eastern and Western Christianity.
       The new Mameluke dynasty in Egypt (1250-1516) delivered the final blow to the Crusaders' ambitions by conquering and destroying the last Crusader strongholds on the coast.
      [Map] The Near East at the time of the Crusades  
       Many Christians in the defeated cities were massacred and enslaved. By the early 14th century the Crusader states in the Middle East had all been conquered by the Muslims.
    Evaluation
       The barbarity that the Crusaders sometimes displayed towards civilians cannot be evaded. To their shame, they were often cruel towards those they conquered, and throughout the history of the Crusades the taking of cities often resulted in atrocities against civilians. Although they were standard practice at the time, these actions against Muslims, and also against Jews and Eastern Christians (as when Crusaders attacked Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade) are a blot on the history of the Crusades. But it should also be remembered that the Muslims were every bit as brutal as the Crusaders. They often massacred prisoners who were not considered useful as slaves, and the women and children from the captured Crusader cities were sold into slavery and prostitution - all quite legitimate in Islam.
       It is also misleading to assume that the Crusaders were always brutal. The establishing of the Crusader kingdoms produced relative tranquillity, especially in the years of peace after the First Crusade. A Spanish Muslim, Ibn Jubayr, wrote after the First Crusade:
    The lands were efficiently cultivated. The inhabitants were all Muslims. They live in comfort with the Franj (Franks - this was what the Muslims called the Crusaders) - may God preserve them from temptation! Their dwellings belong to them and all their property is unmolested. All their regions, patrolled by the Crusaders in Syria are subject to the same system: The land that remains, the villages and farms, have remained in the hands of the Muslims. Now, doubt invests the hearts of a great number of these men when they compare their lot to that of their brothers living in Muslim territories. Indeed, the latter suffer from the injustices of their co-religionists, whereas the Franj act with equity. 3
       But although many of those who fought in the early Crusades displayed a considerable spirit of idealism, later Crusades were less idealistic and were hamstrung by the infighting of those who took part. Armies often came from different kingdoms in Europe, and there were frequent and widespread disagreements between English, French, German and Byzantine leaders. Meanwhile the power of the orders of knights that had been formed specifically to take part in the Crusades became a source of concern for some Christian rulers. In the end the infighting in Europe led to the decline of the Crusades and the loss of the Holy Land.
       However, this is not to say that the Crusades served no purpose. The Muslim expansion that had threatened to move into Eastern Europe was delayed, as the Muslims were put on the defensive both by the Crusaders and in the 13th century also by the Mongols. It can therefore be argued that the great victory which the Crusades bought for Europe was time: Europe was allowed to develop for several centuries and to grow in strength. When the Ottoman conquests of Eastern Europe began in the 14th century, the European armies were strong enough eventually to repulse the invaders. It could be argued that without the Crusades these conquests would have taken place much earlier and that Christian Europe might not have been ready to defend itself.
       The concept of Just War is a complex issue in itself, and we cannot reasonably use modern concepts of justice and morality to measure the actions of medieval soldiers some 1,000 years ago, without taking into account the ideas of the time in both Europe and the Middle East. The attitude of many Western commentators and Muslims to the Crusades also does not reflect historical reality. The Crusades are presented as completely unprovoked, and the centuries of Islamic aggression against, subjugation of and threats towards the Christian world, which preceded the Crusades, are largely ignored. Some scholars have managed to form a more balanced view, but the balance needs to be further redressed. And those Muslims who seek apologies from others may also be invited to look into the history of the spread of Islam. All nations and peoples have done things they should regret.
       For further information on the Crusades, see the excellent book edited by Jonathan Riley-Smith, A History of the Crusades. Oxford: Oxford Paperbacks, 1999.
    ____________________
    3 Amin Maalouf, The Crusades Through Arab Eyes. New York: Schocken, 1989, p 266.
    Timeline
    632 - Death of Muhammad [in Arabia, Asia]
    635 - Muslim conquest of Damascus [Syria, Asia]
    638 - Muslim conquest of Jerusalem [Palestine, Asia]
    641 - Muslim conquest of Alexandria [Egypt, Africa]
    711 - Muslim conquest of Spain [western Europe]
    1071 - Seljuk Turks defeat the Byzantines at battle of Manzikert
    1074 - Pope Gregory VII calls for aid to the Byzantines
    1096 - 1099 First Crusade, Jerusalem taken by the Crusaders, establishment of Crusader states [in western Asia]
    1144 - Crusader state of Edessa captured by Muslim forces
    1147 - 1149 - Second Crusade
    1187 - Saladin captures Jerusalem after the battle of Hattin
    1187 - 1192 - Third Crusade
    1202 - 1204 - Fourth Crusade, attack on Constantinople [by Roman Catholic "Christians"]
    1212 - Children's Crusade lead by Stephen of Cloyes [Superstitious waste of European children.]
    1217-1221 - Fifth Crusade
    1228 - 1229 - Sixth Crusade
    1248 - 1254 - Seventh Crusade
    1268 - Fall of the Principality of Antioch [on Mediterranean]
    1270 - Eighth Crusade
    1271 - 1272 - Ninth Crusade
    1306 - Last foothold of Crusaders' territory in Syria is conquered, leading to the end of the Crusader states.
       BARNABAS FUND, HOPE AND AID FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH, Postal Suite 107, 236 Hyperdome, Loganholme, QLD, 4129, Australia.  Telephone (07) 3806 1076 or 1300 365 799, Fax (07) 3806 4076; Email bfaustralia § barnabasfund org . Registered Charity Number 1092935. Company Registered in England Number 4029536. … www.barnabasfund.org . #
       © Barnabas Fund, 2009
       [1st RECAPITULATION: By 732, only a century after the death of Muhammad, half of the world's Christians were under Muslim domination. … The "People's Crusade" was unarmed and had no military experience; they were massacred when they entered the territory of the Seljuk Turks. … ENDS.]
       [1st COMMENT: The Muslims were raiders and brigands from the beginning.  But note the Latin Christians' "People's Crusade" silliness.  Worse was the "Children's Crusade" of 1212, when large numbers were offered ship passage to the Holy Land, and were taken off to become slaves.  The superstitious belief was that the innocence of the children would give them victory in battle!  Similar criminal silliness had been practised in the 20th century by the Iranian Muslim theocracy, who sent children into battle against Saddam Hussein's Iraq, plus sending them ahead of soldiers into minefields. ENDS.]
       [2nd RECAPITULATION: … before the First Crusade, Muslims, Jews and Christians had lived in Jerusalem in peace and harmony for many years. ENDS.]
       [2nd COMMENT: This Muslim lie, taught to children, is a good argument against allowing religious schools.  There was a continuing persecution, by imposing special taxes, and other humiliations.  Every now and than something or somebody would lead to violence, death, and destruction against the non-Muslim religions. ENDS.]
       [3rd RECAPITULATION: Yet it was not unusual in this brutal society for towns to be looted if they resisted, and at the time the sack aroused comparatively little comment. ENDS.]
       [3rd COMMENT: Come on, Barnabas Aid!  Murder and robbery are just that!  Read this: The Muslims occupying Jerusalem had insulted the cross on the walls, while the Crusaders besieged the city. When the Crusaders conquered the city they slaughtered almost the entire population, spending about 1 ½ days doing so, from Friday 15 July 1099 to the 16th. -- see Hilaire Belloc [a 20th century Roman Catholic author-campaigner], The Crusades, (originally 1937) 1992, p 115
       Perhaps the Christians forgot "You shall not kill" (Mark 10:29, Luke 18:20, James 2:11) and "Never repay one wrong with another." (1 Peter 3:9) and see 1 Peter 1:22. ENDS.]
       [4th RECAPITULATION: During the Fourth Crusade Constantinople was attacked by the Crusaders, which exacerbated the schism between Eastern and Western Christianity. ENDS.]
       [4th COMMENT: The Latin (read Roman Catholic) "Christians" robbed and slaughtered the Byzantine (Eastern Roman Orthodox) in Christendom's major city.  Rome's soldiers attacked New Rome!  "Let brotherly love continue." (Hebrews 13:1) ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#the_crusades
    [List as May 1; Issue dated May-June 2009]
    • Islamic Intolerance on the Rise.  - Taliban threat to Pope Benedict XVI.       

    Islamic Intolerance on the Rise

       Annals Australasia, annalsaustralasia § gmail com , p 36, April-May 2009
    AFTER a series of particularly violent anti-Christian attacks in Mosul last October, leaders of the Catholic Chaldean church and other Christian denominations wrote a protest letter stating that "it seems that Iraq is one step closer to becoming an Islamic state intolerant to non-Muslims."
       The Taliban last week threatened Pope Benedict XVI, whom they call "the most important personality in the Christian world," with violence over "stupid and irresponsible acts of proselytism" they contend are being conducted in Afghanistan by "crusader" missionaries.
       This followed edited footage aired on al-Jazeera that appeared to show the military's top chaplain in Afghanistan, Lt. Col. Gary Hensley, encouraging troops to "hunt people for Jesus." Unedited footage released later showed the chaplain discussing in detail what constituted impermissible proselytizing and cautioning the troops not to cross the line.
       For the Taliban, the mere presence of Christians in their country - not to mention Jews, Hindus and others - is anathema. Under current Afghan law - which is under the regime the United States and other Western countries are expending blood and treasure to defend -converting to another religion from Islam is a capital offense.
       Afghan aid worker Abdul Rahman, who converted to Catholicism, was allowed to flee to Italy after his arrest in 2006 created an international outcry.
    – Source: Editorial, The Washington Times, http://www.washingtontimes.com/ , May 17, 2009.
       [RECAPITULATION: Unedited footage released later showed the chaplain discussing in detail what constituted impermissible proselytizing and cautioning the troops not to cross the line. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: The troops ought to have been ordered and advised not to proselytize in any manner whatsoever.  Haven't the disordered contradictory yet greedy policies of the Western powers for more than a century landed the West in enough trouble already! COMMENT ENDS.]
       [2nd RECAP.: The Taliban last week threatened Pope Benedict XVI. ENDS.]
       [2nd COMMENT: He's already been sentenced to death by a mosque leader somewhere in the world, since his Regensberg address.  The "sword verse" in the Koran has not been annulled by Heaven, yet! ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#islamic_intolerance_on
    [List as May 1. p 36, April-May 2009]
    • [Afghans versus Bible; Jihad obligatory; 11 days to obliterate Israel; Paki nukes in danger; Denmark too humane to expel terror recruiter!] 

    [Afghans versus Bible; Jihad obligatory; 11 days to obliterate Israel; Paki nukes in danger; Denmark too humane to expel terror recruiter!]

       Jihad Watch Digest, director § jihadwatch org , Tuesday, May 5, 2009
         Taliban: Swat deal is over. For the record, that's the "deal" Western leaders supported as a model for the way ahead. A little more than two months later, turned out it was merely a delay-tactic by the Taliban who, far from being content with sharia … ( http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025977.php ).
           Afghan government demands probe over alleged U.S. army Bible distribution. Former prime minister Ahmed Shah Ahmedzai laments: "This is a complete deviation from what they (the U.S. military) are supposed to be doing. I don't think even the U.S. Constitution would allow what they are doing. … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025974.php .
               Iran: We have a right to send weapons to Hamas and Hizballah. After all, it's one big happy jihad, right? Clash of Civilizations Update: "Iranian Leader Khamenei's Representative in Syria, Mojtaba Hosseini: Iran Has the Right to Send Weapons to Hizbullah and Hamas," from MEMRITV, April 20 (thanks to all who sent … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025976.php .
           Things banned in Islam: democracy, communism, socialism, constitutions, photographs, women outdoors. Or, in short, anything that runs counter to sharia law. Speaking of Islamic law, "Sufi Muhammad said the sharia system of governance not currently in force anywhere in the world, not even Saudi Arabia or Iran … . adding jihad becomes obligatory … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025971.php .
       Latest jihadi bloopers and blunders moment: Suicide-bomber detonates prematurely, killing self only. First a would-be suicide bomber gets tackled and smothered most ignominiously; now a suicide-bomber detonates prematurely killing only himself, without even managing to hurt anyone. Ideally, such less than impressive outcomes should make all would-be suicide bombers think twice about … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025973.php .
           Taliban: Pakistani government "enemies of Muslims" -- "Either we'll be martyred or we'll march forward." About the Zardari government Muslim Khan said: "They're worse enemies of Muslims than the Americans. They're US stooges." But surely the Moderate Taliban will soon appear and sit down to talk with Barack Obama. "Taliban vow to fight till death," … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025975.php .
           Moderate, peace-loving Mahmoud Abbas mocks the idea of a Jewish state. More on this story, from Palestinian Media Watch, May 4 (thanks to all who sent this in). He said: "The 'Jewish state.' What is a 'Jewish state?' We call it, the 'State of Israel'. You can call yourselves whatever … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025972.php .
           General Commander of Iranian Army: "I do not think we will need more than 11 days to wipe Israel out of existence." "According to the shari'a and the law, it is forbidden to obtain a nuclear bomb." Other Islamic authorities differ. More on this story from MEMRI (thanks to Clark): "General Commander of the Iranian Army Ataollah Salehi: It Will Take Us … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025969.php .
         "Can you imagine being forced to live as refugees in your own country?" NY Human Rights Anti-Sharia Rally Update: Pamela Geller has now posted the texts of two of the talks from the Rally. Here is a sample of Arish Sahani's address on the plight of Hindus in the face of the … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025967.php .
             Iran threatens Israel with "destruction in 11 days." A strange and ominous report from a German publication. Here is my rough translation of "'Zerstrung in elf Tagen': Iran bedroht Israel," by Ulrich W. Sahm in n-tv.de, May 3 (thanks to The Total Collapse): Iran has for the first … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025966.php
         US worried that jihadists will seize Pakistani nukes, and Pakistani officials won't tell where they are. The headline the Telegraph gives to this article is "US 'concerned Taliban will snatch Pakistan's nuclear weapons.'" As the great philosopher once said to me, "Well, duh." Note that Pakistani authorities are not co-operating. Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025965.php .
           Spencer: Why the ADL is wrong about Geert Wilders. My column in FrontPage this morning addresses the Anti-Defamation League's attack on freedom fighter Geert Wilders: After the heroic Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders spoke in Florida last week, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) condemned his remarks, saying: "In his speeches, he … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025964.php .
         New book by Bat Ye'or! It's in Italian, but an English translation will be coming along. Bat Ye'or, the pioneering historian of dhimmitude and chronicler of Europe's self-induced decline into Eurabia, has now completed a new study of Islamic imperialism. Andy Bostom has the … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025963.php
             Iraqi in Denmark recruited suicide bombers; Denmark unable to deport him on "humanitarian grounds". "The documents 'from several German terrorism trials show that PET believes that Amer Saeed has been the main organiser in Northern Europe for recruiting terrorists to Iraq,' Politiken said." It is most ironic to let him stay on "humanitarian" grounds … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025962.php .
           Why Obama is wrong, and Turkey should not join the EU. "Europe should halt all discussion of the matter until a secular government is reinstated, and one that supports Israel." Absolutely. "Should Turkey join the European Union? Obama says yes. He's wrong," by Abigail Esman in World Defense Review, April 30: … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025961.php .
         "These Talibans have ruined the reputation of Islam." This is good to see. It would be better if they backed up assertions such as "the Taliban is the enemy of Islam" with some reasoned response to the Taliban's use of Islamic texts and teachings. Peaceful, secular Muslims … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025960.php .
       Jihad Watch has a "very explicit anti-Islamist agenda." Thomas Hegghammer of the sometimes useful site Jihadica gives Jihad Watch a shout-out in Bellum (thanks to Salta): 1. SITE Intelligence Group, Jihad Watch – where does Jihadica fit into the mix? First, Jihadica is a very small, pro bono … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025959.php .
           Islamic cleric: Jihad "not mandatory" in Kashmir because people there are not demanding Sharia. Which illustrates yet again that the object of jihad is to establish Sharia.  Sufi Mohammad agrees with Syed Moinullah Shah, but for different reasons. "Pro-Taliban cleric says jehad 'not mandatory' in Kashmir," from Press Trust of India, May 4. … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025958.php . #
       [COMMENT: Even Muslim governments like Saudi Arabia are threatened by some of the jihadists and some religious leaders.  They don't even respect their own kind! COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#afghans_versus_bible
    [May 05, 09]
    • Islamist Lawyer Threatens to Kill Pakistani Charged with Blasphemy.  - Victim is Hector Aleem, 51,  

    Islamist Lawyer Threatens to Kill Pakistani Charged with Blasphemy


    Bail denied to Christian activist for his own safety; judge also under fire
       Religion News Blog, ReligionNewsBlog.com , http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23451/muslim-lawyer-threatens-christian , Item 23451, (Istanbul, Posted Thursday May 7, 2009), May 6, 2009
       PAKISTAN (Compass Direct News) – A Pakistani Christian charged with abetting blasphemy against Islam was denied bail for his own safety last week after an Islamist lawyer allegedly threatened his life in a court hearing.
       Hector Aleem, 51, remains in Adiyala Jail in Rawalpindi, near Pakistans capital of Islamabad. Judge Mustafa Tanveer dismissed his bail application at a court session on Thursday (April 30).
       "If the judge does not punish Aleem according to the law, then [we] will kill him ourselves,” said Tariq Dhamal, an attorney for the unnamed complainant, according to a report by the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS).
       Police arrested Aleem last November when a Muslim scholar received a text message insulting the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Authorities charged Aleem with blasphemy and abetting blasphemy, sections 295(c) and 109(bb) respectively of the Pakistani criminal code.
       Court evidence shows the text message came from an unlisted phone number, not Aleem's. At an April 25 hearing, Investigating Officer Zafer Ikbal said he had concluded that evidence proved Aleem's innocence. Ikbals investigation, along with a February judicial decision, resulted in charges of blaspheming Islam being dropped. The charge of abetting blasphemy still stands.
       Nevertheless, at the April 25 hearing prosecuting attorneys asserted that Aleem was guilty of blasphemy on grounds that "he is a Christian and can make blasphemous comments about the prophet Muhammad,” according to Katherine Sapna, a field officer for CLAAS.
       Aleem's lawyer, Malik Tafik, said he has filed for upcoming hearings to be closed to the public for fear that Muslim fanatics could try to kill his Christian client. Tafik will present another bail application in the high court of Islamabad on May 14.
       Tafik, a Muslim, has come under pressure from the Rawalpindi Bar for taking on the case of a Christian accused of blasphemy. The bar has filed an application against him for handling the case.
       Dhamal, the lawyer who allegedly made the death threat against Aleem, is a member of Sunni Tehreek, an Islamist political movement involved in violent sectarian clashes in the last decade.
       In the April 25 hearing, five lawyers and 180 Islamist protestors gathered around the courthouse. Tafik said he believes the crowds hoped to intimidate the judge into declaring Aleem guilty. More than 100 protestors have congregated at previous hearings, shouting that Aleem's life would not be spared and he should be handed over to the police.
       Tafik said the judge is afraid to rule in favor of Aleem for fear of his life from Rawalpindi Islamists.
       "The judge is under pressure and not deciding the case based on merits,” Tafik said. "He is ready to hear on merits, but the lawyers are just [acting] on the basis of Islamization.”
       Pakistan's blasphemy laws have come under heavy fire from international rights groups. Any private citizen can file blasphemy charges, and they have been used in petty disputes as a means of retaliation as they can destroy reputation, livelihood and possibly lead to the death penalty in the conservative Islamic country.
       Before his arrest, Aleem led human rights campaigns on behalf of Christians, particularly a land dispute between a congregation and the Rawalpindi Water and Sanitation Agency, which wanted to demolish their church building.
       More Muslims than Christians are charged with blasphemy in Pakistan. In 2008 there were 13 cases registered against Muslims in Punjab province, where Aleem resides, and only six against Christians. Boy Dies
       Insulting Islam is a dangerous activity in the conservative nation of 170 million, but with the spread of the Taliban, non-Muslims fear their very existence will make them a target to fundamentalists.
       On April 22 Christians in Taiser town, near Karachi, noticed on the walls of their church graffiti that read, "Long Live the Taliban” and calls for Christians to either convert to Islam or pay the jizye, a poll tax under sharia (Islamic law) paid by non-Muslims for protection if they decline to convert.
       Armed men arrived on the scene and opened fire on Christians who were erasing the graffiti, injuring five. An 11-year-old boy shot in the attack, Irfan Masih, has reportedly since died from his injuries (see "Taliban-Inspired Attacks Hit Christians,” April 27).
       Security forces fear that sectarian violence could erupt in the port city of Karachi. They have banned public gatherings and processions, according to Release International aid agency. - Source / Full Story: Lawyer Threatens to Kill Pakistani Charged with Blasphemy, © Compass Direct News, May 6, 2009 – Published in Religion News Blog by permission. #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#islamist_lawyer_threatens
    [May 6, 09]
    • [Lily-livered Europe, Fanatics in Italy, Al-Sadr promoted, Halal only at 8 UK KFCs, Father Mattaos unjustly imprisoned.] 

    [Lily-livered Europe, Fanatics in Italy, Al-Sadr promoted, Halal only at 8 UK KFCs, Father Mattaos unjustly imprisoned]

       Jihad Watch Digest, director § jihadwatch org , Thursday, May 7, 2009
           Fethullah Gülen: the Turkish Khomeini?  Will this man destroy Turkish secularism? Building his empire in Philadelphia. Is he planning to return to establish Sharia rule in Ankara? "Fethullah Gülen: the neo-Ottoman dream of Turkish Islam," by Geries Othman for AsiaNews, May 6   Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026008.php .
         "We will win, and they will die"  A befuddled CNN reporter interviews a forthright jihadist in Afghanistan. "Afghan Taliban spokesman: We will win the war," by Nic Robertson for CNN, May 5 (thanks to Winds of Jihad): … The man in front of me is Zabiullah Mujahid -- … http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026007.php
         Hirsi Ali: Lily-livered Europe has surrendered to Muslim bigots.  Watching a civilization in decline.  In this superb piece, freedom fighter Ayaan Hirsi Ali chronicles Europe's confusion, demoralization and Islamization.  "It's time lily-livered Europe stood up to Muslim bigots," by Ayaan Hirsi Ali in The First Post, May 5 … http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026006.php
         Italy: 60% of mosques "run by fanatical imams".  Not surprising considering a letter from none other than Osama bin Laden was once found in an Italian mosque.  Beware of halal butchers too: " While only 5% of Muslim immigrants attend mosque prayers, many more Muslims buy halal meat …"   http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026001.php
         Al-Qaeda exporting Reality TV complete with a hip-hop jihad vibe.  "Mortar by mortar, shell by shell, only going to stop when I send them to hell" The "dirty kuffar" get rapped on once again. "Al Qaeda exporting jihad with a hip-hop vibe," by Paula Newton for CNN, May 4: LONDON …   http://www. jihadwatch.org/ archives/026000. php
           Muqtada al-Sadr promoted to "Ayatollah".  "Sign of Allah"? That is the literal meaning of "ayatollah." At any rate, now that Sadr's studies in Iran have come to an end he can put them to renewed use. "Iraq: Radical cleric becomes 'ayatollah,'" from Adnkronos, May … http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025998.php
           India: Pakistan is "taking U.S. for a ride".  "The Pakistan government wants the world to believe it is less stable and in need of assistance, to be bailed out, but giving them more economic aid is like giving the bottle to an alcoholic," said one source. "Pakistan 'is …   http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025997.php
         UK: Jihadist who called for beheading of any Muslim in the British Army freed from jail early.  They won't let Geert Wilders or Michael Savage into the country, but this jihadist, who wants to destroy the British state, is free. Absurd Britannia Alert: "Radical preacher Abu Izzadeen freed from jail early," from the Telegraph, May 6 … http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026005.php
         UK: 8 KFC outlets going to halal-only menu.  Here is yet another indication of how pleas by Muslim minorities for pluralism and tolerance all too quickly turn into Islamic supremacist assertions that non-Muslims must abide by Islamic norms. And in this case, as in so many others, the … http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026004.php
         Pakistan: Jihadists warn doctors not to wear Western clothes.  Can't heal the sick wearing a tie, do'ncha know. Sharia Alert from the brave new Islamic Pakistan: "Militants warn doctors not to wear western clothes," from Dawn, May 6 (thanks to James): PESHAWAR: Hospitals in Peshawar have received threatening letters … http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026003.php
         Traces of weapons-grade uranium found in Egypt.  Uh, we can explain. It's not ours; we were just, uh, holding it. But anyway, all the cool kids are enriching uranium, so, like, lighten up. "IAEA: weapons grade uranium traces found in Egypt," by George Jahn for the Associated … http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026002.php
         Texas columnist: Some Muslims aren't waging stealth jihad, therefore no Muslims are.  This column from a Texas paper encapsulates the woolly thinking that prevents so many Americans from understanding the jihad threat in all its forms. "What were Republicans thinking by 'Rumble at Romano's'?," by Bud Kennedy in the Star-Telegram, May 5 … http://www. jihadwatch.org/ archives/ 025996.php
         Shocker: Report on religious freedom says Pakistani gov't does nothing to protect minorities.  No kidding. "Government does nothing to stop violence against Pakistan's minorities," by Qaiser Felix for AsiaNews, May 6: Islamabad (AsiaNews) - Violence against religious minorities is commonplace in Pakistan, one of 13 countries named by the US Commission on International … http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025999.php
             Obama may try to force Israel to declare and relinquish its nukes.  As a sop to Iran. Yet another Which-Side-Is-Obama-On Alert: "EXCLUSIVE: Secret U.S.-Israel nuclear accord in jeopardy," by Eli Lake for the Washington Times, May 6 (thanks to Undaunted): President Obama's efforts to curb the spread of nuclear weapons threaten to … http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025995.php
           As the U.S. retreats from the Middle East, Iran rushes to fill the void.  Nature abhors a vacuum. "As the U.S. Retreats, Iran Fills the Void," by Amir Taheri in the Wall Street Journal, May 5 (thanks to all who sent this in): Convinced that the Obama administration is preparing to retreat from the … http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025994.php .
         Iran rejects legal reforms as "contradictory to Islam".  What? The Iranian Guardians Council thinks that measures to make their penal code more humane are contradictory to Islam? Apparently the mullahs are Islamophobes! "Iran stays execution of two minors: lawyer," from AFP, May 6 (thanks to James): TEHRAN (AFP) … http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025993.php
         Pakistan: Christians locking themselves in their homes for fear of Misunderstanders of Islam.  They burned homes, told Christians to convert to Islam or be killed, and burned Bibles. Will Christians worldwide riot riot over these burned Bibles? Will the UN issue condemnations of "defamation of Christianity" and call for the outlawing of "Christianophobia"? Will … http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025992.php
             "Israel would seek forgiveness, not permission" from U.S. on hitting Iran.  Let's hope so. Because Israel sure isn't going to get permission from Obama. The freedom of the world may depend upon Israel's ability to act against the genocidal mullahs before they themselves strike. "Israel would inform, not ask U.S. before … http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025990.php
         Free Father Mattaos, unjustly imprisoned in Egypt.  Free him. Islamic law forbids Muslims to convert to other religions on pain of death, in accord with the words of Muhammad. This story illustrates how that law plays out in people's lives. A press release from the Christian … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 025989.php . #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#lily_livered_europe
    [May 7, 2009]
    • [Persecute them, Jihadist 'refugees,' Church attacked, Mobilising in US villages, Foreign fighters in Somalia, UN 'rights', Holy duty to fight.] 

    [Persecute them, Jihadist ‘refugees,’ Church attacked, Mobilising in US villages, Foreign fighters in Somalia, UN ‘rights’, Holy duty to fight]

       Jihad Watch Digest, director § jihadwatch org , Tuesday, May 12, 2009
       PA Sheikh interrupts Pope's speech, slams Israel.  Incidentally, this is the same man who once said: "The Jews are destined to be persecuted, humiliated, and tortured forever, and it is a Muslim duty to see to it that they reap their due. No petty arguments must be… Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026077.php
       Islamic hate sites threaten Jews and bloggers.  The shiny happy family. The photo above was posted on Yousef al-Khattab's website, but has since been taken down. Does Child Services know about this child holding a machine gun? Yousef al-Khattab is the openly genocidal jihadist who has… http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026076.php
       Pakistan: Swat jihadists hiding, fleeing among civilians.  When danger reared its ugly head, they bravely turned their tails and fled; the brave jihadists turned about, and gallantly, they chickened out… (with apologies to Monty Python). "Pakistan: Militants 'join exodus from Swat'," by Syed Saleem Shahzad for the… http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026075.php
       Mission accomplished, so why not close the DHS?  In Mission Accomplished?" at The American Thinker, Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs wonders why, now that the war on terror is over, we don't just close the DHS -- rather than target Americans who are not terrorists. And while we're… http://www. jihadwatch. org/ archives/ 026074.php
         Egypt: Bomb goes off in front of highly revered Coptic church.  Not to worry, though; a police official said the bomb appeared to be intended "to scare rather than to kill." More on the Copts' increasingly dire plight. Maybe Obama can address this situation in his upcoming talk in Egypt? "A… http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026071.php
         Jihadis mobilizing in small American towns.  The Dept. of Justice reports that there are "more than 35 suspected communes and more than 30,000 members spread across the US, all in support of one goal: the purification of Islam through violence." "Seeds of Afghan jihad bloom in… http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026073.php
         Republican-Muslim "humiliated and degraded" by ACT message.  Regarding American mosques, "a Republican precinct judge, Dorrie O'Brien, is crisscrossing Tarrant County to spread a message that he believes something more might be more {sic} going on than prayer." Wonder where he got that idea from? And rather than… http://www. jihadwatch. org/ archives/ 026072.php
         Somali jihadist group makes gains in Mogadishu with help of "foreign fighters".  Somalia Jihad Update, and possible corroboration of this story. "Islamists, 'foreign fighters' make gains in Mogadishu," from Garowe Online, May 11: MOGADISHU, Somalia May 11 (Garowe Online) - Islamist hardliners led by the notorious Al Shabaab militants in the Somali… http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/026070.php
           German jailed for six years for scheming to sell Iran a missile ingredient.  Hans-Josef H.: a convinced and active jihadist, or just a useful idiot? No way to tell from this story, but in either case the outcome is the same. And there are so many useful idiots and willing stooges for jihadist… http://www. jihadwatch.org/ archives/ 026069.php
           Stealth Jihad and Dhimmitude - growing apace at the UN Castle: Durban II, Human Rights Council "'Rules" and a Kangaroo Court.  Comments by David G. Littman, NGO Representative of the Association for World Education (AWE) and World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ) to the United Nations in Geneva: A fortnight ago, commenting on Durban II, on President Ahmadinejad's symbolic hubris, and… http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026066.php
         Afghanistan: Western countries looked the other way from opium production to avoid "radicalizing" locals; opium trade now propelling resurgent Taliban.  Whoops: A gross over-estimation of the political and ideological will in Afghanistan to counteract the influence of the Taliban, both locally and nationally. "West looked the other way as Afghan drug trade exploded," by Tom Lasseter for McClatchy Newspapers, May… http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026067.php
         Taliban jihadist: "It is my holy duty to fight".  He said it. He's the one "misunderstanding" that jihad is but a peaceful struggle for self-improvement (or so we're told). "Face-to-face with the Taliban: 'It is my holy obligation to fight'," by Mary Fitzgerald for the Irish Times, May 11:… Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026065.php . #
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  5:59-60 (or 5:64-65):- O people of the Book! … Say: "Shall I point out to you something much worse than this, (as judged) by the treatment it received from Allah? those who incurred the curse of Allah and His wrath, those of whom some He transformed into apes and swine, those who worshipped evil;- these are (many times) worse in rank, and far more astray from the even path!"
       33:26-27:- And those of the People of the Book who aided them - Allah did take them down from their strongholds and cast terror into their hearts.  (So that) some ye slew, and some ye made prisoners.  And He gave you their land, and their dwellings, and their wealth, for an heritage – even a land on which ye had never set foot … DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  Sahih Muslim's collection, 41:6985:- … Allah's Messenger … saying The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree …
       Sunan Abu-Dawud's, Book 19, Number 2996: - Narrated Muhayyisah: The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_ upon_him) said: If you gain a victory over the men of Jews, kill them.  So Muhayyisah jumped over Shubaybah, a man of the Jewish merchants. … He then killed him. … TRADITION ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#persecute_them_jihadist
    [May 12, 09]
    • [Send flee-ers back to fight, AND, Appeasement no cure.]     
    IN SHORT

    [Send flee-ers back to fight, AND, Appeasement no cure.]

     
       The West Australian, letters § wanews com au , Various Letters to The Editor, p 22, Thursday, May 14, 2009

    [Send flee-ers back to fight]


       During World War II when most of Europe was conquered by the enemy, a lot of young men escaped to Britain … Poles, French, etc.
       These young men were formed into the Free French and Polish army, air, and naval units and with the help of the British were eager to go back to their respective countries to fight the invaders to free their homeland.
       So why do we not give the able-bodied young Iraqis and Afghans who flee their homeland the same opportunity to fight with our young men and women?

    [Appeasement no cure]


       Noting the tremendous assault taking place in the Swat Valley area of Pakistan (with resultant refugee chaos), President Barack Obama appears to have woken up to the fact, that as quoted in the final sentence of my letter to The West (10/3): "You cannot appease a victorious army on the march."
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#send_flee-ers_back
    [May 14, 09]
    • Help people in their own countries.     

    Help people in their own countries

     
       Joondalup Weekender newspaper (Perth suburb), Western Australia, weekender § communitynews com au , Letter to The Editor, p 13, Thursday, May 14, 2009
       UNFORTUNATELY the Rev Ken Williams (Weekender, April 23) would appear to suffer from the same "tunnel vision" that others suffer from. Because of this they fail to see the wider picture that will I explain. [? I will explain.]
       I am bemused by all the problems caused by the "refugees". There are millions of people all over the world who would qualify to be genuine refugees. We cannot help them all.
       The only people who reach our shores are the privileged; people who can afford to get here, leaving behind millions of others who are more deserving than them.
       Why should we tolerate the lucky ones who endeavour to sneak into the country illegally, and ignore the fate of millions they leave behind?
       Why are they allowed to bypass so many Muslim and other countries? That surely is in breach of the convention.
       It is a farce. The world should help these people in their own countries. Why do we not just turn them around and send them back?
       We should resign from our international obligations to take in refugees, particularly from Africa.
       Look at the plight of Zimbabweans. There are millions there who would qualify as genuine refugees.
       Rather let us help them in their own countries. #
       [RECAPITULATION: There are millions of people all over the world who would qualify to be genuine refugees. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: That is the truth.  In addition to the countries torn by inter-group hatreds, outrages, bombs, murders, dictators, insurrection, etc., we could list: The women in all Muslim-dominated areas, and the non-Communists in China.
       Turning these boat invaders around is not so easy, and even in the U.S.A. which saw what terrorism does on September 11, there are "do-gooders" who decry each move to reduce the inflow of possible invaders, or return them to their place of origin.
       The letter-writer probably knows that Australia and many other countries ALREADY are helping people in most of the countries from which refugees come.  However, the Afghans and Iraqis who are paying money to come by boat are more invaders than refugees.  Violence is the "norm" in such cultures. COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#help_people_in
    [May 14, 09]
    • [Malaysia's Ibraham to speak at Muslim / Christian Conference, Perth.]      Malaysia flag; Mooney's MiniFlags 

    [Malaysia's Ibraham to speak at Muslim / Christian Conference, Perth.]

       Muslim / Christian Interfaith Conference, Invitation for July 10-12, 2009
    A COMMON WORD
    FOR
    THE COMMON GOOD
    MUSLIM / CHRISTIAN INTERFAITH CONFERENCE
    July 10-12th 2009
    University of Western Australia
    Perth Convention Centre

    Keynote Speaker
    ANWAR  IBRAHIM
    (Leader of the Malaysian Opposition)
    Ticket $25 - www.ticketek.com.au / tel. 132 849

    Guest Speakers
    Professor  James Haire
    Sidi  Afroz Ali
    other speakers to be announced

    Gerard 0405 400 003 / Ihsan 0401 664 884 / Sh. Burhan 0416 332 507

    www.interfaithconferenceperth.com
    [Logos, including: PERTH MUSEUM YOUTH FORUM, and three others]
    A Common Word for The Common Good, with Anwar IBRAHIM, of Malaysia
       [COMMENT: Note that the name, of what is in Australia a minority faith, is put first.  On the world stage, Hindus are about as numerous, and Buddhists, Judaists, Orthodox Christians, and agnostics also ought to have been invited – or perhaps some were, and declined to attend!  And the leader of the "Teapot Sect," suppressed in one of the Malay states, would have had some interesting insights for the earnest attenders at the conference!  (see newsitems about the suppression of the Sky Kingdom sect and the destruction of their places of worship in Terengganu State, around August 3, 2005). ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  2.193 -- … Fight the unbelievers until no other religion except Islam is left. www.usc.edu/ dept/MSA/quran/ 02.qmt.html #002.193 .
       8:12:- … I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve.  Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them. DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [LINK/S: Conference: www.interfaithconferenceperth.com ; Tickets: www.ticketek.com.au . ENDS.]
       [ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: MCM. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#malaysia's_ibraham_to
    [for July 10-12, 2009; put in as June 01, 2009]
    • What We Are Not Defending. 
       Annals Australasia, annalsaustralasia § gmail com , by Roger Scruton, p 12, June 2009
    ANNALS AUSTRALASIA   12   JUNE 2009
    Counter-Terrorism
    A task we cannot fail to undertake

    WHAT WE ARE NOT DEFENDING

      By Roger Scruton
    How should we defend the West from Islamist terrorism? I shall suggest a brief answer to that question. First, we should be clear about what it is that we are and are not defending.
       We are not defending, for example, our wealth or our territory; these things are not at stake. Rather, we are defending our political and cultural inheritance, embodied in the seven features which I have singled out here for attention.
       Second, we should be clear that you cannot overcome resentment by feeling guilty or by conceding fault. Weakness provokes, since it alerts your enemy to the possibility of destroying you. We should therefore be prepared to affirm what we have, and to express our determination to hold on to it. That said, we must recognize that it is not envy but resentment that animates the terrorist. Envy is the desire to possess what the other has; resentment is the desire to destroy it. How do you deal with resentment? This is the great question that so few leaders of mankind have been able to answer. Christians, however, are fortunate in being heirs to the one great attempt to answer it, which was that of Jesus, who drew on a longstanding Jewish tradition that goes back to the Torah, and which was expressed in similar terms by his contemporary R. Hillel. You overcome resentment, Jesus told us, by forgiving it.
       To reach out in a spirit of forgiveness is not to accuse yourself; it is to make a gift to the other. And it is here, it seems to me, that we have taken a wrong turn in recent decades. The illusion that we are to blame, that we must confess our faults and join our cause to that of our enemies, only exposes us to a more determined hatred.
       The truth is that we are not to blame; that our enemies' hatred of us is entirely unjustified; and that their implacable enmity cannot be defused by our breast-beating.
       There is a drawback to realizing this truth, however. It makes it seem as though we are powerless. But we are not powerless. There are two resources on which we can call in our defence, one public, and the other private. In the public sphere, we can resolve to protect the good things that we have inherited.
       That means making no concessions to those who wish us to exchange citizenship for subjection, nationality for religious conformity, secular law for shari’ah, the Judeo-Christian inheritance for Islam, irony for solemnity, self-criticism for dogmatism, representation for submission, and cheerful drinking for censorious abstinence.
       We should treat with scorn all those who demand these changes and invite them to live where their preferred form of political order is already installed. And we must respond to their violence with whatever force is required to contain it.
       In the private sphere, however, Christians should follow the path laid down for them by Jesus: namely, looking soberly and in a spirit of forgiveness on the hurts that we receive, and showing, by our example, that these hurts achieve nothing save to discredit the one who inflicts them.
       This is the hard part of the task - hard to perform, hard to endorse, and hard to recommend to others. Nonetheless, it is the task at hand, and in a battle the stakes of which are so high, it is a task that we cannot fail to undertake.
    – Roger Scruton, 'The Defense of the West:  How to Respond to the Islamist Challenge'
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#what_we_are
       [RECAPITULATION: We are not defending, for example, our wealth or our territory; these things are not at stake. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: Wait on, what happened to the wealth and territory of the Roman Empire, Eastern part, in Palestine, Syria, etc.?  And to Rome's colonies in north Africa?  And finally to the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire (Constantinople)?  What happened to the Persian Empire and other countries including most of India?  We ARE defending our wealth, territory, and lives. COMMENT ENDS.]
       [SUBSCRIBE: In Australia Aus$33 (pensioner $26), overseas enquire annalsaustralasia § gmail com ; PO Box 13, Kensington, NSW, 2033, Australia.  Tel 02 9662 7894, or 02 9662 7188 ext.  252.  Fax 02 9662 1910.  ENDS.] [p 12, June 2009]
    • The Sword prevailed over the Pen. 

    The Sword prevailed over the Pen

       Annals Australasia, annalsaustralasia § gmail com , p 21, June 2009
    IT is clear that the saying 'The pen is mightier than the sword' cannot be applied to {Muhammad's} work in the Medinese period. Emigration from Mecca put an end to the time when he was to 'turn away from the idolaters' (15:94) or merely summon them 'to the way of God through wisdom and good admonition' (16:125).
       It was now time for a different watchword: 'When the sacred months are over, kill the idolaters wherever you find them; take them prisoner, lay siege to them, and wait for them in every ambush' (9:5); 'fight in the way of God' (2:244).
    – Ignaz Goldziher, Introduction to Islamic Theology and Law, Princeton University Press, 1981, p.23. #
       [THE KORAN quotes given above have been checked.  Verse (aya) numbers differ somewhat in some translations. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: A footnote (No. 274, on page 107) given as a commentary on 2:243 in a Saudi Arabian Koran reads, in part: " … Jihād … If we are not prepared to fight for our faith, with our lives and all our resources, both our lives and our resources will be wiped out by our enemies. … men who tamely submitted to be driven from their homes although they were more numerous than their enemies, had the sentence of death pronounced on them for their cowardice, and they deserved it."
       Another footnote (No 275) on the same page reads in part: "For Allah's cause we must fight … all deeds, words and motives are perfectly open before Him, however we might conceal them from men or even from ourselves."
       And the footnote refers the reader to footnote 236 commenting on Koran 2:216, which also prescribes fighting. COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#the_sword_prevailed
    [p 21, June 2009]

    • DARWISH, Nonie; 2008;   Cruel and Usual Punishment  

    – The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law.      
       Life News, (Life Ministries, 4 / 334 Wanneroo Rd, Nollamara, WA, 6061, Australia), www.life ministries. org.au , Book review by Bill Muehlenberg [ http://www. billmuehlenberg. com/ 2009/06/24/ a-review-of- cruel-and- unusual- punishment- by-nonie- darwish/ ], p 6, June-July 2009

    Islam’s cruel and unusual punishment


       Book Review of Cruel and (Un)usual Punishment; The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law, written by Nonie Darwish (Thomas Nelson, 2008)
       Nonie Darwish knows a fair amount about Islam. She was an Egyptian Muslim for the first 30 years of her life. Then she fled to America and she is now a Christian. She has told her story earlier, in her 2007 volume, Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror. Cruel and Usual Punishment, Nonie DARWISH; National Post
       In this book she continues her important story, but she does so by highlighting two crucial themes: what sharia law means, and how women are treated in Islam. In 270 pages she spells out in chilling detail what the implications are of Islamic law, and how the West must be very careful indeed about the spread of sharia.
       The first half of this important book looks at how women are treated in the world of sharia. The treatment of women in Islam alone should serve as a warning for anyone who thinks sharia is compatible with Western democracy and freedom.
       Consider marriage. Muslim women are prohibited under sharia from marrying non-Muslim men. But Muslim men can marry Christian or Jewish women. And the sharia marriage contract "is essentially a document granting sexual intercourse rights to the male and giving him total control over his four wives".
       There are even temporary marriages purely for the purposes of sexual pleasure for the male, called mutaa, or pleasure marriage. This "marriage" can last as little as an hour. Then there is misyar, or traveller's marriage, which is "designed to accommodate the male sexual appetite while travelling".
       Divorce is of course also all one way traffic in Islam. Men can divorce their wives instantly, simply by saying "I divorce you" three times. A Muslim woman cannot initiate a divorce. In custody cases, children after the age of seven (or sometimes nine) belong to the father.
       And a male can beat his wife and sexually abandon her. Under sharia a husband deserves total submission and gratitude. As one revered Muslim scholar, Imam Ghazali has said, "Marriage is a form of slavery. The woman is man's slave, and her duty therefore is absolute obedience".
       Polygamy is also the right of Muslim men. But even more abhorrent is the practice of sexual gratification with children. There is no legal age for marriage under sharia. Thus the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini, for example, said in an official statement, "A man can quench his sexual lusts with a child as young as a baby." 1
       Of course Muhammad himself had a six-year-old wife, with whom he consummated relations when she was just nine. And Islamic leaders argue that his life serves as an example and pattern for all Muslims. This is all codified in surah 65:4 in the Koran.
       There are plenty of other misogynist elements to sharia law. Women adulterers are to be stoned to death; girls who fornicate are to be flogged; a woman's testimony in a court of law is only worth half that of a man's; women cannot be in the company of men who are not her relatives; female genital mutilation is rife; a Muslim wife needs her husband's permission to travel; and so on.
       Then there is the issue of honour killing. While there is no sharia law that expressly gives men the right to kill their women to protect their family honour, there are existing laws which protect men who do commit such killings. Indeed, sharia states that a killer of an apostate, a robber or an adulterer cannot be punished for murder.
       In the rest of the book Darwish looks at life "behind the Muslim curtain" - what life is like for non-Muslims under sharia law. Non-Muslims are treated almost as poorly as women in Muslim-majority countries. Jews and Christians are under dhimmitude, or second-class citizenship. Darwish chronicles the many ways in which non-Muslims are oppressed, discriminated against, and denied basic human rights.
       And ordinary Muslims who dare to think independently of sharia are also subject to tremendous opposition and oppression. Criticism of Islam is of course punishable by death. Muhammad himself ordered the killing of those who dared to criticise him.
       All the various schools of Islam agree that blasphemy or criticism of Islam is a capital offence. And Muslim imams do not expect to be questioned or challenged in any way. In such a world there is "no intellectual honesty, no dialogue, and no respect".
       Muslim preachers regard Westerners and Jews as the embodiment of evil, the personification of Satan. Therefore they can be cursed, deceived and killed. Indeed, according to sharia, lying and deception are obligatory at times when dealing with the enemies of Islam. This is part of the overall jihad being waged against infidels.
       After reading so much detail about what sharia teaches and commands, one is left overwhelmed. As Darwish says, "The West should be clear on the nature of Sharia. It is nothing more than legal tyranny, a terminal disease that destroys the healthy functioning of society where everything is sacrificed for the sake of total control".
       Indeed, says Darwish, Islam is not really a religion as much as it is a system of complete control and social order. It is an intolerant worldview which allows no opposition or questioning. Thus the West should resolutely oppose what she calls "Islamo-Fascism". We should not tolerate intolerance.
       She concludes her book with practical suggestions for the West, including keeping sharia illegal, restricting immigration, and monitoring Muslim clerics on what they are preaching and teaching. And the West must rediscover and celebrate its Judeo-Christian heritage and values, and resist the inroads of secularism.
       If it does not, the vacuum caused by secularism will be quickly filled by a totalising Islam which seeks absolute control and the global extension of sharia. The aims of the Islamists are the very opposite of those who champion freedom and democracy. We must choose which system we wish to live under.
       Darwish has nicely laid out the implications of life under sharia. It is up to us how we respond.
    Footnote
    1. Ayatollah Khomeini, Tahrirolvasyleh (Gom, Iran: Darol Elm, 1990), 4:#.
       Note: Cruel and Unusual [? Usual] Punishment is available in Australia at Koorong Books #
       [ANOMALY: Is it UNUSUAL Punishment as in a book review, or USUAL Punishment?  Look at the COVER of the book again. ENDS.]
       [ALSO SEE: http://network. nationalpost. com/np/blogs/ afterword/ archive/tags/ Nonie+ Darwish/ default.aspx . ENDS.]
       [RECAPITULATION: There are even temporary marriages purely for the purposes of sexual pleasure for the male, called mutaa, or pleasure marriage. This "marriage" can last as little as an hour. Then there is misyar, or traveller's marriage, which is "designed to accommodate the male sexual appetite while travelling".
       Divorce is of course also all one way traffic in Islam. Men can divorce their wives instantly, simply by saying "I divorce you" three times. A Muslim woman cannot initiate a divorce. In custody cases, children after the age of seven (or sometimes nine) belong to the father. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: And, to oppose such teachings risks being killed.  Re-read the 3rd last paragraph for practical suggestions. COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#cruel_and_unusual
    [Book 2008. Reviewed June-July 2009]
    • [Arkansas jihad killer; Obama's Cairo speech criticised; Al-Jazeera plays anti-Obama tape; Obama to defend Muslims, nonsense; Algerian Muslims kill teachers; five Italian Muslims plan killings.] 

    [Arkansas jihad killer; Obama's Cairo speech criticised; Al-Jazeera plays anti-Obama tape; Obama to defend Muslims, nonsense; Algerian Muslims kill teachers; five Italian Muslims plan killings.]

