Islamic Punk Rock

I've been anticipating that this shit would come down the pipeline eventually:


This is Taqwacore: a furious meld of punk and piety that first stamped its foot on the continent that September night in Chicago. For those who weren't there, a Canadian filmmaker caught the whole Chicago spectacle on tape.

The name comes from the words Taqwa – loosely translated from Arabic, it means God-fearing. The genre is only now gaining recognition, thanks to a tour and an upcoming Canadian documentary expected to be released in late 2008.

“It's a really hard thing to explain to people,” says Michael Muhammad Knight, the American Muslim convert and author who invented the genre. “I don't think Western media as a whole is ready for a complicated Muslim voice – they divide the world into good Muslims and bad Muslims.

“But these kids are pissed off about everything.”

When Knight talks about his life leading up to the creation of Taqwacore, he says this: “I grew up in upstate New York. I was raised by my mom. My dad was a white supremacist, a diagnosed schizophrenic poet-slash-racist. I met him for the first time when I was 15.” He talks as though he's reading a shopping list, as though none of this is unusual.

Taqwacore originated in Knight's head. In 2002, about a decade after he discovered Islam through rap lyrics and Malcolm X biographies, the 25-year-old became disillusioned with dogma. He tried going to college but soon dropped out.

“I was coming to class wearing this Khomeini-sized black turban,” he says. “Kids who were sitting behind me had to move; they couldn't see.”

Working as a night-shift janitor and feeling his time with Islam might be coming to an end, Knight began writing a novel about a Muslim culture he wished existed. The result was The Taqwacores, a fictitious account of Muslim punks in Buffalo. The prose swerves from mildly offensive to Danish-cartoon-offensive and beyond.

At first, before a punk rock record label published it, the novel existed only in late-night Kinko's photocopies. Then one day, Knight got a phone call from a 15-year-old San Antonio kid named Kourosh who wanted to meet these Taqwacores.

“He thought it was all real,” Knight says. “I told him there weren't any Taqwacores. He said, ‘but I'm Taqwacore.'”

So the scene became real. Kourosh started a band and named it after one of the bands in the book: Vote Hezbollah. Soon came more groups, such as the Boston-based Kominas, whose achievements include penning the catchiest song ever to work the phrase “Suicide-bomb the Gap” into the chorus.


(Cough) Losers!

Storm Track Infiltration: Al-Zawahiri.com

Here’s a new take on ‘Talk to the CEO’. Al-Zawahiri for the first time invited visitors to pose their questions to him promising to answer them by the middle of next month.

Read the rest at The Gathering Storm.

Europe Faces Extinction

From Stop The Islamization of Europe:

The foot soldiers of a new empire have already landed on the European continent, over 5 million in France more than 3 million in Germany with an estimated EU total of around 20 million.How did this force so effectively neutralise all our national defences?

Our Western European societies in this 21st century have been structured in such away as would allow them to be overrun by an invading ideology. In no other period of time could this have happened, nations would have simply crushed the alien culture growing in their midst. But now constrained by a belief that all its citizens have equal rights, even if those rights allow their ideology to actively work for the downfall of the very nations that have allowed them room to grow and prosper.

The mantle of self-loathing that we as Europeans have been forced into wearing by our political masters has us falling over ourselves in appeasement to this evil belief. Just as in Islam the rape victim is viewed as guilty, so are our societies and us made to feel guilty when Muslims bomb us, and murder our citizens!

They have so successfully twisted our leaders into dhimmitude that even after they have committed a barbaric atrocity against us, it is we that must feel guilty for making Muslims feel uncomfortable because of even daring to treat them with suspicion!

Islam as a world empire of religion is manoeuvring itself to takeover the world, look at your respective countries. See how Muslims and their religion have positioned themselves so that they are untouchable. Where we as the indigenous peoples are making all the concessions in this one sided relationship, and where every aspect of our lives must be changed to accommodate Muslim sensibilities.

Now though, consider this not as your lone national problem but as a whole Europe wide surrender to these ground troops of the Islamic republic of Europe. Their avowed aim is to establish a Kalifate over all of us. Then these countries that were once our homelands will be theirs and we simply a tenant tolerated by the will of Islam.

When Muslims murder our citizens, when they bomb us, when they plot to carry out mass extermination, when they riot in our cities, when they demand we change our laws to suit them, when they demand we change our way of life to suit them, these are not the actions of peoples looking to be part of our nations as fellow citizens! These are the actions of invaders taking our countries from us bit by bit, every act a slice more of our lands until we are dispossessed!

The Bible talks of a time coming upon the earth where we will not be able to buy or sell without the mark of the Beast, just what that Beast is, is open to debate, but unless we take action now we will all wake up one day under the control of Islam and sharia law where our rights to buy, sell and survive will depend on its mark on us as an obedient dhimmi under their control.

The snake that is Islam.

For countless civilisations and generations people have viewed the snake and its forked tongue as the personification of deceit.

When people speak and try to cover their true agenda with lies we have the saying of “speaking with a forked tongue!”

Muslims and their religion blatantly lie to us the infidel with no fear of offending their religion and the god they worship. For their god actively commands them to deceive the infidel to advance the growth of Islam. They call it Al-Takeyya, which means they can lie through their teeth at anytime they feel it will benefit Islam.

Lie:1. Islam honours women.

The belief in Purdah keeps women isolated and covered from the gaze of men, this belief is all consuming among Muslim men, these men believe that if women are allowed out, there will be complete immorality and catastrophe.” This medieval attitude means that women in Pakistan are routinely beaten, burned by acid, and murdered by their husbands and families for nothing more than falling in love. Amazingly the men who commit these atrocities are not only unrepentant but openly proud: “It is honourable. There can be no higher honour than this anywhere.” This powerful and harrowing report from the BBC investigates the horror of women’s lives in the dying days of the 20th century. Disturbingly the situation is getting worse, as pressure for strict Sharia law gains political favour.

Lie:2. There is no compulsion in religion. Sura 2:256

Thinking people may ask, “If there are so many problems in the Islamic world why do so many re-main true to Islam?” It is true that many Muslims feel safe within their communities. Also, Muslims are continually told by their peers that Islam is a wonderful religion. But there is one factor which is often ignored by the western media; it is not safe for most Muslims to turn their backs on Islam. To the fanatical Muslim, anyone who gives up Islam must have done it because of insanity. Though Sura 2:256 states, there is ‘no compulsion in religion’, many have suffered the death penalty for leaving Islam as this is deemed apostasy.

Lie:3. Islam is a religion of peace.

Allah’s Apostle said, “I have been ordered to fight the people till they say: ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah…’”(Sahih Bukhari, 1:8:387).After ten years of fighting Mohammed died in 632 A.D. The pattern had been established, after Mohammed’s death Muslim armies spread in all directions, including Europe. ‘The story begins around 650 C.E. with the first, unsuccessful siege of Constantinople, and continues with the invasion and occupation, sometimes for hundreds of years, of many European countries. Italy, Sicily, Portugal, France, Spain, Austria, Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, Rumania, Wallachia, Albania, Moldavia, Bulgaria, Greece, Armenia, Georgia, Poland, the Ukraine, and eastern and southern Russia were all battlefields where Islam conquered or was conquered in violent conflicts marked by cruelty, bloodlust, and a fearful loss of life, spread over considerably more than a thousand years.

