Terrorists Celebrating Christmas And...

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The Heart Of The Matter

The Heart Of The Matter

"Despair is a dividend paid to disaster before it is due" - Sir Winston Churchill

From Joshua Pundit:

This is where things get real.

A number of my readers and other people whose opinion I respect deeply have let me know that the recent debacle in Washington has disheartened and disturbed them to the point of despair.

I hope none of you take what I'm about to say personally, but I think the obituaries are a mite premature...and even harmful.

Part of what fuels decadence (and eventual destruction and defeat) is the belief that everything is rotten beyond repair, so why even try anymore? If enough people feel that way, then they contribute to the defeat and it's over. So it's important to act with optimism and positive energy even when it seems hopeless.

One of the things that surprised me in reading Winston Churchill's history of World War II is how frequently he succumbed to despair during the run-up to the Second World War when he could see where things were headed, and afterward,when he finally took power and the Nazis were expected to invade at any moment.

Sir Winston referred to these periods of depression as 'the black dog'...but he made a point of never sharing these emotions with anyone, and indeed made a point of acting especially cheery and unperturbed when things seemed darkest. And there were plenty of such moments.

He understood instinctively one of William James' basic principles of psychology, that moods are infectious and affect others and that a positive attitude, even a partially feigned one, can have positive results.

And there are positive results to be had. We have a country to win, and one that's worth fighting for.

Go read the whole thing.

LOCKERBIE BOMBER

The Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi is surrounded by his family at home in Tripoli, Libya, after his release from jail in August on compassionate grounds.

SHOWING COMPASSION TOWARDS EVIL IS SHOWING HATRED TO THE GOOD!

Christmas Day Jihadist Connect To Ft. Hood Shooter Major Hasan?

From Hot Air:

Hmmmm. An indirect connection to Nidal Hasan and the Fort Hood shootings? Via Mediate and Politico:

There was a suggestion of links between Abdulmutallab and radical US-born Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi, who had contacts with the US army psychiatrist accused of gunning down 13 people at a Texas military base last month.

“He may have been in contact with the American imam al-Aulaqi,” Peter Hoekstra, the most senior Republican on the House Intelligence Committee and a member of Congress for Michigan, told AFP.

“There are reports that he had contact and that he was recently in Yemen. The question we’ll have to raise is was this imam in Yemen influential enough to get some people to attack the US again."

This sounds purely speculative at the moment, unless Hoekstra reveals more in an interview on Fox News Sunday tomorrow. But if it’s true, it sounds as though Anwar al-Awlaki may have been trying to take command of a more active wing of the al-Qaeda network all by himself. Too bad Awlaki may have survived that attack in Yemen after all.

BOMB ON BOARD

A National Geographic Special on the bombing of Philippine Airline Flight 434.







From Wiki:

Authorities later discovered that a passenger on the aircraft's preceding leg was Ramzi Yousef.^[1][2] He was later convicted of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.^[2] Yousef boarded the flight under the fake Italian name "Armaldo Forlani"^[3], a wrong spelling of the name of the Italian legislator^[4] Arnaldo Forlani.

The flight crew consisted of veteran Captain Eduardo "Ed" Reyes,^[5] First Officer Jaime Herrera, and Systems Engineer Dexter Comendador.^[3]

Yousef assembled a bomb in the lavatory and put it in the lifejacket pocket under Seat 26K on the right-hand side of the fuselage,^[4] setting the timer to detonate the explosives four hours later. Domestic flight attendant Maria Delacruz noticed that Yousef kept switching seats during the course of the Manila to Cebu flight.^[3] Yousef and 25 other passengers left the plane at Cebu. 256 passengers and a different cabin crew boarded in Cebu. Many of them consisted of Japanese people; some of them were coworkers traveling as part of a tour group. Airport congestion delayed the departure of Flight 434 from Cebu for 38 minutes. All of the passengers boarded by 8:30 a.m.; the bomb had been planted around two hours earlier. PAL 434 cleared for takeoff at 8:48 a.m.^[3]

Two hours before arrival at Tokyo, the bomb exploded at 11:43 a.m. while Flight 434 cruised on autopilot 31,000 feet (9,400 m) above Minami Daito Island,^[3] which is located near Okinawa Island and is 260 miles (420 km) southwest of Tokyo.

The explosion ripped the body of 24-year old Haruki Ikegami (池上春樹, Ikegami Haruki^?), a Japanese businessman occupying the seat, in half.^[3] He was an industrial sewing machine maker returning from a trip to Cebu. The lower half of his body fell into the cargo hold.^[3] Ten passengers sitting in the seats in front of and behind Ikegami were also injured; one needed urgent medical care. The bomb tore out a two square foot (0.2 m²) portion of the cabin floor, revealing the cargo hold underneath, but the fuselage of the plane stayed intact.

MORE ON THE CHRISTMAS DAY DELTA JIHADIST

Was this jihadi drugged up beyond comprehension? If so, there was a guardian angel working with this plane load of passengers as well. Had Farouk been in control of all of his mental faculties (to the extent islam prevents such control) this situtation would have had a very different outcome.

Wait on verification of this one, but it's reported online that Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab's incredible poverty and political connections may have also afforded him an interpreter at the airport to explain his lack of passport.

"I was on this flight today and am thankful to be alive. My wife and I were returning from an African safari and had this connecting flight through Amsterdam. I sat in row 27, which was 7 rows behind the terrorist. I got to see the whole thing take place and it was very scary. Thanks to a few quick acting people I am still alive today.
For those of you talking about airline security in this thread, I was next to the terrorist when he checked in at the Amsterdam airport early on Christmas. My wife and I were playing cards directly in front of the check in counter. This is what I saw (and I relayed this to the FBI when we were held in customs):


An Indian man in a nicely dressed suit around age 50 approached the check in counter with the terrorist and said "This man needs to get on this flight and he has no passport." The two of them were an odd pair as the terrorist is a short, black man that looked like he was very poor and looks around age 17(Although I think he is 23 he doesn't look it). It did not cross my mind that they were terrorists, only that the two looked weird together. The ticket taker said "you can't board without a passport". The Indian man then replied, "He is from Sudan, we do this all the time". I can only take from this to mean that it is difficult to get passports from Sudan and this was some sort of sympathy ploy. The ticket taker then said "You will have to talk to my manager", and sent the two down a hallway. I never saw the Indian man again as he wasn't on the flight. It was also weird that the terrorist never said a word in this exchange. Anyway, somehow, the terrorist still made it onto the plane. I am not sure if it was a bribe or just sympathy from the security manager.

**************

@ HotAir
One passenger says that the terrorist’s pants were “on fire,” which corroborates the reports of severe burns he suffered. However, the next passenger interviewed reported that the terrorist was calm, not in shock at all. In other terrorist attacks, such as in Mumbai and Afghanistan, the terrorists got themselves so high on drugs that they were unable to feel pain. It sounds as if that may have been the case here, because anyone who had those kinds of burns — by some report, third-degree burns — would not be sitting calmly unless heavily medicated.