       Jihad Watch Digest, director § jihadwatch org , Friday, June 5, 2009
         Arkansas jihad killer may have ties to Ohio mosque frequented by jihadists. This looks like a mosque that should be thoroughly investigated and carefully monitored, if not shut down. Arkansas Jihad Update: "Exclusive: FBI Probes Muhammad's Ties to Ohio Mosque: FBI Wants to Know If Ohio Mosque Has Link to Terror," by … Full article: (http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026443.php ).
             "I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect … " Respect this. From AP (thanks to Marisol): Palestinian militants from the Popular Resistance Committee wear masks to conceal their identities from the camera as they pose with their weapons while watching the televised speech of US President Barack Obama … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026442.php .
           Raymond Ibrahim: Needing more than a Blessing. A longer version of my NRO critique on Obama's Cairo speech today: Though he early indicated that this would be an honest, heart-to-heart talk "we must say openly the things we hold in our hearts, and that too often are said only … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026441.php .
             Melanie Phillips: Obama "revealed gross ignorance of the Jews' unique claim to the land of Israel." The incomparable Melanie Phillips dissects the Obama speech in The Spectator: [ … ] He revealed gross ignorance of the Jews' unique claim to the land of Israel. He said that America' s unbreakable bond with Israel was based upon the recognition that … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026440.php .
           New Obama Oath of Office! "And I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear." -- Barack Obama, Cairo, June 4, 2009.  So here's the new and improved Presidential Oath of … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026439.php .
           UK: Convert to Islam and Misunderstander of it made explosives and suicide vest. How is it that this convert to Islam wasn't taught all the true, peaceful, tolerant teachings of Islam that Barack Obama and so many others assume are there?  "Muslim convert Andrew Ibrahim made explosives and suicide bomb vest," by Sean … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026438.php .
         Attorney General issues statement on protecting American Muslims. And if you wish he would issue a statement on protecting Americans from the Islamic jihad, you're just continuing "to want to divide by fear." "Statement of Attorney General Eric Holder on Department of Justice' s Outreach and Enforcement Efforts to … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026437.php .
             Anti-Obama protests in Israel. Not going gently under the bus. "Anti-Obama Protests Underway in Israel," from Yeshiva Today, June 4 (thanks to Rochelle): Pro-Eretz Yisrael demonstrators took part in a protest outside the US Consulate on Jerusalem's Agron Street on Wednesday, with some displaying … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026436.php .
           Fitzgerald: Obama's Cairo Nonsense. Are you a liberal? I am. I still wish Adlai Stevenson had won, in 1952 and 1956. I still want Fiorello la Guardia for Mayor, and for that matter Millicent Fenwick in the House, and Henry Jackson in the Senate … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026435.php .
           Platitudes and naivete: Obama's Cairo speech. Here is the text as prepared for delivery, provided by the White House, via USA Today, June 4 -- with my comments interspersed: I am honored to be in the timeless city of Cairo, and to be hosted by two … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026426.php .
           Day Obama arrives in Saudi Arabia, al-Jazeera airs al-Qaeda tape condemning him. Timing. "New Bin Laden Tape Criticizes Obama," from Chosun, June 5:A new audio tape attributed to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is criticizing U.S. President Barack Obama's policies toward Muslim countries. Excerpts of the recording were broadcast on Al Jazeera … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026434.php .
         "More than 300 pages of invective leave little doubt that Al-Qaeda seeks nothing less than mass murder to overturn the world order." A brief book review: The Al Qaeda Reader, by Jonathan Schanzer for the Spring 2009 issue of The Middle East Quarterly: Ibrahim, an Arabic language specialist at the Library of Congress at the time he wrote The Al Qaeda … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026431.php .
         Algeria: Al-Qaeda kills teachers carrying copies of tests from an examination center. All that to evade taking a test? Unfortunately for the jihadis, "Despite this hard blow, the exam session will continue." Actually, the stated purpose of the attack is simply that the teachers were being "untruthful to Islam." "Militants Kill Algerian … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026433.php .
       Raymond Ibrahim vs. Hamid Dabashi: Part 7. At long last: Part 7 of the YouTube version of "Islam and the West: Clash of Civilizations?" (Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6) … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026430.php .
         Spencer on radio today. Already was on the Savage Nation last night, and the Tom Marr Show in Baltimore and WFTL in Fort Lauderdale this morning, and here is the schedule for the rest of today: 9:30 AM PDT: Inga Barks (Pamela Furr guest … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026432.php .
         Spencer on Savage Nation discussing Arkansas jihad killing. Last night. Thanks to Occidental Soapbox … . Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026429.php
           Spencer: Obama's Top Ten Mistakes of the Week. In Human Events this morning: Here are the ten most likely mistakes Barack Obama will almost certainly make during his upcoming trip to the Islamic world: 1. He will probably reiterate his call to Israel to stop all civilian population … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026428.php .
               Italy issues arrest warrants for five Muslims accused of targeting Milan, Bologna. "Apart from Italy, the international organisation was also believed to have been looking at activities in France, Spain and Denmark." Eurabia Alert. "Italy: Five accused of plotting terror attacks," from Adnkronos International, June 4: Milan, 4 June (AKI) - Italian … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026427.php .
         Spencer: Jihad Returns to America. In FrontPage this morning I discuss the Arkansas jihad: Jihad came once again to American soil on Monday, when an American convert to Islam, Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, began shooting at soldiers who were standing outside the Army-Navy Career Center in … Full article: http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026425.php . #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#arkansas_jihad_killer
    [Jun 05, 09]
    • Pakistan turns up heat on al-Qaida.     

    Pakistan turns up heat on al-Qaida

       The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , p 28, Tuesday, June 16, 2009
      [Picture] Challenger: Qari Zainuddin  
       ISLAMABAD – The Pakistani Government has announced that it will fight warlord Baitullah Mehsud in the province of Waziristan in a gamble that will see troops confront the fountainhead of Taliban and al-Qaida extremism.
       The move signals the Government is serious about fighting Islamic extremism even if it engulfs the country in bloodshed.
       Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi also has called for more international aid to combat Islamic extremists, warning that the Taliban could otherwise move into India and the Persian Gulf.
       The Government's determination to take the offensive to Waziristan, part of Pakistan's tribal area that runs along the Afghan border, also marks an important turn in the struggle against al-Qaida. It is thought Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, are there.
       The assault on Mehsud comes after a challenger emerged from his own tribe. Qari Zainuddin, who is being secretly backed by the Government, is already believed to have weakened the fearsome warlord.
       In an interview last week, Mr Zainuddin urged the Mehsud tribe to rise up against Baitullah.
       US officials have called Mehsud, who leads about 10,000 heavily-armed men and is thought to have been the mastermind of the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007, a "key al-Qaida facilitator".
       Mr Qureshi's warning, in an interview with The Financial Times newspaper, came two days before the first summit of European Union and Pakistan leaders in Brussels, at which aid for Islamabad will probably top the agenda.
       He called for $US2.5 billion ($3.09 billion) alone in emergency relief and reconstruction aid for the north-west.
       "They (Islamic militants) have a global agenda, they have a regional agenda, they are not confined to Pakistan. They could go into the Gulf, they could go into India, they can go anywhere," Mr Qureshi said.
       "There is a collective interest and there has to be a collective realisation that this is not Pakistan's problem. It's a larger problem."
       Interior Minister Rehman Malik said yesterday that police in Islamabad had recently foiled plots to kidnap diplomats and carry out bombings in the capital.
       Mr Malik said police recently arrested an unspecified number of suspects "who had plans to kidnap diplomats – and they had also chosen some places for bomb attacks". #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#pakistan_turns_up
    [To this webpage Sep 30, 09] [Jun 16, 09]
    • Child one of Yemen hostages murdered.  And two women nurses there to help local people also dead.          

    Child one of Yemen hostages murdered

       The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , letters § wanews com au , p 28, Tuesday, June 16, 2009
       SANA – Seven out of nine foreign hostages, including a child, were found murdered in northern Yemen yesterday, a security official said.
       Two of the three German children kidnapped with the group on Thursday reportedly were found alive.
       The bodies were found by the son of a tribal leader in Noshour, east of the Saada mountainous area of northern Yemen where the nine were abducted, he said.
       Authorities had accused Shi'ite Zaidi rebels in Saada of seizing seven Germans, a British engineer and a South Korean woman teacher. The rebels denied it.
       A tribal leader in the area said al-Qaida was behind the killing.
       Six of the nine were in a Baptist international relief group that had been working at a hospital in the province bordering Saudi Arabia for 35 years, an official said on Sunday.
       Among the dead were two women nurses.
       There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the kidnapping.
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  9:123 (or 9:124):- O you who believe!  fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness; and know that Allah is with those who guard (against evil).
       47:4:- Therefore, when ye meet the Unbelievers, smite at their necks; at length, when ye have thoroughly subdued them, bind firmly: therefore either generosity or ransom …
       71:26-27 (or 71:27-28):- And Noah said, 'Lord, leave not one single family of Infidels on the Earth:  For if thou leave them they will beguile thy servants and will beget only sinners, infidels. DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  Sahih Bukhari's, Volume 5, Book 59, Number 600:- Narrated Mujahid: I said to Ibn 'Umar, "I want to migrate to Sham."  He said, "There is no migration, but Jihad (for Allah's Cause).  Go and offer yourself for Jihad, and if you find an opportunity for Jihad (stay there) otherwise, come back."  (In another narration) Ibn 'Umar said, "There is no migration today or after Allah's Apostle."  (and completed his statement as above.)
       Sahih Muslim's Book 019, Number 4366:- It has been narrated by 'Umar b. al-Khattab that he heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) say:  I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and will not leave any but Muslim. [Quote by courtesy of Barnabas Fund magazine, March-April 2008.  Internet links of texts are to University of South California website.] TRADITION ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: Yemen is a part of the Arabian Peninsula, in west Asia. COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#child_one_of
    [To this webpage Sep 30, 09] [Jun 16, 09]
  • Religious hatred and the threat to freedom of speech. 
       Barnabas Aid magazine, www. barnabas fund.org , 4-page Pull-out Supplement, July-August 2009

      Pull-out Supplement  

    Religious hatred and the threat to freedom of speech

     

    "Based on this deep conviction, we the Kings and the Heads of State and Government of the OIC renew our pledge to work harder to make sure that Islam's true image is better projected the world over in line with the guidelines contained in the Ten-Year Programme of Action issued by the 3rd Extraordinary Summit of Makkah Al Mukarramah, which seek to combat an Islamophobia with designs to distort our religion" 1   Dakar Declaration

    "The degree of thought control, of limitations on freedom of speech and expression {imposed by political correctness and multiculturalism} is without parallel in the Western world since the eighteenth century and in some cases longer than that." 2 Bernard Lewis

    Introduction
       Demands for the worldwide protection of religions from incitement to hatred and violence are currently being made at the United Nations. The driving force is the 57 Muslim states united in the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Their goal is to safeguard the place of Islam within the public sphere in all societies. They believe that Islam, its source texts (Qur'an and hadith), its law (sharia) and Muhammad must be protected from any criticism. Because in Islam there is no separation of religion from the state, they see the state as the guarantor and protector of Islam, and they expect the UN, which represents all states in the world, to fulfil the same function.
    The OIC
       The OIC defines its aims as follows:
    The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is an international organization grouping fifty seven States.which have decided to pool their resources together, combine their efforts and speak with one voice to safeguard the interests and secure the progress and well-being of their peoples and of all Muslims in the world. 3
       The OIC is part of the Islamic resurgence sweeping the Muslim world, which aims to restore Muslim power, glory, hegemony and dominion in all areas. One of its goals is to improve the image of Islam and present it as a religion of peace, tolerance, moderation and justice. In pursuit of this goal, in 1999 it began to introduce annual resolutions at the UN to ban the defamation of Islam.
       Then in 2005, at the Third Extraordinary Session of the Islamic Summit Conference held in Mecca, the OIC initiated a Ten-Year Programme of Action to meet the challenges facing the Muslim global community (the Umma) in the 21st century and ensure its revival. The countering of Islamophobia was a main issue raised at the conference, which established a department at the OIC General Secretariat to monitor all forms of Islamophobia, issue an annual report, and ensure cooperation with relevant governmental and non-governmental organisations. It also resolved to:
    Endeavor to have the United Nations adopt an international resolution to counter Islamophobia, and call upon all States to enact laws to counter it, including deterrent punishments. 4
    {ii}
       In 2008, at the 11th Session of the Islamic Summit Conference held in Dakar (13-14 March, 2008), Resolution No.11/11-C (Is) "On the Defamation of Religions and Discrimination Against Muslims" was passed. Although this resolution professed to defend all religions, its focus was clearly on Islam. It expressed alarm at "the burgeoning tide of Islamophobia in certain non-Islamic countries and increasing incidences of acts of discrimination against Muslims on the basis of religion", and concern at the failure of some non-Islamic countries to address these problems. It also strongly condemned all "defamation and desecration of the holy symbols of Islam". It called on all states to:
    Ensure the criminalization of all acts of defamation of religions and discrimination on the basis of religion, and to enact the appropriate penalties that represent adequate deterrence against such practices

       The OIC also issued instructions to its delegation at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC):
    to endeavor to adopt an international instrument on the prohibition of the defamation of religions and to declare such practices as a violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

       The Final Communique of the "Annual Coordination Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the OIC Member States" at the United Nations Headquarters, New York, on 26 September 2008:
    condemned the growing trend of Islamophobia and systematic discrimination against Muslims. It called upon the international community to prevent incitement to hatred and discrimination against Muslims and take effective measures to combat defamation of religions and acts of negative stereotyping of people based on religion, belief or ethnicity. The Meeting requested the Secretary General to continue the OIC initiatives to effectively counter Islamophobia through discussion and debates at various international fora and stressed the importance that Member States continue their support to the organization's observatory on Islamophobia.

       Also:
    The Meeting emphasized the fact that defamation of religions constitute a form of incitement to religious hatred, hostility and violence against the followers of these religions which in turn leads to the denial of their fundamental rights and freedoms. It further stressed that combating religious discrimination in general requires a particular focus on preventing the direct and indirect consequences of defamation of religions, including its role in legitimizing discriminatory discourse and ideological violence.

       And:
    The Meeting reaffirmed the responsibility of the Islamic world in reviewing the condition of Muslim communities and minorities in Non-OIC countries to ensure promotion and protection of their basic rights including cultural and religious freedom.

    The UN
       The power of the OIC and of individual Muslim states has been marshalled at the UN to challenge offences against Islam and challenge resolutions to protect it from perceived criticism. This campaign is seen as a prelude to the introduction of legislative changes favourable to Islam in Western and other non-Muslim states. Muslim communities in the West often complain about Islamophobia and request laws to protect Islam.
       The UN increasingly practises self-censorship to counter accusations of "blasphemy", "Islamophobia", "defamation of Islam", or "sacrilege". For the sake of political and diplomatic advantage, many states seem willing to accept the new rules being requested by the OIC, and especially by its member states Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran. Their constant pressure, and the resolutions adopted by the UN, have served to restrict open discussions of subjects not congenial to Muslim states, such as slavery in Sudan or Muslim anti-Semitism. Discussion about political issues within Islamic states is now out of bounds, and freedom of speech and expression is being voluntarily limited in many international organisations and conferences. 5 Non-Muslim states seem to have decided to keep silent on topics relating to Islam. 6
       Representatives of Muslim states have requested, and to some extent received, special treatment, especially in the Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) and its successor, the UNHRC. 7 As a result the "representatives of Islam", especially the OIC, have an unprecedented and exceptional status at the UN.
       Pressure has been building in the UN in recent years specifically to forbid the defamation of Islam. As a result, terms such as "blasphemy" and "defamation of Islam" have appeared in UN documents. Support is growing in the West for this Muslim campaign. Since 1999 various resolutions have been passed by the UNCHR, and one in the UN General Assembly (2007), criticising and opposing the defamation of religions. 8 The three most recent resolutions specifically mentioned Islam, but no other religions.
    Durban II UN Conference against Racism
       Durban II (Durban Review Conference, 20-24 April 2009 in Geneva) was a follow-up to the 2001 World Conference against Racism held in Durban, South Africa under UN auspices. The goal of these conferences is to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. 9
       However, the conferences have been used by developing world and Muslim states to criticise Israel as a racist state (no other state was mentioned by name). Muslim states are also trying to make defamation of religion equivalent to racism in the hope of protecting Islam. Muslim states attending Durban II pressed the conference to state that criticising Islam is a form of incitement. 10 In this way the OIC tried to use Durban II to rewrite the rules of human rights and international law.
    {iii}
    Analysis
       Legal protection for individuals, including Muslims, from insults, defamation, and incitement to hatred and violence is acceptable to most people. The consensus within Western societies, however, is that ideas should be open to criticism and challenge in the public square. Western democratic principles of equality and freedom stand opposed to the practices of censorship and suppression of opinions and information that are widely practised by Muslim states and societies.
       Thus accepted laws on defamation protect the reputations of individuals, not belief systems and worldviews. A religion should defend its position in the market-place of ideas and beliefs by setting forth its positions and defending them by argument and counter-argument, not by using the coercive force of the state and its legislation. Christianity in the West, for example, has long accepted criticism and disparagement as part of the liberal and democratic discourse.
       The OIC, however, is seeking not to protect individuals from harm, but rather to shield a specific set of beliefs, namely the religion and ideology of Islam, from any question, debate, or critical inquiry. The aim of the Muslim states is not only to protect Muhammad and the Qur'an but also to silence any criticism of Islam and Islamism.
       The OIC wants UN support for and legitimation of its state-sanctioned, sharia-based anti-blasphemy prohibitions, which stifle religious freedom, persecute religious minorities and outlaw conversions from Islam to other faiths. Its goal is to incorporate these prohibitions into international human rights law. At present "defamation of religions" has no basis in that law, but it is likely soon to have one if the Muslim states keep up their campaign. 11
       The very notion of individual human rights is at stake in this campaign. Such resolutions contradict not only the basic Western principles of free thought and expression, but also "the right to freedom of opinion and expression" enshrined in article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Following a row at the UNHRC in July 2008, in which Islamic countries intervened to stop mention of sharia, and the Romanian president appeared to back their stance, even Louise Arbour, outgoing UN Commissioner on Human Rights, raised concerns about debates on sharia and Islam becoming taboo at the UN:
    It is very concerning in a Council which should be … the guardian of freedom of expression, to see constraints or taboos, or subjects that become taboo for discussion. 12
       Yet because of the pressure on the UN by the OIC states and their allies the practice of avoiding the discussion of certain aspects of Islam has become deeply ingrained at the UNHRC and in other UN agencies and assemblies. No critique, even if valid, of aspects of Islam or of human rights breaches in Muslim states may be offered. UN documents and councils ignore and suppress any reports of discrimination and incitement to hatred in Muslim states, which fuels the widespread terrorist atrocities committed by jihad groups in the name of Islam. They also accept the claim that Muslims are always and everywhere the greatest victims of Western aggression and racism and never the perpetrators. 13
    Anti-hatred legislation in Western countries
       In 2001 the Australian state of Victoria passed into law a Racial and Religious Tolerance Act. This law prohibited citizens from engaging "in conduct that incites hatred against, serious contempt for, or revulsion or severe ridicule of" another person or group on the ground of their religious belief or activity.
       An exception written into the Act was conduct "engaged in reasonably and in good faith - in the course of any statement, publication, discussion or debate - for any genuine religious purpose". Yet in 2005 two pastors were convicted under this law for making critical statements about Islam in a church seminar. Although the Supreme Court of Victoria subsequently upheld their appeal, many Australian Christians fear the suggested introduction of similar laws nationally, believing that Muslims will try to use them to stifle all criticism of Islam.
       Then in 2007 a Racial and Religious Hatred Act came into effect in the UK. It outlawed the use of threatening words or behaviour meant to incite hatred against groups of people because of their faith. Unlike the law in Victoria, this Act requires the prosecution to prove that any defendant intended to stir up hatred. This stipulation was introduced in a House of Lords amendment that was accepted by the Commons against the wishes of the government.
       The draft law was also intended to prohibit the proselytising of adherents of one religion by those of another, and insulting or making jokes about any religion. The House of Lords was concerned that these provisions violated the right to freedom of speech, and carried amendments designed to protect it. Again the government was determined to reject these, but they were nonetheless passed in the Commons, though one of them by only one vote. Baroness Cox said, "Britain's fundamental freedom of speech hung by a thread on that day."
       But despite the limited scope and wide exemptions of this law, anxieties remain about how it will be used and implemented. Government ministers profess to accept that religious beliefs are a legitimate subject of public discussion and debate, but in a context where Christianity has become increasingly marginalised their commitment to free speech may be severely tested by an increasingly confident Muslim minority.
    {iv}
    In fact it could be argued that the majority of incitement to racial hatred and violence is now coming from the Islamic world, but it is those who expose what is happening in Islamic states who are targeted for spreading hatred and defamation. Silencing discussion about the role of Islam in discrimination and terrorism tends to protect, strengthen and endorse Islamist terrorism and its sources of finance. It also helps radical Islamist elements to achieve their goals by paralysing the ability of the international community to address the real threats posed by the Islamist agenda and to fight them. Banning speech critical of religion, and particularly about radical Islam and Islamist terrorism, is a step towards legitimising violence committed in the name of Islam.
       Not only in the UN, but also in some Western and other non-Muslim states, the seemingly moderate Islamic establishment is skilfully manoeuvring within the legal systems to enforce "hate speech" and libel laws. Large funds are set aside for hiring skilful lawyers to sue critics in the courts and silence them. Free speech is thus being attacked by Islamic organisations. This widespread use of Islamic "lawfare" is beginning to limit and control public discussion of Islam as well as of the threat posed by Islamist terrorism. It presents a real threat to both civil rights and national security in Western states. 14
       The first victims of the OIC's campaign are likely to be moderate Muslims and religious minorities in states such as Pakistan, Iran, Sudan and Saudi Arabia, which support the resolutions. Other victims will be writers, journalists and intellectuals in the democratic West, who will be targeted for the "deliberate stereotyping of religions, their adherents and sacred persons."
       It could become impossible to criticise any religious teachings that seem to have detrimental social consequences, such as the execution of apostates from Islam, or the treatment of Dalits (untouchables) in Hinduism. Those who suffer discrimination, violence and death as a result of such teachings will be left without voice and protection. Anyone who tries to speak on their behalf will effectively be silenced.
       The power of the OIC and its leverage at the UN are being used to further the Islamisation of the world, granting Islam a specially privileged and protected position not accorded to any other religion. While Muslim preachers and media continue freely to defame Christianity and Judaism, the whole weight of the UN and the threat of litigation have imposed strict censorship on those who point to negative aspects of Islam.
    ____________________
    1 "Dakar Declaration", 11th Session Of The Islamic Summit Conference, 13-14 March 2008, http://www.oic-oci.org/is11/english/DAKAR-DEC-11SUMMIT-E.pdf (viewed 23 April 2009). [confirmed 19 July 2009]
    2 Bernard Lewis, keynote address to the Conference of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, Washington DC, 24-26 April 2008
    3 "About the OIC", Permanent Mission of the Organization of the Islamic Conference to the United Nations Offices in Geneva and Vienna, http://www.oic-un. org/about_oic.asp (viewed 23 April 2009); see also "Charter of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference", new version ratified Dakar in March 2008, http:// www.oic-oci.org/is11/english/Charter-en.pdf (viewed 23 April 2009).
    4 "Ten-Year Programme Of Action To Meet The Challenges Facing The Muslim Ummah In The 21st Century", Third Extraordinary Session Of The Islamic Summit Conference, Makkah, 7-8 December 2005, http://www.oic-oci.org/ex-summit/english/10-years-plan.htm (viewed 23 April 2009). [confirmed 19 July 2009]
    5 David G. Littman, "'Submission' at the United Nations?", Pirn Fortuyn Memorial Conference on Islam, (The Hague, 17-19 February 2005.
    6 David Littman, "Islamism Grows Stronger at the United Nations", Middle East Quarterly, September 1999, pp59-64.
    7 The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is composed of 47 states, of which 17 are Muslim. Founded in 2006, it replaced the UN Human Rights Commission. It has no power beyond drawing international attention to rights issues and abuses in certain countries.
    8 The UN General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding on its 192 member states, but pave the way for the formation of multilateral treaties and customary international law. Liaquat All Khan, "Combating Defamation of Religions", MWC News, 18 April 2008.
    9 "Durban Review Conference - Geneva 2009", http://www.un.org/durbanreview2009/pdf/lnfoNote_04_BasicFacts_En.pdf (viewed 24 April 2009).
    10 Elliot Jager, "Islamist 'new world order'"; "Written OIC Contribution", presented in a "Note verbale dated 13 September 2008 from the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations Office at Geneva addressed to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights", Durban Review Conference Preparatory Committee Second substantive session, 3 October 2008.
    11 "Shattering The Red Lines: The Durban II Draft Declaration", UN Watch, October 2008, www.unwatch.org/durban2 (viewed 23 April 2009). [confirmed 19 July 2009]
    12 Robert Evans , "UN's Arbour opposes 'taboo' subjects at human rights body", OttawaCitizen.com, 18 June 2008, http://www2.canada.com/ottawacitizen/ news/story.html?id=d7d3a363-70ee-40f7-8974-3e6365c63e6d (viewed 27 April 2009). [confirmed 19 July 2009]
    13 "Shattering The Red Lines".
    14 Brooke Goldstein, '"Legal Jihad': How Islamist 'lawfare' is stifling Western free speech on Radical Islam", The Henry Jackson Society, 25 November 2008. [ http://www.henryjacksonsociety.org/ accessed 19 July 09 ]
    ____________________
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    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#religious_hatred_and
       [RECAPITULATION: The UN increasingly practises self-censorship to counter accusations of "blasphemy", "Islamophobia", "defamation of Islam", or "sacrilege". For the sake of political and diplomatic advantage, many states seem willing to accept the new rules being requested by the OIC, and especially by its member states Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran. ENDS.] [List as July 1; July-August 2009]
    • Differences 'can't be glossed over'.      Malaysia flag; Mooney's MiniFlags 

    Differences ‘can’t be glossed over’

       The Record (R.C. Perth, W. Australia, weekly), cathrec § iinet net au , p 4, July 1, 2009
    Differences cannot be glossed over in inter-faith dialogue: Fr Waddell.
       POLITICAL leader Anwar Ibrahim will join Claremont parish priest Fr Charles Waddell in Perth next month at the Perth Interfaith Conference, aimed at fostering positive relationships between Muslims and Christians.
       Organised by Perth Muslim Youth Forum, the July 10-12 conference will be held at several locations around the city including the Perth Convention Exhibition Centre and the University of WA.
       Fr Waddell, who is on the Christians and Jews Committee and is the Archdiocesan representative on the Council of Churches Committee, said that the Church's position on interfaith dialogue is that "while we cannot gloss over differences, we must respect the dignity of all religions".
       Central to the Catholic position on interfaith relations is that "Jesus the Christ is the universal Saviour of all people, God is Trinity, and we have a personal relationship with god as expressed in the Lord's Prayer", he said.
       "The Spirit of God lives and guides all people, and that allows for interfaith dialogue to occur," Fr Waddell said.
       The Common Word initiative was conceived in 2006 in response to the growing divide between Western and Muslim societies.
       Muslim scholars from around the globe came together to bridge that divide by sending an open letter to church leaders and Christians, emphasising the common ground between the world's two largest religions.
      [Picture] Fr Charles Waddell  
       More recently, US President Barack Obama's landmark speech in Cairo represented a paradigm shift in relations between Islam and the West, a statement from conference organisers said.
       Inspired by the Common Word initiative and new leadership in the US, the Perth Interfaith Conference aims to build a mutual respect between Muslims and Christians in Australia.
       "Given Australia's geographical position with its Muslim neighbours, particularly Indonesia and Malaysia, a highlight of the conference will be the appearance of Anwar Ibrahim - the Malaysian opposition leader renowned for his inclusive approach and his fight for democracy in Malaysia," the statement said.
       Mr Ibrahim will explore how ties can be strengthened in a keynote address at the Perth Convention Exhibition Centre on July 11. Other guest speakers include former Uniting Church Australia president Reverend Professor James Haire and International Ambassador for Peace award-winner Imam Afroz Ali.
       Event organiser Gerard Winkler said that speakers had been hand-picked for the conference who would reflect a common theme of inclusiveness.
       "With the diverse range of ethnicities and religious beliefs in Australia, it is important to nurture a culture of tolerance. The Perth Muslim Youth Forum has recognised this need and are holding the conference as part of their strategy to create a new generation of tolerant Australians," he said. #
       [COMMENT: Good manners at this conference will lead to differences being glossed over.  Anyone who said that "God is Trinity," as in the above, to a serious Muslim would be told that Allah's Unicity is one of his main attributes.  In fact, the Muslim scholars' statement is exposed as having insisted on this aspect, in the article "Uncommon overture" in The Tablet (England), of October 20, 2007. ( http://www. thetablet.  co.uk/ articles/ 10512/ ).  How many Russian Orthodox and Greek Orthodox speakers were invited to the conference?  It would be nice if Constantinople and other lands stolen by Muslims some centuries ago were handed back, bit by bit, as such conferences are held!
       In Muslim lands anyone who made the statements that Fr Waddell is quoted as saying, such as "God is Trinity," could be charged with insulting Allah, and would risk the death penalty.  The Koran has a number of verses which are horrified at such a theory as "adding gods to God."  And, Jesus is only a created being like other humans, not part of the Godhead, the Koran says.  And he is not the Saviour, and did not die at the crucifixion! COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#differences_can't_be
    [July 01, 2009]
    • [Killing qualms overcome; bomb plan in Serbia; fake blasphemy, torture; 2yrs prison for wife-murder; forced marriages; label Christian kids as Muslims.] 

    [Killing qualms overcome; bomb plan in Serbia; fake blasphemy, torture; 2yrs prison for wife-murder; forced marriages; label Christian kids as Muslims.]

       Jihad Watch Digest, http://jihadwatch.org/ , Saturday, July 4, 2009
         "I did it for Islam but it wasn't easy to kill people. We have to remember who they are though - they're deceitful people who are against the Islamic Revolution." A member of Iran's Basij militia feels a rumble of conscience and tries to rationalize it away. "Basij militiaman: 'I hoped it would never come to shooting them'," from France 24, July 3: The Basij militia has been blamed for … Full article: ( http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026833.php ).
         Muslim youths shout abuse, throw rocks at gay man in … Minneapolis. "If they want sharia, let them have it." -- Dinesh D'Souza, The Enemy At Home, p. 280 "America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles - principles of … ( http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026832.php ).
         UK: Muslim dentist who forced his patients to wear Islamic dress can carry on. Cultural abdication. Absurd Britannia Alert, and an update on this story: "Islamic dress row dentist can carry on," by Paula Fentiman for the Press Association, July 3 (thanks to Block Ness): A dentist who told Muslim patients he would treat … ( http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026831.php ).
           Serbia jails 11 Muslims for jihad terror plots (including plans to blow up the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade). Of course, everyone knows there is no jihad in the Balkans. Everyone knows that the Muslims there are all peaceful, America-loving moderates. Everyone knows that anyone and everyone who dares to think otherwise is a white supremacist, genocidally inclined hatemonger … . ( http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026830.php .)
           German TV: Germany sold torture devices to Iranian mullahs. Well, torture is one thing at which the Germans are certifiably expert. It is not, unfortunately, in English, but the courageous Iranian dissident Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi sends this link from IranPressNews, to the effect that "German TV reports the sale of … ( http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026829.php ) [TRANSLATIONS: Approximate translations are free off the Internet. See links at foot of this webpage.]
           Iran to put British embassy staffers on trial. Finding a scapegoat or two -- an update on this story. "Iranian cleric: British Embassy staff to be tried," by Lee Keath for Associated Press, July 3 (thanks to Davida): A top Iranian cleric said Friday that some of the … ( http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026828.php )
         Pakistan: Muslims torture Christian on false blasphemy charges. We have often remarked here on the harm caused to non-Muslims in Pakistan by that country's notorious blasphemy laws, which Muslims often use to victimize those with whom they have personal disputes, or who refuse to affirm the Islamic faith … . ( http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026827.php )
           U.S. to block new sanctions on Iran. A new and disquieting Which-Side-Is-Obama-On Update. Let Iran do what it wants! What could go wrong? "Report: U.S. to block Iran sanctions at G8 summit," by Shlomo Shamir for Haaretz, July 3 (thanks to JA): The United States is … ( http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026826.php )
         "This Iranian form of theocracy has failed. " One simmering controversy over the Iran protests was over whether the protesters simply wanted to install Mir Hussein Mousavi as President and continue living in a Sharia state, or whether they wanted to overthrow the Islamic Republic altogether. It seems … ( http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026825.php )
         Here's a new tax Obama hasn't thought of yet. I guess I shouldn't be giving him ideas. Anyway, in all seriousness, note that the Hamas government in Gaza doesn't seem concerned that increased Koran study in the lands they control will lead people to wake up, realize that Islam … ( http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026824.php )
         After an increase of "wife-killings … on the pretext of adultery," Syria allows for tougher penalties for honor killings -- two years in prison! Syria has scrapped a law limiting the length of sentences for honor killings, but "the new law says a man can still benefit from extenuating circumstances in crimes of passion or honour 'provided he serves a prison term of no … ( http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026823.php )
         U.K. warns that summer is top season for forced marriages. "It is estimated that between 5,000 and 8,000 cases of forced marriage occurred in Britain last year, according to the Department for Children, Schools, and Families." Forced marriage is one of the most effective means of resisting integration. It serves … ( http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026822.php )
         Egyptian court grants custody of sons to Christian mother, but keeps their father's status as a convert to Islam in their records. All the better to harass them within a year, when they have to apply for national identification cards that will label them as Muslims. An update on this story. "Egypt: Court grants custody of sons to Coptic mother," from … Full article: ( http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 026820.php ) #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#killing_qualms_overcome
    [Jul 4, 09]
    • Reporter feels mob's hate in the Holy City.  - Sabbath extremists spitting like rain, and assaulted lady reporter.     

    Reporter feels mob’s hate in the Holy City

       Australian Broadcasting Corporation, http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/06/2617502.htm , (Updated Tue Jul 7, 2009 6:10am AEST), Posted 9:02am AEST Mon July 6, 2009
       ABC's Middle East correspondent Anne Barker became caught in violent street protests involving ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem at the weekend.
       This is her graphic account of her ordeal:
       As a journalist I've covered more than my share of protests. Political protests in Canberra. Unions protesting for better conditions. Angry, loud protests against governments, or against perceived abuses of human rights. I've been at violent rallies in East Timor. I've had rocks and metal darts thrown my way. I've come up against riot police. But I have to admit no protest - indeed no story in my career - has distressed me in the way I was distressed at a protest in Jerusalem on Saturday involving several hundred ultra-Orthodox Jews.
       This particular protest has been going on for weeks. Orthodox Jews are angry at the local council's decision to open a municipal carpark on Saturdays - or Shabbat, the day of rest for Jews. It's a day when Jews are not supposed to do anything resembling work, which can include something as simple as flicking a switch, turning on a light or driving. So even opening a simple carpark to accommodate the increasing number of tourists visiting Jerusalem's Old City is highly offensive to Orthodox Jews because it's seen as a desecration of the Shabbat, by encouraging people to drive.
       I was aware that earlier protests had erupted into violence on previous weekends - Orthodox Jews throwing rocks at police, or setting rubbish bins alight, even throwing dirty nappies or rotting rubbish at anyone they perceive to be desecrating the Shabbat. But I never expected their anger would be directed at me.
       I was mindful I would need to dress conservatively and keep out of harm's way. But I made my mistake when I parked the car and started walking towards the protest, not fully sure which street was which. By the time I realised I'd come up the wrong street it was too late.
       I suddenly found myself in the thick of the protest - in the midst of hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews in their long coats and sable-fur hats.
       They might be supremely religious, but their behaviour - to me - was far from charitable or benevolent. As the protest became noisier and the crowd began yelling, I took my recorder and microphone out of my bag to record the sound. Suddenly the crowd turned on me, screaming in my face. Dozens of angry men began spitting on me.
       Spit like rain: I found myself herded against a brick wall as they kept on spitting - on my face, my hair, my clothes, my arms. It was like rain, coming at me from all directions - hitting my recorder, my bag, my shoes, even my glasses. Big gobs of spit landed on me like heavy raindrops. I could even smell it as it fell on my face. Somewhere behind me - I didn't see him - a man on a stairway either kicked me in the head or knocked something heavy against me.
       I wasn't even sure why the mob was angry with me. Was it because I was a journalist? Or a woman? Because I wasn't Jewish in an Orthodox area? Was I not dressed conservatively enough?
       In fact, I was later told, it was because using a tape-recorder is itself a desecration of the Shabbat even though I'm not Jewish and don't observe the Sabbath. It was lucky that I don't speak Yiddish. At least I was spared the knowledge of whatever filth they were screaming at me. As I tried to get away I found myself up against the line of riot police blocking the crowd from going any further.
       Reassurance: Israeli police in their flak jackets and helmets, with rifles and shields, were yelling just as loudly back at the protesting crowd. I found them something of a reassurance against the angry, spitting mob. I was allowed through, away from the main protest, although there were still Orthodox Jews on the other side, some of whom also yelled at me, in English, to take my recorder away.
       Normally I should have stayed on the sidelines to watch the protest develop. But when you've suffered the humiliation and degradation of being spat on so many times - and you're covered in other people's spit - it's not easy to put it to the back of your mind and get on with the job. I left down a side street and walked the long way back to the car, struggling to hold back the tears. #
       [COMMENT: So, parts of the Judaist spectrum are not spreading sweetness and light!  (Copied to cont21.htm and religion/religchron3.thm ) COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#reporter_feels_mob_s
    [Jul 6, 09]
    •

    SPENCER, Robert; ? 2009   STEALTH JIHAD:  How Radical Islam is Subverting America without Guns or Bombs  

       
       News Weekly (Australia), www.news weekly. com.au, "How the West can be lost," Review by Bill Muehlenberg, pp 20 and 22, July 11, 2009
    BOOK REVIEW Stealth Jihad; Robert SPENCER
    STEALTH JIHAD:
    How Radical Islam is Subverting America without Guns or Bombs
    by Robert Spencer
    (Washington, DC: Regnery) Hardcover: 328 pages
    ISBN:9781596985568 Rec. price: AUD$55.90
    Reviewed by Bill Muehlenberg
       During the height of the Cold War, many Westerners refused to believe that there was an "evil empire" intent on conquering the world. If they did recognise the overt nature of Soviet imperialism, they were taken in by the covert operations. Thus agents of influence working in the West could use "peace studies", academia and the media to push their agenda.
       In the same way today, many Westerners do not want to admit to an Islamist threat, or want to play it down, or somehow blame the West for terror and jihad. While they may acknowledge overt acts of terrorism, they are ignorant or gullible about covert jihad. Like the Soviets of old, the jihadists have learned that stealth operations can be just as effective as the use of bombs and guns.
       Indeed, they are achieving far more by these covert measures than by a direct frontal assault. And they are fooling many in the West, just as the various Soviet front groups did during the Cold War. Anyone doubting that radical Islam is actively working to subvert the West needs to read this book.
       Robert Spencer is superbly placed to tackle this topic. He has written numerous books on Islam and the threat that it poses to the free West. In this important volume he documents how the terrorists are winning without terrorism. Jihad has not been rejected; it has simply been temporarily suspended ed in favour of other tactics aimed at achieving the same ends.
       The goal remains the same, says Spencer, which is "the imposition of jihadists' ideology over the world". They have learned how to co-opt and subvert Western education, media, the legal system and even top levels of government. And they have been very successful at this. Says Spencer: "They are well-funded, well-organised, and persistent."
       Although this volume focuses primarily on America, it is certainly applicable to most of the West. Spencer begins by quoting the jihadists themselves, making it clear that nothing less than the complete victory of Islam and the total imposition of sharia law is what is being worked toward.
       He examines how radical groups such as the Islamic Brotherhood are working with "moderate" groups such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations to achieve their goals. Numerous groups which pass themselves off as moderates are really nothing more than front organisations for the radical jihadists and their hegemonic agenda.
       A major way in which the jihadists are achieving their goals of subjugation and victory is by using the rhetoric of anti-racism, multiculturalism and victimhood. These groups have been quite adept at getting Westerners to believe that any criticism of Islam is "hate-speech" and "Islamophobia", is racist and intolerant, and is at odds with a multicultural society. Now they even call opposition to the jihadist program "terrorism"!
       Thus they intimidate their opponents into silence, and often the West is aiding and abetting this process. So fearful has the West become of appearing to be racist, bigoted, intolerant or judgmental, that laws are being passed and guidelines implemented which severely restrict genuine freedom of speech, all for fear of offending Muslim sensibilities.
       Religious vilification laws, antidiscrimination legislation and "hate-crimes" acts are being passed everywhere. The effect is to silence critics of radical Islam, while allowing the stealth – and not-so-stealth – jihadists to push their agenda at will. Vocal critics of Islam such as Italy's Oriana Fallaci, Canada's Mark Steyn and Holland's Geert Wilders have all faced legal and governmental opposition.
       Consider the issue of education. Spencer documents how school textbooks dealing with Islam are presenting a whitewashed version of events, while being harshly critical of Christianity
      ‘Indoctrination is certainly occurring at university departments of Middle Eastern studies. Many are now funded by Saudi Arabia, and most now promote the politically correct, pro-Islam agenda. ’  
    and the West. Muslims are demanding – and getting – the right to vet what our textbooks actually say. We are allowing this censorship to take place, and providing a platform for jihadist indoctrination and propaganda.
       While Christian students are banned from praying, reading the Bible or reciting the Ten Commandments in public schools, pro-Muslim classes and courses proliferate. In some schools there are exercises in which "classmates will become Muslims". They memorise parts of the Koran, adopt Muslim names and shout, "Allahu akbar."
       Then there is the "Islamic Pledge of Allegiance" in private Muslim schools which begins with these words: "As an American Muslim, I pledge allegiance to ALLAH and His Prophet."
       This indoctrination is certainly occurring at university departments of Middle Eastern studies. Many are now funded by Saudi Arabia, and most now promote the politically correct, pro-Islam agenda. They have become "propaganda mills for the view that Westerners themselves, and Americans in particular, are ultimately to blame for the actions of Islamic terrorists".
       Spencer also discusses how Muslims in Western nations are increasingly demanding "separate but equal" treatment, refusing to blend in but insisting on living free of Western influence, values and law. Spencer also looks at how calls for sharia law are being realised, with a two-tier legal system springing up around the West. These developments are part of Islamic supremacist ideology which argues for the inferiority of anything non-Muslim.
       The book concludes with recommendations on how we can turn all this around. But in the face of the extensive, pervasive and ever-increasing stealth jihad, one wonders if these will be enough. In fact, one wonders if America and the West have the resolve to stand up for their Judaeo-Christian foundations, and for freedom and democracy, or whether they will cave in to the onslaught of the jihadists.
       However things pan out, we cannot say we haven't been warned. This book certainly sounds the alarm. It is hoped that the warnings are read and heeded. If not, the future looks bleak. #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#stealth_jihad_how
    [July 11, 2009]
    • We don't want trouble, says Muslim prayer group.     

    We don’t want trouble, says Muslim prayer group

       The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , letters § wanews com au , By BEATRICE THOMAS, p 9, Saturday, July 11, 2009
      [Picture] Big demand: Members of the Daawah Association at Friday prayers in Kent Street, Cannington, yesterday.    Picture: Nic Ellis  
       PERTH (W. Australia) – A Muslim group ordered to stop holding big prayer meetings at a Cannington industrial unit says it is not causing problems and numbers have ballooned because the group's religion says people cannot be turned away.
       The State Administrative Tribunal rejected the Daawah Association of WA's application for a review of a Canning City Council decision not to allow bigger Friday prayer services, known as Jumu'ah salah.
       The city granted the association approval for "community purpose and educational establishment" in 2001 on the condition there were no more than 20 people there at any time.
       However, Daawah Association secretary Tariq Anzar said alternative established prayer sites were full and there was a big local demand for the weekly service.
       "What we really felt was required was an understanding of the different culture," he said. "If we get a strict number to 50 or 100 and it's reached, I can't say you go back, we are only (allowed) 100."
       Mr Tariq said the association would reduce its numbers as required by August 25 but moving the important session would be a logistical headache with no site guaranteed each week.
       "As far as Daawah is concerned, we don't want trouble," he said.
       "We don't want to hurt anyone, we don't want to disturb anyone, we don't want anyone to be affected with the parking issue at all."
       The tribunal this week found there was not enough parking at the Kent Street unit and "public worship" was prohibited in a light industry zone. The decision was criticised by ethnic groups.
       Mr Anzar said the association wanted to build a centre in Queens Park but the council rejected its first design because of a lack of parking.
       Canning mayor Joe Delle Donne has said the city was working with the association to find an alternative. #
       [RECAPITULATION: "As far as Daawah is concerned, we don't want trouble," he said.
       "We don't want to hurt anyone, we don't want to disturb anyone, we don't want anyone to be affected with the parking issue" at all." ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: Repeat "As far as Daawah is concerned" a few times, and extract the fullness of the meaning. ENDS.]
       [2nd COMMENT: If their religion says they can't turn people away, what about the bomb blasts in Shi'ite and some Sunni mosques (prayer places) in Muslim lands like Iraq?  Surely the non-Muslims have not carried out ALL these cowardly attacks, have they?  And of what religion are the suicide bombers, who turn up at weddings, funerals, and in mosques?  Will they be reading or reciting the anti-infidel verses of the Koran at the prayer centre? ENDS.]
       [ADVICE for CANNING COUNCIL: The Muslims should try living in a country that welcomes prayer centres, without bothersome rules about parking and zoning by-laws! ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  9:73:- O Prophet!  strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites and be unyielding to them; and their abode is hell, and evil is the destination.
       33:48 (or 33:47):- And obey not (the behests) of the Unbelievers and the Hypocrites, and heed not their annoyances, but put thy Trust in Allah.  For enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs.
       47:4:- Therefore, when ye meet the Unbelievers, smite at their necks; at length, when ye have thoroughly subdued them, bind firmly: therefore either generosity or ransom … DOCTRINE ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#we_don't_want
    [Jul 11, 09]

    • JOYA, Malalai; 2009 ;   Raising my voice  

       
       The West Australian, Today section, "Mussolinis of Afghanistan target the woman who raised her voice," Review by ROD MORAN, Today section pp 6-7, Tuesday, July 14, 2009
       Raising my voice, Malalai JOYA; image from her own website The sad fact is that in Afghanistan, killing a woman is like killing a bird. The United States has tried to justify its occupation with rhetoric about "liberating" Afghan women but we remain caged in our country, without access to justice and still ruled by women-hating criminals. Fundamentalists still preach that "a woman should be in her house or in her grave". In most places it is still not safe for a woman to appear in public uncovered or to walk on the street without a male relative. Girls are still sold into marriage. Rape goes unpunished every day.
       This grim assessment comes from the introduction to Malalai Joya's memoir, Raising My Voice. When the US-led coalition overthrew the despised Taliban regime, democratic polls were held and Joya was elected to the Afghan Grand Assembly, known as the Loya Jirga. At age 27 she was the youngest provincial delegate, and one of the very few women to be elected later to the new parliament. Most of the other female delegates were of a fundamentalist persuasion.
       In December 2003, Joya caused an international sensation when she rose and denounced fellow members as corrupt warlords and criminals. She describes them further as theocrats, fascists and druglords. The politics of this were fraught. On the one hand, the US and its allies were trying to nurture an embryonic democracy. On the other hand, some nefarious individuals had taken office – Joya claims through foul means. Parliament went into an uproar.
       US special envoy in Afghanistan Khalilzad Zalmay gave the women delegates a pep talk on parliamentary conduct and respect but Joya hit back in a letter: "If these criminals raped your mother or daughter or even your grandmother, or killed seven of your sons, let alone destroyed all the moral and material treasure of the country, what words would you use against such criminals and puppets that will be inside the framework of politeness and respect?" Joya did not back down.
       On May 21,2007, she was suspended from Parliament, sparking international outrage.
      [Picture] Protest: Afghan women rally in support of Malalai Joya.  
       Joya's militancy and courage made her popular with the poor and the democratically minded but a target of those she denounced, the "Mussolinis of Afghanistan". She has survived several assassination attempts and is protected by a bodyguard of family members, moving between safe houses daily. But, talking about Afghanistan, Joya does not dwell on the dangers to her. Rather, she focuses on the plight of the Afghan people.
       "Unfortunately, the situation in my country since the 9/11 tragedy has, day by day, gone to a disaster," she told The West Australian.  And it is getting worse because the US and Australia have replaced the Taliban with the Northern Alliance fundamentalists. Today we have a mafia system. Most people, day by day, are getting poorer, especially half the population who are women … And a bunch of terrorists are, day by day, getting richer. Mentally, they are the same as the Taliban. The Government in Afghanistan is one of the most corrupt in the world. And the situation for women is catastrophic and getting worse, including rape."
       She cites the case of a 14-year-old girl, an only daughter, who was brutally raped earlier this year. Her ravaged body was found by her parents thrown on a garbage heap.
       "The Government is the sworn enemy of women's rights and human rights," Joya says. "That is why the situation is a disaster. So long as these fundamentalist warlords are in power there is no hope of positive change. I think if we want to … bring real democracy to our country, we must support the democratically minded, well-educated men and women in Afghanistan. But there is no place for them. They are often in underground organisations. The only hope for our country lies in such organisations. But the democrats are not getting the support they need from the West."
       So has any progress been made since the overthrow of the Taliban? "In some larger cities, like Kabul, women do have some access to jobs and education. But the women have security problems. In these circumstances, how can we talk about genuine human rights and women's rights? There is no justice in Afghanistan. Some mothers are prepared to sell their babies for as little as $10. But the US and its allies spend hundreds of millions of dollars in Afghanistan on the war."
       Joya says the $10 billion that came from the international community for reconstruction has gone to warlords and narco-terrorists. More than 70 per cent of Afghans survive on less than $2 a day. Life expectancy is below 45 years. "In the past few years, hundreds of women have literally burned themselves to death to escape their miseries," Joya notes in Raising My Voice.
       And she sees the Obama administration as worse than that of George Bush: "He wants to send more troops to Afghanistan. That will bring more violence. More innocent people will become victims, most of them women and children. Our people are squashed between internal enemies and external enemies. The US and its allies are bombing from the sky and killing innocent civilians, while Taliban and the Northern Alliance fundamentalists are negotiating with each other."
       She insists that the US and its 40 allied countries are in Afghanistan only to bolster their own strategic positions in international affairs.
    Raising My Voice, by Malalai Joya (Pan Macmillan, $34.99). Malalai Joya is touring Australia.  Her defence committee's website is at www.malalaijoya.com . #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#raising_my_voice
       [RECAPITULATION: So long as these fundamentalist warlords are in power there is no hope of positive change. … The US and its allies are bombing from the sky and killing innocent civilians, while Taliban and the Northern Alliance fundamentalists are negotiating with each other. ENDS.]
       LINKS: http://www.malalaijoya.com/ in English and Arabic.  Also in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, and some in French, Catalan, and Norwegian. [Jul 14, 09]
    • Islam: Religion or Political System?   

