Jihad Watch

It is a very revealing list of disciplines for which Iran's leadership has voiced objections: "law, philosophy, management, psychology, political science ... women's studies and human rights."

The rights to free inquiry and dissent have been fundamental to the intellectual freedom that has allowed Western universities to flourish and vault ahead of the Islamic world, which must insistently remind the rest of us of its "golden age" that ended almost a millennium ago, back before they could even blame Israel for that eventuality.

All kidding aside, in the long run, this will be a study in jihad -- the push to impose Islamic law by any means necessary -- causing intellectual and ultimately material poverty through the climate of fear created when coloring outside of the ideological lines leads one to fear for his or her safety.

In that atmosphere of mental self-enslavement, the impulse to innovate dries up, because the price of "failure" has been made artificially and brutally high.

And Iranian authorities may boast of their universities' pious state of arrested development while the rest of the world passes them by. "Iran restricts social sciences seen as 'Western'," by Nasser Karimi for the Associated Press, October 24:

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran has imposed new restrictions on 12 university social sciences deemed to be based on Western schools of thought and therefore incompatible with Islamic teachings, state radio reported Sunday.

The list includes law, philosophy, management, psychology, political science and the two subjects that appear to cause the most concern among Iran's conservative leadership -- women's studies and human rights.

That's one way to get around mentioning Islam's texts and teachings as playing a role in creating this situation. It's just those "conservatives" again.

"The content of the current courses in the 12 subjects is not in harmony with religious fundamentals and they are based on Western schools of thought," senior education official Abolfazl Hassani told state radio.

When "Allah knows best" meets "government knows best":

Hassani said the restrictions prevent universities from opening new departments in these subjects. The government will also revise the content of current programs by up to 70 percent over the next few years, he said.

The decision is seen as a response to concerns expressed last year by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who said the subjects could lead to religious doubts. Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters in Iran, urged officials to take altering the curriculum into "serious consideration."

Some two million out of 3.5 million Iranian university students are studying social sciences and humanities, according to government statistics.

University students have played a key role in opposition protests in Iran, especially after the country's disputed presidential election last year, which opposition activists say hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won through massive fraud.

Since Ahmadinejad came to power in 2005, he has pushed a revival of the fundamentalist goals pursued in the 1980s under the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, father of the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran.

In 2006, dozens of liberal university professors and teachers were sent into retirement, drawing strong protests from students. Liberal and secular professors teach at universities around the country, but they are a minority. Most are politically passive and do not identify with either the hard-liners or the liberal camp.

They're simply positioning themselves as well as they can to ride out the next purge.

In 1980, Iran closed down universities for two years to get rid of partisan students of political groups, mostly armed leftist ones.

Lipstick? Eye shadow? You be the judge

Islamic supremacists are wholly intellectually bereft. They cannot answer the arguments of anti-jihadists, since anti-jihadists in general simply explicate what is in the Qur'an and Sunnah, and show how jihadists act upon these texts and teachings. So since they cannot engage their opponents on the level of ideas, they instead try to bludgeon them into silence. They do this either by ignoring us altogether, or by engaging in the Alinsky tactic of ridicule -- which allows them to adopt a posture of superiority, but only reveals their utter intellectual exhaustion and desperation.

Examples of this abound. Most recently, Islamic supremacist metrosexual Ahmed Rehab of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a group with numerous ties to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, has responded to my pointing out a lie he told about never ducking debate with adolescent ridicule and abuse rather than substance.

Rehab's refusal to engage his opposition's arguments is a sign that he feels keenly his own intellectual vacuity. He knows that in light of it he can do nothing but ignore, mock, or try to bully people who speak the truth. Even the Soviet Union under Stalin was confident enough that its own people were sufficiently cowed, and that it had enough useful idiots among the intelligentsia abroad, that it was able to mount high-profile show trials of dissenters and Stalin's political rivals in the 1930s.

But by the 1970s and 1980s, the Soviet regime had grown sclerotic, and had lost the assurance that its own people were still terrorized enough to keep silent, or that it could still count on a foreign intelligentsia willfully blind enough to defend the regime. And so instead of mounting flashy show trials, it packed off its opponents to mental hospitals under the cover of darkness. They simply didn't exist any longer. It was an effective tactic in the short run, as it certainly silenced their opponents of the day; in the long run, however, it was an expression of exhaustion, an admission of defeat.

But as Rehab, his fellow Islamic supremacist metrosexual Reza Aslan, and others practice these tactics, the implicit admission rings louder and clearer all the time: they have no arguments. They can't really explain away what's in the Qur'an and Sunnah -- the long-winded "refutations" and "proofs" that Islam is really a Religion of Peace™ are rendered hollow every day by the jihad news worldwide: if "Islamophobes" are really misunderstanding the peaceful teachings of Islam, then coincidence of coincidences, so are innumerable Muslims, including Islamic clerics and scholars, in exactly the same way.

Aslan, a Board member of a group that is often described as an apologist for Iran's bloody Islamic regime, has to lie about what I say in order to mount even the semblance of an argument. And Rehab in this piece has to bluster and sneer, because it is all that he can do.

They are cornered. They know it. They just hope you don't notice.

Ridicule, of course, is not always a sign of intellectual bankruptcy. Rehab and Aslan are ridiculous, and in their self-righteous posturing, preening self-importance, and fronting for moral evil, they richly deserve lampooning. Also, in their self-inflated pomposity, they cannot endure to be mocked. The difference is in whether or not one has substance to back up the ridicule. Aslan offers lies. Rehab offers bluster. There is virtually nothing of substance in Rehab's screed, but he does say: "Spencer, I never agreed to debate you in the first place, and it is highly unlikely that I ever will." Of course, I never said that he agreed to debate me; I merely pointed out that the ALA invited him to do so, and he refused -- as he himself admits here.

Rehab also complains about how I have ridiculed him, claiming that I have made "an allegation" that he wears "lipstick and eyeshadow." Actually, as you can see above, it's not an allegation, it's a photograph, taken undoctored from Rehab's website by Joe Kaufman. Lipstick? Eyeshadow? Looks like it to me.

Remember also that Rehab is a front man for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). CAIR operatives have repeatedly refused to denounce Hamas and Hizballah as terrorist groups. Several of its former officials have been convicted of various crimes related to jihad terror. Two of its other officials have made Islamic supremacist statements. CAIR also was involved in the Flying Imams' intimidation suit against the passengers who reported their suspicious behavior.

CAIR has attempted to intimidate the FBI and JTTF and dictate their choice of speakers, and in doing so retailed numerous false charges, defamation, distortions, and outright lies about me, SIOA, and Pamela Geller.

CAIR has a long record of duplicity and deception. Although it has received millions of dollars in donations from foreign Islamic entities, it has not registered as a foreign agent as required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), despite spreading Islamic supremacist propaganda within the United States.

Although it presents itself as a civil rights group, CAIR actually has numerous links to Islamic supremacist and jihad groups. CAIR founders Omar Ahmad and Niwad Awad (who still serves as CAIR's executive director) were present at a Hamas planning meeting in Philadelphia in 1993 where they and other Hamas operatives conspired to raise funds for Hamas and to promote jihad in the Middle East. CAIR has steadfastly refused to denounce Hamas and Hizballah as terrorist groups.

Several former CAIR officials have been convicted of various crimes related to jihad terror:

* Ghassan Elashi, founder of CAIR's Texas chapter, in 2009 received a 65-year prison sentence for funneling over $12 million from the Islamic charity known as the Holy Land Foundation to the jihad terrorist group Hamas, which is responsible for murdering hundreds of Israeli civilians
* Mousa Abu Marzook, a former CAIR official, was in 1995 designated by the U.S. government in 1995 as a "terrorist and Hamas leader." He now is a Hamas leader in Syria.
* Randall Royer, CAIR's former civil rights coordinator, in 2004 began serving a 20-year prison sentence for aiding al-Qaida and the Taliban against American troops in Afghanistan and recruiting for Lashkar e-Taiba, the jihadist group responsible for the 2008 Mumbai jihad massacres.
* Bassem Khafagi, CAIR's former community relations director, was arrested for involvement with the Islamic Assembly of North America, which was linked to al-Qaida. After pleading guilty to visa and bank fraud charges, Khafagi was deported.
* Rabih Haddad, a former CAIR fundraiser, was deported for his work with the Global Relief Foundation (which he co-founded), a terror-financing organization.

In 1998 Omar Ahmad, CAIR's co-founder and longtime Board Chairman, said: "Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth."

After he received unwelcome publicity as a result of this statement, Ahmad denied saying it, several years after the fact. However, the original reporter, Lisa Gardiner of the Fremont Argus, stands by her story.

CAIR's spokesman Ibrahim Hooper once said: "I wouldn't want to create the impression that I wouldn't like the government of the United States to be Islamic sometime in the future."

That's the group Rehab is connected with, and yet he adopts a posture of moral superiority. Only Leftist dupes will be fooled.

And finally, Rehab concludes:

And now for some irony. Spencer, you are claiming you are ready to debate anyone but that alas no one wants to debate you because no one can. But, is this actually true? Does the name Danios of Loonwatch ring a bell Spencer? You may be burying your head in the sand hoping no one will notice, but a simple Google search on "Robert Spencer debate" reveals your hypocrisy. How come you are ignoring an invitation from another blogger who has challenged you numerous times and whose articles shredding your arguments to pieces are all over the web without a peep of a rebuttal from you? Are you conceding defeat? Are you "running away?"

