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BBC NEWS | UK | Afghan hijackers ‘not spongers’
The group of Afghan hijackers granted permission by the High Court to stay in the UK say they are educated people who do not want to “sponge” off the state. In a statement, the nine asylum seekers said they were desperate to be allowed to work and contribute to UK society. They also apologised to passengers on the flight they hijacked to Stansted in 2000, for the fear they had caused.
Tony Blair has said the decision not to return the men to Afghanistan is “an abuse of common sense”. Six years ago the men hijacked an Ariana Boeing 727 that was on an internal flight in Afghanistan, saying they were escaping the Taleban.
They forced the plane to fly to Stansted airport, in Essex, which led to a four day stand-off and eventually asylum applications by 78 people on board. “We do realise that for the other people on that plane the hijack was terrifying and we regret causing such fear in the hearts of others,” the nine men said in the statement issued through a west London law centre. “But we did it because we were desperate and we did not believe we could all get away safely in any other way,” We want people to realise that we understand the shock and even outrage against us and what we did
Brothers Ali and Mohammed Safi were jailed along with Abdul Shohab, Taimur Shah, Nazamuddin Mohammidy, Abdul Ghayur, Mohammed Kazin, Mohammed Showaib and Reshad Ahmadi in 2001. Appeal judges quashed their convictions in May 2003 but insisted that their decision was “not a charter for future hijackers”.
Oh, no, I’m sure of that…
]]>UNITED NATIONS – The United States bowed to pressure from its allies on Tuesday and agreed to support a new program to temporarily funnel additional humanitarian aid directly to the Palestinian people.
A statement by Mideast peacemakers, issued after a day of closed-door diplomatic meetings, did not suggest precisely how much or what kind of aid they would provide. But the agreement seemed to underscore a concern that months of withholding most aid from the Palestinians, part of an effort to pressure the new Hamas-led government toward a more accommodating stance with Israel, was harming the Palestinian people.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the European Union would take the lead in the new effort. The United Nations and Russia, the other partners in the Quartet peacemaking group along with the U.S., also endorsed the program.
“The thrust of this is the international community is still trying to respond to the needs of the Palestinian people,” Rice said.
Apparently the US has `softened’ its position on aid to the Palestinian Authority, and Israel, under severe pressure, has agreed to release to transfer NIS 50 million to the Palestinian Authority, according to Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. That’s about $11 million US.
Anyway, they are not happy with the contribution and think they ought to have been given more. From Yahoo! News:
The Hamas-led government said it appreciated the Quartet’s efforts to ease the burden on the Palestinian people but said they could have gone further, and in a statement criticized the fact that its own authority was likely to be bypassed. “We were hoping that their decision could be more positive in dealing with the Palestinian government since it is an elected government that represents the Palestinian people.”
Hmm, you know, no one is OBLIGED to give anything to people who are sponsorizing terrorism or supporting it.
of Ziyon: Weapons, money, men: We ask all the people in surrounding Arab countries, the Muslim world and everyone who wants to support us to send weapons, money and men,” Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal said in a speech at a pro-Palestinian event in Qatar. “You should not shy away from of this. This is resistance, not terrorism,” said Meshaal whose group — sworn to the destruction of Israel — leads the Palestinian government.
Somehow he didn’t seem to ask for food, or medical supplies, or fuel, or any of the other things that are causing the bogus “humanitarian crisis” that the West is so upset about.
From Europe News Blog (in German): Saudi Arabia is going to send $92.4 million, and has other interesting links related to this.
But others had supplied them by now: From Vital Perspective:
A new report from the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center shows that Hezbollah S-G Hassan Nasrallah admissted in an interview with the Lebanese newspaper Al-Safir to supplying Palestinians with “financial, political, and media [propaganda] support.”
And looks like the oil shortage is over: BBC NEWS | Middle East | Palestinian petrol crisis ‘over’
On Wednesday, Dor [only company supplying petrol and cooking gas to Gaza and the West Bank] cut off supplies to the Palestinian areas because of mounting Palestinian Authority debts amounting to about $26m. It is not yet clear how an agreement was struck, but Mr Salameh had said earlier on Thursday that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would be contacting Dor to arrange for payment of the debt from the Palestinian Investment Fund.
But they have not learnt from the past: Israpundit » Blog Archive » Washington’s Pro-Hamas Foreign Policy
[…] as has been proven repeatedly by their actions and by numerous polls–and now by the recent election–the overwhelming majority of Palestinians aspire not for a civilized state but to eradicate Israel and replace it with a brutal dictatorship. Because they embrace this vicious goal, hordes of Palestinians idolized arch terrorist Yasser Arafat for waging a terrorist war to wipe out Israel and establish a nationalist dictatorship. During Arafat’s brutal reign, they abetted his terrorism and celebrated his atrocities. They served as cheerleaders or recruits for terrorist groups.