Facts are Stubborn Things

Guest Commentary by Edward Cline:

No better justice to President Barack Hussein Obama’s boast in the Washington Post of his political achievements can be done than to adapt portions of the Declaration of Independence to the subject of his accomplishments. Not all of the charges against George III in 1776 listed in Jefferson’s masterpiece are applicable. This charge sheet can also be leveled at Congress. I include only those offences which can be annotated. Call it not a parody, but a serious, appropriate, and well-deserved iteration.

The history of the present President of the United States is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

With artful disingenuousness, he promised Marxist tyranny during his campaign. Few believed him. Others were dumb-founded. Many applauded him, and voted for him. And the collectivists in Congress encouraged him, at the same time counseling him to soften his rhetoric so that it would seduce the impressionable and confuse but not frighten Americans. And, with the cooperation of his allies in Congress, he is delivering Tyranny. No one should be confused now. His politics are exclusively and demonstrably Marxist in theory and practice. Marx advocated dictatorship.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

Notwithstanding his professed concern for the “public good,” Obama has not advanced it by refusing to recommend the repeal of all fiat regulatory law. Instead, he has acted to expand the scope of such law over virtually every private and public action of American citizens, injuring the “public good” while benefiting those who have a vested interest in such expansion.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

What else to call his many czars? How many committees will be created by the health care bill recently passed by the Senate, after it is merged with the House version next month? Their purpose is to harass Americans and eat out not only their wealth, but their rights, to make Americans deferential and dependent on their wishes and commands. Defenders and advocates of the health care bills assert that they have been created from the best of intentions. But any intention that relies on, force, compulsion, extortion, fraud, lies, and the confiscation of wealth and property necessarily results in evil.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

What are those “standing armies” today? The Internal Revenue Service and the Department of the Treasury. The Federal Reserve system. The DEA, the SEC, the ATF, the TSA, the FCC, Homeland Security, and the rest of the alphabet soup of federal power wielders. Not one of which was created with the consent of the governed or of any state legislature. Are they not indemnified against responsibility for their destructive intrusions, powers, and actions? Are they not independent of and superior to what remains of legitimate civil power?

Is not the health care legislation “pretended,” that is, beyond the clearly worded constraints on government power in the Constitution? In point of fact, is not all welfare and regulatory legislation -- whether acts of Congress or recent amendments to the Constitution -- merely “pretended” legislation, assented to by Obama and all his statist predecessors in office?

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

Has Obama not recently signed a law exempting Interpol from American law, thus subjecting Americans to a jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution? Was not one of the ends of the Copenhagen climate change conference this month to nullify American sovereignty in favor “global” law and to make Americans subject to alien and especially European jurisdiction? Was not Obama willing to surrender American sovereignty in the name of “global governance”?

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

This goes without saying. A “governed” people has no power or right of consent.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

Obama has become the Government, and, as with any ambitious dictator or tyrant, any and every person who opposes his powers and policies would necessarily be outside of his protection, because he has implicitly or actively waged war against such Americans. The Constitution was created to protect individuals from arbitrary power, wielded by either the president or Congress. Obama is acting in an extra-legal and extra-constitutional capacity.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

Obama has excited class warfare amongst Americans -- the poor against the rich, the claimers of entitlements against those in the productive sector who must pay for them, the retired elderly against the working young, the incompetent and lazy against the able and the ambitious -- and has endeavored to perpetuate this warfare by stealthily conscripting members of ACORN, the Service Employees International Union, and affiliated organizations such as MoveOn, in addition to his swarm of czars, as the enforcers to harass and intimidate the middle class and the rich.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

On the “high seas” of the Internet, Obama encouraged Americans to report to him “fishy” information or rumors about health care reform expressed or repeated by other Americans, and asked them inform on their friends, brethren, and fellow citizens.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.

Through the summer and fall of 2009, hundreds of thousands of concerned and outraged Americans participated in dozens of massive “tea parties”; packed the “town halls” to express their displeasure with and opposition to health care legislation and other government invasions of their rights; caused dozens to Congressmen to sputter incoherently in reply to frank questions, or even to flee the confrontation; signed countless petitions to Obama and members of Congress to stop spending, legislating, and destroying their lives, livelihoods, and children’s futures; sent hundreds of thousands of faxes and made hundreds of thousands of phone calls to their senators and representatives, and even to the White House, to express their opposition -- but their efforts were answered with indifference, insouciance and repeated injury, by Obama and by members of Congress.

Obama himself has not dared to face Americans or the press without “papering the hall” with friendly cliques, courtiers, and shills, in rigged and contrived “town hall meetings” and press conferences, and allowed no questions to be asked of him that would require honest, forthright, and revealing answers. His vaunted policy of “transparency,” given the facts of his means and ends, has necessarily been one of habitual obfuscation and brazen dissemblance.

A President, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Need any more be said about the character and agenda of Barack Hussein Obama? A free people does not need, nor does it seek, a ruler. Which are Americans to be in the coming years? A free people confident that their president is acting in their interests as free men? Or a people that needs a ruler?

Crossposted at The Dougout

Boxing Day Babes

There's a whole cache of them here.

But, of all of the babes, I liked these natural beauties the best.

Hero 2009! Kaffir of the Moment! Infidel of the Year Award! Jasper Schuringa!

From Atlas Shrugs:

Meet the Northwest flight 253 hero (hat tip Rick)

His name is Jasper Schuringa:

The passenger who tackled a suspected terrorist on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 said Saturday that he’s “happy” to be alive.

Jasper Schuringa, a video director and producer from Amsterdam, told CNN how he helped the cabin crew to subdue Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old who reportedly ignited a small explosive device on board the plane Friday as it prepared to land in Detroit.

Schuringa said he heard a sound that reminded him of a firecracker and someone yelling, “Fire! Fire!”

But he was only certain something was wrong when he saw smoke. He saw Abdulmutallab's pants open and he was holding a burning object between his legs.

"I pulled the object from him and tried to extinguish the fire with my hands and threw it away," Schuringa said.

He said he then screamed for water and pulled Abdulmutallab out of his seat and dragged him to the front of the plane.

Schuringa told CNN that Abdulmutallab seemed out of it and "was staring into nothing."

To ensure the suspect did not have other explosives on his body, Schuringa stripped off Abdulmutallab's clothes. He then handcuffed the alleged attacker with the help of a crew member.

Schuringa said the other passengers applauded as he returned to his seat and that he sustained minor injuries during the take down.

"My hands are pretty burned. I am fine," he said. "I am shaken up. I am happy to be here."

And your fellow travelers are happy you were there as well Mr. Schuringa.

His Facebook page is here... I suspect he'll get a ton of friend requests.

Nigerian & Former London Student Arrested in Foiled Terror Attack

From Gateway Pundit:

The upscale apartment the terrorist was living in reportedly sells for over $2.5 million.