Sorry, I don't debate fictional characters or pseudonyms. "Danios of Loonwatch" can go debate Scot Harvath or Harold Robbins. I use my real name, have received numerous death threats, and cannot appear in public without guards, because so many coreligionists of "Danios of Loonwatch" misunderstand the teachings of his peaceful religion. What is "Danios of Loonwatch" afraid of? He knows that Noam Chomsky and Michael Moore can appear in public with no concern whatsoever, so why does he cower in the shadows?

In any case, "Danios of Loonwatch" has already discredited himself with his windy tu-quoque arguments about Christian doctrines that never existed and that no one has ever heard of, his defamation and outright lies about my owning domain names I never knew existed until he made the charge, and his refusal to acknowledge or correct false information he has posted. Debating such a compromised and dishonest individual would be a waste of time, but nonetheless, since Rehab invokes him and others have referred to his site recently, I am willing: if "Danios of Loonwatch" reveals his real name, finds a university willing to host the debate and contracts an impartial moderator, I'm ready when he is. But I won't be holding my breath.

And as for Rehab, he will no doubt continue to flail. And I will continue to shine the light of truth on him, Reza Aslan, and their unsavory and thuggish associates.

Of course, Kaukab Siddique's views are fairly commonplace on the wastelands of propaganda and indoctrination that are American universities these days. "Pa. prof's anti-Israel remarks concern lawmakers," from The Associated Press, October 22 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):

OXFORD, Pa. -- Two Pennsylvania lawmakers are questioning officials at a state-supported university after a professor publicly called for the destruction of Israel.

In a letter Wednesday to the president of Lincoln University, state Sens. Daylin Leach and Anthony Williams ask if the professor is expressing anti-Semitic views on campus.

Video of a Sept. 3 rally in Washington, D.C., shows tenured literature professor Kaukab Siddique saying Israel must be destroyed, "if possible by peaceful means."

Siddique tells The Philadelphia Inquirer that "I am against Israel - not against Jews."...

Geller and Spencer at the September 11 Rally of Remembrance

Pamela Geller and I will be speaking at a gala event in Fort Worth, Texas on November 12. Get details here. Tickets are going fast, so be sure to reserve a space now!

The organizers of the event say: "With the knowledge of what is happening in our world today under the banner of Islam and dismayed by the inroads it is achieving in our country to destroy our culture, we are proud to bring to Ft. Worth, Texas, two of the foremost fighters against Islamist Jihad in the United States."

And we are proud to be there.

"As for the thief, both male and female, cut off their hands. It is the reward of their own deeds, an exemplary punishment from Allah. Allah is Mighty, Wise." -- Qur'an 5:38

"The Center for Security Policy wants Americans to think that stoning and amputations are around the corner, but the report can't quite explain why stonings are so rare and the streets of Saudi Arabia and Iran are not filled with one-armed thieves." -- Sabria Jawhar, Huffington Post, October 19

Two more this week in Iran, Sabria.

Sharia Alert from the Islamic Republic of Iran: "Thief hand cut off 'before inmates,'" from the UKPA, October 24:

Authorities in Iran have amputated the hand of a convicted thief in front of other prisoners, state radio is reporting.

The report did not identify the 32-year-old convict, whose hand was reportedly cut off in the central city of Yazad, or provide details of his crime.

Iran's judiciary uses a strict interpretation of Islamic law in handing down such sentences. Cutting off the hands of thieves has been rare in the past, but the amputation was the second this month.

A week ago, a judge ordered the same punishment for a man who stole from a sweet shop....

"Wearing police uniforms and burqas" -- again indicating that there is substantial reason to ban the burqa in Western countries: you never know who or what might be under it. "Suicide bombers attack UN office in Afghan city," by Aref Karimi for AFP, October 23 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):

HERAT, Afghanistan -- Four suicide bombers wearing police uniforms and burqas on Saturday attacked the United Nations office in the western Afghan city of Herat, senior police and UN officials said.

There were no casualties among UN workers, Delawar Shah Delawar, deputy police chief of Herat province, told AFP after the raid, which was claimed by the Taliban.

Delawar, who earlier said there were three attackers, said another had been found, shot and killed by police.

"In total four attackers have been killed. One detonated his explosives-packed vehicle at the gate, a second attacker was shot and killed outside the compound, and two other attackers have been shot and killed inside the compound," he said....

Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi, speaking by telephone from an undisclosed location, said the militant Islamist group was behind the raid.

"We carried out the attack on the UNAMA office in Herat. The attack is still ongoing and so far 12 UNAMA guards and workers have been killed," he said....

In January, the US consulate under construction in Herat came under rocket fire. There were no casualties.

The Taliban said earlier this year that all foreigners -- including troops, diplomats and aid workers -- and Afghans working for them were considered legitimate targets in their war against the Western-backed Kabul government.

In other violence, the spokesman for the governor of Kandahar said an apparent suicide bomber had blown himself up before reaching his target.

"A suicide attacker on a motorbike was on his way to whatever his target was when his explosives detonated prematurely in the centre of the city," he said....

No virgins for you, pal.

And clearly he means military action, not interior spiritual struggle. All the schools of Islamic jurisprudence agree that when a non-Muslim force enters a Muslim land, jihad becomes the individual obligation of every Muslim (fard 'ayn) rather than a collective obligation of the entire umma, from which one is released if others are taking it up (fard kifaya). Bulghah al-Salik li-Aqrab al-Masalik fi madhhab al-Imam Malik ("The Sufficiency of the Traveller on the Best Path in the School of Imam Malik,") says this:

Jihad in the Path of Allah, to raise the word of Allah, is fard kifayah [obligatory on the community] once a year, so that if some perform it, the obligation falls from the rest. It becomes fard `ayn [obligatory on every Muslim individually], like salah and fasting, if the legitimate Muslim Imam declares it so, or if there is an attack by the enemy on an area of people.

The Hanafi, Maliki, and Shafi'i schools of Sunni jurisprudence further declare that jihad, once it is fard 'ayn, is no different from prayer and fasting -- in other words, to engage in warfare with non-Muslims in that case is a religious devotion that cannot lawfully be evaded. Hashiyah Ibn `Abidin, an authoritative text of the Hanafi school, says that jihad is "fard 'ayn if the enemy has attacked part of the Islamic homeland. It thus becomes an obligation like salah [prayer] and fasting which cannot be abandoned."

"Egyptian Islamic Scholar Ibrahim Al-Khouli: We Must Conduct Jihad against the West, Who Are Aggressors against the Land of Islam," from MEMRI, September 25:

Following are excerpts from an interview with Egyptian Islamic scholar Ibrahim Al-Khouli, which aired on Azhari TV on September 25, 2010: [...]

What formula should the Islamic nation adopt in its dealings with America and the West? [...]

Ibrahim Al-Khouli: We must confront them, and say: You are aggressors on the land of Islam. You are occupying our lands. You are exploiting our resources. You are humiliating our people. Unless you stop doing that, and restore our rights, the only path we will take is the path of Jihad, which is an individual duty incumbent upon the nation.

Interviewer: Yes.

Ibrahim Al-Khouli: Forget about Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. That's not what I'm talking about. I am talking about the Jihad of the entire nation.

Interviewer: Not of individuals.

Ibrahim Al-Khouli: I'm talking about Jihad which is led by the Islamic scholars, and the entire nation will be mobilized for the sake of the supreme Jihad. This will lead us to a confrontation.

[...]

We should follow the example of the young men of the Taliban. A group of several thousands of students have been crushing NATO in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Where are the armies of the Muslims?

Pamela Geller, who is interviewed in this article, comments on it here: "The American people are sick of being deceived and misled. Stop talking, start acting. Let's see Muslim supremacist groups lay down their arms against those of us who are exposing and reporting on jihad, and instead take up the fight against the jihadist 'fringe' that is at war with the West. Why is Geller or Spencer their target? Why aren't the Muslim 'extremists' their target? This is all about the Ground Zero victory mosque. Notice how they all close ranks and make it about 'Islamophobia,' when everyone knows it is a deeply offensive, deliberately provocative act. Opposition to the mosque is not 'Islamophobia,' it's 'Islamorealism' (hat tip to Spencer, who coined that term years ago)."

Indeed I did, and thank you, and I'm glad to see it is getting wider currency lately.

"Mosques Open Their Doors to Neighbors in Effort to Win Over Skeptics," by Lauren Green for Fox News, October 22:

The prayers, the Koran and the people. They're the three things Muslims would like Americans to know about.

To counter negative stereotypes, Muslim leaders nationwide are flinging open the doors to their mosques, hoping to present a positive image of Islam.

"The main thing is to open the doors and to share with people, to clarify who we are so people have no fears, so we can develop stronger relationships overall," says Imam Al-Amin Abdul Latif of the Islamic Leadership Council of New York. [...]

The neighborly hospitality is certainly part of the effort, but its fundamental impetus is to combat widespread opposition to building an Islamic cultural center and mosque two blocks from Ground Zero. And it's a hard task, indeed. A Fox News Opinion Dynamics Poll shows 61 percent - other polls put the figure as high as 70 percent -- oppose building a mosque so close to the site of the worst terror attack on U.S. soil, an attack that was perpetrated by Muslim extremists.

Dr. Hafiz Rehman, who hosted the Long Island event, says, "On 9/11 the planes were hijacked and the religion was hijacked. We want to build close to there so people know Muslims are mainstream Americans also."

It will be an uphill battle.

Pamela Geller, head of Stop Islamization of America, sees a sinister purpose behind the open-house PR campaign: "Dawa, proselytizing to Islam, bringing people to Islam to convert," she says.

"This is not about sensitivity. There has not been one instance that they reconsidered Ground Zero Mosque.... I don't think the American people need an education. I think that the Islamic supremacists need some sensitivity training."...

Indeed. The accommodation is always one-sided. The concessions are always from one side. Yet no one seems to notice, or care.

