How propaganda gets from the ground in Iraq to the nightly news in America

NBC's Brian Williams reported tonight that "Iraqi civilians" said that a US airstrike had killed not insurgents, but innocent Iraqis. Williams' report was based on an Associated Press story by Thomas Wagner and a CENTCOM news release. Williams left out a couple of telling details that even Wagner felt obligated to include in the AP story.

Here's the pertinent text from the CENTCOM release:

While conducting a combat air patrol, crewmembers from an F -15 observed 20 men arrive in four vehicles at the crater site of a previously-detonated IED which had killed five U.S. and two Iraqi Soldiers on Oct. 15. The terrorists were in the process of emplacing another IED in the same spot when the F- 15 engaged them with a precision-guided bomb, resulting in the death of terrorists on the ground.

Brian Williams did not mention any of this tonight. He simply left the impression that the American pilot lied about his target. About what you'd expect from Williams, who has indicated that he sees little difference between Iraqi terrorist insurgents and the American Founding Fathers.

More at The Dread Pundit Bluto.

Posted by: Bluto at 06:21 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Al Qaida in Iraq released a video of an Iraqi who was executed by the group today. Supposedly this man was "working for the Crusaders." The man, identified by papers the group showed, is Mahmud Alwan Hussein. Hussein was in an association of Iraqi contractors according to the papers.

The AFP says this is in direct contrast to the captured letter from Ayman al-Zawahiri to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi made public last week. This is not the case though. Zawahiri defended executions, but said it was the method in which Al Qaida in Iraq has carried out these executions that is offensive and damaging to their effort. Zawahiri even said shooting a hostage is better than beheading them, a practice in which Al Qaida in Iraq has done several times over the years.

Does this then signal that despite the fact Al Qaida in Iraq has declared the letter from Zawahiri as a fake that it is heeding its advice? In the game of point and counterpoint which is the propoganda weapon of Al Qaida, it only makes sense that AQ in Iraq would deny the legitimacy of the letter because it clearly stated AQ as a whole is in trouble. Why though would AQ in Iraq change from beheadings to executions by gun after this letter was revealed but not before if the letter and the urgings by Zawahiri were not accurate?

Infovlad has the video if you so choose to see it. It is the October 18 entry.

Posted by: Chad at 03:48 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Michelle Malkin (not a knucklehead) gives a nice recounting of her experience regarding an interview she gave to a Wall Street Journal reporter (the knucklehead) concerning the Hinrichs case.

I read her post (3 times) and just read the article. Amazingly, it was free, so I guess that's something.

But a quick synopsis of the two pieces boils down to pretty much this:

Even though blogs such as this one went out of their way to report on the Hinrichs case in such a way that did not, I repeat did not make any solid conclusions, the MSM is firmly convinced that we're all just a bunch of black helicopter seeing, rumor mongering, attention whores.

Never mind that Rusty's posts in particular on this subject have been geared towards pointing out that there were things that warranted a closer inspection. I don't recall any hard statements here claiming as fact that Hinrichs was a Muslim terrorist. The Jawa Report merely criticized the lack of MSM attention, and pointed out certain things that were miraculously reported, and said that they needed to be looked at more closely.

As far as my opinion? I think Hinrichs committed suicide after learning that Harriet Miers was nominated over him to replace O'Connor.

Hey, it's just as good as any other theory.

;-)

Posted by: Vinnie at 03:40 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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RINO sightings XI is up at politechnical.

Ah, the three things that are true about Raging RINOs is that weÂ’re outspoken, non-conformist, extremely intelligent, and incredibly good-looking. Four thingsÂ…

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Up to 70 terrorist supporters and insurgents were killed today by airstrikes prompting immediate whining about the targeting of civilians.

CNN

"[They] were not terrorists -- they were only a bunch of civilians whose curiosity prompted them to gather around a destroyed Humvee," said Dr. Dhiya Fahdawi, who treated people at a hospital in Ramadi. In the Abu Faraj region, north of Ramadi, about 50 insurgents were killed in operations surrounding a suspected insurgent safe house, the military said

OK so you will forgive me if I don't buy that. If you are dancing on top of our dead boys like you were last month I find it hard to scrape up much sympathy for you. In fact all I can think of right now is Hell Yeah!!!! Last month I saw you on FOXNEWS dancing and grinning, not that FOX feels like posting that video to the net but they had a momentary lapse of judgement and I saw you on WTVW.

