Fred Doesn't CAIR

To Fred's great credit, he has no blinders on about CAIR and is quite willing to speak up. Of more importance, he has no blinders on about those funding CAIR. Fred not only speaks out against CAIR, but also its financial backers - Saudi Arabia and the UAE. If ever the problem of radical Islam will be addressed in the West, then the first step is to acknowledge the role of our supposed Middle East allies in fanning the flames of radicalism in the West.

This from Fred:

. . . For years, CAIR has claimed to represent millions of American Muslims. In fact, they claim to represent more Muslims in America then [there are Muslims] in America. This has alarmed Americans in general as the group often seems to be more aligned with our enemies than us -- which isn't surprising as it spun off from a group funded by Hamas. As you know, Hamas has been waging a terrorist war against Israel and calls for its total destruction. It also promises to see America destroyed. Nowadays, Hamas is busy murdering its Palestinian political rivals.

Even with this history, and CAIR's conspicuous failure to condemn Hamas by name, it has been treated as if represents Muslim Americans by our own government. The good news is that the financial support CAIR claims to have among American Muslims is a myth. We know this because The Washington Times got hold of the group's IRS tax records.

CAIR's dues-paying membership has shrunk 90 percent since 9/11 . . . Clearly, America's Muslims are not supporting this group -- and I'm happy to hear about it.

Of course, every silver lining seems to have a cloud; and this cloud is that CAIR's spending is running about $3 million a year. They’ve opened 25 new chapters in major cities across the country even as their dues shrank to a pittance. The question is; who’s funding CAIR?

CAIR's not saying. The New York Times earlier this year reported that the backing is from "wealthy Persian Gulf governments" including the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Obviously, we have a bigger problem here than the one with CAIR.

Read the entire story here. If you read Robert Baer's book "Sleeping With The Devil," he thoroughly documents on Saudi money has had a horrendously corrupting influence on our government, Republican and Democrat alike. Part of this has played out in governmental silence about the Saudi's export of radical Wahhabi / Salafi Islam throughout the Western World. Part of this has played out in the government's refusal to acknowledge the Saudi's destructive influence. And part of it has played out in calling our enemy "Islamofacism" rather then Wahhabi / Salafi Islam and Khomeinist Shia'ism.

This has all been in an effort to make sure that the Saudi's are angred or upset and decide to turn off the oil and money spigot. But this facade has to end. And the bottom line is that the Saudi's need the U.S. economically and as a bullwark against Khomeinist Shia'ism. It is time for our leaders to take on radical Islam at its source. And that source begins with Saudi Arabia. Thus, I salute Fred for this first step.

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FBI Director Says Only Matter of Time Before Terrorists Acquire Nuclear Weapons; The MSM Buries The Warning

A sizeable portion of the one billion Muslims in this world believe the United States and the West are enemies to be destroyed by any means. We know that a handful of these suicidal zealots can cause immense destruction. Thus, the nightmare scenario is that any of these terrorist organizations may gain access to nuclear weapons. And apparently, this nightmare scenario is inevitable. In remarks made yesterday before the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism, FBI Director Robert Mueller made the dire warning that it was "only a matter of time and economics before terrorists will be able to purchase nuclear weapons . . .":

. . . Mr. Mueller said federal authorities, working with their counterparts overseas, must secure loose nuclear material, share intelligence about those who wish to buy and sell such material, and stop those who do -- adding that by some estimates, there is enough highly enriched uranium in global stockpiles to construct thousands of nuclear weapons.

Mr. Mueller said the economics of supply and demand dictate that someone, somewhere will provide nuclear material to the highest bidder, and that material will end up in the hands of terrorists. He said the al Qaeda terrorist network has demonstrated a clear intent to acquire weapons of mass destruction, noting that Osama bin Laden sought to buy uranium in Sudan in 1993.

But, he said, al Qaeda is not the only concern, adding that the United States faces threats from other terrorist cells around the world and from homegrown terrorists not affiliated with al Qaeda but who have been inspired by its message of hatred and violence.

"Several rogue nations -- and even individuals -- seek to develop nuclear capabilities," he said. "Abdul Khan, for example, was not only the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb; he peddled that technology to North Korea, Libya and Iran. Khan was one of many to prove that it is indeed a seller's market in the so-called atomic bazaar."

Mr. Mueller said the next terrorist attack is not a question of if, but when. . .

Read the entire story here. Allowing rouge regimes to develop nuclear arsenal raises exponentially the liklihood that we will see a mushroom cloud over one or more of our cities. The time to try and reduce this threat is now, before Iran is able to acquire any nuclear weapons and sets off a nuclear arms race among equally or even more dangerous regimes such as Saudi Arabia.

In light of the threat that we face, I think there is no question that this should have been front page news accross the MSM. Yet, inexplicably, this dire warning is not even mentioned in the New York Times. The Washington Post, for its part, did a lead article on Director Mueller, but it had nothing to do with the existential threat of nuclear terrorism. Instead, their lead article criticized Mueller for using an FBI jet for 36 trips over a five year period. Apparently, none in the MSM care for the message that Director Mueller has to deliver on the inevitability of future terrorist attacks, nor the inevitability of nuclear terrorism. The reason is clear - if terrorism and national security take center stage in the 2008 elections, the Democrat stand a greatly diminished chance of electoral victory. Thus, newsworthy information that should inform every voter is buried and goes unreported. I wonder if the editors and reporters of the MSM will feel that they bear any responsibility for the blood that will be spilled because of it?

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Who Is Fighting The Iraq War & Is It A Civil War

Over at the Daily Standard, Daveed Gerstein-Ross takes a look at the forces that are involved in hostiliities in Iraq. It is an important piece for several reasons, not the least of which is it allows us to begin to analyze the validity of the claim that Iraq is in a state of civil war.

Althogh Gerstein-Ross does not define the relevant terms, it is helpful to have some working definitions before reading his article.

Civil War: FM 100-20 (Military Operations in Low Intensity Conflict) defines a civil war as: A war between factions of the same country [that meets these five criteria]:

1. the contestants must control territory,

2. have a functioning government,

3. enjoy some foreign recognition,

4. have identifiable regular armed forces,

5. and engage in major military operations.”

An insurgency on the other hand is something of a different magnitude. According to the Joint Publication (JP) 1-02, Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, it is when citizens of a country organize to overthrow the country’s constituted government.

Four elements that "typically encompass an insurgency":

1. cell-networks that maintain secrecy

2. terror used to foster insecurity among the population and drive them to the movement for protection

3. multifaceted attempts to cultivate support in the general population, often by undermining the new regime

4. attacks against the government

Mr. Gerstein-Ross covers the various major elements involved in Iraq today. To give a short summary:

Sunni Nationalist Insrugent Groups: These groups have largely broken apart. Of those that are still viable, the violence for which they are responsible is negligible.

Al Qaeda in Iraq; The single largest threat in Iraq, even though it and its related organizations are under tremendous pressure from the ongoing counterinsurgency operation as well as a revolt by its onetime Sunni hosts. It combines foreign leadership directly linked to the main branch of al Qaeda, foreign jihadis who enter the country and often end up as the suicide bombers responsible for the major attacks and loss of life, but the bulk of the fighters are former members of Saddam Hussein's intelligence agencies and Revolutionary Guards.

The Mahdi Army; Once thought the greatest danger to Iraq's nascent government, support for the Mahdi Army seems to have dwindled enormously. What remains of the Mahdi Army today is a core of about 3,000 Iranian trained, equiped and funded militants.