Yet Washington, deluding itself that Palestinians seek legitimate goals, rationalized Palestinian barbarities as the lashing out of oppressed victims. And so, as they mounted more attacks, Washington urged ever more concessions to the Palestinians. It has urged Israel to respect, not punish, them. The United States forbade Israel from laying a finger on Arafat, and extended this tender solicitude to Hamas leaders, like Salah Shededah. When Israeli forces found this organizer of suicide bombings and assassinated him, President Bush condemned Israel for its “heavy-handed” measures. Washington actually whitewashed the blood-stained Arafat and his crony Abbas as peace-loving statesmen and invited them to the White House.
Even as Palestinian terrorism raged, in defiance of Palestinian obligations under successive “peace deals,” America continued to dole out rewards. It sent hundreds of millions in aid to the terrorist-sponsoring Palestinian Authority. When Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza strip, rendering itself more vulnerable to predations, America wholeheartedly approved–and insisted on further land concessions. Palestinians, who swiftly began rocket attacks from Gaza, were jubilant; they correctly saw themselves as the victors whose terrorist war had won our approval and forced Israel to retreat. American policy teaches Palestinians that their goal of destroying Israel–and the terrorism they employ to achieve it–is legitimate and practical. The ascendance of Hamas therefore was predictable. It is by far the more consistent proponent of that murderous goal.
Britain’s largest lecturers’ union is expected to reignite an international controversy about academic freedom with a new call for a boycott of Israeli lecturers and academic institutions which do not publicly oppose “Israeli apartheid policies”.
The motion will be put to representatives of the 67,000-strong National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (Natfhe) at its national conference at the end of the month.
The motion “invites members to consider their own responsibility for ensuring equity and non-discrimination in contacts with Israeli educational institutions or individuals, and to consider the appropriateness of a boycott of those that do not publicly dissociate themselves from such policies“.
The only thing Israel was asking from them is to renounce violence and retake the negotiations. And, well, from Yahoo! News:
Hamas leaders in Gaza and the West Bank have hinted they might abandon the group’s call for the destruction of Israel, but Khaled Mashaal, the Syria-based leader of Hamas, has rejected any suggestion of moderation. Also, the document included key Palestinian demands Israel has always rejected — return of millions of refugees to their original homes in Israel and complete Israeli evacuation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.
Israpundit » Blog Archive » In Defense of Intolerance
According to a study of the Israel Democracy Institute, 62% of Israeli Jews would like to see the government actively encourage Arabs to leave Israel. Professor Arian Asher of the IDI said that this statistic indicates
a “general lack of tolerance of Israeli Jews toward Israeli Arabs.” He concludes that “Israeli democracy has not developed a strong sense of egalitarianism and community” (Jerusalem Post, May 10).
The IDI findings were deplored even by Avigdor Lieberman’s reputedly right-wing Israel Beiteinu party—a party that advocated revoking the citizenship of Israelis who do not pledge allegiance to the state. MK Yisrael Hassan said his party does not endorse encouraging the immigration of Israeli Arabs. Ignoring the hostility of these Arabs, as well as Jewish attachment to the land of Israel, Hassan offers Lieberman’s panacea of “separating the two population groups by defining a border between them.”The present writer wonders how those who want the government to encourage Arabs to leave Israel would characterize Messrs. Asher and Hassan? I assume that some of these Jews may be as well educated as Professor Asher, a political scientist. Perhaps some would accuse him of being disingenuous? Perhaps others would attribute his tolerant attitude toward Israel’s anything but loyal Arab citizens to moral indifference?
After all, it has been reported that most Israeli Arabs identify themselves as “Palestinians,” that is, with Israel’s enemies.In fact, no less than 62% supported Saddam Hussein despite his threat to incinerate half of Israel. Would it be sane or sensible for Jews to fondly regard these Arabs as part of their “community”? It has also been reported that most of the suicide bombing attacks in Israel have been assisted by Israel¡Çs Arab citizens; that many of these Arabs have themselves committed terrorist acts, hence, have murdered Jewish men, women, and children. Have Arab Knesset members ever condemned such politically motivated crimes—crimes against the state which pays their salaries? To the contrary: they have encouraged these crimes! [READ MORE]
After months of tensions, senior members of the rival Hamas and Fatah factions have forged a joint platform, including acceptance of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
However, it was unclear whether Hamas, particularly the group’s hardline leaders abroad, will back the program, which would signal a major softening of positions. Until now, Hamas has balked at the West’s demands that it renounce violence, recognize Israel and accept existing peace agreements. …
Also in Tundra Tabloids, Israpundit, Liberali Per Israele (who informs that the Hamas’ man who wrote the terms for the negotiation was Barghouti),
But wht are they uniting? Spanish Blog Ajopringue tells us (translated):
The political leader of the terrorist group Hamas, Jaled Mashaal, has asked Al-Fatah they should abandon their differences, unite, and “adopt the way of the Jihad” to continue the fight against Israelis. Mashaal is trying to abort the agreement (of 18 points) signed by the chiefs of the Palestinian organizations who are in Israeli prisons, in which the existence of Israel is indirectly recognised. This agreement opposes directly to the principles stablished by Hamas[…]
Not surprisingly -for a normal logic taking into account reality and not what we would like things to be, the Western diplomats worried by threat of Israeli unilateralism
At a press conference on Tuesday, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan reiterated a Quartet decision in relation to the Gaza withdrawal, saying that “such a withdrawal ought to be coordinated with the Palestinians.” A number of diplomats told Haaretz that Israel’s attempt to “avoid negotiations” would not be received well, and that this message was also being delivered to Washington in anticipation of Olmert’s scheduled visit there next week. At the Quartet press conference on Tuesday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice emphasized the U.S. position that the permanent borders of Israel and Palestine can be established only by agreement between the parties. She also stressed Olmert’s pledge to attempt negotiations with the Palestinians prior to any unilateral action, as did the Quartet as a whole in its formal statement.