    Islam:   Religion or Political System?

       Leaflet published by concerned citizens, PO Box 9091, Wyee, NSW 2259 Australia; http://my. integritynet. com.au/ kenmurjos, Revised 2009, List as if July 15, 2009
       Be informed. It is in your best interests.
       The following is written in the public interest by concerned people who hold traditional Australian values. We are not members of any political party, nor are we promoting any particular political party. This is not a hate session against Muslims, but rather about a system, an ideology. Nor is it a conspiracy theory unsupported by fact. For their protection our sources are kept confidential. It is important for all Australians to know the beliefs and the aims of this ideology which is growing in influence in every level of government. Ignorance of the beliefs and aims of Islam is a major factor in its growth. To be informed about these beliefs and aims is the best defence against them, for they are diametrically opposed to our peaceful way of life and the democratic freedoms upon which our nation has been built and has prospered. Unfortunately many Australians aren't concerned about issues until they are personally affected by them. If we wait till then it will be too late. This pamphlet brings to your notice the unpalatable truth.
       Beliefs: 'Islam' means surrender or submission (to Allah) and is the religion started by Muhammad in 622 A.D. Islamic belief and practice are based on
       (a) the Qur'an [Koran], the Muslim holy book which Muhammad claimed was given him by Allah the god of Muslims, and
       (b) the Hadith which are 'The Traditions of Muhammad' i.e., the stories of Muhammad's deeds and sayings.
       The Hadith carry almost as much authority as the Qur'an. The points we raise are not the views of a small or extreme sect of Islam, but are supported by the highest authorities of the various schools of Islamic thought. In a Western cultural context some of these points may be relaxed, but when Muslims become a majority or have the political power to change laws these will become real issues to be enforced as they are in Muslim countries.
       The Aims of Islam: "In the next fifty years we will capture the Western world for Islam. We have the men to do it, we have the money to do it and above all we are already doing it." So said a Muslim religious leader at the opening of yet another Islamic centre - this time in Stokholm, Sweden.' So begins Dr Stuart Robinson's book Mosques & Miracles.  Thus on their own admission Muslims have world rule as their goal. Muslim leaders have been making similar statements for years. This is a world-wide movement which regularly has its own Islamic nations conferences. Its aims and strategies are well planned, long-term and financed by an almost endless supply of Arab oil money. Islam sees itself as a theocracy, not a democracy. It does not separate religion and politics. It is a religion, but much more than a religion, for it has a political agenda that goes far outside the realm of religion.
       It is as much a political system as were Nazism and Communism, and is more repressive of those who don't accept its rule. It regulates the Muslim's social and domestic life, his legal system and politics - his total life.
       To understand this political agenda it is necessary to know a basic belief of Islam. Islamic scholars of all schools of thought are generally agreed that the teachings of the Qur'an and Hadith support the view that a state of war exists between those countries under Allah's Islamic rule and all others that are regarded as under the rule of the devil. It is thus offensive for Muslims to live under western styled democratic governments, though this is tolerated till they are established. So while Muslims of different sects (Sunni, Shiite etc.) may fight and kill one-another, they are united in their aim to take over all countries not under Islamic rule. This state of war already exists and needs no declaration of hostilities. In Islamic theory, peace exists only when Islam is in control. Jihad and terrorism are expressions of this continuous war.
       Methods to promote Islam
       (a) Jihad: Muslims often claim that Jihad is only a struggle within their own nature to live 'righteously'. In truth all means are valid, both violent and peaceful, so long as they promote Islam. In the Qur'an Muhammad said 'Make war on them [non-Muslims] until idolatry shall cease and Allah's religion shall reign supreme' (Q. 8:38). This is typical of numerous Qur'anic statements aimed at all non-Muslims. It is a mistake to regard terrorists as extremists, for that infers they are going beyond what is justified. They are simply going by the book. Fortunately most choose more peaceful methods. Terrorism has diverted the West's attention from more dangerous threats – migration and biological increase.
       (b) Migration of Muslims into non-Muslim countries under the guise of 'refugees' is the main peaceful means of colonising the West for Islam. It has been truthfully said that 'moderate Islamists are the Trojan Horse of fundamentalist Islamists'. Apart from about 120,000 migrants, approximately 12,000 'refugees' come to Australia every year by UN instigation. Many of these are Muslims. This reflects the heavy influence that Muslim countries have on the UN. We should be accepting genuine refugees, these persecuted minorities who have no hidden agenda and would be compatible with our way of life, not the Muslim persecutors who bring their divisions and hidden agendas with them.
       After WW2 we accepted many genuine refugees from nominally Christian European countries. They came with no hidden agenda, assimilated well into society, were hard working and contributed much to our nation. By contrast, Muslims separate into their own communities having no intention of assimilating into the Australian way of life.
       (c) High birth-rate: Once in a country this is the next major factor in Islam's world rule strategy. Muslim women usually have as many children as possible. A Muslim Mullah recently boasted in France that Muslims are 10% (!) of the population, but every second baby is born a Muslim! Muslims aim to 'out-breed' us. Sheik al Hillali, the ex-Mufti of Australia still living here admitted to having four wives and many children. Polygamy is illegal, but many like Hillali, have one wife under our law and up to three under Islamic law living as 'single mothers' while receiving social security from the public purse.
       (d) Secrecy of its motives has made Islam great gains. Civil Libertarians and other pressure groups set up the basis for an Islamic takeover when they convinced politicians to make laws ruling out making any decisions on the basis of religion. Like a wolf in sheep's clothing political Islam shelters under the cloak of religion.
       (e) Deception: The Islamic practice of taqiyya allows Muslims to deceive and lie to defend themselves and when it can advance Islam. As one example, the Islamic propaganda booklet titled Appreciating Islam, published in January 2003 and financed by taxpayers' money has this endorsement on the back cover: 'This project is supported be the Commonwealth Government's Living in Harmony initiative administered by the Department of Immigration and Indigenous Affairs.' This booklet was written by the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC) and is a complete deception and whitewash of Islam.
       Islamic Sharia law: This is regarded as above the law of any non-Muslim country in which Muslims live, and helps explain their behaviour. It is based on the Qur'an and Hadith, and includes the amputation of a hand for theft (unhelpful in earning an honest living), death for leaving Islam and also for adultery (a permanent cure), and the following position on women.
       The position of women in Islam: Women in Islam - (1) are inferior to men, being deficient in intelligence, religion and gratitude. (2) are deficient as witnesses, the value of their testimony being half that of men. (3) are toys. (4) should be covered by the Hijab to protect 'the chastity of men who might see her.' (5) are like a rib - crooked. (6) The husband's sexual desires must be met immediately, even if she is cooking his food. (7) Obedience to the husband is their key to paradise. (8) The husband's rights are divine. (9) He may beat and sexually desert his wife. (10) Men may have up to four wives. 'Temporary' wives are acceptable. (11) A man's privileges are foremost in the custody of children. (From Women in Islam, a book based on the Qur'an and Hadith. All women should read this especially if they are planning to marry a Muslim). Copies may be obtained from the address on the front page.)
       Islam's Jihad (the continuous war): Some examples quoted from the English translation of the Qur'an, published by Penguin Classics © N.J.Dawood - 1997.
       (1) I [Allah] shall cast terror into the hearts of the infidels [non Muslims]. Strike off their heads; strike off the very tips of their fingers. That is because they defied Allah and His apostle (8:12).
       (2) Fighting is obligatory for you, much as you dislike it. But you may hate a thing although it is good for you, and love a thing although it is bad for you. Allah knows, but you know not. (2:216).
       (3) The true believers [Muslims] fight for the cause of Allah, but the infidels fight for the devil. Fight then against the friends of Satan. (4:76).
       (4) Believers [Muslims] make war on the infidels who dwell around you. Deal firmly with them. Know that Allah is with the righteous. (9:123).
       (5) Prophet [Muhammad], make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal rigorously with them. Hell shall be their home: an evil fate. (9:73).

       These verses show the Islamic justification for Jihad, and help explain Muslims' hatred for all non-Muslims, particularly for the so-called Christian Western nations, of which Australia is one. They show why there can be no appeasement of Islam. Freedom of religion in Australia should not include freedom to subvert our political system and bring us under the control of an oppressive foreign system which demands every right and privilege here which it denies to non-Muslims in Muslim dominated countries. Here are some examples of the outworking of the above Qur'anic verses of hate. These are quoted from news bulletins in 2005. Persecution continues in both countries.
       From Indonesia: 'Since the year 2000, over 8000 Christians have been killed in Indonesia. Radical Muslims have burnt more than 500 churches during the last 4 years. Over the last year and a half it has accelerated to an average of 11 churches every month. In some towns, every church, Christian school and orphanage has been burned down in one day. These buildings are not flimsy grass huts but established structures that seat hundreds. On the island of Java, crowds of radical Muslims surround churches and use machetes to hack anyone to death who tries to escape. A pastor and his family were burned to death inside the church. On Sulawesi, a squad of radical Muslim Laskar Jihad warriors attacked a series of Christian villages with machetes, guns, and clubs - even a bulldozer. The attackers burned homes and villages, killing everyone who could not flee.'
       From Nigeria comes this report: 'Africa is the scene of some of the worst anti-Christian persecution in the world. More than 10,000 people have died in the last few years as Muslim radicals attempt to impose traditional Islamic law (Sharia) in more Nigerian states. Under Sharia, worshipping Christ or telling others the Good News is punishable by death. … In just one month, 10 Christian churches have been burned to the ground in one town alone. Recent attacks on Christians have been so violent that witnesses have reported seeing bodies of dead Christians carried away by the truckload! In another town, 3 believers were killed and over 3,000 left homeless, when Muslim militias destroyed their houses. In another village, a pastor and 48 members of his congregation were killed by Islamic militants just months ago.'
       Islam a religion of peace! Muslims often claim that their religion is one of peace, and even quote parts of the Qur'an in support. How do they reconcile this with the above statements in the Qur'an that show Islam in a very ruthless and aggressive light? The conflict is easily explained. Those parts of the Qur'an that promote peace and tolerance were written early in Muhammad's career when he was struggling to win support for his new religion. Later, after his move to Medina, when his forces were winning militarily his attitude changed to that of a ruthless conqueror, and the above verses were written then and reflect this change of attitude.
       Muslim 'theologians' solve the conflict to their satisfaction with the 'law of abrogation' which states that where there is a conflict the later statements 'abrogate' or cancel the earlier ones. Thus the 'peace' statements are cancelled and the aggressive statements stand. It is deceptive for Muslims to quote what they believe are cancelled texts, but it is politically expedient to do so until they are in a position of power. Muslims who are isolated from their communities usually try to be seen as peaceful and tolerant, and good representatives of Islam. This helps them to be accepted in society and supports Islamic propaganda. Unfortunately, this is not the case where Muslims predominate, as in some Sydney suburbs.
       Conversions: Muslim men are encouraged to marry non-Muslim girls, who are usually told they worship the same god as the Christians. Usually the girls become Muslims as do their children. One respected Aboriginal leader has reported that Muslim men were marrying Aboriginal girls to have Muslim children who would be able to make land claims as Muslim Aboriginals. If a Muslim converts to another religion this is regarded as a sin worthy of death.
       Anti-vilification laws: Many Australians are aware of the court case brought by Muslims against two Christian pastors in Melbourne under Victoria's extreme version of Anti-vilification law. Their offence was that they held a seminar in which they revealed some of the above beliefs and practices of Islam. The pastors were found guilty under this draconian law. But after four years and an appeal to the High Court the original finding was found to be flawed, and a retrial ordered. Thus the pastors were exonerated, and the Muslims settled the case out of court. This brave and costly action by the pastors has emboldened others to stand up for their democratic rights against the intimidation of this rich and powerful ideology.
       Piers Akerman reporting the case stated, 'The greatest crime is that the politically correct Victorian Government ever enacted the shameful legislation which permitted the case to begin at all' (Sydney Daily Telegraph, 4.3.04).
       This case raised some questions: How independent and unbiased are Equal Opportunity Commissions? Who comprises them? Surely it is a prime duty of all our political leaders to preserve Australia's heritage, independence and democratic freedoms, and not make laws that can be used to undermine them.
       These considerations should deter governments signing little-publicised treaties and agreements with the UN that make Australians subject to the rule of foreigners on issues about which we have had no say. Some of these treaties have seriously affected rural land-owners. We must have laws to guard against libelous and defamatory language, but we cannot justify their use against the truthful statement of, or discussion of, the aims and beliefs of any group, party, sect or religion.
       It is in the public interest for all Australians to know the above facts that these laws are being used to suppress. Your sister or daughter may want to marry a Muslim. The reader can judge if it is in her best interests to remain ignorant of her position in her husband's religion. The beliefs of all religions should be open to scrutiny if they have nothing to hide, and Islam has much to hide. And we need open and accountable government at all levels.
       Multiculturalism, contrary to the ads, kills harmony. It is divisive for it encourages ethnic groups not to assimilate into one homogeneous society, but to keep their divisions and to push their own agendas, when they would otherwise be treated as all other Australians.
       Multiculturalism is racist when it discriminates against ordinary Australians when, even if they have lesser qualifications and experience, preference in employment in government departments is given to others simply on the basis of their 'ethnicity'. Is it any wonder why some government departments are so inefficient and ineffective when such a policy prevails! Muslims are regarded as having an ethnic background. But there are Muslims of all ethnic backgrounds, just as there are Christians of all ethnic backgrounds. Islam is not a racial or ethnic issue, it is a religious/political issue. This policy is written into law, but many politicians would not know these details. Is it therefore just a coincidence that Muslims can benefit from such policies? Maybe they helped formulate them in the first place, for Muslims have infiltrated many government departments.
       Each religion produces its own distinctive culture. When these are thrown together, this is a recipe for conflict, especially when Islam is a party, because the Qur'an prohibits friendship with non-Muslims (4:144; 5:51 etc), and as we have seen, commands Muslims to kill non-Muslims. After WW2 European migrants found no problem here with assimilation. Multiculturalism was frowned upon then, but now it is a tool to promote Islam. It is time multiculturalism was abandoned in favour of a better and fairer Australian society.
       Examples of Muslim intimidation and culture here in Australia. Did you know? -
       (1) In some parts of Sydney non-Muslims dare not buy a house or flat. One non-Muslim couple moved into a unit they had bought in a predominately Muslim area. Not long after, the lady was lying on a couch when a bullet came through the window and into the wall just above her head. The police said that is the way Muslims tell others to get out of the area, and they (the police) would put their names on the bottom of the list of similar cases. Needless to say they soon sold their unit. This was twenty years back.
       (2) A non-Muslim lady on crutches in one shopping centre in Sydney had her crutches knocked from under her so that a Muslim could get into a lift ahead of her.
       (3) An Australian woman married a Muslim here and returned to Indonesia with her husband. After six years and six children she returned with her husband. Her grief-stricken mother was not even allowed into the house in which they lived.
       (4) A lady was watching her two primary school daughters (wearing bikinis) swimming in a pool by a beach. A Muslim family was nearby. A youth of the family approached her and told her to cover up the girls. She refused. He later returned and opening his jacket showed her a knife and told her to move off. She moved.
       (5) When the then Premier of NSW, Bob Carr, visited the Lakemba mosque in Sydney the Mufti greeting him with 'welcome to the Islamic Republic of Lakemba'.
       (6) A lady accidentally bumped into a Muslim lady in a supermarket in a country town. She told the lady she was sorry, only to be told 'Not so sorry as you will be when we take over this country'.
       (7) A Muslim man told a real estate agent, 'When we take over this country, we will take your property, your wife and your children'. This can only mean that he will be killed.
       (8) Recently, some Mormon missionaries were knocking on doors in a Muslim area in Sydney. Muslim youths confronted them claiming it was a 'closed area', and to prove it attacked them leaving one with knife wounds in his back.
       (9) Muslims are now saying they will take over this country by 2020.
       (10) A final example: The Land and Environment Court overruled the combined wish of the citizens of the small rural community of Annangrove (Sydney) and the local Shire Councillors, resulting in the building of a mosque in Annangrove where previously no known Muslims were living. For their opposition the locals received threatening letters and a Jihad threat on the internet. Of the 700 present at the public meeting held to discuss the issue, only one Muslim family was represented, and they were from Kenthurst, an adjoining suburb! The building of mosques or schools often spearhead the gradual takeover by Islam of a new area. Buying up businesses and real estate agencies is often the next step.
       Our legal system should allow communities to protect themselves against the predatory designs of this evil system which under the cloak of 'freedom of religion' brings division and strife, the devaluation of property and ultimately the exclusion from the area of the local non-Muslim population. This is an established pattern of operation that does not need to continue, for decisions of the Land and Environment Court in favour of Islamic developments can legally be appealed against on the grounds of human impact and social disruption.
       When fully understood what the Islamic agenda is, opposition is also justified on the ground of national security, and the preservation of democracy in Australia. Annangrove was not an isolated case. It has been followed by similar issues in Camden, Bass Hill and Carrara on the Gold Coast, and will continue right around this country, unless we stand up and make our voice heard, as the residents of Camden have done.
       Are our politicians ignorant? Or are they afraid to speak out because they fear losing the Muslim vote? Is this the type of politician you want? - or the culture you want your children to inherit? The above is typical of a growing cancer in our society, and it needs a national outcry to say 'enough.' Stop importing this barbaric culture into Australia under the guise of humanitarian acts for Muslims who are persecuted by other Muslims. Instead give refuge to those minorities that suffer far worse at the hands of all Muslims in Muslim countries. We need politicians who will make just laws, and a police force that will enforce the law for all without fear or favour.
       We believe in religious freedom for Muslims to worship in their own time as they wish, but when a religion becomes a threat to our democratic freedoms and our national identity, it lays itself open to be legislated against. Laws allowing this insurgency have not been here long and can be rescinded. And it is imperative that this be done soon, for these are issues not of freedom of religion, but of national security. If governments and oppositions, both state and federal, were to combine against this threat to our national security, they would save our country - and neither would be politically disadvantaged by the other. T
       hose that continue on the present path of accommodating and even supporting Islam (which will not accommodate us if it gets its way) will pay at the ballot box, and the loss will be many times the Muslim vote. If both continue as they are they will either preside over the biggest disaster ever to befall this nation, or will fade into political oblivion and be replaced by others with more responsible policies. The stakes are very high when security is traded for votes.
       How should we respond? Be aware of what is happening and make your concerns heard in the community and to your local, state and federal representatives. Politicians will listen and act when votes are at stake. Our combined voting power can work miracles. Get involved in politics to protect real Australian values and work for just laws. Vote for the party or people that best promote traditional Australian values. Be patriotic and fight to preserve the freedom of the country our children will inherit. Copy this article and send it to your contacts wherever they may be, for the same things are probably happening there. The old saying applies here - 'All that is necessary for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing'. Young couples be prepared to have large families and live on a lower level of luxury. If Muslims can prosper with large families, so can you. Remember, the last thing Islam wants is for you to be informed about its policies and aims, and for these to be discussed openly. Be prepared for 'racist' and 'bigot' slurs from the media. We are not racist or religious bigots - just ordinary people who love our country and want to keep it the best country in the world. Be a real Australian and don't be intimidated.
       Consider the great cost our forebears paid in two world wars to keep this country free. Should we regard that so lightly that we now passively allow our country to be taken over by a 7th century Arabian ideology more dangerous than Nazism and Communism because it is motivated by a fanatical religious fervour to win the world for Allah.
       A revealing account: Despite a website aimed at discrediting it, this following account is 100% true. If you wish you may verify it with the author at missiongateministry § msn com [CHECKED 26 July 2009, with following result: < commissiongateministry /AT/ msn /./com >: host mx4.hotmail.com[65.55.92.184] said: 550 Requested action not taken: mailbox unavailable (in reply to RCPT TO command)]
       'Last month I attended my annual training session that's required for maintaining my state prison security clearance. During the training session there was a presentation by three speakers representing the Roman Catholic, Protestant and Muslim faiths, who explained each of their belief systems. I was particularly interested in what the Islamic Imam had to say. The Imam gave a great presentation of the basics of Islam, complete with a video.
       After the presentations, time was provided for questions and answers. When it was my turn, I directed my question to the Imam and asked: "Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand that most Imams and clerics of Islam have declared a holy jihad against the infidels of the world. And, that by killing an infidel, which is a command to all Muslims, they are assured of a place in heaven. If that's the case, can you give me the definition of an infidel?" There was no disagreement with my statements and, without hesitation, he replied, "Non-believers!"
       I responded, "So, let me make sure I have this straight. All followers of Allah have been commanded to kill everyone who is not of your faith so they can go to heaven. Is that correct?" The expression on his face changed from one of authority and command to that of a little boy who had just gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He sheepishly replied, "Yes." I then stated, "Well, sir, I have a real problem trying to imagine Pope John Paul commanding all Catholics to kill those of your faith or Dr. Stanley ordering Protestants to do the same in order to go to heaven!" The Imam was speechless.
       I continued, "I also have problem with being your friend when you and your brother clerics are telling your followers to kill me. Let me ask you a question. Would you rather have your Allah who tells you to kill me in order to go to heaven or my Jesus who tells me to love you because I am going to heaven and He wants you to to be with me". You could have heard a pin drop as the Imam hung his head in shame' (end of quote).
       Here are some relevant websites for further viewing.
       http://www.annaqed.com ["The Critic"] (Follow English version) [26 Jul 09 - Genuine]
       www.fatherzakaria.com (Follow English version) [26 Jul 09 - LOOKS as if taken over by ADVERTISING]
       http://www.knowislam.info/drupal [26 Jul 09 - LOOKS as if taken over by ADVERTISING]
       http://jihadwatch.org [26 Jul 09 - Genuine]
       www.TheReligionofPeace.com [26 Jul 09 - Genuine]
       http://answering-islam.org/Green [26 Jul 09 - Genuine, and includes doctrinal explanations.]
       www.barnabasfund.org [26 Jul 09 - Genuine]
       http://islammonitor.org [26 Jul 09 - Genuine; runs an Aussie Dhimwit of the Month "award."]
       http://IslamReview.com [26 Jul 09 - Genuine] #
       [LINK: Mosques & Miracles, http://www. amazon.com/ Mosques- Miracles- revealing- Islam-Grace/ dp/0957790554 . ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#islam_religion_or
    [Received ~ July 2009. List as if Jul 15, 09]
    • IDF: Hizbullah hiding rockets in homes.     

    IDF: Hizbullah hiding rockets in homes

       The Jerusalem Post, http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246443821498&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull , (Updated 18:06 Jul 16, 2009) | originally 23:38 Jul 15, 2009
       ISRAEL and LEBANON – A day after an explosion uncovered a hidden Hizbullah arms cache in southern Lebanon, the IDF's Northern Command estimated that the group had turned hundreds of homes in the area into warehouses to store short- and medium-range Katyusha rockets.
      [Picture] IDF: Hizbullah is in flagrant violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 .  
       The IDF released video footage taken from an Israeli aircraft, showing a home that had exploded on Tuesday in the village of Hirbet Selm - located some 20 kilometers north of the Lebanese border. The roof is seen in the footage with dozens of holes, which IDF ballistic experts said were the size of 122-mm. Katyusha rockets.
       UNIFIL said that storing the ammunition was a "serious violation" of the UN-brokered ceasefire that ended the Second Lebanon War in 2006.
       The peace keeping force said that it considered the incident a "serious violation" of the UN resolution that ended the conflict, which specifies that there should be no presence of unauthorized assets or weapons in the area of operations.
       Israeli defense officials had also accused Lebanon of violating United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701.
       "This is a major violation of resolution 1701," one Israeli official said. "The weaponry was stored inside a village and is proof of our longstanding claim that Hizbullah uses civilian infrastructure to hide its weaponry."
       Contrary to Lebanese media reports which claimed that the cache was hidden in the village before the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Israeli defense officials said that the weaponry was recently placed inside the storehouse.
       According to the officials, the cache was hidden in a storehouse inside the village and contained dozens of 122mm Katyusha rockets as well as high-powered machine guns. Some of the rockets reportedly flew into the sky.
       The blast took place at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, and for the first few hours, Hizbullah sealed off the area and refused to grant UNIFIL or the Lebanese army access. IDF sources said that the clearing of the home and the unexploded ordinance had taken over 24 hours.
       The sources said the IDF had been aware prior to the explosion that the home was being used as a storehouse for weapons. Several months before the explosion, an IDF aircraft captured footage of several senior Hizbullah operatives entering an underground tunnel near the house and reappearing from an exit 700 m. away.
       "This house was connected to an entire underground network that was built right under the noses of UNIFIL and the Lebanese army," one IDF officer said. "This is a major violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701."
       The Katyusha rockets that went off in Hirbet Selm were being stored in a two-story home. It was unclear on which floor they were being stored, but the home was shown on Lebanese television in close proximity to other village buildings.
       In addition to the 122-mm. rockets, IDF ballistic experts said it was likely that the home also contained mortar shells and additional types of ammunition. #
       [RECAPITULATION: This house was connected to an entire underground network that was built right under the noses of UNIFIL and the Lebanese armyENDS.]
       [COMMENT: Is it the religion of peace, or of enforcing submmission? COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#idf_hizbullah_hiding
    [Jul 15, 09]
    • Understanding the 'minor branches' of Islam, and built-in fanaticism.         

    Understanding the ‘minor branches’ of Islam, and built-in fanaticism

     
       Letter SENT TO The Editor, The West Australian, Thursday, July 16, 2009
       So, Malaysia's Anwar Ibrahim says the challenge is to understand our own faith and those of others ("Anwar just keeps coming back," 16/7).
       But, scholars do understand Islam, all of whose followers ought to be fanatics if they obey the Koran's call to "make war on the infidels who dwell around you."
       He disappointed me by telling an interfaith conference in Perth on Saturday that the "rancorous exchanges" between Muslims, Christians, and other faiths were a result of ignorance.  It is far more violent than mere rancorous exchanges!
       What about the Sky Kingdom Sect (the Teapot Sect) in Malaysia, whose places of worship were bulldozed by a Malaysian state government? (The West Australian, page 42, Wednesday, August 3, 2005)
       What about the first victims of Islam -- women?  What about endemic slavery?
       I suggest that all who attended the interfaith conference take out a Koran or check on the Internet, and read (just as Mohammed was told!):-
       2:193 (or 189):- Fight against them until idolatry is no more and God's religion reigns supreme. … ( http://www. usc.edu/dept/ MSA/quran/ 002.qmt.html# 002.193 ).
       2:216 (or 212):- Fighting is obligatory for you, much as you dislike it.
       4:3:- … marry one only or any slave-girls you may own.
       4:23-24:- You are also forbidden to take in marriage … married women, except those whom you own as slaves.
       9:123:- Believers, make war on the infidels who dwell around you.  Deal firmly with them.  Know that God is with the righteous. ( http://www. usc.edu/dept/ MSA/quran/ 009.qmt.html# 009.123 ).
       24:33 (or 34):- … You shall not force your slave-girls into prostitution in order that you may enrich yourselves, if they wish to preserve their chastity. If anyone compels them, God will be forgiving and merciful to them. ( http://www. usc.edu/dept/ MSA/quran/ 024.qmt.html# 024.033 ).
       Letters to the Editor, WA Newspapers, GPO Box N1027 Perth WA 6843. Fax 08 9482 3830. E-mail to: letters /§/ wanews /./ com /./ au
       [COMMENT: The heading sent included the term "minor branches of Islam," because Anwar Ibrahim used that term, according to the news report.  It seemed to imply that the terrorists were "minor branches," whereas the letter claims they are the Muslims sticking to the Muslims' scriptures. COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#understanding_the_minor
    [Jul 16, 09]
    • Attorney-General Robert McClelland questioned over link to sheik.     

    Attorney-General Robert McClelland questioned over link to sheik

       The Australian, letters § theaustralian com au , http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,25793802-15084,00.html , by Paul Maley, July 17, 2009
       ROBERT McClelland is under pressure to explain his relationship with Iranian sheik Mansour Leghaei amid revelations the Attorney-General endorsed his push to stay in Australia despite knowing ASIO judged him a threat to security.
       In a gushing letter written on behalf of Sheik Leghaei in 1997, when Mr McClelland was an opposition backbencher, the Labor MP expressed his mystification at ASIO's damning assessment of the sheik.
       In the reference, Mr McClelland said he was "most surprised" to hear Sheik Leghaei's application for permanent residency had been declined on public interest grounds.
       The sheik denies any allegation he is a threat to national security.
       Citing the specific section of law that Sheik Leghaei fell foul of -- part 4002 of Schedule 4 of the Migration Regulations, a national security provision -- Mr McClelland went on to vouch for the sheik's good character.
       "I have met Dr Leghaei on a number of occasions in my office and have attended sermons he has delivered," Mr McClelland wrote.
       "I have formed the impression from these meetings that Dr Leghaei is an erudite man, conciliatory in tone and demeanour. There was nothing in the words he spoke to indicate anything other than a deep and abiding interest in the welfare of the people in his religious community and indeed the community at large."
       Mr McClelland, who said he was writing at the sheik's request, described his sermons as "balanced, informative and emphasised tolerance and mutual co-operation and respect".
       Despite Mr McClelland's appraisal of the sheik, ASIO issued two adverse security assessments against him, the first in 2002, the second in 2004.
       As a consequence of the assessments, Sheik Leghaei's visa should have been cancelled automatically, but the sheik has been fighting the matter in the courts for more than a decade, challenging ASIO's decision in the Federal Court and unsuccessfully seeking leave to have the matter heard in the High Court.
       Sheik Leghaei's last known remaining legal action is with the Migration Review Tribunal.
       Tribunal chief executive Denis O'Brien said the matter had been on its books for longer than any other matter he could recall.
       Mr O'Brien said he had raised the need to resolve the matter one way or the other just a few weeks ago.
       The tribunal had deferred consideration of Sheik Leghaei's case while his lawyers pursued the matter in the Federal Court, he said.
       "Since then we've been asked to defer consideration of the matter pending resolution of the security assessment," Mr O'Brien said.
       Sources have told The Australian the sheik does not at present hold a visa, making his presence technically unlawful. The sheik denies the claim. #
       [RECAPITULATION: In a gushing letter written on behalf of Sheik Leghaei in 1997, when Mr McClelland was an opposition backbencher, the Labor MP expressed his mystification at ASIO's damning assessment of the sheik. ENDS.]
       [GUEST COMMENT: This is a similar story to 20 years ago when the then Immigration minister Chris Herford, wanted to deport that IMBECILE SHEIKH TAJ eL-Din al-HILALY.
       You might remember the same Sheikh Taj el-Din al-Hilaly, who said Australians came from the dregs of society and criminals, and if women are not covered up they deserved to be raped, that's what he implied if the meats not covered then it's not the cat's fault. Is it!
       But Leo McLeay and that buffoon Paul Keating rushed to his aid, by interfering with the Immigration Department, stopped the deportation and now Australia is saddled with this LUNATIC.
       … this is a repeat of what happened 20 years ago and the same scenario, Australia hasn't got enough problems, so import another imbecile Sheikh.
       But whatever happens don't take any notice of ASIO's damning assessment, just what Australia needs! ENDS.]
       [2nd RECAP: sermons … mutual co-operation and respect … ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: Look it up in the Koran, the Hadith, the Life, and the Sharia! ENDS.]
       [ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: E.D. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#attorney_general_robert
    [Jul 17, 09]
    • Egypt: Police Collusion Suspected In Attack On Church In Minya.  Strangely, officers arrest Copts; roof collapses after Muslim suspects set fire to church building.  - At Ezbet Basillious.  

    EGYPT: POLICE COLLUSION SUSPECTED IN ATTACK ON CHURCH IN MINYA


    Strangely, officers arrest Copts; roof collapses after Muslim suspects set fire to church building.
       Compass Direct News, http://www. compassdirect. org/en/display. php?page= lead&lang=en& length=long& idelement=& backpage=& critere=& countryname=& rowcur= , Friday, July 17, 2009
       EGYPT, July 17 (Compass Direct News) – Villagers in Ezbet Basillious, Minya suspect local police in Egypt of corruption and collusion after two Copts were arrested for an arson attack on their own house church on Saturday (July 11).
       Egyptian State Security Investigations (SSI) officers later arrested three Muslim suspects in accordance with eyewitness testimony that local police had ignored. The suspects were seen entering the Church of St. Abaskharion Kellini with cans of kerosene and leaving it shortly after, shouting "Allahu Akbar {God is great}.”
       The two Copts who were arrested, 35-year-old Reda Gamal and Fulla Assad, 30, are still in custody.
       Suspicions of police collusion come not only from the inexplicable arrests of the Copts but also from the lack of police presence while the church was burning. Guards who were stationed outside the property had left their posts, and according to some reports they had moved to a nearby café and were drinking tea while the property burned.
       "It sounds like a pre-arranged situation, that they [the arsonists] knew this was the agreed time, [when] the guards were away,” a source told Compass. "Mahmoud Muhammad Hussein, the head guard, and Mustafa Moussa, one of the village guards, were heard telling people, ‘Say Reda set fire to the church.’ So the local police were involved.”
       The attack in Ezbet Basillious, 90 kilometers south of Cairo, took place shortly before noon. The perpetrators entered the building where the church met using a connecting door from an adjoining residence. The fire cracked walls and caused the roof to cave in.
       It took police two hours to arrive at the scene, according to Suleiman Faiz, a local schoolteacher.
       Three Copts were taken to the police station, initially only for questioning – Gamal, Assad and Assad’s 75-year-old mother-in-law. Assad and her mother-in-law live in a home next to the house used by the church, and it was through their connecting door that the attackers entered the locked building.
       The two women were present in the house at the time and witnessed three men carrying cans of kerosene. Mary Abdelmassih, a reporter for the Assyrian International News Agency, said the arsonists threatened them at knife-point to remain quiet and not call for help.
       After questioning, Assad and her mother-in-law returned home. The following day Assad was arrested, and at press time she and Gamal were still being held.
       "This Copt, Gamal, they took him as a pawn in order that later they could twist the church’s arm to give up its rights,” Abdelmassih said. "This happens every time, there is no change in the scenario at all.”
       Buildings in Egypt require government permission to be used for religious gatherings, and typically churches find it very difficult to obtain.
       Officials promised the Abaskharion Kellini house church a prayer license on July 3 that would enable the building in which it meets to be used as a place of prayer; the congregation has struggled in vain for 30 years to construct another church building for worship. Having received verbal assurance that a prayer license would be granted for the building in which it met, the diocese’s bishop held a consecration service there, and SSI officials then closed the house church and placed it under guard pending formal permission.
       The attack marked the third recent incident of violence against the Coptic community in Minya, with new church premises being the precipitating factor in each case. Muslim mobs on June 6 attacked a building in Ezbet Boushra-East on suspicion that it would be converted into a worship place, and the same thing happened on July 3 at a building in Ezbet Guirgis Bey.
       "People are really fed up, and if they lose patience there will be fighting in the streets,” a source who requested anonymity told Compass. "A lot of young people are getting so exhausted from this persecution that they might do anything; they’ve had enough.”
       Schoolteacher Faiz, 34, told Compass that initially the attack on the Abaskharion Kellini house church made him and others angry.
       "You can imagine the amount of anger one would have to a very unfair situation like this,” he said. "Equality and justice for everybody is essential. We love Egypt and would like it to take its place among the respectable nations on earth.”
       Faiz said he hopes some day Egypt becomes free of corrupt police in order to have full freedom of religion.
       "We trust that these little actions and these little conspiracies from low-ranking police forces, and those who have infiltrated police with radical ideas, which are against the country’s interest, are found out and corrected,” he said. "Because we still trust the higher ranking people in leadership.” #
       [COMMENT: It is not so long since the AUTHORITIES in Egypt killed all the pigs, which only non-Muslims like the Christian Copts were allowed to own, on the pretext of "swine 'flu".&nbsb; Similar destruction of livestock is an old and effective method of various hate-crime groups. COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#egypt_police_collusion
    [Jul 17, 09]
    • Lebanon: Mob of 100 injures 14 UNIFIL troops.   

    Lebanon: Mob of 100 injures 14 UNIFIL troops

       Jihad Watch, http://www.jihadwatch.org/ , Posted by Marisol at 4:49 PM, July 18, 2009
       LEBANON – Hizballebanon Update. "Lebanese civilians hurt 14 UNIFIL troops," from the The Jerusalem Post , July 18:
       Villagers in southern Lebanon on Saturday prevented UN peacekeepers from searching an abandoned building near a suspected Hizbullah weapons depot that exploded last week, a Lebanese security official said.
       The official said dozens of men in Bir e-Salasel surrounded UNIFIL vehicles on Saturday and ordered the peacekeepers to leave.
       Fourteen UNIFIL men were wounded when some 100 locals attacked them, Israel Radio reported. When the troops called for backup, the villagers fired at the reinforcements.
       The village is close to Khirbat a-Silm, the site of Tuesday's explosion in an abandoned building about 15 km. from Israel.
       UN peacekeepers had no immediate comment on the incident in the Nabatiya governate, and Hizbullah has remained silent since the explosion.
       Earlier, UNIFIL boosted its forces along the Israeli border, hours after 15 Lebanese civilians carrying Lebanese and Hizbullah flags crossed into Israel.
       The group, which included several children, entered Israel in an area where there is no border fence, and returned to Lebanon after several minutes.
       IDF soldiers spotted the group, and seeing it was unarmed, decided not to take action.
       Nonetheless, the army stressed that the incident was a violation of Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the Second Lebanon War. … #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#lebanon_mob_of
    [Jul 18, 09]
    • Aussies' fateful breakfast.  - Recruiting Muslim workers, but blown up.       

    Aussies’ fateful breakfast

       The Weekend Australian, By Caroline Overington and Paul Maley, (Additional reporting: Debbie Guest, Natasha Robinson), Pages One and 4, Sat.-Sun., July 18-19, 2009
       JAKARTA, Indonesia – AUSTRALIAN businessman Nathan Verity was attending a high-level business breakfast at the J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta when he was killed in yesterday's bomb blast.
       Ominously, his dining companion was Canberra's top trade official in Jakarta, Craig Senger, who hasn't made contact with relatives since the explosion.
       A third Australian, understood to have been a guest at the breakfast, is also missing.  The fact that Mr Verity, 38, a West Australian who ran a human resources company in Jakarta, was at the breakfast, arranged by an Indonesian consultancy firm, Castle Asia, was no surprise to those who knew him.
       He was passionate about doing business in Indonesia, and about hiring Indonesians, as well as expat workers.
       He is the father of a young boy.  He and wife Vanessa spent regular time in their home state of Western Australia, where family were grieving yesterday.
       Mr Verity's uncle Geoff Lazarus said: "I would like to say that I'm gobsmacked that Australian security officials would allow trade and embassy officials to go to these five-star hotels that are known terrorist targets."
       Mr Senger was apparently not on the official invitation list for the breakfast, but is believed to have been seen there.  His wife, Kate, was last night sheltering at the Australian embassy, waiting for news. [***]
       Also injured in the blasts was Noke Kiroyan, 63, an Indonesian business leader with close ties to Australia. Some of his family members still live in Melbourne.
       A former head of Rio Tinto Indonesia, Mr Kiroyan was at the Marriott when the blast occurred. The 63-year-old was lucky to escape with minor injuries. [ … ]
       Also killed yesterday was Tim Mackay, the New Zealand-born president director of PT Holcim (Lanka) Ltd.
       A company spokesman confirmed his death.
       Mr Mackay had been president director of the company since May 2004. A master mariner, he earned an MBA from Massey University in New Zealand. #
       [OTHER NEWSITEMS: "Carnage as terror returns to Jakarta after suicide bombings," http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25799509-601,00.html , The Australian website, By Stephen Fitzpatrick and Mark Dodd, UPDATED 12:10pm | July 18, 2009;
    "Camera captures Jakarta bomber in a suit and cap," http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25799505-5013404,00.html , INSIDE STORY, By Drew Warne-Smith | July 18, 2009 . ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  22:19 (or 22:20):- … But as for those who disbelieve, garments of fire will be cut out for them; boiling fluid will be poured down on their heads. DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  Sunan Abu-Dawud's, Book 38, Number 4356: - Narrated Abdullah ibn Umar: Some people raided the camels of the Prophet (peace_be_ upon_him), drove them off, and apostatised.  They killed the herdsman of the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_ upon_him) who was a believer.  He (the Prophet) sent (people) in pursuit of them and they were caught.  He had their hands and feet cut off, and their eyes put out.  The verse regarding fighting against Allah and His Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) was then revealed.  These were the people about whom Anas ibn Malik informed al-Hajjaj when he asked him.
       Book 38, Number 4357:- Narrated AbuzZinad: When the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_ upon_him) cut off (the hands and feet of) those who had stolen his camels and he had their eyes put out by fire (heated nails), Allah reprimanded him on that (action), and Allah, the Exalted, revealed: "The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Apostle and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is execution or crucifixion."
       Book 38, Number 4359:- Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas: The verse "The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Apostle, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides or exile from the land…most merciful" was revealed about polytheists.  If any of them repents before they are arrested, it does not prevent from inflicting on him the prescribed punishment which he deserves. TRADITION ENDS.]
       [COMMENT on HADITH: See 4357 about putting out the prisoners' eyes with heated nails.  The Prophet, supposedly humanity's model for godly living, did that!
       The word "polytheists" (see No. 4359 above) is generally taken to mean those who worship more than one god, or those who believe in the Trinity (the belief of most Christians that there are three Persons in One God). ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#aussies_fateful_breakfast
    [July 18-19, 2009]
    • A hate crime aimed at infidels.     

    A hate crime aimed at infidels


    Terror turns on Islam
       The Sunday Times (Perth, W. Australia), letters § sundaytimes newsltd com au; by Anthony DeCeglie and Glenn Cordingley, pp 72-3, Sunday, July 19, 2009
       THREE more Australians, including a Perth father and husband, have been killed by terrorists in an attack on two Jakarta hotels.  Anthony DeCeglie and Glenn Cordingley report on what motivates the killers and why they hate Westerners so much
    M USLIM terrorists hate us principally because they regard us as immoral. But some are driven by a desire to create an Islamic society that is untouched by foreign influence, say terror experts in the wake of Friday's barbarism.
       At least nine people were killed and more than 40 Injured on Friday when bombs exploded at two luxury hotels in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia.
       The blasts came 10 days after the re-election of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation.
       The vote furthered the country's reputation as a beacon of secular democracy In the Islamic world.
       Officials say it is too early to say whether Friday's attacks were the work of Islamic militants, but suspicion is likely to fall on Jemaah Islamiyah, which uses terrorist attacks to destabilise regional governments.
       JI's ultimate goal is to unite Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and the southern Philippines into a fundamentalist Islamic state.
       The group, whose name means "Islamic community", has its roots in Darul Islam, a group that fought for an Islamic state in Indonesia In the 1950s and 1960s and survived a military defeat In the 1960s.
      [Picture] GUTTED: Twisted metal at the Marriott, above, shows the power of the twin bombings as Indonesian soldiers watch over foreign tourists, left, on Kuta beach in Bali yesterday.  
       JI has carried out more than 50 bombings in Indonesia since April 1999, including the 2002 Ball bombings that killed 202 people and similar attacks on the resort island In 2005 that killed 20.
       The group is also blamed for the Christmas Eve 2000 bombings that targeted churches and priests, killing 19 people, and the August 2003 attack on the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta – which was again struck on Friday – that left 12 dead.
       JI is also suspected of involvement in bombings in the Philippines, where its followers have attended training camps, and of bomb plots In Thailand and Singapore.
       If the organisation is confirmed as the perpetrator of Friday's bombings in Jakarta, it would be its first major attack since the 2005 bombings in Bali.
       There is little doubt that the bomb blasts were the work of terrorists linked to JI – but some experts say it is probably not the work of mainstream JI members.
       More likely, the bombs at the Ritz-Carlton and Marriott hotels would have been planned and orchestrated by members of JI who have formed splinter groups.
       Essentially, these are younger members, dissidents and hardliners who disagree with the view that bombings and deadly terror attacks are counter-productive in Indonesia, especially those that kill local Muslims.
       JI members captured and tried earlier this year for planning terror attacks that never eventuated have told of their disdain for those who denounce bloodshed.
       They call these people the "no action, talk only" group.
       One name that springs to mind is that of Noordin M. Top – the most senior and dangerous JI figure still on the run who has evaded the police since the first Bali bombing in 2002. Top has moved away from JI to a splinter group.
       It is believed that he is still in Indonesia, most likely on Java Island.
       Early this month police from Indonesia's Detachment 88 anti-terror squad thought they had him in their sights. But, as has happened so many times before, he eluded the net.
       Midway through last year, Indonesian police foiled a planned bombing at a restaurant in Sumatra and those arrested for that attack have told of their desire for continued bloodshed in the name of religion, saying their intent was to kill Westerners.
      [Picture] HOTEL HELL: Blown-out windows and hotel room furnishings are scattered outside the Ritz-Carlton in Jakarta yesterday.  
       They also had plans to avenge the then-planned execution of the 2002 Ball bombers–Amrozi, Muknlas fPOff imw" Samudra–saying they had considered bombing the Supreme Court in Jakarta.
       That never happened and, in November last year, the bombers were executed by firing squad.
       The wills of the three evil Ball bombers called on supporters to avenge their deaths and continue their jihad by slaughtering infidels and non-believers.
       Sidney Jones, a terrorism analyst with the International Crisis Group in Jakarta, said Indonesia's handling of the executions had increased the threat of reprisals.
       An Australian think-tank, the Strategic Policy Institute, predicted JI might launch new attacks just a day before Friday's deadly strike.
      ‘Muslim extremists feel the morality and the way of life of Westerners is alien to the world view they have’  
      – QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY PROFESSOR CARL TROCKI  
       A paper released on Thursday said tensions in the group's leadership and the release of former members from prison "raise the possibility that splinter factions might now seek to re-energise the movement through violent attacks".
       Queensland University of Technology professor of Asian studies Carl Trocki said that JI terrorists were motivated by their resentment of the moral values of Westerners.
       "Muslim extremists feel that the morality and the way of life of Westerners is alien to the world view that they have," he said.
       "They see their presence in their own country as offensive. They are usually there for a good time, and very often in a place like Indonesia, one of the reasons they have tourism is because there is a sex industry there.
       "I suppose there is a sexual undertone to the whole thing as well. There are Western men there to have a good time with Indonesian women."
       Prof Trocki said some terrorists wanted to create a fundamentalist Islam from top to bottom.
       "They want to create a whole different society that doesn't have anything to do with the West, not a secular state, not a state where religion is kept in one certain department," he said.
       "The thing about fundamentalist Islam is they want to create an Islamic society which is Islamic from top to bottom–and that their idea of morality is enforced and visibly practised by everyone around with no challenges to it. There is a strong push to see Indonesia as an Islamic state."
       Prof Trocki said it was likely there were factions within the Indonesian military that supported terror groups.
       "It is clear there must be some elements in the (Indonesian) military that are behind this because the technology of some of the bombs they are making and the equipment is not all that easy to get hold of," he said.
       It had been almost four years since the last bombing in Indonesia.
       Many had come to believe the country was no longer a hot-bed of extremism or that those with fanatical views were in the minority.
       Many also believed JI had been damaged and neutered by the arrests of scores of its members.
       Whatever the motive of the latest attacks, there is no denying that Indonesia has again found itself on the world map for all the wrong reasons.
      TIMELINE OF TERROR  
    2009
       July 17: Twin bombs explode inside the neighbouring Ritz-Carlton and Marriott hotels. At least nine killed and more than 50 wounded.
    2008
       November 8: Government executes three Islamic militants for the 2002 Ball bombings that killed 202 people.
    2007
       June: Authorities arrest the alleged leader of Jemaah Islamiah, Afghan-trained militant Abu Dujana, along with seven other suspected terrorists in raids on Java.
    2005
       November: Bomb-making expert Azahari bin Husin is shot dead during a police raid on a terrorist safehouse on Java island. Information from the raid leads to other arrests. Fugitive Noordin Top appears on video soon after, threatening more attacks.
       October: Three suicide bombers kill 20 in attacks on Bali restaurants.
    2004
       September: A suicide bomber detonates a tonne of explosives packed into a delivery van outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, killing 11 and wounding 200.
    2003
       September-October: Imam Samudra, convicted of masterminding the Ball bombings, and his accomplice Ali Ghufron, a fellow Afghan-trained militant who bragged of his friendship with Osama bin Laden, are sentenced to death.
       August: Suicide bomber attacks the JW Marriott Hotel, killing 11.
    2002
       October: Two bombings on the resort island of Bali kill 202, mostly foreign tourists, including 88 Australians.
       October: Police arrest Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiah and a fiery Islamic preacher, but he is later acquitted. #
       [RECAPITULATION: … their intent was to kill Westerners. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: And the democracies are passing laws so that if a Westerner says s/he wants laws to deport Islamic supporters, the Westerner is accused of "hate speech"!  If a Westerner points out the cruelty and anti-Jewish and anti-Christian teachings of the Koran and its mullahs, s/he can be accused of religious vilification!  In fact, the second heading of this newsitem, "Terror turns on Islam," would probably merit a discrimination "kangaroo court" case in the Australian state of Victoria.
       If anyone knows of high Islamic theologians declaring fatwahs against the people who incited and organised the latest suicide bombings in Jakarta hotels, and taught such religion to the bombers, please e-mail the facts urgently to Submission Study Group.  If any reader hears of Islamic religious services of sorrow and apology, and seeking forgiveness, please check and report urgently. ENDS.]
       [2nd COMMENT: People who regret the destruction of goods as well as the people ought to seek out the Hadith in a library or on the internet, and see the abject poverty and degradation in which the Mohammad stories are set.  There was a hole in the wall of a Muslim harem owner.  One group of the victims of a Muslim raid, evicted from their orchards, took away their doors on their camels.  What Westerner then or now would think a DOOR too valuable to leave behind?  The point?  Destruction of property is nothing to people who immerse themselves in such a philosophy.
       Killings are nothing, either.  In fact, an Indonesian chef was among those murdered by the suicide bombers.  Fellow-Muslims are often among the victims of the Islamist terrorists, who think nothing of attacking places of worship such as their own religion's mosques. ENDS.]
       [2nd RECAP.: … Ali Ghufron, a fellow Afghan-trained militant who bragged of his friendship with Osama bin Laden … ENDS.]
       [COMMENT on that: Among other friends of Osama bin Laden and his extended family are Donald Rumsfeld and George W. Bush, leaders of the Bush Administration.  The Bush family and the Bin Laden family have been in business together over many years.  Michael Moore's documovie "Fahrenheit 9/11" ( www.hopscotchfilms.com.au ) includes some of the evidence of those families' business relationship, and of how more than two dozen Bin Ladens were flown out of the US within hours of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre twin towers and the Pentagon, while all other U.S. flights were forbidden. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#a_hate_crime
    [July 19, 09]
    • Nurdin Aziz or Nur Hasbi, suspected Marriot bomber.   

