January 18, 2006

French(!) News Agency Upstages Reuters At Objective Reporting

A Tale of Two Leads
The most effective agenda journalism (also known as propaganda) is the least obvious. As in most of the mainstream media, Reuters writers know this, and strive to slant their anti-Bush/anti-US articles subtly, to lull the reader into the illusion that they are reading straight reporting of the news, rather than cleverly crafted editorials.

The difference can be as nuanced as the placement of quotation marks, as we see from the following two reports about the same story. more...

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The ghost of Kenny voting in Tennessee

Oh my G*d, they killed Kenny. And they let him vote. In Tennessee. You bastards!

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Iraqis Cave to Hostage Demands, Release Six of Eight Female Detainees

Why terrorists take hostages.

1) Take hostage.
2) Make demands.
3) Demands are met.
4) Release hostage.

Lesson learned? Taking hostages is effective. Take more hostages.

BBC News:

Iraq's ministry of justice has told the BBC that six of the eight women being held by coalition forces in Iraq have been released early.

The six were freed because there was insufficient evidence to charge them, a justice ministry spokesman said.

The US forces have refused to confirm the releases, but say they would not be based on any operational activities.

The group holding US journalist Jill Carroll has said she will die unless all Iraqi women prisoners are freed.

The status of prisoners held by coalition forces is reviewed twice a week by a committee made up of the justice, human rights and interior ministries, and a representative of the US-led coalition.

The justice ministry spokesman said it was this committee which had studied the cases of the six women and found insufficient evidence against them.

Even if the women would have eventually been released, as the article suggests, releasing them now certainly sends the wrong message to the terrorist scum that ransom hostages for money or political goals.

UPDATE: Speaking of caving to terrorists demands, the sister of the Iraqi Interior Ministry has been released. If you will recall, she was taken hostage by a group claiming to be The Revenge Brigade. This is the same group that is holding Jill Carroll hostage.

Thanks to George for sending this BBC link:

The sister of Iraq's interior minister has been freed some two weeks after being kidnapped at gunpoint, an interior ministry official has said.

Ali al-Khaqani confirmed Bayan Jabr's sister had been released, but would not say whether a ransom had been paid.

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Iraq Chopper Video

Several choppers have been shot down in Iraq of late. Infovlad has the new video of a chopper being shot down released by the terrorists. There are conflicting reports as to how these choppers go down. Mujahedin Army and Salahudin al-Ayoubi Brigade have both claimed responsibility. The Mujahedin Army released the video. The enemy can be heard in the background repeating “God is Great” in Arabic.

NPRÂ’s ATC : Three helicopters operated by the U.S. military have gone down in Iraq in the past 10 days, resulting in 16 deaths. Some experts believe insurgents are using a new weapon: an airborne cousin of the roadside bombs used to blow up trucks and tanks.
So that would lead you to believe that some or all of the shoot downs are dumb luck. However after viewing the new video on infovlad the AP version reported in the Indy Star seems accurate.
AP Via Indy Star : Ashid Khalifa, 27, who has a food and drink stand in the area, said he saw the attack. "I saw the smoke trail left by the missile," he said. "I heard a hissing sound, looked around and saw the helicopter losing control before crashing down."

The U.S. command questioned the credibility of a video purportedly showing an attack on a helicopter that was posted on the Internet by one of the militant groups, the Mujahedeen Army.

This is being questioned by the US Military.
"A review of the footage on television of a missile being fired does not appear to show this incident today, which remains under investigation," said Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a U.S. spokesman.

"This appears to be another case of terrorists attempting to manipulate a tragic incident," he added.

Well maybe there is some sort of primitive roadside bomb but the video does match the description of the AP’s witness. This suggests that the enemy does have at least some rocket fired missiles. If this is the actual video this device traveled quite a bit more than the “couple hundred feet” reported in the NPR story.

Updated: ABCNEWS : Reports this was a Russian missile..

Pentagon officials tell ABC News they believe Iraqi insurgents used a Russian-made SA-7 surface-to-air missile to shoot down a U.S. military helicopter on Monday... ...It's a troubling new development because there are hundreds — and by some estimates thousands — of SA-7 missiles that are unaccounted for in Iraq... ...The weapons had been part of Saddam Hussein's arsenal, much of which was looted after the invasion. But until now, insurgents had never successfully used them against an American aircraft.
more...