Il Signore degli Agnelli reports about a very curious call:
The Israeli intellectuals call for the Israeli Army to protect the Palestinian schoolboys from the ambushes of the Jewish settlers (link from Il Corriere della Sera in Italian) .
e Minister has advocated violence, this is the education they are giving their sons and daughters (HT: Solomonia).Also in Tundra Tabloids. But the worst enemy is the one who is Inside the Gates: From Daimnation!:
Once again, Noam Chomsky betrays his country, his people and common decency:
Radical American thinker and MIT professor Noam Chomsky met with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut today and branded the U.S. a terrorist state. “I think that Nasrallah has a reasoned argument and a persuasive argument that they (the weapons) should be in the hands of Hizbollah as a deterrent to potential aggression and there is plenty of background and reasons for that. So, I think his position, if I am reporting it correctly, and it seems to be a reasonable position, is that until there is a general political settlement in the region and the threat of aggression and violence is reduced or eliminated, there has to be a deterrent. The Lebanese army cannot be a deterrent.”
Well, then, Chomsky, what happens with Jordan? Is it also an imperialist country who wants to dominate over all Palestine? Or are just the Hamas members terrorists? From A 
Blog For All
AMMAN, Jordan – State television broadcast on Thursday confessions by three members of the militant Palestinian group Hamas detained in what Jordan said was a plot to target its officials. Hamas denied the charges and accused Jordan of trying to undermine the Palestinian government, which it now leads. The three suspects said in their confessions that they were Hamas agents who monitored Jordanian intelligence officers and foreign tourists, apparently for a possible attack. Two said they acquired arms and ammunition for Hamas.
Also on Gindy Blog. But the Palestinian Prime Minisiter has denied any plot to attack Jordan.
Lastly, from BBC NEWS | Middle East:
An Israeli court has charged four Palestinians with the killing of an Israeli minister five years ago. The suspects were snatched by the Israeli army from a jail in the West Bank town of Jericho in March. They are alleged to have shot Rehavam Zeevi, a hardliner who advocated deporting Palestinians from the occupied territories. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said the assassination was revenge for the killing of its leader. The PFLP’s new leader, Ahmed Saadat – who was captured in Jericho at the same time as the four – is also blamed by Israeli officials for the killing, but they have failed to find enough evidence to link him to the case. However Mr Saadat is due to face unspecified and unrelated security charges in an Israeli military court.
technorati tags: I hope you will like it.
Thanks to all readers.
]]>Iran said today that it would give $50 million in aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian government after the United States and the European Union froze their aid.
Iran’s foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, announced the donation on the last day of a pro-Palestinian conference here.
“We warn that if the aid is cut and if this continues in the near future, this land will witness a humanitarian disaster and the occupiers and their supporters will be responsible,” the ISNA student news agency quoted Mr. Mottaki as saying, alluding to Israel.
The European Union suspended its $600 million aid package and the United States a $400 million donation after Hamas’s unexpected electoral victory in January. The measures were aimed at increasing pressure on the militant Palestinian group to renounce violence and to recognize Israel.
Sooooooooooooo… the culprits of the humanitarian crisis are European Union and Unites States…And Iran is a humanitarian country.
This world is full of idiots.
But as JihadWatch says:
]]>Now we don’t approve of Hamas getting a penny from anyone. Still, this is $50 million that the Thug-In-Chief can’t use for his own galloping nuclear ambitions. And it’s also $50 million unspent by the United States or Western Europe — a small sum, but perhaps someday such sums will be put toward the defense against the global jihad.
You can read about her in Barcepundit here and here. I am going to quote him when he says:
No headscarf, a bright red dress with -though you can’t see it in this picture- a skirt at half her royal calves. A message of solidarity with the oppresed Arabic women.
I wonder if she asked for a glass of wine with her meals… that’d have been cool.
And the contrast is evident between the Spanish Queen and the women that appear with her in the photo. I am not very monarchist but I admire her for long: I think she is a wonderful Queen, what I cannot say about the rest of the Spanish monarchy.