The Badr Brigade: A militia with about 20,000 members, it has played a dual role in Iraq. It has been a stabilizing force on one hand, attacking both the Sadr militia and the Sunni militants. On the other hand, it played a large role in the sectarian violence after the 2006 bombing of the Mosque of the Golden Dome. It is just unclear at the moment which direction the Badr oranization will eventually follow.

Then there is the foreign element in all of this not otherwise covered above. Private donors in Saudi Arabia finance al Qaeda in Iraq. Syria allows its country to be used a throughway for weapons, cash and people into Iraq, and there is evidence of Syrian intelligence involvment in training insurgents. The largest foreign interference comes from Iran. They have directly involved themselves in sponsoring Shia militias, they are providing the deadly EFP's, and, although not mentioned in this article, we know from other sources of Iran's interference in the political process by bribery and cash donations to favored political organizations.

Do read the whole story here. It would appear from the article that there is no civil war going on in Iraq today, at least by the text book definition. What we are seeing are elements of an insurgency combined with significant foreign involvement on all sides.

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Tony Blair & Islam: Is He A Cynic Or A Fool?

Tony Blair's legacy as Prime Minister is positive, I think, though much awaits the passage of time and the judgment of history. From this side of the pond, looking solely at his relationship with the United States, I could not have more respect for the man. But all of that is for another post. This post concerns Blair's plans for after he leaves the post of Prime Minister. And either Blair is about to execute an incredibly cynical plan to cash in on the Saudi petrodollars or he is a truly dangerous fool. See this:

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair intends to create a global foundation to foster "greater understanding" between the three "Abrahamic faiths" of Christianity, Judaism and Islam after he leaves Downing Street.

Mr Blair, who will announce his timetable for resignation today, is expected to make the project the main focus of his energies when he leaves office this northern summer.

A member of his tight-knit inner-circle of advisers confirmed yesterday that Mr Blair is looking to "set up some sort of interfaith organisation", saying: "He sees this as where the action is and nobody else is really doing it."

. . . [T]he interfaith project will attempt to foster religious - rather than political - harmony in the Middle East and elsewhere across the world, including Britain, where rising tensions with militant Islam have provided the backdrop to many of the worst moments of his 10 years in office.

Mr Blair, who was enthusiastically reading the Koran even before the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US, said recently: "The tragedy is that as Christians, Jews and Muslims we are all Abrahamic religions. We regard ourselves as children of Abraham but we have fought for so long."

In a speech in 2006 he referred to a woman protesting about the Pope's recent visit to Turkey holding a poster which stated that "Jesus was a prophet but not the son of God". This, he said, was "elevating the placard to an altogether higher plane of theology".

He added: "Most Christians are hugely surprised to be told that the Koran reveres Jesus as a prophet. Many Jews, Muslims and Christians are entirely ignorant of the rich Abrahamic heritage we share in common."

Although aides acknowledge that the new project may face resistance from Muslims who loathe him for his role as an ally to Mr Bush and in the invasion of Iraq, Mr Blair believes that he can appeal to moderate Islam.

. . . Funding for the new organisation is expected to come from wealthy donors in the US and the Arab world, as well as Britain. But advisers insist that preparations are still at an early stage. . . .

Read the entire story here.

The absolute last thing we need is another major organization providing cover for Islam - and this has all the sounds of doing precisely that. What we do need is an international organization that will bring Wahhabi / Salafi Islam into the light of reality and subject it to reasoned criticism. I can assure you, however, funding for such an organization is not going to be forthcoming from wealthy Arab donors in the Middle East. The wealthy Arabs are the Saudis who spend their petrobillions spreading Wahhabi / Salafi Islam. If Mr. Blair will be receiving funding from wealthy Arabs, he will be pocketing money to be nothing more then a useful idiot for the Wahhabis, and a source of suicidal ignorace for the rest of Western civilization.

In the article, Mr. Blair asserts that Islam's classification as an Abrahamic religion is somehow relevant to Western understanding of Islam. That is something that I would expect to see written by a Wahabbi front organizations, such as CAIR in America or the MCB in the UK. Yes, the Koran has some references to Jesus. That is utterly meaningless in the scheme of things. It is like saying that blueberries and daphne berries are similar on the ground that both are berries. True enough, but the daphne berries will kill you if you eat them. If Mr. Blair intends to paint a picture of Islam based on points such as this, he will be doing nothing but contributing to the demise of Western Civilization while cashing in on riyals.

We in the West do not need someone feeding us any more unrealistic pictures that purport to show how peaceful Islam is and how much it is like Christianity. To the extent there are any parallels between Christianity and Wahhabi Salafi Islam, those parallels are limited to the form of Christianity that existed at the turn of the previous millenium. Wahhabi / Salafi Islam, which is rapidly becoming the dominant sect throughtout the Islamic world, is an incredibly racist, triumphalist and brutal religion that clearly has no respect for Judaism or Christianity. Will Mr. Blair be teaching that, as Christians, the Wahhabi's view us as polytheists, and in their school text books, they teach that it is appropriate to kill or enslave such people and take their property? How's that for a bit of reality. It certainly tells you more about Wahhabi Islam then does the point about Islam being an Abrihamic religion. And the BBC documentary Undercover Mosque teaches a lot more also.

If Mr. Blair actually wishes to do something of benefit to the world at large, for those of us in the West, he would develop a foundation dedicated to exposing Wahhabi Islam in all of its ugly reality. And as to the Islamic world, he would use the foundation to support the work of people like Tawfiq Hamid who are highly critical of Wahhabi / Salafi Islam and wish to see it moderate through the process of itjihad.

From the sounds of it, I don't think that I'll hold my breath for that type of foundaton from Mr. Blair. So the only question now, is Blair just a usefull idiot for the radical islamists, or is he greedy cynic with riyals in his eyes?

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Israel's Strategic Terrain

The Arabs, led by Saudi Arabia, are demanding Israel return to its pre-1967 borders. Syria, unconscionably supported by the EU, is demanding the return of the Golan Heights. Hamas is demanding the return of all territory between Jordan and the Mediterranian. Israel's politically potent settlers in the West Bank want to annex the lands of David and Solomon. Into this morass, Ralph Peters wades, analyzing what terrain Israel can afford to give up without setting itself up for military defeat and the accompanying genocide:

. . . Israel's internal enemies are the rogue, extremist settlers who invoke a real-estate-magnate god to occupy West Bank territory that the state doesn't need and can't digest - and whose seizure plays into the hands of Israel's foes and complicates the support of her all-too-few friends.

Yet the fateful evolution of the Israeli parliamentary system has made those who return the least benefit to Israel - who drain its resources and give nothing back - into political kingmakers.

Jews who insist that their god cares more about a plot of bedeviled dirt than the reverence in their hearts are behaving like Arab militants (complete with the intolerance). No religious text is a valid deed.

Don't get me wrong: Jerusalem belongs to Israel. Christians have a stronger claim to Alexandria, Antioch and Istanbul than Muslims do to Jerusalem.

But when it comes to strategic terrain, forget about Hebron - the West Bank town that's home to less than 1,000 Israeli settlers, and well over 100,000 Palestinians. It's just one of the many settlements that hurt Israel's security instead of helping it.

SO what land truly matters to Israel's survival (assuming, for a moment, that Iran won't be permitted to build a nuclear arsenal)?