Posted by: Howie at 12:01 PM | Comments (34) | Add Comment
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And also for contemporary American geopolitical policy in the so-called "War on Terror."

So, just how do you tie one hand behind your back? I mean, as opposed to tying both of them?

Discuss...

Posted by: Demosophist at 09:39 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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The main website for Al-Qaeda in Iraq is no more. Seems that the US is getting sharper about using the internet to observe and disrupt these sites. First we just watch, then we have the info we take em down. The producer of the site one Abu Dijana was also captured. I suspect we now have a wealth of info on the insurgency from this raid.

MSNBC:

All of which raises the interesting and secretive prospect that American security experts are monitoring and hacking these Web sites to gather up both information and members of the insurgency and their supporters. That might explain why one of the top propaganda operatives of "al-Qaida in Iraq" was caught by the Americans and why his Web site was so quiet during the referendum.

The Jawa Report has been both calling for the removal of these web sites as well as using the content of them to expose the true nature of our enemy. The web is a critcal tool for the terrorists. For us good news just doesn't get much better.

Posted by: Howie at 09:26 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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Where's Rusty? Since there is no way I'm going to meet my editor's deadline I have employed a thousand monkeys at a thousand typewriters to help me finish it. Here is what they have produced so-far:

It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times? This is going to take longer than I expected. I'll be gone for the next few weeks.

Posted by: Rusty at 08:52 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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The Times-Picayune devoted Sunday's front page to the story of 20-year-old Jabar Gibson who was kicked out of high school and has been committing felonies ever since. In his own words, Gibson says, "I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, a lot of times." A prudent observer would have predicted that his future had been pretty well set. But Jabar Gibson's life changed dramatically because of Hurricane Katrina.

Gibson stole a school bus, loaded it with 60 of New Orleans' poorest residents, the youngest a week-old infant and the oldest 59, and drove to Houston. Gibson was the driver of what has become known as "the renegade bus" that was the first to arrive in Houston with Hurricane Katrina evacuees.

From NOLA.com:

Gibson acknowledges he stole the bus, although in what has become Katrina lingo, he "commandeered" it to rescue himself and his neighbors. While the storm's floodwaters ultimately did not advance into Algiers, there was no way of knowing that in the chaotic Tuesday morning after the storm. Water was filling up the east bank, Mayor Ray Nagin was on the radio that afternoon predicting several feet on St. Charles Avenue, and panicked residents crossed the bridge to the West Bank, telling tales of impending doom.

"The police was leaving people behind. I had to pick up people on the bus. The police didn't want to do nothing. We stepped up and did what we had to do," said Gibson, who declined to say more because he since has agreed to a movie deal that prohibits interviews.

Companion post at Interested-Participant.

Posted by: Mike Pechar at 02:48 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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LetÂ’s see here aside from the evil McChimpy Hellibacon conspiracy with the JOOS to buy the umpires and catapult Houston to the Word Series. Yes itÂ’s them. Or it could be like my team sucks or the score at the end of the game or some shit like that. The umpires sucked equally hard for both teamsÂ… Â…or did they?

La Russa yer outta here!!!!!! Hey thatÂ’s a good idea.

What else is going on hmmm...???

TerroristÂ’s have recruited about 70 from UK in the last year via online.

Jihad Watch & The Times of London.

Watch for the Transcript of the FNS DICK Durbin interview that is if they ever get round to posting it. DICK will explain his partyÂ’s plan to win the war which is.......AHHHHH.err... to shoot holes in someone elseÂ’s plan. Sounds like a winner there DICK. While you were thinking that up guess we have been doing? Also if they ever post it see why Condi Rice is the smartest person on DC.

Paraphrased “No I would never want to run for President”.

I canÂ’t freakin quote it till you post it if you have it must be in tiny little print Chris you puffed toad you. Actually if you think about it Durbin looks more like a toad. It was like two puffed toads in a debate each puffing a little bigger. Wallace won.

Updated: OK transcript up. And here too.

And now back to Baseball....

Posted by: Howie at 08:53 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Iraq the Model has a wrapup of today's Iraqi Constitutional referendum.

Hit their sidebar links for more Iraqi reaction.

Posted by: Vinnie at 11:44 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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(Toledo, Ohio) Before the start of a planned neo-Nazi rally in north Toledo, racial tension caused rioting to break out with baseball-sized rocks being thrown at police and vehicles being vandalized. According to Police Chief Mike Navarre, six people have been arrested. The march by the white supremacist group was canceled and over 100 police officers flooded the neighborhoods.

