A New Movie: "The Messenger of Peace"

Given the title, what kind of movie do you think it's going to be? Here's an excerpt from an article on Fox News:

If film producer Oscar Zoghbi has his way, Americans will be soon be flocking to movie theaters to see a film about the Prophet Muhammad and his followers that Zoghbi hopes will clear up misconceptions about Muslims, including what he says is "the understanding that all Muslims are terrorists."

Nonie Darwish, the author of the upcoming book "Cruel and Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Sharia Law," said the film will likely try too hard not to offend.

"The movie will probably avoid or justify Muhammad's violent and unprovoked battling years in Medina, where assassination and mass murder were done by Muhammad … in order to spread the religion, take control and silence his critics," Darwish said.

"We will probably see the image of Muhammad that most Muslims were spoon-fed in their religious education."

Robert Spencer, director of JihadWatch.com, said Western audiences looking to learn more about a religion tangled in stereotypes of suicide bombers will be disappointed by "The Messenger of Peace."

"They're already taking a stand on a controversial issue with the title alone, denying and downplaying the manifest fact that numerous Muslims around the world have justified acts of violence by invoking Muhammad's words and example," Spencer said.

But Zoghbi says his film will very deliberately take a moderate approach.

"We are trying to depict the values and teachings of the Prophet. It's not a historical film in any way," he said.

"And it's not a Muslim propaganda film. This film is also for Muslims, and I hope it will encourage them to condemn violence."

One thing Zoghbi hopes to avoid is the violence and outrage in the Muslim world that has followed some recent depictions of the prophet Muhammad.

Islamic conventions forbid the showing of Muhammad in any form, and violence has often followed the release of newspaper cartoons, books and films that criticized or simply depicted the Muslim prophet.

In 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten ran a cartoon depicting Muhammad wearing a turban with a bomb in it, sparking riots that killed more than 30 people throughout the Islamic world. This year, protests began on news of "Fitna," a film critical of Islam, and Random House cancelled distribution of the widely anticipated book "Jewel of Medina" out of fear of such a reaction.

Zoghbi said that he will make every effort to ensure that "The Messenger of Peace" is in line with Islamic traditions.

"Islam itself doesn't stop you from showing the Prophet," Zoghbi said. "But it is convention and tradition, and we will abide by that. We do not want to offend anyone."

The film will also follow tradition by not portraying various close companions of Muhammad in human form. And the Dubai-based Dar Al Sharia Legal and Financial Consultancy, a branch of the Dubai Islamic Bank, has been hired to make sure the film is in keeping with Islamic standards.

"The Messenger of Peace" has a $130 million budget and is being funded by individual investors located throughout the Middle East — especially in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. Zoghbi said that a list of investors is expected to be released next month, unless those involved object.

Zoghbi says he hopes his new film will bring people together.

"Nothing has been done on this for 30 years, and I decided it was time to build some bridges."

Bring people together. Build some bridges. What does that even mean? "Hey, you kafirs, let's all just sit down and figure out how you can be happy with us taking over the world. Now, what is it you don't like about paying the jizya?"

Saudi Religious Police Man Kills Daughter For Converting To Christianity

In Islam, this is a dog bites man story, and so it should be no story at all. But, because Western Civilization has so much invested in denying the absolute evil of Islamofascism, we here at IBA have to run stories like this.

From ANSAmed:

(ANSAmed) - DUBAI, AUGUST 13 - A Saudi man, member of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, has killed his daughter for converting to Christianity, the Gulf News daily reported, without providing details on the identity of the main characters in the case. Sources close to the victim said that the man had cut the tongue of his daughter and set her on fire following a heated debate on religion, the newspaper published in Dubai writes. 

The brother of the victim found in the woman's computer some articles on Christianity she had written on various blogs and regional websites under a nickname and the symbol of the cross. That discovery made her family life unbearable, the woman wrote on the 'Al Ukdoud' website a few days before her death. According to a testimony of a friend of the victim reported by the 'Free Copts' website, the father is arrested by the police and investigation has started against him for an "honour crime".

 The honour crimes, perpetrated by a male member of the family against a woman of the same clan to "wipe out the shame of the dishonour" from her indecorous behaviour, are generally punished with mild sentences ranging between six months and three years in jail. (ANSAmed).

2008-08-13 12:41

Interfaith Dialogue With Satan

After all, you've got to keep the lines of communication open with your enemies, right?

From MIM:

Beverly Hills synagouge to do interfaith with 9/11 hijacker mosque and Al Qaeda spokesman mentor

November 16, 2008

Temple Emanuel will be having an interfaith event tomorrow with the King Fahd mosque which was attended by two of the 9/11 hijackers and Muzammil Siddiqi former president of ICNA an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation Hamas Founding trial. The evening is also sponsored by the Muslim Public Affairs Committee.  According to Discover The Networks"A few hours after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, MPAC Co-Founder Salam Al-Marayati told a Los Angeles talk radio audience: "If we're going to look at suspects, we should look at the groups that benefit the most from these kinds of incidents, and I think we should put the state of Israel on the suspect list because I think this diverts attention from what's happening in the Palestinian territories so that they can go on with their aggression and occupation and apartheid policies."  see complete post

Islamist Assault on India II

Umar Lee on the Mumbai attacks:

we still do not have all of the information, I do not see this event, as of yet, as being akin to 7-7, 9-11, or the Madrid train bombings which were all senseless in the sense that they were meant to kill as many people as possible and had no way of distinguishing who would die. This event targeted specific people and places. Government and intelligence officials were picked out to be assassinated who had committed crimes themselves against Muslims.