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In a nation of 26 million, the U.S. holds only EIGHT female Iraqi prisoners

Yesterday The Revenge Brigade released a video tape of American journalist and hostage Jill Carroll claiming they would murder her if all female Iraqi prisoners were not released by the U.S. That demand--that women be released from prison--has been a common one among jihadi terrorists in Iraq.

No doubt those jihadis believe the lies and propaganda put out by pan-Arabic and Leftwing media that the U.S. is detaining hundreds--if not thousands--of women. Worse than that, these media outlets claim that U.S. forces routinely murder, rape, and purposefully humiliate Iraqi women.

So, how many women is the U.S. holding in Iraq? EIGHT.

No doubt there have been abuses in Iraq, but to claim that America is systematically demoralizing Iraq's women when only eight of them are being detained is a lie of magnificient proportions. Such lies and propaganda have consequences. The continued killing of American troops and kidnapping of civilian hostages is one of them.

ABC News.

U.S. forces in Iraq said on Wednesday they were holding eight women prisoners, after the abductors of an American journalist threatened to kill her if the authorities did not free all Iraqi women within 72 hours.

"We have eight females. They are being held for the same reasons as the others, namely that they are a threat to security," said Lieutenant Aaron Henninger, a spokesman for the U.S. military detentions operation. Some 14,000 men are held at Abu Ghraib and other jails on suspicion of insurgent activity.

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Kidnap Plot on Tony Blair's Son Foiled

(London) Scotland Yard sources have confirmed that police have foiled a plot to kidnap Prime Minister Tony Blair's five-year-old son, Leo.

From the Guardian:

Detectives have investigated a plot to kidnap Tony Blair's son, Leo, after it emerged that extremists linked to the fathers' rights group Fathers4Justice were allegedly intending to snatch the Blairs' youngest child as a form of direct action.

Downing Street last night refused to comment on a report in the Sun newspaper that the police had foiled the attempt in which Leo would have been held hostage to highlight the plight of fathers denied access to their children.

Authorities believe the plot was to hold the boy only for a short period of time and then let him go unharmed. Anti-terrorist police took immediate action to investigate rumors of the plot, visiting members of Fathers4Justice and warning them that someone would likely be shot on sight if the plan was acted on.

Matt O'Conner, founder of Fathers4Justice, condemned the plot unreservedly, stating, "We're in the business of uniting dads with their kids not separating them." Even so, some extreme members or former members have been implicated in the kidnap plot prompting O'Conner to shut down Fathers4Jusctice.

From Fathers4Justice Official Website:

F4J leader Matt O'Connor announced last night that he was suspending the operations of the group pending enquiries into allegations contained on the cover of this mornings Sun Newspaper that 'extremist sympathisers' associated with the group had planned to kidnap the Prime Minister's Son, Leo Blair.

F4J say they condemn any such action unreservedly and that the group is increasingly having it's name 'hijacked' by a growing number of militant extremists and that it would seriously consider the long term viability of the campaign.

O'Conner also called for the police to immediately release the names of the likely suspects and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. I give O'Conner credit for taking immediate action to condemn the plot and to distance himself from the perpetrators. However, criminal plots don't materialize from thin air in activist organizations without word getting around, so one has to wonder just how extreme the Fathers4Justice membership is at its core.

Companion post at Interested-Participant.

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January 17, 2006

Saudis Arrest Al Qaeda Terrorists

(Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) Good news! Saudi Arabian officials have announced the apprehension of nine suspected militants (their words) in two different operations by security police.

From Arabnews.com:

Security forces have arrested five suspected Al-Qaeda militants, including one foreigner, following a raid in Riyadh. The security forces also learned that the group was planning terrorist attacks in the Kingdom.

The statement from the Interior Ministry carried by the Saudi Press Agency said: "Four nationals and one (foreign) resident were arrested during a raid on a hide-out in Riyadh."

There was an improvised bomb-factory inside the hide-out. None of the five men were on a list of 36 most-wanted terrorists issued by the ministry last year.

"During a search of their hide-out, the (security forces) confiscated ... explosive materials in addition to electronic CDs and documents which prove that they are members of the deviant group," the ministry said. The documents also indicated "criminal plans to carry out destructive attacks inside the Kingdom," the ministry said. The security forces also discovered "equipment to forge documents."

Also confiscated were 12 hand grenades and 1,000,000 Saudi riyals (about $267,000).