Live coverage on FoxNews shows some houses being looted with one building on fire. The live video from WJBK-TV shows the streets now crowded with police officers. The situation has calmed and the fire department has arrived to extinguish the fire in what is thought to be a tavern.

Police Chief Navarre stated that he believes that all the Nazis have now left the city.

So, in summary, the white supremacists organize a march to ostensibly protest black criminal gangs and the black community responds by rioting, looting, and setting at least one building on fire -- in their own neighborhood. The logic escapes me.

[Update 2030 EDT, 10/15/05]

Toledo Mayor Jack Ford declared a state of emergency and instituted a citywide curfew starting at 8PM tonight, tomorrow, and possibly Monday.

From ToledoBlade.com:

Mr. Ford said those protesting were mainly male gang members in their 20s. He said the protests were not triggered by race relations but by gang members with grievances.

"We went to talk to them. Most of them were gang members (picture) in full colors," the mayor said. "Their anger was based on some long-standing things but also that we had allowed the [Nazi] walk to occur in the first place."

Interestingly, local media coverage of the rioting was prevented by the mobs attacking and disabling the mobile news vehicles first. Scheduled celebrations for Start High School Homecoming and Central Catholic High School Homecoming were canceled.

Companion post at Interested-Participant.

Posted by: Mike Pechar at 02:54 PM | Comments (24) | Add Comment
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Almost a year ago I bought trackinghillary.com so that someone might be able to use it to mount up an electronic paper trail about Senator Hillary Clinton during her run-up to the 2008 Presidential election. The offer I made was that someone or some team can get a site that actively tracks Hillary Clinton hosted for free (on this server) and the gets the domain name for free. That's right, free; no strings attached just track Hillary Clinton's speeches, actions, and voting records as best you can and it's all yours.

Last night I received the 90-day renewal notice for trackinghillary.com. My question to you is is there a market for a site like I envisioned or is Blogs Against Hillary and company good enough to get the job done? In other words, should I hang on to trackinghillary.com or donate it to someone else?

Originally Posted at

Posted by: Chris Short at 11:51 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Was Joel Henry Hinrichs III a terrorist? Until the investigation is complete, we cannot know that for a fact. So, how can The Wall Street Journal know that he was not?

Yesterday the WSJ did an incredibly pathetic job of debunking the Joel Henry Hinrichs suicide-bombing story yesterday. Ryan Chittum and Joe Hagan's argument that Hinrichs was not a failed terrorist--whether acting alone or as part of a larger conspiracy--is a pathetic resort to authority. No new facts are cited to dispute reasonable questions that Hinrichs was a terrorist--and they are just that, questions.

They simply cite the University of Oklahoma President David Boren's assurances that it was not terrorism--statements he began to make before the investigation had even begun--the protests of Hinrichs' father that his son was not a Muslim, and a single FBI statement in an ongoing investigation.

When an act of war is committed--which a suicide bombing is--in a time of war--which we are in now--on a field of battle--which the terrorists have made the American homeland--then it seems reasonable to assume that the act was part of the larger war. The act may eventually turn out to be unrelated, but that says nothing of the larger point of whether or not Hinrichs' suicide-bombing should have been a major news story and whether it was reasonable to ask questions about his death?

Since the WSJ, and the later CBS coverage of the debunking, fails to mention The Jawa Report as a chief culprate in spreading unsubstantiated rumors and innuendo, our editorial board feels duty bound to respond to the non-allegation that we have done shoddy reporting.

The original WSJ article is bad enough, but the CBS News coverage of the WSJ article is worse. Here is how they quote the WSJ:

“Adding to community concern was the revelation that two days before he blew himself up, Mr. Hinrichs visited a feed store and inquired about buying ammonium nitrate -- the same chemical Timothy McVeigh put in the bomb he used in 1995 to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City, 20 miles to the north.…

To that unsettling set of facts, blogs and local Oklahoma TV stations added several apparent inaccuracies, including: that Mr. Hinrichs was a Muslim and visited the mosque frequently; that he tried to enter the stadium twice but was rebuffed; that he had a one-way airplane ticket to Algeria; that there were nails in the bomb and that Islamic extremist literature was found in his apartment.

None of these claims are true: Mr. Hinrichs's family, university officials and the Federal Bureau of Investigation say Mr. Hinrichs suffered from depression, and the explosion was an isolated event.”