Of course. Though, I do wonder:

• What "crimes against Muslims" were committed by those who were shot down in the railway station?
• What "crimes against Muslims" were committed by the guests in the hotels?
• What "crimes against Muslims" were committed by those who died in the Jewish Center?
• What "crimes against Muslims" were committed by the four Australians, three Americans, three Canadians, three Germans, two Israelis, two Israeli-Americans, two Britons, two French, one Chinese, one Italian, one Japanese, one Jordanian, one Malaysian, one Mauritian, one Mexican, one Singaporean, one Spaniard and one Thai?

More from the moral degenerate:

This was a disciplined and relatively bloodless affair compared to what could have been so the international outrage seems a little out of order.

Jihad: The War Against Civilization

From Melanie Phillips at the Spectator:

The atrocities in Mumbai have left reporters and commentators floundering for explanations. Why India? Was this a local terrorist group or al Qaeda? Why single out Americans and Brits if they also targeted Indians in the railway station? Why attack some obscure Jewish organisation? And so on. They are floundering because they still just don’t get it. The atrocities demonstrated with crystal clarity what the Islamist war is all about – and the western commentariat didn’t understand because it simply refuses to acknowledge, even now, what that war actually is. It does not arise from particular grievances. It is not rooted in ‘despair’ over Palestine. It is not a reaction to the war in Iraq. It is a war waged in the name of Islam against America, Britain, Hindus, Jews and all who refuse to submit to Islamic conquest. The Mumbai atrocities told us very clearly a number of things.

The Islamists want to murder as many Americans, Brits, Hindus and Jews as possible. That is because they are waging all-out war against civilisation.

They singled out Americans, Brits and Indians in the financial heart of India to break the ever-more important strategic alliance between India and the west.

• They went to some lengths in addition to single out a centre for observant Jews. Rabbi Holtzberg and his wife Rivka were murdered not because of Palestine but simply because they were Jews. That is because hatred of Jews as Jews is fundamental to the Islamists’ hatred of the west – and of Israel.


• The Islamists showed a degree of organisation and co-ordination which are more akin to commando raids by an army than acts of terrorism.


• They have the capacity not merely to commit mass murder but to cause mortal damage to a country’s economy.


• If they can do this in Mumbai, they can do it in London or other British cities; the infrastructure of Islamist terror is more extensively developed in Britain, and the authorities more paralysed in the face of what they have allowed to grow in their midst, than anywhere else in the west.
• 
  

And yet still the west is scratching its head...

Why the Chabad? Great Indian Sufi Sirhindi "Whenever a Jew is killed, it is for the benefit of Islam"

The really great Naqshbandi website says this about "Shaykh Ahmad al-Faruqi as-Sirhindi"

He was the Pearl of the Crown of the Knowledgeable Saints. He was the Treasure of Those who Came Before and of Those who Came After. In him were combined all their favors and generosity. He was the Sinai of Divine Manifestation, the Furthermost Lote Tree of the Unique Knowledge, and the Fountain of the Hidden Prophetic Knowledge. He was the Genius of Scholars and he was the Sultan of the Earth, which smiled when he was born and was honored by his existence. He was the perfect Perfected Guide. He was the Caller to Allah's presence, the One Qutb and the Unique Heavenly Imam. He was the Reviver of the Second Millennium, Sayyidina wa Mawlana (our Leader and Master) ash-Shaikh Ahmad al-Faruqi as-Sirhindi, ibn ash-Shaikh ^cAbdul Ahad son of Zainu-l-^cAbidin son of ^cAbdulhayy, son of Muhammad son of Habibullah, son of Rafi^cuddin, son of Nur, son of Sulayman, son of Yusuf, son of ^cAbdullah, son of Ishaq, son of ^cAbdullah, son of Shu^cayb, son of Aad, son of Yusuf, son of Shihabuddin, known as Farq Shah al-Qabidi, son of Nairuddin, son of Mahmud, son of Sulayman, son of Mas^cud, son of ^cAbdullah al-Wa^ci al-Asghari, son of ^cAbdullah al-Wa^ci al-Akbar, son of Abdu-l-Fattah, son of Ishaq, son of Ibrahim, son of Nair, son of Sayyidina ^cAbdullah (r), the son of Amir al-Mu'minin, the khalif of the Prophet , Sayyidina ^cUmar al-Faruq (r).

Today the Naqshbandi Sufis, in the person of Hisham Qabbani warned us in the 90's about the salafi freaks of Al Qaeda, but never the less we should all be aware of how great men in Islam saw the relationship of muslims to kufrs.

"Whenever a Jew is killed, it is for the benefit of Islam"

Sirhindi's views on the rest of the kufrs, not jewish was scarcely more beneficial.
He said of himself:

Allah unveiled to me the Secrets of the Unique Oneness and He poured into my heart all kinds of Spiritual Knowledge and its refinement. He unveiled to me the Secrets of the ayats of Qur'an so that I found beneath every letter of the Qur'an an ocean of knowledge all pointing to the High Essence of Allah Almighty and Exalted.
.....
"The honour of Islam lies in insulting kufr [unbelief] and kafirs [non-Muslims]. One who respects the kafirs dishonours the Muslims ... The real purpose of levying jiziya on them is to humiliate them to such an extent that they may not be able to dress well and to live in grandeur. They should constantly remain terrified and trembling. It is intended to hold them under contempt and to uphold the honour and might of Islam. ( letter No. 163 of MaktiibCtt-i-Imdm Rabban)

I do not claim to know how muslims who are revolted by all this we see in the world before us will rectify the demands of the Quran and the great scholars who tell them what the Quran means, with the little moral compass alarm going off inside them.