Forensic officers search the mansion block in central London after the attempted bombing yesterday. (BBC)

The son of a prominent Nigerian banker was arrested for the attempted terror attack.

Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, former chairman off Nigeria’s First Bank, was said to be worried about his son’s increasingly ‘extreme’ religious views, a Nigerian newspaper reported. (New York Daily News)

All Africa reported, via Free Republic:

The young man, who yesterday night attempted to ignite an explosive device aboard a Delta Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan in the United States has been identified as Abdul Farouk Umar Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old son of Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, former First Bank chairman. Mutallab, a former minister and prominent banker recently retired from the bank’s board.

The older Mutallab, as at the time of filing this report, had just left his Katsina hometown for Abuja to speak with security agencies, family sources say. According to the family members, Mutallab has been uncomfortable with the boy’s extreme religious views and had six months ago reported his activities to United States’ Embassy, Abuja and Nigerian security agencies.

The older Mutallab was said to be devastated on hearing the news of Abdul Farouk’s attempted bombing arrest. A source close to him said he was surprised that after his reports to the US authorities, the young man was allowed to travel to the United States.

The family home of the Mutallabs in Central London, is currently being searched by men of the Metropolitan Police. THISDAY checks reveal that the suspect, Abdulfarouk Umar Muttalab who is an engineering student at the University College, London had been noted for his extreme views on religion since his secondary school days at the British International School, Lome, Togo.

At the secondary school, he was known for preaching about Islam to his schoolmates and he was popularly called “Alfa”, a local coinage for Islamic scholar. After his secondary school, the young man, family sources said went to University College London to study engineering and later relocated to Egypt, and then Dubai. While in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, he declared to his family members that he did not want to have anything to do with any of them again.

His father, Muttalab is a regular visitor to the US where he visits for medical check up and holidays. He is expected to issue a statement later today.

Jules Crittenden adds this- If the shoe bomb fits.

UK: Scotland Yard Conducting Raids in Central London in Connection With Attempted Terrorist Attack on Detroit-Bound Plane...

From Weasel Zippers:

Scotland Yard Conducting "Raids in Central London" in Connection with Attempted Terrorist Attack - Video 12/26/09 (Freedom's Lighthouse)

BBC: More plane terror plots 'likely'

From the BBC:

Al-Qaeda is likely to try again to use aircraft to attack the West, Whitehall officials have told the BBC.

Security correspondent Frank Gardner said they believed the airline bomb plot was part of al-Qaeda's "obsession" with using commercial airliners.

Arab culture has always been obsessed with flight. There is the Magic Carpet Ride, Mohammed's Hejira, and 9/11.

For all their obsession with flight, however, no Arab nations build their own planes, and of course, it was left to us Infidels to invent them.

Pathetic civilization they have going over there.

Quite frankly, the fact that they continue to try to use planes in their terror plots is a demonstration that to these Arab Jihadis, flight is still magical.

We here in Western Civilization have moved on and invented things like the internet, software, biotechnology, etc.

And hell, we don't even think any of that stuff is magical.

To be obsessed with flight as some sort of amazing technology is like being obsessed with the Sewing Machine.

That's a really, really pathetic civilization.

CHRISTMAS DAY, 2009: AL QAEDA MEMBER TRIES TO BLOW UP DELTA FLIGHT ABOVE DETROIT

UPDATED AND BUMPED TO TOP FOR NOW

From Fox News:

U.S. officials say a Northwest Airlines passenger from Nigeria said he was acting on behalf of Al Qaeda when he tried to blow up a flight Friday as it landed in Detroit.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., identified the suspect as Abdul Mudallad, a Nigerian. King said the flight began in Nigeria and went through Amsterdam en route to Detroit.

One of the U.S. intelligence officials said the explosive device was a mix of powder and liquid. It failed when the passenger tried to detonate it.

The passenger was being questioned Friday evening.

Both of the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing.

The motive of the Christmas Day attack was not immediately clear.

"He appears to have had some kind of incendiary device he tried to ignite," said one of the U.S. officials.

Authorities initially believed the passenger had set off firecrackers that caused some minor injuries.

Delta Air Lines spokeswoman Susan Elliott said the passenger was subdued immediately. She had no details on the injuries. Delta and Northwest have merged.

One passenger from the flight was taken to the University of Michigan Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Tracy Justice said. She didn't know the person's condition, or whether the person was a man or woman. She referred all inquiries to the FBI.

An FBI spokeswoman said the incident is being investigated. It came just as the flight, an Airbus 330 carrying 278 passengers, was arriving in Detroit from Amsterdam.

Passenger Syed Jafri, a U.S. citizen who had flown from the United Arab Emirates, said the incident happened during the plane's descent. Jafri said he was seated three rows behind the passenger and said he saw a glow, and noticed a smoke smell. Then, he said, "a young man behind me jumped on him."

"Next thing you know, there was a lot of panic," he said.

Rich Griffith, a passenger, said he was seated too far in the back to see what had happened. But he said he didn't mind being detained on the plane for several hours.

"It's frustrating if you don't want to keep your country safe," he said. "We can't have what's going on everywhere else happening here."

President Barack Obama was notified of the incident and discussed it with security officials, the White House said. It said he is monitoring the situation and receiving regular updates from his vacation spot in Hawaii.

J.P. Karas, 55, said he was driving down a road near the airport and saw a Delta jet at the end of the runway, surrounded by police cars, an ambulance, a bus and some TV trucks.

"I don't ever recall seeing a plane on that runway ever before and I pass by there frequently," he said.

Karas said it was difficult to tell what was going on, but it looked like the front wheel was off the runway.

The Homeland Security Department said passengers may see additional screening measures on domestic and international flights because of the incident.

"We encourage those with future travel plans to stay in touch with their airline and to visit www.tsa.gov for updates," the department said.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has been briefed on the incident and is closely monitoring the situation.

The department encouraged travelers to be observant and aware of their surroundings and report any suspicious behavior to law enforcement officials.

UPDATE:

"The man was apparently already on the government’s no-fly list of suspected terrorists, according to a senior intelligence official."

The suspect told authorities that he had explosive powder taped to his leg and used a syringe of chemicals to mix with the powder that was to cause explosion. This is of concert because it is a method of mixing that is consistent with terror techniques."ABC

More:

"The 23-year-old suspect lighted a powdery substance as the aircraft was preparing for landing,around noon, a federal counterterrorism official said. Two other passengers on the flight noticed, and a third person jumped on the man, the official said."Niger1.com

More:

Delta releases official statement

"Upon approach to Detroit, a passenger caused a disturbance onboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253. The passenger was subdued immediately and the crew requested that law enforcement meet the flight upon arrival. The flight, operated by Northwest using an Airbus 330-300 aircraft with 278 passengers onboard, landed safely. The passenger was taken into custody and questioned by law enforcement authorities. Delta is cooperating fully with authorities and additional questions should be directed to law enforcement officials who are leading the investigation."