Israel can never surrender the Golan Heights. We might as well be honest about it. Syria repeatedly - three times - attacked Upper Galilee from the Golan. Three strikes and you're out.

Syria's a phony state, anyway, its borders drawn to please France. Israel has administered the Golan longer - and far better - than post-independence Damascus did.

Borders change. Get over it.

Elsewhere, though, traditional strategists have it wrong. They claim that whoever holds the mountainous "spine" running down through the West Bank controls the land that now comprises Israel. But Israel's survival and victorious wars disprove that "law."

What matters is control of the lines of communication - the roads - that enable Israel to shift military forces rapidly, and the control of foreign borders across which weapons can be infiltrated.

Thus, control of the Jordan Valley and its vital north-south highway is essential. The string of hilltop settlements east of Jerusalem that dominate the direct route to Jordan can never be given up.

And the recently floated scheme to swap Arab towns in northern Israel for part of the West Bank is madness - it would cost Israel control of a militarily vital highway from the coast into Galilee.

IN short, there are vital loca tions within the West Bank. They're just not the ones obsessing the fanatics who shame their faith.

If Israel doesn't do a cold- blooded analysis of what it truly needs to retain, the world will ask too much, its government will make decisions based upon political pressure rather than military necessity - and the result will be a far-worse mess than the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip created.

Israel must do what its survival requires. As the interim Winograd Report made clear on Monday, last summer's duel with Hezbollah was disastrous. Now Israel's enemies smell blood. Instead of the longed-for era of peace, we'll see no end of violence in the Middle East.

THERE'S no good solution to the region's problems. There may not even be any bad solutions that work. The failed civilization surrounding Israel may be hopeless - a possibility we pretend away because we cannot bear the implications.

But Israel can't pretend anything away. In a world in which so many openly seek its destruction - while others secretly long for the same thing - Israel is going to have to play flawless political chess. That means giving up the spaces on the board that don't help it checkmate its enemies.

Read the entire story here.

H/T Steve Halter

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Girls Gone Wild . . . in Saudi Arabia?

Unless my eyes deceive me . . . Ibn Wahhab must be rolling over in his unmarked grave at the moment. It seems there is an internet sex revolution in Ridyah. See here.

(H/T Instapundit)

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Saudi Women Given Freedom To Air Their Grievances

Since the attacks in Ridyah by al Qaeda a few years ago, and with the most recent foiled attack, the ruling House of Saud - whose foundational legitimacy is dependent on Wahhabi Islam - is nonetheless allowing ancilary attacks on the religion as they try to figure out how to defang the beast before it eats them. Thus, it appears we are seeing some leeway being given to those who would voice their grievances at odds with the domgma of Wahhabi Islam. These are excepts from articles on the treatment of women appearing this year in major Saudi newspapers:

Preachers Spread Distorted Notions About Women

Columnist Dr. Hasna Al-Quna'ir wrote in the Saudi daily Al-Riyadh: "Women are victims of [the preachers'] discourse... [which is intended to] condemn them and to prove them inferior [to men] in their piety and in their mental [abilities], [based on] a shameless distortion of the Prophet's hadith...

"Our TV channels are full of old and new preachers who convey their views directly to the public... Answering [viewers' questions], they burst with accusations against members of the [female] sex. They excite the viewers' emotions, entreating them to defend the virtues that the women corrupt...

"An example is the answer given by one of the preachers [to a viewer who asked] about consulting with his wife and seeking her advice. [The preacher told him]: Do not consult with her, for she is emotional and her opinions are not valid... As evidence, he cited the Prophet's hadith [which says]: 'a tribe that nominates a woman [as leader] will not succeed'... Many preachers refuse to acknowledge that this hadith... was uttered in [specific] historical circumstances and in a particular context. The Prophet never meant it as a ruling that applies to all women, in every place and at all times...

"Another preacher incited fathers, brothers and husbands against their daughters, sisters and wives, saying that a girl who is not beaten from an early age grows up to be a rebellious woman, difficult to control... This preacher [also] said that a woman who leaves her home without a veil is like [a woman] who goes out naked. He warned the Muslim women against wearing their abayas [a long gown] around their shoulders [instead of covering their heads as well], saying that this was the main reason that women are seduced and fall [into sin]... There was [a preacher] who warned women against shaking a man's hand, saying that, according to one of the sheiks, a woman who shakes the hand of a man that is not her husband is guilty of... 'adultery of the hand'...

"The question is why some Muslims have [developed] this dehumanizing view of women, which does not respect [the women's] humanity and honor. [This situation] stems from disregarding important factors... such as the historical circumstances and the specific context which formed the background for some of the religious laws and rules that [discriminate] against women. It also stems from the failure to distinguish between religious duties pertaining to rituals - which may be subject to absolute principles - and rules of behavior, which are controversial and are not subject to absolute laws, such as [the custom of] covering the face...

"This is what led to these distorted views and to the [development] of rigid thought patterns regarding women which are not open to debate, and which are accepted by the followers and students [of these preachers] who endorse extremist views. The woman is the victim of this insular culture, and her only salvation would be a reorganization of the cultural structure of [our] entire society."


Saudi Women Are Subject to Countless Prohibitions

Saudi columnist Fatima Al-Faqih examined the question of discrimination against women, trying to assess it in a detailed and objective manner. She wrote in the Saudi daily Al-Watan:

"Are Saudi women actually deprived [of their rights]? [They] are forbidden to drive, forbidden to travel without permission, forbidden to stay alone at a hotel without permission, forbidden to name their own children without [a man's] consent... forbidden to take out a passport without permission... forbidden to leave their homes without permission... forbidden to take a job without permission... forbidden to change the color of their abayas, forbidden to go to school or to the university without permission... forbidden to purchase shares or to open to a [bank] account in their children's name without permission.

"[A woman] is not allowed to expose her face in some cities of the kingdom... [She] is not allowed to marry without permission... not allowed to stay married if [one of] her male relatives decides that her husband's [tribal] lineage is inferior to hers... not allowed to sue for divorce without apologizing and paying a fine, not allowed to keep her children after the divorce, unless she gets permission... not allowed to hold a senior position in the private or public sectors, not allowed to vote or run for office... not allowed to travel alone with a chauffeur... not allowed to annoy her husband, and finally, a woman's voice is considered [a form of] defilement, and she is forbidden to speak in public, so that her affairs will remain shrouded in secrecy.

"A researcher [studying the limitations on women] would [probably] stop here, since the list is endless, and since he would conclude that whoever doubts the [injustice] inflicted on women either lacks awareness or derives some benefit from the discrimination. The damage [caused by this discrimination] is obvious, and the solution has been delayed, causing the problem to grow [even] more severe. There is need for immediate intervention in order to stop the deterioration." . . .

Read the entire post here. And if you have not read it, do see this poem by Wujiha al-Huwaider.

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Fred Thompson's Most Important Piece - Criticizing Radical Islam & US / UK Multiculturalism

Fred Thompson has crafted a seemingly innocuous op-ed piece, quoted below, taking to task the US and UK for not addressing the cultural problems of "peaceful" Islamists in their midst. Specifically, he criticizes teachers in the UK for not teaching historical truth out of fear for conflict with or offending Muslim children being fed propoganda at their Wahhabi / Salafi mosques. (If you question that last sentence, see Undercover Mosque). This essay will likely pass unnoticed by most. It should not.