In another operation on Monday,

[S]ecurity sources said that police arrested at least four suspected militants in raids on different houses in the northeast Riyadh neighborhood of Al-Fahs Al-Dawry. Dozens of police cars backed by security forces filled the streets of the neighborhood which includes a number of male-only cafes and rest houses.
Although this is great news, it's a little troubling that we never hear what happens to these terrorists when they go to court. Given that Saudi Arabia is a Muslim nation, I wouldn't be surprised if many terrorists are let go with minor punishment. Frankly, not knowing is the hard part.

It's also somewhat ironic that the Arab News can call al Qaeda a "deviant group" which was "planning terrorist attacks," but real care is used not to call the terrorists terrorists. Maybe they want to fend off accusations that Saudi Arabia is a breeding ground and home for terrorists (i.e. "We have no terrorists, just militants."). If so, they're late. That train has left the station.

Companion post at Interested-Participant.

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Toward A New Liberalism

My friend Patrick Joubert Conlon (Born Again Redneck) inspired me with this post to rattle the marbles around in my head by speculating what I really have against socialism. I actually have nothing against the goal of socialism, to tell the truth. That is, I have no investment at all, on a personal level, in whether all boats rise at the same rate or at different rates. Furthermore, if work has intrinsic value then there's something rather admirable about the notion that work-as-labor might be divorced from income sources. People work for reasons other than money, otherwise no one would become a teacher or a college professor.

Besides, it seems to me that it may well be necessary to provide people with income during periods when the economy is unable to place them where they can best contribute by exploiting their labor, at least to a level that sustains SFC (shelter, food and clothing). Not doing so might well be less efficient than we imagine, since the economy doesn't need the same skills at the same rate throughout its history. Thus, if we lose certain people whose labor we don't happen to value at the moment they won't be available when their contributions are important, or even critical, to everyone's survival. The only other option would be to issue humans an "off" switch so they might go into hybernation during periods when they aren't needed. But the Creator didn't see fit to provide us with those, so "social insurance" makes some straightforward sense. After all it was a Republican administration that proposed the "guaranteed minimum wage" suggested by Milton Friedman's "negative income tax."

more...

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"Willy Nagin and the Chocolate Factory"

In 2002 I spent several weeks in New Orleans. Most of it was good, but there was racial tension just under the surface; much more raw than a born-and-bred Yankee was accustomed to seeing. The natural inclination is to blame unregenerate white Southern attitudes, and there was some evidence to support that view, but it's only half of the story.

Here's the other half:

On Monday, Nagin said God wanted New Orleans to be predominantly black and said he didn't care what the predominantly white Uptown section of the city had to say about it.

"I don't care what people are saying Uptown or wherever they are. This city will be chocolate at the end of the day," he said. "This city will be a majority African-American city. It's the way God wants it to be."

After the statement, he insisted he wasn't being divisive.

"How do you make chocolate? You take dark chocolate, you mix it with white milk, and it becomes a delicious drink. That is the chocolate I am talking about," he said. "New Orleans was a chocolate city before Katrina. It is going to be a chocolate city after. How is that divisive? It is white and black working together, coming together and making something special."

Yeah, right. I've heard that kind of backpedaling from white bigots, too.

It's time for this clown to be shown the door.

Also posted at The Dread Pundit Bluto .

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American Jill Carroll Hostage Video Emerges

UPDATE 2/09/06: Third Jill Carroll hostage video here.

UPDATE 1/30: Second Jill Carroll hostage video emerges.

Scroll through for updates or check the MAIN PAGE here or our pages dedicated exclusively to Jill Carroll for the latest news on Jill Carroll and other hostages in Iraq.
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A new video has emerged of the American journalist Jill Carroll taken hostage by terrorists in Iraq. The fifteen second long video aired by al Jazeera television was broadcast with no audio. The terrorists claim they will murder Jill Carroll in 72 hours if their demand for the release of all female prisoners in Iraq is not met.

The Jawa Report is currently searching for a copy of the unedited, original hostage video and will post links to it and images from it as soon as they are available. If you have a copy of the video, please send via the e-mail listed at the contact page above.The YNC has some of the video as aired on Fox News, but not the original. Shawn has the BBC video of the same. Both are worth a look. Jill looks like she is in good shape on it. Pray for her release.

