Indian Muslim cleric: "Every Muslim should be a terrorist"

He also pines for Sharia in America and recommends hijab as a preventative for rape. And when he recommends that every Muslim be a terrorist, he means that "Muslims should terrorize the anti-social elements in society. He should terrorize the robber, the decoy, the rapist."

The decoy?

Anyway, this is an exhortation to thuggery wrapped in moral standards. Certainly the robber, the rapist, and maybe even the "decoy" should not be tolerated. But terrorized? What exactly does Ashraf Mohamedy mean? Perhaps that they should be crucified or have their hands and feet cut off on opposite sides, as per Qur'an 5:33, so that terror will be struck into their hearts, as per Qur'an 8:60?

"Indian Cleric Ashraf Mohamedy: Every Muslim Should Be a Terrorist against the Anti-Social Elements in Society," from MEMRI, April 22 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Following are excerpts from a public address delivered by Indian cleric Ashraf Mohamedy, which aired on Peace TV on April 22, 2008:

[...]

"Allah Has Instructed Us to Follow the Hijab, So That Women Can Be Saved From Rape And Molestation"

Ashraf Mohamedy: "There are two twin sisters who are equally identical and equally good looking, and they are walking down the street. At the corner there is a hooligan waiting for a catch, waiting to tease someone. One of the sisters is putting on the Islamic hijab, that is, covering herself completely, except for the face and the hands up to the wrist, and the other sister is dressed in a miniskirt.

"Who is the hooligan going to tease - the sister in the hijab or the one in the miniskirt? Of course he will tease the sister in the miniskirt!

[...]

"Allah has instructed us to follow the hijab, so that women can be saved from rape and molestation. In Islam, there is capital punishment for the rapist. Whenever we say this to non-Muslim brothers, they react by saying that Islam is a cruel law, that it is a barbaric law. But believe me, Islamic law gets results.

[...]

"Western society, in the name of women's liberalization, has exploited the body of the woman, has degraded her soul, and has deprived her of her honor. They have converted women into mistresses, concubines, and society butterflies, who are mere tools in the hands of sex marketers and pleasure seekers.

"In America, according to statistics of the FBI, in 1990, the cases of rape were 1,750, and later on, 1,900. The Americans got a bit bolder. The latest statistics, of 1996, say that now the rate has gone up to 2,117 rapes taking place every day.

"If the Islamic shari'a is applied in America, if every man, whenever he sees a woman, would lower his gaze, if every woman is asked to cover herself completely, except for the face and hands up to the wrist, and if there is capital punishment for the rapist - will the rate of crime go up, remain the same, or come down in America? Of course it will come down! Islam gives dignity and protection to the women in Islam, and that is just the reason why Islam has prescribed the hijab." [...]

"Every Muslim Should Be Proud to Be a Fundamentalist Muslim"

"Another misconception among non-Muslim brothers and sisters is that Muslims are fundamentalists and terrorists. They say and allege that you are terrorists and fundamentalists. Let's analyze the meaning of fundamentalism. If a person wants to be a good doctor, then he should know, he should follow, and should practice the teachings of medicine. In other words, he should be a fundamentalist in the field of medicine.

"If a person wants to be a very good scientist, he should know, he should follow, and he should practice the teachings of science. In other words, he should be a fundamentalist in the field of science. Similarly, if a person wants to be a good mathematician, he should know, he should follow, and he should practice the teachings of mathematics. In other words, he should be fundamentalist in the field of mathematics.

"We cannot paint all fundamentalists with the same brush, for a fundamentalist robber causes harm to the society, and that is highly disagreed upon. That is highly irresponsible. But at the same time, a fundamentalist doctor causes good in society. He cures and he heals, and he is much desired by society.

"I am proud to be a fundamentalist Muslim, because I know, I follow, and I strive to practice the teachings of Islam. Every Muslim should be proud to be a fundamentalist Muslim. That is because none of the teachings of Islam causes any harm to society. On the contrary, it causes.... it gives benefits to society. On the basis of this knowledge, every Muslim should be proud to be a fundamentalist Muslim." [...]