The essay is actually stunning in its significance. Fred Thompson get's it. He, alone of all the candidates for President of any political party, has just demonstrated that he understands precisely what the conflict with radical Islam is all about, and he understands that the fight against it has to be at every level - including at the level of challenging the myths and dogma of the Islamists.

If you think this is a small issue, think again. The existential threats of radical Wahhabi / Salafi Islam and Khomeinist Shia'ism will never be stopped until their religion is challenged and evolves. Juxtapose against that the the billions that have been and are being spent by Saudi Arabia to make a home for - and of - their radical sect in the West. Consider the UN seeking to outlaw any criticism of Islam, the radicalization of secular or moderate Muslim countries (Somalia, Indonesia, Turkey and Pakistan among others), the Saudi funded effort backed by Democrats to change our laws to benefit radical Islamists. Consider the recent censorship by PBS of a documentary aimed at exposing the threat of radicals to moderates who seek to evolve their religion from Wahhab's medieval version. That act by PBS is just a minor example of how our government and MSM are actually enabling Wahhabism to flourish in the U.S. Whether to address the radical poison of Wahhabism at the most basic level is not a small issue - it is the crux of the issue. All else is treating the symptoms. And Fred Thompson has just taken a stand:

. . . [S]ome schools in Great Britain have stopped teaching history that is offensive to Muslim students. The topics that have been erased from the curriculum, the study found, include both the Nazi genocide and the Crusades.

This rewriting of history through omission wasn't some government policy. It was the result of individual decisions in local schools by teachers with large populations of Muslim students. Unfortunately, many of these students have been taught by parents and mosques that the holocaust never happened and that the Crusades were an unprovoked attack on Islam by European Christians. History books that present these events in any other light, they believe, are part some giant conspiracy designed to attack their very religion.

If anybody needs to hear these facts, it is the children who are being abused by those who are teaching the same hateful lies that have helped turn the Middle East into the self-destructive and often suicidal mess it is today.

. . . [T]here is a point when the desire not to offend the easily offended becomes an even bigger problem. We've already seen an English organization ban images of Piglet, the harmless character from the classic Winnie the Pooh books, because of protests by those who imagine that simply seeing a cartoon pig is a violation of their civil rights. We've even seen the banning of pins bearing St. George's cross, because it reminds some of the Crusades -- accompanied by demands that Great Britain get rid of the venerable Union Jack for the same reason.

These views, common in the Middle East, are not just an academic or intellectual challenge. We have seen homegrown British terrorists act on the same lies and conspiracy theories that are now being used to silence teachers. Ideas do have consequences and we all need to understand that the war on terror is taking place as much in the realm of ideas as it is on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan.

America is a free country and we do not tell people what they can believe or say. We should realize, however, that there are people in America who are also telling their children that the holocaust is a lie and that those who say otherwise are their enemies. We cannot prevent them from doing so, but we also cannot let them promote their agenda by claiming they are victimized by historical facts.

This would be a good place to quote an important British writer, George Orwell, who wrote, "Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." Even in America, our children are often taught a watered down, inoffensive and culturally sensitive version of events ranging from the Crusades to the battle at the Alamo.

It's time for people who believe that they have a stake in Western civilization and its traditions to get a little backbone -- even if it offends somebody.

Read the entire article here. Fred Thompson just wrote an incredibly important article. I wonder how many people will take note.

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The Results of Pelosi's Mideast Trip Begin To Surface

With the EU in their pocket and a very friendly democratic party poised to assume power in the U.S., is it any wonder that Syria feels emboldened to threaten Israel if the "peace process" put forth by the Arabs is not acceppted. In Syria speak, that means "Give us back the Golan Heights or we will kill you." It should be noted that, since the Arabs have refused the Israeli Prime Minister's offer to meet and discuss the peace proposal - one which would set the seeds for Israel's destruction through creating indefensible borders and legislating the canard of a right to return - it is an Arab attempt to win through dissimulation what they have been unable to win in war or, as of yet, through the UN: the destruction of Israel. Read this from y-net news on Syria now banging the war drums:

"If Israel rejects the Arab League peace proposal, resistance will be the only way to liberate the Golan Heights," warns Syrian Information Minister Muhsen Bilal, at a press conference in Damascus Monday.

The minister explained that Syria had an interest in renewing talks with Israel with support from America and Russia. "Syria wants to reach a fair, comprehensive peace," he added. However, he also stated that "any nation living under occupation has the prerogative to resist. In Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq, we must liberate all occupied Arab land."

Read the article here. What a travesty. I would personally like to thank the EU and Nancy Pelosi for further destabilizing the Middle East.

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Radical Islam in Indonesia

Islam as historically practiced in Indonesia has been what any in the West would call a "moderate" form of the religion, as described in this post by Publius Pundit. That is changing.

It is changing because of the worldwide growth of radical Islam - itself a gift of Saudi Arabia that uses their billions of petro-dollars to export their triumphalist and radical Wahhabi / Salafi brand of Islam. The Saudi petro-dollars are used to export Wahhabi / Salafi trained clerics and to support them in each country with infrastructure - such as by building Salafi mosques, and the funding of other supporting institutions, such as Wahhabi / Salafi friendly Middle East studies programs, and groups such as CAIR. It is incredibly insidious and its effects are felt world-wide, where the Saudi poison is supplanting other schools of Islam.

I posted the other day on this cancerous growth among the Muslims of Somalia and included this article by Bashir Goth. Today, the WSJ is carrying an article on the same thing occurring in Indonesia, calling it "the Arab invasion" and noting that "Indonesia's radicalized Muslims aren't homegrown."

The headquarters of the Front for the Defense of Islam is reached by a narrow alley just off a one-lane street in a residential neighborhood near downtown Jakarta. But step inside the carpeted reception area, decorated by a mural of a desert mosque and partially open to the sky, and it's as if you've arrived in a bedouin kingdom.

Your host is Habib Mohammad Rizieq Shihab, 41. He is dressed entirely in white, a religious conceit far from typical of most Indonesian ulama, or experts in Islamic theology. To the question, "Where are you from?" Mr. Rizieq is quick to explain that he is descended from the Quraishi tribe, from what is now Yemen. Just how he knows this isn't clear, but it's the symbolism that counts: The Prophet Mohammad was a Quraishi, and the tribe is entrusted with the responsibility for protecting God's House, the Qe'eba, in Mecca. Mr. Rizieq, in fact, is a native of Jakarta.

For the better part of the past decade, Mr. Rizieq and his Front--known by its Indonesian initials FPI--have played a prominent role in Indonesian political life, although the FPI is not a political party. It is an Islamist vigilante group, with the self-appointed mission of policing and, if necessary, violently suppressing "un-Islamic" behavior. Squads of FPI militants have forcibly shut down hundreds of brothels, small-time gambling operations, discos, nightclubs and bars serving alcoholic beverages. They have also stormed "unauthorized" Christian houses of worship, attacked peaceful demonstrators from Indonesia's renascent Communist party, trashed the office of the National Commission on Human Rights and rampaged through airports looking for Israelis to kill.

. . . Less clear is whether the FPI also gets financial support from abroad; knowledgeable observers suggest Mr. Rizieq gets all the money he needs by extorting the victims of his Islamic purification campaigns. But as Imdadun Rahmat, a leading scholar of Islamic extremism in Indonesia, notes, "the radicals are all drinking from the same breast," by which he means the ideological inspiration and financial support provided by Saudi Arabia. The Mecca-based Muslim World League, for example, is notorious for sending its representatives to Indonesia with suitcases of cash to fund its pet projects, often extremist religious boarding schools. The Saudi religious affairs office in Jakarta finances the publication of a million books a year translated from Arabic into Indonesian, according to Angel Rabasa of the Rand Corporation.

