We shall not want....

Maybe it's the industry I work in... but no one seems
concerned about what's going on. They seem to form
their opinions from network news and E-Hollywood.
Opinions straight up from NPR if they are the type to
really stretch. Maybe New York and 9/11 are too far
away. I suspect they find me tedious, laughable or
delusional on the subject of Islam- its history, its
present and future. They watch sci-fi horror movies
but can't imagine the power of a Caliphate with the
tools of Western technology-- cameras everywhere,
RFID, books burned, music forbidden, women enslaved.
There is gender apartheid at public facilities in this
very county to accommodate Islam. If I point out there
is more similarity between Hitler and the president of
Iran- a man whose declared goals are the destruction
of Israel and a worldwide Caliphate- than our own
president, they laugh. One friend said to me, " Why
do you forward these news articles to me? Are you
trying to tell me that if I kill an Arab, you'll go
out with me?"

I went to the area called the "Living Room" at the
downtown Seattle library. It's the the unfriendliest
public space I've ever seen. It looks like an airport
waiting room- chairs facing out in lines or facing
outwards from each other. Fluorescent lights. And
fluorescent colors. I always feel a little sick and
dizzy when I go there, especially when I look for
books in the book spiral with sloping floors.
Anyway- no one came. I think I'll choose another
library, or a cafe near one, for next Thursday. I
looked on meetup.com---there are over a hundred on a
waiting list in this area for an LGF meetup. I can
post an invitation in the comment section of LGF.
Remember Daniel Pearl looked up at the camera right
before he died.... and smiled. Maybe it was for his
wife and family. But maybe because he knew the
terrorists won't achieve their goal.

Thank you for your words of encouragement. I'm in it
for the long haul, too.
****

This letter comes to us from our friend Fleur de Mystere.

No Ban on Hate Qur'an

The Baghavad Gita is a work full of blood and destruction and death, a religious text filled with madness and war. So what? Are Hindus likely to read it as the direct word of God, and from that decide to kill every non-Hindu on the face of the Earth? Don't think so. Neither do any Hindus I've ever met, heard from or read about. I could be wrong about Hindus. There might be some nutter out there who lost their tinfoil caps and are starkers.

The Qur'an is a work full of blood and destruction and death, a religious text filled with madness and war. So what? Are Muslims likely to read it as the direct word of God, and from that decide to kill every non-Muslim on the face of the Earth? I kind of think so. So do many Muslims I've met, heard from and read about. I could be wrong about some Muslims. There might be some moderates out there who lost their tinfoil caps and are starkers.

Yes, there are some people in the world who read about Jack the Rippers, and from there they come unglued at the seams and commit crimes against small animals. These loonies might even think they get their ideas straight from God. So what? We don't ban books because of nutters.

Or do we?

At a glance it seems to me that banning books is a typical European belittlement of people. Those who can't distinguish between fact and fantasy are generally mentally ill, and that's not the domain of the state unless such people commit actual crimes. Then we ban the person, not the book. Europeans favor book-banning, being the determinists we elsewhere usually are not. But what about the Qur'an, it being used as a hate-manual from the start and seemingly having no other purpose? The book, to the democratically minded person, is still just a book. The Qur'an is creepy and Satanic, but it's still paper and ink. It's just about impossible for reasonable people to be in favor of book banning. Just about impossible but not entirely. This might be one exception that is worth the effort to take on as a book that should be publicly executed as of in days of yester yore.

It might be worth demanding a ban on the Qur'an on the grounds that it is a hate-manual. We might want to demand a ban the Qur'an not because it is or isn't hate literature, that being irrelavant, but to piss-off the Muslims really badly.

Or we can be a little smarter than the average European politician, not that hard really, and we can demand that the Qur'an not be banned in Europe. We could turn this to our advantage by demanding that hate speach be allowed, the Qur'an desrving protection. We could quote it, print it, shout it everywhere, and demand that it be allowed in public regardless. We might well expose the Qur'an as hate speech by demanding that it be protected as hate speech.

We might, as democrats, come to the defence of Muslims and the Qur'an by demanding that Europeans not prosecute this vile rubbish. Muslims can't win this one no matter what they do.

Two takes on the same story below, thanks to eyesallaround, pastorius, and reailipundit. This one bears some thinking about, and we'll come back to it tomorrow. First the short version by Henrik, and then the long version from agora.
****

The Koran reported to the German police

Things are heating up in Germany. According to Jyllands-Posten, a wide array of grassroots movements organised in the Bundesverband der Bürgerbewegungen ((BdB - Federal Union of the Citizens´ Movements) has reported the Koran to the police, with an aim to get the law to stop its spread. The reasoning is that the book is not just a religious and historical book, but a political one, outlining a path incompatible with the German constitution.

The BdB busies itself with, as it says, "defending basic and freedom rights" against Islam. Their homepage is emblazoned with a Dannebrog (the Danish flag), with "Support Denmark! Defend the free world" above it.

The case has been brought to the police in several German states, at least in Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria, and probably in more. Rightwing politicians have in several tv talk shows pointed out, that the Koran in reality is incompatible with the constitution.

The plaintiff (if that´s the word) in Hamburg, Jutta Starke, says that the case has been brought to the police´s attention 2-3 years ago already, but that it was dismissed as merely a historic book.

She ends thus: "The events of the last few months have made clear that the Koran is not just a historical book but a very potent political one, which we outline at length in our suit (if that's the word - Henrik)".

Henrik

posted by Henrik at 2:15 AM

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

http://viking-observer.blogspot.com

****

The Quran reported to the Police

By Kent Olsen, correspondent to Jyllands-Posten

A broad alliance of grass-roots movements have gone to the prosecutors of several states to hinder the dissemination of the Quran. According to the indictment, the Quran is not just a religious and historic book, but also a political book, which is incompatible with the constitution.

Berlin

At the prosecutor's office at Gorch-Forck-Wall 15 in Hamburg, an unusual letter was received Monday morning, containing an indictment filed this weekend. The indictment targeted the Quran, charging that the holy book of the Muslims, according to the accuser, is incompatible with the German constitution.

"Support Denmark!"
The accuser is "Bundesverband der Bürgerbewegungen (BVB)", which concerns itself with, in its own words, "defending basic rights and freedoms" against Islam. The extensive international furore, allegedly caused by the Muhammed cartoons, has made clear the relevancy of the alliance. Its homepage is decorated with a Danish flag with the words "Support Denmark! Defend the Free World." superimposed on it.

The indictment has been filed in several states, including Hamburg, Niedersachsen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Bayern and probably more.

In several talk shows on German TV, conservative politicians have pointed out that the Quran is incompatible with the German constitution. The Turkish-born writer Serap Cileli said on January 29 this year that "the Quran must be considered a historic document. It is not compatible with our constitution and Human Rights."

Now the alliance wants the matter tried at the courts.

Potent Political Book

The author of the indictment in Hamburg, Jutta Starke, says that the Quran was reported to the police two or three years ago, but that the report was dismissed on the grounds that it was a book of only historical interest.

"The events of the last months have made clear that the Quran isn't just a historical book, but very much a potent political book, a thing which we document extensively in the indictment," Jutta Starke says.

She says it is a task of Sisyphean dimensions to inform the media, politicians and churches of the true intentions of Islam in the enlightened world of the West.

"We are grateful to Jyllands-Posten that discussions about Islam have now become possible," says Jutta Starke.

"You suffer for all of Europe and that's why we find it indecent that Europe hasn't loudly, in unison, taken a stand for Freedom of Speech against the laws of the Quran."

The indictment consists of five pieces of paper and a number of appendices. The indictment says that it is not against Islam's spiritual message, but against the judicial and political message.

The decisive count of the indictment "is in the Quran's status vis a vis the Federal Republic of Germany's constitution". In the appendices to the indictment, 200 points have been listed "where the Quran is against and claims itself above the constitution."

The Quran has an Answer to Everything

It is pointed out that the Quran to Muslims is the end all, be all in matters of faith, in matters of society and state and in the discourse with people of different views. The Quran says that it is the words of Allah. According to the views of several, including leading, Muslims in Germany, it is literally and absolutely true at all time and in all places, the indictment says.