Delta Air Lines

CONTACT: Corporate Communications, Delta Air Lines, +1-404-715-2554

Web Site: http://www.delta.com/


MORE:

Rep. Peter King: Nigerian Man Who Tried to Bomb Plane Over Detroit Had "Significant Terrorist Connections"...

According to the AP, the overseas contingency operator's name is Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, thereby crushing the left's hopes that this guy wasn't a follower of the Religion of Peace...

(The Hill)- The suspect in an alleged attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas was on a list "indicating significant terrorist connections," Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said Friday.

King, the top Republican member of the House Homeland Security Committee, described the suspect in the attempted bombing of a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit as a 23-year-old Nigerian national with potential ties to al-Qaeda.

...“He is a 23 year old Nigerian who is also – it’s been confirmed to me – while he was not on a no fly list, his name was on a list for having terrorist connections,” King said during an interview Christmas evening on CNN.

“His name was in a database indicating significant terrorist connections,” King said.

"There's a real worry about terrorist activity in Nigeria, so much so that last year the American government gave body detection technology to Nigeria for their airports," King said. "Their level of security, we felt was not comprable to others."

From Reliapundit at the Astute Bloggers:

WAS INTELLIGENCE ABOUT TODAY'S ATTEMPTED AIRLINE-BOMBING WHAT REALLY CLOSED THE CHUNNEL AND NYC'S PENN STATION?

ON WEDNESDAY WE ASKED:

WEATHER? ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS? OR, TERROR THREATS?

FIRST THE CHUNNEL SHUT DOWN - DUE TO "WINTRY WEATHER".

NOW PENN STATION - DUE TO "ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS".

COINCIDENCE!? OR TERROR THREAT?

ARE WE BEING TOLD THE TRUTH!?

NOBODY ELSE ASKED THESE QUESTIONS.

AND TODAY, THERE WAS AN ATTEMPTED ATTACK ON A JETLINER, OUT OF EUROPE.

[MORE HERE.]

*******CONGRESSMAN KING:

. . . it was a fairly sophisticated device. I would say we dropped the ball on this one."

*******MORE FROM KING:

Of the device used on Friday, he said, “It appears to be different from explosive devices that have been used before. That is perhaps why it escaped detection. Maybe that is why it made it through.”

MIGHT IT BE CONNECTED TO THE CHUNNEL CLOSING OR TO THE CLOSING OF NYC'S PENN STATION?

WERE THESE CLOSING BECAUSE OF SOME SKETCHY INTELLIGENCE ABOUT AN IMPENDING ATTACK ON MASS TRANSIT? AND WAS TODAY'S EVENT THE ACTUAL ATTEMPTED ATTACK?

WE NEED THE MSM TO ASK THE QUESTIONS SO WE GET SOME ANSWERS...

ALSO: HOW WERE THESE CHEMICALS SMUGGLED ON-BOARD?

COULD THESE CHEMICALS HAVE BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CATASTROPHIC "CRAHSES" OF ADAM AIR FLIGHT KI 574 AND/OR AIR FRANCE 447?

I would also ask if this ATTACK ON AMERICA was related to the recent Jihadist Dry Runs:

Hmmm . . . Yet Another Dry Run?: United 227 Sounds Just Like AirTran 297

The curious case of Air Tran flight 297

MORE:

From jihadwatch.org The suspect travelled to the US on a suspiciously generous "2 year VISA for a "religious ceremony"".[Spencer adds that ABC amended their report to reflect it was for a seminar]

". . .The visa office should have asked just what "ceremony" that was. Even Lent is only 6 weeks, and Ramadan a month. "

“He didn’t say anything,” said Dennis, who lives in Europe and was connecting to a flight to Arizona. “He was burned very severely on his leg.… He was very calm

CNN's Ali Velshi stops Rep. King from naming Northwest Airlines terrorist

CNN has image/video report of Farouk wrapped in blanket being removed from plane

from pjmedia 100. Ellison:


The Nigerian Al-Qaeda operative, Abdul Farouk Umar Abdulmutallab, is the 23-year-old son of Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, former First Bank chairman and former minister.

Six months ago the prominent banker reported his son’s extremist views and activities to United States’ Embassy, Abuja and Nigerian security agencies.

Nevertheless, a source close to the father of the Muslim jihadist said the father was surprised that after his reports to the US authorities, the young man was allowed to travel to the United States.

A surprise to the father, perhaps, but no surprise at all to the wide-awake US citizens living under the highly aberrational and anti-American Obama regime.

Fascist governments work by design not incompetence.

It's a Jihad Christmas, Christmas Day Jihadist

In honor of the Christmas Day Jihadist:

Obama era: Disgusting, Degenerate US Consulate: American Diplomatic Vehicle Tries to Run Over Checkpoint Guard, Lewd and Obscene Gestures at Female Guards

I agree with Pamela on this story. This is a manifestation of the Obama-era Zeitgeist:

I do not recognize this country. I do not recognize the marxist legislation to nationalize healthcare and I do not recognize America on the world stage. These are the acts of ........... wild animals. America never behaved is such a way. Ever.

This latest report is so disturbing because of what it represents. Who are these degenerates? How can they officially represent my country? These are low lives. We are going down so far, so fast. I am ashamed of America.

Who behaves this way in an official capacity? Who treats Israel this way? Who treats women this way? Were these Muslims?

Israel: U.S. Consulate Car Tried to Run Over Checkpoint Guard

An American diplomatic vehicle allegedly tried to run over an Israeli security guard at a border checkpoint in Israel last month, setting off a diplomatic scuffle that is straining relations between the two nations, the Jerusalem Post reported.

In an episode that was reportedly caught on tape, a five-car U.S. convoy was stopped at the Gilboa border crossing in the northern West Bank on Nov. 13 but refused to identify themselves or open any windows or doors for inspection by Israeli security.

What followed, according to the Post, was recorded in an official report that has kicked up a diplomatic dust storm in Israel.

Drivers in the American convoy blocked the crossing, the report says, tried running over a Defense Ministry security guard and made indecent gestures at female guards, the Jerusalem Post reported.

The incident led to a testy meeting five days later, when U.S. and Israeli officials met in Jerusalem to discuss the case and at least one other involving a Palestinian woman who was found in a U.S. diplomatic car without appropriate documentation.

The U.S. response, the Post norted, further angered Israeli officials: the chief regional security officer reportedly told his Israeli counterparts that "simple guards" had no authority to inspect senior diplomats.

The alleged incident apparently occurred just two days after the border crossing was opened to vehicular traffic, according to information from the Israeli Defense Ministry.

NY Times Says Obama, Not Israel, Should Bomb Iran...Wait, The NY Times Said That?...

From Weasel Zippers:

Yes, they really did....

(NY Times)- PRESIDENT OBAMA should not lament but sigh in relief that Iran has rejected his nuclear deal, which was ill conceived from the start. Under the deal, which was formally offered through the United Nations, Iran was to surrender some 2,600 pounds of lightly enriched uranium (some three-quarters of its known stockpile) to Russia, and the next year get back a supply of uranium fuel sufficient to run its Tehran research reactor for three decades. The proposal did not require Iran to halt its enrichment program, despite several United Nations Security Council resolutions demanding such a moratorium.