Then there is the Institute for Islamic and Arabic Studies, or LIPIA, a Saudi-funded university in Jakarta, which offers full scholarships to top students. "LIPIA was designed to create cadres," says Mr. Rahmat. Its graduates include Jafar Umar Thalib, the founder of Laskar Jihad, a terrorist group responsible for the death of thousands of Indonesian Christians in the Moluccas.

Continue reading the article here. The maddening thing, of course, is that so little is being done to stop this infestation, whether it be in Indonesia, or Somolia, or the United States and Europe. A major, if not the only reason, as described by Bob Baer in his book of several years ago, Sleeping With The Devil, is the incredible wealth the Sauds spend in the West - buying the silence and acquiesence of our government and academics. In Europe, added to this is a virulent leftist philosophy of multi-culturalism and relativism. Thus, even while the tribe of Saud is trying to moderate the Wahhabi / Salafi beast in their own midst, there seems little if any effort to effectively fight the Wahhabi / Salafi message as it infests the rest of the world. It is suicidal insanity - and while I consider Al Gore a lower form of life, I concur wholeheartedly with his message that we need to wean the world off of oil yesterday. Only then will this export of pure poison from Saudi Arabia end, and only then will other governments begin to turn a jaundiced eye towards the vipers in their midst. Hopefully it will not be too late.

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Tawfiq Hamid In Depth

Tawfik Hamid, former member of al-Zawari's terrorist organization, authored an article recently in the Wall St. Journal discussing the nature and source of radical Islam. Now he appears in an interview on Point of Inquiry where he discusses the same topics in much greater depth. Among the points he makes:

Radical Islam derives from the literalist interpretation of the Koran expoused by the Salafi / Wahhabi sect of Islam exported throughtout the world by Saudi Arabia.

Wahhabi / Salafi Islam has spread so quickly not only because of Saudi petrodollars, but also because it offers the most textually based interpretation of Islam.

Wahhabi / Salafi Islam is the cause of terrorism, and not Western policy towards the Middle East nor the Israeli Palestinian conflict, both of which are just red herrings.

Islamic violence will not end until there is a widely accepted reinterpretation of the Koran.

And much, much more. Download and listen to the interview here. The interview was posted on March 16, so it may be old news for some - but I just stumbled upon it and found it fascinating and informative.

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A Giant Leap Towards The Apocalypse

Possibly the greatest threat from a nuclear armed Iran is that of a terrorist attack carried out using nuclear weaponry supplied by Iran's government. The mad mullahs running Iran's theocracy have shown no moral qualms at any time during their thirty years in power about sponsoring terrorism that has caused the mass slaughter of innocents. Is there any reason to believe that they would not deploy atomic weapons if they had them?

Possibly the only thing worse then Iran having an arsenal of nuclear weapons would be if Saudi Arabia had such weapons. While the House of Saud is friendly to the U.S. because of economic interests, the Wahhabi clerics and the millions they influence with the preaching of triumphalism and jihad hold no such love. Indeed, it is their teachings and the spread of the Wahhabi / Salafi sect of Islam around the world that is at the heart of radical Islam. Thus, this news today is incredibly disqueiting:

Two years ago, the leaders of Saudi Arabia told international atomic regulators that they could foresee no need for the kingdom to develop nuclear power. Today, they are scrambling to hire atomic contractors, buy nuclear hardware and build support for a regional system of reactors.

So, too, Turkey is preparing for its first atomic plant. And Egypt has announced plans to build one on its Mediterranean coast. In all, roughly a dozen states in the region have recently turned to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna for help in starting their own nuclear programs. While interest in nuclear energy is rising globally, it is unusually strong in the Middle East.

“The rules have changed,” King Abdullah II of Jordan recently told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. “Everybody’s going for nuclear programs.”

The Middle East states say they only want atomic power. Some probably do. But United States government and private analysts say they believe that the rush of activity is also intended to counter the threat of a nuclear Iran.

By nature, the underlying technologies of nuclear power can make electricity or, with more effort, warheads, as nations have demonstrated over the decades by turning ostensibly civilian programs into sources of bomb fuel. Iran’s uneasy neighbors, analysts say, may be positioning themselves to do the same.

. . .with Shiite Iran increasingly ascendant in the region, Sunni countries have alluded to other motives. Officials from 21 governments in and around the Middle East warned at an Arab summit meeting in March that Iran’s drive for atomic technology could result in the beginning of “a grave and destructive nuclear arms race in the region.”

In Washington, officials are seizing on such developments to build their case for stepping up pressure on Iran. President Bush has talked privately to experts on the Middle East about his fears of a “Sunni bomb,” and his concerns that countries in the Middle East may turn to the only nuclear-armed Sunni state, Pakistan, for help.

. . . few if any states in the Middle East attended the atomic agency’s meetings on nuclear power development. Now, roughly a dozen are doing so and drawing up atomic plans.

The newly interested states include Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Yemen and the seven sheikdoms of the United Arab Emirates — Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Al Fujayrah, Ras al Khaymah, Sharjah, and Umm al Qaywayn.

“They generally ask what they need to do for the introduction of power,” said R. Ian Facer, a nuclear power engineer who works for the I.A.E.A. at its headquarters in Vienna. The agency teaches the basics of nuclear energy. In exchange, states must undergo periodic inspections to make sure their civilian programs have no military spinoffs. . . .

Read the entire article here. It is no surprise that the Saudis are seeking a nuclear weapon, given the threat that Iran poses to their country. It is imperative that we stop Iran's quest for a nuclear weapon and that we do so in the very near future, as the mortal threat posed by Iran having a nuclear arsenal almost pales in comparison to thoughts of nuclear proliferation in Saudi Arabia and throughout the Middle East.

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The Sauds Read Ahmedinejad the Riot Act

The Arabs are getting a bit nervous and upset with their Persian brethren across the Gulf. Saudi Arabia has evidently read the riot act to Ahmedinejad in recent meetings:

On the 15 British hostages late of the HMS Cornwall:

The Saudi foreign minister . . . said it was "a catastrophe" for Iran to be holding 15 British sailors and marines it had captured on March 23. . . "This is just not the time for them to have a problem like that looming."

On the reality of the US threat to stop the Iranian nuclear program by force:

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah warned Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that he should not underestimate the US military threat on Iran.

Ahmadinejad met with King Abdullah on March 4 in Riyadh, and publicly the two leaders agreed to fight growing Sunni-Shiite strife in the region.

Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said that the king meanwhile warned Ahmadinejad to take seriously threats of US military strikes over Iran's refusal to halts its uranium enrichment program. "On the nuclear issue, we warned him: 'Don't play with fire. Don't think the threat [of an American attack on Iran] is a nonexistent threat; think that it's a real threat, maybe even a palpable threat,'" Faisal said in the interview posted on the Newsweek website Friday.

On Iran's meddling in internal affairs of other countries:

Faisal said, adding that his ruler bluntly told Ahmadinejad: "You're interfering in Arab affairs," a reference to Iran's alleged interference in other Middle East countries.

The Saudis also told the Iranians "that their interference in Arab affairs is creating a backlash in the Arab world and in the Muslim world. Other Muslim countries are complaining of [Iranian] interference in internal affairs," Faisal said.