I do know that too many do not hear this alarm, do not have this alarm and do not heed this alarm because they have been taught and have accepted that to reach Allah killing the jew and others is for the benefit of Allah.

Thus Sirhindi's comment:

"It must be known that Allah has placed us under His Obligations and His Prohibitions. Allah said, 'Whatever the Prophet gave you, take it, and whatever he prohibited you, leave it.' [59:7] If we are going to be sincere in this, we have to attain to Annihilation and the love of the Essence. Without these we cannot reach this degree of obedience. Thus we are under another obligation, which is to seek the Way of Sufism, because this Way will lead us to the state of Annihilation and the love of the Essence. Each Order differs from the other in its states of perfection; so too does each Order keep the Sunnah of the Prophet and have its own definition of what that entails. Every order has its own way of keeping the Sunnah of the Prophet . Our Order, through its shaikhs, requires us to keep all the commands of the Prophet and to leave all the things he prohibited.

which appears to be a message of peace and love, has at its beating heart the need to harm and kill those who seek a different path, and most especially those who deny THAT path.
To love god, kill the jew.
To love god, insult the kafir
To love god, humiliate other.
And the authority for this, is the immutable perfect word revealed to man in the Quran?

Are the anchors on CNN, Fox, MSNBC and MSM wondering anything?
Why the Chabad?
Are you kidding?
FARD

Interesting Reminder From Anne Applebaum

From her commentary "Forgotten Lessons of 9/11" in the Washington Post:

...In the coming days, more will surely be learned about the gunmen, some of whom have been captured by the Indian police. Their weapons will be traced, their motives will become clearer, their methods better understood. Their leaders will acquire names, personalities. Still, it is worth underlining, emphasizing and remembering this initial moment of total ignorance: If nothing else, it's a reminder of some things we learned on Sept. 11, 2001.

At that time, al-Qaeda was widely described as something new: Unlike terrorist groups of the past, many noted, it operated not as a single, secretive organization but more like a global franchise. Organizations and individuals with various agendas could go to al-Qaeda for weapons and training. Afterward, they could, in effect, set up their own local branches, whose goals and methods might reflect the original, Saudi-inspired al-Qaeda ideology -- or might not. Some predicted that al-Qaeda would even inspire copycat movements, much as McDonald's inspired Burger King. Groups with no connection to Osama bin Laden -- and no interest in being connected to him -- might imitate some of his methods and tactics. By definition, the members of such groups would be civilians, sometimes living ordinary lives. They would not be combatants in the ordinary sense of the word. They would not wear uniforms, follow rules or organize themselves into anything resembling a traditional army. And they could not, therefore, be fought only with traditional military methods.

Too often over the past seven years, it has been easy to forget this initial analysis....
[...]

Perhaps the Mumbai gunmen will, like some of those in the Afghan Taliban, also turn out to be members of a homegrown, locally based, ad hoc organization with its own eccentric goals and training methods. Or perhaps they will turn out to belong to a definite group with a clear ideology, which would, of course, be easier all around. Surely the point, though, is that we should be well-prepared to deal with either -- and wary of mistaking one for the other....

No mention whatsoever of Islam or of Muslims, of course. No mention of a basic unifying ideology as motivation for Islamic terrorists.

Near the top of page 7 of comments to the article is the following:

dryrunfarm1 wrote:

There seems to be consensus, at least, that the attackers were Muslim.

Now, it is certainly the case that not all terrorists are Muslim. It does seem to be true, however, that only Muslim terrorists operate generally. That is, Basque terrorists aren't of any particular concern to India, and Kurdish terrorists aren't of any concern to Spain, but Muslim terrorists are of concern to all, except Muslim terrorists.

This, we have learned, at least, from 9-11.

In round terms, then, we know who the enemy are: fundamentalist Muslims, which is to say, any Muslim who is not predisposed to read the Koran allegorically.

Make no mistake, taken at its simple meaning, Islam is a violent, bloody, war-mongering religion. This is not to say that all Muslims subscribe to the words of the Koran without nuance, but it is inevitable that some among the devout, seeking their religion in its "purest" form, will read the Koran literally. These are the people who become fundamentalist, and they are the fundamentalists who become terrorists. Add to these the pan-Islamists - those who think of world nations in Islamic/non-Islamic terms - who become terrorists for essentially nationalistic motives, and we have defined the majority of the universe of our enemies.

There is no simple solution, but there is a complicated and controversial one: goad fundamentalist and nationalist Muslims into combat against regular armed forces. For those of you who never thought of it, this is precisely what the Iraq war accomplished: if al Qaeda wasn't in Iraq before the war, the idea of infidel Americans getting a toehold in the heart of Islamic Arabia was guaranteed to bring them there. Maybe this was part of Pres. Bush's plan, and maybe it wasn't, but in either case, this is what happened - and al Qaeda ended up committing untold resources, human, economic and material, to stopping US success in its own back yard. By all accounts, the struggle has cost al Qaeda dearly by all measures.