    Nurdin Aziz or Nur Hasbi, suspected Marriot bomber

       The Jakarta Post, http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/07/19/nurdin-aziz-or-nur-hasbi-suspected-marriot-bomber.html , 11:31 AM, Sunday, July 19, 2009
       JAKARTA – A man carrying a backpack on his chest and lugging a suitcase toward Hotel Marriot's lounge shortly before the explosion on Friday is likely the one who stayed at room 1808. The police identified the man as Nurdin Aziz.
       The police found an un-detonated bomb in the room, but the police refused to give further confirmation.
       Tempointeraktif.com reported Sunday that the police were still identifying the bodies of the suicide bombers, and therefore, they could not give further details.
       "We are still investigating this," Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Nanan Soekarna.
       Sydney Jones, director of International Crisis Group, suspected that the man identified as Nurdin Aziz is actually Nur Hasbi, a member of a terror group led by fugitive Malaysian Noordin M. Top.
       Nur Hasbi, Sydney said, was a friend of Asmar Latin Sani, a suicide bomber in the first Marriot bombing in 2003.
       Sydney told Tempointeraktif.com that Nur Hasbi and Asmar Latin Sani both graduated from Ngruki Islamic boarding school in Solo, Central Java, in 1995. #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#nurdin_aziz_or
    [Jul 19, 09]
    • 3 Australians confirmed dead in Jakarta.  - Messrs. Nathan Verity (Perth), Craig Senger, Garth McEvoy.                           

    3 Australians confirmed dead in Jakarta

       Australian Broadcasting Corporation, http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/19/2629851.htm , ABC / AFP / Reuters, Presumably July 19, 2009
       [Australian] Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has confirmed the death of a third Australian, Garth McEvoy, in the suicide attacks on two Jakarta hotels on Friday.
      [Picture] Confirmed dead: Thiess employee Garth .    (Thiess Indonesia: supplied) 
       Indonesian authorities confirmed yesterday that Canberra diplomat Craig Senger and Perth businessman Nathan Verity died in the attacks.
       Speaking on ABC1's Insiders program today, Mr Smith said he was "in a position to confirm" the death of Brisbane-based Mr McEvoy.
       Mr McEvoy was an employee of mining and constructive company Thiess, who says it has been in constant contact with his family.
       The executive, reportedly a former Northern Territory police officer, was attending a meeting when the Jakarta Mariott was attacked.
       Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop has told Channel Ten that the attacks are a terrible reminder that the fight against terrorism is still going.
       "Tragically it has all the hallmarks of Jemaah Islamiah, the dominant terrorist group in Indonesia," she said.
       "Given that these attacks took place at western international hotels in central Jakarta it's pretty clear that it is the work of a group such as Jemaah Islamiah."
       Don't 'vacate the field'
       Meanwhile, Mr Smith says international businesspeople should continue working in Indonesia despite the attacks.
       He said that it is important to learn from the attacks and provide as much protection as possible.
       But he says he does not want to see work cease.
       "If for example diplomats stop doing their work, if international business stop doing their work, then you vacate the field to terrorists," he said.
       "We know Indonesia does carry risks, as recent events have terribly shown, but we can't vacate the field."
       The Australian Federal Police are providing assistance to the Indonesian authorities in the wake of Friday's Jakarta hotel attacks.
       Investigators are sifting through the two bomb-damaged luxury hotels for clues to those behind suicide attacks that shattered four years of stability in the world's most populous Muslim nation.
       "[The AFP are providing] some very specialist assistance which goes to the enhancement of CCTV images, and some other specialist facilities … or specialist expertise which goes to identification," Mr Smith said.
       Extremist suspected
       No group has claimed responsibility for the bombings, but the security ministry's anti-terror desk chief, Ansyaad Mbai, told AFP that evidence pointed to Malaysian-born extremist Noordin Mohammed Top.
       "There are strong indications that Noordin Top's group is behind the attacks because the bombs were handmade and the tactic was suicide bombings," he said.
       It is the fourth attack in Indonesia allegedly masterminded by Noordin after bombings at the Jakarta Marriott in 2003, the Australian embassy in 2004 and Bali restaurants in 2005, which have killed more than 40 people.
       He is a violent jihadist, a master bomb-maker and the leader of the most extreme splinter group of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terror network blamed for the 2002 bombings of nightclubs in Bali, which killed 202 people.
       Investigators said they found an unexploded bomb and bomb-making materials in room 1808 of the Marriott, which they believe served as the attackers' operations centre.
       The bombers struck the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton, luxury hotels popular with businessmen and diplomats and considered to be among the most secure buildings in the capital.
       Death toll confusion
       A New Zealander and a Singaporean have also been identified among the dead as Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda put the total toll at eight, including the bombers.
       However, there has been confusion over the toll and later national police spokesman Nanan Soekarna concurred with an earlier health ministry figure by saying that nine were killed, including five at the Marriott.
       "Of the dead, we believe that three we haven't yet identified include the suicide bombers," Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said earlier.
       As well as Australians and Indonesians, the casualties included citizens of the United States, South Korea, the Netherlands, Italy, Britain, Canada, Norway, Japan and India.
       The blasts are a severe blow for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who was re-elected earlier this month in a landslide victory on the back of strong growth in South East Asia's biggest economy.
       International reaction to the bombings has been swift.
       US President Barack Obama, who spent four years living in Jakarta as a child after his mother married an Indonesian, called Mr Yudhoyono on Saturday and offered American help with the investigation, the White House said in a statement.
       "The president and President Yudhoyono reaffirmed the close cooperation between the United States and Indonesia in countering extremism in South East Asia and around the world," the statement said. - ABC/AFP/Reuters #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#3_australians_confirmed
    [Jul 19, 09]
    • Turkish Christians Fear No Justice For Killers Of Publishers.   

    Turkish Christians Fear No Justice For Killers Of Publishers

       BosNewsLife, Stefan J. Bos, – © BosNewsLife. http://www. religionnews blog.com/ 23530 , July 26, 2009
       ISTANBUL, TURKEY (BosNewsLife) – Turkish Christians fear those responsible for murdering three Christian publishers will not face justice and that authorities will be unable to tackle "structural injustice" towards the country’s Christian minority, trial observers said.
       Middle East Concern (MEC), an advocacy group closely monitoring the case, told BosNewsLife that two key witnesses failed to appear in court last week and that a new hearing is scheduled for August 21.
       Five men have been charged with murdering Turkish Christians Necati Aydin, Ugur Yuksel and German Tilmann Geske, at the Zirve Christian publishing house in the eastern town of Malatya in April 2007.
       Investigators have said that the knife wielding attackers tortured and slit the throats of the three men.
       Five men, aged 19 and 20, were detained soon after the murders, and their trial opened in November 2007.
       MEC said it was concerned however about the "non-appearance of two witnesses despite court orders requiring their attendance and testimony" during the recent July 17 court hearing.
       JOURNALIST DETAINED
       “One of them, a journalist, is being detained by the gendarmerie, who claimed that he couldn’t attend as he was recovering from medical treatment,” MEC said. "The gendarmerie had failed to bring him to the previous hearing on the pretext of having insufficient funds to cover the transportation costs, though he made similar journeys for his medical treatment."
       The other witness, the girl friend of one of the perpetrators, reportedly claimed she had not been able to prepare to give witness due to her university studies. The prosecution noted in court that universities are not in session and requested that the court find her guilty of not fulfilling her duty to appear, MEC said.
       However, "This turn of events has further undermined the hopes of Turkish Christians that those behind the three murders will be identified and brought to justice," MEC added. "The concern of Christians is not only for justice concerning the murders, but also for effective challenge to the wider structural injustice whereby Christians are regarded as potential enemies within the state," the group stressed.
       German widow Susanne Geske and Turkish widow Semse Aydin have accused various government ministries of having "failed to detect the plot and prevent the murders." They have also said that authorities created a culture conducive to violence against Christians because religious minorities are presented as “an internal threat, a danger and an enemy," MEC recalled
       POSITIVE OUTCOME
       It said Turkish Christians asked for prayers that "a positive outcome in this case and the compensation claim cases will in turn be instrumental in improving religious tolerance throughout Turkey," and that those involved and observing the trial will understand the Christian faith.
       The group also noted that Turkish Christians want, that the five alleged perpetrators will “feel a true and deep conviction about what they have done, and understand that their wrong-doing is not too great for Christ’s forgiveness.”
       - Source / Full Story: Turkish Christians Fear No Justice For Killers Of Publishers, Stefan J. Bos, BosNewsLife, July 26, 2009 – © BosNewsLife. Published in Religion News Blog by permission.
       [ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: ReligionNewsBlog, Item 23530, http://www. religionnews blog.com/ 23530/ turkish- christians . ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#turkish_christians_fear
    [Jul 26, 09]
    • Contending for the Faith in a multi-faith world.  Dr Sookhdeo coming to Perth August 2009.     

    Contending for the Faith in a multi-faith world

       Barnabas Fund Australia, Received July 28, 2009

    †                               
    barnabasfund
    hope and aid for the persecuted church
    Dr Patrick Sookhdeo
    International Director of Barnabas Fund
    Perth 28-30 August, 2009
    CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH
    in a multi-faith world
    CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH in our response to Islam
    For Pastors & Church Leaders: Friday 28 August
    CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH when Islam attracts
    Ladies Morning with Rosemary Sookhdeo: Saturday 29 August
    CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH in the face of persecution
    Public meeting: Saturday 29 August 7pm, St Matthew's Anglican, 114 Onslow St, Shenton Park
    CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH because Christ is unique
    Sunday 30 August 9.45am
    CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH in the last days
    Sunday 30 August 6.30pm

    Barnabas Fund Australia
    Postal Suite 107, 236 Hyperdome, LOGANHOLME QLD 4129 AUSTRALIA
    www.barnabasfund.org , – email: bfaustralia § barnabasfund org
    P + 61 7 3806 1076 - Outside Brisbane 1300 365 799 - F + 61 7 3806 4076
    ABN 70 005 572 485
       [RECAPITULATION: "CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH in the last days." ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: "Last days"?  The Webmaster sincerely hopes that the churchgoers there will not be given the "We are in the Endtimes" or similar theories, which have been preached earnestly and inaccurately since the time of the Apostles! 
       Reach for a Bible or New Testament, and read: Matthew 16:28: Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.  Luke 9:27: But I tell you of a truth : There are some standing here that shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God.
       Or, for 16 scripture quotes along the lines that the earth 2000 years ago was coming to an end quite quickly, click Religion / Spurious # "Prophecies of a Quick Return by Jesus, &/or The End, made around A.D. 24."  (article written January 9, 2009).  COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#contending_for_the_faith
    [Rec'd July 28, 2009]
    • Australian admits plotting to kill thousands.  - Mr Shane Kent, a convert, pleads guilty as trial was to begin.  

    Australian admits plotting to kill thousands

       Yahoo! Xtra, http://nz.news. yahoo.com/a/-/ world/5758382/ australian- admits- plotting- to-kill- thousands/ , AFP, 9:07 pm, July 28, 2009
       MELBOURNE (AFP) – An Australian convert to Islam on Tuesday admitted being part of a terror cell that plotted to kill thousands of people by bombing major sports events, just moments before his retrial.
       Shane Kent, 33, pleaded guilty to being a member of a group led by radical Islamic cleric Abdul Nacer Benbrika, who told his followers they could kill women and children in the pursuit of holy war.
       Kent also admitted involvement in the cell's plans for a bomb attack on sports events including the Australian Football League's (AFL) 2005 Grand Final, which attracted some 92,000 fans and a TV audience of millions.
       The former forklift truck driver was about to face a retrial on the charges, which he previously denied, after a Supreme Court jury last September failed to reach a verdict.
       Kent, wearing a grey shirt and black jacket, looked down as the charges were read and replied "guilty" to each.
       Six members of the cell, as well as Benbrika, were last year found guilty on related charges in Australia's largest ever terrorism trial.
       Benbrika was jailed for 15 years and the six followers received at least seven-and-a-half years each. Another man, Izzydeen Atik, pleaded guilty in August 2007 and was jailed for five-and-a-half years.
       The men referred to themselves as mujahedeen, or holy warriors, and considered violent jihad an integral part of their religious obligations, judge Bernard Bongiorno said when sentencing Benbrika and the other men in February.
       Benbrika was so committed to violent jihad, Bongiorno said, that he had talked about continuing the group's activities behind bars if its members were jailed.
       They were arrested in November 2005 after Australia strengthened laws to detain those in the early stages of planning terror acts, following the London transport bombings in July that year.
       Jurors were told the group originally planned to attack the 2005 AFL Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, but were foiled by a series of police and secret service raids.
       They then decided to hit either the Melbourne stadium during AFL pre-season, or the sports-mad city's Crown casino during 2006 Grand Prix week, the jury was told.
       Material seized from the group included bomb-making instructions and video tapes with messages from Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
       While the cell had not made advanced plans for a specific target or carried out an attack, Bongiorno said they had shown no remorse, and did not appear to have renounced their beliefs.
       Kent was charged with intentionally being a member of a terrorist organisation and to making a document connected with the preparation of a terrorist act.
       According to evidence at his first trial, Kent, who converted to Islam at 19, undertook two months of paramilitary training in the use of firearms and explosives in an undisclosed country.
       His lawyers told the court Tuesday he was receiving psychiatric treatment for acute depression and anxiety. He will face a sentencing hearing on August 17. #
       [RECAPITULATION: … Islamic cleric Abdul Nacer Benbrika, who told his followers they could kill women and children in the pursuit of holy war. ENDS.]
       [LOOK BACK: February 14, 21-23, 2008; April 16, 2008; August 21, 2008; (Benbrika, 48, guilty report) September 15-17, 2008. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: Benbrika and others in the terror cell were convicted in September 2008. ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  2:191 (or 2:187):- And kill them wherever you find them …
       9:29:- Make war upon such of those to whom the Scriptures have been given … until they pay tribute out of hand, and they be humbled. DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  Sahih Bukhari's, Volume 1, Book 12, Number 749:- … Allah's Apostle said, "Say Amen' when the Imam says "Ghair-il-maghdubi 'alaihim wala-ddal-lin; not the path of those who earn Your Anger (such as Jews) nor of those who go astray (such as Christians); all the past sins of the person whose saying (of Amin) coincides with that of the angels, will be forgiven. < www.usc.edu/ dept/MSA/ fundamentals/ hadithsunnah/ bukhari/012. sbt.html# 001.012.749 > TRADITION ENDS.]
       [ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: ReligionNewsBlog, "Australian admits plotting to kill thousands," http://www. religionnews blog.com/ 23534/rnbs- religion- news-roundup- 2009-07-28 , July 28, 2009. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#australian_admits_plotting
    [Jul 28, 09]
    • Lone warrior shepherds tiny, terrorised flock.   

    Lone warrior shepherds tiny, terrorised flock

       The Record (R.C. weekly, Perth, W. Australia), THE WORLD section, By Jessica Weinstein, CNS, p 11, Wednesday, July 29, 2009
    Lone priest shepherds tiny flock of Catholics in Afghanistan.
       KABUL, Afghanistan (CNS) – In the midst of the escalating war in Afghanistan, there is a place of peace for Kabul's tiny Catholic population.
       Inside the Italian Embassy compound visitors will find a small white building marked simply with a cross. Its guardian is the shepherd of Kabul, Barnabite Father Giuseppe Moretti.
       A warm 70-year-old Italian with graying hair and a sharp sense of humour, Father Moretti is the only priest in Afghanistan.
       "Our presence is the presence of the master's seed," he said in an interview with CNS.
       Fr Moretti first arrived in Afghanistan in 1977, two years before an invasion by the former Soviet Union touched off a generation of fighting.
       When the war between the Soviets and the Afghan Muslim fighters known as mujahedeen ended in 1982, it was quickly followed by a civil war that raged throughout the 1990s. In 1994, the embassy was attacked and Father Moretti was shot. He survived, but he left the country.
       After American forces drove the Taliban, a Sunni Muslim fundamentalist religious and political movement, from Kabul in 2001, Pope John Paul II asked Father Moretti to return.
       "It was my duty as shepherd to stay with my flock," he said.
       According to the Vatican, there are just 250 Catholics in Afghanistan. Father Moretti said about 150 people regularly attend Mass inside the embassy. All are members of the international community.
      [Picture] Afghan children look on as Canadian soldiers with the NATO-led coalition patrol a compound in theTaliban stronghold of Zhari district in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, on March 19.    PHOTO: CNS / STEFANO RELLANDINI, REUTERS  
       At a July 22 evening Mass, 10 nuns from three different orders took part in worship and received Communion.
       Sister Chantal de Jesus, a member of the Sisters of Jesus in France, came to Afghanistan in 1955, bringing a team of nurses to the hospital in Kabul.
       "They treat us quite well here," she said. "They know us as Christians. We're well-accepted, even wearing the cross," said Sister Martina, a member of the Missionaries ot Charity, the order founded by Blessed Mother Teresa./
       Sister Martina's order is one of the most recent to arrive, beginning its ministry in 2007.
       Due to its work with mentally handicapped children and widows, the order's accreditation was approved quickly by the Afghan government.
       The need in Kabul is great. According to the United Nations World Food Program, more than two-thirds of the population lives in poverty.
       "Many are widows," said Sister Martina in a thick Irish brogue. "They live in terrible conditions and the landlord throws them out during the winter. Many have five to eight children.
       "We help with rent and food distribution," she added.
       But the Catholic presence in limited to aid workers.  Afghanistan is explicitly Muslim.&nsp; Preaching Christianity is strictly forbidden.
       Sister Fortunata, a member of the Missionaries of Charity and native of Rwanda, teaches a literacy class for teenage girls.
       She had begun translating the Quran, the sacred book of Islam, from Arabic into the local languages to help the women with their studies.  But after learning that three people had been executed for doing the same thing, she stopped.
       "They did enjoy it (while it lasted). It was a way to speak about God," she said.
       "We can communicate the main principles of living a good life, but we can't talk about Jesus," Sister Martina said.
       "Our presence here is the presence of the mustard seed," Father Moretti said.  "Our testimony is the silent testimony of our life and our works."
       For the Italian priest, much of that work centers on stoking the spiritual fervour of the faithful. He recalled that Gen. Dan McNeil, former commander of US forces and the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, was among the regular Mass attendees. An autographed photograph of the two men adorns the hallway of the rectory.
       But Fr Moretti lamented that many Catholics among the international community in Kabul do not attend Mass. Even the Muslims notice, he said.
       "The Afghan people are believers, and they respect a lot people who profess another religion, not only in word, but in action," he said.
       Fr Moretti recalled how much it spoke to the Afghan workers at the embassy when Catholics started trickling into Mass after the Taliban fell.
       "For two years, the Mass on Sunday was empty," he said, "and I remember our Afghan workers said to me, 'Father, they are unbelievers' Now, when they saw the church full of people, with joy they said, 'Father, there are so many people and they are happy.'
       "This is the feeling of the Afghan people about religion," Fr Moretti said.
       Now, as US soldiers pour into Afghanistan and the country prepares for its second presidential election, Afghans are rebuilding their lives.
       After having seen so much upheaval during his tenure, Father Moretti is very cautious when he speaks about the future of Afghanistan.
       "We hope. Our dream is peace, real peace, and if there is peace, there is democracy.  Democracy in Afghanistan is a hard journey," he said. #
       [RECAPITULATION: Father Moretti is the only priest in Afghanistan. … She had begun translating the Quran, the sacred book of Islam, from Arabic into the local languages to help the women with their studies.  But after learning that three people had been executed for doing the same thing, she stopped. … Preaching Christianity is strictly forbidden. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: Is that why precious Western lives have been lost, to allow lack of "inclusiveness," "anti-discrimination," and "multiculturalism" to blossom in a faraway land? ENDS.]
       [2nd RECAP.: "The Afghan people are believers, and they respect a lot people who profess another religion, not only in word, but in action," he said. ENDS.]
       [2nd COMMENT: How we would like to believe that! ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  19:88-92 (or 19:91-93):- They say:  "(Allah) Most Gracious has begotten a son!"  Indeed ye have put forth a thing most monstrous!  At it the skies are ready to burst, the earth to split asunder, and the mountains to fall down in utter ruin, … For it is not consonant with the majesty of (Allah) Most Gracious that He should beget a son. … < www.usc.edu/ dept/MSA/ quran/019. qmt.html #019.088 >
       57:27:- … Jesus … Evangel … but as to the monastic life, they invented it themselves. … many of them are rebellious transgressors. DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  Sahih Muslim's, Book 037, Number 6670:- Ibn Shihab reported that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) made an expedition to Tabuk and he (the Holy Prophet) had in his mind (the idea of threatening the) Christians of Arabia in Syria and those of Rome. TRADITION ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#lone_warrior_shepherds
    [Jul 29, 09]
    • Young Guantanamo detainee must be released, US judge rules.  - He was 12 / 17 -- even children didn't get fair treatment, and he has been illegally gaoled 6yrs.  Bush-Obama policy.        

    Young Guantánamo detainee must be released, US judge rules

       The Guardian (Britain), http://www. guardian.co. uk/world/ 2009/jul/30/ guantanamo- detainee- ruling , Associated Press, 17.30 BST, Thursday, July 30, 2009
       Judge rules Mohammed Jawad, accused of throwing a grenade at US troops, was held at Guantánamo illegally
       A judge ruled today that one of the youngest detainees brought to Guantánamo Bay is being held illegally and must be released.
       US district judge Ellen Huvelle's order does not end the case of Mohammed Jawad, however. Deputy assistant attorney general Ian Gershengorn told the judge that as the United States negotiates with the detainee's home country of Afghanistan for his return next month, the US justice department also is pursuing a criminal investigation.
       Gershengorn said Eric Holder, the US attorney general, has not yet decided whether to indict Jawad, who allegedly threw a grenade that wounded two US soldiers and their interpreter in December 2002. That means it's possible he could be brought to the United States for a criminal trial.
       Huvelle said she had no authority to prevent an indictment, but she encouraged prosecutors to think hard about problems with the case, including Jawad's mental competency to stand trial and the fact that he's already been incarcerated for six and a half years. "After this horrible, long, tortured history, I hope the government will succeed in getting him back home," she said. "Enough has been imposed on this young man to date."
       Huvelle gave the government three weeks to fulfil legal requirements to report to Congress about any national security risks and diplomatic agreements for Jawad's release. She ordered the government to report back to her by 24 August and said she hoped by then he was on a trans-Atlantic flight.
       Jawad's attorneys say he was only about 12 years old when he was arrested in December 2002, although there aren't records of his birth in a refugee camp in Pakistan, so his age is uncertain. The Pentagon says a bone scan shows Jawad was older, about 17, when he was arrested.
       Jawad's attorneys argue he only confessed to throwing the grenade after Afghan officials threatened to kill him and his family. A military judge agreed that he was tortured and ruled in October that the confession couldn't be used in military tribunals at Guantánamo. The justice department agreed earlier this month not to use any of Jawad's statements during interrogations by Afghan or US officials in the case in the Washington courtroom, either.
       The justice department said last Friday it would no longer hold Jawad as a wartime prisoner. But officials wanted to keep him at Guantánamo while conducting a criminal investigation, saying the government had new eyewitness evidence and would speed up a grand jury investigation.
       Jawad's attorneys responded that the United States has no authority to continue holding him at Guantánamo Bay and asked Huvelle to allow him to return to Afghanistan immediately. #
       [COMMENT: To the USA plutocracy: "If anyone loves Me, he will keep my word."  "By their fruits you shall know them."  "Do unto others as you would they do unto you."
       Question for the US, UK and other military: Do the Geneva Conventions on how to treat prisoners of war apply to US, UK, etc. soldiers if captured?  What about civilians?  Well, then why don't Habeas Corpus, the U.S. constitution, the rules of war, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, apply to Afghanis too?  COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#young_guantanamo_detainee
    [Jul 30, 09]
    • The day Free Speech died: The UN shows its true colours.     
       Annals Australasia, annalsaustralasia § gmail com , By Nat Hentoff, p 9, (list as July 31, 2009) Issue July 2009
    ANNALS AUSTRALASIA     9     JULY 2009
    Islam, and Free Speech
    The UN Shows its True Colours

    THE DAY FREE SPEECH DIED


    By Nat Hentoff
    O N [the U.S.]Inauguration Day, after it got the United Nations to pass a gag rule on insulting religions, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) told our new president in a New York Times ad that Muslims "have compelling strategic and moral reasons to cooperate and peacefully coexist with the United States in particular, and with the West in general."
       Many Muslims here and elsewhere want that partnership; but some, jihadists in the name of Islam, disagree violently. In its address to our new president, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (which has permanent status at the United Nations) made no mention of its own strategic skills that resulted, on Dec. 18, in the passage by the U.N. General Assembly of a nonbinding resolution (with strong advice to its members) that condemns "defamation of religion," especially Islam.
       In an 83 to 53 vote, with 42 abstentions, the U.N. General Assembly urged nations to provide "adequate protections" in their laws or constitutions against "acts of hatred, discrimination, intimidation and coercion resulting from defamation of religions and incitement to religious hatred in general."
       Only Islam and Muslims are specifically named in this resolution against religious defamation, sponsored by Uganda on behalf of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference, and cosponsored by Belarus and Venezuela. Opponents included the United States, a majority of European countries, Japan and India.
       Those in favor said they do not want to limit free speech but do intend to stop such expressions as the 2005 Danish cartoons disrespecting the Prophet Muhammad that ignited violent protests by Muslims around the world.
       Among the opponents, including myself, of this U.N. move to have its members legislate, with penalties, against such very broadly designated "religious defamation" is Floyd Abrams, the nation's leading protector of the First Amendment in the Supreme Court and in his writings.
       In his Dec. 9 lecture on global communications, issued at the United Nations itself in New York, he cited a recent study by the European Center for Law and Justice finding "that laws based on the concept of 'defamation of religion' actually help to create a climate of violence."
       "Violators of these laws, as applied in most Muslim countries, are subject to the death penalty," Abrams continued. He cited from the study a 22-year-old Hindu in Pakistan who "was beaten to death by co-workers at a factory for allegedly committing the crime of blasphemy, which is a crime punishable by death in the country." The three workers were "charged not with murder but with 'failure to inform the police that blasphemy was under way.'" – Nat Hentoff, 'A free speech killer,' The Washington Times, Monday, February 2, 2009.
       [RECAPITULATION: … laws based on the concept of 'defamation of religion' actually help to create a climate of violence." … a 22-year-old Hindu in Pakistan … "was beaten to death by co-workers at a factory for allegedly committing the crime of blasphemy …" ENDS.]
       [KORAN: 8:12:- … I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve.  Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.
       33:48 (or 33:47):- And obey not (the behests) of the Unbelievers and the Hypocrites, and heed not their annoyances, but put thy Trust in Allah. …
       33:60:- If the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is a disease and the agitators in the city do not desist, We shall most certainly set you over them, then they shall not be your neighbors in it but for a little while. DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH: Sahih Bukhari's, Volume 1, Book 12, Number 749:- … Allah's Apostle said, "Say Amen' when the Imam says "Ghair-il-maghdubi 'alaihim wala-ddal-lin; not the path of those who earn Your Anger (such as Jews) nor of those who go astray (such as Christians); … < www.usc.edu/ dept/MSA/ fundamentals/ hadithsunnah/ bukhari/012. sbt.html# 001.012.749 >
       Malik's Muwatta, Book 53, Number 53.2.3:- … the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "When a Jew greets you, and says 'Death to you' (as-samu alaykum) say, 'And to you'."  Yahya said, "Malik was asked whether a person who greeted a Jew or Christian, should apologise for it.  He said, 'No'." TRADITION ENDS.]
       [SUBSCRIBE: In Australia Aus$33 (pensioner $26), overseas enquire Annals Australasia, annalsaustralasia § gmail com ; PO Box 13, Kensington, NSW, 2033, Australia.  Tel 02 9662 7894, or 02 9662 7188 ext. 252. Fax 02 9662 1910. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#the_day_free
    [p 9, Issue July 2009; list as July 31, 2009]
    • Difference does matter. 
       Annals Australasia, annalsaustralasia § gmail com , Book Review by Jude Dougherty, pp 13-14, July 2009
    ANNALS AUSTRALASIA   13   JULY 2009
    Book Review
    Philosophy and Theology in Christianity and Islam

    DIFFERENCE DOES MATTER

     
    Reviewed by Jude Dougherty
    THE PREMISE that animates this enquiry is that the Middle Ages is a period of history that has something to tell us about ourselves. In an autobiographical note, Brague tells the reader how his classical studies led him out of his early work on Plato and Aristotle to a serious study of the Middle Ages and a professorship in Arabic medieval philosophy. Any French man or woman who studies medieval philosophy is perforce an autodidact, given the absence of medieval studies in the French curriculum even at the university level. Many American readers will remember that Etienne Gilson founded his influential Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies not in France but in Toronto.
       Brague opens with a set of distinctions rarely encountered in contemporary literature, i.e., between theology in Christianity and Kalam in Islam, between philosophy in Christianity and falsafa in Islam, elaborating on the terms and the difference in understanding they make.
       Addressing the genesis of European culture, Brague acknowledges, "Europe borrowed its nourishment, first from the Greco-Roman world that preceded it, then from the world of Arabic culture that developed in parallel with it, and finally from the Byzantine world. It is from the Arabic world, in particular, that Europe gained the texts of Aristotle, Galen, and many others that, once translated from the Arabic into Latin, fed the 12th-century renaissance." Later the Byzantine world provided the original version of those same texts, which permitted close study and alimented the flowering of Scholasticism." Where would Thomas Aquinas have been, he asks, if he had not found a worthy adversary in Averroes? What would Duns Scotus have contributed if he had not taken Avicenna as a point of departure?
    Brague, Remi. The Legend of the Middle Ages: Philosophical Explorations of Medieval Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.
    Trans. by Lydia G. Cochrane.
    Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009.
    pp. xi + 287. Cloth, $35.00; £24.00.
       Islamic philosophy is usually seen as beginning with al-Kindi, around the 9th century and ending with Averroes around the 12th century. No one contests the fact that Muslims continued to think after Averroes, but what remains to be defined is to what extent that thought can be called "philosophy." There are in history highly respectable works that one would never call philosophical but which we would nevertheless describe as "wisdom literature" or "thoughts."
       Heidegger, Brague tells us, would place "thought" on a higher plane than philosophy. Brague is particularly sensitive to the broader cultural context in which philosophy is developed. He finds that the opinions generally admitted within a given community provide the basis on which philosophy is built. Those opinions are historically conditioned, and they come in the final analysis, he maintains, from the legislator of the community. All medieval works were affected by this phenomenon.
       Within Christianity, revelation is the all-important communal bond. "Muslim and Jewish revelations, which are presented as laws, do not pose the same problems as Christian revelation." Reconciling religion and philosophy is an epistemological problem in Christianity and may even be a psychological one, but in Islam and Judaism reconciling religion and revelation is primarily a political problem. Unlike Islam and Judaism, Christianity includes the Magisterium of the Church, whose teaching is granted authority in the intellectual domain.

    Celebrity Egos

    The religions of celebrities are the ultimate expression of an ancient spiritual impulse, the worshipper's desire to eliminate the middleman, the clergy, and achieve direct contact with the divine.  Famous people are egomaniacs, gods in their own right, and they do not want to be kept waiting … they want God to be accessible, a name in their Blackberry.
       – 'God's Speed Dial,' The Wilson Quarterly, Spring 2009, a review of 'Celebrity Spirituality,' by Daniel Harris, in Salmagundi, Fall-Winter 2008-9.

       The institutionalization of philosophy, Brague points out, took place under the tutelage of the Church and remains exclusively European. There was indeed something like higher education in all three Mediterranean worlds, but the teaching of philosophy at the university level existed neither in the Muslim world nor in Jewish communities. Jewish philosophy and Muslim philosophy were private enterprises.
       It is usual to compare the great philosophers of each tradition, for example, Averroes, Maimonides, and Thomas Aquinas, but the difference is that Thomas was one of many engaged in the same corporate activity, standing out, it is true, among countless obscure figures. Within Islam there is no corpus of canonical texts that lend themselves to disputatio. To illustrate the difference, Brague remarks, "You can be a perfectly competent rabbi or imam without ever having studied philosophy. In contrast, a philosophical background is a necessary part of the basic equipment of the Christian theologian." Leo Strauss, acknowledging the status of philosophy in Christianity, on the one hand, and in Islam and Judaism, on the other, regards the institutionalization of philosophy as a double-edged sword. The official acknowledgment of philosophy in the Christian world made philosophy subject to ecclesiastical supervision, whereas the precarious position of philosophy in the Islamic-Jewish world guaranteed its private character and therewith its inner freedom from supervision. Brague contests Strauss on this point as would any Catholic scholar who has pursued a philosophical vocation.
       Brague offers a chapter on the importance of the study of nature. From the point of view of Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406), "The problems of physics are of no interest to us in our religious affairs or in our livelihoods. Therefore we must leave them alone." Physics, he held, must not bother us because it cannot be applied to the two domains that are truly important to us: this life and the life to come.
       Averroes, by contrast, will say that the study of nature is obligatory because a knowledge of nature leads to a knowledge of its Author. The real goal is to know God, the Creator, through His creation. Thomas in the Summa contra Gentiles devotes two chapters to the pertinence of the study of nature for theology and suggests that scientific knowledge of nature has the added effect of freeing one from the superstitions of astrology. Brague adds, "Thomas's intention (among others) is not far from that of Epicurus, who sought to calm human anguish, one of the most dangerous types [? of] which is anguish before celestial phenomena."
       A succeeding chapter addresses the difference between Christianity and Islam from the Muslim point of view. Ibn Khaldun is again taken as an authoritative source. In Ibn Khaldun's view, as presented by Brague, within the Muslim community the holy war is a religious duty because of the universalism of the Muslim mission and the obligation to convert all non-Muslims to Islam either by

    The Myth of the Golden Age of Spanish Islam {1}

    THE myth of Islamic racial innocence was a Western creation and served a Western purpose. Not for the first time, a mythologized and idealized Islam provided a stick with which to chastise Western failings. In the eighteenth century, the philosophers of the Enlightenment had praised Islam for its lack of dogmas and mysteries, its freedom from priests and Inquisitors and other persecutors – recognizing real qualities but exaggerating them as a polemical weapon against the Christian Churches and clergy.
       – Bernard Lewis, Race and Slavery in the Middle East, Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York, 1990, p. 101.
    persuasion or by force. In consequence the caliphate and royal authority are rightly united in Islam so that the person in charge can devote his available strength to both objectives at the same time. "The other religious groups," Ibn Khaldun finds, "do not have a universal mission and the holy war is not a religious duty to them, save only for purposes of defense. It has thus come about that the person in charge of religious affairs in other religious groups is not concerned with power politics. Royal authority comes to those who have it by accident, and in some way that has nothing to do with religion and not because they are under obligation to gain power over other nations." Holy war exists only within Islam and furthermore, Ibn Khaldun insists, it is imposed by Sharia.
       Its theological warrant aside, Brague asks, how is jihad viewed from the vantage point of Islam's greatest philosophers? He puts the question to three Aristotelians, al Farabi (c. 870-950), Avicenna (980-1037), and Averroes (1126-1198), all of whom profess belief in Islam. All three permit the waging of holy war against those who refuse Islam: al Farabi and Averroes against the Christians, Avicenna against the pagans he encounters in Persia. Al Farabi, who lived and wrote in the lands where the enemy was the Byzantine empire, draws up a list of seven justifications for war, including the right to conduct war in order to acquire something that the state desires to have but is in the possession of others, the right of combat against people for whom it its better for them that they serve but who refuse the yoke of slavery, and the right to wage holy war to force people to accept what is better for them if they do not recognize it spontaneously.
       Averroes, writing in the farthest Western part of the Islamic empire, approves without reservation the slaughter of dissidents, calling for the total elimination of a people whose continued existence might harm the state. Avicenna condones conquest and readily grants the leader of his ideal society the right to annihilate those who, called to truth, reject it. In general the philosophers express no remorse about widespread bloodletting, and Brague offers some additional examples. Al Farabi has nothing to say about the murder of "bestial" men. Avicenna suggests that the religious skeptic should be tortured until he admits the difference between the true and the not true and is penitent. And Averroes advocated the elimination of the mentally handicapped.
       Although the book has some appendices and 43 pages of supporting notes, the last chapter of The Legend of the Middle Ages is entitled, "Was Averroes a "Good Guy?"  One might say, in spite of the fact that he condoned the extermination of the handicapped, favored the execution of heretics, and sanctioned what today is called ethnic cleansing.  Moral issues aside, Thomas Aquinas accused him of being more the corrupter of Aristotelian philosophy than its interpreter.
       – PROFESSOR JUDE DOUGHERTY is Dean Emeritus of the Philosophy Faculty, Catholic University of America, Editor, The Review of Metaphysics, and General Editor, Series Studies in Philosophy and the History of Philosophy, Washington. D.C.
    ANNALS AUSTRALASIA   14   JULY 2009
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#difference_does_matter
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#celebrity_egos
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#the_myth_of
       [RECAPITULATION: In Ibn Khaldun's view, as presented by Brague, within the Muslim community the holy war is a religious duty because of the universalism of the Muslim mission and the obligation to convert all non-Muslims to Islam either by persuasion or by force. … All three permit the waging of holy war against those who refuse Islam: al Farabi and Averroes against the Christians, Avicenna against the pagans he encounters in Persia. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: Unfortunately, the obligation to convert by persuasion or by force was a teaching or practice of nearly all Christian groups after their formation.  Gradually, many gave such a dogma up, at least officially.  For example, the Roman Catholic Church gave it up at the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.  Islam's threats to non-Muslims are so frequent in the Koran, Hadith, and other writings that it is a matter for amazement that the "politically correct" bellwethers keep acting as if this was not true, and as case after case comes to light of immigrants planning to blow up the indigenous people in the West, the "PC" people keep on blaming the natives for not being inclusive enough! COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):     2:191 (or 2:187):- And kill them wherever you find them,
       9:123 (or 9:124):- O you who believe!  fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness; … DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  Sunan Abu-Dawud's, Book 41, Number 5186:- Narrated AbuHurayrah: Suhayl ibn AbuSalih said: I went out with my father to Syria.  The people passed by the cloisters in which there were Christians and began to salute them.  My father said: Do not give them salutation first, for AbuHurayrah reported the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_ upon_him) as saying: Do not salute them (Jews and Christians) first, and when you meet them on the road, force them to go to the narrowest part of it. TRADITION ENDS.]
       [SPELLINGS: The book, published in the USA, uses "defense" instead of "defence," "skeptic" for "sceptic," and "favored" for "favoured".  This website keeps the original spellings in the interests of accuracy, but does not condone them! ENDS.]
       [SUBSCRIBE: In Australia Aus$33 (pensioner $26), overseas enquire annalsaustralasia § gmail com ; PO Box 13, Kensington, NSW, 2033, Australia.  Tel 02 9662 7894, or 02 9662 7188 ext.  252.  Fax 02 9662 1910.  ENDS.] [pp 13-14, July 2009]
    • Saudi princess robbed.     

      Saudi princess robbed  

       The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , p 26, Monday, August 10, 2009
       ITALY – Burglars made off with jewels and cash worth €11 million ($18.8 million) from the hotel room of a Saudi princess in Sardinia, Italian newspapers reported yesterday.
       The thieves apparently used a master key and quickly removed the safe, which was fixed with silicon to the wall into which it was embedded.
       [COMMENT: The Saudi royals are all the descendants of the city chieftain who, after the Turkish sultanate had been defeated in the Great War of 1914-18, conquered other city chiefs and declared himself a king.  The oil wealth of Saudi Arabia is all seized by the royal family, in spite of the fact that by rights it ought to belong to all the citizens.
       One could ask why would a traveller take jewels worth a king's ransom on an overseas holiday.  Surely not to show off to infidels!  One could also ask why weren't they left for safekeeping with the hotel lobby staff. COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  24:31: And speak to the believing women … that they do not display their ornaments, except those which are external, and that they throw their veils over their bosoms, … And let them not strike their feet together, so as to discover their hidden ornaments. … DOCTRINE ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#saudi_princess_robbed
    [Aug 10, 09]
    • Iran's Revolutionary Guards weave powerful web.   

    Iran’s Revolutionary Guards weave powerful web

       The Epoch Times (Australia), info § etimes com au, by Alistair Lyon, Reuters, p 22, July 31 - August 13, 2009
    I ran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its Basij militia have spearheaded efforts to combat unrest after the disputed Iranian presidential election on June 12.
       Here are some questions and answers about the IRGC, which has expanded in the last 30 years into a potent force with sprawling military, political, social and economic interests.
    What is the IRGC?
       The IRGC was set up after the 1979 Islamic revolution to protect the ruling system against internal and external threats and to uphold revolutionary values. It answers to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Islamic Republic's top authority.
       It controls the Basij religious volunteer militia, famed for "human wave" attacks in the 1980-88 war with Iraq. The Basij are Iran's moral police, enforcing Islamic social codes and quelling civil unrest. They are said to number millions.
       Qods (Jerusalem) Force is a shadowy IRGC special operations unit, handling activities abroad. The United States, which says the Qods Force backs militants in Iraq, Lebanon and Afghanistan, has imposed sanctions on firms and individuals linked to what it brands a terrorist organisation.
      [Picture] Established in 1979, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps answers to the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' influence appears to have grown since hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to power in 2005.  
    What are the IRGC's military capabilities?
       The IRGC, initially focused on internal security, … now has about 125,000 fighters with army, navy and air units. …
       An Iranian military commander has said "martyrdom-seeking" Basijis could disrupt Gulf oil shipping routes if the need arose.
       The IRGC controls Iran's strategic missile forces …
       … President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, … a former IRGC officer, came to power in 2005.  Two-thirds of his 21-man cabinet were IRGC veterans. Others have been appointed as ambassadors, mayors, provincial governors and senior bureaucrats.
       Some analysts suggest the IRGC's political power already eclipses that of Ahmadinejad. Given Khamenei's reliance on the Guards to quell dissent, the supreme leader himself may now be hostage to the force he commands, some analysts argue.
       Others say the IRGC leadership is factionalised and lacks the cohesion to exercise power independently. Some ex-IRGC officers, such as Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and defeated presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaie, are critics of Ahmadinejad.
       The IRGC also conducts popular military training, operates a domestic media apparatus and runs education programmes to inculcate loyalty to the revolution.
    What about business interests?
       After the war with Iraq, the IRGC became heavily involved in reconstruction and has expanded its work to cover areas such as import-export, oil and gas, defence, transport and construction.
       The Corps has become a major contractor, with ties to firms controlling billions of dollars in business, construction, finance and commerce, the US Treasury says.
       A RAND Corporation report this year said Khatam al-Anbia, an engineering firm affiliated to the IRGC, has … more than 750 contracts.  It said the Guards are also reported to control … black-market goods smuggled into Iran … #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#iran_s_revolutionary_guards
    [July 31 - August 13, 2009]
    • Expansion of Islamic Saudi Academy in Virginia Approved, Outraging Opponents.     

    Expansion of Islamic Saudi Academy in Virginia Approved, Outraging Opponents

       FoxNews.com , http://www. foxnews.com/ story/0,2933, 536624,00.html? test=latestnews , Tuesday, August 04, 2009
       A controversial Saudi-funded academy that teaches strict adherence to traditional Islamic law has been given the green light to expand its Virginia campus – a decision by local officials that infuriates opponents who say the school's teachings are anti-American.
       The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted 6-4 Monday to grant a zoning exemption to the Islamic Saudi Academy. The officials said the outcome was based strictly on zoning issues, not on what goes on in the school's classrooms.
       That left some in the community outraged.
       "How could they … say they are such fine students? They are fine students but they are learning the wrong thing," academy critic Ruth Mizell said after the vote, according to MyFOXDC.com.
       Jim Lafferty, another opponent, vowed political retaliation against the supervisors who supported the expansion.
       "We need to resist these people, make it clear they may have bought six votes in there but they are not buying my vote," said Lafferty, according to MyFOXDC. "We will support – even if it's Pee-Wee Herman – we will support whoever is running against them."
       Scores of people spoke at hearings in the spring and summer on the academy's plans. Some neighbors opposed the expansion because of traffic worries; others voiced ideological concerns about the school's curriculum.
       The academy was founded in 1984 and has some 1,000 students in pre-kindergarten through grade 12. It is the only Saudi-funded school in the United States.
       About 80 percent of its students are U.S. citizens from the area's Muslim communities. Most students attend classes at a second campus in the Alexandria section of Fairfax.
       The plans granted approval on Monday permit construction of a building that would eventually accommodate 500 students.
       "The community will get an awful lot of development," said supervisor Penelope A. Gross. "I think (it) will improve the community."
       The school has undergone a series of high-profile examinations of its religious curriculum, which has been revised repeatedly to remove passages that extolled militant jihad and martyrdom. In 2007, at least one textbook still said that the killing of adulterers and apostates was "justified."
       But students, parents and teachers say the school does not teach intolerance.
       "Throughout my whole time in ISA, I've never been taught to hate anyone," said Heba Rashed, 16, a junior at the school.
       The school's curriculum was revised at the start of the 2008-09 school year after the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom condemned its textbooks.
       Critics of the academy say most of the offensive material has been taken out. But they say the textbooks clearly remain guided by Wahhabism, the fundamentalist school of Sunni Islam that is dominant in Saudi Arabia.
       "The stuff about killing, it's not there anymore," said Ali Al-Ahmed, the head of the Institute for Gulf Affairs and a critic of the Saudi government, who got copies of the latest textbooks.
       Al-Ahmed said references to jihad had been removed from the curriculum. He found that strange, because the idea – which in the Koran is described as "striving in the path of God," and is not necessarily violent – was essential to Islam.
       In the past, textbooks referred to the militant form of jihad. Al-Ahmed said he would have felt better if moderate references to jihad had been kept.
       Attorney Lynne Strobel, who represented the academy, said she was pleased with the vote and said the school has undertaken efforts to reduce some of the potential traffic.
       The Associated Press contributed to this report. #
       [RECAPITULATION: … In 2007, at least one textbook still said that the killing of adulterers and apostates was "justified." …
       The school's curriculum was revised at the start of the 2008-09 school year after the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom condemned its textbooks. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: Killing is what the Koran and the Hadith say. COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#expansion_of_islamic
    [Aug 04, 09]
    • Somali extremists on a 'fatwa order' from God.     