“Albanna, 32, had a fondness for American women, the grunge sound of Nirvana and Harley-Davidson motorcycles and the bad-boy image they conveyed. He told friends he loved the freedom he felt in America.”All the more reason his friends were dumbfounded when they were told that the funloving Jordanian had become a suicide car bomber, pulling off the deadliest single attack in Iraq. U.S. authorities said he killed 132 Iraqis outside a Hillah medical clinic Feb. 28, 2005.”
Jihad Watch comments:
All this head-scratching results, of course, from ignorance of the jihad ideology and how people can come to hold it. Any Muslim, like Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, can turn from partier to shahid simply by reading the Qur’an. Anyone reading this who finds that assertion offensive is invited write in to me at director@jihadwatch.org and explain how it can be prevented. But the Muslims who are perpetrating violent acts all over the world are justifying them by the Qur’an […]
Although I think not ALL Muslims can convert into suicide bombers, certainly the language of the Koram can provoke that some of them -a minority each day greater- can turn into suicide bombers.
Cross-posted at Blogger.
]]>An Israeli Arab leader said Jerusalem will become an international Islamist capital. “Jerusalem will soon be the capital of a Moslem Arab Caliphate, and all efforts by the Israeli establishement to Judaize the city will amount to nothing,” Sheikh Raed Salah, head of the Islamic Movement in Israel, told a weekend rally in Kafr Kassem. Salah, who was briefly accused by Israeli authorities of funding Palestinian terrorist groups, also said the Jewish State was planning to replace the Al-Aksa Mosque in Jerusalem with a Third Temple as part of a “plot” hatched in coordination with the United States.
HT: Jihad Watch.
Posted also in Blogger.
]]>So why he was described as a “hero” on the front pages of newspapers in Italy? A hero fights, struggles violently, rebels using arms, wants justice at all costs, defends himself and wins by killing the enemy. It seems to me that, according to human logic, Dr Andrea was the figure of the “anti-hero”.
Nor, we are told, was he a saint. He was not a saint like those in the holy pictures: languid, sickly sweet, always compliant and smiling. He had an energetic character, he was decisive, even abrupt, at times resolute, and he did not allow for compromises… one can almost hear an echo of Luke’s description of Jesus, who “set his face resolutely towards Jerusalem”.
A friend of his, a sister, revealed that before returning to Turkey at the end of January, he had called her in Rome and confided: “You know, pray for me because I feel that I am annoying Satan…”
A week later he was murdered in the name of God.
His death has reawakened us from the torpor of our consciences; it is reminding us what it means to die for love. It has reminded us that a Christian can make himself an uncomfortable presence that must be removed, eliminated. And if this is not the case, then one is not a true disciple of Christ.
But after death, comes Life.
What about the difference with the Jihadi "martyrs"?
Related posts: Another priest hurt in Turkey, In the martyrdom of a priest, European Union recognises the murder of Father Santoro, The pardon of Santoro’s mother, More violence in Turkey against Catholic priests.
Tags: Father Santoro, Turkey, religious intolerance
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]]>We are the supporters of the Prophet group. After our debates and discussions with our brothers, the commanders of the Islamic groups and organizations in the Islamic land, and after their reviewing of what we reached at in the Jama’ah Consultative Council about our judgment against the infidels, the apostates, and those who separated from the Islamic group and allied with the Cross Worshippers and attended their conferences and sided with them against our shaykh’s and ulama’s and requested that the rule over our countries should be their right and dealt with the Israeli sons of pigs and apes, Al-Jama’ah Consultative Council decided to grant those who are charged with apostasy and denying religion a three-day grace period to announce their repentance, renounce their writings about denying the sunnah of our prophet and supporting the countries and the rulers of the infidels, and declare this repentance and inform people about it on the same news sites on which they wrote first, and not to repeat such sayings and deeds and writings again.
If they do not respond to the God and His Prophet, we will follow them everywhere they go and at anytime; and they can never be far from the swords of truth, and they are closer to us that our shoelaces. They are monitored day and night. We are fully aware of their hiding places, their houses, their children’s schools, and the times when their wives are alone at home. We gave our rules to the soldiers of God to execute the rule of God so that their blood can become close to God [to kill them] and burn their houses. And we thank God that many of those infidels and atheists do not exist in the land of Islam, so that they do not defile the Islamic land with their rotten blood.
Oh, yeah, those peaceful believers….Looks like they have seen the Godfather repeatedly. "We know theis houses, their children’s schools, the times where their wives are alone at home." Hmmm, what a peaceful live…My goodness.
HT: Sandmonkey, that also includes the list of the people who are "affected" by this email.
Tags: religious intolerance, death threats
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]]>Tags: Saudi Arabia, Religious intolerance, women’s rights, Denmark
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]]>By the way, you can read this post from Elder of Ziyon, who qoutes IslamOnLine:
The meaning of Jihad in our present time particularly refers to striving to liberate Muslim lands from the grip of the disbelievers who usurped them and imposed on them their own laws in lieu of the Divine Law. Those disbelievers may be Jews, Christians or both or even pagans, who follow no particular religion at all. Disbelievers are all alike.