The newly elected German-born chairman of the Muslim Central Council of German, Ayyub Axel Köhler, is quoted in the indictment:

"A constitution after the principle of the division of powers into the legislative, the executive and the judicial powers, is nowhere to be found in the Islamic theory of the State. From an Islamic viewpoint, this is obvious, since the laws - the laws of God - in the form of sharia, are already made and thus no legislative power is needed, in that sense of the word. Only Allah is the legislative power."

Muslim Chancellor

A prominent Moslem, Ibrahim El-Zayat, is quoted as saying that he thinks it is possible that "the Federal Chancellor in 2020 is a Muslim, born and raised in Germany, that the Federal Supreme Court has a Muslim judge, and that a Muslim representative will be on the Federal Radio/TV Council to secure the Muslim citizens' constitutionally guaranteed rights."

"This land is our land and it is our duty to make positive changes. With the help of Allah, we will make it a paradise on Earth, by making available the Islamic ummah (ED: Islamic community) and all of mankind. Allah doesn't change the situation of a people till the people have changed the situation," El-Zayad is quoted as saying.

Violence against the Infidels

The indictment is against the 200 verses of 114 suras (ED:chapters) of the Quran that are not compatible with the constitution, including demagoguery, incitement to murder, murder and mutilation, war, acceptance of thievery against infidels, meaning all non-Muslims. Verses are also pointed out where the equal rights of men and women are not upheld and where people of different faiths are oppressed.

Example: "The unbelievers among the People of the Book (Jews and Christians): They are the vilest of all creatures." (Sura 98:6)

According to the indictment that paragraph violates Article 4 of the Constitution and Paragraph 166 of the Penal Code.
http://agora.blogsome.com/2006/03/08/the-quran-reported-to-the-police/
****

If this seems like a reasonable fight to enter, this fight to protect the Qur'an as hate speech from the censors in Europe, then we can make perhaps enough trouble for Muslims that they will again expose themselves as the savages they truly are. Those who are reasonable will be forced to denounce the outrages of the Qur'an; then voila, we will find our mysterious and long-hidden moderate. Or not.

Hot Chocolate

There goes my diet. I love chocolate.

Jack at divedesk has a story on Mohammed and Sex. I'll get to it later. I'm sure it's good. He's a very classy and funny writer.

http://divedesk.com/blog/

I like strawberries, too.

East European Journalists Show the West.

Some in the Russian press have more courage than CNN and the New York Times. If we want the news we can't turn to The Washington Post but might well find it in Gazeta.Ru. There is no reason at all to blame Time or Newsweek for their vile cowardice. We might simply not buy their products and shift our reading habits to include support for outlets that deal better with issues of concern to us. We're seemingly better off with the news from Belarus or the Czech Republic than we are with the L.A. Times.
****


Russian News Website Warned Over Publishing Mohammed Cartoons

Created: 09.03.2006 21:47 MSK
MosNews

Gazeta.Ru news website has received official notice after having reprinted the scandalous cartoons of Prophet Mohammed first published in Denmark's Jullands-Posten.

Russia's Federal Service on Law Maintenance Control in Media said in its notice quoted at the website that Gazeta.Ru had "committed an action aimed at arousing religious and social hatred and set up a real threat of causing damage to the social security." The service demanded to "remove the violation" immediately.

The cartoons were published on February 2 at the site in a material entitled "Cartoon War" that wrote on protest among Moslems indignant over Danish cartoons.

Gazeta.Ru editorial staff expressed disagreement with the service. Its editor-in-chief Mikhail Mikhailin said the material and pictures had been aimed at representing the anti-Danish protest in the Muslim world as an important social event.

The website is considering a possibility to challenge the service's notice in a court.

Earlier, Russian newspaper "Our Region+" was closed after having republished the cartoons. The paper editor was charged with arousing national hatred.
http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/03/09/gazetaru.shtml

****

Yes, even Belarus has done better than CNN. Belarus is known, if at all, as a nasty little dictatorship. And yet the people of the Belarus press found themselves able to screw up the nerve they needed to print the Mohammed cartoons and suffer the consequences. Not ours, not the BBC.

****

Belarus Paper Faces Trial Over Prophet Muhammad Cartoons

Created: 22.02.2006 20:36 MSK (GMT +3)

MosNews

The Belarussian State Security Committee has initiated a criminal case against the Zgoda newspaper for publishing caricatures satirizing the Prophet Muhammad, a source in the country's prosecutor's office told Interfax on Wednesday.

"The criminal case was opened following an investigation carried out by the republic's prosecutor's office and the State Security Committee. The inquiry was conducted at the request of the committee for religious and ethnic affairs and the Muslim community of Belarus," the source said.

"The criminal case was initiated based on charges of incitement of racial, ethnic and religious hatred — Part 1, Article 130 of the Criminal Code of Belarus," he said.

The case materials have already been forwarded to the State Security Committee.

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/02/22/belapaper.shtml

****
Cartoonists draw support

Political lampooners gird for a busy schedule in run-up to elections

By Kristina Alda Staff Writer, The Prague Post
March 08, 2006

'We're flying to make contact with new civilizations ... We'd better leave the cartoonist at home ...'

If Prime Minister Jiří Paroubek loses in June's general election, cartoonists across the country — regardless of their political affiliation — will weep.

Like former Social Democratic Prime Minister Miloš Zeman, Paroubek is a favorite among those who make a living drawing political caricatures for local papers and magazines.

"He's got such great strong features," says Štěpán Mareš, 33, who draws the "Zelený Raoul" comic strip for the weekly magazine Reflex. "He's always saying ridiculous things and getting caught up in scandals."

Politicians do battle on television and on the campaign trail, but it is often their depiction on the opinion pages of periodicals that shape public discussion. With the election approaching, cartoonists are sharpening their pencils and their wits, eager to administer a few more jabs at Paroubek, Health Minister David Rath, Culture Minister Vítězslav Jandák and other strong-featured political figures who function as fodder for the funnies.

But that preparation comes at a time when their profession is under more scrutiny than ever, after caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that first appeared in a Danish newspaper ignited weeks of violent protest throughout the Muslim world and fresh debate over the basic right of free expression.

Miroslav Kemel, 42, a cartoonist who draws for Mladá fronta Dnes, likens the pre-election period to harvest time. "Politicians really stick their necks out," he says.

Which is just the way cartoonists like it. "It's great," Mareš says. "They're all trying to outdo one another in who can act more stupid."

But Mareš, whom former Minister Without Portfolio Karel Březina sued several years ago for a particularly unflattering likeness, insists he never tries to be malicious without reason. "All I do is offer a slightly warped mirror," he says.

Poking fun

That has been the role of cartoonists since man learned to draw. Like the Shakespearean fool, cartoonists can get away with underlining certain unpleasant truths that a regular political commentator might miss.

"Cartoons were always an important political tool," says Jakub Končelík, a media studies lecturer at Charles University's Faculty of Social Sciences.

One reason is because Czechs love humor, especially dark humor. "It's so natural for Czechs to make fun of those who rule," says Končelík.

"In times of trouble, Czechs like to poke fun," he says. "During World War II, the Germans called Czechs 'the laughing beasts.' It's their way of dealing with the situation."

Fearing for cartoon liberty

Which is why most Czech cartoonists found Europe's reaction to the outrage over the cartoons of Prophet Muhammad worrying.

"I think it's disturbing that new democracies such as Slovakia and the Czech Republic are backing Denmark, while many West European countries are holding back," says Mareš.

Mareš questions the comments of Javier Solana, the European Union's high representative for common foreign and security policy, who has promised that something like the publishing of the Muhammad cartoons will never happen again. "But how can he guarantee that?" Mareš says.

According to Mareš, the answer would be censorship. "I'm starting to fear for the liberty of cartoonists," he says.