By all means, the US should do it again - perhaps, this time, in Somalia, on the pretext of combating piracy. The land is fertile for the purpose. It has no, established government to offend (we might offer to help create one), it offers almost unlimited opportunities for the terrorists to group and train, and it is already a haven for just such terrorists as we need to encounter and crush - a haven al Qaeda will surely want to defend, both as a haven, and as a fundamentalist-leaning Islamic nation already.

We will not win such a war, at least not a conventional victory. As long as there is a Koran, and there are Muslims who may incline to read it literally, there will be Muslim terrorists for us to fight. We can, however, make sustaining the hostilities against us very costly for the terrorists, and we can do much to keep their focus on regular troops trained to combat them, rather than leave the door open for terrorist attacks on civilian populations.

We should do this, and we should do it, now.
11/29/2008 9:01:36 AM

I haven't read all the comments to Applebaum's commentary. But most comments I've read there are not nearly as cogent and reasoned as that of Dry Run Farm 1. In other words, a sort of microcosm of the task we face as a civilization - naming the enemy and having a plan to defeat that enemy. In that respect, the West is still at the 9/10 stage.

India's 9/11: Muslim Terrorist's Plan Was to Kill 5,000

If you try to kill a person and don't succeed, it does not mean you're not a murderer. It only means you are not very good at what you're trying to do. You meant to murder in your heart, so you are a murderer.

If you plan to kill 5,000 people, because they don't ascribe to the same belief system as yours, that is not a simple murder.

IT IS AN ACT OF WAR!

The Muslims who attacked us on 9/11 meant to kill the 100,000 people who worked in the WTC towers everyday. 

Now, India has had it's 9/11. Let's hope to God that in response they are NOT the pussies we have been.

From the Daily Mail:

The only terrorist captured alive after the Mumbai massacre has given police the first full account of the extraordinary events that led to it – revealing he was ordered to ‘kill until the last breath’.

Azam Amir Kasab, 21, from Pakistan, said the attacks were meticulously planned six months ago and were intended to kill 5,000 people.

He revealed that the ten terrorists, who were highly trained in marine assault and crept into the city by boat, had planned to blow up the Taj Mahal Palace hotel after first executing British and American tourists and then taking hostages.

Mercifully, the group, armed with plastic explosives, underestimated the strength of the
105-year-old building’s solid foundations.

As it is, their deadly attacks have left close to 200 confirmed dead, with the toll expected to rise to nearly 300 once the hotel has been fully searched by security forces.

It's War, Declares Indian Press

Mumbai attacks: 300 feared dead as full horror of the terrorist attacks emerges

Piles of bodies were found yesterday ...

... after commandos stormed the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, the last of three buildings that terrorists had occupied in the city. Three terrorists were killed in the battle.

The Sunday Telegraph was given the details of a secret interrogation report based on an interview with the surviving terrorist. The 19-year-old suspect, who lived near the Pakistani city of Multan, is said to have joined Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the Islamist fundamentalist group, a year ago. He is alleged to have confessed that he received weapons instruction at a training camp in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The plot is said to have been planned from there. A group then made a reconnaissance of Bombay earlier this year.

India believes a Pakistani merchant ship was used to transport some, or all, of the terrorists before they seized control of a fishing trawler to reach Mumbai (Bombay). The final leg of their journey was completed in inflatable boats.

India Seizes Two Pakistani Ships Believed To Have Been Involved In Attacks

Armed Police Would Not Fire Back

The gunmen were terrifyingly professional, making sure at least one of them was able to fire their rifle while the other reloaded. By the time he managed to capture the killer on camera, Mr D'Souza had already seen two gunmen calmly stroll across the station concourse shooting both civilians and policemen, many of whom, he said, were armed but did not fire back. "I first saw the gunmen outside the station," Mr D'Souza said. "With their rucksacks and Western clothes they looked like backpackers, not terrorists, but they were very heavily armed and clearly knew how to use their rifles.

"Towards the station entrance, there are a number of bookshops and one of the bookstore owners was trying to close his shop," he recalled. "The gunmen opened fire and the shopkeeper fell down."

But what angered Mr D'Souza almost as much were the masses of armed police hiding in the area who simply refused to shoot back. "There were armed policemen hiding all around the station but none of them did anything," he said. "At one point, I ran up to them and told them to use their weapons. I said, 'Shoot them, they're sitting ducks!' but they just didn't shoot back."

And, thanks to Damien for sending this:

As it turns out,Bollywood_Stars_Want_Their_Country_To_Win, unlike so many Hollywood Stars, who just blame there country. Their movie stars want them to take out the Jihadists. 

Here's the source article from theCalcutta_NewsNet. 

And finally, 

HERE'S HOW MUSLIMS THINK ABOUT INDIA.

Islamist Assault on India

A reader of Instapundit writes about the Mumbai attacks:

This was not an Al Qaeda operation. This was planned and conducted by Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence Agency.

Initially I thought that such an attack would be too explicit for the ISI. But really, what does the ISI have to lose? What options does India have for retaliating back at a nuclear-armed, Islamist-infested failure of a nation?

An excellent observation in a long post here:

Things with India are extremely different. Here Pakistan’s enmity with India is historic. As a matter of fact, some may say that the very reason of Pakistan’s existence is a rejection of the fundamental principles behind India—secularism, pluralism and equality for all.