Capitalists, Communists, Westerners, Easterners, People of the Book and pagans are by no means different from one other. They should all be fiercely fought if they attempt to occupy any part of the Muslim land. This duty falls on those closest to the occupied land, who should be aided by those closest to them, who, in turn, ought to be aided by those closest to them, till it becomes incumbent on all Muslims to take part in Jihad.
There is a problem though: any part of the world where a Muslim sets foot becomes Dar-Al-Islam, so afterwards they can fight for it.
Robert from Hyscience has a very good post about this new sign of dhimmitude. He qoutes Daniel Pipes:
… jihad is "holy war." Or, more precisely: It means the legal, compulsory, communal effort to expand the territories ruled by Muslims at the expense of territories ruled by non-Muslims.
The purpose of jihad, in other words, is not directly to spread the Islamic faith but to extend sovereign Muslim power (faith, of course, often follows the flag). Jihad is thus unabashedly offensive in nature, with the eventual goal of achieving Muslim dominion over the entire globe.
Jihad consists of military action with the object of the expansion of Islam," he determined; presenting it as peaceful persuasion or self-defense "disregard[s] entirely the previous doctrine and historical tradition, as well as the texts of the Qur’an and the Sunna."11 In fact, someone has to be "imperfectly educated" to argue that jihad must be understood as struggle without arms. As Rudolph Peters wrote in his book on the doctrine of jihad, it is the idea of pacifist or defensive jihad that is new; Islamists (like bin Ladin) are much closer to classical doctrine.12 And that doctrine has enjoyed an obvious revival over the past twenty years.
And Robert Spencer:
"The meaning of the term ‘terror’ used by the media . . . is Jihad for the sake of Allah." Osama bin Laden, Abu Bakar Bashir in Indonesia, Omar Bakri and Abu Hamza in England, Mullah Krekar in Norway, and other radical Muslims around the world have been unanimous in declaring that they are not indiscriminate purveyors of mayhem — terrorists — but mujahedin: jihad warriors. They have declared again and again that they are fighting to unify the Islamic people under a restored caliphate, and to establish the hegemony of Islamic law over the reunified umma, as well as over the non-Muslim world
The European Union, each day dhimmier and more blind and deaf to reality.
UPDATE: When Jihad is not Jihad, from Israpundit.
Tags: European Union, political correctnes, Jihad
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]]>Confessed al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui said Thursday it made his day to hear accounts of Americans’ suffering from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and he would like to see similar attacks “every day.”
Taking the witness stand for the second time in his death-penalty trial Thursday, Moussaoui mocked a Navy sailor who wept on the stand as she described the death of two of her subordinates.
“I think it was disgusting for a military person” to cry, Moussaoui said of the testimony of Navy Lt. Nancy McKeown. “She is military, she should expect people at war with her to want to kill her.”
Asked if he was happy to hear her sobbing, he said, “Make my day.”
Moussaoui said he had “no regret, no remorse” about the 9/11 attacks. Asked by prosecutor Rob Spencer if he would like to see it happen again, Moussaoui responded: “Every day until we get you.”
[…] Moussaoui told jurors that Islam requires Muslims to be the world’s superpower as he flipped through a copy of the Koran searching for verses to support his assertions. One he cited requires non-Muslim nations to pay a tribute to Muslim countries.
“We have to be the superpower. You have to be subdued. We have to be above you,” Moussaoui said. “Because Americans, you are the superpower, you want to eradicate us.”
At one point, defense lawyer Gerald Zerkin asked Moussaoui if he thought he was helping his case when he testified earlier that he planned to pilot a plane into the White House on Sept. 11.
“I was putting my trust in God, so from an Islamic point of view, yes,” Moussaoui responded, acknowledging that non-Muslims might view his testimony as harmful to his case.
At several points during his afternoon testimony, Moussaoui acknowledged that he has lied when it has suited his interests throughout the course of his four-year case.
Well, I am astonished to read then people who say that the Western countries are the culprits. He is very clear when he says that non-Muslims must be subdued.There are only two alternatives: resist or just tell Sharia is a very good thing and support them.
Another "astounding" thing is that he completely says that "we are at war", something a lot of people are not taking into account. And that they should be a superpower. NoisyRoom.Net refers to Koram 9:29, where it says:
Fight against such of those to whom the Scriptures were given as believe not in God nor in the Last Day, who do not forbid what God and His apostle have forbidden, and do not embrace the true Faith, until they pay tribute out of hand and are utterly subdued. —Koran 9:29
But he also said that he was the man to hijack the 5th plane (from Always on Watch, read in completely, has more information about other jihadists in America):
Al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui testified Monday that he and would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid were supposed to hijack a fifth airplane and fly it into the White House as part of the attack that unfolded Sept. 11, 2001.
"Moussaoui’s testimony on his own behalf stunned the courtroom….