Končelík is also concerned. "The whole controversy surrounding the cartoons of Prophet Muhammad was a matter of an utter lack of understanding on both sides," he says. "To many Muslims it's inconceivable that the Danish prime minister can't influence the content of a daily paper."

Of course, even politically independent papers in democratic countries practice a certain level of self-censorship.

"Under the communist regime, I encountered censorship on a regular basis," recalls Vladimír Jiránek, 67, who draws for Lidové noviny and is arguably the country's premier cartoonist. "It taught me to express myself in more indirect ways with subtext rather than saying something overtly."

Jiránek says the general rule for choosing a subject is that his or her actions must in some way set the tone of political culture in this country.

"I try to maintain some distance when doing caricature," he says. "For some people caricatures are toothless and uninteresting."

It's no easy task. A cartoonist's typical day usually starts with reading all the country's major papers and following the political debates on television.

Mareš says he spends 10 to 12 hours a day drawing, including the weekends.

In the past he has come across certain topics that were off limits for some Czech papers, he says. "It was nearly impossible to make fun of religion, the pope, Gypsies and other minorities, even if the jokes were innocuous," he says.

Kemel, the cartoonist who draws for Mladá fronta Dnes, notes that cartoonists themselves practice self-censorship.

Given the current political climate, he says he wouldn't draw something along the lines of the cartoons of Prophet Muhammad. Otherwise, though, Kemel says he has no taboo topics when drawing for an intelligent audience.

"A cartoonist should be able to appropriately react to world events," says Kemel. "He can't live detached from reality."
Kristina Alda can be reached at kalda@praguepost.com

****

What then do we in the modern West get from our journalists and intellectuals who do live in a phantasy world of their own making, one that refuses to report on the world as it is? We get much tripe. We get our news from each other from the Internet. We meet and exchange our ideas and opinions. We must do so because we cannot trust the intelligentsia not to lie to us from the cloud cuckoo land they inhabit. Who needs them? Only the police states and Left dhimmi fascists who love them. But not I. Not you. Thank God for courageous people in Russia, Belarus, and the Czech Republic bringing us our news.

Jihad in Trinidad

The line from criminal psychopath to Muslim convert is, for those who know the history of Islam and the life of its founder Mohammed, exceedingly straight. Islam glorifies the life of a criminal and treats his life as exemplary. From there it is reasonable that a Trinidadian criminal would follow his line and turn from crime to politicio-religious based crime. It's almost a match made in Heaven, or rather made in Hell.

None of which would concern many people were it not that Trinidad is too close to the United States and major nations in south America for anyone to ignore the echoes of Islamically motivated criminality that can spread from Trinidad to surrounding areas with great facility. With Islam growing in influence and violence around the world, as it grows in Trinidad it will perhaps grow in neighbouring nations, wrecking any chance of Human progress in favor or the most ruinous retrograde and primitive fascism known in the world at this time.

We've written about Trinidad before in these pages, so we will here turn to the nation and follow the local account itself.
****

Jamaat al-Muslimeen on Trial in Trinidad and Tobago

By Chris Zambelis

The ongoing legal case against Imam Yasin Abu Bakr, the founder and leader of Trinidad's and Tobago's Jamaat al-Muslimeen (Muslim Group), continues to shed light on the group's radical and criminal activities.

The 64 year-old Abu Bakr is a former police officer and Afro-Trinidadian Muslim convert born Lenox Philip. He has been a thorn in the side of the Trinidadian authorities and a fixture of Trinidadian politics since the mid-1980s. He is best known for leading over 100 members of the Jamaat in storming the National Parliament and taking the prime minister and the cabinet hostage in 1990 to protest a land ownership dispute with the government, poverty in the Afro-Trinidadian community, and state corruption. The ensuing siege set off rioting and violence in the capital of Port of Spain that resulted in scores of deaths and injuries and heavy damages. It also left an indelible mark on Trinidadian politics that is still felt today.

He and others involved in the coup attempt escaped prosecution and subsequent imprisonment after negotiations to end the hostage standoff resulted in a general amnesty for him and his organization.

Abu Bakr's latest antics have led to his arrest and incarceration since November 2005 on terrorism and weapons charges. The latest charges implicate Abu Bakr in a string of bombings that hit Port of Spain and St. James in 2005. He is also accused of ordering the murder of former members of the Jamaat that were expelled or split from the group because of ideological differences or shifts in allegiance to rival Afro-Trinidadian Muslim groups (Tobago Express, January 20; Trinidad Guardian, January 28, 2005).

Over the years, the Jamaat has been tied to extensive criminal activity that includes narcotics and weapons trafficking, kidnapping for ransom—a growing problem in Trinidad and a favorite tactic of urban street gangs—money laundering, and extortion. In fact, many observers count the Jamaat alongside Trinidad's most notorious street gangs in terms of criminal prowess. The Jamaat is also known to wage turf battles with rival groups for influence over territory.

In a February 2006 incident, the son of Hasan Ali, an imam associated with Jamaat al-Muslimeen, was murdered by members of the "G-Unit," a street gang (Trinidad & Tobago Express, February 19). Local sources think the targeting of the imam's son by the G-Unit was part of the larger turf war between it and the Jamaat for influence in poor Afro-Trinidadian neighborhoods, namely control over lucrative criminal networks.

Until now, Abu Bakr's influence among a narrow, albeit vocal segment of the Afro-Trinidadian population, and his willingness to resort to violence and other radical measures, made him virtually untouchable. His reach extends from corrupt elements of the police and security services all the way to the upper echelons of political power, including Trinidad's major political parties. This influence insulated him from prosecution. Abu Bakr sees himself as a "Kingmaker" of sorts in Trinidad's volatile political scene, especially but not exclusively among political parties that count Afro-Trinidadians as a base of support.

Abu Bakr's ability to mobilize voters prior to elections is marginal and is often exaggerated; it is his ability to pressure the government in vulnerable areas that makes him influential. In a testament to that influence, Abu Bakr convinced the state in 2002 to grant him the authority over lucrative state-owned land in Valencia. He later mined the land, only to resell the extracted materials back to the government (Trinidad Guardian, October 23, 2005). In doing so, Abu Bakr's Jamaat was able to earn vital revenue and provide jobs and social services to its members and supporters.

Beginning of the End?

Abu Bakr's videotaped statements during his November 4, 2005 Eid al-Fitr sermon at his Mucurapo Road, St. James Mosque, calling on all Trinidadian Muslims, wealthy Muslims in particular, to donate zakat ("charity") to his mosque or face "bloodshed in 2006," combined with the growing crime spree gripping Trinidad's cities that is often tied to him, may ultimately lead to his downfall (Trinidad Guardian, November 8, 2005). Many observers interpreted Abu Bakr's singling out of "wealthy Muslims" as a direct threat against Trinidad's East Indian Muslim community, a frequent target of the Jamaat.

These statements, coupled with escalating incidents of violent crime in Trinidad's cities, have the potential to destabilize the country. Although going after the Jamaat will by no means end Trinidad's crime problem, it is seen by many as the ideal place to start.

Abu Bakr is no stranger to Trinidad's legal system. He and many of his followers have faced serious jail time on numerous occasions, only to be released in the end for political reasons after serving modest sentences or no time at all (Trinidad & Tobago Newsday, August 7, 2005). Due to his impressive track record, many local sources think that he may even escape the latest charges as well.

At the same time, the prosecution's strong case against him and the government's efforts to go after his organization have taken on a greater sense of urgency. For example, Abu Bakr continues to be denied bail, which was unheard of in the past, despite Jamaat assurances that they will do everything in their power to topple the current government if their leader is not freed on bond (Trinidad & Tobago Express, January 31). The state is also moving to confiscate his properties and to evict his four wives from his numerous homes. It is also pressing the Jamaat to pay back over $30 million to the state for property damaged during the coup attempt.

In addition, Abu Bakr is facing separate conspiracy charges alleging that he instructed two of his lieutenants to kill expelled Jamaat members Salim Rasheed and Zaki Aubaidah. Aubaidah happens to be Abu Bakr's son-in-law. The high profile botched murder attempt left an innocent woman dead and other bystanders seriously injured.