Lie:4. The killing of an innocent is wrong.

The armies of Islam do not believe an infidel is innocent; you and your family are infidels. Our nations our cultures everything about us is against Allah, so how could we be covered by innocence?

So what can you expect when Islam rules Europe?

How were non Muslims treated in the past?

1. They cannot pass on the right of A Muslim but on the left

2. They cannot testify against Muslims in court of law.

3. They cannot ride a horse or a camel but only a donkey or a mule.

4. They should wear special costumes to be identified, when walking in the streets

5. They should wear tag in their neck as prove that they have paid their Taxes (Jizyah)

6. They cannot own any weapon to defend themselves.

7. They are not allowed to defend themselves ,i.e .if they were beaten by a Muslim, but they may try to cool him down

8. Religious celebrations in Public are not allowed, crosses in Public and on Churches are not allowed.

9. Their Houses and Shops should not be higher than Muslims but may be lower.

10. Preaching their beliefs is not allowed, touching The Koran or reading it, is prohibited

11. They should pay yearly Jizyah (non Muslims special taxes), these Taxes, should be paid in a festival, Muslims should remind them, that they are infidels, and slap them on their necks as a reminder.

12. Their Jobs should not be higher than Muslims, but only in necessity,(i.e) if they can not find Muslim to fill the Job.

13. Children Of Muslims are encouraged to threw stones at them, when they walk in the streets

14. They are not allowed to build new churches or restore the old one

15. A Muslim should not be Punished (Executed) for killing Non-Muslims,

16. Any of these Laws broken they are subject to slavery, Jail, Execution and their wives, will be taken as concubines, and their children as slaves,

And today?

Pakistan.

1. In the last two years, there has been an upsurge in anti-Christian violence, including fatalattacks on churches and other Christian institutions. In September 2002, armed men killed seven people on the premises of a Christian charitable organization.

2. Three children were killed and 14 injured in a grenade attack on a Christian church in Chianwala village in Sialkot, in 2004.

3. In January 2004, a church compound that includes a Christian school for girls was bombed.

4. Also, in the same year, a Christian pastor was killed by “unknown assailants” and his family continues to be harassed.

5. Meanwhile, a pastor was killed in May 2004, after being held for five days inside an Islamic school, where he was reportedly tortured.

6. In most, if not all, these cases, police protection appears ineffective, and no one has yet been successfully prosecuted for these crimes. Perpetrators of attacks on religious minorities are seldom brought to justice.

7. Christian girls are repeatedly raped, molested and in some cases killed by Muslims. Although complaints have been registered with the police, the latter do not take effective action against the assailants.

8. Hundreds of Christian women go from house to house to clean their lawns,toilets, cattle stables, and carry the garbage and human waste in the basket on their heads.These women are treated inhumanely as they are considered members of the lower caste. They are like slaves to the Muslim masters.

9. These women and girls are often kidnapped, raped and made Muslims. Then they are married to the Muslim men. Whenever the parents or husbands of these women approach the Muslims to take their women back, the Muslim kidnappers and police authorities rebuke the Christians and tell them to go away.

10. The blasphemy laws have given a strong foothold to many of the Muslims to file false accusations against Christian minorities, which often results in their arrest and deaths while they are in police custody.

Indonesia:

There are many militant groups like Laskar Jihad who burn churches and murder with impunity.

THREE INDONESIAN CHRISTIAN GIRLS BEHEADED.

On Saturday 29th October a group of Christian school-girls in Indonesia were attacked, apparently by Islamic militants. Three were beheaded and a fourth was severely wounded.At 7.00 a.m. the girls were making their way to their Christian school through a cocoa plantation, a mile from the village of Sayo, near Poso city, Central Sulawesi. They were set upon by a group of men who attacked them with machetes. Half an hour later the three decapitated bodies were discovered. Later in the morning one head was found outside a church, eight miles from the scene of the attack.This is the reality; this was someone’s daughter. Her crime? She was an infidel!

Stop The Islamisation of Europe!You owe it to your family, your children and grandchildren. You owe it to your country!

Are we witnessing a deal to allow islamist takeover in Pakistan via election?

Nawaz Sharif's crew represent the forces of Zia ul Haq, Bin Laden the MMA, and is Islamism personified.
Musharaff's crew is now utterly discredited and regarded by ALL SIDES as useless, and he has given up the army at the moment he (personally speaking) needs it most (anyone believe in coincidence out there?)
Whether Al Qaeda committed the act or not, in the present atmosphere there is little doubt that anyone getting thru security had the knowing acquiescence of SOMEONE(S) officially or not in order to get that close to Bhutto.
Her backers are now in disarray and the govt is insistent on going ahead on Jan 8th with the election.

The ISI (think Hamid Gul) IS the force of the Taliban and all they have represented and done. The ISI IS the other side. The ISI hid Daniel Pearl's killer. The ISI funded, supported, and aided in every conceivable way, the Afghan murderers of 9/11. The ISI WAS the force behind the FORMAL alliance of Pakistan and the Taliban.

Sharif's backers will WIN, with the PPP of Bhutto fractured and demoralized. And in an election.

HAMAS redux.

What, the thinking must go in Waziristan and Tora Bora, can the USA do?
The USA can't do a damned thing.
Pakistan will have chosen islamism in a free election, marred to be sure, but FREE.

MMA like cretins will be the civilian authority at the red button of 60+ nuclear weapons, and an UNTOLD AMOUNT of nuclear cycle byproduct.
Waziristan's Islamic emirate, the Swat crazies and taliban will have a cooperative ally in Pakistan.
I mean, it's not as if deobandi pakistani expats have been active in jihadi actions, IS IT?

Our army, tightened in Iraq, faced with Iran faces a new AND FAR LARGER ISLAMIST nuclear armed opposition when we contemplate hot pursuit into Pakistan, or Predator and Reaper missions.

Our society has neither been prepared, nor is ready for this situation, and I bet NEITHER is the admin. Our armed forces are not structured to face this, EXCEPT with nuclear weapons.

We are two weeks and a free election away from the beginning of this process.
Is there a contigency plan?

All We Need is an Audit

Ali Eteraz is being serious, I think:

An independent panel will likely conclude that it was the terrorists that killed Ms. Bhutto and not any elements associated with Musharraf himself. By doing so, Musharraf will be able to clear the cloud of suspicion hanging over his head, and might, in the process, be able to use the international community to identify how much the pro-Taliban elements have infiltrated Pakistan’s government. By severing itself from Musharraf and calling for an objective international panel, the US might also be able to see the extent of Musharraf’s complicity with the Islamists, if any.