The Jawa Report was the first American media to reveal Carroll's name after she was taken hostage on January 7th. The Christian Science Monitor had asked news media to not report miss Carroll's name in those early hours, no doubt taking advice from the State Department which believes such information can be harmful. We disagree. Experience has shown that the more these hostages names are in the headlines, the greater the chance for their survival. Background on Jill Carroll can be found in The Jawa Report's Jill Carroll archive.

UPDATE: Jill Carroll's translator Allan Enwiya was murdered at the time she was captured. Iraqi in America is soliciting donations to help Allan Enwiya's family here.

Al Jazeera, never missing a beat, chooses to play up the angle that Carroll was against the war. Presumably the video mentions which group took Jill Carroll hostage, but al Jazeera does not give the public that information. UPDATE with hat tip to Jesusland Joe: While al Jazeera continues to say that no group has claimed the tape, this from the AP notes that the video played on al Jazeera was emblazed with a logo reading "The Revenge Brigade". Often when a group is named 'brigade' it is an indication that it is a smaller subunit within a larger organization. More on "The Revenge Brigade" below.

The fact that the terror organization is demanding the release of all women prisoners is not a good sign. This is a common demand from Salafist organizations such as Abu Musab al Zarqawi's al Qaeda and The Islamic Army in Iraq. Both groups routinely murder those they hold hostage. An earlier announcement said to be from al Qaeda in Iraq claimed they were holding Jill Carroll hostage. Al Jazeere:

The abductors of US journalist Jill Carroll have threatened to kill her if the United States does not free Iraqi women prisoners within 72 hours.

Aljazeera aired a brief video on Tuesday showing Carroll speaking to the camera, without broadcasting her voice.

Carroll had been on her way to a meeting with Adnan al-Dulaimi, a Sunni Arab leader whom she had intended to interview, the newspaper had said.

Carroll's former employers The Jordan Times published a Sunday editorial, stating: "The kidnappers who abducted her could not have chosen a more wrong target. True, Jill is a US citizen. But she is also more critical of US policies towards the Middle East than many ArabsÂ… Jill has been from day one opposed to the war, to the invasion and occupation of Iraq. "

Reuters:
The abductors of U.S. journalist Jill Carrol have threatened to kill her if the United States does not free Iraqi women prisoners within 72 hours, Al Jazeera television said on Tuesday.

The station aired a brief video apparently showing Carroll speaking to the camera, without broadcasting her voice.

Hat tip George and others.

More on The Revenge Brigade: A group with the same name held an Iraqi born Christian named Minas Ibrahim al-Yusufi, who had Swedish citizenship, hostage for some months. The group initially threatened to behead him, released a hostage video, and then he was released unharmed. At the time, rumor was that a ransom had been paid.

More recently the group has kidnapped the sister of the Iraqi Interior Ministry and made the same demands that they are making for the release of Jill Carroll. Oddly enough, the group also demanded an apology for the raiding of a Shia mosque, yet Interior Minister Bayon Jabar is also Shia. UPDATE 1/18: Jabar's sister has been released. Did they pay the ransom demand?

Thanks to George for sending this BBC link:

The sister of Iraq's interior minister has been freed some two weeks after being kidnapped at gunpoint, an interior ministry official has said.

Ali al-Khaqani confirmed Bayan Jabr's sister had been released, but would not say whether a ransom had been paid.

Bacground. Reuters:
A previously unknown group says it has kidnapped the sister of Iraq's interior minister and set conditions for her release, including the freeing of some Iraqi women prisoners, Al Jazeera television said on Wednesday.

The group which called itself the Revenge Brigade said in a statement received by Al Jazeera that it wanted the release of women who were detained on charges of resisting the occupation.

Al Jazeera said the group also called for a halt "to the storming campaign launched by the security forces which are affiliated with the interior and defence ministries".

Jawa Cobloggers: Traderrob at OpiniPundit: Threatening a women who has a track record of caring and consideration for the Arab people certainly isn't going to help their image in the region

Others: Digger's Realm notes that Jill is the 31st journalist taken hostage in Iraq.
Chad at In the Bullpen believes this might be a ransom case.
Thirdee: Those with any type of understanding of the enemy we face know that these animals couldn't care less about Iraqi female prisoners.
Clarity and Resolve: Way to go, Team Jihad.
EuphoricReality has their usual great commentary. I would remind them, though, that the demand for the release of female prisoners is quite common. The same demand was used right before they murdered CAIR International worker Margaret Hassan.
All Searching Eye notices that the MSM doesn't want to use the 'T' word to describe Jill Carroll's captors.