The Nature of Afro-Trinidadian Radical Islam

A key aspect of radical Islam in Trinidad is the Afro-Trinidadian character of organizations such as the Jamaat al-Muslimeen and its numerous offshoots, which include the Wajihatul Islamiyyah (Islamic Front), Jamaat al-Murabiteen (The Almoravids), and Jammat al-Islami al-Karibi (Caribbean Islamic Group).

Abu Bakr's worldview was influenced strongly by the "Black Power" movements that emerged in the U.S. and the Caribbean in the 1960s and 70s. He claims to be inspired by what is known in Trinidad as the 1970 "Black Power Revolt," which entailed bloody race riots between Blacks and East Indians (see Lennox Grant, "The Way We Were," in Trinidad Under Siege, The Muslimeen Uprising: 6 Days of Terror). The discourse of groups such as the Jamaat al-Muslimeen and its offshoots borrows heavily from the militant fringes of pan-African nationalist movements such as the Nation of Islam. Like the Nation of Islam, Afro-Trinidadian Islamists claim to advocate for all Afro-Trinidadians, and not solely for the tiny Black Muslim minority.

Radical Afro-Trinidadian Muslim organizations are led by and comprised almost exclusively of Black converts to Sunni Islam. Afro-Trinidadian Muslims make up a tiny fraction of Trinidad's overall Muslim minority, which is dominated by East Indian Sunni and Shiite Muslims. For many Afro-Trinidadians, conversion to Islam signifies their assertion of identity in a society in which they are underserved and face discrimination. It is important to emphasize that because most of Trinidad's radical Islamist groups are dominated by Afro-Trinidadian Muslim converts, not all Black Muslim converts can be labeled as radical.

Significantly, the above-mentioned groups are led by former protégés of Abu Bakr who parted ways or were expelled from his Jamaat. Abu Bakr's prosecution is unlikely to lead to the end of the Jamaat al-Muslimeen, or the radical current among Afro-Trinidadian Muslim groups in Trinidad more generally, at least in the near-term.

Due to Abu Bakr's overriding influence over the Jamaat, however, his departure would certainly land a massive blow to the group's viability. Although many of his followers continue to see him as a hero that stands up for social justice, in reality Abu Bakr is seen more as a criminal kingpin than anything else.

Dedicated followers of Abu Bakr are likely to carry on their efforts under the leadership of Kala Aki Bua, the Jamaat's welfare officer and second in command (Trinidad & Tobago Express, February 7). He assumed a leadership role after Abu Bakr's latest arrest, but it is unclear whether he would be able to carry on much longer as the group's leader. Instead, many may look to other groups for guidance. Others may choose to start their own movements.

Al-Qaeda in Trinidad?

Trinidadian and international sources often point to the presence of al-Qaeda and other international terrorist organizations in Trinidad and Tobago with the potential to threaten U.S. interests in the Caribbean Basin and Latin America. Due to its lucrative energy reserves and its strategic placement in the Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela, and Muslim minority, part of which has a history of resorting to political violence, many observers believe that Trinidad represents an attractive target for groups such as al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda's documented successes recruiting Muslim converts elsewhere, including Afro-Caribbean converts, is also a point of concern.

The tendency of groups such as Jamaat al-Muslimeen to resort to violence against the state and its rivals and to engage in criminal activities has also led some to worry about the influence of radicals such as Abu Bakr and their potential to collaborate with international terrorist organizations with broader agendas.

In reality, the brand of Islamist radicalism found in Trinidad has so far remained a strictly Trinidadian phenomenon stemming from a narrow fringe of the Muslim community, essentially an outgrowth of the fractured body politic that characterizes Trinidadian politics. The ethnic divide between Trinidad's African and East Indian communities that transcends sectarian affiliation, in addition to the rivalry between the tiny Afro-Trinidadian Muslim minority and Trinidad's influential East Indian Muslim community in particular, goes far in explaining the trajectory of the movement.

Given this background, there is little evidence to suggest that groups such as Jamaat al-Muslimeen or its offshoots in Trinidad represent ideal allies for al-Qaeda, although their documented role in extensive crime should be of concern.
--
http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2369924
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No one is a island entire of itself; every man is a part of the continent. What happens in Trinidad might seem far away and unimportant to the lives of Westerners living in suburbs and relative comfort, but the fact is that if we allow our Islamic problem to grow unchecked we make it even more certain that the same problem will find even more chance to expand at the fringes of our lives. If we here don't curtail and destroy violent criminal Islam, in other places no so far away it will be even bolder due to our neglect of it locally. Conversely, to crush Islam at our peripheries is to help crush it at home. As the Muslim world boycotts Denmark, we too can pressure Trinidad to prosecute its violent Muslims to the full and proper extent of the law. We're not helpless. We are not dependent on our politicians. We can write letters to the Trinidadian government and organize our neighbours to refrain from purchasing Trinidadian products if they in turn refuse to stop their own misbehaviours that affect us. With a concerted effort, within a month there will be no Muslim crime problem in Trinidad with the right pressure applied to its government and businesses. This is a practical lesson we and they and the world can learn quickly and effectively, and from it we can come to understand the strength of the Western world viscerally. We have immense power if only we will use it. It is of benefit to all, including Trinidadians. We can show that by following the line from criminality to Islam is one that leads to ruin. After that, those who do follow it will more likely end up in prison than in places of power.

Blue Revoluton Meeting at Vancouver Public Library.

Another meeting has gone well with the Blue Revolution in Vancouver, Canada. We met at the Vancouver Public Library, chatted briefly with a novelist, Scott, (anasurimbor@rogers.com) on tour promoting his latest work published by Penguin, and then got to our own work, idscussing jihad and the general menace that is the colonizing force of Islam.

This city and its residents have not yet been directly attacked by Islamic jihadi but there are multiple groups from all nations on Earth living here who have fled from jihad in their native lands, people from India, Iraq, The Phillipines, Russian Trinidad; and there are Christians and Buddhists and Animists and all other groups who have suffered at the hands of Islamic terror. We feel that we can and must unite with such groups to prevent the Islamic colonization of our particular piece of the world and act in solidarity with those others who suffer more directly than we here do now.

As always we were able to provide each other with a deepeer and broader understanding of the nature of Islam. We read, we bring to the table new insights and understanding, and we influence those around us by speaking openly about this concern that deeply effects us all.

We hope to do more 'outreach' work in the coming weeks by printing leaflets on issues of concern to women and homosexuals and Christians in relation to Islam. There are ethnic communities who might be open to working with us as a broad coalition of those who will not allow further encroachments of sharia and Islamic triumphalism here. We can, for example, reach out to Christians and ask that they support their co-religionists under threat and often at risk of death from jihad; that Christians refrain from funding jihad through charitable donations to Islamic groups such as HAMAS, which the Presbyterians do so often, and that instead they give relief to fellow Christians who risk being murdered by Muslims. We hope to produce effective leaflets showing that homosexuals, for example, should not be worrying themselves over the likes of Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson, marginal people who pose no real threat to anyone, but that homosexuals should worry themselves to action to prevent Islam from gaining any strength in the West if homosexuals wish to live, not simply as homosexuals, but at all. We hope to make leaflets and give them to various representatives of their respective communities in order that we might all unite against this common violent and immediate threat to our lives.

Our meeting went nicely, as always, and we'll meet again next Thursday or another session during which we'll examine of prototype leaflets and finalise our work on them.

If you had a meeting of your own or wish to comment on this, please feel free.

The normal lunacy of Islam

Yemen Seeks Execution of Local Editor Over Muhammad Cartoons

March 9 (Bloomberg) -- A newspaper editor in Yemen who republished Danish cartoons depicting Islam's founding prophet Muhammad said Yemeni prosecutors are calling for his execution.

``I am afraid but I am also hopeful,'' Muhammad al-Asadi of the Yemen Observer said in a telephone interview today from the capital, Sana'a. ``We were against the cartoons and we wanted only to explain about Islam. I hope the judge will see that.''