[Emphasis mine.]

Exactly.

An asinine post at Lahore Metblogs:

It’s about that the Indian media stop its propaganda and do some soul searching as to the actual reasons behind these attacks. A good starting point maybe, the state of Muslims in India.

DesiPundit has the appropriate response:

So let me get this straight, the way to improve the state of Muslims in India is to get pleasure in killing innocents, target foreigners, and hold a hospital for women & children hostage for hours. If the educated elite in Pakistan is anything like this moron, then I fear for Pakistan.

Most of them do take pleasure in the death of innocents. Ask Pakistanis about how they felt watching thousands of souls being extinguished on that dark September day in 2001. The response is a sick smile.

Latest information:

As of this writing, there were a reported 151 people killed from 11 different countries - though nearly 100 were Indian. More than 300 injuries have also been reported - those numbers may yet rise as several hostage situations still exist in the city.

There are some graphic images at that site.

Iran furious at peace plan advert bearing its flag - and Star of David

The Islamic Republic shows us just why they call it a "Religion of Peace".

From the Guardian:

Iran has angrily dissociated itself from Arab and Islamic attempts to publicise an offer to make peace with and recognise Israel.

Officials in Tehran are furious that the Iranian flag appeared on a full-page advert, published in the Guardian and other papers in the Arab world and beyond, promoting the Saudi-brokered initiative.

The plan calls for members of the Arab League to recognise Israel, if Israel withdraws to its 1967 borders and agrees a just solution of the Palestinian issue and a comprehensive peace. It has also been endorsed by the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, of which Iran, along with other Muslim countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia, is a member.

But the Iranian embassy in London protests in a letter to the Guardian today that the Islamic Republic objects "to any move taken by some Arab countries to push the recognition of the occupying Zionist regime in any manner, including in Islamic conferences". It describes Israel as "the illegitimate and fabricated regime" and condemns the "abuse" of its flag.

WHY SO SERIOUS?

Gee, I guess I'm going to have to repeat myself. Here goes:

TO ANY OF YOU OUT THERE WHO WOULD LIKE US TO AGREE WITH YOU ON ANY GIVEN ISSUE,

IT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN.

HELL, WE DON'T EVEN AGREE WITH OURSELVES HALF THE TIME.

WE'RE OUT OF OUR FUCKING MINDS.

IBA DIDN'T GET WHERE IT IS BY BEING NICE OR EVEN COHERENT. SO, WE AREN'T GONNA START NOW.

YOU ALL CAN ALL EAT MY ASS, IF YOU THINK WE'RE GOING TO AGREE WITH ANY OF YOU FOR FUN AND PROFIT.

So, fuck you.

And really, if you don't get it, then watch this fucking video, and stop sending me fucking emails.

So Called "Brits" Majority of Mumbai Killers

Some reports are saying out of a total of upto 12 terrorists 7 of them are British born Pakistani's. All the newspapers are calling them "Brits" but millions of rats and cockroaches are born in this country but I wouldn't call them British ...

There are probably hundreds if not thousands of "Pakistani so called Brits" training to wage war on us but still the politicians don't get it. They still say we have to improve community relations, to understand them, to build bridges. Bullshit. It's Islam stoopid. The only thing they will understand is death. It doesn't matter whether it's their own death or the death of an infidel but death is in their mindset and no amount of trying to understand or appease them will suffice.

Draconian, undemocratic measures are needed to deal with vermin like these. Just remember this; there's nothing democratic about singling out Americans, Jews and Brits for execution. These people are less than human and do not qualify for human rights protection.

Maybe one of the first things that could be done would be to ban all travel to Pakistan from the UK and to refuse entry to the UK to all those who have included Pakistan in their itinery. No decent person should have any need to go to Pakistan, they produce nothing but terror. No, it won't happen but I can dream can't I?

Cross Posted With Commonsense

Roggio's Mumbai Analysis

At The Long War Journal, Bill Roggio analyzes Mumbai. And concludes it's very different from what we've seen in the past.

The Long War Journal: Analysis: Mumbai attack differs from past terror strikes

Almost two days after terrorists attacked the Indian financial hub of Mumbai, the military is still working to root out the remnants of the assault teams at two hotels and a Jewish center. More than 125 people, including six foreigners, have been killed and 327 more have been wounded. The number is expected to go up, as Indian commandos have recovered an additional 30 dead at the Taj Mahal hotel as fighting has resumed.
The Mumbai attack is unique from past terror strikes carried out by Islamic terrorists. Instead of one or more bombings at distinct sites, the Mumbai attackers struck throughout the city using military tactics. Instead of one or more bombings carried out over a short period of time, Mumbai I entering its third day of crisis.
An attack of this nature cannot be thrown together overnight. It requires planned, scouting, financing, training, and a support network to aid the fighters. Initial reports indicate the attacks originated from Pakistan, the hub of jihadi activity in South Asia. Few local terror groups have the capacity to pull of an attack such as this.
While it is early to know exactly what happened in Mumbai as the fog of war still blankets the city, multiple press reports from India allow for a general picture to be painted. An estimated 12 to 25 terrorists are believed to have entered Mumbai by sea. After landing, he attack teams initiated a battle at a police station, then fanned across the city to attack the soft underbelly of hotels, cafes, cinemas, and hospitals. Civilians were gunned down and taken hostage, while terrorists looked for people carrying foreign passports.
Preparation
While the exact size of the assault force and the support cells is still not known, police estimate about 25 gunmen were involved in the attack. The number of members of the supporting cells that provide financing, training, transportation, and other services could be two to four times this number. Operational security for such a large unit, or grouping of cells, is difficult to maintain and requires organization and discipline.
To pull off an attack of this magnitude, it requires months of training, planning, and on-site reconnaissance. Indian officials have stated that the terrorists set up "advance control rooms" at the Taj Mahal and Trident (Oberoi) hotels, and conducted a significant amount of reconnaissance prior to executing the attack. If the news about the "control rooms" is accurate, these rooms may also have served as weapons and ammunition caches for the assault teams to replenish after conducting the first half of the operation.