For fish bombs, of course. He wanted to catch a lot of fish. "Indonesia: Malaysian arrested with 7,000 detonators," from AKI, October 21 (thanks to C. Cantoni):

Jakarta, 21 Oct. (AKI/Jakarta Post) - South Sulawesi police have arrested a Malaysian national for carrying 7,000 detonators as he arrived at the Pare-pare seaport from Nunukan in East Kalimantan.

Pare-pare police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Pratama said on Thursday that the police had been questioning the suspect since arresting him on Monday.

The police, however, have not found evidence the detonators would be supplied to terrorists operating in the country.

Pratama said the Malaysian had wrapped the explosive materials in dozens of sacks he carried aboard a passenger ship connecting the town near the border with Malaysia and the South Sulawesi town.

During questioning he said he brought the explosives into Pare-pare for local fishermen, who would then use the materials to assemble fish bombs.

The police also found a fake Indonesian ID card, which identifies MN as a resident of the South Sulawesi regency of Bone. The man said he obtained the ID card from his relative in Bone.

Why a fake ID card, if he was just selling fish bombs?

And authorities do nothing, since of course they don't want to rile the Muslims. Islamic Tolerance Alert from modern, moderate Indonesia: "Islamic fundamentalists against church named after Mother Teresa," by Mathias Hariyadi for Asia News, October 22 (thanks to C. Cantoni):

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - Anti-Christian intolerance is raising its ugly head again. Islamic fundamentalist groups are increasingly trying to stop the construction of churches in areas where the Catholic Church is present. Government slowness in reacting to such phenomena has come under fire because it effectively adds more fuel to the flames of intolerance fanned by such groups (See Mathias Hariyadi, "Religious intolerance rising among Indonesian Muslims," in AsiaNews 5 October 2010)

The most recent example of this trend involves the Saint Mother Teresa Parish in Cikarang, some 60 kilometres east of Jakarta. The situation here is the more worrisome since Indonesian authorities have shown little or no desire to intervene in the matter, and this despite sharp criticism from inter-faith and human rights groups.

In recent days, some provocative banners opposing plans to build a new church in Cikarang have appeared. "The Islamic Group Ukuwah Islamiyah rejects any plan to construct a church in Bunda Teresa Cikarang," read one banner displayed in front of a local mosque in Taman Sentosa Cikarang.

Another one on Bandung Street, in Cinere, carried the same message but against another Christian place of worship slated for construction only 200 metres from a local police station.

In both cases, it is clear that the lack of action by the authorities against this kind of protests to ensure a spirit of harmony between religions has fuelled intolerance.

Opposition to the Mother Teresa Church in Cikarang started in September when someone began spreading rumours about the potential "Christianisation" of the Bekasi Regency (district), a predominantly Muslim area.

According to the rumour, a church and other buildings would be built that together would constitute the largest Christian centre in Asia.

Opponents to the Church charged that the latter would become a magnet for proselytising, thus threatening the district's Muslim majority....

In recent weeks, Bekasi Regency has seen a number of episodes of intolerance directed at Christians from different confessions. Since 2009, at least six churches have been attacked and several Protestant clergymen have been the victims of assault.

And they accuse city authorities of -- horror of horrors! -- "using invitations to Israelis to attend cultural and intellectual events to normalise relations with the Jewish state." Islamic Tolerance Alert from modern, moderate Morocco: "Morocco: Israeli guests at culture fest rile Islamists," from AKI, October 22 (thanks to C. Cantoni):

Rabat, 22 Oct. (AKI) - Israeli intellectuals, artists and scientists attending a series of conferences in the southern beach resort of Agadir have angered Islamists in Morocco, according to daily al-Tajdid.

The Islamists, many from the country's hardline Justice and Development party accuse Agadir's authorities of "seeking to normalise relations with Israel."

"They are using invitations to Israelis to attend cultural and intellectual events to normalise relations with the Jewish state," the Islamists said in a statement cited by al-Tajdid.

"Meanwhile, the occupation of Palestine continues and cruel crimes are carrried out by the Zionists," the statement continued....

Israeli scientist Naomi Tilzer's attendance at a cactus conference has especially rankled with the Islamists, al-Tajdid said without elaborating.

Last week, a group of Israeli athletes took part in an international meet and a Jewish singer gave a concert in Agadir.

And of course the statue is going to be removed. Islamic Tolerance Alert from modern, moderate Indonesia. "Buddhist Statue Draws Islamists' Ire," by Arientha Primanita, Bilhuda Haryanto and Aidi Yursal for the Jakarta Globe, October 22 (thanks to Larry):

Jakarta. Buddhists are the latest minority religious group to feel the heat, being at the center of a festering row over a large Buddha statue on the roof of a temple in the North Sumatran city of Tanjung Balai.

City council chief Surya Dharma said on Friday the governor and the foundation in charge of the temple had agreed to remove the statue after complaints from an Islamic group.

"The letter of agreement was signed in August and we agreed to relocate the statue to a more respectful location inside the temple," Surya said.

But the offending 6-meter statue continues to sit on top of the three-storey temple in the city center.

"The foundation promised us that the relocation would be conducted by a construction team from Bandung," Surya said.

The relocation was endorsed by the Religious Affairs Ministry's department dealing with Buddhist affairs.

The Forum for United Muslims, a local coalition of Muslim groups, has been agitating for the statue to be removed, holding repeated protests in May and June.

Baharuddin Berutu, of North Sumatra's Islamic Community Council, said it was frivolous to exaggerate the issue. "The mayor decided on the best solution and it was agreed to by the temple," he said.

"By not exaggerating the issue, we have been able to maintain harmony between religious communities."...

Yes, giving in to intolerant Muslim demands is virtually everyone's idea of how to maintain harmony. Just ask Juan Williams.

Islamic supremacists bring the persecution of the Ahmadis -- who are considered heretics and are viciously persecuted in Pakistan and Indonesia -- to the Sceptered Isle. More on this story. "Hardliners call for deaths of Surrey Muslims," by Jerome Taylor in The Independent, October 21 (thanks to Paul):

Islamic extremists have started openly calling for the destruction of a controversial Muslim sect in a major escalation of sectarian conflict within British Islam, an investigation by The Independent has revealed.

Members of the Ahmadiyya Community have seen a significant upsurge in threats and intimidation over the past four months, sparked by an extremist attack on two of their largest mosques in Pakistan earlier this year.

Hardline Islamists in Britain have been distributing leaflets calling for the murder of AhmadiMuslims in Kingston-upon-Thames whilst mosques have been vandalised in Newham and Crawley. Preachers in south London have also been orchestrating a boycott of Ahmadi businesses and Ofcom has had to reprimand an Islamic satellite channel for repeatedly calling the sect "Wajib-ul Qatal" - an Arabic phrase used to describe those who digress from mainstream Islam that translates as "liable for death".

Community leaders say the upsurge in animosity towards Ahmadis is directly linked to violence in Pakistan where local Taliban militants have declared war on sects that they deem to be heretical such as the Ahmadis and the Shi'a.

Although the Ahmadis have been targeted by extremists in the past, the combined attacks on two mosques in Lahore in May was the most brazen assault on their community yet, with 93 worshippers killed as they gathered for Friday prayers, including a number of Britons.

Since the mid 1980s the Ahmadi community has been headquartered in Morden, south London, after their leaders were forced to flee Pakistan, the only country in the world that legally forbids them from declaring themselves Muslims. They claim to have 70 million adherents worldwide although detractors say the number is closer to two million. An estimated 15,000 live in Britain including their spiritual leader Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad.

The Ahmadi leadership had hoped the attacks in Lahore would prompt an outpouring of sympathy among British Muslims. Instead, they say, it has emboldened a minority of extremists to openly target them in an upsurge in intimidation....

What a surprise!

How much Sharia will he bring to Tower Hamlets? How much will he be able to get away with? A follow-up on this story. Eurabia Alert: "Labour: London borough becomes 'Islamic republic,'" by Andrew Gilligan in the Telegraph, October 22 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Outside the Wellington Way polling station in Tower Hamlets yesterday, as at many other polling stations in the borough, people had to run a gauntlet of Lutfur Rahman supporters to reach the ballot box. As one Bengali woman voter went past them, we heard one of the Rahman army scolding her for her "immodest dress."

That incident is perhaps a tiny taste of the future for Britain's poorest borough now it has elected Mr Rahman as its first executive mayor, with almost total power over its £1 billion budget. At the count last night, one very senior figure in the Tower Hamlets Labour Party said: "It really is Britain's Islamic republic now."

For the last eight months - without complaint or challenge from Mr Rahman - this blog and newspaper have laid out his close links with a group of powerful local businessmen and with a Muslim supremacist body, the Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE) - which believes, in its own words, in transforming the "very infrastructure of society, its institutions, its culture, its political order and its creed... from ignorance to Islam." Mr Rahman has refused to deny these claims.

We have told how the borough's change from a conventional council leader to a mayoral system came about as a result of a campaign led and financed by these two groups - and how the IFE, in its words, wanted to "get one of our brothers" into the position.

We have described in detail, again without complaint or challenge by Mr Rahman, his deeply problematic two years as council leader until he was removed from that post six months ago, partly as a result of our investigations. After he secured the leadership with the help of the IFE, millions of pounds were channelled to front organisations of the IFE, a man with close links to the IFE was appointed as assistant chief executive of the council despite being unqualified for the position and the secular, white chief executive was forced out. Various efforts were made to "Islamicise" the borough. Extremist literature was stocked in Tower Hamlets' public libraries.

We have described, once more without complaint or challenge from Mr Rahman, how he signed up entire families of sham "paper" Labour members to win the party's mayoral nomination - acts which caused him to be sacked as the Labour candidate by the party's National Executive Committee.