Tin foil patrol:

DU reaction:

Bombing, raping & torturing civilans... Oh wait if its being done by the good old US of A its not the same.

Funny that those whom we dub "terrorists" in Iraq
would be viewed as "the resistance" if WE were
under occupation by a foreign power.

Funny that some people CANNOT see beyond their own noses.

First of all, exactly what in the hell is a moral war? I am not under the impression that a war can be moral.

Next, why do WE kidnap civilians in Iraq with regularity? Why do WE torture people to death in Iraq? Why do WE torture kids in the presence of their parents in Iraq? You're obviously not equipped to answer these questions, so take them as rhetorical and go do some reading.

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Kennedy Conversation

Fatwa issued against Sobek for "A brief conversation between Ted Kennedy and a dead hooker in the trunk of his car."

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Fake Veterans Group to Show Fake Documentary

I just received an e-mail from the "IAVI: Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America" which claims to be "the nation's first and largest organization for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan." The group's "Operation Truth" will be showing a film called "Why We Fight" in L.A. and New York later this week.

Both the e-mail and their various websites (including Troopnet) leave the reader with the misimpression that the group is about veteran's advocacy. It is not. It is a thinly veiled antiwar front.

The group's founder is an antiwar activist who occasionally blogs at the Left Wing Huffington Post. Does this sound like some one who speaks for veterans?

We applaud Congressman Murtha for having the courage to stand up in front of the nation and offer his honest assessment of the war in Iraq, including the shortcomings he sees in the execution of the war. Having served honorably as a Marine for decades, and with war experience in Vietnam, we know he did not take his statement lightly.

His decision today to ask the tough questions is a tribute to his patriotism.

The organization and website go out of their way to make themselves seem mainstream, but they aren't. Just how out there are they? Try conspiracy land:
If it’s true that someone lied to the American people to advance their narrow agenda of either restitution or payback and “cooked” the intelligence, they should be charged with treason.
Eisenhower_military_industrial_complex.jpgThe movie, "Why We Fight," is purportedly a "film about the root causes of modern American wars." To make the film seem more mainstream they announce that it contains interviews with Sen. John McCain, William Kristol, and Richard Perle. Of course, they also interview conspiracy nuts Gore Vidal and Chalmers Johnson.

And what, pray tell, is the "root cause" of modern American wars? The picture above is one attached to the press release. It is of President Eisenhower as he delivers his farewell address warning of the dangers of the "military-industrial complex".

And as all enlightened members of the 'reality-based' community know, the Iraq War was fought so that Halliburton could turn a bigger profit.

If you get an e-mail from the group, please ignore it. If you are a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, please realize the IAVI is a Left-wing antiwar front.

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What Moderate Muslims?

A week ago, James Joyner of Outside the Beltway sent me a link to this post commenting on a column by Stephen Schwartz on the meaning of moderate Islam. He wanted my opinion of it since Schwartz had made a ridiculous statement about the use of the word 'Salafism', and I often use that word to describe the foundational Islamist theology of terrorist organizations. In it, Schwartz makes a lot of claims about a moderate form of Islam which has been hijacked by a more severe form of Wahhabism.

Instead of replying directly to James, I punted and sent the article off to our good friend Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch. Robert has delivered the promise he made to me to rebutt Schwartz's article. Here is a bit of it:

Schwartz then turns back to the Sunnis, asserting that “moderate Sunni Muslims may be recognized in person by asking a simple question: ‘what do you think of Wahhabism, the state Islamic sect of Saudi Arabia?’…If a Sunni Muslim is asked about Wahhabism and states that it is a controversial, extreme doctrine that causes many problems because of Saudi money, the respondent is probably moderate.” In contrast, “If a Sunni denies that Wahhabism exists by saying ‘there is only Islam,’ or tries to cover Wahhabism with an ameliorative term like ‘Salafism’ -- a fraudulent effort to equate Wahhabism with the pioneers of the Islamic faith -- the individual is an extremist.”

But is opposing Wahhabism enough to make one a moderate? After all, the Deobandis in Afghanistan are Hanafi Muslims, not Hanbalis like the Wahhabis — but they had no trouble making common cause in jihad with the Wahhabis. What’s more, the passages of the Qur’an and Hadith that jihadists invoke to justify their actions weren’t invented by the Wahhabis; they have always been there and were exploited by Muslims fighting violent jihads long before Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab was born.