In other words, Ms. Bhutto’s killing is a perfect opportunity for a long overdue audit of Pakistan, not merely so that the world can see who is killing innocent Pakistanis, but so that Pakistanis can see all the elements that have been involved in killing their leaders, neighbors, and families.

If the U.S. can create the conditions for such a public demonstration of the history and extent of jihadist killing and infiltration, it would arm the people of Pakistan with unerring proof about who is their real enemy. It would be a boost to their sense of survival. It would demonstrate that the US is looking out for them. They would be able to take these feelings to the polls.

Robert Spencer offers perspective:

So that's all it will take: if the U.S. abandons Musharraf and sponsors an independent investigation into Bhutto's death, the Pakistani jihad will melt away. The 46% who registered approval for bin Laden as recently as September will vanish, and the the 9% who said they had a favorable view of George W. Bush will skyrocket. The 74% who said they opposed "U.S. military action against al Qaeda and the Taliban inside Pakistan" will begin, presumably, to change their minds.

Morton Doodslag is blunt. An excerpt:

Sorry for laughing at your [Eteraz's] idea, but it's high time we stop listening to Muslim expats who devise all kinds of crazy schemes requiring America to take responsibility to fix their derelict nations of origin. Muslims hate us because we're not Muslim. It's part of their religion to hate the "infidel". They'd never accept some kind of ludicrous American sponsored "audit" any more than they'll ever truly accept the separation of mosque and state, or Western notions of human rights.

Bhutto Killing Puts EuroLeaders On Notice: Time to Choose

Much has been said about the implications of the Bhutto assassination for Pakistan. However Scrappleface's Scott Ott explains how there is a lesson to be learned from this-- by the Europeans:

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto has put on notice the leaders of every European nation.

Your secularism, your democracy will not stand. The growing Muslim populations in your own lands that you have done so much to tolerate, protect and celebrate, will soon rise up against you. Sharia law shall become your law. The Caliph shall rule you.

It remains only for you to choose submission or assassination . . . (cont'd)

Learn More:

1. Benazir Bhutto- killed by the real Pakistan.
2. Video: Arab-American Psychiatrist Wafa Sultan on al-Jazeera TV-- There is No Clash of Civilization
3. More about ''Islamic Extremism''; more about ''Pakistan''.

(Cross-posted on A Deeper Look)

Isalm Infiltrating The Pentagon?

There's a debate going on in the Pentagon as to whether we ought to consider theological arguments of Islam as we prosecute our war on terrorism. Who would say "no" to such a question? Well, a Muslim, of course:


Pro-Muslim officials at the Pentagon are putting political pressure on one of the U.S. military’s most important specialists on Islamist extremism, according to defense officials.

Stephen Coughlin, a specialist on Islamic law on the Joint Staff, met recently with Hasham Islam, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon R. England’s close aide. The officials said Mr. Islam, a Muslim who is leading efforts for the Defense Department’s outreach to Muslim groups, sought to convince Mr. Coughlin to take a softer line on Islam and Islamic law elements that promote extremism.

There is also evidence that a whispering campaign is under way to try and discredit Mr. Coughlin as a “Christian extremist with a pen” and force him out of the building, according to the officials.

Mr. Coughlin came under fire from pro-Muslim officials after a memorandum he wrote identified several groups that are being courted by Mr. Islam’s community outreach program as front organizations for the pro-extremist Muslim Brotherhood.

Mr. Coughlin based the memorandum on documents released as evidence in a federal terrorism trial that he stated “are beginning to define the structure and outline of domestic jihad threat entities, associated nongovernmental organizations and potential terrorist or insurgent support systems.”

Mr. Coughlin noted that the documents identified one of the Muslim Brotherhood front groups as the Islamic Society of North America, whose leaders were hosted by Mr. England in April at the Pentagon, raising concerns that the deputy defense secretary does not understand clearly the nature of the Islamist threat he is working against as the No. 2 official.

Mr. England has been a leading advocate of what critics in the Pentagon say is a misguided attempt to reach out to the wrong Muslims, regardless of their views, in an effort to counter Muslim extremism.


Go read the whole thing.

Storm Track Intimidation: The Religion of Peace in Action

Indonesia, that model Islamic nation of tolerance of its many religions, saw fit to increase security ahead of the Christmas holiday last week.

Was it because so many shoppers at he stores looking for bargains carried the threat rioting? Or perhaps Christians, feeling their superiority with their holiday, intimidated the other religions practiced in Indonesia?

Nope. It seems that some Muslims in this Islamic dominated country can’t stand the sight of Christmas decoration and Santa Clause or hear the sounds of Christmas carols heralding peace on earth and good will towards men. It sticks in their craw.

Read the rest at The Gathering Storm.

How to have an instant TRUFER convention

"no post-mortem was performed on Bhutto’s body"

Pastorius Does Politically Incorrect

Victor Davis Hanson looks back on the Iraq War and says a lot in this sloppy little sentence:

... almost none suggested that in a televised war of the postmodern age, it is difficult for a liberal Western society to defeat and humiliate an enemy — at least to the degree necessary for it to accept a radical change of heart.

Ok, so what he is saying is that there is something we could do which could effect a "radical change of heart" within our enemies. What it is we could do, he does not say. But, we all know he's referring to slaughtering them mercilessly.

The reason we won our wars against Germany and Japan was because we were willing to slaughter their people mercilessly. The Japanese, especially, were a people who were completely unlike us. They were of a different religion, culture, and history. Their culture was one of conformity enforced through religion. They did not believe in Democracy, but instead believed in the infallibility of their leadership. Because their leadership could not be questioned, there was no room for analytical thought. And, what's more, they were willing to kill themselves in order to kill as many of us as possible.

The Japanese were a lot like the Jihadis.

In the end, we decided the only way we could thoroughly defeat them, so that they would not continue to try to fight us, was to drop two Atomic Bombs on their country.

Victor Davis Hanson says, " in a televised war of the postmodern age, it is difficult for a liberal Western society to defeat and humiliate an enemy — at least to the degree necessary for it to accept a radical change of heart. "

Why is it that television makes the necessary defeat and humiliation of an enemy impossible?

Who is it watching TV who would object to defeating Islamofascism?

Please do not give me the easy answer; leftism. Don't tell me that. That's too simple. It too easy an answer. I am a fucking former leftie, as are several of the writers here at IBA, and yet I woke up 9/11 and said, "I want to kill these motherfuckers."

I want to know the demographics and psychographics of the people who would be thwarted by images broadcast on television. I want to know who these people are, their ages, their sex, and how they think. Why would they object to killing those who would kill them?

You want to know my answer? It's women, and the men who think like them. It's baby boomers who were brought up under the shadow of feminism, so that they have only learned to feel, and not to think. It's women. It's the tyrrany of matriarchy.

If men ran the world, it would be a far less dangerous place. If men ran the world there would be fewer and less horrible wars. If men ran the world, we wouldn't be afraid to see images of our soldiers winning a war on television.