Al-Asadi was arrested in February and charged under a press law that bans publication of anything that ``prejudices the Islamic faith and its lofty principles, or belittles monotheistic religions or humanitarian creeds.'' He said the prosecution may be motivated by the English-language newspaper's reporting on corruption in the country's embassies. Calls to the Information Ministry, which oversees the media, weren't answered.

The editor spent 12 days in a prison run by the Prosecutor for the Press, before being released on bail. Three other Yemeni journalists also have been jailed for reprinting the cartoons, which angered Muslims worldwide and led to violent demonstrations in countries including Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.

The 12 images, some of which link the prophet to terrorism, were first published in Denmark's largest broadsheet, Jyllands- Posten, in September. Carsten Juste, editor-in-chief at the Danish daily, apologized for offending Muslims in a statement on the newspaper's Web site on Jan. 31.

Precedent

As many as 21 Yemeni prosecution lawyers asked for the death penalty in yesterday's proceedings, arguing a precedent was set during Muhammad's lifetime, according to al-Asadi. He said the lawyers recounted a story in which the prophet praised one of his companions for killing a woman who had insulted him. [See text and link link below.]

The prosecution, commissioned by the head of a legislative committee, also called for the confiscation of the newspaper's property and assets, and for compensation, al-Asadi said. The case opened on Feb. 15 and was adjourned until March 22, he said.

The Yemenis are among 11 journalists in five countries being prosecuted for printing the cartoons. Six journalists have been jailed and 13 publications have been closed in Algeria, Morocco, Jordan, Yemen, Malaysia and Indonesia, according to Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based organization that promotes freedom of the press and works to end censorship.

License Revoked

The Yemen Observer's license to print newspapers was revoked in a temporary action that the government is trying to make permanent. The staff has continued to publish on the Internet.

Judge Sahl Mohammed Hamza said in yesterday's session that ``many things'' were missing from the prosecution team's argument, and told them to complete their file before adjourning the trial for two weeks, according to the Yemen Observer.

The Washington-based Committee to Protect Journalists on Jan. 26 said it was alarmed by the deterioration of press freedom in Yemen over the last several months, according to a statement in its Web site. Journalists who have covered protests, reported on official corruption, or criticized the president or government policies, have all been targeted, the group said.

Al-Asadi said he was very careful in the way he chose to reprint the cartoons, and didn't think he would cause offense.

``We selected three of the 12 images, reduced them to all fit in a 7-by-9 centimeter (2.75-by-3.5 inch) box, and printed a thick black X over them to show we disproved of them,'' he said.

Accompanying articles denounced the cartoons, called for calm and explained that the prophet should be honored.

``We wrote in an editorial that the cartoons were terrible but we should accept the apologies of the newspaper that published them and move on,'' al-Asadi said. ``That's what angered really the hard-liners.''

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=au5QoLRbYfFI&refer=europe#
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Poetry was the usual medium of political discourse in medieval Arabia and Asma Marwan wrote a politically charged poem against Muhammad and his army; this poem was preserved in the Sira. Poetry, being the political medium of the time, could have a huge impact on the political landscape. Muhammad decided to silence her by having her assassinated. This story is described in the Sira written by Ibn Ishaq. Following is an excerpt from Alfred Guillaume's translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sira, describes that Muhammad commanded one of his soldiers to murder Asma Marwan; the assassination squad is described as having murdered Asma with knives while she was sleeping alongside her children.

More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asma_bint_Marwan
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Blue Scarf Meeting Thursday Evening. Update.

Gathering of Redneck Infidels for Eating Pork

Weekly,

We plan to meet 7pm March 9, 2006 at Jim & Nick's (You must try the braised collards)
We are not however going to be at the Homewood location, but rather the 280 Inverness location. There appears some good news of late regarding blue scarf sightings in Tennessee. Go Eddie!

And, I am proud to see that the Mobile Register and the University of South Alabama's Vanguard still believe in a free press.
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We will meet in Vancouver, Canada at the Vancouver Public Library at 7-9:00 pm in the atrium Thusday. Please join us or leave a time and location where others can meet you.
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SEATTLE, WASHINGTON:

I just realized my response to your reply never
showed up on your blog.
I'm running out the door to work.... but I will be at
the Seattle Public Library from 7 until 8:30 tonight
(then off to other job)--- with blue scarf. If I'm
alone with my thoughts, that will be nothing new.

Best regards

Fleur
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ILLINOIS:

Island Lake , Illinois , at the McDonald's on IL Rt. 176, (otherwise known as Liberty St., across from the strip mall with Dunkin Donuts) from 7-8 PM tonight.

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European Coup D'Etat Unfolds

The following essay belongs to the day's theme of public resistance to the dhimmi intelligentsia who are accruing powers of dictatorial levels. We look in amazement at the brazenness of the intelligentsia's lies and their utter and complete contempt for the people, and here we'll see just how deep that contempt is. I argue that the European elitists are staging a coup d'etat against democracy.

We are called to revolution by the actions of our so-called intelligentsia. They betray the public trust an the common wealth. We must stop them and roll back all their attempts at a neo-feudalist reaction. Consider the text below carefully and conclude as you will. I argue that we are witnessing the overthrow of democracy by an elitist gang of dictators, that they are staging before our unbelieving eyes, a putsch.

This silent trudge to enslavement and Eurabianisation under neo-feudalists can still be prevented and rolled back. It requires commitment from citizens. The commitment of the elitists is clear in the essay below. If your doesn't match, then you are doomed and so are your children. We are witnessing here a fully developed putch in the works, the overthrow of Western Modernity and its replacement with pre-Modern feudalist social relations, i.e. we will again live the lives of farm animals. There is time to prevent this dictatorship of the elites, and only you can prevent it. Read this entry and consider what the elitists of Europe propose. Match this with your own observations, and decide what if anything you will do to act to stop the dictatorship of the privileged. This is a move to return the world to feudalism. This is what the past 40 years are about. This is again a fascist attempt to destroy Modernity and democracy, the rule of individuals as free people. You have to consider where you stand and whether you will act. This is as significant as anything that we will see in our life-times, and it is up to you, dear reader, to decide your future, the future of your family, and the future of Mankind. This is the rise of our fascist enemy from the ashes of World War Two. This is your time. How will you act? What is your choice? Can you resist this coup d'etat?

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Obsessed with Constitution as Europe Sinks

From the desk of Paul Belien on Tue, 2006-03-07 23:09

After the Titanic hit the iceberg it took a while before the captain, officers, crew and passengers realized that they were doomed. The first to realize that the vessel was going down were the passengers below deck. The same is true for Europe today. While the indigenous lower classes have – in a panic, but rationally – begun to vote in ever growing numbers for so-called populist, "islamophobe" politicians, the European establishment politicians and mainstream media are discussing how to revive the European Constitution which the voters in France and the Netherlands rejected last year.

Instead of trying to prevent an impending clash of cultures, the establishment politicians are totally absorbed in efforts to circumvent the rejection of their constitutional project. The assassinations of Pim Fortuyn and Theo van Gogh, the bombings in Madrid and London, the French riots, the Danish cartoon case, should have been so many warnings to even the blindest establishment, but all Europe's politicians care about is that when Europe goes down it goes down with a constitution.

Europe's current predicament has two causes. A self-inflicted "demographic winter" is setting in on the continent. Last week the Finance committee of the French Assembly wrote that by 2030 Europe will represent only 8% of the world's population, compared with 22% in 1950. Within the same period the average age of its citizens will rise from 29 to 39 years and the fertility rate will drop from 2.6 to 1.4. The situation is particularly serious in Germany, Italy and Spain. These dramatic figures are all the more worrying as they take into account the large immigrant population that has settled Europe since the 1960s and '70s.

In the midst of its demographic implosion Europe invited in large numbers of fecund people belonging to an alien culture and religion. This in itself was asking for problems. The latter were exacerbated by the second cause of Europe's predicament: the refusal of Europe's ruling elites to uphold law and order and to defend its traditional values and institutions, such as the nation-state. It is this combination of "lazy multiculturalism and corroded civil society" that is killing Europe. The EU Constitution is an example of the corrosion of one of the most important of Western institutions, the national state. But Europe's politicians, including its new leaders, fail to notice and are foolishly exacerbating the situation.