the rest at: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/11/analysis_mumbai_atta.php

The Wages Of American Imperialism

War for Oil, huh? America is an imperialist nation, huh?

I don't suppose we'll be hearing any apologies from dhimwits who said such things.

From AFP:

Iraq says 80 dollars a 'reasonable' price for oil

Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani said on Friday that 80 dollars a barrel is a "reasonable" price for oil and that his country would support any OPEC decision to cut output.

"A reasonable price for oil is 80 dollars a barrel," said Shahristani on arrival in Cairo to attend a consultative meeting by the OPEC cartel to study slumping crude prices.

"We have to make sure that produced oil is used for consumption and not for storing.

"Iraq would support a decision by OPEC to cut output either here or in Algeria," the Iraqi minister added.

Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries ministers are to meet in Cairo on Saturday amid pressure for production cuts to stem heavy oil price losses, which continued to mount on Friday.

Most cartel members appeared to rule out an immediate reduction, preferring instead to wait until the next scheduled meeting in Oran, Algeria on December 17.

So, you see, Iraq, the nation where we, apparently, have been imperialist aggressors, is one of the few members of OPEC who are pushing for an immediate cut in our oil supply.

I guess exploiting the resources of another nation doesn't work quite the way it used to in the old days.

Mumbai photos

First saw this at LGF. Boston.com has about 35 good photos from Mumbai. Some are very disturbing but must be clicked first to be seen so you can safely skip if no constitution for it. To see pure evil and good people desperately trying to fight it: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/11/mumbai_under_attack.html

MAJOR SIGN THE ECONOMY IS READY TO REBOUND - BIGTIME: NON-STOP DITECH MORTGAGE COMMERICALS!

One of my repeating themes of late here at IBA has been that, longterm, it is not a good idea to bet against the American economy. 

Why? 

America is a country founded on an idea, that all men are created equal, and have the same unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

This pretty much means we can do whatever the fuck we want as long as we don't interfere with other's property.

So, we are a nation founded on that idea, and built on the ideas that proceed from that one central idea. That central idea means we are endlessly creative, and it is the endless creativity which builds America.

And, it is our endless creativity which will keep growing money. Money grows out of ideas. Commodities are fixed ( except insofar as there are flucturations in supply). The price of a commodity only grows as other ideas grow the economy.

An economy based upon commodities is a fixed, or stuck economy.

An economy based on ideas is a growing economy.

Reliapundit posted this short piece about the oncoming recovery of our economy. Note that the Ditech commercial makes the same point. And note that, as Reliapundit points out, this is why Ditech will be placing their bets on the recovery of the American economy.

HERE WE GO AGAIN!

DITECH IS AT IT AGAIN!

Muslim Pirates Against America

Michael Savage, a member of the top twelve Islamophobes, gives us a little history lesson:



Sponsored by Morocco and the city-states of Tunis, Algiers and Tripoli, the pirates preyed on civilian vessels, plundering their cargoes and kidnapping their crews. "It was written in the Koran...that it was their [the pirates'] right and duty to make war upon whoever they could find and to make Slaves of all they could take as prisoners," the emissary of Tripoli's pasha told a startled John Adams and Thomas Jefferson in London in 1785. The emissary demanded $1 million from the United States — one-tenth of the national budget — to suspend the assaults or face losing the valuable Mediterranean trade, representing one-fifth of all American exports.

Read more: How To Deal With Pirates and Pirates Exploit Confusion About International Law.

Savaging Ourselves

How in the world will we ever come together to solve our own internal problems, let alone external forces, when we can treat each ther like this? A man trampled and dieing WHILE SHOPPERS CONTINUED TO RUSH IN. For what? To save a few bucks?

I have also seen alternate reports where the 28 yr old woman miscarried or the baby was fine.

I was an Assistant Manager at a small retail store duirng the worst of the Cabbage Patch Baby craze. Shoppers knew when we got shipments and would wait at the door hours before opening. We got rushed, once, and they brought the glass door down.

After that the manager and I would go to those doors just before opening carrying baseball bats. Never had another problem.

This is way worse than that ever was. Priorities in this country are seriously fucked up.

from WABC:

Worker dies in Black Friday store rush
Friday, November 28, 2008 2:54 PM
Eyewitness News
VALLEY STREAM (WABC) -- A Wal-Mart employee died and four others were hurt in the Black Friday rush to get into the Valley Stream store this morning.

The injuries occurred as the shoppers crammed into the Wal-Mart when the doors opened at 5 a.m. Some 2,000 shoppers were waiting to get inside the store for Black Friday sales. Police said the shoppers knocked the man to the ground at 5:03 a.m., three minutes after the store opened.