    Somali extremists on a ‘fatwa order’ from God

       The Australian, letters § theaustralian com au , http://www. theaustralian. news.com.au/ story/0,,2588 4512-2702,00. html , by Cameron Stewart and Milanda Rout, Pages 1 and 4, Wednesday, August 05, 2009
       MELBOURNE – POLICE feared that a group of Melbourne Islamic extremists might have recently obtained a fatwa, or religious blessing, to carry out a terrorist attack in Australia, raising the possibility that it could be carried out within weeks.
       The Australian understands police were concerned that a Somali Australian who returned from the war-torn country only three weeks ago might have secretly obtained a fatwa from a sheik in Somalia, although police were unable to confirm this through their surveillance.
       Faced with the possibility that a suicide attack on an Australian Army base might be imminent, more than 400 federal and state police swooped on the terror suspects early yesterday, arresting four men and executing search warrants on 19 houses.
       Nayef El Sayed, 24, was charged with conspiring with Saney Edow Aweys, Wissam Mahmoud Fattal, Yacqub Khayre and Abdirahman Ahmed to prepare for a terrorist attack on the Holsworthy army base in Sydney's southwest.
       As of last night, the remaining four men had not been charged.
       As revealed exclusively in The Australian yesterday, police believe the Melbourne group planned to launch a suicide assault on an Australian Army base using automatic weapons.
       It is alleged they planned to kill as many people as possible before they were themselves killed in what would have been the worst act of terrorism in Australia.
       Kevin Rudd said the arrests of the men were a grim reminder that terrorism remained a real threat to Australians.
       "There is an enduring threat from terrorism at home here in Australia as well as overseas," the Prime Minister said. "I want to reassure all Australians that our law enforcement agencies and our intelligence agencies are working hard to combat terrorism."
      [4 Pictures] Suspects: Police escort from AFP headquarters in Melbourne four men arrested in the northern suburbs during pre-dawn raids yesterday    Pictures: Aaron Francis and Chris Scott  
       Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull said news of the plot showed that the fight against terrorism was "far from won".
       Commonwealth prosecutor Nick Robinson told Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday the accused were preparing a suicide attack on the Holsworthy army base.
       "To become self-proclaimed martyrs?" magistrate Peter Reardon asked.
       "Yes," Mr Robinson replied.
       The prosecutor said they had a "voluminous" amount of evidence about the conspiracy, including telephone intercept records and surveillance footage.
       The intercepts picked up conversations between some of the men about going to Somalia "to be engaged in the conflict" but they had problems getting into that country.
       These discussions then turned to "violent action to take place in Australia".
       Mr Sayed appeared only briefly in court for the filing hearing, handcuffed and flanked between two police officers. He refused to stand up for the judge, with his lawyer Anthony Brand saying, "He believes that he shouldn't stand for any man except God".
       Mr Robinson said text messages uncovered by investigators included one sent from Mr Fattal on March 24 that read: "Can you give me the address of the Australian A and the name of the train station."
       He told the court another text message was sent from a Preston pay phone on March 27 giving directions to the Holsworthy army base.
       Mr Robinson said CCTV footage revealed Mr Fattal had "attended" the Holsworthy base on March 28, before he sent another message saying: "I strolled around … it is easy to enter."
       The court was told during the hearing for Mr Khayre that investigators believe he had travelled to Somalia to take part in a military training camp.
       "He left Australia on the 13th of April and returned on the 14th of July," AFP officer Brendan Castles told the court.
       Mr Ahmed was also involved in seeking religious authorisation for the terrorist attack on Australian soil, the court heard.
       "We believe that Ahmed was seeking a fatwa and that fatwa would have assisted the group in committing the act," AFP officer Niranjan Jirasinha said.
       Mr Robinson said there were several men seeking the fatwa from sheiks and clerics "out of the state and (in) countries overseas".
       The Australian understands the suspects believed a fatwa would lend credibility to their cause and ensure they became martyrs.
       Two members of the group are believed to have travelled to Somalia to train with the militant extremist group Al-Shabaab, which the US believes has links with al-Qa'ida. But when other members of the group could not travel to Somalia, they turned their attention to carrying out an act of terror in Australia. #
       [MORE IN SAME NEWSPAPER: (Pp. 1 & 4) Out of Africa, into the dock, by Milanda Rout and Chip Le Grand.  (P. 4) No need to panic, Rudd tells public, by Mark Dodd.  (P. 4) 'Calls for violence are too strong' for some young expats, by Drew Warne-Smith and Stuart Rintoul.  (P. 4) PM shifts into terror mode, by Rowan Callick, Asia-Pacific editor.  (P. 4) Editor-in-chief denies police put at risk.  (P. 4) Agencies' careful planning pays off, by Patrick Walters, national security editor.
       (P. 5) Replace civilian sentries, urges Lib, by Mark Dodd.  (P. 5) Magistrate approves additional time for police interrogation, by Milanda Rout.  (P. 5) The raids: Suspects arrested in early hours, by Lauren Wilson. 
       (P. 6) Young man was prime target for militant recruiters: Long path to war in Africa, by Sally Neighbour.  (P. 6) Police always watch for threats, by Angus Hohenboken.  (P. 6) Prosecutors will need to prove group is terrorist, by Gary Hughes. 
       (P. 13) The new face of terror: The alleged Melbourne plotters were seduced by Somalia-based al-Shabaab's jihadist call to arms. (The story of Shirwa Ahmed, "refugee" taken in by the United States, on October 31, 2008, who drove an explosives-packed car into a government compound in northern Somalia to a cowardly suicide-murder.  He was 26.)
       (P. 14) Don't count on luck to avert jihadi terror: The alleged Melbourne plot illustrates Islamists' determination to wage war against liberal democracies by recruiting malcontents from within the Muslim diaspora, explains Mervyn Bendle. 
       (P 15) Letter: Willing to kill for Islam but not to live under Islam. Letters. (see below.)  (P 15) Whatever you do, don't mention the M- or the I-words: Something of an understatement from ABC News online reporting the arrests of alleged Islamist terrorists yesterday: Cut and Paste. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: Genuine refugees don't go back to their homeland and commit cowardly suicidal acts.  And genuine people don't bite the hand that feeds them.  But, who can tell the genuine from the jihadists?  They all read from the same book. COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#somali_extremists_on
    [Aug 5, 09]
    • Willing to kill for Islam but not to live under Islam.         

    Willing to kill for Islam but not to live under Islam

     
       The Australian, letters § theaustralian com au , Letters to The Editor, p 15, Wednesday, August 5, 2009
       THERE is a very simple cure to stop young Australian Muslims signing up to join jihadi groups. If the Australian government made it dear that individuals who did so would lose their Australian citizenship, just watch how quickly the would-be terrorists would change their minds. They may be willing to kill for Islam, but they are not willing to go back to live in an Islamic country … permanently. The Prime Minister and his colleagues should stop wasting time over stupid e-mails about car dealers and concentrate on the important issues.

    [Treachery of letting these people in]


       YESTERDAY'S police raids on the Melbourne homes of suspected Islamic terrorists allegedly linked to planned suicide attacks on Australian army bases once again confirms the folly, stupidity and treachery of successive Labor and Coalition governments in letting these people into Australia in the first place.

    [Mass media labelling suspects; Muslims peaceful]


       THE terror suspects arrested in yesterday's raids were of Muslim background but the majority of the Australian Muslim community are peaceful people.
       The terror suspects were of Somali and Lebanese background, but the majority in those communities are also peaceful, so why mention it? What part of Lebanese, Muslim or Somali, or any other identity for that matter, spells out "terror suspect"?
       Why is there this constant need in the Australian media to refer to religious or ethnic identity, or both, as the signifier that supersedes the violent and criminal nature of the criminal element? This ultimately will direct and drive people's anger, distrust and hatred towards a particular race, religion and identity. What purpose do we serve when we turn members of this harmonious and cohesive multicultural community against one another? The last thing we need is a repeat of the infamous events in Cronulla.
    Milad Bardan
    (Executive committee member of the Australian Arabic Council and founding member of the Victorian Lebanese Community Council) Coburg, Vic

    [Praise for decision to find leaker]


       VICTORIA Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland, in criticism of The Australian's coverage of yesterday's early morning counter-terrorism raids in Melbourne, is reported to have stated that "We will be vigorously pursuing the leak from my end and I expect that the federal authorities will be doing the same." I shudder to think what that investigation will reveal, but I commend the commissioner for his commitment to probity.
    John Blahusiak, Maylands, WA
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#willing_to_kill
    [Aug 05, 09]
    • [US jihad. Christian-free society! Fatwa sought by Australian jihadists. Sudan puts U.N. woman on trial for wearing slacks.] 

    [US jihad. Christian-free society! Fatwa sought by Australian jihadists. Sudan puts U.N. woman on trial for wearing slacks.]

       Jihad Watch Daily Digest, director § jihadwatch org , August 05, 2009
         North Carolina jihadist: "If I don't leave this country soon, I am going to make jihad right here in America." Aug 05, 2009 12:41 am. Accused North Carolina jihadist Daniel "Saifullah" Boyd loved jihad, he said, and he believed that jihad meant murder: "They also found a fatwa, or religious edict, in Boyd's house saying Muslims have 'an individual duty to kill Americans and their … ( http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 027128.php ).
         We want a Christian-free society! Aug 05, 2009 12:08 am. The police participated in this torture and persecution -- after all, the police in Bangladesh are Muslims also, who believe in Islam's death penalty for apostasy and prohibition of proselytizing by members of other faiths. Islamic Tolerance Alert: "Bangladesh: Police…
           Did Aussie jihadists get an Islamic blessing for jihad attacks in Australia? Aug 04, 2009 11:51 pm. We'll see. "Somali extremists on a 'fatwa order' from God," by Cameron Stewart and Milanda Rout for The Australian, August 5 (thanks to Sr. Soph): POLICE feared that a group of Melbourne Islamic extremists might have recently obtained a fatwa,…
         Sudanese police fire tear gas at protestors supporting woman on trial for wearing pants. Aug 04, 2009 07:26 pm. An update on this story. "Protests at Sudan woman's trouser trial," by Abdelmoneim Abu Edries Ali for WA Today, August 5: Sudanese riot police used tear gas against hundreds of people demonstrating outside a Khartoum courtroom on Tuesday in protest…
         "Muhammad knows nothing about football": Muslims enraged by verse in German soccer club song. Aug 04, 2009 05:29 pm. You mean .. Muhammad did know about soccer? "The song with the title 'White and Blue, How I Love You' has been around for decades but only recently came to the attention of Turkish media which said it insults the Prophet." And…
           North Carolina jihadist: "I love jihad. I love to stand there and fight for the sake of Allah." Aug 04, 2009 03:57 pm. Where did Boyd get these ideas? Does anyone know? Does anyone care? North Carolina Jihad Update: "Accused American 'Violent Jihad' Ringleader Allegedly Told FBI He Went to Terror Camps," from FoxNews, August 4 (thanks to all who sent this in):…
         Accused Atlanta jihadist says plot was "empty talk." Aug 04, 2009 02:04 pm. "Fantasies" about jihad. That's all it was, he says. "Suspected Atlanta terrorist said he never planned violence," by Megan Matteucci for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 4 (thanks to James): A suspected Atlanta terrorist told a jury Tuesday he talked about…
         "They just told us that they (army) are against Islam, are against the Quran. They said wage jihad against them; we are waging jihad for the Quran." Aug 04, 2009 01:44 pm. Once again the jihadists make their appeal on the basis of Islamic purity -- while Islamic advocacy groups in America insist that anyone who points that out is a "bigot," although they never get around to explaining exactly how they…
         "In principle, Jihad is an offensive Jihad, which was instated in order to spread Islam throughout the world". Aug 04, 2009 11:27 am. An American branch of this group met recently in Chicago. No one seemed to mind. Note also that when non-Muslims point out that according to mainstream Islamic teaching, "in principle, Jihad is an offensive Jihad, which was instated [sic] in order…
         Fitzgerald: The Perils Of Being Ill-Prepared, For Both Cambridge And Cairo. Aug 04, 2009 11:02 am. In his comment on the little affair on Ware Street, before knowing (as he admitted at the time) any of the all-important details, Barack Obama proceeded to inject himself, and to declare with great self-assurance that the Cambridge police had… I don't think he has bothered to read Ibn Warraq, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Ali Sina, or to watch the Youtube appearances of Wafa Sultan. I think he thinks that having a vague view of Islam …
           Spencer: Who Is Really Being Dishonest About Islam? Aug 04, 2009 10:12 am. In FrontPage this morning I discuss Eboo Patel's Washington Post blog in which he charges that the New York Times, of all people, is being dishonest about Islam -- and while making the charge, Patel himself (surprise!) is…dishonest about Islam…. ( http://www. jihadwatch. org/archives/ 027118.php ).
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#us_jihad_christian
    [Aug 05, 09]
    • Are they real refugees?      - Repatriate dangerous ones. Restrict entry. 1951 UN Convention outdated.    

    Are they real refugees?

     
       The West Australian, letters § wanews com au , Various Letters to The Editor, p 22, Thursday, August 06, 2009

    Are they real refugees?


       If some of the suspects caught up in the round of terror raids in Melbourne (Dawn raids put terrorism back in national spotlight, 5/8) have indeed, as alleged, been travelling back to Somalia to attend training camps, we need to know if they were allowed into Australia as refugees and if so, why.
       We are led to believe that a refugee is one who has a "well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion and nationality". Why, then, would a person, after being granted refugee status on this assumption, feel they could safely travel back to such a country for whatever reason?
       We have previously read reports where some "refugees" have travelled back to their homelands to visit relatives or for holidays. Now it is alleged that some are travelling back for extremely sinister and dangerous purposes.
       The Australian people need to know just how people claiming to be refugees are being assessed and what sort of scrutiny is being given to the validity of their claims.

    Heed this cry


       African Think Tank chairman Berhan Ahmed said young Somali immigrants were susceptible to a world of robbery and drugs when they saw their parents struggle in a new land (More help sought for refugees, 5/8).
       Australia already gives vast amounts of aid to African countries and it is sheer madness to also bring in these people from tribal warring cultures when they obviously find it such a struggle to fit in with our way of life (Young Somalis 'ripe for terror', 5/8).
       Remember their cry "Africa for the Africans"? We should heed this and help repatriate them back to their homeland.
       The Australian Government also needs to rescind its commitment to the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees, which was signed to address the problems being experienced in some European countries in the aftermath of World War II.
       Fifty-eight years later, the world is a very different place and the Australian Government should recognise this. The welfare of Australia and its people must be its first priority.

    More vigilance


       Commendations to the law-enforcement agencies that thwarted this alleged attempted terrorist attack in Australia (Terror cell planned army base massacre, 5/8).
       I consider it a cruel perversity that those who were given the sanctuary of refuge in Australia could countenance, much less initiate, alleged acts of terrorism against the unsuspecting and innocent people of Australia.
       In regard to Australia's official refugee program, I urge the Department of Immigration to be much more vigilant in screening those who wish to come to these shores and explain in depth to them all that they need to know so that they fully understand what it is that they are coming to.

    Wake-up call


       I have but one question for the person or persons responsible for leaking information to the media in relation to the alleged proposed terrorist attack on military installations in Australia.
       Had the police operation been compromised would they have owned up to their actions or hidden behind the veil of secrecy that legitimises their journalistic licence?
       After 9/11 we all knew the world had changed for ever; subsequently, I fail to comprehend why there are people in this world who still think terrorism and security is a game.
       There is absolutely no doubt that if you mess with terrorists you will die and it's way past time the "not my concern" sector of the population took the wake-up call.

    Restrict entry


       Now that our police and security services have foiled an alleged terrorist attack here in Australia, isn't it about time our Government revised its immigration and refugee policy to restrict the entry into Australia of Muslims from the Middle East and Africa?
       There is definitely something wrong with our selection process. There must be tighter controls and checks on those we allow here and anyone found guilty of terrorism should get a very long prison sentence and then deported afterwards – no ifs, no buts, just get them out.

    Tough line


       John Howard said: "We will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances under which they come."
       Now we have Kevin Rudd telling us that the threat of terrorism is alive and well in Australia.
       Since the Labor Government softened our border-protection policies, the flood of arrivals is almost daily.
       Who screens these so-called asylum seekers? How do they become Australian citizens? Obviously it's not working too well if these alleged threatened attacks in Australia are continuing.
       If found guilty of terrorism, this latest batch should be dealt with the same way as the Bali bombers.
       Who knows, it might even deter the dealers of hate and death to think twice about what they do on Australian soil.
       [RECAPITULATION: … We should heed this and help repatriate them back to their homeland. … the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees, … Fifty-eight years later, the world is a very different place … ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  2:191 (or 2:187):- And kill them wherever you find them …
       8:65 (or 8:66):- O Prophet! urge the believers to war … <www.submission.org/suras/sura8.html#65>
       9:5:- So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captive and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, …
       33:26-27:- And those of the People of the Book who aided them - Allah did take them down from their strongholds and cast terror into their hearts.  (So that) some ye slew, and some ye made prisoners.  And He gave you their land, and their dwellings, and their wealth, for an heritage – even a land on which ye had never set foot:  for the might of Allah is equal to all things. DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  Sahih Bukhari's, Volume 5, Book 59, Number 600:- … I said to Ibn 'Umar, "I want to migrate to Sham."  He said, "There is no migration, but Jihad (for Allah's Cause).  Go and offer yourself for Jihad, and if you find an opportunity for Jihad (stay there) otherwise, come back."  (In another narration) Ibn 'Umar said, "There is no migration today or after Allah's Apostle."  (and completed his statement as above.) TRADITION ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: The woolly-headed clergy of various "Christian" Churches ought to take off their rose-tinted spectacles and read the above writings.  If not convinced, buy tickets to Arabia, Egypt, or Sudan, and try to start a gospel mission there! COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#are_they_real
    [Aug 06, 09]
    • [Safe haven but planning to blow up Oz base; Missile strike seeks Pak. hardline leader; Large Turkish conspiracy to overthrow secular rights.] 

    [Safe haven but planning to blow up Oz base; Missile strike seeks Pak. hardline leader; Large Turkish conspiracy to overthrow secular rights.]

            The Weekend Australian, letters § theaustralian com au , Various pages, Saturday-Sunday, August 8-9, 2009
       Pages One and 2.

    Call for licence to spy on citizens.

        AUSTRALIA: The Defence Signals Directorate should be given new powers to spy on Australians at home or overseas to deal with evolving security threats including terrorism and cyper [i.e., Internet] warfare.
       Prof. Ross Babbage, a national security expert who advises the Rudd Labor Government, says there is a much more fluid and dynamic outlook for Australia.
       [COMMENT: Relocation of risky people is another suggestion some small groups make. COMMENT ENDS.]
       Page 2.

    Hubs for teaching hatred after hours.

            MELBOURNE (Vic), Australia: Three mosques in Melbourne teach Somali immigrants anti-West messages of hate, after hours.
       They are Huntingdale, Fawkner, and the "8 Black" prayer centre in North Melbourne.
       The keys are handed over after hours to small groups of radicals.
       For five years some people have been alarmed at what is going on there.  There are 16,000 in the community.
      [Pictures] Wissam Mahmoud Fattal, Abdirahman Mohamud Ahmed, Saney Edow Aweys, Nayef El Sayed, and Yacqub Kharye (ages 22 to 33).  
       Page 2.

    'My son loves it here, he's innocent'.

            AUSTRALIA: Mohmaud Ahmed, father of one of the men accuse of planning an attack on Holsworth army base in NSW and organising men to join in Somalia fighting, says the charges are "nonsense."
       He said his son, an engineering student, 25, married, with two children, loved his adopted home.
       Prayers at Preston were offered by a visiting imam from Lebanon.
       Page 11.

    Pakistan's Taliban leader 'killed'.

          PAKISTAN: BAITULLAH Mehsud, the feared Taliban commander who has allegedly waged a bloody terror campaign within Pakistan, is believed to have died in a CIA missile strike on his South Waziristan stronghold outside Wana this week, US and Pakistani officials said yesterday.
       Page 11.

    Militants 'waiting out the coalition.'

        Turkish coup suspects in court.          ISTANBUL: MEMBERS of a nationalist compaign to overthrow the Turkish government planned to attack the NATO headquarters in Turkey, and assassinate 12 prominent figures, including the Prime Minister, a court heard yesterday.
       Fifty-two additional suspects, including two four-star generals, a former senior policeman, and leaders of business, politics, academia and the news media are among the defendants, believed to be in a group called Ergenekon.
       The former chief of the general staff had known of the planning for four years.  The group is accused of murdering a senior judge and dressing it up to look like an Islamist crime.
       Page 11.

    Obama narrows war on terror.

        WASHINGTON: PRESIDENT Barack Obama is replacing the "global war on terror" with a new US strategy more narrowly focused on al-Qaida and relying more on a broader effort to engage the Muslim world.
       [COMMENT: This is no more likely to work than all the other approaches to the grab in Palestine and the other problems that non-Muslim elites have helped cause. COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#safe_haven_but
    [Aug 8-9, 2009]
    • German firm hit for Iran cargo.  [DHL Express US to pay US $9.4m for allegedly helping 3 terror states]          

    German firm hit for Iran cargo

       The Weekend Australian, letters § theaustralian com au , AFP, p 11, August 8-9, 2009
       WASHINGTON: US authorities have imposed a $US9.4 million ($11.2m) penalty on German express delivery company DHL, over shipments to Iran, Syria and Sudan in alleged violation of sanctions.
       The penalty was part of a settlement with DHL Express USA "concerning shipments to Iran, Sudan and Syria and failures to meet record-keeping requirements", a US Treasury Department Statement said.
       It said DHL had "agreed to remit $US9,444,744 to settle alleged violations" of the sanctions and other regulations against the nations. AFP. #
       [COMMENT: "Big Business" is still breaking trade sanctions etc., just as it did in the 1930s after Japan invaded China etc., Italy invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia), and Nazi Germany started taking their neighbours' land.  Much money could be saved in politicians' travel by deciding on the Mickey Mouse sanctions by post.  The sanctions-breakers charge a kind of "danger money," thus making more profits.  Similar disloyal exports and imports went on with Soviet Russia, Red China, and the other Communist powers during the Cold War, 1940s to 1980s.  Notice that even the authorities could not force the case to a decisive trial, because Big Business can keep court appeals going for decades.  So this firm, presumably one of many, can say it was not convicted of a crime, so writers have to use words like "allegedly".  There are books on these subjects. COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#german_firm_hit
    [August 8-9, 2009]
    • The real impediment to Muslim assimilation is the imams.      - Exporting terror in robes to the West.      

    The real impediment to Muslim assimilation is the imams

     
    MOST TALKED ABOUT
    ISLAMIC TEACHINGS
       The Weekend Australian, letters § theaustralian com au , Letters to The Editor, p 16, August 8-9, 2009

    [Australian officials ought to stop imams coming here from Egypt and Arabia.]


       IT was a joy to read the article by Abdullah Saeed in which he begged his Muslim brothers and sisters to assimilate into Australian life ("Muslims must tackle theology of hate", Opinion, 7/8).  This is an excellent development.  The real impediment to Muslim assimilation into Australian life is the imams.  These Saudi-paid agents of Islamic supremacist ideology are the men who are standing between the great mass of Muslim Australians and their desire to blend into the wider community.  The solution to our security problems and the desire of the majority of Muslims for a normal life is to ban all these fake "religious" leaden from Australia.  Let the local mosques find their leaders from among their own congregants.
       If Australian public officials cared in the slightest for the welfare of the Australian Muslim majority, they would take action to stop imams coming here from Egypt and Saudi Arabia.  It is these people who find and groom the recruits to Islamic terrorism who are captured by our highly commendable police.  One day the police will be a little too slow and a bomb will go off.   The accomplices in such an event will be the public officials who didn't bother to protect Australian Muslims from the imams.

    [Saudis enforce men over women, Muslims over non-Muslims – and fund terrorists.]


       ABDULLAH Saeed ought to be commended for his article in which he empowers main-stream Muslims to foster a better image of Islam.  However, it's questionable whether much of what he writes reflects the reality.
       He writes that essentially "Australian values and Islamic teachings on the question of freedom are not so vastly different.  Both are based on ideas such as human dignity, justice, equity and egalitarianism."
       Theoretically, this sounds good, yet the application of Islamic teaching on freedom in Islamic countries, today and throughout history, is radically different.
       Saudi Arabia, a country that claims to represent Islam, enforces physically, and justifies theologically, the superiority of Muslims over non-Muslims and men over women.  They've got the support of classical Islamic teachings.  In addition, they fund Islamic terrorists worldwide.  Other Islamic countries have adopted similar practices too.
       Is Saeed suggesting that these countries aren't Islamic and they've just got everything horribly wrong?  Is Sharia law not Islamic?  If so, when will things change?

    [Mohammedans must act to eliminate terrorism they imported.]


       ABDULLAH Saeed insists that the moderate Muslim majority needs to go beyond condemning terrorist attacks.  Talk is cheap.  The Muslim community imported terrorism into Australia and they must act to eliminate it.  I will not live in fear in my own country.

    [Muslims who value Islam's reputation ought to expose and disown terror teachings.]


       SUSPENDING disbelief for a moment and fervently wishing it were true, Abdullah Saeed's article hits the nail on the head.  If Saeed is right, those preaching a theology of hate are heretics and must be exposed and disowned and anathematised by those faithful to orthodox Islam as enunciated by Saeed.
       Further, parents, preachers and teachers must warn the impressionable young against the siren song of the heretics.  The time has passed when those Muslims claiming to he peaceful can sit back and say that the radicalisation of the young is our problem, not theirs.
       Those killing in the name of a perverted Islam are, primarily, the responsibility of all those Muslims who value the reputation of that faith.  Always have been and always will be.

    [Bad clerics ought to face questioning and courts.]


       THE terrorism suspects now before the courts in Melbourne are only the sacrificial pawns in the murder game.  Enough has already emerged to show that the alleged plot is yet another example of the brainwashing of the ignorant or the social misfits carried out in the backrooms of mosques and prayer halls by hate-preaching rogue Islamic clerics.  These local clerics should also face interrogation and court if the evidence of their complicity can be established.
       Look at the malignant interference of Iran's theocracy in what would be regarded as wholly secular issues in any society that is not Islamic.  Australians have had a bellyful of the local imitation.  The clerics could unite the Islamic community against terrorism and stop it tomorrow if they were truly men of God.

    [Hateful, tribalistic and totalitarian – conflict is with Islamic radicals.]


       MILAD Bardan (letters, 5/8) has missed the point.  Let's not mince words here: we are not in conflict wilh "terrorism", in some vague, non denominational sense of the word.  We are in conflict with Islamic radicals: the small but ever-present group of Muslims who use terrorism to further their aims.
       Their world view (unlike that of the wider Muslim community) is hateful, tribalistic and inherently totalitarian.
       Ninety-nine per cent of the Muslim community in Australia are not terrorists – but 99 per cent of the terrorists in Australia are Muslims.  Equating the acceptance of this fact with the risk of a repeat of the Cronulla riots of 2005 is both disingenuous and incorrect.
       Racism solves nothing – but the stubborn refusal to accept what is clear solves nothing either. #
       [KORAN (about overcoming other peoples) (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  17:16:- When We decide to destroy a population, We (first) send a definite order to those among them who are given the good things of this life and yet transgress; so that the word is proved true against them: then (it is) We destroy them utterly.  [[Also visit 8:37 .]]
       47:4:- Therefore, when ye meet the Unbelievers, smite at their necks; at length, when ye have thoroughly subdued them, bind firmly: therefore either generosity or ransom …
       47:35 (or 47:37):- Be not fainthearted then; and invite not the infidels to peace when ye have the upper hand …
       48:16:- …Ye shall do battle with them, or they shall profess Islam. …
       48:18-19:- … Allah … the believers … He … rewarded them with a speedy victory, And with the rich booty which they took … < www.usc.edu/ dept/MSA/ quran/048. qmt.html #048.018 > DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH (denigrating WOMEN):  1, 6:301: […] The women asked, "O Allah's Apostle! What is deficient in our intelligence and religion?" He said, "Is not the evidence of two women equal to the witness of one man?" They replied in the affirmative. He said, "This is the deficiency in her intelligence. Isn't it true that a woman can neither pray nor fast during her menses?" The women replied in the affirmative. He said, "This is the deficiency in her religion." < www.usc.edu/dept/ MSA/fundamentals/ hadithsunnah/ bukhari/006.sbt. html#001.006.301 > TRADITION ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#the_real_impediment
    [Aug 8-9, 2009]
    • Ideological passion sells us short  [Five fundamentalists, and Keysar Trad]   

    Ideological passion sells us short

       The Sydney Morning Herald, http://www. smh.com.au/ opinion/ ideological- passion-sells- us-short- 20090809- ee65.html? page=-1 , by Paul Sheehan, Aug 9 / 10, 2009
       AUSTRALIA – It takes more than an hour for 75,000 people to pass by, even when they are in a hurry. Yesterday, as the record field in this year's City2Surf ran, scampered or shuffled along New South Head Road, they made an uplifting and democratic sight on a beautiful winter morning and in a beautiful setting.
       Diversity, frivolity, community. This is who we are - one country, one law, one common language, one community, where the great majority of people are not political, not ideological, and not concerned with dictating their beliefs to others.
       This is the social glue that makes Australia work.
       A surfeit of ideological passion brings problems and pain, and the reason Australia is not riven with social schisms is that the demographic ballast is provided by the apolitical tolerance of the great majority. The subcultures that do have a surfeit of desire to dictate to others are small in number. The most problematic of these subcultures are devout adherents of sharia. As believers in the primacy of sharia and the divine truth of the Koran, they are deeply compromised by living in a society built on civil law and secular customs. Our legal system is an imposition on them.
       The events in Sydney and Melbourne in the past week, with the arrest of five Muslim fundamentalists whose contempt for Australia is manifest, is a reminder that the argument propagated in our universities, human rights bureaucracies and sections of the media that Muslims are a put-upon minority in Australia, sells this country short. There are problems. The problems are self-evident. But they are not, in the main, the product of prejudice.
       All five of those arrested on terrorism charges were treated with great generosity by Australia as they set up new lives here. But their behaviour in court has been an exemplar of the problem of reconciling sharia with civil law. One of the accused, Wissam Fattal, refused to stand as the magistrate read out the charges and followed this with a torrent of abuse as he was led out of the court. Another of those charged, Nayef El Sayed, informed the court he would stand for no man, only for his God.
       In other words, they accept only sharia, the rest is a charade.
       Even the family and supporters of the accused went out of their way to express contempt for the legal system and, by extension, the society it represents. Reporters were called "faggots" and "dickheads" amid a general attitude of animus recorded by the journalists covering the proceedings.
       I have observed the same thing first-hand numerous times during criminal trials involving Muslim defendants, families and supporters.
       In every case, the idea that Muslims are in trouble because they have been "marginalised" by society is reality turned on its head. They are the ones who have marginalised a society they are happy to exploit but not respect.
       The most-quoted apologist for the argument that Muslims in Australia are oppressed by prejudice is Keysar Trad, a self-appointed spokesman and ubiquitous quote machine who has been a media darling for years. Trad describes himself as the head of the Islamic Friendship Society - but friendship is not what he is about and his society is invisible.
       His main claim to fame has been as the long-time spokesman, and chief rationaliser, for the prominent and Muslim cleric, Sheikh Taj el-Din al-Hilaly, whose corrosive pronouncements are infamous. Al-Hilaly and Trad are mainstream figures in Australian Muslim society. They are not fringe dwellers.
       I have always believed Trad to be a vexatious litigant, a lobbyist, a person who, even if he has good intentions, has been someone who divides, not unifies, while professing the opposite.
       For 10 years I have marvelled at the free run Trad has had in the media and academia. It finally came to a crashing end recently when he collided with one of the finest judges of Australia, Peter McClellan of the NSW Supreme Court.
       Trad is a veteran complainant across the entire spectrum of the human rights machinery - the courts, the Human Rights Commission, the Anti-Discrimination Board, the Australian Press Council, the broadcasting tribunals. One of his numerous forays as a complainant was a defamation action against radio station 2GB, and the presenter Jason Morrison, after Morrison described him as "gutless" and "trouble" on air in 2005.
       Justice McClellan threw out Trad's action. Not only did the judge describe Morrison's description of Trad as true, he summarised Trad as a man who "incites acts of violence, incites racist attitudes, is dangerous and, perhaps most significantly, is a disgraceful individual".
       This is a thunderous and overdue dose of reality from a judge with an exemplary record of recognising the deformities within the legal system and doing something to reform them. His judicial excoriation of Trad is not even the most damning element of Trad v Harbour Radio.
       The cost of this litigation has been about $400,000 as Trad spent almost four years using the legal system to wage ideological trench warfare. Now he faces the prospect of having to foot the entire bill.
       It is the time, cost and hypocrisy of this complaint that is critical.
       Justice McClellan's judgment should be required reading for every media executive and every lawyer and functionary at the Human Rights Commission, the Anti-Discrimination Board, and the various media tribunals. His judgment exposes the fatal weakness in the ever-burgeoning human rights industry.
       It is the complaint, not the outcome, that is most important to the complainant. The sheer bloody-minded willingness to engage in legal hand-to-hand combat, the threat of formal complaints, and the effort and distraction of responding to complaints, is the entire point. The process itself is the outcome. The object is to chill debate and critical scrutiny. #
       [RECAPITULATION: Even the family and supporters of the accused went out of their way to express contempt for the legal system and, by extension, the society it represents. Reporters were called "faggots" and "dickheads" amid a general attitude of animus recorded by the journalists covering the proceedings. […] Muslims … in trouble … have marginalised a society they are happy to exploit but not respect. […] Trad … "incites acts of violence, incites racist attitudes, is dangerous and, perhaps most significantly, is a disgraceful individual". ENDS.]
       [ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Nick Maine, "ISLAMIC TERRORISM - PAUL SHEEHAN TELLS IT LIKE IT IS," by e-mail. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/submit/subchron8.htm#ideological_passion_sells
    [Aug 9, 09]
    • The American Library Association On The Side Of Terror.   

    The American Library Association On The Side Of Terror

       Op-Ed in The Bulletin, 1500 Walnut Street, Suite 300, Philadelphia, PA, 19102 (Directions) | 1-215-735-9150; Published by Thomas G. Rice, The Locally Owned, Independent Philadelphia Newspaper, ( http:// thebulletin. us/articles/ 2009/08/10/ commentary/ op-eds/doc4a 8064eb7c39 0183816661.txt ), August 10, 2009
       [Steve] Emerson continues to publish investigations on the dangers we face that should have been front-page news across the country, but were censored out by such publications as the New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and other mainstream outlets which seem to be among the best friends of terrorists and other enemies of America. They are eager to publicize any slight misstep of our armed forces, but are reluctant to warn us of the threat coming from radical Islam and terrorists. Like our president, they seem to hate America. Here are some of the details of Emerson’s latest investigations:
       The American Library Association On The Side Of Terror
       One of the most disturbing developments involves professional associations, colleges, universities and other important institutions that seem to be more sympathetic to the enemies of America than to America.
       The latest incident involves the American Library Association, the largest and leading library association in the U.S. The ALA had planned a panel discussion entitled “Perspectives on Islam: Beyond the Stereotyping” at its annual convention. One of the invited speakers was Robert Spencer, author of eight books on Islam and jihad, and along with Emerson, one of the giants in contributing to the understanding of terrorism and radical Islam (or what some call Islamofascism). All of the books of Spencer and Emerson should be must reading for Americans.
       But when the Council on Islamic Relations (CAIR) spearheaded an attempt to silence Spencer, because it doesn’t like his ideas critical of CAIR, terrorism and Islamofascism, the ALA quickly buckled. CAIR had pressured all the other panelists to withdraw, and Spencer was the only one left standing. But instead of replacing the other panelists or letting Spencer speak by himself, the ALA simply cancelled the panel.
       Emerson notes the multiple ironies in this scenario. The ALA holds an annual banned books week to celebrate “the freedom to express one’s opinions even if their opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular.” Nonetheless, ALA cancelled the panel rather than replacing the vacated slot or letting Spencer go on alone. There’s another delicious irony: The CAIR official who complained about Spencer said he offers “grotesque viewpoints that lie well outside the bounds of reason and civilized debate.” But that CAIR official is the one who offers such grotesque viewpoints. He is someone who can’t bring himself to condemn two leading terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah; he minimizes the Holocaust; and he claims the Jews control the media, a classic anti-Semitic ploy.
       Emerson notes this is only “the latest in a series of successful efforts to silence viewpoints considered offensive to, or critical of, radical Islam.”
       The ALA is in the pathetic and disgraceful position of being unwilling to listen to Spencer, one of the leading authorities on radical Islam, and yields to the views of CAIR, which Emerson describes as follows: “In its frenzy to placate CAIR, the ALA does not seem to have taken any notice of the fact that CAIR is an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case, whose operatives have repeatedly refused to denounce Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist groups. Several of its former officials have been convicted of various crimes related to jihad terror. Several of its other officials have made Islamic supremacist statements. CAIR was also involved in the ‘Flying Imams’ intimidation suit against the passengers who reported their suspicious behavior.”
       So here the ALA, which should stand for freedom of speech, has become a symbol of censorship and obedience to America-hating terrorists. Emerson writes, “And so they have set yet another precedent in which a group with numerous ties to terrorists and Islamist organizations determines what Americans will learn about Islam, jihad, and the terror threat. What’s the point of having principles if they are so easily tossed aside in the name of political correctness.” The ALA is obviously unprincipled, and that’s why librarians should drop their ALA membership … .
       American survival is at stake. And whether America survives depends on whether we listen to people like Emerson and Spencer or to the biased dishonest and fraudulent mainstream media.  Posted by Robert at 3:15 PM #
       [COMMENT (in the Jihad Watch reproduction): A useful summary piece on CAIR's war on free speech at the American Library Association. "The Invisible War And Our Enemies: The Untold Story Of Terrorists And Radical Islamists In Our Own Backyard," by Herb Denenberg for the Philadelphia Bulletin, August 10 (thanks to James). COMMENT ENDS.]
       [ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Jihad Watch, http://www.jihadwatch.org/ , director § jihadwatch org , "The Invisible War And Our Enemies". ENDS.]
       [MORE READING: SPENCER, Robert; ? 2009, STEALTH JIHAD: How Radical Islam is Subverting America without Guns or Bombs, http://www. multiline. com.au/ ~johnm/submit/ reading.htm# stealth_jihad_ how . ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#the_american_library
    [Aug 10, 09]
    • [Filipinos under attack; Cartoons removed from US cartoon study text; Parents to kill Christian daughter; Coptic girls rape-married; Somalis behead orphanage workers; Paris doesn't label car-burning "youths".] 

    [Filipinos under attack; Cartoons removed from US cartoon study text; Parents to kill Christian daughter; Coptic girls rape-married; Somalis behead orphanage workers; Paris doesn't label car-burning "youths".]

       Jihad Watch Digest, director § jihadwatch org , August 13, 2009
         Philippines: 23 soldiers killed in battle with Abu Sayyaf jihadists. Aug 13, 2009 04:03 am | Philippines Jihad Update. "43 Philippine soldiers, militants killed in clash," from Agence France-Presse, August 12: ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AFP) – At least 23 government soldiers and more than 20 Muslim extremists were killed in a day-long clash in the southern Philippines,… http:// jihadwatch. us1.list-manage. com/track/ click?u= 12857896 c3097382 b25b80 a09&id= ae2d22 d0df&e= 0f34f38913
         Dhimmitude at Yale University Press: Muhammad cartoons self-censored from book about Muhammad cartoons. Aug 12, 2009 10:15 pm | How to strike fear into the heart of Yale University Press. The absurdity of cringing dhimmitude and Fear of Offending Muslims reaches its apotheosis. "Yale Press Bans Images of Muhammad in New Book," by Patricia Cohen for the New…
           Minnesota Muslim pleads guilty to joining jihad terrorists in Somalia. Aug 12, 2009 06:44 pm | "Kamal Hassan of Minnesota" trained with a jihad group and lied to the FBI. "Third man pleads guilty in Somali terror case," from USA Today, August 12: A third man has pleaded guilty to terrorism-related charges for fighting with Islamist…
       • "If you have this Jesus in your heart, you're dead to me. You're not my daughter…I will kill you." Aug 12, 2009 06:35 pm | Transcript of the Rifqa Bary video: Well, I'm a Christian, and my parents are Muslim. They're extremely devout. And they can't know about my faith – well, they do now. But they've threatened to kill me. I don't know… http:// jihadwatch. us1.list-manage. com/track/ click?u= 12857896 c3097382 b25b80 a09&id= cb4f9c6d74& e=0f34f38913
         Now she is remembered. Aug 12, 2009 06:07 pm | Finding that Aqsa Parvez, the victim of an honor killing in Canada, was buried in an unmarked grave, Pamela Geller wanted to give her a fitting memorial -- both for Aqsa's sake and as a stand against the dehumanization… http:// jihadwatch.us1. list-manage. com/track/ click?u= 12857896 c3097382 b25b80a09& id=3896e0 d230&e=0 f34f38913
         But is 'Islam' at war with us? Aug 12, 2009 04:04 pm | In "But is 'Islam' at war with us?," Frank J. Gaffney Jr. in The Washington Times (August 12) asks some pointed questions about what the United States is doing, if anything, to protect free citizens from the encroachment of Sharia…. http:// jihadwatch.us1. list-manage. com/track/ click?u= 12857896 c3097382 b25b80 a09&id= ca682e62 a8&e=0 f34f38913
         Abduction and Forced Islamization of Christian Coptic Girls Continues in Egypt. Aug 12, 2009 03:55 pm | "There is pressure being practiced to convert Coptic girls to embrace Islam and marry them under terror to Muslim husbands." Yet another Islamic Tolerance Alert: "Abduction and Forced Islamization of Christian Coptic Girls Continues in Egypt," by Mary Abdelmassih for… http:// jihadwatch.us1. list-manage. com/track/ click?u= 12857896 c3097382 b25b80 a09&id= bd290a5b4f& e=0f34f38913
         Atlanta jihadist guilty, faces 60 years doing prison dawah. [= making converts.] Aug 12, 2009 01:22 pm | Guilty of "conspiring to help terrorists wage a violent jihad." Ehsanul Sadequee Update: "Guilty verdicts in terror trial," by Megan Matteucci for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 12: UPDATE: Ehsanul Islam Sadequee has been found guilty of all four counts… http:// jihadwatch.us1. list-manage. com/track/ click?u= 12857896 c3097382 b25b80 a09&id= cc7d316907& e=0f34f38913
         Taliban supporters told to cut out the smokes and, oh, stop cutting off people's noses, lips and ears. Aug 12, 2009 01:06 pm | Jihad etiquette. "Taliban Chief Writes 'Handbook' to Win Hearts and Minds of Afghans," by Jessica Weinstein for FoxNews, August 11 (thanks to all who sent this in): WARDAK PROVINCE, Afghanistan -- As elections draw near in Afghanistan, it appears the… http:// jihadwatch.us1. list-manage. com/track/ click?u= 12857896 c3097382 b25b80a09& id=4823f6fc00& e=0f34f38913
             Conservatives propping up jihadist ally Grover Norquist. Aug 12, 2009 09:38 am | "It seems beyond dispute that Grover Norquist has formed alliances with prominent Islamic radicals who have ties to the Saudis and to Libya and to Palestine Islamic Jihad, and who are now under indictment by U.S. authorities. Equally troubling is… http:// jihadwatch.us1. list-manage. com/track/ click?u= 12857896 c3097382 b25b80 a09&id= 8f0c561f1c& e=0f34f38913
         Great moments in Associated Press headlines: "Restive youths burn cars in new suburban unrest." Aug 12, 2009 09:21 am | Count the euphemisms! George Carlin himself -- who traced the progress of simple terms to long-winded, polysyllabic, politically correct substitutes -- would be impressed by that headline, from this story. "Restive," of course, is an old favorite here at Jihad…
         Two Iranian women arrested for converting to Christianity. Aug 12, 2009 08:07 am | They strike fear in the hearts of the mullahs In Florida, Rifqa Bary is in fear for her life because she converted to Christianity, and she is afraid that her Muslim family will kill her, in accord with the…
         Muslims behead four ex-Muslim Christian orphanage workers in Somalia. Aug 12, 2009 07:23 am | "All the four apostates were given an opportunity to return to Islam to be released but they all declined the generous offer." Yet in the wake of the Rifqa Bary case, Islamic apologists are actually claiming that Islam doesn't teach…
         "Moderate" Fatah elects Jew-hating murderer to senior position in Palestinian Parliament. Aug 12, 2009 06:58 am | But they sincerely want peace! "Mideast: Jailed West Bank leader elected in Fatah shakeup," from AKI, August 11 (thanks to C. Cantoni): Bethlehem, 11 August (AKI) - Marwan Barghouti jailed for life in Israel on charges of organising the killing … http:// jihadwatch.us1. list-manage. com/track/ click?u= 12857896 c3097382 b25b80 a09&id=5b f63eee7b& e=0f34f38913 . #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#filipinos_under_attack
    [Aug 13, 09]
    • Uighurs, if freed, would not be liberated.           