Now, however, Mr Rahman has won as an independent - getting more than double the number of votes of the Labour candidate imposed in his place, Helal Abbas. As mayor, he will have far more power than he had as a council leader. And unlike a council leader, no-one can sack him, except the voters in four years' time....

Fascinating. "Israel's Conflict as Game Theory," by Yisrael Aumann, who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2005 for his work on analyzing conflicts using game theory. This piece was posted at Israel Defender on October 23:

Two men--let us call them Rick and Steve-- are put in a small room containing a suitcase filled with bills totaling $100,000. The owner of the suitcase announces the following:

"I will give you the money in the suitcase under one condition...you have to negotiate an agreement on how to divide it. That is the only way I will agree to give you the money."

Rick is a rational person and realizes the golden opportunity that has fallen his way. He turns to Steve with the obvious suggestion: "You take half and I'll take half, that way each of us will have $50,000."

To his surprise, Steve frowns at him and says, in a tone that leaves no room for doubt: "Look here, I don't know what your plans are for the money, but I don't intend to leave this room with less than $90,000. If you accept that, fine. If not, we can both go home without any of the money."

Rick can hardly believe his ears. "What has happened to Steve" he asks himself. "Why should he get 90% of the money and I just 10%?" He decides to try to convince Steve to accept his view. "Let's be logical," he urges him, "We are in the same situation, we both want the money. Let's divide the money equally and both of us will profit."

Steve, however, doesn't seem perturbed by his friend's logic. He listens attentively, but when Rick is finished he says, even more emphatically than before: "90-10 or nothing. That is my last offer."

Rick's face turns red with anger. He is about to punch Steve in the nose, but he steps back. He realizes that Steve is not going to relent, and that the only way he can leave the room with any money is to give in to him. He straightens his clothes, takes $10,000 from the suitcase, shakes Steve's hand and leaves the room humiliated.

This case is called 'The Blackmailer's Paradox" in game theory. The paradox is that Rick the rational is forced to behave irrationally by definition, in order to achieve maximum results in the face of the situation that has evolved. What brings about this bizarre outcome is the fact Steve is sure of himself and doesn't flinch when making his exorbitant demand. This convinces Rick that he must give in so as to make the best of the situation.
The Arab-Israeli Conflict

The relationship between Israel and the Arab countries is conducted along the lines of this paradox. At each stage of negotiation, the Arabs present impossible, unacceptable starting positions. They act sure of themselves and as if they totally believe in what they are asking for, and make it clear to Israel that there is no chance of their backing down.

Invariably, Israel agrees to their blackmailing demands because otherwise she will leave the room empty handed. The most blatant example of this is the negotiations with Syria that have been taking place with different levels of negotiators for years. The Syrians made sure that it was clear from the beginning that they would not compromise on one millimeter of the Golan Heights.

The Israeli side, eager to have a peace agreement with Syria, internalized the Syrian position so well, that the Israeli public is sure that the starting point for future negotiations with Syria has to include complete withdrawal from the Golan Heights, this despite its critical strategic importance in ensuring secure borders for Israel.

Read it all.

The first American to be charged with treason since World War II urges his coreligionists to commit mass murder to please their god. "Adam Gadahn, Al Qaeda's American mouthpiece, urges wannabe terrorists to go it alone," by James Gordon Meek for the New York Daily News, October 23:

WASHINGTON - Al Qaeda's American mouthpiece Saturday urged wannabe terrorists in a new video to act alone instead of trying to join cells attempting 9/11-type spectacular strikes.

Californian Adam Gadahn urged individual violent jihad in a 40-minute tape, which endorsed an Al Qaeda ally's call last week for sympathizers to mimic the Ft. Hood killings and attempted bombings over Detroit last Christmas and in Times Square in May.

"My brothers: know that Jihad is your duty," Gadahn ranted in Arabic. "You have an opportunity to strike the leaders of unbelief and retaliate against them on their own soil."

The message is significant because Osama Bin Laden's operational goal has long been to kill hundreds, if not thousands, in simultaneous multiple attacks on U.S. targets with cells of extremists - and Gadahn speaks for Al Qaeda....

"Here you are in the battlefield, just like the heroes before you," said Gadahn, who is under federal indictment for treason.

Wearing a shaggy beard and with an AK-47 rifle within reach, Gadahn hailed Hasan, Abdulmutallab and Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad, who also acted alone on behalf of the Pakistani Taliban.

Let's see. How good a judge of patriotism is Keith Ellison? Well, as I first noted in December 2008, Ellison's Hajj was paid for with $13,350 from the Muslim American Society.

The Muslim American Society is the Muslim Brotherhood's chief operating arm in the U.S.: "In recent years, the U.S. Brotherhood operated under the name Muslim American Society, according to documents and interviews. One of the nation's major Islamic groups, it was incorporated in Illinois in 1993 after a contentious debate among Brotherhood members." -- Chicago Tribune, 2004, via the Muslim Brotherhood's English-language website, Ikhwanweb.

And the Brotherhood's agenda in the U.S. is subversive: the Muslim Brothers "must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and "sabotaging" its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions." -- "An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Brotherhood in North America," by Mohamed Akram, May 19, 1991.

So Ellison takes money from a group dedicated to destroying Western civilization from within, and then he stands in judgment of Juan Williams' patriotism. Give the Congressman credit for chutzpah, and hubris.

The ping pong king

I used to have epic games of ping pong with Peter Kreeft, back when I was his student. Now we will be jousting in a different arena:

The Edmund Campion Debate Society
at the Thomas More College of the Liberal Arts
presents
its third debate of the academic year 2010-11 between two keynote speakers:

Robert Spencer, Director, Jihad Watch
&
Prof. Peter Kreeft, of Boston College
On the topic:

Resolved: That the Only Good Muslim is a Bad Muslim.

Speaking in the affirmative will be Mr. Spencer, director of Jihad Watch, frequent guest on Fox News, ABC, BBC, and many other media, and author of nine books on Islam, including NY Times bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and The Truth About Muhammad. Spencer will contend that orthodox Islam is intrinsically intolerant of other faiths and incompatible with a free society, such that when individual Muslims grow secularized and less observant, they may become less of a danger to free societies.

Speaking in the negative will be Prof. Peter Kreeft of the philosophy department at Boston College, author of more than 45 books, including the recently released Between Allah and Jesus: What Christians Can Learn from Muslims. One of Mr. Spencer's former teachers, Prof. Kreeft will argue that Catholics and Muslims belong to sister, Abrahamic faiths, and should cooperate to resist the secularization and moral decay that prevail in the postmodern, post-Christian West.

The debate is sponsored by the Edmund Campion Debate Society at Thomas More College, which has previously sponsored student debates on topics such as the morality of the 18th (Prohibition) Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and the "just war" credentials of the American Revolution. Named for the great Jesuit martyr whose forensic skills flummoxed the most articulate Anglican spokesmen in his day, Campion Society student debates follow the Oxford format--extemporaneous, without notes or time limits, conducted in the style of the British parliament. Created to help students gain a deeper appreciation of Rhetoric as a liberal art, the Campion debates supplement Thomas More College's traditional core curriculum, which extends through all four years, covers the Great Books of the Western world, and includes extensive training in Catholic philosophy and theology.

The event is free and open to the public.

Thursday, Nov. 4, 2010, 8 p.m.
Newman Humanities Room
Thomas More College of the Liberal Arts
6 Manchester Street
Merrimack, NH

Brave Sir Ahmed, the debate runner

In the first hour of today's Michael Medved Show, Ahmed Rehab of the unsavory Muslim Brotherhood-linked group Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) claimed that he had "never run away from a debate." (Thanks to Winoceros for the info.)

Ahmed, Ahmed, Ahmed. Allow me to remind you of what I reported here regarding the American Library Association panel that you succeeded in getting canceled:

Informed sources have revealed to me that Ahmed Rehab of CAIR was invited by Myra Appel of the American Library Association to join this panel with me. Rehab refused. Instead of seizing the opportunity to show me up, prove me wrong, and thus severely damage, if not destroy, my reputation, Ahmed Rehab took the coward's and thug's way out, pressuring the other panelists to drop off the panel, and the ALA to cancel the whole thing.

Can't handle the truth, eh, Ahmed? But no worries: I am right here, at director@jihadwatch.org, and ready to meet you in debate anytime, anywhere, at my own expense. If I am so clearly and obviously wrong about jihad and Islamic supremacism, it ought to be easy for you to best me, no? If you can manage to stop cowering under the bed long enough, poor lamb!

Here is a song honor of the brave Rehab, with apologies to Monty Python:

Brave Sir Ahmed ran away.
Bravely ran away, away!
When Spencer reared his ugly head,
He bravely turned his tail and fled.
Yes, brave Sir Ahmed turned about
And gallantly he chickened out.
Bravely taking to his feet
He beat a very brave retreat,
Bravest of the brave, Sir Ahmed!

I'm still ready to debate, Ahmed. Anytime, anywhere. I don't even mind if your wear your lipstick and eye shadow, but I would appreciate it if you wore a shirt.

This means CAIR is officially "moderate," right?

Well, let's look at the record: CAIR operatives have repeatedly refused to denounce Hamas and Hizballah as terrorist groups. Several of its former officials have been convicted of various crimes related to jihad terror. Two of its other officials have made Islamic supremacist statements. CAIR also was involved in the Flying Imams' intimidation suit against the passengers who reported their suspicious behavior.

CAIR has attempted to intimidate the FBI and JTTF and dictate their choice of speakers, and in doing so retailed numerous false charges, defamation, distortions, and outright lies about me, SIOA, and Pamela Geller.