"Before Moussaoui took the stand, his lawyers made a last attempt to stop him from testifying, but failed. Defense attorney Gerald Zerkin argued that his client would not be a competent witness because he has contempt for the court, only recognizes Islamic law and therefore ‘the affirmation he undertakes would be meaningless.’…"
Steven Emerson, on the contrary says there is no evidence of these claims. There are no proofs that he had actually any acquaintance with the hijackers, only with Ramzi Bin Alshibh or the financial mastermind, he is contradicting himself with the first confession he made and that there is no evidence of anyone else taking part in the plot. So, it looks like that, as Michelle Malkin says, that he is "a martyr wannabee".
and
FBI agent James Fitzgerald said Moussaoui told him — in a jailhouse meeting the defendant requested — that he did not want to die behind bars and it was "different to die in a battle … than in a jail on a toilet." Moussaoui dropped this bid after he learned that he had an absolute right to testify in his own defense.
Secular Blasphemy writes about this same thing and concludes:
Moussaoui is attempting suicide by court. Does he deserve to die? Undoubtedly. Should the court sentence him to death to fulfill a request from a crazy fanatic? I don’t think so. It is a very flimsy case, and a strange one.
And also The Counterterrorist blog: it states basically the same::
Asked if receiving the death penalty is "dying shaheed [as a martyr]," Moussaoui replied in his broken English: "It depends if you have, if you have fought to the best of your ability. It can depend on your intention. The same action can have two very different result. . . . So for us a shaheed mean martyr at war. And you do not aim to be a shaheed. You fight, and if you meant to come, you come. You don’t decide, OK I’m going to be a shaheed. . . . Even if you don’t die shaheed, if you pray five times a day and you are truthful to God, you go to heaven."
The recordings,heard in the process, according to this post, have been good as people have been able to remember what happened. Atlas Shrugs has the last words that were spoken in the Flight 93:
Well, I think it’s pretty clear. One curious thing is that they are saying it in English, not in Arabic (Allah Akbar). That was because most of the people on board were English-speaking, and it was the only manner to make themselves understood by people who were killed and their corpses vanished into thin air or reduced to this.
From a post of Andy Cochran we can download the recordings. You can read a part of them at LGF and in RightWing NutHouse, where it looks like some passengers made their way into the cockpit and actually injured a terrorist.
Daily Pundit quotes Moussaoui saying:
Among his most startling statements, Moussaoui said Army Lt. Col. John Thurman’s harrowing account of escaping the burning Pentagon left him with "regret that he didn’t die."
And then writes:
Do you America-hating, Islamist-loving (mostly) lefty anti-warriors see any exemptions for yourselves coming from this animal? Are you so stupid you think his views are unique? There are probably millions who feel exactly as he does[…]. It’s not a diplomatic problem, and it’s not a legal problem. The problem is that a whole lot of barbarian Islamic fundamentalist savages want to kill you in the worst possible way. Do you think that by kissing him and his pals, they will take you off his murder list? You’re not going to be able to sympathize that away, or discuss it away, or fellowship it away, or kumbaya it away. He and his friends aren’t going to respond to reason because they are, by definition, insanely murderous religious nutcases. They are absolutely certain that God has told them to slaughter you, and if they do so in large numbers, they increase their chances of being rewared with a special place in murderer’s heaven.
Carlos the Jackal has been fined for hate speech in France (from The Belmont Club):
A Paris court fined the terrorist known as "Carlos the Jackal” more than $6,000 Tuesday for saying in a French television interview that terror attacks sometimes were "necessary." The 56-yea
r-old Venezuelan, whose real name is Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, was convicted of defending terrorism. The court did not convict him for expressing pleasure that "the Great Satan" – the United States – suffered the Sept. 11 attacks, saying those comments were his personal reaction. Prosecutors asked for a fine four times larger than the $6,110 penalty imposed. But the judges said they did not see the need for a higher fine because Ramirez’s comments referred to the past and aimed to justify his own actions. Ramirez, dressed in a red shirt and blue blazer, kissed the hand of his partner and lawyer, Isabelle Coutant-Peyre, during the judgment.
Krishna has also written about this topic.
Pastorius writes "sometimes you have to love your enemies". I read in this post that Moussaoui said during the trial:
that he is convinced President Bush will free him before the end of his term and that he will return to London.
but
He also argued that he could not get a fair trial so close to the Pentagon and he criticized U.S. support for Israel.
He cannot get a fair trial … because he is so close to the Pentagon, but President Busg is going to pardon him. Well, this man has a wonderful logic. The reason he thinks he will be pardoned is (from Powerline blog):
Asked what his defence theory would be, Moussaoui came up with the scenario in which Americans fighting abroad might be taken hostage, saying that his freedom could be negotiated in exchange. “This could work on even the most revengeful juror,” Moussaoui said.
Captain’s Quarters Blog does the MSM job and proves a translation is accurate about the implication of Saddam Hussein in terrorists activities againts US. Gindy refers to the words of one of the hijackers: "We have a bomb on board". Hyscience, Instapundit, The Jawa Report and Powerline blog also have written about it. Solomonia quotes First Presbyterian Rev. Gretchen Graf saying:
One year ago today, 19 young men on a mission profoundly changed our lives and the life of our nation. This was an act of faith and courage, a carefully planned statement against what they saw as the evils of a corrupt and oppressive nation. They were willing to give their lives so that the world would see their outrage.