What's actually going down in Pakistan?

Al Qaeda and the Islamist, MMA, Waziri, Pushtun view....“We terminated the most precious American asset..." blah blah, yadda yadda, god will slay you like a goat.

I took a look back at this and the theme is pretty clear.

Pakistan a weakly lead nation, with a history of corrupt democratic leadership, weak military leadership and since the 70's (duh...what was it that happened again in 1973?) a VERY strong Islamist bent, and might well end up like gaza in a truly free election. They are more properly viewed as being on the OTHER side in this war, but a strong minority want no part of that either, even though they dislike us anyway. Those who don't dislike us thoroughly are more likely right here, which given the events since 7/7 thru yesterday is a cause for a large mental note.

So why would Al Qaeda kill Bhutto? Their allies have a clear shot at winning

Then Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (deposed by Musharraf) Meets SecDef William Cohen

From an interview in 2006 in Pakistan's Daily Times:

Talking to the Sunday magazine of a national Urdu daily, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leader Qazi Hussain Ahmad revealed that he had repeatedly met Osama bin Laden and that the Al Qaeda leader had visited him at Mansoora, the Jamaat headquarters in Lahore. According to him, Osama was willing in 1990 to buy parliamentarians’ loyalties to ensure Nawaz Sharif’s election as prime minister. Bin Laden had said that if there was a way to buy votes, he was willing to pay for them. Qazi said, “He was a big supporter of IJI (Islami Jamhoori Ittehad) and Nawaz Sharif.” He said Bin Laden was also interested in a deal with the JI, which he (Qazi) had declined because he did not agree with Osama’s “methods”. He also said Bin Laden could not have carried out the 9/11 attacks because he lacked the “ability”; he said the Jews had done it, first giving the day off to all Jews working in the World Trade Centre.

Is Sharif Al Qaeda's perceived asset?

Benazir Bhutto too has accused Nawaz Sharif of taking money from Osama bin Laden to oust her from power. Then we had the most extraordinary event of Ramzi Yusuf trying — after his attempt at blowing up the World Trade Centre — to kill her. He failed while the chemicals burnt his hands and he had to be hospitalised. According to reliable sources the attempt (in Karachi) on Ms Bhutto’s life was funded by Khalid Shaikh Muhammad — the man who also funded Al Qaeda’s assault on the World Trade Centre in 2001. When Khalid Sheikh Muhammad was finally caught it was at the house of a JI member.

Sweet story?

I will remind readers also that it was the supreme court's decision FORCING the legality of Sharif's return that began this series of crises leading to this moment.

Snake pit. Any idea that we can help the development of what WE passingly, and fleetingly acknowledge to be a democracy with individual rights guaranteed and the rule of law and not men in this instance, given this set of realities RIGHT NOW had better take second place to making CERTAIN bad people cannot get their hands on the nukes.

Pakistan looks like a state more amenable to sine wave of chaos democracy and military leadership vying with greed and deobandi extremism as a governing system.

It looks like a failed state. A failed nuclear state, with neither realistic plans, or intentions of breaking the cycle of events which has brought us to this point.

The idea of muscular, interventionist nuclear non proliferative actions as a firm part of American national policy has never looked better.

BTW, Obama was right, we might as well have gone right after every bastard in Waziristan we needed to. And that singular part of his ideas is a lot firmer than than the water soaked instant oatmeal we are getting from this administration these days. Go and rectify that.

Continue reading What's actually going down in Pakistan?.

What The Terrorists Fear Most

In late November, PARADE sent Contributing Editor Gail Sheehy to Pakistan. Sheehy traveled with former prime minister Benazir Bhutto as she campaigned through her home provinces. Sheehy had two long interviews with her—the first in Bhutto’s home in Islamabad, a second at her residence outside Karachi. Bhutto told Sheehy that she had long been a target of terrorists.

Today’s suicide bombing mirrors the earlier attempt on her life that Bhutto described to Sheehy.

The interview with Bhutto will be the cover story of PARADE on January 6, 2008.

Suicide By Islam

In the United States, we have an expression:

"Suicide by cop."

We use that expression when some junkie decides to take himself out by committing some meaningless crime, often resulting in a car chase which ends with the police shooting the idiot to death.

The car chases are often broadcast on television where they serve as dramatic reminders of America's gluttony for buffoonery and the absurd.

Europe has its own flair for the dramatic. However, whereas idiocy reigns in the personal suicides of America, Europe is absolutely serious; Europe really wants to die, on a macro-level, and they are using their Muslim immigrants to pull the trigger:


An analysis from former Ambassador Christian Lambert, writing at Les 4 Vérités, predicts a terrible fate for Europe. He titles his essay, "The Inexorable Suicide of Europe."

The Brussels administration admits officially that each year some 550,000 immigrants from Africa, the Middle East and China, plus South America, enter the European Union. In reality the figure is twice that, in other words, more than a million.

We will briefly take it country by country.

Italy wins the prize right now. For this to become known, a young Italian girl had to be raped and murdered by a Gypsy. Then Rome was forced to reveal that Italy, a country even more poorly governed than France, which is saying a lot, now has 3.7 million immigrants (the official figure), that 700,000 new arrivals were recorded in 2006, and that 560,000 Gypsies have settled there. More than 100,000 of them arrived in the ten-month period after January 1, 2007.

More than 50% of the crime in Italy is due to these "Rumanians". In addition, every year some 60,000 immigrants from Tunisia and Libya (where even Colonel Qadhafi admits that his country is invaded by Sub-Saharians waiting to get into Europe and certain to succeed in their goal) arrive in Italy via the island of Lampedusa. In general, it is easy to enter Europe through Italy where the administration is "lax"...

In Greece, it's worse and Cyprus is one of the great doors of entry into Europe.

In France, nothing has changed. It can be assumed that 350,000 new arrivals enter our country each year, 70% of them from Africa. The number of visas granted has not lessened. It is still more than 2 million - 2,038,000 in 2006 - which proves that the fight against massive immigration is, like all the rest, purely verbal.

While I'm on the topic, I should note in passing that the town of Aulnay-sous-Bois, in Seine-Saint-Denis, has just experienced 4 days and nights of street fighting between gangs of "Afro-Maghrebins" and the police, according to the press itself. At Villiers-le-Bel, Val d'Oise, it is even more serious. The police, attacked with rifles, proved to be impotent. In order to quell these riots military units specializing in street fighting are now necessary, especially since stockpiles of war weapons from the Balkans are being stashed in the suburbs.

In Germany there are 4 million Turks, and new arrivals every day. One German told me that Islamist Turks feel more at ease practicing their religious activities in Germany than in Muslim Turkey.

In Great Britain, 50 powerful Muslim associations control millions of faithful followers, mostly Pakistanis. In the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, beneath the smile of her gracious very Christian Majesty, there are now koranic schools where children can learn to become kamikazes and blow up automobiles.