CAIR has a long record of duplicity and deception. Although it has received millions of dollars in donations from foreign Islamic entities, it has not registered as a foreign agent as required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), despite spreading Islamic supremacist propaganda within the United States.

Although it presents itself as a civil rights group, CAIR actually has numerous links to Islamic supremacist and jihad groups. CAIR founders Omar Ahmad and Niwad Awad (who still serves as CAIR's executive director) were present at a Hamas planning meeting in Philadelphia in 1993 where they and other Hamas operatives conspired to raise funds for Hamas and to promote jihad in the Middle East. CAIR has steadfastly refused to denounce Hamas and Hizballah as terrorist groups.

Several former CAIR officials have been convicted of various crimes related to jihad terror:

* Ghassan Elashi, founder of CAIR's Texas chapter, in 2009 received a 65-year prison sentence for funneling over $12 million from the Islamic charity known as the Holy Land Foundation to the jihad terrorist group Hamas, which is responsible for murdering hundreds of Israeli civilians
* Mousa Abu Marzook, a former CAIR official, was in 1995 designated by the U.S. government in 1995 as a "terrorist and Hamas leader." He now is a Hamas leader in Syria.
* Randall Royer, CAIR's former civil rights coordinator, in 2004 began serving a 20-year prison sentence for aiding al-Qaida and the Taliban against American troops in Afghanistan and recruiting for Lashkar e-Taiba, the jihadist group responsible for the 2008 Mumbai jihad massacres.
* Bassem Khafagi, CAIR's former community relations director, was arrested for involvement with the Islamic Assembly of North America, which was linked to al-Qaida. After pleading guilty to visa and bank fraud charges, Khafagi was deported.
* Rabih Haddad, a former CAIR fundraiser, was deported for his work with the Global Relief Foundation (which he co-founded), a terror-financing organization.

In 1998 Omar Ahmad, CAIR's co-founder and longtime Board Chairman, said: "Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth."

After he received unwelcome publicity as a result of this statement, Ahmad denied saying it, several years after the fact. However, the original reporter, Lisa Gardiner of the Fremont Argus, stands by her story.

CAIR's spokesman Ibrahim Hooper once said: "I wouldn't want to create the impression that I wouldn't like the government of the United States to be Islamic sometime in the future."

I wonder whether Judge Solis considered all this.

"Court removes 'co-conspirator' tag from Muslim groups," from the Jewish Telegraph Agency, October 22 (thanks to Abu Lahab):

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- In a decision that could inhibit efforts to stigmatize some Islamic groups, a U.S. appeals court ordered that a lower court's reference to a group's association with Hamas be expunged.

The New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit released its decision on an appeal from the North American Islamic Trust on Wednesday. It was first reported that day by Politico's Josh Gerstein.

Last year, Jorge Solis, a U.S. District Court judge in Dallas, ruled that NAIT and 245 other entities and individuals had their Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination violated when prosecutors listed them as unindicted co-conspirators in the federal case against the Holy Land Foundation, which had been charged with providing material assistance to Hamas.

Among the other groups vindicated by Solis were the Council on American Islamic Relations and the Islamic Society of North America.

The government acknowledged that not sealing the list was an oversight, and further said its intent was to list the groups and individuals as "joint venturers," which suggests a weaker association than "unindicted co-conspirator" and does not imply that the entity had knowledge of the alleged crimes.

NAIT, which owns a number of mosques, nonetheless appealed the decision because Solis ordered the decision sealed -- apparently in a bid to protect the reputation of those on the list. CAIR and ISNA did not join this appeal.

The three-judge appeals panel ordered Solis' decision unsealed and expunged one reference to past NAIT associations with Hamas, but left in another.

By clearing CAIR and ISNA of "unindicted co-conspirator" status, the unsealing of Solis' decision could have political consequences, as a number of conservative and pro-Israel groups had used the label to tar politicians associated with the groups....

This proceeding rewards criminality, reinforces a dhimmi posture on the part of French authorities toward the Islamic community, and hastens France's cultural and societal demise. An update on this story. "2 French police to stand trial in deaths of teens," by Pierre-Antoine Souchard for The Associated Press, October 22 (thanks to Phil):

PARIS -- Two French police officers will stand trial accused of failing to save the lives of two teens whose 2005 deaths sparked weeks of riots around the country, lawyers said Friday.

The officers will face charges of "non-assistance to a person in danger," said a lawyer for the victims' families, Jean-Pierre Mignard. The charge carries up to five years in prison and up to euro75,000 ($95,400) in fines.

Two boys, 15-year-old Bouna Traore and 17-year-old Zyed Benna, died while hiding from police in a power substation in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois on Oct. 27, 2005 when they were electrocuted. Another boy with them suffered severe burns.

Local youths blamed the police for the deaths and exploded in anger, setting cars ablaze and smashing store windows. That tapped a deep well of frustration among largely minority youth in poor housing projects nationwide, and fiery unrest spread across the country, raging for three weeks in the nation's housing projects. Tensions between youths and police still plague such neighborhoods....

The lawyer for the police officers, Daniel Merchat, said his clients were "sacrificed on the altar of public opinion" and that there was not enough evidence of a crime....

An internal police review of the electrocutions faulted police officers for their handling of the incident. It confirmed the officers had been chasing the teens before they were killed, which the Interior Ministry and police had initially denied. The report said officers should immediately have notified French energy company EDF that the youths were hiding in the power station.

Klein Verzet has the details here about how Judge Tom Schalken tried to strong-arm the great Islamic scholar Hans Jansen, an expert witness for Wilders.

"Judges told to step down in Wilders trial," from Al-BBC, October 22:

Judges in the hate speech trial of Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders have been ordered to step down by an independent appeals panel.

The move follows a request by Mr Wilders' lawyers who said they feared the judges were biased against him.

The legal process that began in January must now begin again with new judges. The trial itself started in October.

Mr Wilders faces five charges of inciting hatred and discrimination against Muslims.

If found guilty, he faces a maximum sentence of one year in jail....

He is right, of course, but the likely response, if he isn't ignored, will be calls for him to apologize for his intolerance. "Vatican: Koran encourages 'killing Christians,'" from AKI, October 22 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):

Vatican City, 22 Oct. (AKI) - The Koran is a text that encourages Islam to impose itself with force and permits the killing of Christians, said Lebanon's Catholic Patriarch of Antioch Archbishop Raboula Beylouni, addressing a Vatican meeting of Middle East bishops.

"The Koran gives Muslims the right to judge Christians and kill them with Jihad," he said. "It gives orders to impose religion with force, with the sword. For this reason, Muslims don't recognise the freedom of religion among themselves or others."...

The Muslim scholars, according to this report, repeatedly referred to Christians and Muslims living in harmony in the Middle East for centuries. They don't seem to have mentioned, unsurprisingly, the institutionalized discrimination inherent in the dhimmi status -- Christians lived in harmony with Muslims only when they knew their place, which was decidedly second-class.

The dhimma was abolished in the Ottoman Empire by the Tanzimat reforms of 1856, under Western pressure, but the legal discrimination and harassment of dhimmitude still remains part of Islamic law -- the Islamic law that Islamic supremacists are fighting by violent and non-violent means to implement throughout the world. The great historian Bat Ye'or has documented what it was like to live under the dhimma in her essential and groundbreaking study, The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam. One key element of the "contract of protection" that Christians and other dhimmis were made to live under in the Islamic state was the prohibition on speaking out against the status of the dhimmis, and saying anything critical of Islam or Muhammad.

How seriously that command is still taken, even in states where Sharia is not fully enforced today, was vividly illustrated by Robert Moynihan of the excellent and informative site Inside the Vatican. In an article entitled "Silent Cry of a Hero," Moynihan contrasts the silence of Chaldean Catholic Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly at the present Synod about Muslim persecution of Christians in Iraq with his statements over the last few years about that persecution:

One of the great mysteries of this year's Synod of Bishops is the silence of Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly of Baghdad regarding the suffering of the Catholic Church in his country. In Rome this month he has been saying that things are fine in Iraq. But this is in contrast with his own statements in the past. Why the change?

"The terrorists have destroyed the most beautiful symbol of the Chaldean Church in Iraq."--Emmanuel III Delly, Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans and Primate of the Chaldean Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic sui juris particular church of the Catholic Church, and now a Cardinal, on July 12, 2004. He was then the head of some 1.5 million Chaldean Catholics in Iraq, and was speaking after the bombing to smithereens of the architecturally splendid bishop's residence in Mosul, in northern Iraq

"Christians are killed, chased out of their homes before the very eyes of those who are supposed to be responsible for their safety." --Emmanuel III Delly, May 6, 2007 (three years later), speaking from the altar of the church of Mar Qardagh in Erbil, Kurdistan (northern Iraq), where he was celebrating Mass. He was then the head of fewer than 1 million Chaldean Catholics in Iraq [...]