After all, the primary difference between Wahhabi Islam and more traditional variants of the religion is not jihad warfare against unbelievers, but the Wahhabis’ practice of takfir, or the classification of Muslims of other sects as among those unbelievers. Schwartz accordingly eschews takfir: “Moderate Muslims may also be identified by what they do not do, to contrast them with radicals. And at the top of that list comes the practice of takfir, or declaring Muslims unbelievers over differences of opinion. Takfir also includes describing the ordinary, traditional Muslim majority in the world as having fallen into unbelief.” Very well, but what of jihad against non-Muslims? Schwartz says: “Islam is not, and never was, a radical or fundamentalist religion in its mainstream practice, regardless of the fantasies of Islamist fanatics and Islamophobes alike.” Maybe not, but I’d like to see him define “radical” and “fundamentalist.” Even the Ottoman Empire, of which he is fond, waged aggressive jihad against Christian Europe over a period of centuries. Not radical or fundamentalist? Pardon me if I am not reassured.

READ THE ENTIRE THING.

Wahhabism is not the problem. Wahhabism is a problem, because it has state sponsors in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states to spread its dogma. The problem then is main stream Islam--even moderate Islam.

Moderate is a meaningless term which can only be understood as relative to the society we are talking about. For instance, could a historian distinguish between moderate and extremist Nazis? A moderate Nazi might be said to be one who is thoroughly antisemetic, but who insists that the 'Jewish question' ought to be solved through forced segregation and laws against intermarriage. The word moderate, then, can be used to describe ideologies which only seem moderate when compared to a much more extremist alternative. If that moderate ideology were examined on its own terms it might very well seem extreme.

If the only thing that differentiates moderate Muslims from extremists are a rejection of takfir and of terrorism, then truly the world is full of moderate Muslims. But is that enough?

I have a very simple way to determine if the form of Islam is acceptable to me: does it reject Sharia. That is it.

As a political observe I have no theological interest whatsoever in Islam and could care less if Muhammed was a prophet or not or about Islam's stance on Trinitarian doctrine. I really don't care. What I do care about is whether or not a Muslim believes that law and government ought to be strictly secular in orientation or not.

Even liberal Muslims who believe in the establishment of Sharia carry with them a dangerous and anti-libertarian philosophy. Imagine, for instance, a liberal Sharia court which gives a man a fine for blasphemy. A moderate Sharia court might give the man a light jail sentence. The extremist Wahhabi court might sentence the man to a long sentence or even to death.

In all three cases a form of religious fascism exists. Whether or not we choose to call these varying religious forms moderate or not is really inconsequential. One may be worse than the other, but all three are bad.

The fascism of Franco's Spain was surely more moderate than the fascism of Nazi Germany, but I still would not have wanted to endure it.

As long as Islam embraces Sharia, I will reject Islam as a fascist ideology. Any form of Islam that rejects it is okay in my book.

UPDATE: James Joyner replies here with the usual thoughtful commentary. I also noticed a TB to this post by Ocean Guy, a new blog to me. In it he makes this inciteful comment:

If the Pope is right, then the only difference between extreme, moderate and liberal Muslims is how harshly each would/does treat non-Muslims living in their midst. There are hundreds of years of history which give us clear pictures of the spectrum of treatment that non-Muslims are subjected to under Muslim rule. We'd be wise to learn from them.
Indeed. I would add that some slaves had very nice masters who treated them well. Having a nice master, though, still makes one a slave.

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Regime Change in Iran, NOW

Mark Dean Esmay's words:

Just for the record? I believe that 5 years from now, people will be saying "We wish we had done that back then when it was easy."

Go ahead and quote it back to me five years from now.

Dean is calling for military actions. I disagree. The Mad Mullahs of Iran are mad enough to believe their own Islamic fundamentalist vision of the world. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reminds me a lot of Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev was naive enough to actually believe in communism and Ahmadinejad seems to actually believe that Islam can perfect his society. In both cases reality could only be denied for so long. With enough time, the Iranian regime will fall just like the Soviet one did. No military action will be needed.