In the Netherlands where there are many North African, Caribbean and Indonesian Muslims serious trouble is on the increase. The press writes that the situation is becoming "à la française", in other words: pillaged shops, torched cars, violent confrontations with the police.

Scandinavia is not to be left out where, in order to be in tune with the times, Norway discovered and recruited, as a government minister, a black woman from Martinique.

I might add that there is no common European policy on immigration. Spain and Italy amnestied millions of illegals - a tremendous message for others - without even informing their neighbors.

On the other hand, in the countries of Eastern Europe, there are no immigrants. Why? Because these countries were subjected to communism and are therefore underdeveloped, with no welfare state or free hand-outs, housing, health care or schools.

Some say that one must not exaggerate. The great invasions from the 4th to 7th centuries eventually worked themselves out, didn't they? Great ignorance. We have to realize that these invasions had only a limited effect on the population of nascent France. As a matter of fact, in general, gangs of invaders and vandals, totaling only a few thousand individuals did not settle down in France, except for the Franks to the East. Furthermore, these barbarians quite rapidly converted to Christianity, more precisely to arianism.

It is true that at the time the merovingian monarchy did not distribute to these barbarians welfare of all kinds, declaring: "You are a great opportunity for France. Come, all of you, and join us with your large and beautiful families." No. Back then, people still had common sense.

And now, what will happen? In the short term, immigration will continue to flood in. Problems which have never been this serious will continue to spread and worsen. In the very long term, Europe, which created the most beautiful civilization that humanity has ever produced, will disappear.

When the barbarians converted to Christianity they helped create the Europe that is now being dismantled. The Franks also routed the Muslims who are now getting their revenge, without much of a fight, while mosques are rising everywhere on the European landscape to replace magnificent structures like this one. The cliché "what goes around comes around" seems to apply to our current situation. We must count on the unexpected now.

The suicide of Europe is not unavoidable - there are many solutions. The fact that there are no leaders willing to do what must be done is the problem. Another strange fact is that so many people seem to "sense" that this is inevitable, as if they have an insight, or an intuition, that Europe's time has come. These are the people besotted by what they see on television and dumbed down by an inferior education. They turn a commentary such as this article into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

That being said, I want to note that, other than the 560,000 "Rumanians" who are noted to be inflicting Italy, all of this damage is being done by people from predominently Muslim countries. In short, the problems originate with Muslims.

Those who support political parties like the Vlaams Belang and the BNP believe that "immigration" is to blame for the problems of Europe. This is not true, according to any evidence that I have ever been able to find.

Instead, Europe's problems are caused by Muslims. Yes, they are immigrants, but the problem is not that they immigrated. The problem is that they are Muslims. If they were Chinese people, or Indians, or even Pakistani Christians, there would be very little problem, and any problems which might exist would be solved by assimilation over a generation or two.

But, the problem is Islam.

If Islam were not the problem, then the evidence would show that the violence comes from people other than Muslims. However, there is no evidence to support any other idea. If anyone has any, then please give it to me.

When I saw it in an Email from Daniel Pipes I thought ..no way...

NY SUN:The editor in chief of Israel's Ha'aretz newspaper, David Landau, confirmed yesterday that he has pleaded with Secretary of State Rice to "rape" Israel and its neighbors into resolving their problems.

What is it about the HAMAS charter that is hard for complete morons to understand?

Man cannot negotiate away what god gave the muslims under Umar.
The palestinian people BELIEVE this to be true.
Therefore nothing Condi, Olmert, or anyone on this planet can do will assuage HAMAS, and the Palestinian people who freely elected them except the extinction of Israel.

Of course since the suicidal dhimmi Mr. Landau ALSO told Ms Rice that that 'shitty little country' was already a "failed state"

The comment, which was made during a gathering of 20 Israeli leaders — including academic, military, and press figures — at the home of the American ambassador in Tel Aviv, Richard Jones, was criticized in the last few days by Israeli- and American-based Jewish leaders. The gathering, during one of Ms. Rice's visits to the region several months ago, was convened at her request, so she could hear a wide range of Israeli views, Mr. Landau said.

"'Rape' is a word in the English language," Mr. Landau told The New York Sun yesterday as he reconstructed the event. He said several people, "from the right and from the left," spoke at the dinner, and that when his turn came, he said, "Israel, after 40 years of failing to resolve its problem of occupation," needed a push from America. "Rape it into resolving the problem," he told Ms. Rice.

Some of the participants apparently did not like the comment, Mr. Landau said, and relayed it to one of Israel's leading television reporters, Ehud Yaari, who since then has aired the quote on Israeli TV without attribution, although Mr. Landau said he had never asked that his name be concealed. "I don't go back on what I said," he said, adding that he had published similar sentiments for decades.

Even as a Jerusalem Post cub reporter in the 1970s, he said, he had pleaded with the then-undersecretary of state, Joseph Cisco, to "squeeze" Israel and the rest of the Middle East's warring parties, so they could achieve peace.

This Week on The Gathering Storm Radio Show

Listen to the nearly famous Gathering Storm Radio Show, that AlwaysOnWatch and I co-host. The show broadcasts live every Friday for one hour at NOON, Pacific Time.

Friday, December 28: This week's guest for the entire hour will be Cassandra, author of the book Escape! From an Arab Marriage: Horror Stories of Women Who Fled from Abusive Muslim Husbands and of the blog site No Slaves of Allah in America. We'll be discussing with Cassandra the unseen treachery behind the terrorist focus on Israel and the Palestinians.

The call-in number is (646) 915-9870.

Callers welcome!

If you are unable to listen live to the radio show, you can listen to recordings of the radio broadcasts later by CLICKING HERE.

The call-in number again is (646) 915-9870. Converse with my co-host and me, chat with our guests or if you must, just air your spleen!

Storm Track Disinformation: Iran’s Islamic Christmas Wishes To The Christian World

During this season of hope for peace on earth and good will towards men, Iran’s Parliament congratulated Iranian and world Christians on the birth of Jesus Christ and expressed the hope that the New Year would be a year of peace and justice in which the world people would benefit from the teachings of Jesus Christ. The speaker made the remarks while addressing an open session of the Islamic Consultative Assembly here on Wednesday.

That out of the way – the But Monkey appears.

Read the rest at The Gathering Storm.

The difference between the west and the east

Russia Successfully Tests New ICBM
LADIMIR ISACHENKOV

MOSCOW (AP) - Russia's military on Tuesday successfully test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads - a weapon intended to replace aging Soviet-era missiles.

The RS-24 missile was launched from the Plesetsk launch facility in northern Russia and its test warheads successfully hit designated targets on the Kura testing range on the Kamchatka Peninsula some 4,340 miles east, Strategic Missile Forces spokesman Alexander Vovk told The Associated Press.

Vovk said that the missile carried multiple test warheads, but refused to say how many. The Interfax news agency said the RS-24 is capable of carrying at least three warheads.

The Strategic Missile Forces said in a statement that the missile was launched from a mobile launcher.