    Uighurs, if freed, would not be liberated

     
       Letter SENT to The Editor, The West Australian, letters § wanews com au , Wednesday, August 12, 2009
       Let me applaud the courage of Uighur spokesperson Ms Rebiya Kadeer (Exile wants human rights tied to trade with Beijing, 12/8).
       But, be honest, under Islamic law, which the Uighurs want to enforce in defiance of the Chinese occupiers, Ms Kadeer would be pushed aside, even when praying in the mosque, to a side room, and would not be touring the world on speaking tours.
       The other Muslim and ex-Muslim women who write books and give talks tell us of husbands bashing and killing women in their dishonourable way, and some even mention that other religions are suppressed.  (China, too, suppresses women in its own way, and persecutes Tibetan Buddhists, Christians, and the Falun Gong faith.)
       Open-minded Uighurs have a terrible dilemma -- conform with the Maoist dictatorship from the occupying Chinese, or support a theocratic Saudi-backed dictatorship from the imams.
       Our Uighur visitor ought to read about such topics in the recently-published book Islam: Human Rights and Public Policy, edited by David Claydon.
       (P.S.: Thanks for publishing the Hafeez Shaikh letter saying that Allah has made Islam easy and has not laid any hardships in religion on people.  Tell that to the Sky Kingdom faith in Malaysia, or to the Christians in Pakistan! Or Iraq, or Egypt, or Syria.)
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#uighurs_if_freed
    [Aug 12, 09]
    • Terrorism comes to Sydney: Cover story.       
       News Weekly, www.newsweekly. com.au , (issued fortnightly, Melbourne, Vic., Australia), nw § newsweekly com au, by John Miller, pp 5-6, August 22, 2009
    www.newsweekly.com.au                         NEWS WEEKLY, AUGUST 22, 2009 -- PAGE 5
    COVER STORY

    Terrorism comes to Sydney


    by John Miller
       On August 4 this year, probably the most dramatic of Australian counter-terrorist operations took place in the Melbourne suburbs and in the western Victorian country town of Colac. It was a multi-force operation, involving the Australian Federal Police, the Victorian Police and ASIO.
       It made the late editions of morning papers and, of course, television news. The precise number of people wanted in connection with this action, code-named Operation Neath, is still not clear; but at present about five people have been charged under counter-terrorist laws. Enquiries, as the police say, are continuing.
       There are many twists and turns in the saga of Operation Neath. It appears that The Australian had been sitting on the story for some months, reportedly since January.
    Australia is as much an important target for fundamentalist Islamic terrorists as are the US, the UK and Western Europe.
       There is still speculation about whether the newspaper, by rusning into print before all the planned raids were carried out, might have spooked the suspects and perhaps enabled some of them to escape the net.
       Australia has had its fair share of suspected terrorist operations and emergencies since 9/11 and the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombing. Certain cases have become causes célèbres within the legal fraternity, probably none more so than the abandoned case of Dr Haneef Mohammed. Other cases, in no particular order, were those of David Hicks, Willy Brigitte, Izhar ul-Haque, the Abdul Nacer ben-Brika group trial and subsequent appeal, and an ongoing case in Sydney courts, about which there is little publicity.
       Operation Neath stands out for a number of reasons including, primarily, the fact that it started with a tip-off, which is most fortunate if unexpected these days. Secondly, the case was kept quietly under wraps until the authorities were ready to move. The veil of secrecy apparently held, and this is a great advance in intelligence. This is all the more to be applauded because lives are at stake.
       As someone who has suffered opprobrium from politicians including a couple of prime ministers, it warmed my heart to observe the very impressive performance of Prime Ministcr Kevin Rudd in his media conference and the gravitas of his words, congratulating the agencies concerned.
       From what can be ascertained from available sources, this operation went almost according to textbook (except for the war of words between the Australian Federal Police and The Australian newspaper). No-one was injured and apparently all known suspects are believed to have been rounded up – although, as I noted above, enquiries are ongoing.
       "Unique" is an overused word in Australia, but this case had several pointers which will no doubt prompt a certain amount of rethinking in government circles. With any luck, it might convince some of the usual left-wing and anti-American commentators, who are all too keen to blame the authorities for fundamentalist Islamic terror operations, that there is a serious problem in this country.
       I am in full agreement with Dr Mervyn Bendle, a senior lecturer at Queensland's James Cook University, who has spelt out in considerable detail how the global jihad movement has recently shifted the emphasis of its strategy from waging a "defensive jihad" against Western troops in Afghanistan or Iraq, to an "offensive jihad" targeting "the US, Britain and other liberal democracies, including Australia" ("Luck may not avert jihadi terror", The Australian, August 5, 2009).
       There has never been any doubt in my mind that Australia is as much an important target for fundamentalist Islamic terrorists as are the US, the UK and Western Europe. People tend to forget that the ever-smiling Abu Bakar Bashir, spiritual head of the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah, has on two occasions publicly declared war on Australia in the presence of journalists. Yet he remains free to walk the streets to proselytise and attract militants.
       From all accounts, the planned terrorist attack on Australian soil, brought to light by Operation Neath, was a plot hatched in Melbourne among Australian citizens of Somali and Lebanese background, some of whom had received military training in Somalia.
       Within the last six months, a similar phenomenon was observed in America. On June I this year, a US-born citizen Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad was arrested and charged with shooting two US soldiers at a military base in Little Rock, Arkansas (see report in News Weekly, July 11, 2009).
       US authorities were very quick to depict the suspected terrorist as home-grown. However, just as that person was only domiciled in America, the same could be said for the group recruited for what appeared to be an attack on the Holsworthy army base in south-west Sydney, among other targets. The composition of the group was interesting, because, unlike professionals involved in previous terrorist plots overseas, this was very much a proletarian and foreign group, made up of labourers and taxi-drivers.
       Furthermore, the organisational links with al-Shabaab in Somalia are of considerable interest to our allies, not only because of the precedent in the US but because lawlessness is endemic in Somalia and the group in question is an affiliate of al-Qaeda and has spearheaded attacks against the Somali government.
       In some respects, when we read of the possible elimination of Noorodin Top, the alleged mastermind of the recent Jakarta hotel bombing, and that of a Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, by an unmanned combat aerial vehicle, the Predator drone (although forensic examination is yet to confirm the latter), there is some room for optimism in the fight against jihadist terror. However, as I have consistently maintained, eliminating the leadership disperses a terrorist organisation, making if more difficult to identify, monitor and counter.
       I will leave it to certain specialists to discuss the finer details of the thwarted terror strike against Australia. However, I will observe that the principal advantage of running a dispersed low-level terrorist organisation is the facilitation of recruitment from among those who feel disenfranchised, alienated or have other problems with Western society.
       On August 3, 2009, ABC television's Four Corners re-ran Dan Reed's documentary "Terror in Mumbai", about the Mumbai massacre of November/December 2008, a program first broadcast on the UK's Channel 4 on June 30.
       The documentary was noteworthy for graphic film footage not previously shown on TV. It was bloody and gory, and much was obviously filmed from mobile phone cameras.
       As both Dr Bendle and The Australian reporter Cameron Stewart have warned, Australia can expect more of the same – that is, savage, violent jihadist attacks, which have much in common with the Mumbai massacre and the attack on the Pakistani Police Academy in Lahore earlier this year.
       It is simple enough to plan and execute. A group of well-armed people with basic military training gain entry to target facilities and kill as many people as they can before being killed themselves and, unlike in Mumbai, leaving no one alive to reveal operational details.
       The major lesson for Australia is that we need to take a serious look at multiculturalism and migration. No one can say that all Muslims are terrorists; but in all Muslim communities there are purveyors of hatred of the West and Jews. Some masquerade as spiritual leaders; others as teachers and mentors.
       One could not help but feel sorry for a distressed elderly leader of the Australian Somali community in Melbourne who, when interviewed on television after the August 4 counter-terrorist raids, said that Australia had given his people refuge and that the terrorist plot was no way to repay that generosity. He looked genuinely grief-stricken that young people in his community could have been seduced by jihadists.
       In the wake of the Vietnam War, I read Peter Van Greenaway's 1974 novel, Take the War to Washington. It concerned a fictional group of malcontents who felt that America deserved to experience war in its heartland. Here in Australia, Operation Neath has shown that some terrorists are prepared to take the war to one of our major cities. No-one should underestimate the importance of the target selected. Holsworthy Army base is home to soldiers who serve in the Middle East and Afghanistan, and yet is only guarded by civilians.
       I am in good company in calling for our armed forces to defend their own premises and, in so doing, their own troops.
    John Miller is a former senior intelligence officer.    NW  

    The plots are only the beginning
      [Picture] Dr Walid Phares  
       As in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and other Western democracies, law enforcement and counter-terrorism agencies have been efficient in monitoring the threat, swift in responding and lucky in uprooting networks planning terror….
       Australia was lucky to have aborted the strike. But more ominous is the bigger picture.
       Australia … is on the al-Qaida international list of Kuffar (infidel) countries to be hit; and Canberra must realise that is part of the jihadi campaign against democracies; even though its current government is dismantling the so-called "war on terror", linguistically.
       Jihadi ideology and strategies cannot be changed or affected by the wishful thinking of their victims.
       Australia's new school of thinking on the confrontation, emulating US and UK "new" doctrines, argues that by not pinpointing the ideology of the threat, it will just go away, or at least it would be sidelined. …
       [But] a lexicon banning clear words only contributes to the defeat of democracies.
       Worse, by banning the use of extremely important terms, these medieval-like lexicons terminate the ability of analysts, let alone the public, to detect the "threat".
       The West in general, and Australia in particular, will unfortunately continue to experience the catastrophic effects of blurring their own vision, as most seasoned experts in jihadism believe the plots we have already uncovered are only the beginning.
    – extract from Walid Phares, "Australia: Down Under Jihad?", www.walidphares.org , August 8, 2009.
    NEWS WEEKLY, AUGUST 22, 2009 -- PAGE 6                         www.newsweekly.com.au
       [RECAPITULATION: People tend to forget that the ever-smiling Abu Bakar Bashir, spiritual head of the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah, has on two occasions publicly declared war on Australia in the presence of journalists. Yet he remains free to walk the streets to proselytise and attract militants. … The major lesson for Australia is that we need to take a serious look at multiculturalism and migration. No one can say that all Muslims are terrorists; but in all Muslim communities there are purveyors of hatred of the West and Jews. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: The Indonesian leaders, by permitting this, are quietly following their dogmas. COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#terrorism_comes_to
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#the_plots_are
    [Aug 22, 09]
    • Uninvited Guests.  - Judaists seize Arab's house.    

    Uninvited Guests

       The Weekend Australian Magazine ( magazine § theaustralian com au ), by John Lyons, Front cover, and pp 10-14, Saturday and Sunday, August 22-23, 2009
       When Palestinian Nasser Jaber left his home for a few days, his next-door neighbours - armed Jewish settlers - broke in, changed the locks and sat tight. Four months later they're still in there, claiming God, and the law, is on their side. As John Lyons reports, it's a story that goes to the heart of the question: can Israel ever expect peace?
    It's four o'clock on a Sunday afternoon in April, and Nasser Jaber is standing in an Israeli courthouse.  His task, on the face of it, is straightforward:  to prove to the judge that the the house he was born in 38 years ago – the house his grandparents moved into in the 1930s – is his.  But there are more recent claimants to the house in Jerusalem's Old city, and they believe they answer to a higher authority than title deeds or tenure.
       Jaber had moved in with his parents while his house was being renovated, but made the mistake of leaving the property unattended.  At 2.30am on April 2, four days after he'd left, Jaber's next-door neighbours decided to take advantage of the Palestinian travel agent's absence.  They were armed Jewish settlers, hard-liners who rely on the Old Testament rather than documents of state to argue their right to live in certain sacred parts of Israel.  They forced open his front door, changed the locks, and are now refusing to leave.
      [Picture] Jaber outside his home in Jerusalem's Old City.  He says he's had strangers open the door of his office to ask, "What are you doing here?  This is a Jewish place."    Picture: SILVIA LE CLEZIO  
       [P. 12] When alerted to the break-in, Jaber contacted the Israeli police, expecting they would evict the settlers.  Instead, the police took them food and supplies, and later that day helped another settler to move in.  Jaber and some other neighbours had formed a blockade to try to deny the settlers access, but when police called Jaber over to talk to them, other officers helped the newcomer enter.  Much of this was captured on camera by Australian television journalist Sophie McNeill.  The police became angry when they realised McNeill had filmed them.  They took her media pass and warned: "Don't come back to the Old City."
       Jaber began his quest to have the settlers evicted with full confidence in the Israeli legal system: nine years ago other settlers had claimed the house was theirs and he was forced to go to court.  On that occasion the judge ruled that the documents the settlers were presenting were fakes, and they were ordered to leave immediately. 
       This time, the settlers' argument to the court is that they have in fact bought the property; Jaber says the documents they are using to claim this are similarly fabricated.  And indeed, when the settlers made their argument in court, Jaber's lawyer turned to them and asked why, if they already owned the house, were they continuing to make offers to buy it? The settlers' lawyer did not respond.
      [Map of Palestine and Israel, showing the 1949 armistice line or Green Line, the areas controlled by the two Palestinian forces and by Israel, the Security Barrier, etc.]  
       Jaber, for his part, has tendered his deeds to the property in evidence.  The judge told the settlers she had only two questions for them: What time had they entered the property? And how had they entered? "When we heard those two questions we thought everything would be OK," Jaber says. "Obviously if you have good documents you can enter in the light of day."
      [Picture] Israeli border police near Jaber's house after the settlers took it over; Jaber claims the police actually helped them move in.  
       But over recent months Jaber's faith has been eroded, a process that began straight after the judge's questions. The settlers' lawyer was granted a private meeting with the judge, despite protests from Jaber's counsel that he should also be present. After that meeting, Jaber says, the two key questions were never asked again. The judge ordered that the status quo should be maintained, with the settlers occupying the house, until the case could be heard in full.
       The settlers have a particular view on what constitutes the status quo: they have connected water and electricity from their original house next door, brought in their own furniture and set up computers. Jaber's furniture and kitchen utensils were thrown into the street. Neither the police, the settlers nor their lawyer would speak to The Weekend Australian Magazine about the case.
       Settlers in recent years have made a push to take possession of houses in the Old City, which they say is particularly significant as it is near Judaism's most sacred site, the Western Wall.
       Jaber believes that if he were Jewish and seven armed Palestinians had broken into his house, the case would have been dealt with within the hour. But almost four months after the break-in, after five preliminary hearings and a mounting legal bill, he cannot even get a date for his next court appearance. … after a scuffle broke out when Jaber tried to prevent new settlers moving in: he was charged with obstructing police workd and fined NIS 10,000 ($3120).  As a result he now has a criminal record which makes him ineligible for any government job.  [… And the article goes on for about two more pages.]
       [1st RECAPITULATION: … can Israel ever expect peace? ENDS.]
       [1st COMMENT: A fair question.  Criminality like that, connived at by the authorities, is not likely to build trust and peace. ENDS.]
       [2nd RECAP.: Much of this was captured on camera by Australian television journalist Sophie McNeill.  The police became angry when they realised McNeill had filmed them.  They took her media pass and warned: "Don't come back to the Old City."
       [2nd COMMENT: So, why do most leading Westerners act as if Israel is a democracy?  The corruption of the Israeli justice system itself was exposed years ago in a book published by an Israeli professional woman who moved to Perth, Western Australia.  Why does the U.S. taxpayer keep paying tens of millions to prop up Israel? ENDS.]
       [HEBREW SCRIPTURE: Read texts forbidding the removal of neighbour's landmarks at Deuteronomy 19:14, 27:17, Proverbs 22:28, 23:10, and Job 24:2.  And the Jewish settlers ought to read the Commandment: Thou shalt not steal. (Exodus 20:15, Leviticus 19:11, Deuteronomy 5:19) DOCTRINE ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#uninvited_guests
    [Aug 22-23, 2009]
    • [Finger cut off two voting women; English bank £200 charge to non-Muslims; Lockerbie bomber and energy; UN rights over-ridden by Jordan sharia.] 

    [Finger cut off two voting women; English bank £200 charge to non-Muslims; Lockerbie bomber and energy; UN rights over-ridden by Jordan sharia.]

       Jihad Watch Daily Digest, director § jihadwatch org , August 23, 2009
         Egyptian ex-Muslim: "Some of them believe whoever kills me is rewarded". Aug 23, 2009 04:03 am. And why would they think that? Because they would be following the orders of Muhammad himself: "If anyone changes his religion, kill him" (Bukhari 9.84.57).  Here is a brief account of the life of Peter El-Gohary since converting, and since … http:// jihadwatch. us1.list-manage. com/track/ click?u= 12857896 c3097382 b25b80 a09&id=c8 c194a13a&e=0 f34f38913 .
         Somewhere in England. Aug 22, 2009 09:29 pm. As I noted here, I am still in England and have been working all week with work on a documentary on the Islamization of Europe -- the one I mentioned here. It has been a most interesting week on a …
         London bank charges Sharia-compliant accounts £15 for overdrafts, non-Sharia accounts £200. Aug 22, 2009 08:45 pm. From our You-Can't-Make-This-Stuff-Up department: "An overdraft? That'll be £200 at Lloyds TSB (but only £15 if you're a Muslim)," by Arthur Martin for the Daily Mail, August 22 (thanks to Kenny): Many Lloyds TSB customers are being hit with charges …
         Rifqa Bary update. Aug 22, 2009 08:08 pm. I am still in England and have been very busy this week with work on the documentary on the Islamization of Europe that I mentioned here. And so I have missed all the excitement as the news broke yesterday that …
         Jordan's Board of Fatwas: "Anything that contradicts the Sharia" in UN anti-discrimination convention is prohibited. Aug 22, 2009 04:05 pm. The advancement of human rights in Islamic countries is perennially blocked by Sharia. It's promoters argue that, sure, it allows for human rights, but all the "rights" one is allowed -- supposedly by divine fiat -- are spelled out in …
         Questions about energy deals surround release of Lockerbie bomber. Aug 22, 2009 11:35 am. Another demonstration of the urgent need for energy independence -- as much as possible, as soon as possible. Imagine the moral compromises and foreign policy blunders that would not be up for discussion without the economic blackmail made possible by …
         Meet the new boss, same as the old boss: Pakistani Taliban chooses successor to Baitullah Mehsud. Aug 22, 2009 11:11 am. The Pakistani Taliban moves closer to resuming business as usual: threatening life and liberty. "Taliban appoints successor to militant chief Mehsud," from Agence France-Presse, August 22: AFP - The Pakistan Taliban have appointed a successor to their feared leader believed …
         Taliban cuts off index fingers of two women who voted. Aug 22, 2009 09:41 am. Women voters: Can't have that in Taliban country. "Monitors: Taliban cut off fingers of Afghan voters," from CNN, August 22: KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Making good on a threat of election day violence, the Taliban sliced off the index fingers …
         Saudi Arabia wants a nuclear plant. Aug 22, 2009 04:03 am. A few observations: First, whether or not Israel has the bomb is immaterial. After repeated drubbings by Israel in conflicts with conventional weapons, other nations in the region would naturally search for any advantage they can get. Nuclear capability of … http:// jihadwatch. us1.list-manage. com/track/ click?u= 12857896 c3097382 b25b80a09& id=3b113469 f9&e=0f34 f38913 . #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#finger_cut_off
    [Aug 23, 09]
    • 'Fear of violence is everywhere'     

    ‘Fear of violence is everywhere’

    Iraqi bishops express concern for people after blasts target Baghdad.
       The Record (R.C. Perth, W. Australia, weekly), cathrec § iinet net au , By Doreen Abi Raad, p 12, Wednesday, August 26, 2009
       BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNS) – Two Catholic bishops in Baghdad, Iraq, expressed shock and concern for their people following a series of targeted blasts that killed 95 people and wounded more than 500.
       "With these acts of violence, we are losing everything," Chaldean Auxiliary Bishop Shlemon Warduni told Catholic News Service by phone on August 20, the day after the attacks.
       "When there's no peace, we can't study, we can't pray, we can't work; we can't even walk," he said.
       The Christians of Baghdad, he said, are "very upset and very sad" and condemn the violence.
       "We are in a terrible situation, so we pray to almighty God to open the minds of everyone, to give them wisdom to do what is best for the rebuilding of Iraq, for its peace and security, for its progress and for the good of everyone living in Iraq," Bishop Warduni said.
       He appealed to "everyone, all over the world - big nations, small nations, big organisations, small organisations and the Iraqi people as well - to do what is best for Iraq, for the good of Iraq and its people, not their own interests."
      [Picture] A resident walks past a destroyed vehicle after a bomb attack outside the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Baghdad on August 19. Two Catholic bishops in Baghdad expressed shock and concern for their people following a series of targeted blasts that killed 95 people and wounded more than 500.    PHOTO: CNS / BASSIM SHATI, REUTERS  
       He also called for reconciliation among all the people of Iraq and for nations to look out for the welfare of all the people and "not the interest of (political) parties."
       "The peace depends on love; to love one another and to do the best for each other, not out of selfishness," Bishop Warduni said. "Please, we ask the world to pray for Iraq."
       Latin-rite Archbishop Jean Sleiman of Baghdad told CNS: "We are shocked by this violence. The fear of violence is everywhere."
       Archbishop Sleiman said that Our Lady of Fatima Church in Baghdad was badly damaged in the August 19 blasts. While he said he did not believe the church was specifically targeted, its roof was destroyed as a result of the nearby explosions. There were no casualties, he added.
       "Violence is hitting everyone," the archbishop said. One of the most important challenges, he added, is to encourage the Christians of Iraq. "We have to begin again," he said.
       The violence on August 19, the bloodiest day so far in 2009, consisted of more than six blasts near government ministries and other targets at the heart of Iraq's Shiite-led administration.
       In June, US combat troops withdrew from urban centres, placing Iraq's security forces in the lead role.
       Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said in a statement that the attacks were aimed at "raising doubts about our armed forces, which have proven themselves very capable of confronting terrorists. #
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  8:12:- … I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve.  Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.
       9:29:- Make war upon such of those to whom the Scriptures have been given … until they pay tribute out of hand, and they be humbled. < www.submission. org/suras/ sura9.html #29 >
       22:19 (or 22:20):- … But as for those who disbelieve, garments of fire will be cut out for them; boiling fluid will be poured down on their heads. DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  Sahih Bukhari's, Volume 5, Book 59, Number 641:- Narrated Jarir: In the Pre-lslamic Period of Ignorance there was a house called Dhu-l-Khalasa or Al-Ka'ba Al-Yamaniya or Al-Ka'ba Ash-Shamiya.  The Prophet said to me, "Won't you relieve me from Dhu-l-Khalasa?"  So I set out with one-hundred-and-fifty riders, and we dismantled it and killed whoever was present there.  Then I came to the Prophet and informed him, and he invoked good upon us and Al-Ahmas (tribe) . < www.usc.edu/ dept/MSA/ fundamentals/ hadithsunnah/ bukhari/059. sbt.html#005. 059.641 >. TRADITION ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#fear_of_violence
    [p 12, Aug 26 09]
    • [Muslims stop women going to church. Britain supplies special Muslim facilities. People stopped from singing hymns. Work of devil to give women rights.] 

    [Muslims stop women going to church. Britain supplies special Muslim facilities. People stopped from singing hymns. Work of devil to give women rights.]

       Jihad Watch Daily Digest, director § jihadwatch org , August 28, 2009
         Bangladesh: Catholic women can't attend Mass due to threats from Muslim villagers. Aug 28, 2009 04:03 am | Marisol.  Not surprisingly, authorities have done nothing. Islamic Tolerance Alert. "Bangladesh: Muslims threaten Catholic women of Dewtola village," by William Gomes for AsiaNews, August 27: Dhaka (AsiaNews) - Catholic women of the village of Dewtola can no longer go to mass … http:// jihadwatch. us1.list-manage. com/track/click? u=12857896 c3097382 b25b80 a09&id= 00812640cc& e=0f34f38913 .
         UK prison spends $27,000 on footbaths and toilets for Muslims. Aug 27, 2009 05:07 pm | Robert.  But why? What makes them think they're going to have any inmates who adhere to the Religion of Peace? Expect the Muslim Council of Britain to take this prison to task for its "Islamophobia" for anticipating that it will have …
           US funding new West Bank road signs written in Arabic and English -- no Hebrew. Aug 27, 2009 04:18 pm. I hope Israel will fund new road signs in Iowa written in Arabic and Hebrew -- no English. "The development is seen as part of the preparation for a future Palestinian state" -- and yet the aftermath of the Gaza …
         Raymond Ibrahim on Al-Jazeera, discussing zakat and jihad. Aug 27, 2009 03:35 pm. Our good friend and former Jihad Watch writer Raymond Ibrahim appears on Al-Jazeera in these two clips, discussing how Islamic charitable contributions often end up in the hands of Islamic jihadists. And Raymond, with his fine beard, is looking …
         CNN: Yemeni girl who for some unnamed reason became a child bride faces post-divorce nightmare. Aug 27, 2009 02:05 pm. Only in the 29th paragraph of this story (I haven't reprinted them all here), when Sharia is mentioned, do we learn that this child marriage had anything to with Islam. Yet only when that is acknowledged and confronted will there …
         Obama's counterterror strategy: Release jihadists, investigate CIA. Aug 27, 2009 12:46 pm. Yet another Which-Side-Is-Obama-On Alert: "Release the Terrorist, Investigate the CIA," by Andy McCarthy at The Corner, August 27: The Wall Street Jounral {sic} has a terrific editorial this morning on how valuable the CIA interrogation program was in uncovering life-saving …
       • "Do you have any idea how many Muslim girls are watching, and watching very closely, the case of Rifqa Bary? She represents their hope of freedom." Aug 27, 2009 11:53 am. "That is why we must do everything we can to support her and other Muslim girls in danger of honor killing, by building shelters, creating an underground railroad, and supporting their attempts to be free." In "An Underground Railroad for …
         "Unlike most of today's self-styled experts, Robert Spencer won't tell you that 'slay the idolaters wherever you find them' really means 'love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.'"  Aug 27, 2009 11:49 am. My new book, The Complete Infidel's Guide to the Koran, is coming September 21 from Regnery Publishing. What they're saying about the new book: "Unlike most of today's self-styled experts, Robert Spencer won't tell you that 'slay the idolaters … ' "
         Philippines: Christians forbidden to display cross, sing hymns in Muslim south. Aug 27, 2009 11:28 am. No surprise here. According to Islamic law, dhimmis are forbidden to "ring church bells or display crosses," as well as to "recite the Torah or Evangel aloud, or make public display of their funerals and feastdays" ('Umdat al-Salik o11.5). The …
         Spencer: British Lion Muzzled. Aug 27, 2009 09:28 am | Robert In "British Lion Muzzled," the featured article at Human Events today, I tell some stories from my recent trip to London -- stories about how Britain is succumbing to Islamic supremacism: [ … ] Unrecognized inside the mosques we were able …
       "Everything is smooth," Muslim says at meat-packing plant that caved to demands for preferential treatment Aug 27, 2009 09:26 am. And why wouldn't everything be smooth? -- except, of course, for the non-Muslims who are inconvenienced and feel discriminated against by the preferential treatment that the J. B. Swift company is giving to its Muslim employees. But those non-Muslims …
         Fitzgerald: "We Walked Away From Them Twice," Or, What Exactly Does Robert Gates Know About Pakistan, And While We Are At It, What In God's Name Does He Know About Islam? (Part Four) Aug 27, 2009 09:17 am | Hugh. Part One is here, Part Two here, and Part Three here. Iraq will turn out to be entirely ungrateful to the Americans. Everything that happens there will show that, when the Shi'a refuse to give away any their power, and …
         Mali: Women's rights bill blocked; Muslim leaders called it "the work of the devil." Aug 27, 2009 09:03 am. Why? Well, for example, "under the new law women are no longer required to obey their husbands, instead husbands and wives owe each other loyalty and protection." Oh, and a minimum age of 18 for marriage, which would contradict Muhammad's …
         Alleged mastermind of Jakarta attacks arrested: the director of an online Islamic "information portal." Aug 27, 2009 04:04 am. And yet he, too, missed the memo about Islam as a "religion of peace." Or he just plain "misunderstood" it. Funny how that keeps happening. "Mohamad Jibril, 'mastermind' of the attacks on Jakarta hotels, arrested," by Mathias Hariyadi for Asia …
         Why did Rifqa Bary's father dissolve his prosperous business and declare himself indigent? Aug 27, 2009 04:01 am | Robert.  Was he planning to … take a trip to Sri Lanka? Rifqa Bary Update: "'Apostate' girl's father," by Pamela Geller in the Washington Times, August 27: [ … ] Rifqa's parents, Mohamed and Aysha Bary, signed affidavits declaring themselves indigent. That's why the Florida … http:// jihadwatch. us1.list-manage. com/track/click? u=12857896 c3097382 b25b80 a09&id=80 c241f913& e=0f34f38913 . #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#muslims_stop_women
    [Aug 28, 09]
    • [Allah is not Christian God; No freedoms in Iraq etc.; Rape victims executed; Muslim kills Muslim.]     

    [Allah is not Christian God; No freedoms in Iraq etc.; Rape victims executed; Muslim kills Muslim]

     
       Joondalup Times newspaper (Perth suburb), Western Australia, wannerootimes § communitynews com au , Opinion (Letters to The Editor), p 10, Tuesday September 1, 2009

    LOVE AT FAITH'S HEART


       I FEEL there is a need to correct some of the statements made by Salaamah Prosser in her letter (Facts of the hijab, Times, August 18).
       Allah, the God of Islamic people, is not the God of Christians or of Jews.
       The Old Testament was most probably begun in 1406 BC in which we were prepared for the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which was described so accurately by many of the prophets, e.g. Isaiah 53.
       The New Testament is so called because its writings represent a new covenant with God centred on the person and work of Jesus Christ.
       In these books one learns the gospel of our Lord that is the explanation of all that He wants us to know that we may live as His followers and can be blessed with faith in Him.
       We know that He died for our sins and we know that being human beings we can't help ourselves but Jesus died, taking all our sinful ways with Him on the cross.
       To be a Christian is to know the unconditional love of God and to believe and to experience this love and love others.
       That is the essence of our faith, "To love the Lord our God with all our hearts and to love our neighbours as we love ourselves".
       This brings me to the point with which I disagree so with Salaamah.
       I understand that the word "love" does not appear in the Koran. A friend read it twice right through -- the second time to make sure that this vital word did not appear.
       Our God loves us and, by faith (which He gives us), we follow the gospel in our lives.
       The only time the question of women's attire is mentioned in the New Testament is in 1 Timothy: 2 [1 Tim 2:9-10] where we are asked to dress modestly, with decency and propriety and be clothed with good deeds.
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  2:216 (or 2:212):- Warfare is ordained for you, though it is hateful unto you; but it may happen that ye hate a thing which is good for you, and it may happen that ye love a thing which is bad for you. … DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  8, 73:245 (yawning comment also at 4, 54:509):- The Prophet said, "Allah loves sneezing but dislikes yawning;  so if anyone of you sneezes and then praises Allah, every Muslim who hears him (praising Allah) has to say Tashmit to him.  But as regards yawning, it is from Satan, so if one of you yawns, he should try his best to stop it, for when anyone of you yawns, Satan laughs at him." TRADITION ENDS.]

    A FEW QUESTIONS


       SALAAMAH Prosser, whether you are here in Australia by birth, or by choice, you are enjoying the freedoms won by previous Australian generations.
       Would these freedoms be available if you lived in Iraq, Iran, or Afghanistan, with neighbouring Taliban?
       Your sanctity does not give you carte blanche to denigrate the Aussie way of life. Clothing has nothing to do with piety.
       God, the Omnipotent, dwells in our hearts.
       As for your "old maid" theory… that concept vanished long ago. Aussies have a natural acceptance of each other, and the extra "lumps and bumps" acquired with maturity, is evidence nature (God) loves us.
       We have your opinion of the "summer-dressed" female, but what about the "summer-dressed" male, in his sensible footy shorts and thongs?
       Do you sing the Australian National Anthem, and wave the Australian flag?
       If there were conflict within Australia, to whom would you pledge your loyalty?

    POINT PUZZLING


       SALAAMAH Prosser wrote about the reasons for wearing the hijab, but there was one paragraph that puzzled me a bit.
       After asking why was Islam the fastest-growing religion and stating that most of the converts were women who did so by their own choice, she then went on to say "perhaps it is because women had equal rights and Islam has not allowed subjugation for 1400 years, among many other reasons".
       Perhaps then Salaamah can explain why we hear of young girls and older women from Muslim families being killed under the banner of "honour killings" because they were raped and have supposedly brought dishonour on the family?
       Who did the rape; certainly not another woman as far as I know, so why do the men not get punished?
       Also can she please explain why we see so many girls under the age of say 13 from Muslim families wearing the full cover and the hijab?
       Surely, here in a society where there is the freedom to express yourself they should not be made to wear that outfit until they are of an age when they can make their own true decision.

    MUSLIM KILLS MUSLIM


       SALAAMAH Prosser asked in her long letter why is Islam the fastest growing religion in the world?
       The answer is that Islam is intolerant of other faiths, including different forms of Islam (look at Iraq).
       Muslims have the "freedom" to wear what they like here. They can even cover their faces and drive, or enter banks (try entering a bank with a crash helmet on).
       They are free to practise their religion here, but try establishing a Christian church, in Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan.
       Ms Prosser, don't feel very sad to see so many westerners succumb to the morals they think give them freedom.
       Feel sorry for the Muslim victims who are being murdered and blown up by other Muslims in the Middle East and feel sorry for our Servicemen who are being killed there trying to keep them apart.
       [SEND YOUR SAY TO: 16 Clarke Crescent, Joondalup 6027; Fax: 9233 3001. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#allah_is_not
    [Sep 1, 09]
    • Why Pakistan's Taliban win as they lose.   
    CRISIS PAKISTAN

    Why Pakistan's Taliban win as they lose

       New Internationalist (UK, N. America and Australia), ni § newint org Editorial, Australia, by Pervez Hoodbhoy, pp 22-23, Sepember 2009
    While the Pakistani army's offensive might have wrong footed the Taliban, the larger war of ideas remains to be won. Pervez Hoodbhoy explains.
       After army offensives in the Swat valley that began in May, the Pakistani Taliban have been badly battered. Independent confirmation is unavailable, but the army claims a string of victories with a tally of nearly 1,600 fighters killed. More good news for the army came recently: US drones helped by Pakistani intelligence successfully targeted and killed Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the Pakistani Taliban, known for his brutal campaign of suicide bombings and decapitations.
       It had looked very different earlier in the year. Elated by the ease with which they won the battle for sharia law in Swat and the virtual absence of resistance, the Pakistani Taliban (ideological brothers of the Afghan Taliban) had set sights on neighbouring Buner just 80 miles from Islamabad. With a blitzkrieg of merciless beheadings of soldiers and suicide bombings, they had driven out the army from much of the Frontier Province. By early 2009 they held about 10 per cent of Pakistan's territory.
      [Picture] An internally displaced girl carries a pitcher of water in the Swat Valley.    STRINGER PAKISTAN / REUTERS  
       Once an idyllic tourist-friendly valley, Swat saw a reign of terror lasting about two years. The Taliban lashed women in public, hundreds of girls' schools were blown up, non-Muslims had to pay a special tax (jizya), and every form of art and music was forbidden. Policemen deserted en masse, and institutions of the state crumbled. Nevertheless, the army and Government still dithered. Opinion-forming local TV anchors whitewashed Taliban atrocities and insisted that they should be negotiated with, not fought. Some openly supported them as fighters against America's imperial might. The Government's massive propaganda apparatus lay rusting. The Taliban lashed women in public, hundreds of girls' schools were blown up, non-Muslims had to pay a special tax (jizya), and every form of art and music was forbidden.
       And then a miracle of sorts happened. The Taliban shot themselves in the foot, putting even their apologists at a loss for words. Sufi Mohammed, the illiterate, ageing leader of the Swat sharia movement, while addressing a victory rally in early May, declared democracy and Islam incompatible, rejected Pakistan's Islamic constitution and courts, and even accused Pakistan's fanatically right-wing Islamic parties of mild heresy. Even for a Pakistani public enamoured by the call to sharia, that was just a bit too much. The army, with public support for the first time, finally mustered the will to fight.
    Killing culture
       That fight is still on but the Taliban are retreating. Some of the three million refugees displaced by the fighting are moving back to Swat; the army claims this as proof of success.
       But the Taliban win even as they lose. Spectacular attacks far away in Lahore prove that religious fanaticism has migrated from the mountains into the plains. Through threats, abductions, beheadings and suicide bombings, extremists are changing the way Pakistanis live.
       Islamabad is a city of fear. Machine-gun bunkers are ubiquitous while traffic barely trickles past concrete blocks placed across its roads. Upscale restaurants, fearing suicide bombers, have removed their signs but still hope clients will remember. Who will be the next target? Internet cafes, bookshops, or perhaps shops selling toilet paper, tampons, underwear, and other 'un-Islamic' goods? No one knows. Fearful of acid attacks, female faces have become invisible in the Frontier Province. The burqa was once unknown on my university's campus. Now, row upon row of burqaed women sit in my physics classes as the undraped head disappears.
       It is not just women who have changed dress. Male employees are being told by their bosses to wear shalwar-kameez rather than trousers. Video shops are being bombed out of business and barbers have put 'no-shave' notices outside their shops.  Kite flying has been declared haram (forbidden). Destroying culture is the goal: musicians and dancers have fled or changed their profession. Cinemas have been bombed so frequently that one wonders if any are still left.  A sterile, killjoy Saudi-style Wahhabism is sucking away the vibrancy and colour from Pakistan's culture and society.
    Public support?
       The uncomfortable truth is that mad extremism does not lie merely at the fringes. Anchors of private television channels, largely free of Government control, became known as the media mujahideen. Today large crowds regularly gather to pray behind the battle-hardened pro-Taliban militant leader, Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi of Red Mosque fame, who was recently released by the Government.
       In the political arena, the extremists have cheerleaders like cricketer Imran Khan, Qazi Hussain Ahmad and Hamid Gul who rush to justify every attack. To them it makes no difference that Baitullah Mehsud proudly admitted to murder after murder. Nor are they moved by suicide attacks on mosques, funerals and hospitals. Like broken gramophone records, they chant 'Amrika, Amrika' after every new Taliban atrocity.
       The cancerous growth of religious fanaticism is commonly blamed on General Zia-ul-Haq (President from 1977 to 1988). But it was really the cowardly deference of Pakistani leaders to mullah blackmail that is responsible. Their instinctive response was always to seek appeasement. In 1977, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had suddenly turned Islamic in his final days as he made a desperate, but ultimately unsuccessful, attempt to save his Government and life. A fearful Benazir Bhutto made no attempt to challenge the horrific blasphemy and Hudood laws during her two premierships. Nawaz Sharif went a step further by attempting to bring the sharia to Pakistan. And General Pervez Musharraf's 'enlightened moderation' was eyewash manufactured for a Western audience.
    What will it take to win?
       The army's gain against the Taliban is strictly temporary. Nations win wars only when there is a clear rallying cause. While the army high command has committed troops to battle – and lost many – it has not yet told the soldiers what they need to fight for. Some soldiers have bought into the mind-boggling notion that Taliban leaders are Indian agents, while others believe that the Taliban are part of a nefarious US plot to destabilize Pakistan. Such fabrications will sooner or later come apart. To say what really lies at the heart of Pakistan's problems will require more courage than the leadership – or even most intellectuals – can currently summon.
       The unmentionable truth – one etched in stone – is that when a state proclaims a religious mission, it inevitably privileges those who organize religious life, interpret religious text, or claim to fight for the faith.
       So imagine yourself as a Pakistani army officer charged with enthusing the troops to go to war against the Taliban. Your subordinates are bound to ask: sir, what's wrong with the Taliban mission to bring sharia to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan? Aren't many Islamic scholars supportive of the Taliban? Is the Taliban version of the sharia really wrong? Why is their jihad not a certified jihad? If we soldiers die, shall we be martyred or merely killed?
       If there were one solid unchallengeable version of the Islamic faith, answers would not be a problem. But, lacking a central religious authority, the divine truth differs from group to group and person to person.
       Ultimately the power of ideas shall decide victory or defeat. Pakistan's vulnerability lies here, A gaping ideological void has left the door open to demagogues who exploit resource scarcity and bad governance. They use every failing of the state to create an insurrectionary mood and churn out suicide bombers. So far just a handful of Islamic scholars have dared to challenge them.
    A superpower without power
       What can the US, which narrowly hangs on to its superpower status, do to turn the situation around? The answer is: amazingly little. In spite of being on the American dole, Pakistan is probably the most anti-American country in the world. It has a long litany of grievances. Some are pan-Islamic, others derive from its bitter experiences of being a US ally in the 1980s. Once at the cutting edge of the US-organized jihad against the Soviets, Pakistan was dumped once that war was over and left to deal with numerous toxic consequences. Hillary Clinton's recent acceptance of blame is welcome, if overdue. But long-held resentments are not easily dispensed with. Today a paranoid mindset blames the US for all of Pakistan's ills, not just some. A meeting of young people I addressed in Islamabad recently had a majority who thought that the Taliban are US agents paid to create instability so that Pakistan's nukes could be seized by the US.
       Pakistan's problems can only be sorted out from within; insensitive external interventions add fuel to the fire. Somehow Pakistan will have to clamp down on venomous Friday sermons in mosques and stop suicide bomber production in madrassas. Long-term defence demands a determined ideological offensive and a decisive break with the past. Pakistan must reinvent itself as a state that is seen to care for its people, focusing upon economic and legal justice. Instead of seeking to fix the world's problems – Kashmir, Afghanistan, and Palestine included – it must work to first fix its own.
       Nevertheless, the US is not powerless. By engaging with the civilian leadership rather than military dictators, it can regain some lost ground. Obama's personal efforts to reach the Pakistani public through the media have had a mildly positive reception. Real progress towards a Palestinian state, and dealing with Muslims globally, would have strong resonance in Pakistan.
       Pervez Hoodbhoy is chair of the physics department and professor of nuclear and high-energy physics at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad. #
       [RECAPITULATION: The Taliban lashed women in public, hundreds of girls' schools were blown up, non-Muslims had to pay a special tax (jizya), and every form of art and music was forbidden. …
       … The Taliban shot themselves in the foot … Sufi Mohammed, the illiterate, ageing leader of the Swat sharia movement, while addressing a victory rally in early May, declared democracy and Islam incompatible, rejected Pakistan's Islamic constitution and courts, and even accused Pakistan's fanatically right-wing Islamic parties of mild heresy. …
       Who will be the next target? Internet cafes, bookshops, or perhaps shops selling toilet paper, tampons, underwear, and other 'un-Islamic' goods? No one knows. Fearful of acid attacks, female faces have become invisible in the Frontier Province. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: Do NOT laugh at "toilet paper" being mentioned as "un-Islamic" in Taliban thought -- if it can be called thought.  You see, Mahomet is taken as the pattern of perfect behaviour, and his defacatory habits are described in some detail in the Hadith, including the cleaning of his private parts with stones, but rejecting bones and animal dung!  Because toilet paper is not mentioned in this story, many "pious" Muslims would consider it is un-Islamic! ENDS.]
       [2nd COMMENT: Democracy is un-Islamic, according to most "scholars" of the Muslim world.  They prefer the leadership of imams, and the Iranian Supreme Leader (who is of the Shi'ite sect) has announced that very soon a "heavenly" leader, the Madhi, will come to end all un-Islamic rule.  Such beliefs are similar to the beliefs of some Christian sects that the world is now in the "End Times," and who expect "the Rapture," etc.  It must be difficult for the Muslim imams and ayotollahs to explain to their followers why Allah has supposedly allowed the murderous earthquake in Pakistan in the past year or two, and the current one that in September 2009 struck the Muslim island of Java, Indonesia.  More fervent jihad violence will be recommended, presumably. ENDS.]
       [3rd COMMENT: Acid attacks against girls and women in Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) have been reported on Australian television early in September 2009.  Any reader who can find a "holy" quotation supporting acid-attack crimes is invited to e-mail the Webmaster. ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  Volume 5, Book 58, Number 200:- Narrated Abu Huraira: That once he was in the company of the Prophet carrying a water pot for his ablution and for cleaning his private parts.  While he was following him carrying it (i.e. the pot), the Prophet said, "Who is this?"  He said, "I am Abu Huraira."  The Prophet said, "Bring me stones in order to clean my private parts, and do not bring any bones or animal dung. …" TRADITION ENDS.]
       [4th COMMENT: How could Sufi Mohammed accuse the fanatic political parties of being guilty of mild heresy?  Would the following quote help? ENDS.
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  12:106:- The majority of those who believe in Allah do not do so without committing idol worship. DOCTRINE ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#why_pakistan_s_taliban
    [Sepember 2009]
    • Pakistan: Christian Homes and Businesses Firebombed [by Muslims; Israel intimidation by Judaists; Nepal attacks by Hindus.] 

    Pakistan: Christian Homes and Businesses Firebombed


       Barnabas Aid magazine, www. barnabas fund.org , p 24, Dated September-October 2009
         PAKISTAN – On Tuesday 30 June, painful memories were rekindled for Pakistani Christians as an angry Muslim mob attacked Christians and their property, ostensibly on grounds of blasphemy. This time the target was the village of Bahmani Walla, in the Kasur district of Punjab.
       The violence started following an incident in which a Christian man driving a tractor requested that a Muslim man riding a motorcycle allow him to pass. This request was refused and a disagreement ensued. News of this was spread, along with allegations of blasphemy against Islam. Around 600 Muslims assembled and firebombed Christian homes, damaging 117 houses; water pumps were vandalised and water pipes broken, making it extremely difficult to extinguish the fires.
       Christians who returned home the following day found they had no electricity, and Islamic slogans were smeared across walls within the looted homes.
       Vehicles owned by Christians did not escape the rampage, with tractors and motorbikes being burnt or stolen too. The most disturbing incident was the throwing of acid at the Christians as they fled the violence; at least nine women and four children were injured.
       Barnabas Fund is helping the victims of this horrific attack.
       ■ Project reference 41-829 #

    Israel: Intimidation of Church Leaders by Anti-Christian Protests

         ISRAEL – Yoyakim Figueras is 39 and an Israeli-born leader of a church in Beersheba, Israel. Almost every Tuesday night some 15 ultra-orthodox Jews from the anti-missionary organisation Yad L'Achim demonstrate outside his house chanting, "Stop baptising Jews into Christianity." They have obtained a permit to protest, and so the police do nothing to intervene, despite Yoyakim's requests.
       Yoyakim is the current focus of the organisation's anti-Christian activities now that the object of their previous campaign, a Christian man in nearby Arad named Eddie Beckford, is under house arrest. Eddie, a black American, endured almost seven years of racial taunts, having his tyres slashed and seeing his property destroyed by fire before losing his temper one night when a visiting couple and their babe in arms were attacked outside his house by the protestors.
       Eddie punched one of the attackers and broke up the group. No-one else has been prosecuted for the incident. A local shopkeeper in the market says, "No normal person could listen to {the names Eddie is called} all the time and do nothing. Eddie's a good man, peaceful … he doesn't bother anybody."
       One man who took part in the protests said he wasn't against Christians, but insisted that it was against the law for missionaries to proselytise. Although this is incorrect (Israeli law forbids proselytising minors and bribing potential converts with money or material favours), the protestors believe that "all missionaries have to be removed from Israel". – Source: Jerusalem Post, 2 July 2009 #

    Nepal: Two Dead in Explosion at Local Church

           NEPAL – Christians in Nepal are reeling from the first bombing of a church in Nepalese history. The bomb exploded in a building in Lalitpur, south of Kathmandu, on 23 May, killing 15-year-old Celestina Joseph, and Pabitra Paitri, who was 30. More than a dozen people were injured.
       According to reports, the National Defence Army (NDA) recently declared that they want to restore the traditional Hindu monarchy. They claim to be responsible for the bombing of a mosque in 2008, the murder of a Christian minister in Nepal earlier this year and this latest attack on a church.
       The incident has added to the instability that is brewing in Nepalese politics, with strikes and protests in Kathmandu following the resignation of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Insurgent groups have been trying to take advantage of the shaky political structure, and there are rumours that the NDA have been threatening to bomb the homes and churches of local Christians, seeking to extort money from them by threatening their safety. #
       [COMMENT: Muslims, Judaists, and Hindus violently oppose the Prince of Peace. COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#pakistan_christian_homes
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#israel_intimidation_of
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#nepal_two_dead
    [List as if 01 Sep 09; p 24, Dated Sep-Oct 2009]
    • [Canada jihadist 14yrs prison; Fearful girl in Florida; Interpol wants Iran's new defence minister; Honour killings increase; Yemen bumbles; Hate mail to Jihad Watch.] 

    [Canada jihadist 14yrs prison; Fearful girl in Florida; Interpol wants Iran’s new defence minister; Honour killings increase; Yemen bumbles; Hate mail to Jihad Watch.]

       JihadWatch Daily Digest, September 4, 2009
         Canadian jihadist gets 14-year sentence with 7 years' credit for time served. Sep 04, 2009 04:12 am | Marisol.  For those seven remaining years, what safeguards exist against prison dawa? [dawa = enrolling converts] Saad Khalid Update. "Toronto 18 Member Gets 14-Year Sentence," from City News, September 3: A 22-year-old man who pleaded guilty in a homegrown terrorist scheme has been sentenced to … http:// jihadwatch. us1.list-manage. com/track/click? u=12857896 c3097382 b25b80 a09&id= ab777 a5019& e=0f34f38913
         "scumbag I cant wait till the angel of death ripps your soul out and returns it to the Almighty most high for due punishment." Sep 04, 2009 04:09 am | Robert.  Lots of pointed questions in today's hate mail. Am I an "undercover jew trying to unite christians and jews against the God of Jesus, Moses, Abraham & Noah"? Well, obviously I am. Must I "admit that The Holy Prophet was … "
         At the Rifqa Bary hearing, Orlando, Florida. Sep 03, 2009 06:34 pm | Robert.   I'm in Orlando, Florida, at the Rifqa Bary hearing. Tom Trento of the Florida Security Council, Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs and I held a press conference outside the courtroom a little while ago, for a skeptical and sometimes hostile …
         Rifqa Bary to stay in Florida for now -- next hearing at end of September. Sep 03, 2009 06:11 pm | Marisol.  Robert live-blogged the proceedings, and here is additional reporting: "Fathima Rifqa Bary: Judge keeps girl in Florida, orders mediation," by Amy L. Edwards and Renee Stutzman for the Orlando Sentinel, September 3: For now, Fathima Rifqa Bary is staying in …
         Iran's parliament endorses defense minister wanted by Interpol. Sep 03, 2009 09:01 am | Marisol.  This, of course, speaks volumes about Iran's idea of "defense." Ahmad Vahidi Update. "Iran: MPs endorse bomb suspect as defence minister," from AdnKronos International, September 3: Tehran, 3 Sept.(AKI) - Iran's parliament has approved the president's hardline appointment for a …
         Honor killings on the rise. Sep 03, 2009 07:26 am | Robert.  Today there is another hearing in the Rifqa Bary case in Orlando, Florida, and Fox Orlando has this backgrounder on honor killing: "Honor killings on the rise," by David Martin for Fox 35 News, September 3: {…} "Most Westerners …
         John Derbyshire, religious cheerleading, and human rights. Sep 03, 2009 05:58 am | Robert.  John Derbyshire, an Islamophobophobe in both senses of the word, thinks my new book is the same as my old books. He says so in his "August Diary," published today in National Review: Robert Spencer has a new book coming …
         Al-Qaeda continues to thrive in Yemen. Sep 03, 2009 04:07 am | Marisol.  "There isn't a serious fight against Al-Qaeda in Yemen," one analyst observes, but there is more to the story than economics. There has been a pattern of inaction and bumbling on the part of the Yemeni government concerning jihadists within …
         "This will only warm-up the Muslim and potential Muslims." Sep 03, 2009 04:04 am | Robert.  Is this a hate against Ismal? Warming up now in the bullpen: the Djibouti resident at IP address 196.201.207.17, who has threatened my life more than once, and who sends this in to our Hate Mail Bag with the subject … http:// jihadwatch. us1.list-manage. com/track/ click?u= 12857896 c3097382 b25b80 a09&id=181 c140054& e=0f34 f38913 . #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#canada_jihadist_14yrs
    [Sep 4, 09]
    • [Copts in Egypt strike for freedom; Saudis think uncleanness comes from Jews in aeroplanes; Muslims dodge issue on apostacy laws, but say Bary is safe.] 

    [Copts in Egypt strike for freedom; Saudis think uncleanness comes from Jews in aeroplanes; Muslims dodge issue on apostacy laws, but say Bary is safe.]