The only real question in my mind is how long it will take and if we can wait for Ahmadinejad to take off his mask and reveal himself in worship to an actual A-bomb, or just that Beneath the Planet of the Apes prop he bought on e-Bay?

beneath_planet_apes_mutant.jpg

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Oh, THOSE Terrorists: At least four terrorists killed in Pakistani air strike

Muslim extremists are always outraged when the Infidel-Christian-Zionist-Crusader dogs kill fellow Muslim extremists. So, when the U.S. launched an airstrike aimed at killing al Qaeda leader a Ayman al-Zawahiri, naturally the Islamazoids were outraged that we would have the audacity to try and kill the man responsible for murdering thousands of Americans. In fact, al Jazeera noted that Zawahiri would be a victim of the U.S. attacks, had the attacks succeeded.

Tell me this: why are civilians considered innocent when they have high-ranking members of al Qaeda over for dinner? Is it just me, or doesn't that make them guilty under the Bush doctrine of treating terrorists and those that support them the same? It's not just the Bush doctrine, though, it's common sense. In order for terrorists to survive they must have supporters. that enable them. The only innocents killed by the U.S. aristrike are the children who were forced to wash up for dinner so they could have the honor of eating dinner with members of al Qaeda. I hope their parents rot in hell.

Further, why is it that only the foreigners killed in the attack are deemed terrorists by the Pakistanis? Oh, because, by definition, there are no Pakistani terrorists. You notice how that works?

It's not just the Pakistanis, it seems that the media is quick to differentiate too. As if an IED set off by a native is somehow different than that of a foreigner. For instance, in Afghanistan, we are told, there are Taliban rebels and foreign al Qaeda terrorsts. In Iraq there are native insurgents and foreign al Qaeda terrorists.

Forbes:

At least four foreign terrorists died in the U.S. airstrike purportedly aimed at al-Qaida's No. 2 leader, the provincial government said Tuesday.

A statement by the administration of Bajur, the Pakistan's tribal region bordering Afghanistan, also said that 10 to 12 foreign extremists had been invited to dinner at the village hit in Friday's attack.

Pakistani intelligence officials have said Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant, had been invited to a dinner in the targeted village of Damadola to mark an Islamic holiday but did not show up and sent some aides instead.

The statement was the first official confirmation by Pakistani authorities that foreign militants were killed in the attack, which officials have said also killed innocent civilians...

"Four or five foreign terrorists have been killed in this missile attack whose dead bodies have been taken away by their companions to hide the real reason of the attack," the statement said, citing the chief official in the Bajur region where Damadola is located.

"It is regrettable that 18 local people lost their lives in the attack, but this fact also cannot be denied, that 10-12 foreign extremists had been invited on a dinner," it said.

I'll say it again, it is not regrettable that 18 local people were killed. Good riddance. It is only regrettable the Pakistani culture is so disgustingly backward (especially in the so-called 'tribal' areas) that any women killed were probably not married to terrorists by choice, and that the terrorist scumbags probably also had innocent children.

UPDATE by Howie: Rusty and Howie posted at precisely the same time, so the editors of The Jawa Report decided just to combine their two posts.

While the spin has been how many innocents were killed in the attempt on Zawahiri, today we have confirmation of a terrorist dinner party.

CNN:A statement by the administration of Bajur, a Pakistan tribal region bordering Afghanistan, also said that 10 to 12 foreign extremists had been invited to dinner at the village hit in Friday's attack.

Pakistani intelligence officials have said Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant, had been invited to a dinner in the targeted village of Damadola to mark an Islamic holiday but did not show up and sent some aides instead.

How Rude to miss dinner like that!
CNN : "Four or five foreign terrorists have been killed in this missile attack whose dead bodies have been taken away by their companions to hide the real reason of the attack,"
Invite a terrorist to dinner, get bombed. Sounds fair to me.

UPDATE: Confederate Yankee and Rusty Shackleford: two heads, one mind.

Posted by: Rusty at 09:08 AM | Comments (19) | Add Comment
Post contains 723 words, total size 5 kb.

American Hostage in Nigeria Identified

An American oil worker taken hostage by Nigerian terrorists claiming to be part of the Movement for Emancipation of Niger Delta has been identified as Patrick Landry. Three others were taken hostage. They are: Briton Nigel Watson-Clark, Honduran Harry Ebanks, and Bulgarian Milko Nichev.

As I speculated earlier, the terror organization is part of a larger Ijaw rebellion. Although Nigeria is dominated by Muslims, the ethnic Ijaw minority are mainly Christian and have been complaining for decades about corruption, mismanagement, and mistreatment by the central government. Whatever the misdeeds of the Nigerian government, taking hostages is NEVER a legitimate avenue of political protest.