It said the new missile was based on the Topol-M and built by the same design team - Moscow's Heat Technology Institute led by Yuri Solomonov. The RS-24 was first test-fired successfully in May.

Last american development of an ICBM, 1986.

Japan Test Fires Its First Raytheon-Built Standard Missile-3
The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force successfully flight tested its first Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN)-built Standard Missile-3. The SM-3 Block IA missile engaged and destroyed a medium-range ballistic missile target more than 60 miles above the Pacific Ocean. Personnel at the U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai launched the ballistic missile target while the crew of the Japanese destroyer JS KONGO (DDG-173) fired the intercepting missile.

"Today's intercept truly paves the way for Japan to deploy a sea-based ballistic missile defense system," said Ed Miyashiro, Raytheon Missile Systems vice president. "The U.S. has gained an important ally that can now defend itself against the threat of ballistic missiles."

Not only has no western nation developed or deployed a new ICBM since 1986, we have centered our missile development efforts at defeating incoming missiles.

In short, the east keeps on trying to find ways to to kill us, and we keep on trying to find ways to kill the things the east develops to kill us. I don't think they feel us.

PERHAPS the time has come for other actions and developments by the west as well. Offensive developments the East has not contemplated. Particle beams. Rail guns. Kinetic energy. Non human anti personnel self guided items.

Shortcut to Nuclear Caliphate - Pakistan

MMA, Taliban, Al Qaeda, or a Musharraf Reichstag fire assassination attempt?

As aides say at 8:30 AM EST she is dead, the attack, the REPEATED attacks on Ms Bhutto make it clear what is at stake in the nation with nuclear weapons and the living result of oil revenue by the Al Saud, funding the Al Sheikh (Ibn Wahab family) thruough 2 generations of young people's learning of hate.

Pakistan's madrassahs have created their own HAMAS.

Musharraf is now (provided HE didn't do it) faced with a situation in which an election is a complete joke. The MMA sitting silently, among a panoply of Talibaneque murderers await.

Musharraf, frankly needs to take the army and wipe out the ISI, and the entire fundamentalist ideal in Pakistan without hesitation.

WITHOUT HESITATION.

Short of this, the utter ruthlessness and sheer audactiy evident in the REPEATED attempts on Bhutto, on Musharraf and the continued lawless wild west of the Islamic Emirate of Waziristan and it's incredible neighbor states will push this situatuion beyond repair.

The time has come for the usual roundup of suspects, the usual set of actions, the usual set of reactions to end, and for Musharraf to act.

Otherwise concerns of Israel attacking Iran, will be DWARFED by the prospect of what pakistan retains in stockpile to be raided, acquired or otherwise purloined in an immediate fashion, and for AQ Khan to restart.

The world awaits.

Video: Free the Women of Islam

I found the following video, about four minutes in length and set to the music and words of "You Don't Own Me," at this posting over at Atlas Shrugs:



YouTube link

Material in the video is based on the following cases:

Amandeep Singh Atwal [CBC News, Canada]

Samaira Aziz [BBC]

Aqsa Parvez [City News, Canada]

Fadime Sahindal [CNN]

Hina Saleem [BBC]

Heshu Yones [Telegraph]

Farrukh Saleem [Daily Times, Pakistan]

Where is the outcry from the women's groups and various humanitarian organizations? Oh, that's right. Mustn't commit the hate crime of Islamophobia.

The Suicidal Behavior Of Europe: Archbishop Wants To Discuss Implementing Shariah Law In UK

The Archbishop is committing treason. Sharia law is the law of Islamic lands. When a citizen of England advocates for the implementation of Sharia, he is, therefore, advocating for the overthrow of the British government. From UP Pompeii:


Well here's another rear end sucking exercise from the archbishop of canterbury (I will not use capital letters for this man) Archbishop of Canterbury want to discuss the Role of Shariah Law in BritainFrom the article:

Dr. Williams speech, SOAS’s Centre for Islamic and Middle Eastern Law will facilitate five lectures on the compatibility of Sharia law with the European Convention on Human Rights;

Legal Pluralism in Britain-”Should English Law give more Recognition to Islamic Law?”;

Human Rights; Free Speech/Incitement to Religious Hatred Laws;

In a statement released by SOAS, it noted that while English law had been shaped “in part by the principles and history of Christian culture” it owed “no obedience to any revelation, scripture or doctrine ascribed to God.” English law looked to the “rights and freedoms” of the individual, while Sharia law “has tended to protect and strengthen the community in which it is intended that the individual can then live a devout, good and ordered life.

Wanted: Idiots Lacking A Moral Compass - Salary Up To $130K

Here it is, everyone. Your dream job:


Company:
DynCorp International
Location:
US-NC-Palestine
Salary/Wage:
108,000.00 - 130,000.00 USD /year
Status:
Full Time, Temporary/Contract/Project
Job Category:
Law Enforcement/Security Srvs

PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY SECURITY SECTOR TRANSFORMATION
U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs

The Palestinian Mobile Training Team (MTT) International Trainers will be assigned to instruct and mentor specific classes during an established instruction period and will be deployed to various training sites in accordance with INL direction and maintain a presence at said sites for the duration of the training or INL edict. Training sites will be located among West Bank, Jerusalem, Jordan, and Egypt facilities.

The Palestinian Mobile Training Team (MTT) trainers will consist of a mix of male and female instructors with requisite management, strategic planning, and tactical experience, with particular attention given to crowd control, high risk arrest, human rights, and all skills below in the required qualifications. The MTT trainers may consist of both U.S. and non-U.S. nationalities.

Duties of the International Trainers will include:
Train Presidential Guards and National Security Force elements in basic policing and basic instructor courses, as developed by INL
Manage the classroom environment to the extent that a professional educational experience is available to students
Administer exams on classroom instruction to document student performance
Keep records regarding classroom activities including names of students, attendance and grades, and report theses activities to the INL Director Jerusalem
Any other duties deemed necessary by either the Deputy Program Manager of INL Director Jerusalem


Qualifications:
Required:
Five years law enforcement experience with training background, or proven experience as a law enforcement trainer/instructor in an academic environment; training background experience will include actual podium experience, preferably in police training academies or an educational setting (college/university level); trainers will have instructor certification from a recognized academy, college, or university, preferably as a police instructor, with at least two years as a Certified Instructor
Demonstrated ability to work in difficult and possibly dangerous environments
Management and strategic planning skills
Tactical Experience, with particular attention given to crowd control, high risk arrest, human rights, and all skills named in the Statement of Work
Ability to possess U.S. or acceptable Foreign Passport
Medically cleared for service

All requirements are explicit and cannot be substituted.

Storm Track Infiltration: Crime in Australia Takes on a Muslim Face

More and more, crime in Australia is taking on a Middle Eastern face. Tim Priest, a former police detective from New South Wales Australia, describes the combination of willful political negligence which is leading to police inaction where cops in Australia, like in France, won’t even go into Middle-Eastern and North African neighborhoods.