Read the story here. It seems that acting thuggish can only go on for so long before everyone starts to get really annoyed. In this case, its taken 28 years, but still, it seems that the world's collective patience - other then the vile EU (see here) - is running out for Iran.

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Good News Bad News & More News

Jules Crittenden makes a narrative of all the interesting news of the week relating to Iraq, Iran, and everything connected thereto.

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The Lighter Side of Wahhabi Islam

Somehow I doubt that Harry Potter books top the charts in Saudi Arabia. Not that there are that many books allowed in Saudi Arabia anyway. At any rate the Arab News is carrying an extensive article on the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, the morals police of Saudi Arabia. The article includes an interview with Wahhabi / Salafi Commission President Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Ghaith, (and unless my language skills have failed me, I do believe that is Arabic for "Voldemort").

Q: What is the commission doing to catch sorcerers in Saudi cities. And what is their fate after they are caught? Could you tell us how many of them were caught this year and their locations? And what about the magic spells that are thrown into the Red Sea? How are these spells broken?

A: The commission plays a large role in capturing people who practice sorcery or delusions since these are vices which affect the faith of Muslims and cause harm to both nationals and expatriates. The commission has assigned centers in every city and town to be on the lookout for these men. As for their fate, they are arrested and then transferred to concerned authorities. The commission also has a role in breaking magic spells, which are found in the sea. We cooperate with divers in this aspect. After the spells are found, they are then broken using recitations of the Holy Qur’an. We do not use magic to break magic spells, as this is against the teachings of Islam as mentioned by the Supreme Ulema. But we use the Qur’an as did the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

Read the entire article here. I wonder why CAIR, in its description of the joys of Wahhabi Islam, does not publicize things such as this. And evidently, beyond witchcraft, the morals police of Saudia Arabia also closely inspect the critically important restaurant seating arrangements for possible nefarious practices that would sap the ability of any Saudi male to exercise self-restraint.

Q: What is your position on families going out together?

A: We always request restaurants and recreation area managers that they have separate areas for men and women, or separate areas for women and their children and other separate areas for men alone. Or that a place be designed where a family, women members and male members who are mahrams (brothers, sons, uncles) can sit alone. As for different families sitting together with mixed men and women, who are non-mahrams, then this is the basis of corruption.

But so much for the lighter side of Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi Islam. On a more serious note, a 20 year old woman was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment and 60 lashes for running away from home. The sentence was apparently based on the fact that she was caught outside of her home without a male family member escourting her. Read the story here. But in a world where all things are relative, the inequity of this story pales in comparison to this one, a post where you will also get a description of a Saudi judicial flogging.

At any rate, how about that religion of peace? I think CAIR and MAS could use a little more truth in advertising myself.

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Keeping an Eye On CAIR: Part III - CAIR & "Middle East Peace"

CAIR is not an organization that can be relied upon in any way to promote the moderation and modernization of Islam; rather, it is a mouthpiece for the ultra-radical sect that is the Wahhabi / Salafi Islam. If we as a people assimilate rather then challenge CAIR at every turn, then it will work a fundamental change for the worse in American values. If you wish to have an inkling of Wahhabi core tenants in action, please see this post. Additionally, search the word "CAIR" on this site, and browse through the posts on Saudi Arabia -- the birthplace of Wahhabi Islam, on the site Memri.org.

With that, let us parse CAIR's statement of yesterday issued in support of their latest cause celebre, urging Congress to become more involved in establishing peace in the Middle East. That, on its face, is certainly a noble endeavor. Though, in all honesty, the U.S. has been very involved in this for decades. But let us not prejudge, CAIR might have some ideas of which we have not yet thought.

CAIR SAYS:
In his speech before Congress, King Abdullah stated: "The wellspring of regional division, the source of resentment and frustration far beyond, is the denial of justice and peace in Palestine. …I come here today, as your friend, to tell you that this is the core issue. And this core issue is not only producing severe consequences for our region, it is producing severe consequences for our world."

I am not impressed so far. Middle Eastern monarchs and governments have been blaming all of the problems of the Middle East on Israel since its inception. This has everything to do with the Wahhabi / Salafi dogma that it is the world's superior religion, destined to rule over all, as well as the Wahhabi dogma that Judaism is innately evil and must, in the end, be destroyed for Wahhabi Islam to triumph. Israel is a beacon of democracy and capitalism with a far higher standard of living for its citizens -- Jewish, Christian, AND Palestinian Muslim -- then any other Middle Eastern country. That it should be so -- without any oil or other natural resources that abound elsewhere in the Middle East -- is very telling.

To the extent a problem exists, it is a problem created by the surrounding autocracies, who use Israel as a scapegoat and the Palestinians as pawns. The Wahhabi and Salafi Muslims, of which CAIR is but one tentacle, want Israel wiped from the map. If you believe CAIR, then the demise of Israel and institution of a Muslim state in formerly Israeli lands would be the end of all of the problems of the Middle East. But, given what we know of Wahhabi / Salafi Islam, in reality it would only be the end of the very beginning of our problems with the Wahhabi / Salafi Muslim world.

CAIR SAYS:
It is vitally important that our elected representatives reformulate a Middle East policy based on the cherished American principles of peace and justice for all people.

Given our current policies towards Israel, no reformulation is necessary. We have stepped in with an eminently fair two state solution and a road map to peace. The first step from the Palestinian side is and has been for the Palestinians to stop murdering innocent Israeli civilians. Just what about that has to be reformulated? Must we accept wanton murder and Wahhabi attempts at genocide? Or must we accept and even support a Hamas led government that has as its fundamental thesis the destruction of Israel?

In actuality, Hamas is an outgrowth of Wahhabi Islam, and several members of CAIR have been sent to jail for their support of Hamas. What you will never see from CAIR is an explicit denunciation of any atrocity committed by Hamas. The reasonable words chosen by CAIR do not hide the blood of their actions.

CAIR SAYS
"For too long the plight of the Palestinians has been ignored in the halls of Congress. For too long the discussion has been one-sided. Our lawmakers have spoken out in support of Israeli rights and national security, but appear content to leave the Palestinians with neither rights nor security. To the Muslim world, this is perceived a double standard and remains the number one source of anti-American hostility.

This is so thoroughly disingenuous as to be laughable. Any cursory study of the plight of the Palestinians since the birth of Israel will show that there has been a cynical manipulation of them -- but it has been by other Middle Eastern countries who have insured their poverty and used them as proxies to attack Israel. As to the U.S. not helping the Palestinians, until the election of Hamas, we were pumping millions of dollars in aid into the Palestinian economy and attempting to build an infrastructure. We supported the unilateral withdrawal of Israel from Gaza. But what have the Palestinians made of this chance? Nothing. Actually, worse then nothing. The Palestinians are now in a true civil war, with the gangster like PA, who have embezzled countless aid funds over the years on one side, and the radical Islamicists of Hamas on the other side. And sticking their fingers into this witches brew are the various middle eastern countries playing off one side against the other to insure that there is no peace with Israel.

The statement that our mistreatment of Palestine is the source of anti-American hostility is a giant canard. Wahhabi Islam has been described as more racist then the KKK -- there is both a hatred infused in true believers from childhood against anyone who is not a Wahhabi Muslim, and a sense of superiority to anyone not a Wahhabi Muslim. That exists wholly separate and apart from the question of Israel. And what CAIR and other Wahhabists want is U.S. support for a plan that will eventually lead to the destruction of Israel. Never, never be fooled by the lies of CAIR.