       JihadWatch Daily Digest, September 7, 2009
         Egypt's Coptic Christians call for general strike on September 11 to protest persecution. Sep 07, 2009 02:02 am | Robert.  Traditional Islamic law for dhimmis forbids them to build new churches. Christians in Egypt still suffer from a cultural hangover of that law. "Coptic Christians in Egypt Call for Strike to Protest Mistreatment," by Mary Abdelmassih for AINA, September 6 …
           Flying Jews transfer impurity to Muslims 30,000 feet below. Sep 06, 2009 08:40 am | Robert.  "Truly the Pagans are unclean" -- Qur'an 9:28.  So also are the People of the Book, from the looks of this story. "Saudis Nix Israeli Planes over 'Contamination,'" from Israel National News, September 6 (thanks to Tziona, who also supplied … http:// jihadwatch. us1.list-manage. com/track/click? u=12857896 c3097382 b25b80 a09& id=61be803195 &e=0f34f38913 .
         "You give Islam a bad name … you suck!" Sep 07, 2009 04:05 am | Robert.  I give Islam a bad name. Not the jihadis. It's my fault. That is a common enough accusation from Islamic apologists in the U.S., but still, I think this hate mailer from Kuwait is a bit unclear on the facts: … http:// jihadwatch. us1.list- manage.com/ track/click? u=12857896 c3097382 b25b80 a09& id=d63c076b4d &e=0f34f38913 .
         Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs l**s again. Sep 06, 2009 08:15 pm | Robert.  The ex*cr*ble l*b*lblogger Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs, still smarting from the thorough flaying he received from Ace of Spades over his h*p*cr*sy and support for Van Jones, has fallen back on a familiar trick he uses to rally …
         Islamic leaders trying to have it both ways on Rifqa Bary case. Sep 06, 2009 04:08 am | Robert.  They want to claim that Rifqa Bary is in no danger while equivocating about whether Islam mandates a death penalty for apostasy. Here is a case study. "Islamic activists trying to have it both ways," by Paul Mulshine at NJ.com, …
         I'll be sure to alert Richard. Sep 06, 2009 04:06 am | Robert.  Today's entry from the Hate Mail Bag comes to us with the subject line "Richard Spencer": I dont care what Robert spencer is talking abt Islam,there are problems in muslim community all over the world, but that is not because of … " http:// jihadwatch. us1.list- manage. com/track/click? u=12857896 c3097382 b25b80 a09& id=ccb57840b0 &e=0f34f38913 . #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#copts_in_egypt
    [Sep 7, 09]
    • [Anti-Judaism attacks and school chants; Somalia hacks off hands; Riot to stop Malaysian temple; Four Jihadists plan Serbian attack.] 

    [Anti-Judaism attacks and school chants; Somalia hacks off hands; Riot to stop Malaysian temple; Four Jihadists plan Serbian attack]

       JihadWatch Daily Digest, September 10, 2009
         "Dutch Jews suffered tenfold increase in anti-Semitic attacks during Gaza war." Sep 09, 2009 07:18 pm | Robert.  "The 43-page report also speaks of an increasing trend of anti-Semitic statements and incidents in schools.  This included an incident in an Amsterdam school which suspended lessons after students chanted anti-Jewish slogans.  A Rotterdam [school] did the same, after pupils sang:… http:// jihadwatch. us1.list-manage. com/track/click? u=12857896 c3097382b25 b80a09& id=98a71aacab& e=0f34f38913 .
         Somalia: More amputations for theft, this time in Mogadishu. Sep 09, 2009 10:40 am | Marisol.  When will some Islamic apologist send these misunderstanders of Islam the decoder ring that magically renders Qur'an 5:38's call for amputation as the penalty for theft as a call for group therapy and a visit from Dr. Phil? "Somali Islamists…
         Malaysia: Muslims rush to defend protesters who threatened violence if Hindu temple were built. Sep 09, 2009 10:07 am | Robert.  "Amid chants of 'Allahuakbar,' the group also left the severed head of a cow at the entrance of the State Secretariat here as a warning to Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim." That is from this account. And now…
           Pakistan to UK: You're not doing enough against home-grown jihadists. Sep 09, 2009 09:41 am | Robert.  Playing the blame game. Of course, in reality, both countries need to do much more. "UK fails to tackle home-grown terrorism: Pakistani officials," from Dawn, September 9 (thanks to all who sent this in): ISLAMABAD: Senior Pakistani sources have accused…
         Serbian court jails four jihadists for planning attacks in Balkans. Sep 09, 2009 05:06 am | Marisol.  Much is made in this article about the role of Wahhabist Muslims -- adherents of the predominant type of Islamic observance in Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately, what the Wahhabists are doing in the Balkans, and where they get their funding goes… http:// jihadwatch. us1.list-manage. com/track/click? u=12857896 c3097382 b25b80 a09& id=4607d2e50f& e=0f34f38913 .
       • Libelblogger Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs digs deeper, adding new lies to his original ones. Sep 09, 2009 07:05 pm | Robert.  One must step back and wonder: what is this man's game? Why would he make up lies, see them refuted by people who were present at the events he claims to know about, and then instead of backing down or…
         "most americans are anti-muslim i see because of a few many are condimmed.that thinking breeds hate and jihadist views in muslims who never thought that way before." Sep 09, 2009 04:09 am | Robert.  This morning's Hate Mail once again explains it all for us: it is resistance to the jihad, you see, that breeds jihadists. I do not, of course, really condemn all Muslims for the actions of the jihadists, but it is…
           "look at your own backyard you filthy swine." Sep 10, 2009 04:07 am | Robert.  This Hate Mail bag entry comes to us from Purley, south of London. The subject line was "Somalia: More amputations for theft, this time in Mogadishu," evidently referring to this Jihad Watch post.  What does that have to do with… http:// jihadwatch.us1. list-manage.com/ track/click? u=12857896 c3097382 b25b80a09& id=e2c24f767a& e=0f34f38913 .
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#anti_judaism_attacks
    [Sep 10, 09]
    • [Ramadan 4am drummer stopped; N.Y. terror plot; Indonesian stoning law; Malaysia caning drinker; Dutch trial for Wilders; French fly Islamites to Mecca; Pakistan murders Christian.] 

    [Ramadan 4am drummer stopped; N.Y. terror plot; Indonesian stoning law; Malaysia caning drinker; Dutch trial for Wilders; French fly Islamites to Mecca; Pakistan murders Christian.]

       JihadWatch Daily Digest, September 15, 2009
             UN committee equals Israel and Hamas, validates the use of human shields. Sep 15, 2009 11:43 pm | Robert.  Thereby giving the global jihad a tremendous moral boost.  More reckless dhimmitude and antisemitism from the UN: "Goldstone Report Empowers Terrorists," by Judith Apter Klinghoffer for History News Network, September 15: RICHARD GOLDSTONE'S COMMISSION CONCLUDED: There is evidence that both the Israeli army and Palestinian militants committed war crimes, and… http:// jihadwatch. us1.list-manage. com/track/click? u=12857896 c3097382 b25b80a09& id=0c8d9d0a89& e=0f34f38913 .
         Ramadan drummer on non-Muslims he awakens at 4AM: "Everywhere they complain. People go, like, 'What the hell? What you doing, man?' They never know it's Ramadan." Sep 15, 2009 11:16 pm | Robert.  Noise ordinances and common sense win out this time. But it might not be too long before non-Muslims will simply have to get used to being awakened before dawn during Ramadan. To complain about the noise would be "Islamophobic." After all, remember that when the local authorities in Hamtramck, Michigan,…
         Jihad terror plot in New York part of Denver-based cell plotting attack on 9/11 scale. Sep 15, 2009 10:56 pm | Robert.  It's a good thing the war on terror is over, or we would be seeing many more plots like this. I guess these guys are kind of like the Japanese soldiers who hid so deep in the jungle for so many years that they didn't know World War II had…
           Kuwaiti youths lured to Afghanistan to fight jihad shocked to find themselves fighting jihad. Sep 15, 2009 10:42 pm | Robert.  A curious story. I mean, what did they expect? "Taleban, Qaeda exploit youths going to Afghanistan for 'Jihad,'" from Arab Times, September 14 (thanks to James): KUWAIT CITY, Sept 14: The Public Prosecution has completed investigations into the so-called Kuwaiti Jihadists in Afghanistan who go to fight the foreign troops,…
         Indonesia stoning law: "This law will make people afraid to visit Aceh. It's medieval and stupid." Sep 15, 2009 10:30 pm | Robert.  Indonesia continues its march toward Sharia. More on this story. "Unease in Indonesia after Aceh passes strict sharia bill," from Deutsche Presse Agentur, September 15 (thanks to James): JAKARTA - Some Indonesians expressed dismay Tuesday after the parliament in the staunchly Muslim province of Aceh approved an Islamic crime bill that…
         Modern, moderate Malaysia: another caning for drinking demon rum. Sep 15, 2009 09:40 pm | Robert.  The first caning for alcohol was of a Malaysian model. And now, a year in jail and six strokes of the cane for a little samsu. What fun these Islamic court judges will have when they're let loose in Europe. Sharia Alert: "Jail, caning for drinking," by Elizabeth Looi for…
         Wilders on trial: "I am considering calling on radical imams and other idiots as witnesses." Sep 15, 2009 09:02 pm | Robert.  This would be a superb strategy, since Wilders doesn't say anything about Islam that hardline imams don't say. Geert Wilders Trial Update. "Wilders' discrimination case in January," from Dutch News, September 14 (thanks to all who sent this in): The trial of MP Geert Wilders, who is accused of discrimination…
           French Army providing special plane, low-cost Mecca trips for Muslim soldiers. Sep 15, 2009 08:51 pm | Robert.  Winning hearts and minds. The French are hoping, of course, that this kind of treatment will blunt the force of the jihad against France. But this manifests -- yet again -- ignorance of the jihad doctrine. The Qur'an and Sunnah mandate that Muslims must wage war against unbelievers simply…
         Florida Keystone Kops ignore mountains of evidence, then find "no credible proof" that ex-Muslim teen Rifqa Bary is in danger. Sep 15, 2009 08:35 pm | Robert.  Here are accounts from Rifqa's friends Jamal Jivanjee and Brian Williams -- both of which differ significantly from the FDLE's findings. Rifqa Bary Update. "FDLE report on ex-Muslim runaway teen criticized: Report finds no 'credible' proof Rifqa Bary's life is endangered," by James A. Smith Sr. for Florida Baptist Witness,…
             Muslim gets life of prison dawah for running jihad training camp in Oregon. Sep 15, 2009 06:42 pm | Robert.  American Jihad Update. "U.S. court sentences man to life over al Qaeda camp," from Reuters, September 15 (thanks to all who sent this in): NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Manhattan federal court sentenced a Lebanese-born Swedish man to life in prison on Tuesday for trying to establish an al Qaeda…
         Pakistani Misunderstanders of Islam torture, murder Christian imprisoned for "blasphemy." Sep 15, 2009 10:16 am | Robert.  Here is yet another example of how Pakistan's blasphemy laws are used to abuse and terrorize religious minorities in that country. "Punjab: young Christian man accused of blasphemy killed in prison," by Fareed Khan for Asia News, September 15 (thanks to C. Cantoni): Sialkot (AsiaNews) - The young Christian man…
         Leader of Dutch Leftwing Greens: "Of course Islam is a problem." Sep 15, 2009 09:29 am | Robert.  Long ago I used to argue that the resistance against the global jihad and Islamic supremacism was not a Left/Right issue, but a national and civilizational defense issue, and that both liberals and conservatives should support it. I haven't said that in a long time, because so much of the…
           Muslims don't get memo that war on terror is over, plot jihad terror in New York. Sep 15, 2009 05:11 am | Robert.  Don't these "five Afghan men" know that Obama is President, and that jihad violence is only an invention of greasy Islamophobes?  "UPDATE 5-New York homes raided in terrorism probe," by Edith Honan for Reuters, September 14 (thanks to all who sent this in): NEW YORK, Sept 14 (Reuters) …
           Spencer: The Qur'an does not promise Israel to the Jews. Sep 15, 2009 04:20 am | Robert.  "The Qur'an: Israel Is Not for the Jews" is a piece I've written in the Fall 2009 issue of the Middle East Quarterly.  Here is the editor's note:Editors' preface: Who has rights to the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River? Zionists cite biblical passages in which God…
       Ironing out the bugs. Sep 15, 2009 04:03 am | Robert.  We are in the process not only of redesigning the site but also of moving it to a new home, and this has entailed, as you may imagine, some technical difficulties. Someone pointed out yesterday that "ironing out the bugs" only made one's iron all sticky, and that is quite… http:// jihadwatch. us1.list-manage. com/track/click? u=12857896 c3097382 b25b80a09& id=8b830daddc& e=0f34f38913 . #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#ramadan_4am_drummer
    [Sep 15, 09]
    • Jury clears brothers of school fraud.       

    Jury clears brothers of school fraud

       The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , letters § wanews com au , By GIORDANO STOLLEY, p 19, Friday, September 18, 2009
       Two brothers accused of stealing almost $356,000 from a company that operated a Muslim girls' school and sending the money overseas to open up a sister school in Afghanistan were found not guilty yesterday."
       It took a District Court jury in Perth less than three hours to acquit Anwar Sayed, 50, and his 33-year-old brother Zubair Sayed after a nine-day trial.
       The pair had pleaded not guilty to stealing $355,934.10 from Muslim Link Australia Ltd in April 2007.
       The court was told that Zubair had drawn up a cheque which was converted into a bank draft at a Cannington bank.
       The money was then transferred to a bank account in Pakistan so that Anwar could access the money for the purposes of opening a school in the Afghan capital Kabul.
       The prosecution argued that the brothers had attempted to conceal the theft and were not entitled to the money because it was provided by the Commonwealth and State governments for the purpose of improving the Muslim Ladies College in Kenwick.
       But Anwar's defence lawyer Mark Trowell argued that he was owed more than $ 1 million by Muslim Link.
       He said Anwar had not drawn a salary in four years and neither had he claimed the annual $289,000 a year rental income.
       The school is on land owned by by Anwar.
       Mr Trowell said that apart from deferring his salary and rental income, Anwar had made deposits totalling at least $330,000 to the school.
       He also argued that the cheque stub had not been destroyed and Zubair had filled it in detailing how the money was being used.
       The court heard that a second signatory had signed the cheque without raising any questions.
       The prosecution claimed that the lease agreement presented to court during the trial was a fake and that it had only been drawn up before the trial.
       The court heard evidence that the lease agreement did exist and had been signed by the three directors of the company.
       Outside court, the brothers said that they were happy with the outcome. #
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  66:2:- Allah hath allowed you release from your oaths. … DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: So, the Australian taxpayers' money is granted to improve a Muslim girls' college in Australia, but Anwar was owed annual ground rent of $289,000, plus his salary, by that selfsame college, the court was told.  The money goes to Afghanistan, instead of staying with an Australian resident living and spending in Australia.  So that makes it all right?  Will the Afghanistan culture in Australia teach that scantily-clad girls are like cats' meat (see newsitem April 26-27, 2008), or the same culture blow up and burn girls' schools as in Pakistan (news, January 19, 2009)?  Will the proposed school in Afghanistan teach the following? ENDS.]
       [KORAN again: 2:193 (or 2:189):- … Fight the unbelievers until no other religion except Islam is left.
       8:12:- … I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve.  Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them. http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/008.qmt.html#008.012
       33:48 (or 33:47):- And obey not (the behests) of the Unbelievers and the Hypocrites, and heed not their annoyances, …
       71:26-27 (or 71:27-28):- And Noah said, 'Lord, leave not one single family of Infidels on the Earth … ENDS.]
       [ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: S.G. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#jury_clears_brothers
    [Sep 18, 09]
    • [100 death threats for eating; U.S. jihadist admits Al-Q ties; Muslims riot in Belgium; Egyptian mullah over-rides slacks ban; Iranian Muslims to shout hate.] 

    [100 death threats for eating; U.S. jihadist admits Al-Q ties; Muslims riot in Belgium; Egyptian mullah over-rides slacks ban; Iranian Muslims to shout hate.]

       JihadWatch Daily Digest, http://us1. campaign-archive. com/?u=12857896 c3097382 b25b80a09& id=5b12054d31& e=0f34f38913 ; September 18, 2009
         Morocco: Dissident receives 100 death threats in a week for defying daytime eating ban for Ramadan. Sep 19, 2009 04:22 am | Marisol.  "There is no compulsion in religion," (Qur'an 2:256) except when there is.  And that time comes when the implementation of Sharia is strong enough to impose criminal punishments for the neglect of religious observances: i.e., when the time for the soft sell is over.  "Threats for breaking Morocco fast," from… http:// jihadwatch. us1.list-manage. com/track/click? u=12857896 c3097382b25 b80a09& id=46c30e5cc1& e=0f34f38913 .
         "Let me tell you this my friend, your crusade against Islam and the Prophet is instigated by personal hatred." Sep 19, 2009 03:09 am | Robert.  This morning's Hate Mail Bag entry comes to us from Willemstad in the Netherlands Antilles -- where yet another person I have never met knows all about my motives: I read your "The Truth about Muhammad". Let me tell you this my friend, your crusade against Islam and the Prophet is…
         Modern, moderate Malaysia: couple to be caned for "trying" to have sex in a car. Sep 18, 2009 06:51 pm | Robert.  And forget about popping open a beer while canoodling in that car! Sharia Alert from modern, moderate Malaysia: "Malaysian Muslim Couple Sentenced to Caning For 'Trying To Have' Premarital Sex," from AFP, September 18 (thanks to all who sent this in): A Malaysian Islamic court has sentenced a young unmarried…
           Biden: Iran? Pshaw! Iran can do nothing! Sep 18, 2009 05:10 pm | Robert.  And evidently that means that the U.S. doesn't have to defend its allies. "U.S. scraps missile defense shield plans," from CNN, September 17 (thanks to all who sent this in): WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Obama administration will scrap the controversial missile defense shield program in Eastern Europe, a senior administration…
         Denver jihad plot suspect admits Al-Qaeda ties. Sep 18, 2009 04:18 pm | Robert.  When it comes to ties, I prefer Stefano Ricci. An update on this story. "Official: Plot Suspect Admits al Qaeda Ties, May Plead Guilty: Three-Day FBI Interrogation Reveals Denver Man Had Received Explosives Training," by Richard Esposito, Clayton Sandell and Brian Ross for ABC News, September 18 (thanks to Benedict): The…
           "Islamic youth" riot in Brussels. Sep 18, 2009 03:17 pm | Robert.  Ramadan: the month of jihad. "Islamic Youth Riot in Brussels," from The New Media Journal, September 18 (thanks to Pamela): Nine law enforcement officers were injured Thursday night in Molenbeek, a suburb of Brussels, when they clashed with Islamic Moroccan youth after trying to detain a youth who had provoked police…
         Muslim girl sues Abercrombie & Fitch, says she wasn't hired because of her hijab. Sep 18, 2009 01:59 pm | Robert.  It doesn't seem to me as if a hijab is quite in keeping with Abercrombie & Fitch's image, but if this suit succeeds, the company will not long be free to make such decisions for itself.  "Teen at center of rights suit," by Ginnie Graham for the Tulsa World, September 18…
         Pakistan: "The blasphemy law should be repealed to protect minorities, particularly the growing violence and persecution against Christians by extremists."  Sep 18, 2009 12:14 pm | Robert.  Common sense and simple justice. But of course, not Sharia. "Governor of Punjab; the law on blasphemy should be abolished," by Fareed Khan for AsiaNews, September 18 (thanks to C. Cantoni): LAHORE (AsiaNews) - Abolishing the blasphemy law to protect minorities. This is what has been "suggested" by Salman Taseer,…
           Let's buy off the Taliban!  Sep 18, 2009 12:08 pm | Benjamin.  Since it purportedly works so well in other contexts, why not line the coffers of the Taliban too? Isn't it poverty that motivates them, anyway? "The Way Out of Afghanistan: We need to buy off our enemies" -- Jizya madness at Newsweek by Fareed Zakaria, September 12: It's time to…
           Egyptian Mufti says women can wear pants, but…  Sep 18, 2009 11:49 am | Benjamin.  Relaxing Jean-jihad. Sharia Alert from Egypt: "Egypt's Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa: Women Can Wear Trousers, But Stretch Pants Are 'Unacceptable' " from the Huffington Post, September 16: CAIRO -- Egypt's top Islamic authority defended women's rights to wear trousers in public following a high profile court case in neighboring Sudan…
             U.S., European Legislators Will Address Jihadist Terrorism. Sep 18, 2009 11:08 am | Robert.  A new report from Walid Phares, co-secretary general of the Trans Atlantic Legislative Group on Counter Terrorism: Next week, an important summit will be held by a number of legislators from Congress, the European Parliament, and the Canadian Parliament to discuss "al-Qaida's and other jihadi forces' campaigns worldwide against democracies."…
       Hijackers speak for themselves at 9/11 Museum. Sep 18, 2009 11:05 am | Benjamin.  A little delayed due to gearing up the new website, but still worthy of attention: Depending on the context and the way the content is presented, this might be a smart way to educate the public about the 9/11 attackers' motives and discourage aspiring emulators. "9/11 Museum to display hijacker…
         Colorado Muslim suspect in bomb plot has "very friendly, very cordial" chat with FBI. Sep 18, 2009 09:50 am | Robert.  Maybe he had bomb-making plans. Maybe he didn't. An update on this story. "FBI quizzes Colorado man for 2nd day in terror probe," from CNN, September 18 (thanks to AINA): DENVER, Colorado (CNN) -- A Colorado resident at the center of a federal terrorism probe met with FBI agents for…
           Misunderstanders of Islam gather in Iran: "I am sure millions of people who love Islam and the Koran will shout Death to Israel."  Sep 18, 2009 09:03 am | Robert.  The mullahcracy is portraying any protesters as people "who want to help the Zionist regime," which in its eyes is the worst kind of demonization possible.  And Gholam Reza Safaie, a top Khamenei aide, says confidently: "I am sure millions of people who love Islam and the Koran will shout… http:// jihadwatch. us1.list-manage. com/track/click? u=12857896 c3097382 b25b80a09& id=e4681aaea2& e=0f34f38913 . #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#100_death_threats
    [Sep 18, 09]
    • [Islam permits suicide jihad war on African troops; UK defending Christianity leads to hoteliers' ruin; Lies told in US terror probe; Exposing religious war is 'racism.'] 

    [Islam permits jihad war on African troops; UK defending Christianity leads to hoteliers' ruin; Lies told in US terror probe; Exposing religious war is ‘racism’]

       Jihad Watch Daily Digest, director § jihadwatch org , September 21, 2009
         Somali jihad leader defends attacks on African Union troops: "The Islamic religion permits such kinds of attacks if they are against known enemies and in the defense of the religion" Sep 21, 2009 05:03 am | Selma Bouvier.  But remember, to believe this conflict has anything to do with Islamic teachings on jihadist warfare or the ideology that drives it would just be downright Islamophobic. "Radical Somali leader defends peacekeepers' killings," from CNN, September 20: (CNN) -- A radical Islamist leader in Somalia said Sunday that a suicide… http:// jihadwatch. us1.list-manage. com/track/click? u=12857896 c3097382b25 b80a09& id=57c985923f& e=0f34f38913 .
         Muslim Congressman defies Congressional warning, meets with Hamas-linked CAIR Sep 21, 2009 04:26 am | Robert.  CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, is an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case -- so named by the Justice Department. CAIR operatives have repeatedly refused to denounce Hamas and Hizballah as terrorist groups. Several former CAIR officials have been convicted of various crimes related to jihad terror….
           "Your blame about Islam teaching terrorism is extremely misguidence" [sic] Sep 21, 2009 04:04 am | Robert.  Today's Hate Mail Bag entry comes to us from Palm Beach, north of Sydney, Australia, with the subject line "YOU R THE TERRORISTS": I am Roy, in Sydney, Aussie. Your blame about Islam teaching terrorism is extremely misguidence. How those white people came to America (Indian land)? The killing of…
         UK: Christian couple charged with criminal offense after offending Muslims during discussion of religion Sep 20, 2009 07:41 pm | Robert.  Yet another indication of the walking-on-eggshells that British authorities (and plenty of non-British authorities) are doing around Muslims these days. Absurd Britannia Update: "Christian hotel owners hauled before court after defending their beliefs in discussion with Muslim guest," by Jonathan Petre for the Daily Mail, September 20 (thanks to all…
         UK Home Office staff officially warned not to eat in front of Muslims during Ramadan - in case it made them feel hungry Sep 20, 2009 06:49 pm | Robert.  MPAC plays the victim card while denouncing this document below, but nonetheless the organization has a point: this is the kind of walking on eggshells around Muslims that only creates resentment among non-Muslims in a land where there ought to be equality of treatment of all people, regardless of creed….
         Fitzgerald: Kruse Control Sep 20, 2009 06:15 pm | Hugh.  The case of Michael Kruse -- a sports writer, with a line in dribbles and baskets, but when it comes to Islam more of a swimmer in over his head, and not waving but drowning, until finally put out of his misery here -- prompts other, more general thoughts,…
         3 charged with making false statements in New York jihad plot Sep 20, 2009 11:38 am | Selma Bouvier.  After all, "War is deceit." An update on this story. "3 men in terror probe charged with making false statements," from CNN, September 20: AURORA, Colorado (CNN) -- Federal agents have charged a 24-year-old Colorado resident, his father and another man with making false statements during an extensive terror investigation…
         Journalist/propagandist Michael Kruse explains Islamic apostasy law for us Sep 20, 2009 09:35 am | Robert.  Michael Kruse is yet another mainstream media pseudo-journalist who relentlessly pursues a politically correct multiculturalist agenda, and the facts be damned. You can see previous discussion of this "reporter's" casual acquaintance with the truth here. Yesterday in the St. Petersburg Times he continued his campaign to discredit Rifqa Bary, the…
           FBI arrests New York jihad suspect Sep 20, 2009 06:02 am | Selma Bouvier.  Two more arrests are expected to occur in New York. An update on this story. "Alleged terror plot suspect arrested at Colorado home," from CNN, September 20: (CNN) -- FBI agents late Saturday arrested Najibullah Zazi, a 24-year-old Colorado resident and Afghan national questioned in an alleged terrorist plot in…
           U.S. ambassador to Pakistan: They're "certainly reluctant to take action" against jihadist leadership Sep 20, 2009 05:05 am | SelmaBouvier Friend and Ally Update: Of course they're not paying the attention they should be to their western border; they're busy waging their own jihad against India. "U.S., Pakistan at odds over extremists who target U.S. troops," by Saeed Shah for McClatchy Newspapers, September 18: ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Despite growing U.S….
           "oh the racism… it's fantastic! Wow! Just Wow!" Sep 20, 2009 04:05 am | Robert.  This morning's Hate Mail Bag entry comes to us from Brisbane, Australia:WELL I have to say this is one beastie site you got going here… I love what you've done with the place the racism… oh the racism… it's fantastic! Wow! Just Wow! Good work just what the internet needed… http:// jihadwatch. us1.list-manage. com/track/ click? u=12857896 c3097382 b25b80a09& id=715b181522& e=0f34f38913 . #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#islam_permits_suicide
    [Sep 21, 09]
    • [Kuwaiti ban on disco, car stunts; Kids taught to kill Judaists; Jihadist insurgency in the Caucasus; Islamists to destroy German walls.] 

    [Kuwaiti ban on disco, car stunts; Kids taught to kill Judaists; Jihadist insurgency in the Caucasus; Islamists to destroy German walls.]

       JihadWatch Daily Digest, director § jihadwatch org , September 27, 2009
         Kuwait: Jihad against disco. Sep 26, 2009 09:09 pm | robert.  There is no fun in Islam, as the Ayatollah Khomeini said. Sharia Alert from our friends and allies in modern, moderate Kuwait: offenses include disco dancing, bootlegging, and (gasp!) "performing stunts" with cars. "Several held for disco parties, manufacturing liquor during Eid," from Arab Times, September 25.  http:// jihadwatch. us1.list-manage. com/track/click? u=12857896 c3097382b25 b80a09& id=0d61e0 e236& e=0f34f38913 .
         Illinois Muslims are shocked! -- shocked! -- that a Muslim there would be involved in a terror plot Sep 26, 2009 11:08 pm | robert.  I don't have a statement from the Muslim in Springfield who was plotting the terror attack that Muslims are so shocked about in this article. However, around the same time, another Muslim, Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, was plotting a jihad terror attack in Dallas, and he said this:I truly say …
           Hamas TV show teaches kids to kill Jews. Sep 26, 2009 01:30 pm | robert.  Will the Islamophobia never end? "Hamas teaches kids to kill Jews," by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik for Palestinian Media Watch, September 23 (thanks to all who sent this in): The bear puppet host, Nassur, of a Hamas children's TV program used different words for "slaughter" to describe …
         "Please would you be so kind to explain why you hate the religion of truth that tought you all you know?" [or should that be "taught"?] Sep 26, 2009 01:05 pm | robert.  Well, maybe not quite everything. From Harrow in the UK comes today's Hate Mail Bag entry:Dear Sir Please would you be so kind to explain why you hate the religion of truth that tought you all you know? the west doesnt really want a war against islam so why do …
       • Caucasus: "It's not separatism anymore, it's a jihadist insurgency" Sep 26, 2009 04:02 am | SelmaBouvier.  Even Human Rights Watch noticed. But this report is suffused with denial that anything in the substance of Islamic beliefs could have a role here. Islamic jihad is almost always portrayed as a reaction to something; the assumption is that there has to be something to blame, and if it …
         Incisive analysis from a genuine thoughtful critic. Sep 27, 2009 04:08 am | robert.  Yesterday I received this email from yet another Hate Mailer in London, accusing me of giving you folks a bad impression of Hate Mailers: I can only imagine the number of emails you must receive from Muslims across the world. But I don't have to imagine, as I know, that …
           Jihadist propaganda blitz ahead of German elections says only a matter of time "before jihad destroys German walls"  Sep 26, 2009 05:04 am | SelmaBouvier.  Intimidation efforts kick into high gear. "Taliban threatens Germany ahead of vote: official," from Agence France-Presse, September 25: German authorities have uncovered a new video threatening attacks against the country over its military engagement in Afghanistan ahead of this weekend's pivotal elections, an official said Friday. The new Internet video … http:// jihadwatch. us1.list-manage. com/track/click? u=12857896 c3097382 b25b80a09& id=6c04b2a695& e=0f34f38913 . #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#kuwaiti_ban_on
    [Sep 27, 09]
    • Staunch the 'refugee' flow right now.     

    Staunch the ‘refugee’ flow right now

     
       The West Australian, letters § wanews com au , Letters to The Editor, p 22, Monday, September 28, 2009
       How much longer is this Government going to go on promoting the obviously spurious line that the boat-a-day flotilla of so-called refugees that is now breaching our sea borders is just an unavoidable response to "push" factors in their countries of origin and by implication we can either not staunch the flow or it will turaout to be just temporary?
       What nonsense. There have always been "push" factors in most of those countries: they have always been uncivil places, bereft of the rule of law, mired in ethnic and religious conflict and reluctant to adopt modern economic practises [? practices] which may have broken those cycles.
       What has altered, apart from the obvious changes by the current government to our laws in respect of dealing with their mostly young, fit male passengers is that their populations now know a lot more about the rest of the world, particularly the Western world: there are established illegal migration networks that can be used for a fee; the Western world has become ideologically vulnerable to any and all intrusions; and there are now increasingly large diasporas in the targeted host countries which plainly work as a "pull" factor in their own right.
       Last, there is the continued UN Refugee Convention still in place, now nearly 65 years old and clearly no longer sustainable but which gives this whole movement of people the veneer of legality.
       The Labor Government is disingenuous in maintaining this charade. It needs to staunch the flow one way or another or it is morally bound to say, so we all understand its position, that it will not do so because it holds that the desire of these people to seek residence here exceeds our rights of sovereignty.
       It is that simple and that important.

    Solve it


       I congratulate [name withheld] (Put the brakes on growth, Letters, 24/9) and [name withheld] (It's all gone, Letters, 24/9) on their views. Governments have the duty to provide maintenance which should not be compromised by growth. If things are not maintained, including our way of life, they deteriorate.
       Governments sometimes forget that it is taxpayers' money with which they have been entrusted and that they are spending.
       However, I feel that Patricia Rust (Tiny trickle, Letters, 24/9) although obviously kind-hearted, has missed the point. Yes, these "asylum seekers" have paid huge sums – we don't know how they got them – and have risked life and limb to come to our wonderful (if slowly degrading) country.
       But why should we accept people who have cheated and bribed, over those who stay in their country, perhaps fighting for good, and not prepared to cheat to leave the country of their birth? Do we want to encourage immigrants like the former?
       It is easy to take the micro view, but moving a problem of over population from one country to another does not solve the problem, it merely spreads it.

    A ‘sorry’ please


       For several years now The West Australian has been printing stories of impending drought caused by climate change. It was a popular topic again last week as the United Nations climate talks continued. In 2004, Professor Tim Flannery suggesting that "Perth would be the 21st century's first ghost metropolis".
       On Wednesday, we were told that our dams are at their highest storage levels in 12 years. When all the other discussion o£ recent years suggests the dam levels should be going the other way and quickly.
       So which is fact and which is fiction? Do our scientists and journalists ever look out the window or gather evidence? Or do they prefer to put their faith in climate models and theories?
       I can see the dams are overflowing, so that is obviously fact. Doesn't that then make the other side of the argument fiction?
       Professor Flannery, what is your view? An apology or retraction perhaps? Any journalist interested in finding out? Warren Adams, Edgewater.

    Woe is us


       Barry Walters (Letters, 24/9) seems to be of the opinion that the increase in population is causing the breakdown of WA society. It is not population growth which is the culprit.
       Arrogant, ignorant and self-interested politicians have the law is safely ignored and where only the very wealthy or the very poor have access to legal representation.
       Add to this the lack of ethical and moral behaviour with so many of our "role models" which is now assumed to now be the norm and you do have a civilisation on the brink of ruin.
       Respect for others is lacking and our education system appears to be more concerned with producing graduates with a woeful lack of social skills and enlarged egos (future politicians).
       Until we are prepared to make an effort to instil values which offer a positive and respectful approach in our lives, where such views are respected and, at the very least, supported by politicians and other so called "leaders", we are facing an uncertain future.
       Nope, it is not the ever increasing hoards of humanity that is the problem, it is the continual decline in values and our lack of will to uphold them which is the major factor to consider.
       Mr Walters, it is not "woe is me", it is "woe is us". Jim Hamilton, Noranda.

    Drop cringe


       Liz Constable and senior educrats should take a few return flights to Bali over the school holidays to observe first hand one of the causes of low education standards – ignorant, abusive parents.
       An item in Inside Cover a few weeks ago about the appalling behaviour of an Australian family on an AirAsia flight from Bali to Perth shows the problems teachers must face each day.
       Standards will not rise despite all the hare-brained schemes foist on teachers by out of touch educrats unless the problem with parents is acknowledged and action taken to fix it. Maybe Professor Fiona Stanley could help with this.
       And when will reporters start to ask education "experts" just how many years they spent in a classroom actually responsible for the learning outcomes of a big group of children?
       I noticed years ago some people would get out of the classroom after a year or two, transfer to the Education Department headquarters and get a Masters or Ph D, then develop unteachable curriculums.
       Of course, they are much more "expert" if they come from overseas. When will we rid ourselves of the cultural cringe? John Stickle, Daglish
    POPULATION
       So often I feel depressed reading the headlines of your paper (State's population grows by 220 a day, 23/9). That's 1540 a week, 80,000 a year. Bunbury isn't supposed to reach that size until 2020.
       Each year, at current growth rates, WA will have to build a new city bigger than Bunbury.
       I share Ross Gittins' dismay in hearing forecasts for Australia's population to grow to more than 35 million.
       These growth rates are exponential.
       I am much heartened that your paper has published his opinion piece (Try limiting population to ease global warming, 23/9) which clearly asks us to re-examine our beliefs in the necessity for growth.
       I will feel even better when I see evidence that our politicians and economists understand the consequences of exponential growth within a bounded system.
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#staunch-the_refugee
    [Sep 28, 09]
    • Tell my brothers I died well"   

    “Tell my brothers I died well”

      
       Life News, Life Ministries, 4 / 334 Wanneroo Rd, Nollamara, WA, 6061, Australia; www.life ministries. org.au , by Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, p 2, October-December 2009
    "Tell my brothers that I died well, and am living with Christ.  And if we all die, we know that we die for the Lord."
       These words were spoken by George Orjih, a pastor from Maiduguri, Nigeria, as he was about to be beheaded by an Islamist group on 27 July 2009 for refusing to convert to Islam.  An eyewitness says that Orjih was singing and praying all through the ordeal and encouraging the believers not to give up, even unto death. [...]
       George Orjih is but one of many Christians around the world who have been singled out for death this year because they bear the Name of Christ. ...
       Dr Patrick Sookhdeo is International Director of Barnabas Fund #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#tell_my_brothers
    [Oct-Dec 2009]
    • Kidnapped priest sighting gives hope.     

    Kidnapped priest sighting gives hope

       The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , letters § wanews com au , p 50, Wednesday, October 14, 2009
       MANILA – An elderly Irish Catholic priest kidnapped in the Philippines had been seen alive in captivity in an area where Islamist militants were known to operate, authorities said yesterday.
       Michael Sinnott, 79, and his heavily armed captors were seen on the coast of Moro Gulf, on the southern island of Mindanao, on Monday, regional military chief Maj-Gen. Ben Dolorfino said.
       They were seen again yesterday trekking in the mountainous hinterland near the coast, he said.
       Maj-Gen. Dolorfino declined to say why troops were not immediately sent in to rescue Father Sinnott, who was seized by six armed men on Sunday from his home at the Missionary Society of St Columban compound in Pagadian City.
       But yesterday Philippine troops and navy gunboats were deployed to surround the militants and pressure them into freeing Father Sinnott.
      [Picture] Concerns: Father Michael Sinnott  
       Father Sinnott's abduction is the latest in a long list of kidnappings for ransom targeting foreign missionaries and tourists in the southern third of the majority Catholic nation.
       Military reports indicating that the priest, who is two months short of his 80th birthday, was alive came amid concerns from his colleagues that Father Sinnott, who had a quadruple heart bypass several years ago, may not survive the ordeal.
       Maj-Gen. Dolorfino gave no details about Father Sinnott's health, and hoped his abductors would treat him well.
       Authorities have said that the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group or the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front are suspects.  Both groups, as well as other unnamed Muslim armed gangs, are known to operate in parts of Lanao.
       However, the 12,000-strong MILF denied yesterday that it was behind the abduction and said it was willing to help troops recover the priest.
       Father Sinnott's superior, Patrick O'Donoghue, said the Church had not received any claim of responsibility for the abduction. He ruled out paying a ransom, citing Church policy.
       Father Sinnott has spent about 40 years in the Philippines, first arriving in Mindanao in 1957 as a young missionary, serving for nine years before being posted abroad.  He returned in 1976 and never left. #
       [RECAPITULATION: … Father Sinnott … was seized by six armed men on Sunday from his home at the Missionary Society of St Columban compound in Pagadian City. ENDS.]
       [1st COMMENT: A religious practitioner is not even safe on a Christian holy day in a "compound."  That says something about the "religion of peace."  Is there any reason for this?  Read on: COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  9:31:-   They take their priests and their anchorites to be their lords beside Allah.  And (they take as their Lord) Christ the son of Mary; yet they were commanded to worship but One God:  there is no god but He.  Praise and glory to Him:  (far is He) from having the partners they associate (with Him). 
       9:32:- Fain would they extinguish Allah's Light with their mouths, but Allah will not allow but that His Light should be perfected, even though the Unbelievers may detest (it).
       9:34-35:- 34.  O ye who believe!  There are indeed many among the priests and anchorites, who in falsehood devour the wealth of men and hinder (them) from the Way of Allah.  And there are those who hoard gold and silver and spend it not in the Way of Allah:  announce unto them a most grievous chastisement - 35.  On the Day when it will be heated in the fire of Hell, and with it will be branded their foreheads, their flanks, and their backs, -"This is the (treasure) which ye hoarded for yourselves: taste ye, then, the (treasures) ye hoarded" < www.usc.edu/ dept/MSA/ quran/009. qmt.html# 009.034 > DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [2nd COMMENT: The above scriptures would be a good starting point for the Western Christian leaders and scholars to discuss at their next meeting with Muslim leaders and/or scholars.  If they are the words from Heaven, how many more centuries will the Westerners keep closing their eyes?  Isn't Patrick Sookhdeo correct in his assessment of Islam as demonic and anti-Christ?  And what can the Western Christians make out of the Koran 5:66 (or 5:72)?  Read on to see the Islamic way of "multiculturalism." ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  Sahih Muslim's, Book 037, Number 6670:- Ibn Shihab reported that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) made an expedition to Tabuk and he (the Holy Prophet) had in his mind (the idea of threatening the) Christians of Arabia in Syria and those of Rome. [***]
       Sunan Abu-Dawud's, Book 41, Number 5186:- Narrated AbuHurayrah: Suhayl ibn AbuSalih said: I went out with my father to Syria.  The people passed by the cloisters in which there were Christians and began to salute them.  My father said: Do not give them salutation first, for AbuHurayrah reported the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_ upon_him) as saying: Do not salute them (Jews and Christians) first, and when you meet them on the road, force them to go to the narrowest part of it. TRADITION ENDS.]
       [ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: J.M.M. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#kidnapped_priest_sighting
    [Oct 14, 09]
    • Geert Wilders arrives in UK and explains his 'problems with Islam'.     

    Geert Wilders arrives in UK and explains his ‘problems with Islam’


    Geert Wilders, the right-wing Dutch politician who compared the Koran to Hitler's book Mein Kampf, was met with protests as he arrived in the UK.
       The Telegraph (Britain), http://www. telegraph. co.uk/news/ newstopics/ politics/ 6348730/ Geert-Wilders- arrives-in-UK- and-explains- his-problems- with-Islam.html ; October 16, 2009
       Police held back a crowd of Muslim demonstrators as Geert Wilders met Ukip peer Lord Pearson opposite the Houses of Parliament.
       Explaining his controversial views on Islam, he said: "I have a problem with the Islamic ideology, the Islamic culture, because I feel that the more Islam that we get in our societies, the less freedom that we get."
       The leader of the Dutch Freedom Party was allowed into Britain after overturning a Government decision led by former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to bar him from the country.
       It was feared that his outspoken views on Islam could spark religious violence, but this was rejected by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal on Tuesday.
       Mr Wilders denied responsibility for the publicity which has greeted his visit.
       The 46-year-old said: "If anybody has responsibility for this publicity, it is the UK Government and the Home Secretary and not Geert Wilders."
       Mr Wilders, who wants the Koran banned, insisted: "I am not extreme, I am not a racist either."
       He has been under 24-hour protection for the past five years after receiving death threats over his views.
       The controversial figure had planned a press conference on College Green opposite the Houses of Parliament, but this was hastily moved inside a nearby building when the protesters emerged.
       Mr Wilders opened the meeting by saying: "I would like to start by quoting one of the great British writers, George Orwell, who once said 'if liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they don't want to hear'."
       He said oppression of homosexuals and journalists in some Islamic countries is "retarded" and he is fighting for the rights of non-Muslims.
       The politician said he wants to return to the UK to screen his short film Fitna, which criticises the Koran as a "fascist book".
       Lord Pearson, who invited Mr Wilders to Britain, said his arrival was "a celebration of the victory of freedom of speech over those who would prevent it in this country, particularly the Islamists, the violent Jihadists who are on the march across the world and in the UK".
       The visit saw protesters brandishing banners saying "Sharia is the solution, freedom go to hell" and "Geert Wilders deserves Islamic punishment".
       Abu Muaz, who said he was from a group called Islam For UK, said: "If I were to say some of the things he has said, I would be arrested under the Terrorism Act. But because there is a war on Muslims, he gets an easy ride."
       The demonstrators said Mr Wilders was an "enemy of Islam", and called for Sharia law in the Netherlands.
       He faces allegations in his home country of inciting racial hatred.
       Mohammed Shafiq, from the Ramadhan Foundation, said it was right that Mr Wilders had been allowed into the UK, but he should be closely monitored while in the country.
       He said: "The right decision was made to let him in because we believe in freedom of speech in this country, no matter how abhorrent someone's views are. But he has got to be monitored so that he doesn't say anything to incite religious violence.
       "If you start attacking somebody's faith in the way that he has, they could react violently. Islam is not above criticism, and criticism based on a mutual respect and tolerance is fine.
       "But his hatred is no different to the intolerance that the BNP and the far right are preaching."
       A spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) branded Mr Wilders "a relentless preacher of hate" and objected to "the rapturous welcome he is receiving in the name of free speech".
       MCB secretary general Muhammad Abdul Bari said: "At a time of heightened tension, with the unprecedented rise of the far right, we must all pull together and focus on points of unity and cohesion.
       "Our unhealthy obsession with divisive figures only bolsters their objective to sow discord on the streets of Britain." #
       [RECAPITULATION: The visit saw protesters brandishing banners saying "Sharia is the solution, freedom go to hell" and "Geert Wilders deserves Islamic punishment". ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: See above, "freedom go to hell."  That Islamist was telling the truth!  Freedom to submit to the mullahs and people with weapons is the only freedom of Islam. ENDS.]
       [INTERNET COMMENT (from the Telegraph webpage): Once again we see how "tolerant" of differing views the so-called "religion of peace" actually is. European governments have been steadily retreating from this onslaught on Western Culture, just as the American Government has been retreating in the face of invasion across our southern border. By the time governments are revamped by the people and had their collective heads shoved into these problems, all our heads will be shoved onto the chopping block.
       As long as I live and breathe, Islam will NOT dominate the world, and there are many more like me, on BOTH sides of the ocean. Sharia be damned! Infidels Unite! Prepare for the Fourth Crusade! ENDS.]
       [TEXTS: Check the KORAN and HADITH. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#geert_wilders_arrives
    [Oct 16, 09]
    • [Grenades for quiz winners; New book exposes Muslim council; Run over the Jewish monkey; Algebra devised by a Greek?] 

    [Grenades for quiz winners; New book exposes Muslim council; Run over the Jewish monkey; Algebra devised by a Greek?]

       JihadWatch Daily Digest, director § jihadwatch org , October 17, 2009
          Somalia: Ramadan quiz winners get prizes of guns and grenades.  Oct 17, 2009 12:20 pm | Robert.  "The reason the young men were rewarded with weapons is to encourage them to participate in the ongoing holy war against the enemies of Allah in Somalia," said Sheikh Abdullahi Alhaq. Monty Hall he ain't. I'd rather have the latest from Speidel. They were being quizzed on, among other things, … http:// jihadwatch. us1.list-manage. com/track/click? u=12857896 c3097382 b25b80a09& id=10e393d6ba& e=0f34f38913 .
                UN Human Rights Council and Gaza Report: "MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN … Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting" - Daniel, ch. 5: 25,27.  Oct 17, 2009 12:12 pm | Robert.  Comments by David G. Littman, NGO Representative to the United Nations in Geneva for the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ) and the Association for World Education (AWE), speaking this time in a joint statement for WUPJ and the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC): The promised follow-up to "Jihad is its …
          Book: "CAIR coached a mosque leader in Western Maryland not to cooperate with an FBI investigation of suspicious activity".  Oct 17, 2009 09:07 am | Robert.  More from Muslim Mafia. "Book Exposes CAIR's Exaggerations, Efforts to Stymie Law Enforcement," from IPT News, October 15A new book claims to give readers an inside look at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), arguing everything from its claims of financial and political clout to its genuine agenda are rooted …
            Bin Laden: Run over the Jewish monkey.  Oct 17, 2009 09:00 am | Robert.  "Ask them concerning the town standing close by the sea. Behold! they transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath. For on the day of their Sabbath their fish did come to them, openly holding up their heads, but on the day they had no Sabbath, they came not: thus did …
        • Fjordman: A History of Algebra.  Oct 17, 2009 08:23 am | Robert.  Here is the latest from the erudite European essayist Fjordman: Diophantus of Alexandria is sometimes called "the father of algebra," although the title is disputed. He worked in Roman Egypt in the third century of our era, but while he is usually assumed to have been a Greek, very little …
            Fitzgerald: What the collapse of Israel would cost..  Oct 17, 2009 08:15 am | Hugh.  "Online reports of a study by the US Central Intelligence Agency cast doubt over the survival of Israel beyond the next two decades. Regardless of the validity of the report, with what is now known about the costs in blood and treasure that the U.S.-Israeli relationship has imposed on the … http:// jihadwatch. us1.list-manage. com/track/click? u=12857896 c3097382 b25b80a09& id=65fdc0581 a&e=0f34f38913 . #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#grenades_for_quiz
    [Oct 17, 09]
    • [U.S. Halal slaughterhouse raided; Flying imams win; Narcotics in name of Islam; Tony Blair assaulted in holy building; Slave trade article; Muslims attack Hindus.] 

    [U.S. Halal slaughterhouse raided; Flying imams win; Narcotics in name of Islam; Tony Blair assaulted in holy building; Slave trade article; Muslims attack Hindus.]