This from the MacKenzie Institute, founded in 1986 in Toronto, an independent non-profit organization concerned with issues related to political instability and organized violence. This includes such matters as terrorism, political extremism, warfare and organized crime. Hat tip to Louis.

Read the rest at The Gathering Storm.

Shahid The Gay Jihadi

Last night (on Christmas, for God's sake) an effeminate Jihadi named Shahid 72 stopped by and left the following comment:

This is a total disgrace!! Do I need to remind you what happened the last time you infidels defaced the prophet Mohammed? May the wrath of Allah shower upon you true justice!

Which only goes to prove that even gay Jihadis have no sense of humor.

Well, all's well that ends well, because Shahid's (Shahid means martyr) name predicts his death, so we know we won't have to put up with his homo ass for much longer.

Until Shahid does blow himself up, I would suggest everyone avoid crowded men's restrooms.

Mohammed Claus

My friends and I (all of us Christians) have kidnapped Mohammed for Christmas and forced him to act as Santa Claus.

Future War: The End Of Privacy

NSA Gets Real Time Access to Your Email.

It was inevitable: the Advanced Research Projects Agency, later to become DARPA, right out of the Pentagon, created the internet. The RAND Corporation invented modern packet switching. DARPA and ARPANET recruited Vint Cerf of Stanford University to work on TCP/IP. Cerf is regarded as "the father of the Internet," or maybe that should be the military-NSA snoop network.

Now we learn NSA increasingly controls SSL, now called Transport Layer Security, the cryptographic protocol that provides secure communications on the internet for web browsing, e-mail, instant messaging, and other data transfers.

In other words, increasingly, the NSA is reading your email and everything you type in your IM client — and in real time, that is to say there is no delay in the timeliness of the information, the underwear drawer snoopers have the ability to read your IMs as you type them.

"Certain privacy/full session SSL email hosting services have been purchased/changed operational control by NSA and affiliates within the past few months, through private intermediary entities," notes Cryptome.

Hushmail: now fully owned by private entity NSA affiliate; has had informal
relationship with NSA for a number of years that effectively provided NSA with
real time access to Hushmail's hosting servers.

Safe-mail.net: Israeli-based, ironically privately lauded by
NSA and US military several years ago for its sound implementation of SendMail
with SSL webmail GUI frontend. Now provides mail server info to NSA in real
time.

Guardster.com (SSH/SSL proxy): NSA contractors have "bought"
full access rights to Guardster servers a few days ago. Separate but related:
facilitated port sniffing of hosting servers at Everyones Internet, on NSA
affiliates' behalf, has been ongoing for a number of months now.

Geekspeak aside, what this means is that the NSA is buying up key
technology in an effort to snoop you even more closely. If this trend continues,
we may as well call the internet the NSAnet.

Moreover, according to Cryptome's research, if you own "security" software produced by Zone Alarm, Symantec, and MacAfee, you are in essence throwing out a welcome mat for the NSA and its bevy of underwear drawer sniffing goons. "All facilitate Microsoft's NSA-controlled remote admin access via IP/TCP ports 1024 through 1030," and without a "security flag," that it to say you will be none the wiser.

It won't be long now before Winston Smith's telescreen is barking orders.

One of the problems I see here is that with all these U.S.-government-based corporations controlling the rights to various snooping software the United Nations will have a very good case for taking over the Internet, as they have been attempting to do.

Then, you can really kiss your freedom goodbye.

The Christmas Story

From the Book of Luke

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. And everyone went to his own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Merry Christmas Everyone - From Our House To Yours!!

Iran and Nicaragua...quick get Swayze and Sheen for a sequel

Once again, Ortega's impossible dislike, conjoined now with Chavez's true sickness remind us that while we focus properly on the dangers of salafist and khomeinist murderers, there are murderer's whelps around.

Four consecutive American administrations have designated the Islamic theocracy a State Sponsor of Terrorism since 1984 for ordering Hezbollah and Iranian intelligence operatives, sometimes posing as diplomats, to conduct bombings, assassinations and kidnappings worldwide.

Iran making push into Nicaragua

Web Posted: 12/18/2007 10:25 PM CST

Todd Bensman
Express-News MONKEY POINT, Nicaragua — The second military helicopter in as many days hovered over the jungle and then landed to a most unwelcome reception from several dozen angry Rama Indian and Creole villagers.

Rupert Allen Clear Duncan, a leader of some 400 Creole who live along the shoreline, confronted the foreigners dressed in suits and military uniforms that day in March and demanded to know the purpose of their aerial trespasses.

"This is our land; we have always lived here, and you don't have our permission to be here," Duncan spat, when refused the courtesy of an explanation.

Not until Duncan threatened to have his machete-waving followers damage the aircraft did they learn that some of the men were from the Islamic Republic of Iran and had come promising to establish a Central American foothold in the middle of their territory.

As part of a new partnership with Nicaragua's Sandinista President Daniel Ortega, Iran and its Venezuelan allies plan to help finance a $350 million deep-water port at Monkey Point on the wild Caribbean shore, and then plow a connecting "dry canal" corridor of pipelines, rails and highways across the country to the populous Pacific Ocean. Iran recently established an embassy in Nicaragua's capital.

The real problem here is not juts this, but the greater than 30 members of the Iranian embassy and consulate staff, completely out of line with the sizes of both nations. What do Misters, Brill, Van Diepen, and Fingar have to say

about this?

The following are STILLL wanted for murder in Argentina:

1. Ali Akbar Rafsanjani , Iranian president, widely heralded as a pragmatic moderate.
   

2. Ali Fallahijan , Minister of Intelligence and Security.
3. Ali Akbar Velayati , Foreign Minister.
4. Mohsen Rezai , commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
5. Ahmad Vahidi , commander of the Qods Force.
6. Mohsen Rabbani , in 1994 Iranian cultural attaché in Buenos Aires.
7. Ahmad Reza Asghari , (also known as Mohsen Randjbaran ), third secretary of the Iranian embassy in Buenos Aires .
8. Imad Moughnieh , head of Hezbollah's External Security Service in 1994, a position he holds to this day, as well as serving as Hassan Nasrallah's military deputy.

Santa has gifts for Jihadis today too !

The presents are about the size of a quart of milk, and arrive quickly

A Frightening Question: When Are We Going To Stop Fucking Around?

The Islamofascists may have us backed into a corner even though we have not yet begun to fight them. But, that is not the half of it. At Up Pompeii, commenter DP111 asks a question which may cause your hair to fall out:


... let us look at the nature of the threat. The existential threat hanging over us is not the terrorist one but the demographic one. All Muslims have to do now is to let time takes its course. How do we counter this threat, while all Muslims have to do is to be liberal, democratic, tolerant etc, and wait till the numbers alone dictate the implementation of shari’a in Western countries. How do we fight now when the only option left is to be undemocratic and illiberal.