CAIR SAYS
"A tragedy is unfolding in Palestine with 70 per cent of the population now living below the poverty line. Unemployment is nearly 40 percent and expected to rise to more than 70 percent.

I agree, it is a tremendous tragedy. For those Palestinians who live at peace in Israel and who flatly refuse to have anything to do with the PA and Hamas, their standard of living is the highest among any Palestinians living in any state in the mid-East. At this point, Palestinians in Gaza are out of control. While there is no butter, money for guns and militias seems to flow like water. So how is that the responsibility of the West to fix? There is a problem, but it is not one caused by the U.S., nor can it be fixed by the U.S. without simply giving more support to the ever growing civil war. Further, while we may choose to give aid at times to Palestinians, that aid is a gift, it is not a right which they -- or CAIR -- can demand. The Palestinians portray themselves as perennial victims -- a choice of roles vigorously supported by CAIR and other Middle Eastern countries. When will the Palestinians ever take responsibility for their own actions?

CAIR SAYS
"The choices that Israel makes have implications for the United States. It is time for America to use its power to influence counterproductive Israeli policies such as building illegal settlements on confiscated Palestinian land and subjecting Palestinians to Apartheid-like existence.

Isn't it nice to see CAIR and the Wahhabi's pick up on the language of Jimmy Carter? We have long attempted to convince Israel not to expand settlements, and indeed, Israel has given essentially the entire Gaza Strip to Palestinians, and has pulled back from many of its settlements in the West Bank. As to the buzz words "Apartheid-like," there is nothing stopping the Palestinians from setting up an orderly and productive society in Gaza. The solution begins there -- not with the United States kowtowing to the demands of Wahhabi Islamists.

CAIR SAYS
"Any real and lasting resolution to the Middle East conflict will also have to address Israel's brutal occupation, the Palestinian right of return and the holy status of Jerusalem for Muslims worldwide.

If no other sentence by CAIR gives away their true intent, this one certainly does. CAIR is asserting an innate right to claim Jerusalem for the Muslim world. The fact that Jerusalem is the most holy site in the world for Jews and Christians is not mentioned -- nor, I doubt, did it ever enter the author's mind. Why is that? This goes to the ultimate intent of the radical Wahhabi Islamists -- to wipe Israel from the map, and indeed, reinstitute claim to all lands that were ever in Muslim hands historically. That is step one.

Israel is a state with both a legal and historical claim to the land on which it sits, including Jerusalem. Israel is not an occupying entity. As to brutality, Israel's hands are not clean. But, in comparison to the brutality of the Palestinians and other Islamists, with the slaughter of women and children applauded by the Arabs, there is no comparison whatsoever. To call Israel brutal while ignoring the actions of Palestinians and their radical Muslim supporters goes beyond hypocrisy. They think we are guilt ridden idiots to be manipulated.

I could go on listing what CAIR says, but much of what I would say in response is already set forth above. The bottom line is that CAIR is a viper in the midst of our secular liberal democracy. While I, like Voltaire, will defend CAIR's right while in this country to say what they want, I will, and urge you to join me, in doing everything possible to thwart CAIR from taking their twisted messages into the acceptable mainstream of American thought.

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Keeping An Eye On CAIR: Part II

What follows is an editorial from Investor's Business Daily on CAIR's extreme agitation over the first Secular Islam Summit held here in the U.S. The editorial is so good, I reproduce it here in its entirity.

What Is CAIR Afraid Of?

INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

Posted 3/6/2007

Politics And Islam: The first Secular Islam Summit was a success if for no other reason than it intimidated the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the PR machine of militant Islam.

The Washington-based group that boycotts airlines and bullies radio personalities and politicians into toeing the Islamist line is clearly worried about the message from Muslim reformers.

It dispatched its henchmen to Florida to shout the reformers down at their confab earlier this week. CAIR also posted on its Web site no fewer than four stories bashing the event and its courageous speakers, many of whom are women calling for an end to inequality and mistreatment under radical Islam.

CAIR declared the summit illegitimate because few of the participants are "practicing Muslims," and those who are, it claims, are merely pawns playing into the hands of "Islamophobes."

"In order to have legitimate reform, you need to have the right messengers," asserted CAIR spokesman Ahmed Bedier.

And who might that be? The four CAIR executives who have been successfully prosecuted on terrorism-related charges? The CAIR co-founder who said the Quran should replace the U.S. Constitution as "the highest authority in America"?

True voices of moderation are the delegates to the Secular Islam Summit, who insisted in their declaration that mosque and state should always be separate. They also called for tolerance for non-Muslims, and an end to violent jihad. CAIR should take notes.

So what if many of them are ex-Muslims? They risked their lives to leave Islam and now dare to openly criticize an ideology that everyone else is afraid to criticize. What these brave souls have to say carries far more weight than anything said by CAIR, which couldn't even bring itself to condemn Osama bin Laden in the wake of 9/11.

Yes, Bedier argued, but the summit's "funding is coming from the neoconservatives." An article posted by CAIR suggests "Israeli intelligence" is behind the movement.

In CAIR's kooky world, the Zionists are behind everything, even 9/11.

But if anyone was behind 9/11, it was the Saudis. And guess who bankrolls CAIR? Right: the Saudis.

Fittingly, CAIR's Bedier balked when summit delegate Tawfik Hamid, a former terrorist, challenged him to denounce Saudi sharia law for "killing apostates, beating women and stoning women."

"This is not about Saudi Arabia," he huffed. "We condemn any nation that misuses Islam, but we're not going to condemn an entire nation. That's like condemning London (sic)."

Another CAIR sugar daddy is the ruler of Dubai, which acted as the staging ground for the hijackers and the transit point for 9/11 cash.

Sheikh Mohammed, who before 9/11 requisitioned cargo jets to supply bin Laden's Afghan camps, owns CAIR's D.C. headquarters through his foundation, which also holds telethons for Palestinian "martyrs."

The same foundation recently pledged $50 million to CAIR to boost its operations, which includes a legal shop set up to intimidate critics with vexatious lawsuits.

Radical groups like CAIR have been on the offensive, primarily because counterattacks by moderates have been few and far between.

But the Secular Islam Summit offers a ray of hope. Just a handful of reformers gathered in Florida made CAIR squirm. Imagine if hundreds of moderate Muslim voices rose up and challenged the Saudi-backed Wahhabi lobby.

Hattip: Little Green Footballs.

Update: Dr. Sanity has an extensive post that speaks to and beyond the Secular Islam Summit.

Update: And it appears that CAIR is squealing like a pig.

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How to Define a Multicuralist's Nightmare?

To be a practitioner of that uniquely western philosophy, multiculturalism, means that the adherent adopts the belief that cultures of other countries are at least the equal to, if not better then, his or her own. The adherent makes no comparative moral judgments.

But sometimes that can be difficult. Sometimes, the mores of other cultures are so outrageous, so antithetical to liberal Western values, that only deliberate ignorance of reality will allow the multicultural philosophy to remain untarnished.

With that in mind, let me set a scenario. A man and woman go out, when they are accosted by five knife wielding men who kidnap them. They are taken to a remote location, where the kidnappers gang rape the woman a total of fourteen times. The kidnappers/rapists are eventually caught. On those facts, what do law and justice demand as punishment for the guilty and as recompense for the victim?

If we were in America, the charges would likely be aggravated kidnapping and aggravated rape along with a smattering of other, lesser charges. It is quite likely the prison terms for these offenses, in sum, would range from twenty years to life. The victim would be be given counselling and she would likely receive funds from a government victim's compensation program.