"The situation in some parts of Iraq, is disastrous and tragic. Life is a Calvary: there is no peace or security... Everyone is afraid of kidnapping... Sixteen of our priests and two of our bishops have been kidnapped and released after an extremely high ransom. Some of them belong to the ranks of the new martyrs who today pray for us in heaven: the archbishop of Mosul, Faraj Rahho, Fr. Raghid Ganni, two other priests, and six more young men." --Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly, in Rome on October 14, 2008 (two years ago), in his address to the Synod of Bishops; Delly was then the head of about 750,000 Chaldean Catholics in Iraq, down from 1.5 million five years before

"The population of this country, crossed by two famous rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, is 24 million, all Muslims, with whom we live peacefully and freely. In Baghdad alone, the capital of Iraq, Christians have 53 chapels and churches. The Chaldeans have more than seven dioceses in the country, the Patriarch of the Chaldean Church lives today in Baghdad. Christians are good with their fellow Muslims and in Iraq there is mutual respect among them. Christian schools are highly thought of. Today people prefer to attend these schools directed by the Christian institutions, especially those run by the religious orders. Despite all the political and religious situations, and emigration, we now have nearly one million Christians in Iraq out of 25 million Muslims. We have the freedom of religion in our Churches. The Bishop or Priest, religious leader is listened to and respected by his fellow citizens. We have our own seminary, and Chaldean monks and nuns and religious." --Patriarch Delly, remarks to the Synod of Bishops at the close of the day's session Friday, October 15, 2010, five days ago; Delly is now the head of less than 500,000 Chaldean Catholics in Iraq, as more than 1 million, or two-thirds of the entire Chaldean population, has left Iraq since 2003

""Persecution, then, gives rise to a particular technique of writing, and therewith to a particular type of literature, in which the truth about crucial things is presented exclusively between the lines."" -- Leo Strauss, Persecution and the Art of Writing, 1952; Strauss maintained that a man who wishes to tell the truth in times of persecution must conceal the truth to avoid being arrested and executed; only those who can read the concealed meaning "between the lines" will understand that the words a persecuted man is speaking are not what he truly wishes to say. Strauss also theorized that persecuted men would leave "clues" in their writing so that attentive readers would realize that they were trying to get a message across which they could not speak openly....

Exactly so. And so much for these claims from the Muslim spokesmen at the Synod about Christians and Muslims living in harmony. Their claims are historical, of course, not contemporary, but there were plenty of Christians in Delly's position in previous times as well, not daring to speak out openly for fear of making a bad situation even worse.

The quality of their propaganda is no better when it comes to Islamic apostasy law. Al-Sammak says that the Islamic death penalty for apostasy was only enforced "when changing religions meant joining the enemy - it was punished as an act of treason." Now, he says, Muslims recognize that "there is no compulsion in religion, that's what the Koran says." But the Qur'an said that back when "changing religions meant joining the enemy" -- it isn't as if "no compulsion" was added to the book later. And since Islam is or ought to be a state as well as a religion, as Muslim leaders themselves will proudly tell you, it is hard to see how apostasy from Islam and treason against the Islamic state could be separated in any case.

But even more ominous are the comments from the Ayatollah Mohaghegh Damad: "You are free to choose any religion in your heart, because religion is a very, very private matter for everybody, but conversion means something else. If you are no longer a member of your original faith group is an act of unacceptable 'propaganda.'"

In other words, you can leave Islam as long as you do so secretly. If you make your conversion known, that is "unacceptable."

Did any of the Synod Fathers catch the implication of that statement?

"Muslim scholars address Synod of Bishops," by Cindy Wooden in the Catholic Herald, October 20 (thanks to David):

Muslim scholars have told the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East that Islam promotes respect for Christians and Jews and that the entire region will suffer if Christians depart.

Muhammad al-Sammak, Sunni adviser to the chief mufti of Lebanon and secretary general of Lebanon's Christian-Muslim Committee for Dialogue, and Ayatollah Seyed Mostafa Mohaghegh Damad Ahmadabadi, a Shia professor at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran, spoke at the gathering at the invitation of the Pope.

Mr al-Sammak said Christians are not the only people suffering in the Middle East or tempted to emigrate.

"We share our sufferings. We live them in our social and political delays, in our economic and developmental regression, in our religious and confessional tension," he said.

Did he really say, "We share our sufferings"?

At the same time, he told the Synod, the "new and accidental phenomenon" of Christians being targeted because of their faith is dangerous, and not just for Christians. By attacking Christians, he said, misguided, fundamentalist, politically manipulated Muslims are tearing apart the fabric of Middle Eastern societies where Jews, Christians and Muslims lived side by side for centuries. They also are showing "Islam in a different light than the one it truly reflects" and working against one of the fundamental teachings of Islam: the teaching that differences among people are the result of God's design and part of God's will for humanity, Mr al-Sammak said.

The emigration of Christians makes it difficult for the rest of the region's Arabs to live their identity fully, he said. "They [Christians] are an integral part of the cultural, literary and scientific formation of Islamic civilisation. They are also the pioneers of modern Arabic renaissance and have safeguarded its language, the language of the holy Koran," he added.

Mr al-Sammak told the bishops he hoped the synod would be "something more than the cry of Christian suffering which echoes in this valley of pain", which is the Middle East. He said he hoped the Synod would mark the beginning of "Islamic-Christian cooperation that can protect Christians and watch over Islamic-Christian relations, so that the East - the place of divine revelation - remains worthy of raising the banner of faith, charity and peace for itself and for the entire world."

Ayatollah Mohaghegh Damad said the Koran's view of Christian-Muslim relations is one of "friendship, respect and mutual understanding," even though there have been "dark moments" in the relationship over the past 1,400 years.

But the "illegitimate acts of certain individuals and groups" should not be attributed to the religion to which they belong, he said.

In Iran and most other Muslim countries, he said, "Christians live side by side and in peace with their Muslim brothers. They enjoy all the legal rights like other citizens and perform their religious practices freely."

He said leaders of all religions must recognise that their people no longer live cut off from believers of other faiths, and religious leaders have an obligation to help their faithful understand the respect that is due to the other.

The ideal, he said, "would be the state where believers of any faith freely and without any apprehension, fear and obligation could live according to the basic principles and modes of their own customs and traditions. This right, which is universally recognised, should in fact be practised by states and communities."

Earlier Mr al-Sammak had said the death penalty for apostasy from Islam to Christianity dated from a time "when changing religions meant joining the enemy - it was punished as an act of treason". While some still think converts should be punished, he said the "golden rule" of Islam is that "there is no compulsion in religion, that's what the Koran says".

Ayatollah Mohaghegh Damad said: "You are free to choose any religion in your heart, because religion is a very, very private matter for everybody, but conversion means something else. If you are no longer a member of your original faith group is an act of unacceptable "propaganda".

"You don't want dialogue, sir. You called for punitive action against him."

Not surprising, really. Good thing we're giving Pakistan two billion dollars more, eh? "Indian report: Pakistan spies tied to Mumbai siege," by Ashok Sharma and Ravi Nessman for Associated Press, October 19:

NEW DELHI (AP) -- Pakistan's intelligence agency was deeply involved in planning the 2008 terror attack on Mumbai, going so far as to fund reconnaissance missions to the Indian city, according to a report on the interrogation of a U.S. citizen convicted in the attack.

The attack, blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, killed 166 people, paralyzed India's business capital and froze peace efforts between Pakistan and India.

David Headley, who pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court to laying the groundwork for the attack, told Indian interrogators in June that officers from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency were deeply intertwined with Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The spy agency provided handlers for all the top members of the group, gave them direction and provided their funding, Headley said, according to the government report on his June interrogation. The report, marked secret, was obtained by The Associated Press late Monday.

"According to Headley, every big action of LeT is done in close coordination with ISI," the report said, using a common abbreviation for Lashkar-e-Taiba....

Temporary marriage is one way in which sexual immorality is cloaked with respectability in the Islamic world by those who scoff at the West's alleged immorality. Even the ridiculously anti-free speech, politically correct and thoroughly compromised NPR was able to run this story, so the abuse must be widespread. "Abuse Of Temporary Marriages Flourishes In Iraq." by Kelly McEvers for NPR, October 19:

The practice of temporary marriage has long been common in Shiite Muslim communities, especially in Iran. The idea is that rather than having an affair, a man who wants to be sexually involved with a woman should marry her -- for a few months, or even, hours -- so the relationship will be legitimate.

In Iraq, the practice was banned under Saddam Hussein but then flourished after the American invasion. Now, though, some men are using the system to take advantage of poor women, and many of Iraq's Shiites say the very religious institutions that sanction such marriages are to blame.

One mother of three, who is so ashamed about what happened to her she doesn't want to give her name, says her husband abandoned her when she found out he preferred men. She had no way to support the family.

A religious figure in her neighborhood promised to help. He brought her to his home, locked the door and had sex with her. He offered her $15.

For the man at least, it was a brief moment of muta'a, the Arabic word for pleasure -- and the Arabic word for temporary marriage.

The woman says the man who had sex with her worked with leading Shiite religious clerics in the Iraqi city of Najaf. It's one of the most revered places in Shiite Islam....

Nagham Kadhim runs a women's rights group in Najaf. She says muta'a marriage is a sensitive subject in the holy city. But she says abuse of the practice is common. "The muta'a marriage happens when there is an economic factor, like when the woman is poor and [does] not have money," she says through an interpreter. "And the religious institution would offer her those job opportunities, through working for a kindergarten, looking after children. And then she would receive like 100,000 dinars."

That's about a $100 a month. Once the women get the job, Kadhim says the institution will host seminars about temporary marriage to convince them the practice is acceptable.

The 'Right Way' To Do A Muta'a Marriage

Aqil al Shammari is a religious scholar who works with a handful of leading figures in Iraq's Shiite community. He explains that muta'a marriage goes all the way back to the Prophet Muhammad, who once told his traveling companions they could purchase a wife with a handful of dates if they were away from their regular wives.

Shammari says he has temporarily married at least five women, while traveling. Each time, he says, he paid them. He made sure they used birth control. He kept his agreement to be married for only a month. And he didn't do anything to sully their reputations afterward....

And there you have it: voila, no immorality, and he and others like him can maintain their posture of moral superiority over the West.