Iran was thus to be rewarded with much-coveted reactor fuel despite violating international law. Within a year, or sooner in light of its expanding enrichment program, Iran would almost certainly have replenished and augmented its stockpile of enriched uranium, nullifying any ostensible nonproliferation benefit of the deal. .....The final question is, who should launch the air strikes? Israel has shown an eagerness to do so if Iran does not stop enriching uranium, and some hawks in Washington favor letting Israel do the dirty work to avoid fueling anti-Americanism in the Islamic world.

But there are three compelling reasons that the United States itself should carry out the bombings. First, the Pentagon’s weapons are better than Israel’s at destroying buried facilities. Second, unlike Israel’s relatively small air force, the United States military can discourage Iranian retaliation by threatening to expand the bombing campaign. (Yes, Israel could implicitly threaten nuclear counter-retaliation, but Iran might not perceive that as credible.) Finally, because the American military has global reach, air strikes against Iran would be a strong warning to other would-be proliferators

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Frank & Yvonne Warner aka Pigman & Wife.

- Bosch Fawstin

Cheap Labor overseas affects EVERY AMERICAN AND EVERY INDUSTRY - now FARMING

The electronic parts which make up our defense systems are now made in Taiwan, mainland China, Maylasia, etc ... Chinese engineering firms now WIN BIDS for NY City subway contracts, GM and Chrysler (Fiat) no longer exist (cmon ..you know that's true) and now FARMING is taking the pipe

Fieldworkers at Hawaii's last major pineapple plantation have picked their last crop.

Maui Land and Pineapple Co. shut down its century-old agricultural operation Wednesday to focus on real estate development.

The company says its pineapple business has lost $115 million since 2002 and is no longer financially sustainable.

The company is laying off about 285 employees. Some 133 workers are being offered positions in the company's other businesses.

Hawaii's major pineapple producers have shifted growing operations to countries such as the Philippines, where labor is cheaper.

Former and current Maui Land employees hope to form a new company that would continue growing, packing and selling Maui Gold fresh pineapple.

The time has now come to BEGIN discussing how to protect american industries, and american economic ability without abandoning free markets in a world where eventually every fiber of what we do, buy, see and promote is Walmarted to the poorest laborer who can be found.

'Next week' the Phillipine workers who benefit today will again find themselves living in cardboard boxes as pineapples are farmed near Lagos, or the Pontonal.

All wealth begins with making things, even intangible things, and selling them for a profit. If we make nothing, we have no wealth. Right now it is the american consumer which powers the world. 'Next week' it will be chinese consumers. Are our leaders ready to watch all this until finally American laborers living in cardboard boxes in garbage dumps in Detroit will work for less than the poor bastards in Ouagoudougou, and Lagos?

A Charlie Brown Christmas

London Symphony Orchestra

Handel: Messiah

For Unto Us A Child Is Born

From Russia With Love

First of all, Merry Christmas to everyone!

I was in Moscow day before yesterday (yup, the once enemy territory). The city is so beautiful with its grand architecture (specifically the Red Square) and its Ladas, the car that runs no matter what the weather conditions. On top of all that, all the snow around made the beauty of the city even more impressive.

On the other hand, the people of Moscow are some of the rudest people I have come across. But then, that might have something to do with them being under Communism for such a long time. Where all their lives were dedicated (or supposed to be) to the State and nothing else. All they lived and died for was the State and over a period of less than 3 years, that was gone. All of a sudden these people find themselves in the world of Capitalism (or some form of it) and they have to start all over again.

People in Moscow, as some might assume, weren't really poor at all. I actually saw more Maybachs in one night in Moscow than I have seen in Dubai since I have been here. The streets were filled with expensive cars that I won't (and can't) even dream of buying. People in Moscow are rich and they make sure to spend money wherever they go (they have many monday-thursday 24 hour "night clubs"). They are not happy though. Any store you go, the people behind the counter look at you like the enemy has entered. You speak in English and you are their worst customer. They don't care whether you buy something or not. Well, actually not only if you're a foreigner but they don't even care if their own people buy something or not. They probably still have the old mentality...that people will come and buy no matter how they're treated because the supplies are scarce. Although that is not the case anymore as the stores have regular supplies but the mentality of the people will take time to change!

Another thing, I can actually count on my finger-tips how many people I saw in Moscow actually smiling. Its not like they are ugly people or anything, I think they're very beautiful people but they don't know how to smile. They look depressed. It makes you sad to look at them. A frown and rudeness is a common thing in Moscow it seems...its a way of life.

I also noticed, with the old technology around, that Russians are very intelligent. But because, again, they had been State-focused for such a long time that now that they're somewhat free to think for themselves and on their own, they have no idea what's going on. If you notice their behavior around things that are post 1992 for example, you might think they have never been out of their caves (which of course is not the case). What I think is, that their genius has been constrained, and as a result drained for the time being, by the State that never let them think about anything but the betterment of the "fatherland".

My walk down Moscow's streets left me thinking...if Russia had, from the beginning, concepts of liberty, justice and pursuit of happiness embedded in its constitution--they wouldn't have any problem being as great as the United States is today. And vice versa. If these concepts are taken away from the United States, and the government control is expanded over all facets of American life (the process seems to be underway), it won't be long before I write something similar about the American people...that Americans are very intelligent people but their genius has been drained by the State and I find them to be the most unhappy and rude people on earth.

On a positive note though: While people in Moscow still reminisce about the past and sometimes wish the State control would come back, Americans still are very much in control of their own destiny and the government control is still very limited. We'll see what happens in the coming years though.

(I will put up pictures of Moscow soon).

MERRY

CHRISTMAS

INFIDELS!

A week before Christmas '77 Washington's army took up winter quarters at Valley Forge on the west side of the Schuylkill. Although the General's choice of location was sharply criticized, the site he had selected was central and easily defended. Then came a cruel race with time to get huts erected before the soldiers, barefoot and half naked, froze to death. Hundreds of horses did in fact starve to death, and for the army starvation was a mortal danger. "No meat, no meat!" was the constant wail. Improvements came about after Nathanael Greene assumed the duties of Quartermaster General on March 23rd.


Yet, despite the ever-present fear of mutiny, no real dissaffection occurred. As Hessian Major Baurmeister conceded, the army was kept from disintegrating by the "spirit of liberty." Men and officers accepted their tragic plight with a sense of humor and extraordinary forbearance, but it was an ordeal that no army could be expected to undergo for long. Nathanael Greene wrote to General Washington, "God grant we may never be brought to such a wretched condition again."

- The Spirit of 'Seventy Six

*****************************************************************

"A light snow fell as 12,000 weary men made their way up Gulph Road to the area selected only days before as winter quarters."