Last Saturday it was revealed that German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who never made a secret of her desire to revive the European constitutional treaty, along with the cunning French president Jacques Chirac, have devised a Franco-German plan to present the core of the EU Constitution to the French and Dutch voters again. According to the German weekly Der Spiegel Berlin and Paris have been hatching the following scheme to "save" the EU Constitution: The rejected constitutional treaty would be reduced to its first two parts, that which sets out the EU's competences and the charter of fundamental rights of the union. A political declaration would be added and the new document would be put to a fresh poll in both France and the Netherlands. The remaining third part of the text, detailing the EU's policies, would subsequently be ratified by the French and Dutch parliaments, thus completing the ratification of the entire EU Constitution.

Earlier Ms Merkel had proposed to attach a "social protocol" to the failed Constitution in order to "make it more acceptable to French and Dutch public opinion." Europe's leaders would be required to sign a declaration on the "social dimension of Europe" in order to soothe the fears of Socialist voters that the EU will liberalize the economy.

The Franco-German plot seems already to have met with the approval of Belgium, which throughout its 175-year history has always been a French vassal (apart from the short periods when it collaborated with Germany). Belgium's Prime Minister, Guy Verhofstadt, is an outspoken proponent of a federal European superstate, a "United States of Europe," which will be a Greater Belgium. Yesterday Matti Vanhanen and José Socrates, the Prime Ministers of Finland and Portugal also called for a European Constitution based on the existing draft. Earlier Miguel Angel Moratinos, the Spanish Foreign Minister, made it clear that Spain also wants the Constitution implemented.

Another cunning old Frenchman, former President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, also wants a revival of the rejected Constitution. Mr Giscard, the chairman of the group that authored the European Constitution and an anti-democratic conspirator, said in a recent lecture [pdf] at the London School of Economics on 28 February that the "rejection of the Constitution [by the French and Dutch voters] was a mistake which will have to be corrected." Referring to earlier EU referendums on the Maastricht and Nice treaties where Ireland and Denmark were forced to vote over and over again until they accepted the texts imposed by the EU, he said that "if the Irish and the Danes can vote yes in the end, so the can the French [and the Dutch]."

"The Constitution will have to be given a second chance," Mr Giscard added, because the electorate, he claimed, had voted no out of an "error of judgement" and "ignorance." He stressed that Europe's leaders would not be stopped by the people: "In the end, the text will be adopted." He also said "We want a political union," adding "it is no longer a case of debating what we want to do, but determining how we do it." He said that an "urgent task" for the EU now is to "carefully prepare a realistic timetable and binding commitments with a view to establishing the European political Union." He made it quite clear that "It was a mistake to use the referendum process, but when you make a mistake you can correct it." He also predicted that the Constitution would be a stepping stone to further integration later, arguing that "adoption of the Constitution will not be enough to complete Europe's political union," and that the Constitution is for this generation, but for the next generation "there will be something else."

It is unclear why an otherwise sensible woman such as Ms Merkel is willing to play the game of the anti-democratic and corrupt Mr Giscard and save the Constitution he authored. Does she wants to prove that as a woman she will be able to succeed where the men failed? Or is she eager to divert attention from her own domestic problems, such as the increase of Germany's unemployment rate to 12.2%, with over 5 million now out of work. Next week, at their meeting on 14 March, the EU finance ministers will probably decide to give Germany one more year to bring its budget deficit below the maximum set by the EU. Germany set the deficit rules in the 1990s, but last year it pressured the EU to relax them because it can no longer comply with them.

The French political class, however, has not yet reached an agreement on how to proceed with the EU Constitution. Nicolas Sarkozy, the French interior minister and presidential hopeful, is reluctant to put the Constitution to the voters a second time. Instead he would prefer to adopt only those proposals of the rejected treaty which enjoy a "large consensus." This is the so-called "cherry-picking" approach, which is designed to lead to a "Constitution lite." The cherries that Mr Sarkozy wants to pick include the new system of weighted votes, a restriction of the national veto, the creation of an EU foreign minister and increased checks against over-regulation by national parliaments. He stressed, however, that he does not favour a new French referendum on the Constitution, saying "I will not be the one who will tell the French that they have misunderstood the question." Mr Sarkozy is currently touring Europe to promote his idea for a "mini constitutional treaty" (and also to enhance his international prestige for the 2007 French presidential elections).

A recent survey conducted among the Brussels establishment of Eurocrats – EU politicians, journalists, lobbyists, NGO chiefs and bureaucrats – shows widespread support for constitutional cherry-picking. Of those questioned in the survey 70% believed that such moves towards a "Constitution lite" would not be undemocratic.

However, there are also "hardliners" who insist that the Constitution is dead since the French and the Dutch rejected it. Outspoken proponents of this position are Poland and the Netherlands.

Last January the Polish president Lech Kaczynski said that the EU should draft a new text because the one currently on the table pushes for more integration than the citizens are willing to accept. "That constitution created a certain hybrid, which was not a European superstate yet, but was not that far from it," he said. Adam Bielan, the spokesman of Law and Justice (PiS), Mr Kaczynski's party, said that Europe should focus on more pressing matters rather than "waste time" trying to revive the "dead" Constitution. "The Constitution must be ratified by all. The decisions of France and the Netherlands have closed the matter," he said. Ben Bot, the Dutch Foreign Minister, also said that the Constitution was "as good as dead." He ruled out the possibility of the Dutch parliament ratifying a treaty which the people had rejected in a referendum.

http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/886/
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The staggering duplicities of our public intellectuals must now be clearly understood for what they if one has digested text above. We are on the march to feudalsim.

It's difficult to suddenly assimilate the facts of a war declared on democracy. That is exactly what we witness above. The volley fired is the signal that democracy is under attack in a blitzkrieg as of now. for any who have missed the signs and signals previously, this is the sound we needed to hear, the sight we needed to see, the idea we had to grasp to understand the prior movements of our enemies. We are witnessing the end of Modernism and democracy. We are under attack from our own governments obviously and undisguisedly.

We might find ourselves in a state of shock that our own leaders would betray the trust of our democracies, but such is so. This event, no less that the German invasion of Europe, is too massive to ignore any longer, and it is of a philosophical piece. Because of the spectacular drama of this move we might find ourselves in a state of disbelieving shock. We might choose to ignore this move by the elitists, might choose to quibble or deny the reality of this move to quash our Modernity and to drive the world's population back to the age of feudalism.


Before our very eyes, dear readers, we are witnessing a coup d'etat, as defined by wikipedia from one of my favorite youthful readings:


Coups typically use the power of the existing government for its own takeover. As Edward Luttwak remarks in his Coup d'état: A practical handbook: "A coup consists of the infiltration of a small but critical segment of the state apparatus, which is then used to displace the government from its control of the remainder." In this sense, use of military or other organized force is not the defining feature of a coup d'état. Any seizure of the state apparatus by extra-legal tactics may be considered a coup, according to Luttwak.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_coup

If you think that wars and revolutions are a thing of the past in Europe, please consider what we are witnessing today. This is the beginning of war in Europe. Where do you stand? We are facing a coup d'tat. This is a war against the people. What Is To De Done?

UNC Jihadi claims Islamic Motivation; FBI don't get it.

On Friday last week a 23-year-old Iranian, Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, drove a large rented SUV Jeep Grand Cherokee into a crowd of 500-1000 people at the University of Norch Carolina with the expressed intention of killing as many as he possibly could to "avenge the deaths of Muslims." He drove his vehicle into "The Pit" at the UNC-Chapel Hill campus around noon Friday.

The details follow in three articles from local news publications. What we do not find great mention of is that a Muslim, motivated by Islamic ideology, tried to murder people because of Islam. Our intelligentsia are in agressive denial mode. They are shockingly obvious in their pursiut of lies and obfuscations.