       JihadWatch Daily Digest, director § jihadwatch org , October 20, 2009
         All not kosher in halal slaughterhouse in Illinois: FBI raids with 100 agents, cops, 50 govt vehicles, helicopter, more; Oct 20, 2009 06:45 pm.  "Way too much overkill for immigration." Yep. "Kinsman, IL - FBI Raids Halal Slaughterhouse," from CBS Chicago via Vos Iz Neias?, October 20 (thanks to Paul): Kinsman, IL - Federal agents conducted a raid Sunday afternoon at a goat meat processing plant near Morris, Illinois. The secretive operation was … http:// jihadwatch. us1.list-manage. com/track/ click? u=12857896 c3097382 b25b80 a09& id=2110924fbf& e=0f34f38913 .
         "This war in Kunduz belongs to the narcotics mafia, which is operating in the name of Islam," Oct 20, 2009 05:55 pm.  Mohammad Razaq Yaqubi said that. He must be some kind of Islamophobe. "Taliban continue to expand their reach," by Gull Rohm Niazmand for MCT News Service, October 20 (thanks to James): KUNDUZ, Afghanistan The insignia on the door says the vehicle belongs to the provincial police. But the man behind …
         US Airways settles intimidation lawsuit filed by Flying Imams.  Oct 20, 2009 05:31 pm.  The Flying Imams' lawsuit was "the latest component in a national campaign to intimidate airlines and government agencies from acting prudently to ensure passenger safety." In other words, it was a quintessential stealth jihad effort. "US Airways, others settle lawsuit filed by Muslim clerics," by Mike Sunnucks for BizJournals.com , October …
           Muslim protester assaults Tony Blair inside Palestinian mosque.  Oct 20, 2009 04:21 pm.  "You know, he made his protest and that's fair enough," said Blair. "I think it's important for you guys as well to not always mistake the protest for the general view of the whole population." Of course. The vast, vast majority dearly want peace, eh? "Protester assails Blair in Palestinian …
         If defeating the Taliban is not our goal, what is?  Oct 20, 2009 12:21 pm.  In "What Is Victory? If defeating the Taliban is not our goal, what is?" at National Review today, Andrew C. McCarthy talks sense -- where there is apparently none in the Obama Administration. Rarely has there been such a dramatic disconnect between rhetoric and reality. On Afghanistan, the national-security Right …
         Sharia advancing in Iraq -- for non-Muslims, too.  Oct 20, 2009 11:03 am.  Democracy on the march. "Sharia slowly advancing in Najaf and Basra, for non-Muslims too," by Layla Yousif Rahema for Asia News, October 20 (thanks to C. Cantoni): Baghdad (AsiaNews) -For the past ten days, no one has been able to drink or buy alcoholic beverages in Najaf because of a …
           Lebanon: Spy devices belonged to Hizballah, not Israel.  Oct 20, 2009 10:57 am.  Big surprise here. An update on this story. "Lebanon: Exploded Devices Lead To Hezbollah Not Israel, Press," from ANSAmed, October 20 (thanks to Insubria): (ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, OCTOBER 20 - The spy devices destroyed between Saturday and Sunday along the temporary border reportedly belonged to the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah …
    • The Islamic slave trade Part I..  Oct 20, 2009 07:43 am.  (Thanks to Banafsheh.) …
    • The Islamic slave trade, part II.  Oct 20, 2009 10:07 am. 
    • The Islamic slave trade, part III.  Oct 20, 2009 10:10 am. 
    • The Islamic slave trade, part IV.  Oct 20, 2009 10:11 am. 
    • The Islamic slave trade, part V.  Oct 20, 2009 10:13 am.  Thanks to Banafsheh … . http:// jihadwatch. us1.list- manage. com/track/click? u=12857896 c3097382 b25b80 a09& id=0428f6f929& e=0f34f38913 .
    • El blog del Corán- Sura 2 (La Vaca) -- Versículos 1-39.  Oct 20, 2009 10:06 am.  Traducido por Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi. Sura 2, Al-Baqara ('La Vaca'), como casi todos los capítulos del Corán, toma su título de algo contado dentro de ella- en este caso, la historia de Moisés cuando les pidió a los hebreos (según el pedido de Alá) que sacrificaran una vaca (2:67-73). Es …. http:// jihadwatch. us1.list-manage. com/track/click? u=12857896 c3097382 b25b80a09& id=c52b8e05f4& e=0f34f38913 .
    • Koran verses appear on baby's skin: "Ali always feels bad when it is happening. He cries and his temperature goes up."  Oct 20, 2009 07:41 am.  Odd. If this is really a sign from Allah, why does it make the baby so uncomfortable?  In this it is reminiscent of Muhammad's first revelation, in which -- according to Bukhari, the collection of Hadith considered most reliable by Muslims -- Gabriel left Muhammad in a state of …
         Muslims attack Hindus in India.  Oct 20, 2009 07:26 am.  The victims "were enjoying [fire]crackers on Diwali night when they were attacked by Muslims of Nagorivad." Will the Islamophobia never end?  "Minority Hindus attacked again in Ahmedabad's Shahpur," for DeshGujarat.com, October 18 (thanks to The Religion of Peace): Minority Hindus were attacked again by Muslims in Ahmedabad's Shahpur area, … http:// jihadwatch. us1.list-manage. com/track/click? u=12857896 c3097382 b25b80a09& id=a719f2f679& e=0f34f38913 . #
       [FOR THE ENGLISH OF El blog del Corán- Sura 2 (La Vaca) -- Versículos 1-39, visit The Koran, Surah 2, "The Cow" (or, "The Heifer").  A transliteration of the Arabic title is Al-Baqarah. ENDS.]
       [BACKGROUND: Click Koran Key, and for the traditions Hadith Key. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#us_halal_slaughterhouse
    [Oct 20, 09]
    • Grieving dad rails at anti-war mail.  [Allegation: Using mail to harass soldiers' relatives; Suggestion: Leave if values are off.]    

    Grieving dad rails at anti-war mail

       The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , letters § wanews com au , p 15, Friday, October 23, 2009
       SYDNEY – A father harassed by anti-war mail after his son was killed in Afghanistan says immigrants who can't adapt to Australian life and values should live elsewhere.
       Private Gregory Michael Sher, 30, was killed in a rocket attack in Oruzgan province, in southern Afghanistan, in January.
       He was the eighth Australian Defence Force soldier to be killed in Afghanistan since 2002, but the first to die as a result of indirect fire.
       Pte Sher's father Felix received a phone call and letters, allegedly from Sydney self-styled Muslim cleric Sheikh Haron, just before his son's funeral.
       "I feel bad that you have lost your son but I don't feel bad that a murderer of innocent civilians has lost his life," a line in one of the letters reportedly said.
      [Picture] Private Gregory Michael Sher  
       Other Australian families of men killed in Afghanistan have allegedly received similar letters.
       On Tuesday, Sheikh Haron was charged with seven counts of "using a postal service or similar service to menace, harass or cause offence". He was granted bail to appear in court on November 10.
       Mr Sher says he's now waiting for justice to take its course.
       "There is no point in getting angry or upset, nothing is going to be achieved by it," he told Fairfax Radio Network yesterday.
       Mr Sher called on immigrants whose values were not in line with the general community to leave.
       "What I would like to say is that when people immigrate to Australia, when they actually do so with the intention of integrating with the general community and living in peace and harmony, rather than confronting it and causing tension and conflict, and irrespective of what one's religious beliefs are, one can still live happily with the community but not dissolve," he said.
       "If people don't like what's happening in Australia, live elsewhere." #
       [COMMENT: This father's sentiments seem similar to the vehicle bumper sticker that shows an Australian flag, with the slogan "Love it or leave it."  There is a similar slogan on some vehicle windows, with an outline of Australia and the Southern Cross.  The "politically correct" chattering classes still support indiscriminate immigration and residency laws, in spite of the dangers of allowing people with extremist cultures into peaceful unarmed populations.  Imagine how the PC people will rush to defend Haron's right to free speech, while turning away when mobs try to stifle public figures like the Hon. Wilson Tuckey, Member of the Australian House of Representatives.
       In Britain the anti-soldier "religious" movement is strong enough to harass welcome-home parades of the troops.  Many reformers oppose sending Western troops to Iraq, and less oppose the invasion of Afghanistan under the pretext of finding Osama Bin Laden, allegedly leader of the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#grieving_dad_rails
    [Oct 23, 09]
    • They won't be happy in Oz.      [Help the Tamils to go northwards to their ancestral home.]      

    They won't be happy in Oz

     
       The Sunday Times (Perth, W. Australia), letters § sundaytimes newsltd com au ; Letter to The Editor, p 71, Sunday, October 25, 2009
       PEOPLE who pay people smugglers many dollars and head to Australia instead of Tamil Nadu – the Tamil state in southern India set aside for people of similar ethnic, religious and cultural origin – are not refugees.
       They are cashed-up people fleeing the Singhalese army and probable persecution, but like the underworld of people in Australia now gathering chemicals and arms who were previously described as refugees, they will not be happy in good old Oz.
       The Tamils' ancestral home in southern India would suit them better.  And as MP Wilson Tuckey said, there might be terrorists among them.
       I ask Amnesty International to read up on ethnicity, customs, religion, language, history and current affairs before asking people to oppose the Australian bipartisan resistance to these latest boat people.

    Tamils live harmoniously in Sri Lanka

      [He's writing about non-Tiger Tamils.]
       I COMMEND Wilson Tuckey for his forthright views and alerting Australia to the terror threat from the boat people.
       Look at what the Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers have done.  They sabotage their vessel and call Australian Maritime Security to rescue them while still in Indonesian waters.  Once anchored, they issue threats of hunger strikes and blowing up the vessel and offer deals to the Australian Government to get them accepted.
       Obviously, they are in constant touch with their network in Australia, who gauge the public mood and advise them accordingly to change their tack.
       As an Australian of Sri Lankan descent, I know how two million Tamils in Sri Lanka live harmoniously with other races. They serve as professionals, academics, judges, mayors and government ministers and control the business sector in Colombo.
       The only Tamils who fear going back to Sri Lanka are those connected with the defeated Tamil Tigers.
       Sri Lankans no longer live with a fear of suicide bombings and terrorist attacks.
       The civil war in Sri Lanka is over, but this is underplayed by interested groups to create an opportunity for bogus refugees to the West.
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#they_won_t_be
    [Oct 25, 09]
    • WA 'discriminates' against Muslims.     

    WA ‘discriminates’ against Muslims

       The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , letters § wanews com au , By JESSICA STRUTT, p 3, Friday, October 30, 2009
       PERTH – Muslims were regularly discriminated against in WA, with halal food not served properly to hospital patients and local councils reluctant to allow mosques to be built, a spokesman for WA's peak Islamic group said yesterday.
       Islamic Council of WA spokesman Rahim Ghauri said while other religious groups had no trouble getting approval to build their churches, Muslim groups frequently ran into difficulties with government and local councils when applying to construct places of worship.
      [Picture] Claim: Rahim Ghauri  
       The comments came as former immigration minister Kevin Andrews told a Sydney radio station it was time for Australia to have a serious discussion about the growth of its Muslim population. "To have a concentration of one ethnic or one particular group that remains in an enclave for a long period of time is not good," the Federal MP said.
       Asked about the growth of the Muslim population in Australia, Mr Andrews said it was a topic that had to be discussed.
       "You should be able to talk about it," he said. "When a subject becomes politically incorrect to talk about, then it ends up with a backlash. I think part of the (Pauline) Hanson movement in the early 1990s was because some subjects were simply said to be off the table."
       Census data shows there was a 70 per cent increase in the number of Australians of Islamic faith between 1996 and 2006.

       Mr Ghauri agreed there was a need for debate. He said Muslims had more restrictions in society than any other group.
       "Why Muslims live together is for the simple reason that local shires and the government are reluctant to give them a place for worship where they can build their churches," Mr Ghauri said.
       "On the other hand, the other groups, they can get permission from the councils and from the government, even help from the government, to build their churches easily. Muslims know that they are being discriminated not only by the government and the local government, the local authorities.
       "In WA hospitals, Muslims are not getting halal food properly as it should be." #
       [RECAPITULATION: On the other hand, the other groups, they can get permission from the councils and from the government, even help from the government, to build their churches easily. ENDS.]
       [1st COMMENT: Paying religions to build, or for any other reason, is not a proper use of taxpayers' money.  Citizens who want a religion to have premises built are free, all over Australia, to donate their own money.  Other citizens are entitled to have taxes lowered by the amounts of public money now being put into cathedrals, churches, temples, and mosques (yes, in spite of what Mr Ghauri says) by the Federal and State governments.  COMMENT ENDS.]
       [KORAN (said to be the Angel Gabriel's message from Allah):  9:29:- Make war upon such of those to whom the Scriptures have been given as believe not in Allah, or in the last day, and who forbid not what Allah and His Apostle have forbidden, and who profess not the profession of the truth, until they pay tribute out of hand, and they be humbled.
       See also 2:193 (or 2:189). DOCTRINE ENDS.]
       [HADITH:  Sahih Bukhari's Volume 5, Book 59, Number 641:- Narrated Jarir: In the Pre-lslamic Period of Ignorance there was a house called Dhu-l-Khalasa or Al-Ka'ba Al-Yamaniya or Al-Ka'ba Ash-Shamiya.  The Prophet said to me, "Won't you relieve me from Dhu-l-Khalasa?"  So I set out with one-hundred-and-fifty riders, and we dismantled it and killed whoever was present there.  Then I came to the Prophet and informed him, and he invoked good upon us and Al-Ahmas (tribe) . < www.usc.edu/ dept/MSA/ fundamentals/ hadithsunnah/ bukhari/059. sbt.html#005. 059.641 >. TRADITION ENDS.]
       [2nd COMMENT: Just as in Muhammad's day, once Islamists reach a certain strength, mobs of them appear outside churches, temples, or synagogues, and destroy the building, sometimes killing everyone they can catch.  Similar mob attacks on police stations and army posts or barracks, whether in a Muslim or non-Muslim country, also occur.  And for years news reports have shown that extreme preachers have led religion-schools (madrassas) that produce zealots, some of whom become suicide-bombers.  Such evidence might be behind the reported remarks of the Hon. Kevin Andrews, former federal minister. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#wa_discriminates_against
    [Oct 30, 09]
    • WA acting like Saudi Arabia?           

    WA acting like Saudi Arabia?

     
       Letter SENT to The Editor, The West Australian, letters§wanews com au , October 30, 2009
       Islamic Council of WA's Rahim Ghauri is reported as saying that Western Australia discriminates against Muslims (30/10).
       Muslims are not being allowed to build praying places, he says.  Perhaps the opponents have read newsitems about suicide bombers entering mosques if they are a different brand of Muslim, or even this week's horrendous murder, mainly of woman and children, by a suicide car bomber at a market next to a mosque.
       The outrageous attacks by Muslims of other Muslim people in various north African countries, the mass-murders by Muslims of Muslim police and soldiers in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the beheading of three Christian schoolgirls by Muslims in the Philippines, might lead some Australians to oppose a number of other Muslim requests, too.
       Perhaps the opponents of mosques have found out how many churches exist in Saudi Arabia (answer, None), or how hard it is to build one in most Muslim countries.  Aren't the WA opponents allowed to follow the Old Testament (Bible) and Muslim dictum "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth"?
       If WA hospitals are not serving halal food properly, as he says, why don't people ask how many Muslim hospitals in all-Muslim lands would serve bacon, pork, or ham to a Westerner? Or to a Hindu or Buddhist, or any other person?
       Other letter-writers in recent years have reminded Muslim complainers that no-one is preventing them moving to some country where they will be happier than in Australia. The bumper stickers say it beautifully -- "Love it, or leave it."
       Could your journalists ask if Mr Ghauri's statement is a formal preliminary warning to more robust activity? The tradition of making demands of the infidels, before launching active jihad, goes right back Mohammad's time. #
       [HADITH:  Sahih Bukhari's, 2, 23:414:- Narrated 'Urwa: ‘Āisha said, "The Prophet in his fatal illness said, 'Allah cursed the Jews and the Christians because they took the graves of their Prophets as places for praying'."  
       4, 53:386:- Narrated Jubair bin Haiya:  Umar sent the Muslims to the great countries to fight the pagans.  When Al-Hurmuzan embraced Islam, Umar said to him. "I would like to consult you regarding these countries which I intend to invade." […] Our Prophet, the Messenger of our Lord, has ordered us to fight you till you worship Allah Alone or give Jizya (i.e. tribute); and our Prophet has informed us that our Lord says:– "Whoever amongst us is killed (i.e. martyred), shall go to Paradise to lead such a luxurious life as he has never seen, and whoever amongst us remain alive, shall become your master." […]
       Also read 5, 59:600 at http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/059.sbt.html#005.059.600 .
       Sahih Muslim's Book 019, Number 4366:- It has been narrated by 'Umar b. al-Khattab that he heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) say:  I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and will not leave any but Muslim. TRADITION ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#wa_acting_like
    [Oct 30, 09]
    • 'Koran the source of persecution.'       

    ‘Koran the source of persecution’


    Archbishop traces persecution of Iraqi Christians to the Koran
       The Record (Perth, W. Australia, R.C. weekly newspaper), BY JESÚS COLINA, Zenit, p 10, November 25, 2009
       A SYRIAN Catholic Archbishop says that persecution and discrimination suffered by Iraqi Christians is ultimately rooted not in governmental actions but in a culture inspired by the Koran.
       Archbishop Jules Mikhael Al-Jamil, the Auxiliary Bishop of Antioch and procurator of the Syrian Catholic Patriarchate in Rome, told reporters in a press conference organised by the Italian Chambers of Deputies in Rome that he opposed the creation of a Christian enclave around Nineveh and that "the Church must be the presence of Christ in the country.
       "If we Christians flee when the situation is difficult, then we don't give that necessary witness.  And if the generations are uprooted, then they will never return," said the prelate, 71.
       He said that in Iraq's social system, Christians have no supports to defend themselves, thus becoming easy victims of common criminals or terrorist groups.
       He said their situation can be called a "religious persecution" caused by a social system that is inspired by a view of the Koran, according to which Islam and its followers must dominate and regard believers of other religions as citizens with fewer rights.
       The Archbishop, expert in Arab culture and literature, explained that according to the Koran, Islam is a religion that is above all others.
       In the past in Iraq (and some still hold this view), "Christians who were under a Muslim regime or doctrine were free to believe in Islam, to leave their land, or to pay a tax to live in peace," he said.
       Nevertheless, Archbishop Al-Jamil noted, Christians used to be a quite influential minority.  They made a decisive contribution to the country's culture in, for example, the creation and development of the first University of Baghdad.  These contributions, the prelate explained, allowed them to "enjoy respect."
       "But this doesn't mean that they enjoy the same rights" according to certain interpretations of the Koran, he continued.
       "A Christian cannot rule over a Muslim" in a Muslim regime; while "a general of the army cannot be a Christian."
       Now that Christians have lost their political weight and social influence, and many have abandoned their land, they suffer the persecution of a dominant social system that keeps them defenceless, Archbishop Al-Jamil said.

       The Archbishop later told Zenit he is not in favour of a proposal to protect the rights of Christians by creating a Christian enclave in Nineveh (where there is a Christian majority), since Christians are part of the social fabric of the whole country.
       Archbishop Al-Jamil is not in favour of emigration either, stating that "the Church must be the presence of Christ in the country.  If we Christians flee when the situation is difficult, then we don't give that necessary witness.  And if the generations are uprooted then they will never return."
       According to the prelate, in a democratic country, which Iraq says it is and wants to be, Christians should enjoy the same rights as the rest of the citizens.
       The meeting in the Mapamundi Hall of the Italian Chamber of Deputies was sponsored by the Save the Monasteries foundation, which aims to create awareness about the situation of the churches and monasteries that are being destroyed in Iraq, Pakistan and Kosovo. #
       [RECAPITULATION:       … Save the Monasteries foundation, which aims to create awareness about the situation of the churches and monasteries that are being destroyed in Iraq, Pakistan and Kosovo. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: There are stories of the religious buildings of other faiths being destroyed by the Muslims under Mohammad's command.  One wonders if the Italian parliamentarians have the slightest intention of stopping the anti-civilisation activities of the Jihadists, or cutting off the arms supplies to Jihadists being exported by Italian arms factories. COMMENT ENDS.]
       [2nd RECAP.: "A Christian cannot rule over a Muslim" in a Muslim regime; while "a general of the army cannot be a Christian." [he said]. ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: That is standard Muslim policy and Koran doctrine. Visit Koran # Christians and Hadith # Non-Muslims, Other Groups. ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/submit/subchron8.htm#koran_the_source
    [Nov 25, 09]

    SYMBOLS:
       ≤ means "less than or equal to," and on this website might signify before or during that year or month, or, before or on that date.
       ≥ means "greater than or equal to," i.e., "at least," and on this website is given cognate meanings, such as "on or after".
       < means "less than," and on this website might also signify before a date.
       > means "greater than," and on this website might also signify after a date.
       < and >, or ( and ).  At times, Internet addresses (URLs) or e-mail addresses in some situations might be marked off with "<" and ">" or with "(" and ")".
       ≅ means approximately equal to, but many times on this website "~" has been used, both with an extra meaning of around that period = circa.
    NEWS WEBSITES
    Jihad Watch   http://jihadwatch.org
    Militant Islam Monitor  http://www.militantislammonitor.org
    SITE Intelligence Group (headings etc.)  http://www.siteintelgroup.org
    Barnabas Fund for News  http://www.barnabasfund.org/
    Islam News Tracker  http://www.religionnewsblog.com/category/islam/
    Religion News Blog  http://feeds.feedburner.com/ReligionNewsBlog
    Information Clearing House Newsletter (USA),   www.ichblog.eu/text/
    CONTENTS and ANCHOR LIST (After reading an article, use Browser's "Back" button to return to Anchor List)
    • 3 Australians confirmed dead in Jakarta.  Messrs. Nathan Verity (Perth), Craig Senger, Garth McEvoy, and other nationalities murdered supposedly in the name of Heaven. July 19, 2009
    • 16-year-old burnt in Gzb honour killing. INDIA: Boy had been visiting girl. "Pious" busybodies burnt her with kerosene. Other neighbours took 20min to respond to screams. Mar 25, 09
    • [100 death threats for eating; U.S. jihadist admits Al-Q ties; Muslims riot in Belgium; Egyptian mullah over-rides slacks ban; Iranian Muslims to shout hate.] Jihad Watch. Sep 18, 09
    • [¾ pants for slides, swim, defying Australian swim pool rules; Sudan genocide charges, defying World court indictment.] Various newsitems. Feb 13, 09
    • Afghan cleric defends marriage law. AFGHANISTAN: Ayatollah Mohammad Asif Mohseni follows Allah's scripture. Apr 14, 09
    • [Afghans versus Bible; Jihad obligatory; 11 days to obliterate Israel; Paki nukes in danger; Denmark too humane to expel terror recruiter!]  Jihad Watch newsitems. May 5, 09
    • [Allah is not Christian God; No freedoms in Iraq etc.; Rape victims executed; Muslim kills Muslim.] Letters to Editor. Sep 1, 09
    • The American Library Association On The Side Of Terror. UNITED STATES. Steve Emerson' exposure of how the ALA dodged hearing Robert Spencer, author of eight books on Islam and jihad. Aug 10, 09
    • Answers that raise Questions. AUSTRALIA: Brisbane Catholic Commission for Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations said in 2001 that the Prophet was great, and Islam was held in high regard. (The heading is a clever play on words.) March 2009
    • Anti-Judaism attacks and school chants; Somalia hacks off hands; Riot to stop Malaysian temple; Four Jihadists plan Serbian attack.] Jihad Watch. Sep 10, 09
    • Apologise for rape remarks, Rudd tells cleric [Samir Abu Hamza]. AUSTRALIA. Jan 22, 09
    • Are they real refugees? 1951 UN Convention outdated. Aug 06, 09
    • [Arkansas jihad killer; Obama's Cairo speech criticised; Al-Jazeera plays anti-Obama tape; Obama to defend Muslims, nonsense; Algerian Muslims kill teachers; five Italian Muslims plan killings.] Jihad Watch's tracker. Jun 05, 09
    • Attorney-General Robert McClelland questioned over link to sheik. AUSTRALIA: Security chiefs twice said the sheik was dangerous, but Laborite said he wasn't. Now the Laborite is the Oz A-G. Jul 17, 09
    • Aussies' fateful breakfast. INDONESIA: Recruiting Muslim workers, but blown up. July 18-19, 2009
    • Australian admits plotting to kill thousands.  AUSTRALIA: Mr Shane Kent, a convert, pleads guilty as trial was to begin.  The cell planned to blow up football and casino crowds. Jul 28, 09
    • Ayatollah Khomeini's Religious Teachings on Marriage, Divorce and Relationships. The deceased leader's anti-social rulings live on. IRAN. Rec'd Jan 27, 09
    • Baptism sees foster carer struck off. LONDON: Girl (16) changed from Islam to Christianity, but PC rulers expelled the foster carer. Feb 10, 09
    • Bicycle bomber kills police. BAGHDAD (capital city of Iraq): Muslim kills at least 28 Muslims. Mar 9, 09
    • [Bilal Skaf rape trial revealed shocking attitudes, then Al-Hilali, now Abu Hamza; and war comments.] AUSTRALIA. Letters. Jan 24-25, 2009
    • Brawls can Lebanese gang flick. SYDNEY, Australia. Culture of threats, violence, over a fictional film based on real life. Mar 1, 09
    • Brisbane shoppers support ban on helmets and hoodies. [and on hijabs that hide the face.] AUSTRALIA. Jan 15, 09
    • [Canada jihadist 14yrs prison; Fearful girl in Florida; Interpol wants Iran's new defence minister; Honour killings increase; Yemen bumbles; Hate mail to Jihad Watch.] Sep 4, 09
    • Cardinal warns Roman Catholic women against marrying Muslim men. PORTUGAL: Truth from Jose Cardinal Policarpo.  (But does it breach the non-discrimination rules of the European Union?) Jan 15, 09
    • Catch up on Islamic teaching, PM; AND, Beware armada; AND, [Granting visas -- High treason]. AUSTRALIA. PM denies wife-beating is mainstream Islamic teaching. Two other letters oppose visas quickly granted to Afghan "refugees." Jan 26, 09
    • Celebrity Egos. As far as religion goes, famous people are egomaniacs. July 2009
    • Chapter 4 of Koran unfair to women. Letter demolishing a letter with amazing claims about ch. 4. Jan 29, 09
    • Chechen leader imposes strict brand of Islam. GROZNY, Chechnya, Russia: Moscow's man Ramzan Kadyrov approves men murdering seven women in "honour" killings. Feb 28, 09
    • Child one of Yemen hostages murdered. SANA. Aid workers killed, some live. Jun 16, 09
    • Chomsky: Undermining Gaza. Famous commentator Noam Chomsky says US backing decades-long illegal landgrabs by Israel, as well as the current Gaza onslaught. Jan 16, 09
    • Churches unite against Islamic school in Camden. SYDNEY, Australia: Beachhead to start take over to Islamicise district. Apr 22, 09
    • Cleric: Rape, beating OK for wives. AUSTRALIA: Samir Abu Hamza tells us how it is for the longest-running victims of Islam. Jan 22, 09
    • Contending for the Faith in a multi-faith world. W. AUSTRALIA: Dr Patrick Sookhdeo to speak again in Perth, August 29. Jul 28, 09
    • [Convert or die, Somali beheaded, Bomb kills 16 kids, Baldies for music, Girls' school blast.]  Global headlines. Apr 27, 09
    • [Copts in Egypt strike for freedom; Saudis think uncleanness comes from Jews in aeroplanes; Muslims dodge issue on apostacy laws, but say Bary is safe.] Sep 7, 09
    • Cricket's world is changed for ever: Community Comment. Editorial about the terror attack on the Sri Lankan cricketers in Pakistan. Mar 10, 09
    • Cruel and Usual Punishment. UNITED STATES: Book by former EGYPTIAN and former Muslim Ms Nonie DARWISH. Flogging, child marriage, death for critics. June-July 2009
    • The Crusades. Barnabas Aid, lift-out supplement, saying Crusades were a delayed attempt to regain lost Christian lands, but had horrors on both sides.  With map. May-June 2009
    • Damascus first stop on road to peace. [Al-Shihri back on terror website.] WASHINGTON. Jan 26, 09
    • The day Free Speech died: The UN shows its true colours. NEW YORK and WASHINGTON: The Islamic Conference got the U.N. General Assembly to pass a gag rule on insulting Islam, but gave a peaceful co-existence message to new President Barack Hussein Obama. July 2009
    • Difference does matter. The Legend of the Middle Ages. Book by Prof Jude Dougherty: Torture and massacre were the way with people of different faiths, in Islam too. July 2009
    • Differences 'can't be glossed over'. W. AUSTRALIA: Malaysia's opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim will speak at a Perth conference seeking tolerance -- while in his Muslim homeland he keeps facing trumped-up charges! July 1, 2009
    • Different world, AND, Debus pathetic. AUSTRALIA. Letters opposing invaders posing as asylum-seekers. Apr 27, 09
    • [Does PC multiculturalism smooth rapes, beatings?] Letter wondering if PC Australians have criticised Hamza's wife-rape and wife-bash teachings. Jan 24, 09
    • [Economist and Canada awaken to Free Speech, death is victory, stabbing 7-y-o, right to kill 'pigs']   Jihad Watch Digest. April 3, 2009
    • [Egyptians push Bedouin Arabs out. Bombs.] SINAI PENINSULA (Asia): "They have pushed us from our land." March 2009
    • Egypt: Police Collusion Suspected In Attack On Church In Minya. EGYPT: Strangely, officers arrest Christianss; roof collapses after Muslim suspects set fire to church building. July 17, 2009
    • Eight die as terrorists attack Test cricketers. LAHORE, Pakistan. Sri Lankan cricket buses attacked on way to match by approx. 12 men with rocket and other weapons.  "Religion of peace?" Mar 4, 09
    • Enclave ? Editorial Column W. AUSTRALIA: Muslim group plans all-Muslim block of apartments, raising apartheid concerns. January 2009
    • Enemy Within; British Muslims are killing our troops. Mar 3-9, 2009
    • Expansion of Islamic Saudi Academy in Virginia Approved, Outraging Opponents. Aug 04, 09
    • [False hope, no Taliban beards, hijabbed firepersons, legalizing rape in marriage, threat on Washington to 'amaze' the world.] Jihad Watch newsitems. Apr 1, 09
    • The Fatwa that changed the world. BRITAIN, IRAN, etc. Ayatollah Khomeini (since died) ordered murder of author Salman Rushdie (but no international court has held a trial of Khomeini) on St Valentine's Day, 1989.  Other murderous moves are also covered. By Andrew Anthony. Feb 14, 09
    • 'Fear of violence is everywhere' AFGHANISTAN (reported from LEBANON). With bombs going off, Christians can't even walk safely. Aug 26, 09
    • [Filipinos under attack; Cartoons removed from US cartoon study text; Parents to kill Christian daughter; Coptic girls rape-married; Somalis behead orphanage workers; Paris doesn't label carburning "youths".] Jihad watch newsitems. Aug 13, 09
    • [Finger cut off two voting women; English bank £200 charge to non-Muslims; Lockerbie bomber and energy; UN rights over-ridden by Jordan sharia.] Jihad Watch. Aug 23, 09
    • Fleeing Persecution: Converts and Western Asylum Procedures. Focus. Westerners can't comprehend that parents and other family would kill a person who left Islam. Mar-Apr 2009
    • Founder of Islamic TV station accused of beheading wife. NEW YORK. Bridge TV founder reverts to "stereotype." February 16, 2009
    • [Gaza attack, and, Illegals bypassing Muslim lands should be returned for their endless wars, or rebuild homelands.] AUSTRALIA: Letters. [Jan 18, 09]
    • Geert Wilders arrives in UK and explains his 'problems with Islam'. BRITAIN. Dutch patriot met with "freedom go to hell" banner, proving the very point he makes.  Like many others who pierce the veil, he has to be under police protection. Oct 16, 09
    • German firm hit for Iran cargo. UNITED STATES: [DHL Express US fined US $9.4m for helping 3 terror states. August 8-9, 2009
    • Germany's Merkel blasts Afghan law. BERLIN and KABUL: Afghan Parliament' wife rape law criticised by German Chancellor. Two rockets were fired at the area from which she flew away. Apr 6, 2009
    • Ghost in the terror machine. BRITAIN, PAKISTAN, and a touch of BELGIUM. The pious ones planned Easter attacks, police claim. [All four webpages.] Apr 12, 09
    • [Grenades for quiz winners; New book exposes Muslim council; Run over the Jewish monkey; Algebra devised by a Greek?] Jihad Watch. Oct 17, 09
    • Grieving dad rails at anti-war mail. AUSTRALIA: The Haron case. Allegation: Using mail to harass soldiers' relatives. Suggestion: Leave if values are off. Oct 23, 09
    • Harvard Muslim chaplain sees "wisdom" of Islamic death penalty for apostasy. UNITED STATES. Apr 15, 09
    • A hate crime aimed at infidels. JAKARTA, Indonesia. Islam motivates the terror which killed at least nine, including three Australians and at least one Indonesian. July 19, 09
    • Hate-Filled Cleric Is A Fanatic. Now get him out of here. BRITAIN. Abu Qatada appeals to European court. Feb 24 - 2 Mar, 2009
    • Help people in their own countries [and turn those back who try to sneak into Australia.] May 14, 09
    • Hijab row leads to death threats. QUEENSLAND, Australia. Face-covering security threat in shops, banks. "You're head is on a plate," radio host told. Jan 16, 2009
    • IDF: Hizbullah hiding rockets in homes. ISRAEL and LEBANON: A whole network of tunnels was built under the noses of United Nations observers and the Lebanese army. Jul 15, 09
    • Ideological passion sells us short. AUSTRALIA: The courts are defied by terror suspects. The court dismissed Keysar Trad's defamation action, describing Trad as an inciter, racist, dangerous, and disgraceful. Aug 9, 09
    • [Illegals ought to go back to join Allies fighting for freedom.] W. AUSTRALIA: Letters, most unfavourable to illegal boat people from Muslim lands. Jan 5, 09
    • Iranian acid-attack victim awaits eye-for-eye justice. SPAIN and IRAN. Mar 6, 09
    • Iran's Revolutionary Guards weave powerful web. IRAN. Jul 31 - Aug 13, 2009
    • Islam: Human Rights and Public Policy. Book, David CLAYDON (ed.); 2009; Australian taxpayers have been funding madrasas in Indonesia, etc., etc. The Koran teaching is that anyone who leaves Islam is to be killed. Apr 21, 09
    • Islamic academic gives credit to WA tolerance. W. AUSTRALIA. Feb 16, 09
    • Islamic extremists target girls' schools. PAKISTAN: Bombs, acid attacks. Four hundred will close because of the threats. Jan 19, 09
    • Islamic Intolerance on the Rise.  The Washington Times editorial on the threat to Roman Catholic Pope Benedict XVI over conversion efforts of occupying troops. p 36, April-May 2009
    • The Islamic Law of Apostacy. Global coverage from Barnabas Aid. Jan-Feb 2009
    • Islamist Lawyer Threatens to Kill Pakistani Charged with Blasphemy.  Bail denied to Christian activist for his own safety; judge also under fire.  PAKISTAN: Crowds gather at courthouse. May 6, 2009
    • Islamophobia is a fabrication. SYDNEY (NSW), Australia. Academic lists the horrid record of some Muslims in NSW. Mar 30, 09
    • [Islam permits suicide jihad war on African troops; UK defending Christianity leads to hoteliers' ruin; Lies told in US terror probe; Exposing religious war is 'racism.'] Sep 21, 09
    • Islam: Religion or Political System? AUSTRALIA: 8-page leaflet covering main dangers, plus useful URL Links. (July 2009 revision; File as if Jul 15, 09
    • Israel: Intimidation of Church Leaders by Anti-Christian Protests. ISRAEL: Ultra-Orthodox Jews of the Yad L'Achim group demonstrate every week outside Christians' homes, permitted by law. Sep-Oct 2009
    • [Jihad shouts, recruiting at mosques, US shields its students, democracy counter to Islam, Somalia cover-up order, NATO chief major enemy.] Digest of newsitems. Apr 17, 09
    • Jury clears brothers of school fraud. PERTH (W. Australia): Anwar was owed annual ground rent of $289,000, plus his salary, by the Muslim girls' school, the court was told. Sep 18, 09
    • Kidnapped priest sighting gives hope. PHILIPPINES: Irishman Fr Michael Sinnott (79) seen alive on Moro Gulf coast. Oct 14, 09
    • [Killing qualms overcome; bomb plan in Serbia; fake blasphemy, torture; 2yrs prison for wife-murder; forced marriages; label Christian kids as Muslims.] Jihad Watch. GLOBAL. Jul 4, 09
    • [Killings, threats, anarchy, women repressed -- normal in the Islamic umma.] Various newsitems. Jan 11, 09
    • [Koran not about killing.] Two-sentence letter to The Sunday Times, W. Australia. Mar 8, 09
    • 'Koran the source of persecution.' ITALY: Syrian archbishop Jules Al-Jamil tells some Koran truth about the persecution by Muslims of Christians in Iraq. Nov 25, 09
    • [Kuwaiti ban on disco, car stunts; Kids taught to kill Judaists; Jihadist insurgency in the Caucasus; Islamists to destroy German walls.] Jihad Watch Digest. Sep 27, 09
    • The last Acceptable Prejudice? George Cardinal Pell point out that anti-discrimination laws hit people who expose Islam, but not Muslims who threaten others. Mar 18, 09
    • Lebanon: Mob of 100 injures 14 UNIFIL troops. LEBANON: They were hiding illegal arms for terror attacks on the invaders of Palestine land. Jul 18, 09
    • The Myth of the Golden Age of Spanish Islam {1}. Quote from Race and Slavery in the Middle East. July 2009
    • Legislator shot dead by Taliban.  KABUL, Afghanistan: Mrs Sitara Achikzai martyred by Koranists. Taliban claims responsibility. Apr 14, 09
    • Let posterity be the judge: Violence and self-delusion. SPAIN (in the 11th C.): Muslim dictator's "pious" skull collection. March 2009
    • Liberal Party accepts half of frustrated Muslim applicants. W. AUSTRALIA. Feb 16, 09
    • [Lily-livered Europe, Fanatics in Italy, Al-Sadr promoted, Halal only at 8 UK KFCs, Father Mattaos unjustly imprisoned.] World-wide look with Jihad Watch. May 7, 09
    • Lone warrior shepherds tiny, terrorised flock. KABUL, Afghanistan. Christian nuns as aid workers, yet preaching Christianity and translating the Koran are forbidden. Jul 29, 09
    • Lyrical beauty from shattered lives: Book review. - Book The Wasted Vigil, by Mr Nadeem Aslam, 2008. Mar 21, 09
    • [Malaysia's Ibraham to speak at Muslim / Christian Conference, Perth.] W. AUSTRALIA. for July 10-12, 2009
    • Middle East Christians Persecuted. Victims of Political Correctness. PALESTINE. Jan-Feb 2009
    • Murdered for music. PAKISTAN, TURKEY, YEMEN, CAMEROON. April 2009
    • Muslim cleric jailed 15 years in Australia terror case. Feb 3, 09
    • [Muslims stop women going to church. Britain supplies special Muslim facilities. People stopped from singing hymns. Work of devil to give women rights.] Jihad Watch. Aug 28, 09
    • Muslims suspect race bar by Liberals. W. AUSTRALIA. Imam Sheikh Feizel Chothia leads Lighthouse Group of Muslims trying to join Liberal branches in Tangney division. Feb 9, 09
    • [Muslims under pressure, Rockets at Jews, Lies to children, World media fails in Gaza as civilians murdered.] January 2009
    • Nehru's great-grandson arrested over Muslim hate speech. Mar 28, 09
    • Nepal: Two Dead in Explosion at Local Church. NEPAL: Hindu extremists commit the crime of the first bombing of a church in Nepal. Sep-Oct 2009
    • New York Muslim child: "Who are struck by Allah's wrath?"  "The Jews".  NEW YORK: Toddler also blames Christians. Mar 28, 09
    • Nicky Reilly, Muslim convert, jailed for 18 years for Exeter bomb attack. ENGLAND. Jan 31, 09
    • Noam Chomsky On Gaza. Sound tape by the famous commentator. Jan 13, 09
    • Nurdin Aziz or Nur Hasbi, suspected Marriot bomber. INDONESIA: Suicide bomber kills Western businessmen. Jul 19, 09
    • OK to rape wife and beat her, says cleric. [Self-styled "cleric" Samir Abu Hamza.] MELBOURNE, Australia. Jan 23, 09
    • Our armchair jihadists. BRITAIN and PAKISTAN. Sami Yousafzai shot. Apr 12, 09
    • Our heroes; Britain's answer to the preachers of hate. BRITAIN. Mar 17-23, 2009
    • Pakistan: Christian Homes and Businesses Firebombed. PAKISTAN: On June 30, 2009, 600 Muslims damaged 117 houses. Sep-Oct 2009
    • Pakistan turns up heat on al-Qaida. ISLAMABAD. Jun 16, 09
    • [Pak. soldiers re-aligning with Taliban; Don't want to be Swedish; American jihadist killing in Somalia.] Jihad Watch Digest. Apr 2, 09
    • [Persecute them, Jihadist 'refugees,' Church attacked, Mobilising in US villages, Foreign fighters in Somalia, UN 'rights', Holy duty to fight.] Jihad Watch Digest. May 12, 09
    • Please love our country. Letter advising Muslims in AUSTRALIA not to aim to change it. Jan 24, 09
    • The plots are only the beginning. AUSTRALIA: Extract from article of Aug 8, '09, by Dr Walid Phares. Aug 22, 09
    • Police 'ran away' from jeering Gaza demonstrators. BRITAIN: Islamists too many for Bobbies. Feb 1, 09
    • Polish hostage beheaded on Pakistani Taliban video. ISLAMABAD. Feb 10, 09
    • Poll: Minority of Population Support Wilders Trial. HOLLAND: Mr Geert Wilders to be tried for exposing Islam's belligerent teachings. Jan 24, 09
    • Preacher's tirade of hate against Britain. BRITAIN and LEBANON: Omar Bakri Mohammed threatens. March 24-30, 2009
    • [Pressure, persecution, killing, of non-Muslims continue, but 2 MPs object to apostasy murders.] VARIOUS COUNTRIES. May-June 2009
    • Raising my voice. Book by Malalai JOYA, 2009. AFGHANISTAN warlords and drugchiefs preside over anti-women and anti-democratic elected regime. Book review. Jul 14, 09
    • [Ramadan 4am drummer stopped; N.Y. terror plot; Indonesian stoning law; Malaysia caning drinker; Dutch trial for Wilders; French fly Islamites to Mecca; Pakistan murders Christian.] Jihad Watch. Sep 15, 09
    • The real impediment to Muslim assimilation is the imams. [Exporting terror in robes to the West.] AUSTRALIA. Letters. August 8-9, 2009
    • Religious hatred and the threat to freedom of speech.  The United Nations is gradually being suborned into stifling dissent from Islamic hate teachings.  Barnabas Aid analysis. July-August 2009
    • Religious insanity: Taleban murders mixed-sect couple for trying to elope. AFGHANISTAN. | Apr 15, 09
    • Religious Intolerance in Indonesia in 2008. JAKARTA. The government was involved in 188 of the 367 violations. Jan-Feb 2009
    • Reporter feels mob's hate in the Holy City. - Sabbath extremists spitting like rain, and assaulted lady reporter. JERUSALEM: Ultra-Orthodox Jews turn on lady reporter. Jul 6, 09
    • Retailers want Islamic hijabs removed … security threat, retailers say. AUSTRALIA. Jan 15, 09
    • [Safe haven but planning to blow up Oz base; Missile strike seeks Pak. hardline leader; Large Turkish conspiracy to overthrow secular rights.] Various newsitems. Aug 8-9, 2009
    • [Safety and health checks of illegals impossible in short time.] AND, US was right to invade Iraq. AUSTRALIA. Letters. Jan 22, 09
    • Saudi princess robbed. SARDINIA, Italian island.  She had €11m worth in a hotel room safe. Aug 10, 09
    • Scaled-down mosque in Swan Valley riles locals. W. AUSTRALIA: Rejected a year ago, but the push continues. Jan 16, 09
    • Secret Saudi funding of Australian institutions. AUSTRALIA: Universities, short of funds even during the "boom," sought funds, one even offering to keep the source secret. Feb 21, 09
    • [Send flee-ers back to fight, AND, Appeasement no cure.] W. AUSTRALIA. Letters. May 14, 09
    • [Shredding society, mortars at lawmaker, nine ships this month, harmony, daughter-killers charged, kidnap couple freed.] THE WORLD. April 15, 2009
    • Society has moved on. Set an example. [And, is Australia "ours"?] W. AUSTRALIA. Letters. Jan 29, 09
    • Somali extremists on a 'fatwa order' from God. AUSTRALIA: Four arrested in anti-Holsworthy plot. Aug 5, 09
    • Somali militants fire at U.S. lawmaker. MOGADISHU. Apr 13, 2009
    • Staunch the 'refugee' flow right now. AUSTRALIA. Sep 28, 09
    • Stealth Jihad: How Radical Islam is Subverting America without Guns or Bombs.  Book by Robert Spencer.  Parts of the USA are banning recitation of the Ten Commandments in schools, but other schools are playing at being Muslims.  "Hate speech" laws in the West seem to hit critics of Islam, not Islamists preaching hate. Jul 11, 09
    • [Still murdering each other, though Jews strike hard.]  Even Israel's bombings and mobilisation of troops did not stop some Islamists from deluding a woman into suiciding while killing Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims.  Several newsitems. Jan 5, 09
    • The student visa warning signs. BRITAIN. Whistleblower of 2004 had been castigated. April 12, 2009
    • Taleban 'shoot eloping couple dead' outside mosque in AFGHANISAN. Mullahs preside. April 14, 2009
    • Taliban-Inspired Attacks in Pakistan Hit Christians. [Sikhs charged protection money.] Apr 27, 09
    • The Sword prevailed over the Pen.  Ignaz Goldziher's 1981 explanation of Muhammad's switch from preaching to killing. June 2009
    • Taliban warn US allies after suicide strike at Germans. AFGHANISTAN. German officers, helicopter, NATO troops, Afghan police are attacked. Jan 19, 09
    • "Tell my brothers I died well." NIGERIA: Words of Pastor George Orjih, before being beheaded for refusing to become a Muslim. Oct-Dec 2009
    • Tensions high at public meeting over mosque. CAVERSHAM, in PERTH, W. AUSTRALIA. Jan 21, 09
    • Terrorism comes to Sydney: Cover story. AUSTRALIA: Somalian jihadists arrested in Australia. Aug 22, 09
    • They won't be happy in Oz.  Letters about the boatloads of Tamils trying to come to Australia. Oct 2, 09
    • Turkish Christians Fear No Justice For Killers Of Publishers. Jul 26, 09
    • [Tying up Britain's courts, Afghan 20yrs for reporting, Bangla acid attacks, ID cards forbidden, Iran's rocket, 40 lashes for Syrian (75) mingler.] Mar 10, 09
    • Uighurs, if freed, would not be liberated. AUSTRALIA. Letter about Uighur spokesperson Ms Rebiya Kadeer speaking in Australia. Aug 12, 09
    • [UK student visa suspects, Paki murder, Michigan stands firm, Iran charges U.S. reporter, Nevarda bows to veil, Obama to Turk mosque, Belgium has scarfless schoolgirls.] April 9, 2009
    • Understanding Shari'a Finance: The Muslim Challenge to Western Economics. LONDON: By Patrick Sookhdeo. Jan-Feb 2009
    • Understanding the 'minor branches' of Islam, and built-in fanaticism. W. AUSTRALIA: Letter to the Editor gently disagreeing with Malaysia's Anwar Ibrahim who told a Perth audience that the West's disagreements were with "minor branches" of Islam. Jul 16, 09
    • Uninvited Guests. JERUSALEM, Palestine and Israel. Judaists seized an Arab's house on April 2, and the Judaists' law fails to remove them. Aug 22-23, 2009
    • [U.S. Halal slaughterhouse raided; Flying imams win; Narcotics in name of Islam; Tony Blair assaulted in holy building; Slave trade article; Muslims attack Hindus.] Jihad Watch, Oct 20, 09
    • [US jihad. Christian-free society! Fatwa sought by Australian jihadists. Sudan puts U.N. woman on trial for wearing slacks.] Aug 05, 09
    • [Violence spreads when there are enough of them.] EGYPT, INDIA, IRAN, SOMALIA, and BANGLADESH. January 2009
    • WA acting like Saudi Arabia? W. AUSTRALIA: Resistance to mosques in W.A. is similar to refusal by Saudi Arabia to allow any church to be built. Oct 30, 09
    • WA 'discriminates' against Muslims. W. AUSTRALIA: Mr Rahim Ghauri speaks. Oct 30, 09
    • We don't want trouble, says Muslim prayer group.  W. AUSTRALIA: Land zoning and parking by-laws don't deter Daawah Association from wanting a place of worship in land zoned industrial, and say that as an organisation they don't want to hurt anyone. [Read between the lines!] Jul 11, 09
    • What's so bad about 'Satanic,' anyway?  The well-read Henrik Raeder Clausen exposes the early history of the founder of Islam, which breaks Ten Commandments, and contrasts him and it with Buddhism and other faiths. Mar 01, 09
    • What We Are Not Defending. Roger Scruton writes that to accept Islamists' blame exposes us to a more determined hatred. June 2009
    • Why Pakistan's Taliban win as they lose. PAKISTAN: Even the elite's "moderates" aren't. Sepember 2009
    • Why the surprise? Letter: Samir Abu Hamza has been exposed as favouring wife-raping and wife-beating, but these are standard Koranic teachings.  Muslim immigrants are asked not to change the Australian way of freedom. Jan 24, 09
    • Willing to kill for Islam but not to live under Islam. AUSTRALIA. Letters about the Somali suspects arrested in Melbourne. Aug 5, 09
    • Wine-banning Muslims to build mosque? Ban on pork, dogs, TAB? W. AUSTRALIA. Bosnian Muslims want mosque in wine-growing Swan Valley, near Perth. Letter opposing. Jan 25, 09
    • Women can give peace a chance. By U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Mar 8, 09
    • "You infidels have to convert to Islam or die." PAKISTAN: Christian settlements are being attacked; murder, 3 churches burnt. Apr 26, 09
    • Young Guantanamo detainee must be released, US judge rules. Washington has been illegally holding Mohammed Jawad for 6 years. Jul 30, 09
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