But the original WSJ reports is equally shoddy. They unequivically state that "none of these claims are true." So, which claims are untrue and how do they know that.

1) Claim: "Mr. Hinrichs was a Muslim and visited the mosque frequently."
Source of refutation: Hinrichs' father-- "Joel wasn't a Muslim and wasn't under anyone's sway, Mr. Hinrichs says"

2) Claim: "Hinrichs tried to enter the stadium twice but was rebuffed"
Source of refutation: not cited. However, we reported here that security tapes did not show Hinrichs trying to enter the statium.

3) Claim: "he had a one-way airplane ticket to Algeria"
Source of refutation: not cited. However, notice this from the same article "investigators did find an airplane ticket to Algeria, it wasn't in Mr. Hinrichs's apartment, but rather in one belonging to an international student, Mr. Boren said.

4) Claim: "there were nails in the bomb
Source of refutation: not cited.

So, what we have are a series of unsubstantiated allegation. Are any of these allegations true? I've no idea. But how do we know that "none of these allegations are true" as the WSJ claims? Because David Boren and Hinrichs' father claim they are not true.

As we said in our first report on this story on October 4th that since the Northeast Intelligence Network was the source of some of the information (such as the report that a ticket to Algeria was found in his room) much of this needs to be taken with a fair amount of skepticism. But to claim that what we and other blogs have been asking "is just smoke...It's bilge" as the WSJ quotes Hinrichs' father as saying is beyond the pale.

It is true that some bloggers have jumped to the conclusion that this definitely was part of a larger plot, but for the most part this site and sites like Little Green Footballs, Michelle Malkin, Powerline, Generation Why, Mark Tapscott, and others have simply wondered why this was not getting coverage and how David Boren and others were so sure this was not terrorism when the investigation was incomplete?

If it is irresponsible to ask whether a suicide-bomber might have been a terrorist, then count us guilty. If it is irresponsible to ask why the mainstream media has not given coverage to what is normally considered an act of war in a time of in America's heartland, then count us guilty. If we are to err, let us err on the side of caution--and that side is quite different after 9/11 than before it.

While many of the alleged 'facts' about Hinrichs will certainly be disproven in the coming days, refutations by David Boren are not enough to convince us that there is nothing more to see here.

This and all other posts related to Joel Henry Hinrichs III are archived here.

UPDATE: By Vinnie, Hannity and Colmes will have an Oklahoma congressman on "who is determined to get to the bottom" of this case.

Should be interesting...I'm sure more updates will follow.

Posted by: Rusty at 04:01 PM | Comments (39) | Add Comment
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Claremont, North Carolina (Conservative Thinking) -- Hurricane Katrina has left many in Mississippi without homes and with ruined lives. People's worldly possessions consist of what was on their backs during the storm, what little they've recovered from the rubble that was once their home or business, and what they've acquired since the storm has past. Everything from dressers to kitchen tables to clothes to appliances is now gone. People are trying to rebuild but it is unimaginably difficult.

The Hickory, North Carolina area furniture manufacturers have been hit hard over the past few years but one company through a fluid business model and good management has been able to remain overwhelmingly successful. Progressive Furniture is a furniture manufacturer just outside of Hickory in Claremont, North Carolina (home offices in Ohio). Progressive Furniture's employees took a collection shortly after Hurricane Katrina hit and the company itself matched the contributions of its employees. That collection was then donated to relief efforts in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

As noble as the donation was it simply wasn't enough for the kind hearted people at Progressive Furniture who could do so much more. Conservative Thinking has learned that Progressive Furniture will be loading up at least one 18 wheeler full of queen size and children's bedroom sets and shipping those bedroom sets to the Salvation Army in Gulfport, Mississippi.

A lot of bad can be said about the problems with Katrina relief response. However, companies like Progressive Furniture are looking past that and becoming part of the solution.

Posted by: Chris Short at 02:14 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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You hate your boss right well it's universal. See Iowahawks second special guest commentary by Abu Musab Al-Zaqueery.

“you know that roof is not going to thatch itself,” blah blah f*cking blah. Then the wives start in on that suspicious “if we didn’t know better, we’d think you were seeing another harem” crap, like I got enough energy to go fornicating after a week of occupier missile strikes and filling out the Q1 school bomb progress reports.