To clarify this story somewhat we turn first to two commentors from http://jihadwatch.org for some truth.:
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A friend who lives in Chapel Hill told me this: "Chapel Hill is a very upscale area that refuses to acknowledge any kind of crime problem. If news leaked out that Chapel Hill had a crime problem, UNC Medical would lose millions of dollars in tuition and government grants. Affluent people would start to leave the area and property values would drop. After all, rich people don't spend money to send their children to schools that get attacked by terrorists. Chapel Hill/UNC Medical will be crime free. That means no terrorists, no problems. Just a nice safe environment where your kids can go to get an education. That is why the school doesn't want to label this as "an act of terrorism". Nothing to see her folks, so move along. No terrorism, no Muslim fundamentalists, no Islamists. Smile. Be happy. It's business as usual."

Posted by: Bohemond_1069 at March 6, 2006 12:40 PM
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/010501.php#comments
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I was there on Friday. One of my two offices is located in Lenoir Hall a.k.a. the dining hall (In front of the Bookstore and across The Pit). He slowly drove his Cherokee on the south side of Lenoir Hall and turned left. His vehicle was idling and pointed towards the Pit. He then accelerated so quickly that he spun his back wheels and roared toward well over 500 to 1000 innocent students. He later calmly called 911 and stated his reasons for this "act of violence." Once he uttered his reason it became terrorism. His sole purpose was to "avenge the treatment of Muslims" kill and strike fear. That is terrorism as we know it today. If I drive my SUV through a crowded park because I see my wife embracing another man...that is a spontaneous act of violence. This was planned.

Posted by: Bill at March 8, 2006 10:56 AM

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FBI Joins Investigation Of UNC Hit-And-Run

Man Charged With Incident May Have Had Political Motive

POSTED: 12:30 pm EST March 3, 2006

UPDATED: 2:22 pm EST March 4, 2006

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Authorities say 23-year-old Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, who drove a silver Jeep Grand Cherokee into The Pit at the UNC-Chapel Hill campus around noon Friday, may have acted to avenge American treatment of Muslims.Police intend to charge Taheri-azar, who graduated from UNC in December with a dual degree in psychology and philosophy, with nine counts of attempted murder and nine counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, said Capt. George Hare of the UNC Department of Public Safety.The FBI joined the case because Taheri-azar, a native of Iran, "allegedly made statements that he acted to avenge the American treatment of Muslims. The ongoing investigation will work to confirm this," said Special Agent Richard Kolko, an FBI spokesman in Washington.Last month, Muslim students at UNC protested the publication in The Daily Tar Heel student newspaper of an original cartoon depicting the prophet Muhammad. Islam is interpreted to forbid any illustrations of Muhammad for fear they could lead to idolatry. The recent publication of a series of cartoons of Muhammad in European newspapers sparked violent protests in the Middle East and elsewhere.The Muslim Students Association, which was among the leading critics of the cartoon, said Teheri-azar had never been a member of the group and denounced him on its Web site."Regardless of what his intentions prove to be, we wholeheartedly deplore this action, and trust that our fellow classmates will be able to dissociate the actions of this one disturbed individual from the beliefs of the Muslim community as a whole," the statement said. "Peace be upon you all."All Injured Now Out Of HospitalSix people -- five students and a visiting lecturer -- were taken to UNC Hospitals with minor injuries, hospital spokesman Tom Hughes said. All six have been treated and released. Three other people declined treatment on the scene, according to police.Authorities found the vehicle used in the hit-and-run on Plant Road near Franklin Street and Taheri-azar was taken into custody. Authorities said that drugs and alcohol are not believed to have been involved.A student who witnessed the event, said that the SUV was going between 40 and 45 mph when it hit the students at the Pit, which is located in an open area surrounded by two libraries, a dining hall and the Frank Porter Graham Student Union on campus.Campus police said Taheri-azar used an area designed to give access to Lenoir Hall to work his way to the Pit. Coming from the parking lots in the north side of Davis Library, a car could travel down the side of the cafeteria and end up in the Pit from there. Normally, there are barricades up but on Friday, they were not in place.

WRAL
Mohammed Taheri-azar was taken from the UNC Department of Human Safety to an undisclosed location Friday night after his arrest in the UNC-CH incident.Several witnesses saw the SUV as plowed through that part of campus."He was speeding up and swerving to hit people. One person got knocked onto the windshield, and he didn't care," said student Lauren Westafer, who saw the accident."I see everyone kind of part because there's a car coming through and the next thing I know, I'm on his windshield," sophomore Jeff Hoffman, his arm in a bandage, told the campus newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel.On a sunny, cool day like Friday, the Pit is a busy center of campus activities, with students perched along the walkways and steps. Friday's noontime crowd included a gathering of candidates for Black Student Movement elections.Nicholas Altman, who was having coffee nearby, said that one man was hit and thrown onto the hood of the SUV. That person was taken away on a stretcher, Altman said."I was on my phone and I heard somebody scream," Altman said. "I turned around and there was a white SUV. It looked like it hit a couple of people. One person in particular went over the hood."Student affairs staff and counselors have been providing support to students who watched the scene unfold.

Agents Surround Carrboro Apartments After Incident

Sky 5
State and local investigators converged outside the University Commons Apartments in Carrboro early Friday afternoon, where the suspect in the UNC incident is believed to have lived.Around two hours after the crash, state and local investigators surrounded Building D at University Commons Apartments at 303 Smith Level Road in Carrboro, where Taheri-azar lived with two roommates.Josh Curd, 26, who lives in the same building as Taheri-azar, said that at about 12:30 p.m. an officer knocked loudly on his door and "tells me to get out and run up the hill." Curd complied and remained outside after dark in nothing but medical scrubs and a T-shirt.A bomb squad from the State Bureau of Investigation spent about 4 1/2 hours at Taheri-azar's apartment at the request of police before declaring the building safe. Taheri-azar "encouraged the checking of his apartment" with comments made after he was arrested, Carrboro police spokesman Capt. Joel Booker said."He said it almost in a baiting type of way," Booker said.Local authorities declined to say what they found in Taheri-azar's apartment or to discuss a motive. Investigators continued to search the apartment Friday night for other evidence, Booker said."As far as delving into his motives and things like that, we're in the process of developing that in our investigation," Hare said.According to police records, Taheri-azar was convicted of unsafe movement in August 2003 after being charged with driving left of center and failing to obey a traffic officer in Orange County.A month later, he was convicted of reckless driving to endanger for speeding and reckless driving, also in Orange County.Incident Brings Back Grim Memories For UNCThe incident came just a week after the campus was shaken by the death of one of two students who crashed through a dormitory window, falling four stories onto the concrete below. The second student remained hospitalized in fair condition.Friday's incident brought back memories of a deadly day near campus from several years ago. Back in 1995, Wendell Williamson walked down a street near campus and opened fire. Two people died in the rampage.Williamson, who was a law student, was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and sent to Dorothea Dix Mental Hospital, where he remains under care.
http://www.wral.com/news/7651436/detail.html
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UNC Professor: Taheri-azar 'Wasn't Shy About Expressing Opinions'

Hit-And-Run Suspect 'Acted Alone,' Authorities Believe

POSTED: 7:19 pm EST March 4, 2006

UPDATED: 11:57 am EST March 5, 2006CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Authorities said they believe Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, 23, acted alone when he allegedly drove his vehicle onto the UNC-Chapel Hill campus Friday afternoon and injured nine people.