Speaking of the persecution of the Copts, on Wednesday I spoke outside the UN at a rally organized by the American Coptic Association, an organization dedicated to defending persecuted Copts in Egypt. The trouble that the Copts are experiencing in Egypt all results from the doctrines of Islamic jihad; but the world looks the other way. I spoke about how Copts are suffering because of provisions of the same Sharia of which the Ground Zero mosque imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is an open proponent -- but no one seems to be concerned about the implications of that, either.

Some photos from the rally:

Speaking in the last photo is Dr. Monir Dawoud, the president of the American Coptic Association.

The always-sharp Raymond Ibrahim surveys the recent travails of the Copts in Egypt. "Egypt Cuts a Deal: Christians Fed to Muslim 'Lions,'" by Raymond Ibrahim for Hudson New York (via RaymondIbrahim.com), October 18:

For centuries, the Copts -- Egypt's Christian, indigenous inhabitants -- have been subject to persecution, discrimination, humiliation, and over all subjugation in their homeland (etymologically, "Copt" simply means "Egyptian"). In the medieval era, such treatment was a standard aspect of sharia's dhimmi codes, first ratified under Caliph Omar in the 7^th century and based on Koran 9:29. Conversely, during the colonial era and into the mid 20^th century, as Egypt experimented with westernization and nationalism, religious discrimination was markedly subdued. Today, however, as Egypt all but spearheads the Islamist movement -- giving the world Sayyid Qutb, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Aymen Zawahiri in the process -- that is, as Egypt reverts to its medieval character, the Copts find themselves again in a period of severe persecution.

And there appears to be no one to stop it -- not even those most accountable: America's friend and ally, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his government. Indeed, recent events indicate that the Mubarak regime is intentionally inciting Egypt's Muslims against the Copts.

Consider: on September 15, prominent Egyptian Muhammad Salim al-Awwa, ex-secretary general of the International Union for Muslim Scholars, appeared on accused the Copts of "stocking arms and ammunitions in their churches and monasteries"-- imported from Israel, no less, since "Israel is in the heart of the Coptic Cause" -- and "preparing to wage war against Muslims."

He warned that if nothing is done, the "country will burn," urging Muslims to "counteract the strength of the [Coptic] Church." Al-Awwa further charged that Egypt's security forces cannot enter the monasteries to investigate for weapons -- an amazing assertion, considering that Coptic monasteries are not only at the mercy of the state, but easy prey to Islamist/Bedouin attacks.

Needless to say, these remarks have inflamed Muslim passions (not to mention paranoia) against Egypt's Christians, who make approximately 12% of the population. To make matters worse, right on the heels of al-Awwa's "monastery-conspiracy-theory," Islamist leaders began to circulate baseless rumors that the Church and Pope Shenouda III "kidnap" Coptic women who willingly convert to Islam, and trap them in desert monasteries, "torturing" and "re-indoctrinating" them back to Christianity -- even when the women in question publicly insist they never converted to Islam....

Read it all.

Unbeknownst to O'Reilly, Rauf has already dedicated his mosque to "peace," and has already condemned "what happened here on 9/11." And so I can envision the whole scene right now: O'Reilly appears at the groundbreaking, makes a wry and self-referential speech about "Islamophobia" and Islamic moderation, and then the avuncular, genial Rauf takes the mic and thanks his good friend Bill, and talks about how we have turned a corner in this country against prejudice and intolerance. His support for Sharia will go unmentioned, of course.

I can see this coming still, but as Pamela Geller points out here, Rauf and O'Reilly will have to build a bridge or two first.

"Bill O'Reilly Will Help Build Ground Zero Mosque If Imam Rauf Condemns 9/11 and 'The Jihad' (VIDEO)," by Jeremy Taylor at TV Squad, October 19 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

Bill O'Reilly had Deepak Chopra on 'The O'Reilly Factor' (weekdays, 8PM ET) Tuesday, and during a discussion about O'Reilly's role in the Ground Zero Mosque controversy, Chopra revealed that he knew Daisy Khan, wife of Ground Zero mosque Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf.

O'Reilly had message for Chopra to deliver to Rauf through Khan:

"You tell him this. All Imam Rauf and his crew have to do is say 'we're going to dedicate this mosque -- community center -- to peace. And we are going to condemn what happened here on 9/11,"' O'Reilly stipulated. "(Then) I'll get a hammer and help them down there."

"I'm telling you, they're prepared to do that," Chopra responded.

As it stands, O'Reilly has tasked Chopra with bringing Imam Rauf onto 'The Factor,' where Rauf will presumably do his condemning, and then O'Reilly will presumably make plans to do his building....

Hmmmm. Now why might that be? "Vatican synod sees growing concern over Islam," for the Catholic News Agency, October 21 (thanks to the great Kathy Shaidle):

Vatican City, Oct 21, 2010 / 01:43 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The need for more interfaith dialogue and greater Christian-Muslim understanding has been a key theme in the month-long meeting of bishops at the Vatican to discuss the Middle East....

Participants seem increasingly concerned about the growth of extremist forms of "political Islam" in the region.

Bishops and other experts to address the synod have sought to draw a sharp distinction between "moderate" Muslims and "extremists" who support a radical and political version of Islam.

But for Christians on the ground in Muslim-run countries, such distinctions are often hard to maintain.

Jordanian Father Raymond Moussalli, Protosyncellus of the Patriarchate of Babylon of the Chaldeans said the Church in his country, Iraq, is under attack.

"There is a deliberate campaign to drive Christians out of the country."

Father Mousalli said the agenda is not limited to Iraq. There is evidence of this strategy in all parts of the region.

"There are satanic plans by fundamentalist extremist groups that are not only against Iraqi Christians in Iraq, but Christians throughout the Middle East."...

Impagliazzo said that Muslim majorities in the Middle East must begin to respect the rights of Christians and other religious minorities. In addition, Muslims must demonstrate in more concrete ways "a social and cultural consensus that expresses the will to live all together."...

Yes, everyone is waiting for them to do that, and sure they will start up right away.

Will the Islamophobia never end? "Bomb attack at Pakistani mosque kills two: police," from AFP, October 22 (thanks to JCB):

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) - A bomb attack at a mosque in Pakistan's city of Peshawar killed two people and wounded 11 others as worshippers filed out after the main Friday Muslim prayers, police said.

The nature of the bomb was not immediately clear, but the northwestern city has been on the front line of attacks blamed on Taliban- and Al-Qaeda-linked militants opposed to the government's alliance with the United States....

War Is Deceit, yes, but Sherman was right about it also. "Would-be German jihadists found fighting jihad to be hell in Afghanistan," from ANI, October 19:

German intelligence sources have revealed how some Islamist radicals discovered that the path of Holy War was more difficult than they had originally thought.

The nine would-be terrorists travelled, with two women, from Germany to Afghanistan in 2009 in a bid for glory. Instead they were laid low by diarrhoea, moaned about the food, griped about their training, were forced to buy their own weapons and admitted pining for friends and family....

They had been under surveillance for months because of their attendance at the city's Taiba mosque - where the Hamburg cell of the 9/11 attackers worshipped - which was closed by authorities earlier this year....

Aged 21 to 55, one was a former drug addict, one a failed businessman with a mentally disturbed brother, one a small-time "pothead" with a criminal record for petty theft offences.

Most were jobless and in the winter of 2008, they resolved to go to Afghanistan to fight NATO forces. The reportedly split into four small groups early last year for the journey.

In all, five men and two women made it to a town in Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan. They were upset at having to pay for their food and weapons. Their Taleban masters made them write begging letters home seeking more cash....

In "Does a negative opinion of Islam amount to conclusive evidence of bigotry?," October 20, Michael Medved pierces through today's propaganda fog with some observations that take on a new significance with the Juan Williams imbroglio:

Those who warn of a raging frenzy of American "Islamophobia" base their case on the assumption that anything less than enthusiastic approval of The Religion of Peace automatically qualifies as hate-mongering and ignorance. On ABC News, Christiane Amanpour pointed to recent survey figures on public uneasiness with Islam to prove that Muslim Americans faced an unprecedented tsunami of hostility and discrimination. Actually, the Washington Post/ABC poll she repeatedly cited hardly indicated seething, volcanic anti-Muslim sentiment: less than half the public (49%) held generally "unfavorable" views of Islam, while fully 37% felt favorably disposed toward Koranic values.

Far from reflecting an alarming new surge of groundless hatred, these figures remain virtually unchanged from results of an identical Washington Post/ABC survey from four-and-a-half years ago (March, 2006), which showed 46% unfavorably inclined toward the Muslim faith.

The real question raised by all such expressions of public opinion should confront the nearly 40% of Americans who say they feel positively impressed by Islam and its influence.

What aspect of Muslim teaching and achievement most inspires such respondents? The daily reports of suicidal violence from every corner of the globe, with fellow-Muslims (invariably) as the primary victims? Or the well-known association of Islamic piety with open-hearted respect for the rights of women, homosexuals and infidels? Or is it the sterling record of economic progress, cutting age technology and social justice achieved by precisely those societies (like Saudi Arabia, Iran or Afghanistan) that take Shariah law most seriously? Or would Islam's American admirers cite the record of Muslim charities in the U.S., the most prominent of which (remember the Holy Land Foundation?) have been shut down by the government for their lavish support of murderous terrorist groups like Hamas?

Quite naturally, the people who look favorably on Islam feel unconcerned over its ancient teachings or loathsome perversions in benighted corners of the globe, and focus instead on the law-abiding, patriotic, family-loving Muslims who have established benign communities throughout the United States. But even the decent people who reside in those communities rightly worry that their impressionable off-spring may become too religious, too zealous in their fervent commitment to The Prophet and his teachings.