The Jawa Report informs that the death a policeman has been attributed to 9/11 dust cloud.
UPDATE: Reading Spanish Blog Cyberterrorismo y e-jihad, I learn another contradiction in Moussaoui’s testimony. While he is obviously intending to convert himself into a "Jihadi martyr",
El abogado defensor Gerald Zerkin preguntó a su cliente si creía que la defensa estaba involucrada en una conspiración para asesinarlo. El acusado contestó que sufría un desinterés por parte de sus abogados que rayaba en lo "criminal".
The defendant Gerald Zerkin asked his client if he believed that the defense was conspiring to murder him. He answered that he suffered from a "lack of interest", pointing as culprits to his own lawyers, that was nearly "criminal".
So the question is: does he really want to be killed or not? Is someone ordering / asking him to?
Tags: Moussaoui, terrorism, USA, 9/11, Bush
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You can read about it here
Nine militants, including a top Al Qaeda operative carrying a bounty of $5 million on his head, have been killed in an air strike six kilometers from here, senior security officials said.
Muhsin Musa Matwalli Atwah alias Abdur Rehman alias Abu Muhajir, wanted by the US for his involvement in the 1998 bombings on American embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, was killed in an attack on Wednesday night, the officials said. The 41-year old militant was said to be from Egypt.
“His death has been confirmed,” officials working for different agencies said. “The confirmation is based upon multiple intelligence sources,” one of them said.
Tags: Afghanistan, terrorism
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]]>Oh, and the fault was mine. I haven’t had any intruder in my computer. 
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]]>A pattern of characteristics emerges in regard to persons in some way suspected of involvement in Jihadist terrorism in Spain. They are predominantly men, born between 1966 and 1975, aged between 26 and 40 when arrested, basically North African immigrants and mostly without residence permits. They tend to settle in Madrid or Barcelona and other coastal locations. Despite some notable exceptions, they are generally individuals with low levels of education and generally low standards of professional skills.This sociological profile provides certain guidelines for the prevention and containment of international terrorism in Spain, in addition to intergovernmental initiatives developed inside and outside Europe. First, material and human resources available for policing must be provided urgently, although not exclusively, for certain niches in the social structure in certain areas of Spain. It is also necessary to continue to strengthen antiterrorist cooperation with a series of Arab or Islamic countries, as is the case with Western nations who hold significant operating intelligence.
Secondly, since the Jihadists in Spain present themselves as Muslims and exercise proselytism, it is absolutely vital to promote further dialogue between government authorities and leaders of Islamic communities, who in turn must continue to be committed to delegitimising the terrorism which is practiced in the name of Islam. Just as it is important to develop effective social integration programmes which contribute to satisfying the expectations of North African immigrants with low education levels and scant professional qualifications, to lay the foundations for making their time in Spain more gratifying at a personal level, and to decrease the likelihood of their feeling individually frustrated and collectively slighted, and therefore turning to excluding Islamic subcultures and Jihadist movements.
Finally, the fact that most persons imprisoned in Spain for links with Jihadist terrorism come from North Africa and the Middle East suggests we define and coordinate public diplomacy that is focused, interministerial in dimension and includes the relevant players from civilian society. This public diplomacy must be part of a national strategy on international terrorism and be complementary to other collective programmes to which the Spanish government must either contribute or promote. Its purpose would be to convey not only to the political classes but also to public opinion in the Arab and Islamic world the meaning of the measures implemented to prevent this kind of terrorism in Spain, as well as less well-known or widespread aspects of Spanish immigration policy, religious matters, international cooperation and foreign intervention.
A public policy of this kind has nothing to do with appeasement towards Jihadists, but is action aimed at offsetting processes of nurturing hate and terrorist recruitment, such as those observed in Spain among Arab or Central Asian minorities in which global Jihadists see potential for mobilising militants. This is, let us face it, of undeniable importance when the al-Qaeda ideologues, such as Ayman al Zawahiri himself, insist again and again that followers of Islam are systematically offended and discriminated against in Western countries such as Spain simply because of their religion. This is how they try to make their Jihadist propaganda into a reference framework for those Muslims who perhaps feel slighted, frustrated or alienated, and how they turn a few of them to terrorism
Between 150,000 and 400,000 people live in polygamous households in France, in which a man is married to more than one woman. The French state is trying to change the situation — with mixed results.
The government argues that living in polygamy prevents immigrants from becoming integrated into French society and that it goes against the principles of gender equality enshrined in the constitution. Polygamy was made illegal in France in 1993. Those who still live in polygamy have either been doing so since before the law was passed or they married abroad.
Though polygamy isn’t very common in the northern Paris suburb of Cergy, most people in the African community there seem to know at least one polygamous family, usually with roots in Mali.