Melbourne Herald Sun:

SEPARATIST rebels in Nigeria are close to achieving their aim of paralysing oil production in the Niger delta, after a series of attacks and kidnappings.

Yesterday four foreign oil workers kidnapped by militants spoke to the media by phone on their sixth day in captivity.

They read their captors' demands, including a 48-hour deadline, and warned the military against attempting rescue.

The kidnappers have staged a series of attacks on oil pipelines, platforms and workers over the past three weeks, denting supply from the world's eighth largest exporter and driving up world prices...

"I'd like to contact my family and let them know that I am all right and everything with us is good," said a man who identified himself as Harry Ebanks from Honduras. "The only thing (is) the environment is not good with us because there is a lot of mosquitoes and it is dangerous for us."

The Briton, who identified himself as Nigel Watson-Clark, read a list of five demands by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta.

"The Nigerian Government should not make any military intervention," he said. "They should not make any attempt to rescue us as it has been made clear that it may result in the loss of our lives."

A man identifying himself as Patrick Landry, a US citizen, said: "This climate in the conditions we're in is not conducive to us, especially as I am an older man and my health is not good.

"I'd like y'all to contact my family and let them know that I'm all right, these people are treating me good, but the climate is not what it should be." ...

The group demands local control of the delta's oil, payment of $1.5 billion by Royal Dutch Shell to the Bayelsa state government to compensate for pollution, and the release of three men including two ethnic Ijaw leaders.

"If the Nigerian Government does not meet these demands in 48 hours, whatever happens is in their own doing," the British hostage said.

Posted by: Rusty at 08:40 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Dogs and Cats Sleeping Together: USC Loses More Players to NFL Draft

I know this is a website about the war on terror, but isn't the fact that five USC underclassman have declared for the NFL draft one of the Shia signs of the apocalypse? Somewhere in Tehran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad smiles in his sleep reassured that the Hidden Imam is about to appear in the sky, riding an A-bomb like Slim Pickens.

more...

Posted by: Rusty at 08:26 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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ACLU, Journalists To Sue NSA For Eavesdropping on Terrorists

In an early morning press release the ACLU has announced its intention to sue the National Security Agency for intercepting suspected terrorist international calls and emails. The lawsuit is obviously timed to take advantage of a New York Times article critical of NSA intercepts. The ACLU lawsuit also has as plaintiffs several "prominent journalists", raising the possibility of a conspiracy between leftwing journalists and activist groups.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a group of prominent journalists, scholars, attorneys, and national nonprofit organizations (including the ACLU) who frequently communicate by phone and e-mail with people in the Middle East. Because of the nature of their calls and e-mails, they believe their communications are being intercepted by the NSA under the spying program.
The arrogance of the ACLU/MSM lawsuit is breathtaking; that Americans should be put at risk because a few paranoid elitists believe without any evidence that some of their calls may have been monitored - and also, of course, that they're unhappy with the 2000 and 2004 elections and would like to stage a coup d'etat.

Thanks to Jay at Stop the ACLU for emailing me about the press release.

Also posted at The Dread Pundit Bluto.

Posted by: Bluto at 02:17 AM | Comments (93) | Add Comment
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January 16, 2006

Allah Tabloid Roundup

"No news too smutty!" Sounds good to me.

A study by an Italian sexologist has found that couples who have a TV set in their bedroom...

Posted by: Howie at 09:31 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Despite Perception, Progress

The perception is that the war in Iraq was “bigger or more deadly” for the US in 2005 than 2004. Nope.

USA Today : The number of U.S. troops wounded in Iraq fell by more than a quarter in 2005 from a year earlier,Â… Â…Army Maj. Gen. William Webster, the commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, said the number of suicide car bombs and roadside bombs fell by half during 2005. Only about 10% of insurgent attacks cause injuries or damage now, down from about 25% a year agoÂ…

Â…U.S. military leaders say that one of the biggest changes was in the number and quality of Iraqi forces. About three dozen Iraqi battalions, each with about 700 soldiers, are taking the lead in battling insurgents, said Army Lt. Gen. John Vines, commander of multinational forces in Iraq. There were no such battalions in early 2005, he said.

However deaths were only down by one at 844. Hard fought steady progress I reckon.

Also See Captain Ed :

This belies the notion spread by Democrats such as Jack Murtha that Americans have been increasingly targeted by insurgents and terrorists in Iraq.


Posted by: Howie at 09:03 PM | Comments (22) | Add Comment
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