Posted by: Howie at 11:04 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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The letter from al Qaida's #2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, to head of IZAQ (al Qaida in Iraq), Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is a telling and damaging communique. It shows the weakness of al Qaeda as well as their propensity to rule the world with an iron Islamic fist.

al Qaida has come out denying the authenticity of the letter which is also a tell tale sign of how damaging the letter really is. Of course, you can draw your own opinion about the authenticity of the letter.

I asked CENTCOM Public Affairs about the authenticity of theZawahiri-Zarqawi letter; the response is as follows:

The U.S. and Coalition have a variety of ways to acquire information, including detainee interrogation and raids of enemy locations as well as other means which often lead to exploitation of information and material. Due to operational security, I cannot discuss the specific way in which the letter was obtained.

It was felt that the release of this letter clearly illustrated the detailed planning and intent of insurgents in Iraq to one day control the country and extend their extremist Jihad to neighboring Muslim states, to include the destruction of Israel.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Department of Defense and CENTCOM have a high degree of confidence in the authenticity of the letter.

CENTCOM Public Affairs

I have to believe this letter is the real deal.

Originally Posted at

Posted by: Chris Short at 10:19 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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1 Its authenticity is unimpeachable in my opinion due to the fact that the leftards have come out so hard trying to discredit it as some sort of Halliburton/Neoconservative/JOOOOOOish hoax.

Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at October 14, 2005 10:49 AM (0yYS2)

2 What's up with the spacing?

Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at October 14, 2005 10:52 AM (0yYS2)

3 The comments are set up for even margins on both sides. You sometimes come up with some really long words like "Joooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooz and "Halliburton/Neoconservative/JOOOOOOish" force it to the next line. But you knew that ;-)

Posted by: Oyster at October 14, 2005 12:33 PM (fl6E1)

4 It fits into so many different patterns and pieces of the puzzle. It is totally real.

Posted by: Jack at October 14, 2005 01:37 PM (aFawc)

5 As are the aliens in their mothership which brother Farrakhan (bacon grease upon him) so wisely brought to our attention.

Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at October 14, 2005 02:14 PM (0yYS2)

6 How about Zawahiri's handwriting analysis?

Posted by: sortapundit at October 14, 2005 02:27 PM (F1nba)

7 IMP: I'm guessing you saw those nutjobs talking about 9/11 last night too, eh? I'm glad they ran that story, it shows what radical nutjobs we have on our own soil among the ranks of "The Nation of Islam" right here, right now.

Posted by: dave at October 14, 2005 02:30 PM (CcXvt)

8 The Nation of Hoodlums would be closer to the truth, Dave. IM, And that would be, I hope, "hot bacon grease upon him". j/k

Posted by: jesusland joe at October 14, 2005 03:15 PM (rUyw4)

9 You know it jj.

Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at October 14, 2005 07:14 PM (0yYS2)

10 good peace in Financial times (london) about another guy called abu musab who used to be go between for al-qaeda in afghanistan and algerian terrorists in europe his last known location was in iraq. newspaper suggests the letter was originally sent to him and that he was to pass on most of the contence to zarqawi but to dress it up slightly so it didnt sound so critical

Posted by: Graeme at October 17, 2005 05:03 AM (CY03r)

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Well, 2005 is nearly over. And with 2006 comes thoughts of midterm elections. I'm sure it won't take very long for the airwaves to become polluted with commercials for your (most or least) favorite representative to Washington. But before we begin this propaganda cycle, I think we need to take a good hard look at what has been going on. No, I'm not going to sit here and lay the ills of the world at this administration's feet. There are plenty of liberals to do that. Besides that, I'd like to focus on reality. And the reality is that our representatives, by and large, have been paying us a lot of lip service without really doing anything. Except for the bill that they just passed to relax restrictions on refinery building, I can't think of much of anything Congress has managed to get done recently. Oh, I'm sure there have been hundreds of little "pet project" bills that they have managed to get through, but there are some major issues that are being swept under the rug here and need to be addressed. I think that we need to use these midterm elections to send a message to our representatives. We need to let them know that they no longer control the issues. These are the things that we are concerned about and they have two more years to start doing something about them before we start voting them out of office.

With that in mind, I have come up with a small list of issues that I believe need attention. These are mainly issues that have been brought up, talked about and raised as standards by many representatives, then quickly hidden before any real action has had to be taken.