"Lewis Hurt, age 17, a private from Connecticut. Benjamin Blossom, age about 31 years, a soldier from Massachusetts. George Ewing, age 23, an Ensign of the Seventh Company in the Third New Jersey Regiment. Joseph Plumb Martin, age 15 when he enlisted in Connecticut's Third Company on July 6, 1776; age 16 when he arrived at Valley Forge. They came from Virginia, North Carolina, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey...They represented every state in the new union."

"Some were still boys -- as young as 12 -- others in their 50s and 60s. They were described as fair, pale, freckled, brown, swarthy and black. While the majority were white, the army included both Negroes and American Indians."

"Each man had few possessions and these he carried with him. His musket -- by far the most popular weapon -- a cartouche or cartridge box. If he had neither, the infantryman carried a powder horn, hunting bag and bullet pouch. His knapsack or haversack held his extra clothing (if he was fortunate enough to have any), a blanket, a plate and spoon, perhaps a knife, fork and tumbler. Canteens were often shared with others and six to eight men shared cooking utensils."

"The first order of business was shelter. An active field officer was appointed for each brigade to superintend the business of hutting. Twelve men were to occupy each hut. The officers' hut, located to the rear, would house fewer men. Each brigade would also build a hospital, 15x25 feet. Many of the Brigadier Generals used local farmhouses as their quarters. Some, including Henry Knox, later moved into huts to be closer to their men."

"The huts provided greater comfort than the tents used by the men when on campaign. But after months of housing unwashed men and food waste, these cramped quarters fostered discomfort and disease. Albigence Waldo complained, 'my Skin & eyes are almost spoil'd with continual smoke.' Putrid fever, the itch, diarrhea, dysentery and rheumatism were some of the other afflictions suffered by the Continental troops."

"Little is known about the women but there were women at Valley Forge. Junior officers' wives probably remained in the homes of their husbands and socialized among themselves. The enlisted men's wives lived and labored among the troops, some working as housekeepers for the officers; others as cooks. The most common positions were nurse and laundress. A washerwoman might work for wages or charge by the piece."

"The army was continually plagued with shortages of food, clothing and equipment. Soldiers relied both on their home states and on the Continental Congress for these necessities. Poor organization, a shortage of wagoners, lack of forage for the horses, the devaluation of the Continental currency spoilage, and capture by the British all contributed to prevent these critical supplies from arriving at camp.

An estimated 34,577 pounds of meat and 168 barrels of flour per day were needed to feed the army. Shortages were particularly acute in December and February. Foraging expeditions were sent into the surrounding countryside to round up cattle and other supplies. In February three public markets opened. Farmers were encouraged to sell their produce. Fresh Pork, Fat Turkey, Goose, Rough skinned Potatoes, Turnips, Indian Meal, Sour-Crout, Leaf Tobacco, New Milk, Cyder, and Small Beer were included in the list of articles published in the Pennsylvania Packet and circulated in hand bills."

"Entertainment at Valley Forge took many forms. The officers liked to play cricket (known also as wicket) and on at least one occasion were joined by His Excellency, the Commander-in-Chief. Several plays were staged including Joseph Addison's 'Cato' which played to a packed audience. A common recreation was drinking, when spirits were available. And the soldiers liked to sing."

"Throughout the winter and early spring, men were frequently 'on command,' leaving camp on a variety of assignments. Units were formed to forage for food, some were granted furloughs, and individuals regularly returned to their home states to recruit new troops. In January Jeremiah Greenman reported, 'all ye spayr officers sent home to recrute a nother regiment & sum on furlow.'"

"On February 23, Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin, Baron von Steuben, arrived at Valley Forge to offer his military skills to the patriot cause. Washington assigned him the duties of Acting Inspector General and gave him the task of developing and carrying out a practical training program."

"Foreign officers were an essential part of the Continental Army. They provided military skills which the Americans lacked. Some, including Steuben, the Marquis de Lafayette and the Baron de Kalb came as volunteers. Kalb quickly proved himself to Washington and Congress commissioned him a major general. Lafayette was given the command of a division of Virginia light troops in December 1777 and later took command of additional troops. Others, such as Engineer Louis Lebèque de Presle Duportail were "covert" aid given leave from the French Army to provide assistance to the Americans. It was Duportail who designed the Valley Forge Encampment."

"With spring the balance shifted. New recruits arrived daily. Reluctantly, Nathanael Greene accepted the appointment as Quarter Master General and began to correct the problems with supplies. Under Steuben's direction the Continentals had become professionals, if not career soldiers. Morale improved as confidence grew."

"General Orders, Tuesday. May 5, 1778 announced the alliance with France and plans 'to set apart a day for gratefully acknowledging the divine Goodness.'"

"On June 19, 1778, six months to the day following their arrival, the Commander-in-Chief General George Washington and the Continental Army departed Valley Forge and marched to Monmouth, New Jersey to engage the British in battle just nine days later."

"This was the army that would continue to victory at Yorktown."

Written by Joan Marshall-Dutcher
Historian (retired)
Valley Forge National Historical Park
Credit to Cowles Publications and Thomas Publications

God Bless Us, Everyone

To Michael Travis, Epaminondas, Midnight Rider, Always On Watch, Revere Rides Again, Damien, Rumcrook, Christian Soldier, Carlos Echevarria, BabbaZee, Bosch Fawstin, Fu2rman, Culturist John, Reliapundit, WC, Avenging Apostate, Dhivevi Resistance, Abdoos, Stogie, Ray Boyd, Jewel, Jdamn, Jeppo, and anyone I am forgetting ...

The Love Of My Life...

Dedicated to the love of my life--the woman who always keeps me on the right track...

(All those who might have a problem with this song...hey, I didn't say anything when you posted songs from the 1850s ;-) )

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Christmas Eve/Sarajevo - 12/24

De Borchgrave: Obama Fighting Wrong War in Afghanistan

Newsmax:

By: John Rossomando

President Barack Obama’s plans to send 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan will have little impact on ending al-Qaida’s threat to the United States and may actually embolden the terrorist organization, according to Arnaud de Borchgrave, an author and veteran journalist who has covered events in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and other hot spots since World War II.

The Newsmax columnist says the president’s rationale for escalating American involvement in Afghanistan makes little sense considering that less than 100 al-Qaida members remain in the country, according to several estimates.

“Of course they’re not in Afghanistan, they’re in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan on the border,” de Borchgrave, who also works with the Transnational Threats Project with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Newsmax TV’s Kathleen Walter and Ashley Martella. “There’s no reason for them to be inside Afghanistan today since there’s a war going on, and al-Qaida isn’t interested in that kind of a war.

“They’re busy planning the next big event in the United States, which is bound to come.”

Although Pakistan has launched a war with the Taliban on its side of the border, it has largely targeted those elements that have been responsible for killing over 8,000 Pakistanis in suicide bombings over the past three years. Pakistan has largely left those parts of the Taliban aiming to overthrow the Afghan government alone.

He attributes this strategy to the connection Pakistan’s intelligence service, the ISI, has with the Taliban. This ISI also played an important role in organizing the Taliban and bringing it to power in Afghanistan in the 1990s.