That's in America, where we are ruled by a secular legal code that developed out of a judeo-christian ethic. It would likely be similar in any western country.

In Saudi Arabia, where this crime actually occurred, the nation is officially ruled by Sharia law -- the code of law discerned from a reading of the Koran -- and as interpreted within the strictures of Wahhabi Islam. Wahhabi Islam is, unfortunate to say, the triumphalist, grossly racist, misogynistic and brutal form of Islam that has been exported to the United States and across the world by Saudi Arabia, using billions of dollars of oil money. So what happens to the victim and her attackers under Wahhabi Sharia law? According to a report in the Agence France-Presse:

Five men were arrested for the rape and given jail terms ranging from 10 months to five years by a panel of judges . . . But the judges also decided to sentence the woman . . . and the man to lashes for being alone together in the car.

Yes, you heard that correctly. The victim will be flogged for, as the article goes on to say, a total of 90 lashes.

Just to put how barbaric this is into perspective, what follows is a description of a Saudi judicial flogging given to a man.

I was brought to the whipping area. They tied me to a post. My hands were handcuffed and they also shackled my legs. I was wearing a T-shirt and jogging pants... The whip was one and a half metres long... with a heavy lead piece attached to the tip. It was terrible. Some fell on my thighs and my back. I would fall when the whip reached my feet but the prison guard would raise me up to continue the whipping. It was terrible. I was amazed to find myself still alive after the 70th lash was given. It lasted about 15 minutes... my back was bleeding. I cried.

As to the victim in the rape, she appealed her verdict but was "told by one of the judges [that] she was lucky not to have been given jail time." Since her trial, the woman . . . [has] tried to commit suicide because of her ordeal and was beaten by her younger brother because the rape had brought shame on their family." Nice to see her family supporting her and protecting her honor, isn't it?

Such are Sharia law and the concept of family honor in Saudi Arabia. So please tell me now, is there anything about a culture that can treat someone this way that makes you feel as if it is, on balance, equal or superior to Western culture? And therein lies the problem for the multiculturalist. Facts are the clay from which their nightmares are made.

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A Poem by Wajiha Al-Huwaider

Ms. Al-Huwaider is a Saudi who laments the state of the middle east today. It is quite a moving indictment. If you happen to know any adherents to multiculturalism, you might recommend this poem to them. Ma. Al-Huwaider is all too often a lonely voice in the wilderness.

WHEN

"When you cannot find a single garden in your city, but there is a mosque on every corner - you know that you are in an Arab country…

"When you see people living in the past with all the trappings of modernity - do not be surprised, you are in an Arab country.

"When religion has control over science - you can be sure that you are in an Arab country.

"When clerics are referred to as 'scholars' - don't be astonished, you are in an Arab country.

"When you see the ruler transformed into a demigod who never dies or relinquishes his power, and whom nobody is permitted to criticize - do not be too upset, you are in an Arab country.

"When you find that the large majority of people oppose freedom and find joy in slavery - do not be too distressed, you are in an Arab country.

"When you hear the clerics saying that democracy is heresy, but see them seizing every opportunity provided by democracy to grab high positions in the government - do not be surprised, you are in an Arab country…

"When monarchies turn into theocracies, and republics into hybrids of monarchy and republic - do not be taken aback, you are in an Arab country.

"When you find that the members of parliament are nominated by the ruler, or else that half of them are nominated and the other half have bought their seats through bribery… - you are in an Arab country…

"When you discover that a woman is worth half of what a man is worth, or less - do not be surprised, you are in an Arab country…

"When you see that the authorities chop off a man's hand for stealing a loaf of bread or a penny, but praise and glorify those who steal billions - do not be too surprised, you are in an Arab country…

"When you are forced to worship the Creator in school and your teachers grade you for it - you can be sure that you are in an Arab country…

"When young women students are publicly flogged merely for exposing their eyes - you are in an Arab country…

"When a boy learns about menstruation and childbirth but not about his own body and the changes it undergoes in puberty - roll out your prayer mat and beseech Allah to help you deal with your crisis, for you are in an Arab country…

"When land is more important than human beings - you are in an Arab country…

"When covering the woman's head is more important than financial and administrative corruption, embezzlement, and betrayal of the homeland - do not be astonished, you are in an Arab country…

"When minorities are persecuted and oppressed, and if they demand their rights, are accused of being a fifth column or a Trojan horse - be upset, you are in an Arab country…

"When women are seen as house ornaments which can be replaced at any time - bemoan your fate, you are in an Arab country.

"When birth control and family planning are perceived as a Western plot - place your trust in Allah, you are in an Arab country…

"When at any time, there can be a knock on your door and you will be dragged off and buried in a dark prison - you are in an Arab country…

"When fear constantly lives in the eyes of the people - you can be certain that you are in an Arab country."

Hattip: MNN

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Female Circumcision Debated on Egyptian Television

MEMRI has translated a debate between Islamic scholars on Egyptian television regarding the secular and religious nature of female circumcision -- i.e., a removal of the clitoris -- and the continued desirability of the practice. The debate was between M. Ashur, who argued that the practice was secular and should be outlawed, and M. Al-Mussayar, who argued that it is a part of religious practice acceptable under Sharia law and that it should be allowed.

Mahmoud Ashur: "Female circumcision is a traditional custom, and not a religious act. All the hadiths dealing with female circumcision are unreliable. . . . "Female circumcision is not part of Islam. Rather, it is a traditional custom. Under no circumstances should we follow this custom, because it leaves a deep wound in the souls of these girls,
. . . .
"This is a despicable, ugly, and evil custom. It is performed by a woman who uses inappropriate and non-sterile instruments. She may be passing on to the girl a terrible disease, or causing her a wound that never heals, because the person who performs this custom lacks expertise and experience, and does not know how to sterilize the instruments, and therefore she inflicts terrible diseases upon the girls."
. . . .
Muhammad Al-Mussayar: "All the jurisprudents, since the advent of Islam and for 14 centuries or more, are in consensus that female circumcision is permitted by Islam. But they were divided with regard to its status in shari'a. Some said that female circumcision is required by shari'a, just like male circumcision. Some said this is the mainstream practice, while others said it is a noble act. But throughout the history of Islam, nobody has ever said that performing female circumcision is a crime. There has been a religious ruling on this for 14 centuries."
. . . .
"First of all, there are reliable hadiths in Al-Bukhari and Al-Muslim which support female circumcision. . . .

Interviewer: "Nevertheless, hypothetically speaking, what is the main reason for [female circumcision]?"

Muhammad Al-Mussayar: "Some sources said: 'Reduce, but do not remove.' In other words, it is neither about removing the organ, nor about leaving it. It is a trustworthy Muslim doctor who makes the decision. She decides whether the girl needs it or not. We do not obligate every girl to undergo circumcision. We say it should be left up to the doctor, and she can evaluate the case and determine whether the girl needs circumcision or not."

Read the whole story here. One of the internal wars in Islam, hinted at in the above exchange, is whether to and how to modernize Islamic practices. Unfortunately, the Wahabbi form of Islam holds sway in many areas thanks to its propagation through Saudi oil wealth, and Wahabbi Islam is a true throwback to a world now more then a millenium gone. Further the means by which Mohamed left for his followers to modify their religion, ijtihad, has as a general rule, been deemed frozen for over one thousand years. It is more complex then that, but as generalities go, it is true.

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