There is no real parallel to this fear in Christian or Jewish homes. Christian parents may feel embarrassed by their religiously reborn children suddenly studying the Gospels obsessively, or witnessing obnoxiously to family or friends, but they needn't worry about wayward kids blowing up themselves or others in the name of Jesus. Jewish mothers and fathers may hate the scraggly beards and black hats adopted by a suddenly Orthodox generation, or resent the refusal to eat non-kosher food at home, but even the most fanatical of their kids feel scant temptation to travel to remote mountain hideouts as part of an international terror conspiracy.

By contrast, the secularized, prosperous parents of the Christmas Day Underwear Bomber (Umar Farouk Abdulmuttalab), or the would-be Times Square Bomber (Feisel Shahzad), or the Fort Hood Shooter (Nidal Hassan), or European-educated engineering graduate Muhammad Atta (and his eighteen 9/11 accomplices) can testify what happens when even products of sophisticated, privileged families become too deeply entangled in Muslim fundamentalism....

This is what they do to anti-jihadists: they compile a dossier of lies, distortions, half-truths and spurious refutations of their work, circulate it to overworked, careless, and ideologically compromised mainstream media reporters, and use it to pressure groups not to invite anti-jihadists to speak or refer to their work. Their campaign of intimidation and marginalization is in line with the Organization of the Islamic Conference's agenda to choke off the freedom of speech regarding Islam in the West. Free Speech Death Watch Alert: "BREAKING: Conference facility caves to pressure from Islamic groups, bans Mark Steyn from speaking," by Andrew Lawton at Strictly Right, October 21:

Strictly Right sent out a press release earlier today to Canadian media with some rather startling news about the upcoming Mark Steyn speech in London, Ontario that we're putting together. Mark Steyn will be speaking on November 1st in a speech entitled "Head for the Hills: Why everything in your world is doomed." Apparently, London-area Muslims didn't like that idea too much.

Due to capacity constraints at the University of Western Ontario, the original venue for the event, we had booked the London Convention Centre (LCC,) London's premiere conference facility. On Tuesday, I received a phone call from the LCC telling us that our venue had been pulled, and that Mark Steyn would not be permitted to speak there. The reason offered by the LCC was that they had received pressure from local Islamic groups, and they didn't want to alienate their Muslim clients. It's interesting to note that the LCC is owned by the City of London, and is therefore a government operation.

It's interesting that a government-run business decided that freedom of speech was no longer a concept to be upheld, and even more interesting is the fact that the Muslim community in London is applying pressure to a company to not entertain a speaker when only a day earlier they made a statement to the press saying that they didn't care about Steyn speaking and wouldn't do anything to counter it, (except "charity work.")...

Steyn's speech will, however, be going on. See here.

Absurd Britannia Alert, as Britain gallops toward Sharia: "Cafe owner ordered to remove extractor fan because neighbour claimed 'smell of frying bacon offends Muslims,'" from the Daily Mail, October 21 (thanks to all who sent this in):

A hard-working cafe owner has been ordered to tear down an extractor fan - because the smell of her frying bacon 'offends' Muslims.

Planning bosses acted against Beverley Akciecek, 49, after being told her next-door neighbour's Muslim friends had felt 'physically sick' due to the 'foul odour'.

Councillors at Stockport Council in Greater Manchester say the smell from the fan is 'unacceptable on the grounds of residential amenity'.

The fan has been in Beverley's Snack Shack takeaway in the Shaw Heath area of the town for the past three years.

Mrs Akciecek and her husband Cetin, 50, - himself a Turkish Muslim - work more than 50 hours a week buying, preparing and cooking hot and cold sandwiches and hot-pots for their customers.

Today mother-of-seven Mrs Akciecek said she plans to appeal against the decision.

She said: 'I just think it's crazy. Cetin's friends actually visit the shop, they're regular visitors, they're Muslim people, they come in a couple of times a week.

'I have Muslim people come in for cheese toasties. Cetin cooks the food himself, he cooks the bacon.

'When we go to a cafe my husband wouldn't be offended by the smell of bacon. His friends are not offended by it, we have three visitors who come here for a sandwich, friends of my husband, and the smell doesn't offend them at all.

'My brother-in-law doesn't flinch if he comes and we've just taken out three trays of bacon.

'I'm going to find a local councillor. I'm waiting for the letter so I can appeal.'...

Good luck.

Misunderstanders of Islam with deep pockets funding the Taliban. "Taliban: 'Britain is our greatest source of funding,"' by Praveen Swami and Dean Nelson in the Telegraph, October 21:

The Taliban has claimed that Britain is its greatest source of revenue and the group is funded by donations in mosques and Muslim community centres around the country

"We are not like a government, we depend on individuals," a Taliban commander told Sky News. "We get donations from our Muslim brothers in Britain for jihad and they help us. It is the duty of all Muslims to pay towards fighting a jihad. And this is how we get our money and buy our weapons and carry on fighting."

The commander added that an attack on Britain and Europe could happen "at any time"....

It turns out that NPR fired Williams after CAIR sent out a national press release in which CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said this about Williams' statements: "Such irresponsible and inflammatory comments would not be tolerated if they targeted any other racial, ethnic or religious minority, and they should not pass without action by NPR."

And NPR hurried to appease this thuggish Hamas-linked group.

Everyone's favorite stomach-stapled beekeeper, Ibrahim "Honest Ibe" Hooper of CAIR, was just on Fox, defending his takedown of Williams (while denying that CAIR demanded that he be fired), playing the victim card and hectoring Megyn Kelly, demanding to know if she agreed with Williams. (Kelly stood her ground magnificently.) In the course of things he said, "Everyone is accountable for what they say."

Is that so, Ibe? So I guess you're accountable for saying this, eh? "I wouldn't want to create the impression that I wouldn't like the government of the United States to be Islamic sometime in the future."

Anyway, it's bad enough that NPR would with such alacrity do the bidding of a group like CAIR, but it's even worse that Williams' rather commonplace remarks are being represented as some terrible "demonizing" of all Muslims. He said that he gets nervous on a plane when he sees people in Muslim garb. Even though the 9/11 hijackers and others did not wear Muslim garb, there are many other Islamic jihadists who have worn it, and all of the jihadists have explained and justified their actions by reference to Islamic texts and teachings. No Islamic sect or school of jurisprudence worldwide, meanwhile, has renounced the jihad against unbelievers or the imperative to impose Sharia upon them.

Are there Muslims who are not waging jihad against unbelievers? Of course. But the unwillingness of the Islamic community in the U.S. and Europe to back up its protestations of condemnation of terror with real action to root out the jihad ideology from its ranks makes it impossible to determine whether or not any given Muslim is an Islamic supremacist, or a jihadist.

Is this to "demonize" all Muslims? Of course not. But if Honest Ibe Hooper and his ilk are really not wanting Muslims to be demonized, instead of inviting that "demonization" so they can use it to claim victim status and wring more concessions out of a compliant politically correct media establishment, they could have reacted to Juan Williams' by recognizing that if anyone gets nervous when seeing people in Muslim garb, it is the fault of the Muslims who have committed acts of violence in the name of Islam. And they could begin honest, genuine efforts to root out the jihad doctrine and Islamic supremacism from their communities.

But they don't. Now, why is that?

"NPR Fires Analyst Over Comments on Muslims," by Brian Stelter for the New York Times, October 20 (thanks to all who sent this in):

NPR has terminated its contract with Juan Williams, one of its senior news analysts, after he made comments about Muslims on the Fox News Channel....

The move came after Mr. Williams, who is also a Fox News political analyst, appeared on the "The O'Reilly Factor" on Monday. On the show, the host, Bill O'Reilly, asked him to respond to the notion that the United States was facing a "Muslim dilemma." Mr. O'Reilly said, "The cold truth is that in the world today jihad, aided and abetted by some Muslim nations, is the biggest threat on the planet."

Mr. Williams said he concurred with Mr. O'Reilly.

He continued: "I mean, look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."

Mr. Williams also made reference to the Pakistani immigrant who pleaded guilty this month to trying to plant a car bomb in Times Square. "He said the war with Muslims, America's war is just beginning, first drop of blood. I don't think there's any way to get away from these facts," Mr. Williams said.

NPR said in its statement that the remarks "were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR."...

Zachary Chesser explained to Fox News:

"It's not a threat, but it really is a likely outcome" ... "They're going to be basically on a list in the back of the minds of a large number of Muslims. It's just the reality."...

Gee, what an Islamophobe! An update on this story. "US man guilty of urging attack on South Park writers," from BBC News, October 20:

A US man has pleaded guilty to supporting a Somali Islamist militant group and encouraging attacks on the writers of cartoon show South Park.

Prosecutors said Zachary Adam Chesser, 20, was outraged by the cartoon's perceived mockery of the prophet Muhammad.

Whose prophet?

Chesser sought twice to travel to Somalia to join al-Shabab, which the US designates as a terrorist group.

And oh, by the way here in the fourth paragraph, he's a convert to Islam:

The American Muslim convert faces up to 30 years in prison.

'Solicitation to murder'

Prosecutors said Chesser of Fairfax County in the state of Virginia also posted to an Islamist militant website the personal contact information of people who had joined an "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day" Facebook group.

"Zachary Chesser seriously endangered the lives of innocent people who will remain at risk for many years to come," US Attorney Neil MacBride said in a statement.

"His solicitation of extremists to murder US citizens also caused people throughout the country to fear speaking out - even in jest - lest they also be labelled as enemies who deserved to be killed."

US investigators said Chesser was a follower of radical US-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is believed to be in Yemen with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Prosecutors said Chesser posted messages online from Mr al-Awlaki in which he called for violent attacks, and posted links to internet forums giving advice on how to plan them.

In addition, Chesser pleaded guilty to urging people to plant suspicious packages in public places in order to "densensitise" police so a real bomb would escape notice....