Kimberly Cribbs, who witnessed the stampede, said shoppers were acting like "savages.... When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling 'I've been on line since yesterday morning. They kept shopping."

A 34-year-old Wal-Mart employee suffered an apparent heart attack and was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

An autopsy will determine the exact cause of death. His name was not released.

Four others were also hurt in the crush, including a 28-year-old pregnant woman. She was taken to a nearby hospital, where doctors determined her baby was fine.

The store was closed to incoming shoppers following the incident. Those already inside were escorted out with their purchases.

The ensuing emergency activity clogged the Green Acres Mall parking lot. The Wal-Mart remained closed while police investigated.

Nassau County police spokesman Lt. Michael Fleming described the scene as "utter chaos." "This crowd was out of control," he said.

Criminal charges were possible in the case, but Fleming said it would be difficult to identify individual shoppers. Authorities were reviewing surveillance video. The store reopened around 1:00 p.m.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in Bentonville, Ark., called the incident a "tragic situation" and said the employee came from a temporary agency and was doing maintenance work at the store.
"The safety and security of our customers and associates is our top priority," said Wal-Mart representative Dan Fogleman. "Our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families at this difficult time. At this point, facts are still being assembled and we are working closely with the Nassau County police as they investigate what occurred."

Somali Pirates Hijack A Chemical Tanker

Is it just me or are Jihadis constantly in the news these days?

I think we know the answer to that.

From AP:

NAIROBI, Kenya – Somali pirates hijacked a chemical tanker with dozens of Indian crew members Friday and a helicopter rescued three British security guards who had jumped into the sea, officials said.

A warship on patrol nearby sent helicopters to intervene in the attack, but they arrived after pirates had taken control of the Liberian-flagged ship, according to Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Malaysia.

The ship master had sent a distress call to the piracy reporting center, which relayed the alert to international forces policing Somali waters, Choong said. No details about how the pirates attacked or the condition of the crew were available immediately.

Choong said the ship was being operated out of Singapore.

Still on board were 25 Indian and two Bangladeshi crew members, said diplomats who could not be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media. The British security guards escaped by jumping into the water, said a news release issued by their company, Anti-PiracyMaritime Security Solutions.

The company said it was aware of the incident on the chemical tanker it identified as M/V BISCAGLIA.

No mention of what kind of chemicals are on board.

Here's a list of ships being held currently by "Pirates".

INDIA SEIZES TWO PAKISTANI SHIPS SUSPECTED OF INVOLVEMENT IN MUMBAI ATTACKS -It's Time To Reject "Plausible Deniability"

From Reliapundit at the Astute Bloggers:

An excuse that has to be rejected. An attack launched from ships on the high seas, with coordinated strikes against several different targets, was not the work of disaffected amateurs.

The operation has every hallmark of a well-planned military operation. *******UPDATE (Relipaundit): 

Officials in India, Europe and the United States said likely culprits included Islamist networks based in Pakistan that have received support in the past from Pakistan's intelligence agencies.

Analysts said this week's attacks surpassed previous plots carried out by domestic groups in terms of complexity, the number of people involved and their success in achieving their primary goal: namely, to spread fear.

"This is a new, horrific milestone in the global jihad," said Bruce Riedel, a former South Asia analyst for the CIA and National Security Council and author of the book "The Search for Al Qaeda." "No indigenous Indian group has this level of capability

Major terrorist operations require the cooperation of nation-states. It is high time to hold them accountable.

Do you remember what Don Corleone told Sollozzo?

"But let me say this. I am a superstitious man, a ridiculous failing but I must confess it here. And so if some unlucky accident should befall my youngest son, if some police officer should accidentally shoot him, if he should hang himself while in his jail cell, if new witnesses appear to testify to his guilt, my superstition will make me feel that it was the result of the ill will still borne me by some people here. Let me go further. If my son is struck by a bolt of lightning I will blame some of the people here. If his plane show fall into the sea or his ship sink beneath the waves of the ocean, if he should catch a mortal fever, if his automobile should be struck by a train, such is my superstition that I would blame the ill will felt by people here."

It's time to get superstitious.

INDIA SEIZES TWO PAKISTANI MERCHANT SHIPS SUSPECTED OF INVOLVEMENT IN MUMBAI ATTACKS

THEY CAME BY SEA: CNN:

Gunmen who arrived by boats launched attacks on at least seven locations in Mumbai, India, on Wednesday night, killing more than 120 people, authorities say.

By Friday morning, authorities believed militants still were in two luxury hotels and a Jewish center in the city.

The following is what is known about the attacks:

• Gunmen arrived by boats at the Mumbai waterfront near the Gateway of India monument on Wednesday night, police said. The gunmen hijacked cars, including a police van, and split into at least three groups to carry out the attacks, according to police.

THE MOTHER SHIPS MAY HAVE BEEN SEIZED: Pakistani ships seized after Mumbai attacks

The Indian navy has seized two Pakistani merchant ships as authorities try to track down those responsible for the Mumbai attacks.

Authorities believe the Mumbai attackers came ashore in a series of small boats, and all the merchant ships that have passed through Mumbai in the past few days have come under particular scrutiny.

According to Indian news agencies, intelligence sources pinpointed one particular cargo vessel that had stopped there briefly before leaving for Karachi and Pakistan.