De Borchgrave does not equate the Taliban’s potential return to power in Afghanistan with al-Qaida regaining the same sort of base of operations it enjoyed in the country prior to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

“I think you can make a deal with the Taliban,” de Borchgrave said. “I’m the only guy alive who has actually interviewed Mullah Omar, the head of the Taliban, and that was three months before 9/11.”

The veteran journalist said he had arrived in Afghanistan with his UPI crew intending to interview Osama bin Laden. But Mullah Omar told him he wouldn’t be able to speak with the al-Qaida leader, who, Omar said, “talks too much” and issues too many unwarranted fatwas or religious decrees.

De Borchgrave says this experience led him to believe significant differences exist between al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Al-Qaida, he said, doesn’t need to use Afghanistan as a base because it has established bases around the world in places like South America. It is in Latin America where he believes its operatives have learned Spanish in order to infiltrate the United States as immigrants. The discovery of Americans in al-Qaida cells further underscores abilities it has gained since being driven from Afghanistan.

De Borchgrave says he believes the presence of more Americans working with al-Qaida likely will emerge as the FBI recruits additional Arabic linguists.

He says Obama has been wrong to reduce the number of border patrol agents at a time of increased threat from al-Qaida and other terror groups.

Although de Borchgrave disagrees with the plan to send the additional troops to Afghanistan, he says the administration has made a mistake in announcing July 2011 as the likely date for the start of the U.S. pullout.

De Borchgrave also answered questions about the region’s other brewing crisis ─ Iran.

Iran, he says, presents a greater threat to Israel’s nuclear monopoly in the Middle East than to its existence. De Borchgrave believes a 50-50 chance of war exists between the two countries.

“Most people say for Israel it is an existential crisis, but it’s not the fear of being hit with an Iranian nuclear bomb or missile that makes it an existential crisis, it’s the fact they will lose their nuclear monopoly in the Middle East, which has guaranteed peace for Israel,” de Borchgrave said. “That is a highly dangerous situation.”

Israel, he says, lacks the ability to strike all 23 suspected Iranian nuclear sites, but any strike against the two or three key nuclear sites it can hit likely would have minimal impact to Iran’s long-term nuclear capabilities and would draw the United States into the conflict.

De Borchgrave believes an Israeli strike against Iran’s nuclear program would only serve to setback the Iranian nuclear program by two or three years.

“One Israeli bomb on Iran is war, and it will drag the United States in automatically even if President Obama is against the exercise because of all the very juicy U.S. targets up and down the Persian Gulf,” de Borchgrave said. “And they have a coastline that extends the whole length of the Persian Gulf.

“They also command the Straits of Hormuz through which 25 percent of the oil of the world flows every day.’

An Israeli strike could also cause Iran to use surrogates such as Hezbollah, which has assets in Latin America as well as the Middle East in retaliation. Hezbollah showed its capabilities in Latin America in the mid-1990s when it bombed the Israeli Embassy and a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

De Borchgrave says Obama can do very little against Hezbollah because it is an important part of Lebanon’s political structure and because it controls much of that country.

He also weighed in on upcoming political and economic issues.

De Borchgrave tells Newsmax that Gen. David Petraeus, the general overseeing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, would make an excellent choice for the Republican nomination for president. He says Petraeus is “brilliant” and has a strong understanding of countless subjects, which he contrasts with another famous battlefield commander ─ Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Eisenhower, whom De Borchgrave also knew during his Newsweek days, by contrast stayed apolitical and aloof from issues of his day such as the Taft-Hartley Act, which monitors labor union actions.

When it comes to the economy, he is not optimistic.

“We are at a plateau right now, and I don’t see it recovering for quite some time.” de Borchgrave said. “We do have roughly 25-28 million Americans unemployed if you count those who have dropped off the rolls.”

He says the Wall Street scandals continue to unfold as further revelations of insider trading and oversized bonuses come to light that highlight the disconnect between Wall Street and average Americans.

“We have to find a new paradigm,” he said. “Today, we’re borrowing $2-3 billion a day from the rest of the world, primarily China, to maintain the world’s highest standard of living based on conspicuous consumption at a time of great shortages.

“That doesn’t compute anymore... Right now we’re not in the business of looking for a new paradigm; we’re in the business of bailing ourselves out and keeping ourselves afloat.”

See Video: Newsmax columnist Arnaud de Borchgrave describes the real al-Qaida threat to America - Click Here Now

Merry Christmas to All...The Word Made Flesh

Emirati couple and the other nationalities pass by a giant Christmas tree at a shopping mall in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2009. Vatican's top cleric in the Persian Gulf is facing a different problem than the Pope's envoys in Europe and America, who complain of empty churches. Christian places of worship across Arabia are packed as Asian migrants test the limits of religious tolerance, asking from Muslim hosts to practice their faith more openly. (Caption commentary above and photo courtesy of Daylife)

To those who have become painfully aware, I have my own mini Pearl Harbor, commencing exactly on December 7th, 2009, with my computer, hard drive corruption, tech aid rip off, etc.

Coupled with some other personal matters this Infidel has been hard pressed to, lately, back up my comrades in arms here at IBA, in our Crusade against Islamo-Fascism and all its concomitant derivatives.

Hence, I apologize for not having posted more continuously but 2010 is around the corner and I will soon rejoin your hallowed ranks on the front line!

Lastly, as some of your are cognizant, I will be, God willing, opening up a new battle front in Rome some time late next year, where I will both blog and vlog to keep you updated, as to our sacred cause and perusing the city for new Infidel Girl of the Week candidates!!!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year....God Bless America!

THE RIFQA BARY CASE: DEPENDENT ON DEPENDENCY

Pamela is right:

For those of you curious as to the legal strategy Rifqa Bary's counsel is pursuing, here is John Stemberger in an interview yesterday with Fox and Friends on the case of Rifqa Bary:

Stemberger was Rifqa's lawyer in Florida before he lost it and she was sent back to Ohio.

On the one hand, he is saying it is all about dependency (so there is no need to bring up Islam, apostasy etc). And Stemberger didn't when he was representing her in Florida. And neither is his Ohio colleague Kourt Gatterdam (whom he had a hand in referring to Rifqa), who is following the same nonsenscal "strategy." It is nonsensical because the case is all about Islam and apostasy, and the parents are imposing shariah law and using every Islamic weapon in their legal jihad against Rifqa.

Stemberger's points are all points I have been making for months (he is new to some of them) but he draws completely different conclusions.

Yes, dependency for Rifqa, but Rifqa can lose. She can lose. So why haven't they filed for apostasy asylum? Why haven't they pursued other avenues simultaneously -- covered their bases? Why haven't they invited leading experts (both legal and academic) to confer?

They put all their eggs in the one basket, dependency, and the parents have make it entirely clear that they will fight it every step of the way -- going so far as pressing charges against her and anyone who helped her.