“I’m against polygamy, even though I’m African,” explained Kofi Jumeau, who, along with his 43 brothers and sisters, could speak from first-hand experience. “My father had between nine and 11 wives. And unfortunately it really hurt us kids, because there was no family cohesion. It was really bad for us.”
The French authorities employ a strategy they call “de-cohabitation” to reduce the numbers of polygamous households. It involves social workers helping second and third wives move into separate apartments with their children, breaking up the polygamous arrangement.
[…] Parliamentarian Chantal Brunel has taken up the issue and would like the government to be more aggressive in dealing with it. “I think we have to send a strong message to other countries and to foreigners who live here and don’t respect the laws on our soil. Polygamy is completely illegal in France, and yet it exists.”
Brunel sponsored legislation last year calling for state tutors to manage the welfare benefits of polygamous families. Though the bill didn’t pass, she did manage to draw attention to the issue of polygamy and continued to lobby her colleagues for more action in tackling it. There’s now a growing sense that France’s current policy isn’t working, and that the country needs to take a tougher stance if it wants polygamy to become a thing of the past.
If we study the consequences of the polygamous weddings in France, we can distinguish between the ones which are made in France -not recognised but for some very limited effects- and the ones who are made outside France, who in general are recognised as valid, except when the man is married to a French woman. So the inmediate consequence is that they are promoting the polygamous weddings with foreign women who are not aware of their rights and normally do not even speak French.
It’s not very strange then the system is not working,
The result of an extensive research and five months of field interviews in numerous schools in 20 French provinces by a distinguished group of educators, the Obin report documents the extensive Islamization of French schools in the vicinity of Moslem ghettoes and the imposition of strict conformity with Islamist dictates through violence and intimidation.
Having by and large completed their takeover of the Moslem ghettoes, often by “targeted violence” against non-Moslems and moderate Moslems alike, the Islamist fanatics are making great progress towards achieving control of the educational system as well.
As usual, girls are the first victims of religious extremism. The “big brothers,” as the Islamists are known in school, enforce a strict Islamic dress code which prohibits make-up, dresses and skirts, forbid any co-educational activities and make going to the movies, the swimming pool or the gym all but impossible for Moslem girls.
The punishment for refusal to conform is often physical violence and beatings. And this, says the report, is a relatively protected environment compared to “what girls experience outside of school.” Such as forced marriages at 14 or 15.
You can read the entire article at France-Echos.
]]>According to VOA:
Three Christian militants sentenced to death for killing Muslims during sectarian violence that shook Indonesia’s Sulawesi island six years ago may be executed this month. Supporters of the three men say they are not guilty, and are being used as scapegoats.
The three Indonesian Catholic men, Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus de Silva and Marinus Riwu, were convicted of killing Muslims during Muslim-Christian clashes in the central Sulawesi town of Poso in 2000.
The men have exhausted most avenues to stop their execution, two higher courts and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono have rejected their appeals.
But the chief attorney for the three men, Stefanus Roy Rening, says they are still waiting for a reply from Mr. Yudhoyono on a second clemency appeal, filed last month.
He says all three men are innocent and being used as scapegoats in an unfair justice system. He also says the three are not the masterminds of the Poso violence, which is why they should not be executed.
The men are convicted of a massacre of more than 200 unarmed people, mostly women, children and students, who were shot and hacked to death while hiding in a Muslim school. It was one of the worst incidents in the clashes between Muslims and Christians that claimed more than 1,000 lives.
But the three deny being at the scene of the killings, and police are investigating 16 other men as the real masterminds of the massacre.
Free Thoughts notes something that I noted myself in that other post:
Accusa che Amnesty International ha definito falsa, dato che lo stesso processo è stato costruito ad arte contro i cristiani
An accusation that Amnesty International has defined as false, because all the process has been built against Christians.
The Java Report adds a very important comment:
If these guys are guilty of involvement in a massacre that killed over 200–mostly women and children, let me volunteer my services for the firing squad. However, the Indonesian court system is based on Islamic law and, as we have noted here on several occasions, is a complete sham. Not a single Muslim has been brought to justice for the killing of Christians during the same period–even though far more Christians were killed in the sectarian violence than Muslims. Not. A. Single. One.
As I noted firstly in the post, the web Hazte Oir.org is doing a campaign to stop their execution. You can send by a form in that page a letter to the Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, the Foreign Minister of Spain, the Indonesian Ambassador in Spain and the Spanish Ambassador in Indonesia. The letter runs:
Dear Sir
I hereby request your help, to avoid the executions of three Christians in your country, Indonesia.
These convicts were charged with murder and enticement to sectarian hatred, which, according to certain eyewitnesses is without basis.
According to our sources these people have not had a fair trial, and in my view your cooperation in order to save their lives and to ensure that their fundamental rights are respected is essential.
Please be so kind to refer my request to your Government, who most certainly would take it into consideration and deal with it in the best manner.
You are only requested to tell your name (nombre), e-mail and subject (asunto). The more letters we send, the more possibility we have they are saved from a very bad fate.