1. What ever happened to Social Security reform? Of course we all realize that the Democrats don't even want to talk about this, but hey, we're the majority party. It's time to do something before the whole thing collapses like the house of cards that it is. We have already forced the Democrats to admit there is a problem, but then we didn't do anything about it. Why haven't we pressed that advantage to actually get something done?

2. School Vouchers have been a hot topic for politicians to run on for quite some time now. Let's do something besides pay them lip service.

3. All (or most) of our Republicans have been spending like Democrats for the past several years. The last highway bill is a travesty that should never have been allowed to pass through a Republican congress. If they're afraid of holding up an important bill just because it's stuffed full of pork, we need to let them know that we will fully support their decision. If it's just because they want to spend like everyone else, then they need to know that we will no longer support that. Either way, they need to get the message loud and clear that it well beyond time to get government spending under control.

4. When trying to find the money for Hurricane Katrina relief, several Republicans stood up to say that it was time to take control of government spending. There were several good proposals on the table at the time. After their initial press coverage, these things seem to have disappeared. Is that from lack of support? If so, why are our Republican representatives showing so much fiscal irresponsibility? Let's get these proposals back out and start slashing at some fat.

5. When are we going to show that we value human life? I'm not talking about outlawing abortion tomorrow. I'm too much of a realist to think that's going to happen soon (if at all). But there were so many representatives ready to jump on the bandwagon when it looked politically expedient for them during the Terri Schiavo issue. Now we don't hear a peep out of them. If you were so concerned about protecting the Terri Schiavos of this nation, why aren't you doing something about it. If you don't feel that it's the federal government's place to do anything about it, why aren't you urging states to take action?

Overall, I have been quite disappointed in the actions taken by our supposed majority. With elections just around the corner, we need to make it more than clear that we can and will rally around someone who will give us more than talking points. After all, if I wanted all my money stolen and to be lied to constantly, I'd vote Democrat.

Posted by: Drew at 09:57 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Seven terrorists have been arrested in the Netherlands today as Dutch police mounted a series of raids nationwide. Among the seven terror suspects was a woman. The Dutch Parliament and the Prime Minister's office were also sealed off as gun shots were heard from a nearby street.

One of those arrested was a repeat offender. Dutch news agency ANP reports that among those arrested was Samir Azzouz, 19, acquitted in April of charges of planning attacks on government buildings--including Parliament. Police report that they found maps of potential targets in his home which included parliament and the Borselle nuclear power plant. (AKI)

Azzouz is suspected of belonging to the Hofstad Network, a group of suspected radical muslims which allegedly included Mohammed Bouyeri, the Dutch-Morroccan man jailed for life in July for the murder of film-maker Theo van Gogh, nearly a year ago in Amsterdam. (FT)

On Thursday, media reported renewed threats against members of parliament Ayaan Hirsi Ali (image right) and Geert Wilders, both outspoken critics of Islamic extremism. The two went into hiding for several months after Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh's brutal murder. (Haaretz)

Local media also report that gunshots were heard in a largely Muslim immigrant neighborhood in the Hague this morning. The police have yet to confirm this.

Today, The Jawa Report received this comment from a Muslim reader in The Netherlands:

JIHAD AGAINST THE KUFFAR AND THE MUNAFIQEEN, MURTADEEN IS FARD (required)

SO OH MUSLIMS MARCH OUT TOWARDS THE BATTLEFIELD OF AFGHANISTAN, IRAQ, JAZERATUL ARAB, KASHMIR, SHESHAAN, PALESTINE

Journalist Hans Andringa told CNN there had been rumors that on November 2, the anniversary of Van Gogh's death, fundamentalists were planning "a macabre birthday party."

Following the arrests, Holland's National Coordinator for Counterterrorism announced a stepping up of security around the Binnenhof (parliamentary and governmental complex in The Hague), the headquarters of the General Intelligence and Security Service in Leidschendam, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations.

Personal security was also being stepped up for leading figures, the statement said, adding that there was no need to raise the general threat level associated with the national terrorist threat assessment.

"As reported earlier, the current threat level for the Netherlands is substantial, and that level remains unchanged," the statement said.

Personal note: I'm off the rest of the day doing you know what with you know who at you know where.

Posted by: Rusty at 08:57 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Why didn't John Hawkins ask Richard Perle about his involvement in The Pentavorate, The Illuminati, the CFR, and the Sacred Order of the Stonecutters? You were aware that he is a J-O-O, right? John Hawkins is obviously no Dan Rather. Hurry, go read the interview or the Mossad will hunt you down.

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