"Our ongoing investigation indicates that the suspect's motive was to avenge the deaths of Muslims around the world," said Derek Parch, UNC-Chapel Hill's Director of Public Safety at a news conference Saturday afternoon. "There is every indication in this early stage of the investigation that he acted alone. There is no indication whatsoever that he acted in concert with anyone."Taheri-azar, currently at Raleigh's Central Prison under a $5.5 million bond, was charged with nine counts of attempted first-degree murder and nine counts of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury with intent to kill.Authorities said Taheri-azar purposely plowed into students at a common gathering area on the university's campus, known as "The Pit," at around noon on Friday.Officers said he rented a Jeep Cherokee from a nearby rental agency, drove onto campus, entering off of Cameron Avenue. He then drove behind Bynum Hall, up between Murphey and Manning halls and continued down between Lenoir and Greenlaw halls before turning into The Pit.After exiting the campus off of Emerson Drive, Parch said Taheri-azar called authorities and told them where to pick him up.A State Bureau of Investigation bomb squad later evacuated Taheri-azar's apartment building at University Commons and remained at the scene for more than three hours Friday."His indication to us was that we could find the reason for this attack in his apartment," Parch said Saturday.Authorities, however, will not say what they found. The FBI is also participating in the investigation, but Parch did not say whether Taheri-azar would face federal charges."I'm seeing it as an act, a violation of State of North Carolina law," Parch said. "And anything past that is just word."

WRAL
Mohammed Taheri-azar was taken from the UNC Department of Human Safety to an undisclosed location Friday night after his arrest in the UNC-CH incident.But when Pieces of the front door of Taheri-azar's Carrboro apartment were still lying on the front porch Saturday when WRAL visited the scene. The door was blasted open a few hours after Taheri-azar's arrest Friday afternoon.Ryan Tuck, the editor-in-chief of UNC-Chapel Hill's campus newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel, went to Taheri-azar's apartment on Saturday, he said that the door way lying flat and there was no crime-scene tape around.He walked into the apartment and into the suspect's room, where he said items were scattered haphazardly."There were 'Go Army' pamphlets, loads of books, mostly to do with science, chemistry and biology," said Tuck. "The 'Go Army' pamphlets stuck in my mind. I didn't know if somebody put those there."Inside the room, Tuck said, he also found an acceptance letter to a PhD program at Nova University and a calendar that read, "Light shine in the peaceful mind."Nothing, however, inside the apartment that he saw would explain why Taheri-azar drove through the Pit on Friday.Born in Iran, Taheri-azar, has spent most of his life in the United States, and, a few weeks ago, began working at Jimmy John's restaurant on Franklin Street, near the UNC campus.In 2005, he graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a degree in psychology.UNC psychology professor Dr. Gordon Pitz, who was Taheri-azar's professor twice, said he was very shocked about what happened Friday.Taheri-azar took Pitz's seminar in decision theory and research methods class -- required for all psychology majors."He was unusual in his willingness to seek help, to discuss issues," Pitz said. "He wasn't shy about expressing his opinions."But Pitz said they never discussed Taheri-azar's religious beliefs."He was certainly not shy, but he never expressed any kind of hostility, that I was aware of," Pitz said.Taheri-azar was very serious about his grades and very involved in UNC's psychology club, even serving for a while as the club's president, Pitz said.He never gave Pitz any indication that he was capable of such an attack that authorities said he was responsible for.Rumors quickly spread around the UNC campus Friday that the attack was in response to the campus newspaper's recent publication of a political cartoon depicting the prophet Muhammad.On its Web site, the UNC Muslim Students Association, which was among the leading critics of the cartoon, as well as others published in European newspapers, denounced Taheri-azar's actions, and said he had never been a member of the organization."Regardless of what his intentions prove to be, we wholeheartedly deplore this action, and trust that our fellow classmates will be able to dissociate the actions of this one disturbed individual from the beliefs of the Muslim community as a whole," a statement on the Web site said.Other local Muslim associations also condemn the actions, including the Raleigh Islamic Center, which released a statement Saturday saying it was "deeply troubled by this individual's actions."Taheri-azar is expected to appear in an Orange County District Court Monday.
http://www.wral.com/news/7691315/detail.html
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Students To Protest UNC's Reluctance To Label Pit Incident Terrorism

'I Don't Know What Was Going Through His Head,' Suspect's Friend Says

POSTED: 7:01 pm EST March 5, 2006

UPDATED: 8:00 am EST March 6, 2006CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Protests are planned for Monday in the same area of campus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where, authorities said, a former student plowed a sport utility vehicle into nine people Friday afternoon.

The College Republicans, Americans for an Informed Democracy and the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies are sponsoring the event, scheduled for 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Monday in "The Pit," a central area of the UNC-Chapel Hill campus. The event is open to the public and free of charge.Police said Mohammad Taheri-azar, a 2005 UNC-Chapel Hill graduate, admits he acted to "avenge the death of Muslims around the world." UNC police and local authorities, however, say they have not taken a stance on that interpretation, but are simply repeating what the suspect has told them.UNC-Chapel Hill student leaders said that Monday's protest is aimed at the reluctance of the university to label Friday's incident as an act of terrorism."This is innocent people being attacked by an SUV, driven by a man who was doing it for retaliation for treatment of Muslims around the world," said Jillian Bandes, with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. "To me, that spells terrorism."Taheri-azar, who is currently in Raleigh's Central Prison under a $5.5 million bond, is charged with nine counts of attempted first-degree murder and nine counts of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury with intent to kill.Because of what Taheri-azar admitted to local authorities, the FBI is also participating in the investigation. FBI spokesman Ken Lucas said Sunday, however, that a federal investigation is still ongoing.

WRAL
Mohammed Taheri-azar was taken from the UNC Department of Human Safety to an undisclosed location Friday night after his arrest in the UNC-CH incident.But were Taheri-azar's alleged actions acts of terrorism?"I think (what Taheri-azar did) is extreme," said Dan VanAtta, a friend of the suspect. "But then again, I don't know what was going through his head. … Mohammed was a good guy."David Schanzer, the director of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security at Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill, said it is fine for students to voice their dismay, but that they should be cautious."(They should) understand the roots of it and understand the strategies for addressing it in a constructive way," Schanzer said.He takes the same position as officials at the Islamic Center of Raleigh, who have publicly stated that they do not condone the incident: authorities should decide how Friday's incident will be classified, and that the investigation should run its due course."Whether or not the FBI decides to charge this individual with a crime of terrorism, I think it was a terroristic act," Schanzer said.
http://www.wral.com/news/7721912/detail.html
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Report from France

Sebastian reports from France on the state of the nation.

I wrote to him recently asking for his comments on Chirac's visit to and endorsement of Saudi Arabia. I aked if the French are as disgusted by Chirac as we here are by Bush, Clinton, Carter, Gore, and those who would pander to the Saudis for favors and cash and what have you.

Sebastian goes on to report more from France, ending with a note on a possible alternative to Chirac, Le Pen, and outright Islamic takeover and the Eurabification we fear is coming.

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I have no comment to add about Chirac's visit to Saudi Arabia because no big deal was made about this. Of course this disgusts everyone as much as Americans are appalled when Bush the 'blue eyed slave' takes the hand of the Saudi Prince.

There is one thing that many feel here, and this that the grass roots resistance here appears is more advanced than elsewhere in Europe. The tragedy of Ilan tortured because he was Jewish, Raphel Clin because he was white http://www.france-echos.com/actualite.php?cle=8643 , the cartoon jihad and the train attack on Jan the 1st has not left the country indifferent.

Here is a specific example of a resistance action. http://www.france-echos.com/actualite.php?cle=8652

In this example, an illegal mosque set up on a supermarket car park in a prefabricated building is catering for the religious needs of the Toulouse Muslims. If you look at the series of photographs you can see the prayer carpets round at the back.

The post at France-Echos details how to find the names and addresses of all those who live nearby. Readers from France Echos will then send a well researched tract to those people. The tract is a four pages printed half size on a double sided sheet of paper. You can see the format by clicking here http://www.france-echos.com/IMG/pdf/presentation_islam.pdf

On Saturday afternoon, Claude Reichman is hosting yet another Blue Scarf protest. The anti dhimmi blogs are a little reluctant to completely identify with him because although he rightly castigates the media for their lies, he still remains on the sidelines when it comes to criticising Islam.

For the moment Philippe de Villiers with his outburst 'Islam est le terreau de l'islamisme...' (Islam is the compost in which islamism grows), remains the favourite anti dhimmi politician.

Hopefully I'll have more to report next week.

All the best

Sebastien