Stemberger thinks there's a conflict of interest for Omar Tarazi. He is being paid by CAIR and the Noor mosque and is advocating for their interests and not the parents. But I think he's wrong.

There is no conflict.

The goals of the devout Muslim Barys, the extremist mosque, and unindicted co-conspirator CAIR are all the same. What conflict? The apostate must revert to Islam. That is their goal.

The "Christmas card" motion in response to the Atlas Christmas card campaign is a blazing example of the Barys' intention. They claim they would allow her to practice her Christianity in the home, but she can't get Christmas cards. Yes, the motion was withdrawn, but it indicates the lengths they will go to.

And the Barys' and CAIR's and Tarazi's insistence that Rifqa meet with a Muslim counselor demonstrates that once again, it is all about Islam and Rifqa's "misunderstanding" of Islam. It is all about Islam. She cannot fight this with her hands tied behind her back and her mouth gagged. She needs to mount a vigorous offense, not this limpwristed defense, playing catch-up and dodge-ball.

It is Rifqa's legal team's ethical obligation to explain all of the available defenses and legal strategies to her and the consequences of each one, and let her determine the course of the fight, because her parents, CAIR and Noor are using every single formidable legal tool against her.

And, if you don't think it's about Islam and apostasy, then check this out:

The NOOR Mosque Comes Out Publicly Against Rifqa

Have you checked out the website for the Noor mosque lately, Rifqa Bary's old stomping grounds -- or should I say, stomped on her grounds?

On their main page, there is a link to an article called "Nada's World".

The whole article is a whitewash with implicit but subtle cues about advancing Islamic supremacism: "As editor for her teen newsletter published by her mosque, she characterized proms as a 'fruitless purchase, a night of perceived enjoyment when, in actuality, it compromises one's [religion].'"

Nada lives "less than a minute's walk from the Noor mosque".

The article tells the story of a Muslim teen who refuses to dance and does not participate in un-islamic social activities. On the third page of the five page article is a comparison of Nada and Rifqa, containing this quote:

"Her devotion, obedience, and deference to her parents and Muslim faith seem unshakable. Nada is not Bary."

Rifqa's parents still attend this mosque. They are working with the leadership in their legal strategy to take control of Rifqa. The "doting" parents are part of this mosque that is smearing their daughter in front of the whole community. Not only does that speak volumes about them, but it also puts Rifqa in more jeopardy.

A Soldier's Silent Night

And then Peace Reigned (in my head maybe)

America - too civilized to survive - Hasan asked Imam in 2008 about killing Americans

What's it going to take to ADMIT our vetting and security are THIRD RATE becuase there are official and unoffical roadblocks to ask asking uncomfortable questions?

Nidal Hasan, the US soldier who killed 13 people at an attack on Fort Hood military base last month, sought advice about murdering US troops in 2008, a Yemeni imam told Al-Jazeera on Wednesday.

Hasan, a Muslim Army psychiatrist, faces 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in connection with the November 5 shooting attack at the Texas military facility.

On Wednesday, Al-Jazeera's Arabic-language website published an interview with US-Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi, who said he and Hasan communicated by email for over a year about the permissibility of killing US soldiers and Israeli civilians.

"The first message I received from Nidal was on 17 December 2008," Aulaqi told the interviewer, adding that Hasan initiated the email communication.

"He asked about killing American soldiers and officers and whether that was legitimate or not," Aulaqi said.

Links between the Muslim cleric and Hasan are already being investigated, but the interview reveals for the first time how long the two men knew each other and communicated, and also offers insight into how early Hasan was thinking about the possibility of attacking fellow servicemembers.

Aulaqi, a US-born preacher, said he met Hasan nine years earlier at the Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Washington, DC and the pair begin communicating after Aulaqi left the United States for Yemen.

Image via Wikipedia

The problem is INSTITUTIONAL and larger than the Army, Armed Forces and govt. Common sense and concern for our own security are not the priority. Being unoffensive in any way is the criterion for being 'civilized'.

We are too 'civilized' to survive.

Which is to say, Hideki Tojo, Isoroku Yamamoto, Herman Goering, Josef Goebbels, and Joachim Von Ribbentrop all deserved the rights recognized by Jefferson et al., and formalized by two thirds of the United States in 1789-90, including the best defending attorneys Americans can find to defend them in the American courts they deserve.

Looks Like Nidal Hasan Needs a New Prayer Partner!

Woohoo! FOX greets us this morning with news that Fort Hood jihadist Nidal Hasan may be in the market for a new "spiritual advisor".

Imam Linked to Ft. Hood Rampage Believed Among 30 Al Qaeda Killed in Airstrike

The radical Muslim imam linked to the rampage at Fort Hood is believed to have been killed in a Yemen airstrike that may have also taken out the region's top Al Qaeda leader and 30 other militants, a security official told Reuters on Thursday.

The raid in Yemen's east targeted an Al Qaeda leadership meeting held to organize terror attacks. It is believed to have killed Anwar al-Awlaki and at least two senior members in the organization, including the leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

"Awlaki is suspected to be dead [in the air raid]," Reuters quoted an unnamed Yemeni official as saying.

The head of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Nasser al-Wahishi and his deputy, Saeed al-Saudi Shahrani, were present at the meeting and are believed to have died, but their deaths could not immediately be confirmed.

"The raid was carried out as dozens of members of Al Qaeda were meeting in Wadi Rafadh," a source told AFP, referring to a rugged location about 400 miles east of the capital.

"Members of the group's leadership, including Saad al-Fathani and Mohammad Ahmed Saleh al-Omir, were among those killed," he was quoted as saying.

"Saudis and Iranians at the Wadi Rafadh meeting were also among the dead," said the source, without going into detail.

Awlaki was once the imam at the prominent Dar al-Hijrah Mosque in Virginia, where the FBI says he had a close relationship with two of the 9/11 hijackers. He fled the U.S. in 2002, eventually returning to Yemen, where he promoted the Iraqi and Afghan insurgencies to a growing religious following in sermons and online.

In an interview posted on Al Jazeera's Web site, Awlaki said he received an e-mail from Fort Hood gunman Maj. Nidal Hasan on Dec. 17, 2008, "asking for an edict regarding the [possibility] of a Muslim soldier [killing] colleagues who serve with him in the American army."

Awlaki, who was born in Las Cruces, N.M., said subsequent e-mails "mentioned the religious justifications for targeting the Jews with missiles." He told the Washington Post in an interview that Hasan eventually came to regard him as a confidant.

A Yemeni official, also speaking on condition of anonymity to AFP, said those attending the meeting "planned to launch terrorist attacks against economic installations in Yemen, in retaliation for Yemeni strikes launched last week."

On Dec. 17, warplanes and security forces on the ground attacked what authorities said was an Al Qaeda training camp in the area of Mahsad in the southern province of Abyan. Saleh el-Shamsy, a provincial security official, said at least 30 suspected militants were killed. Witnesses, however, put the number killed at over 60 in the heaviest strike and said the dead were mostly civilians.

Read the rest.