By luck, Indian navy and coastguard vessels were engaged in routine exercises off the coast of Gujarat and were immediately dispatched to intercept the vessel.

Both it and another Pakistani freighter have now been boarded by Indian forces, but it is not yet clear if they found anything suspicious on board.

• INDIA WILL GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS ATTACK, AND PUNISH ALL THE CONSPIRATORS THEY CAN.

• IT MATTERS NOT WHICH PARTICULAR JIHADIST GROUP THEY BELONG TO. OR IF THEY WERE STATE-SPONSORED.
  

• BECAUSE WE KNOW THE ROOT CAUSE - AND IT'S IDEOLOGICAL:

IT'S THEIR "RELIGION", STUPID.

IF BY RELIGION WE MEAN THE TOTALITARIAN AND MARTIAL IDEOLOGY THEY CALL ISLAM.

LET'S FACE IT FOLKS, ISLAM IS THE COMMON DENOMINATOR.

WE IGNORE THIS AT OUR PERIL.

Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop

The attack by Muslim terrorists in Mumbai has been compared by the Indians as their 9/11. The question is will they respond in kind. Sand if so, what will be the geo-political consequences? 

STRATFOR issued a Red Alert commenting on the possible consequences. 

If the Nov. 26 attacks in Mumbai were carried out by Islamist militants as it appears, the Indian government will have little choice, politically speaking, but to blame them on Pakistan. That will in turn spark a crisis between the two nuclear rivals that will draw the United States into the fray.

We will begin by assuming that the attackers are Islamist militant groups operating in India, possibly with some level of outside support from Pakistan. We can also see quite clearly that this was a carefully planned, well-executed attack.

Given this, the Indian government has two choices.

First, it can simply say that the perpetrators are a domestic group. In that case, it will be held accountable for a failure of enormous proportions in security and law enforcement. It will be charged with being unable to protect the public. On the other hand, it can link the attack to an outside power: Pakistan. In that case it can hold a nation-state responsible for the attack, and can use the crisis atmosphere to strengthen the government’s internal position by invoking nationalism. Politically this is a much preferable outcome for the Indian government, and so it is the most likely course of action. This is not to say that there are no outside powers involved — simply that, regardless of the ground truth, the Indian government will claim there were.

That, in turn, will plunge India and Pakistan into the worst crisis they have had since 2002. If the Pakistanis are understood to be responsible for the attack, then the Indians must hold them responsible, and that means they will have to take action in retaliation — otherwise, the Indian government’s domestic credibility will plunge. The shape of the crisis, then, will consist of demands that the Pakistanis take immediate steps to suppress Islamist radicals across the board, but particularly in Kashmir. New Delhi will demand that this action be immediate and public. This demand will come parallel to U.S. demands for the same actions, and threats by incoming U.S. President Barack Obama to force greater cooperation from Pakistan.

The Red Alert goes on to say that the last time such a bold terror attack on India was in 2002 and it nearly provoked a nuclear exchange between Pakistan and India. 

In 2002 there was an attack on the Indian parliament in New Delhi by Islamist militants linked to Pakistan. A near-nuclear confrontation took place between India and Pakistan, in which the United States brokered a stand-down in return for intensified Pakistani pressure on the Islamists. 

In the current iteration, the demands will be even more intense. The Indians and Americans will have a joint interest in forcing the Pakistani government to act decisively and immediately. The Pakistani government has warned that such pressure could destabilize Pakistan. The Indians will not be in a position to moderate their position, and the Americans will see the situation as an opportunity to extract major concessions. Thus the crisis will directly intersect U.S. and NATO operations in Afghanistan. 

The end result of this will not be pretty. 

Therefore the events point to a serious crisis not simply between Pakistan and India, but within Pakistan as well, with the government caught between foreign powers and domestic realities. Given the circumstances, massive destabilization is possible — never a good thing with a nuclear power. 

We’ll have to see how this crisis develops once things become clearer on the ground. 

A Matter of Respect

From Michael:

"Military historian Victor Davis Hanson of the Hoover Institute writes: "Real peace and successful reconstruction are in direct proportion to the degree to which an enemy has been vanquished - the aim being that an enemy will come to understand that it cannot go on being what it has been"

I have been attempting to re-educate Americans of this truth for years.

In the case of the Middle-East, (and I should know) it is a matter of "respect", our version of the Asian "saving face". Only absolute, brute force is respected in my neighbourhood. The Administration's "Democracy building" policies, coupled with the various [hair brained] ecumenical "outreach to Islam" programmes, have convinced our Islamic enemies that the West is feeble and lacking in determination. Every act of appeasement, whether it is building a school in Iraq or hosting an inter-faith conference in New York, emboldens our enemies and strengthens the cause of the new Caliphate.

Douglas MacArthur forced a vanquished Japan to renounce their cult of Shinto militarism at the end of World War Two. The Japanese Emperor stood before the nation, repudiated his divinity and proclaimed that the Japanese people were not superior to other races. In Islam's war against the West, we have done the opposite. We have spared no effort trying to elevate the cult of Mohammed to the status of a "Religion of Peace" and an equal, if not superior to, our own  Judeo-Christian faiths. This paradoxical reaction to acts of terrorism and the continuing Jihad against the West has encouraged our enemies and made them even more confident of a final victory of the "Great Satan".

Mumbai is the Islamic answer to "Interfaith dialogue", and Gaza is America's future. 

It's a matter of respect.