Muslims are persecuting Bethlehem's Christians

Click picture to view larger size

A store owner in a West Bank city says ''We are harassed, but you wouldn't know the truth. No one says anything publicly about the Muslims''. (Click here for article; related links)

Lawyerized war

While I'm personally not an expert on law, I can say that there is what to learn about why lawyerizing war is very ill-advised (Hat tip: Patterico's Pontifications and Instapundit):

This week the IDF distributed ribbons to its soldiers and officers for their service in the war with Hizbullah in 2006. The ribbons were a source of embarrassment. Soldiers and officers, who like the general public view the war as Israel’s greatest military defeat, are loath to pin them on their uniforms.

While the soldiers and general public view the war as a failure, one sector of Israeli society sees the war as a great triumph. For Israel’s legal establishment, the war was a great victory. It was a war in which its members asserted their dominance over Israel’s political and military leadership.

The legal establishment’s ardor for the Second Lebanon War was exposed on Tuesday with the publication of the testimonies of Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz and Military Advocate-General Avichai Mandelblit before the Winograd Committee which the Olmert government established to research the war’s failures. In their testimonies both men shared their perception of the war as a great victory of lawyers in their campaign to “lawyerize” - or assert their control - over Israeli society.

In his opening statement, Mazuz extolled the war as “the most ‘lawyerly’ in the history of the State of Israel, and perhaps ever.” He explained, “The process didn’t begin in Lebanon 2006. It… is a gradual process of ‘lawyerizing’ life in Israel.”

Mazuz responded negatively to the question of whether legal considerations superseded operational and strategic goals during the war. He claimed that the government and the IDF restricted their plans from the beginning to conform with perceived legal restrictions.

As he put it, that preemptive limitation of goals was “the result of a sort of education and internalization that have taken place over the years. I remember periods where there was a great deal of friction with the senior military level regarding what is allowed and what is prohibited. But today I think that there is more or less an understanding of the rules of the game and I can’t identify any confrontation... or ... demands to ‘Let the IDF win.’”

Mandelblit and Mazuz testified that legal advisers were present at all levels of command in all the relevant service arms and in the security cabinet. At each level the lawyers were asked to judge the legality of all the proposed targets and planned operations before they were carried out. And as the two explained, in their decisions, these lawyers were informed not by the goal of winning the war, but by their interpretation of international law.

From both men’s perspectives, international law takes precedence over the national interests in wartime war. Mazuz argued, “Today international law controls our lives, no less … than domestic law. In all spheres - not just in the sphere of the laws of war… the sovereignty of states is diminishing and international law is becoming the tip of the pyramid of norms. It is becoming a substitute for the constitutions of states.”

A perfect lesson why legal issues cannot be allowed to dictate the outcome of battle. And Mazuz should be ashamed of himself if he's upholding the whole notion.

Barney Frank's Mistake

STOP THE PRESSES! POLITICIAN ADMITS MISTAKE!


According to this December 22, 2007 item in the "Religion" section of the Washington Post, Barney Frank regrets two of the votes he recently cast:

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) says he was wrong to vote different ways on House resolutions recognizing Christmas and Ramadan.

Instead of voting for the Muslim holiday and abstaining on the Christian one, Representative Frank says he should have abstained on Ramadan as well....

In my experience, politicians don't make such admissions unless constituents have applied some pressure. Of course, it is possible that Representative Frank realized all on his own that his differing votes evidenced a double standard.

Why do I have doubts about his revised view, just in time for Christmas? I've become highly skeptical about the integrity of all politicians — the result of my observing politicians' ambivalence and their lack of integrity as they jockey for power and votes.

Peace to all, and may your hopes be matched by your families' today and tomorrow

CLICK IMAGE FOR FULL RES (1280 x 1600)

Winds of War: New Counter-Terrorist Magazine to Launch

Security Solutions International (SSI) hopes to launch a new counter-terrorist magazine in the Spring 2008 called the Counter-Terrorist. And they should know what they’re doing since SSI itself was established with the help of experienced Israeli elite counter-terrorism committed to providing state-of-the-art training to organizations throughout the world to combat terrorism.

Read the rest at The Gathering Storm.

Today's "Islamophobic" Moment

Mark Steyn faces a Canadian Kangaroo Court for writing an article published by Maclean's Magazine titled "The Future Belongs to Islam." I have to wonder why the Canadian Islamic Congress is upset by this since it is clearly their goal. Maybe, they're upset at Steyn letting the cat out of the bag. The full article is here:

The Muslim world has youth, numbers and global ambitions. The West is growing old and enfeebled, and lacks the will to rebuff those who would supplant it. It's the end of the world as we've known it. An excerpt from 'America Alone'.

In June 2006, a 54-year-old Flemish train conductor called Guido Demoor got on the Number 23 bus in Antwerp to go to work. Six -- what's that word again? --"youths" boarded the bus and commenced intimidating the other riders. There were some 40 passengers aboard. But the "youths" were youthful and the other passengers less so. Nonetheless, Mr. Demoor asked the lads to cut it out and so they turned on him, thumping and kicking him. Of those 40 other passengers, none intervened to help the man under attack. Instead, at the next stop, 30 of the 40 scrammed, leaving Mr. Demoor to be beaten to death. Three "youths" were arrested, and proved to be -- quelle surprise! -- of Moroccan origin. The ringleader escaped and, despite police assurances of complete confidentiality, of those 40 passengers only four came forward to speak to investigators. "You see what happens if you intervene," a fellow rail worker told the Belgian newspaper De Morgen. "If Guido had not opened his mouth he would still be alive."

No, he wouldn't. He would be as dead as those 40 passengers are, as the Belgian state is, keeping his head down, trying not to make eye contact, cowering behind his newspaper in the corner seat and hoping just to be left alone. What future in "their" country do Mr. Demoor's two children have? My mother and grandparents came from Sint-Niklaas, a town I remember well from many childhood visits. When we stayed with great-aunts and other relatives, the upstairs floors of the row houses had no bathrooms, just chamber pots. My sister and I were left to mooch around cobbled streets with our little cousin for hours on end, wandering aimlessly past smoke-wreathed bars and cafes, occasionally buying frites with mayonnaise. With hindsight it seemed as parochially Flemish as could be imagined. Not anymore. The week before Mr. Demoor was murdered in plain sight, bus drivers in Sint-Niklaas walked off the job to protest the thuggery of the -- here it comes again -- "youths." In little more than a generation, a town has been transformed.

"We're the ones who will change you," the Norwegian imam Mullah Krekar told the Oslo newspaper Dagbladet in 2006. "Just look at the development within Europe, where the number of Muslims is expanding like mosquitoes. Every Western woman in the EU is producing an average of 1.4 children. Every Muslim woman in the same countries is producing 3.5 children." As he summed it up: "Our way of thinking [!?] will prove more powerful than yours."

Meanwhile, the brave Brigitte Gabriel has a new video calling for Americans to wake from their coma:




Visit Gabriel's websites here and here.

Hat tip: Ronbo

Crossposted at The Dougout