"I Repeat: Every Muslim Should Be a Terrorist"

"I would stress that every Muslim should be a terrorist. I repeat: Every Muslim should be a terrorist. A terrorist is a person who terrifies others, who terrorizes others. That is precisely the reason we have the police. As soon as the robber sees the policeman, he is terrified, he is terrorized. Similarly, the Muslims should terrorize the anti-social elements in society. He should terrorize the robber, the decoy, the rapist. I know that 'terrorist' is taken as a concept of a person who terrorizes the common man. But we Muslims should be terrorists for the anti-social elements in society."

Hizballah seizes western Beirut from Lebanese Army

An update on this story, and things are going downhill fast. "Hezbollah militias assume control of western Beirut," from CNN, May 9:

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- Western Beirut fell under the control of opposition Hezbollah militias Friday in what amounted to an army-negotiated surrender of pro-government positions, Lebanese Internal Security Forces and Western military observers said.

The "dramatic development" is a major blow to the democratically elected and pro-Western government of Lebanon, CNN's Brent Sadler said.

Soldiers went to several offices of pro-government political parties in western Beirut overnight, he said. They persuaded pro-government gunmen who had battled Hezbollah militants to leave the offices as the opposition forces hovered nearby, he said.

Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, part of the pro-government coalition, said the government was "now at the end of a gun barrel" and they expect the "conditions for surrender will be offered sooner or later," Sadler reported.

"I think ... it's a coup," Jumblatt told CNN in a phone interview. "The Lebanese army is in total paralysis."

Rather than fight, the army has stayed above the fray. With its own political factions, taking sides could throw the military into disarray.

With pro-government gunmen out of the way, the fighting in the capital eased at bit Friday after intense gunbattles the previous two days echoed through Beirut's streets.

At least 11 people have been killed and 44 wounded in the clashes since Wednesday, according to Lebanese Internal Security Forces.

The developments came as two pro-government television stations -- Future TV and al-Ekhbariya TV -- ceased operations Friday.

They went off the air after being threatened by government opponents in Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim militia, and Amal, a major Shiite party in Lebanon, according to Nadim Mounla, head of Future TV.

"Early this morning, many armed militiamen were in the surroundings of the Future television headquarters and they have sent us a very clear message: 'Either you shut off or (we're going to) destroy the premises,'" Mounla said.

The television stations are owned by the Hariri family, supporters of the country's pro-Western, Sunni-led government. In addition, the building housing the Hariri-owned al-Mustaqbal newspaper came under fire overnight. No injuries were reported.

The Hariri compound in western Beirut came under fire Friday. Security sources said rocket-propelled grenades slammed into the wall surrounding the residence.

Saad Hariri, the leader of the government's bloc in parliament, is the son of the late former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, whose 2005 assassination sparked protests that brought the current government to power and led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops.

Hariri and Jumblatt were besieged Friday in their residences in Muslim western Beirut, The Associated Press reported, while Prime Minister Fuad Saniora was believed to be under protection at his downtown office.

"Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man in Europe" freed on bail in U.K.

Why?

Abu Qatada Update. "Islamic preacher Abu Qatada is bailed," by Christopher Hope for The Telegraph, May 9:

Abu Qatada, who last month defeated the Government’s efforts to deport him to Jordan on terror charges, will be subject to a 22-hour curfew when he is released from Long Lartin high-security prison.

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, said she was “extremely disappointed” at the decision and promised “all steps necessary to protect the public”.

Some of the bail money is thought to have been put up by Norman Kember, the Christian peace worker who was held hostage in Baghdad for four months from November 2005 by a group of insurgents. Qatada had made a video appeal for his release.

The bail decision by the Special Immigration Advisory Tribunal is a fresh blow to the Government’s anti-terror policies.

Last month, the Home Office was forced to abandon plans to deport 12 Libyan fanatics, leaving a memorandum of understanding with Libya, signed in October 2005, effectively in tatters.

The rulings mean that not a single international terrorist has been forcibly removed from this country. Nearly three years after the 7/7 attacks, the only Islamic extremists to depart are eight Algerians who left voluntarily.

Qatada 45, has been convicted in his absence in Jordan of involvement with terror attacks in 1998 and of plotting to plant bombs at the Millennium.

The radical cleric once called on British Muslims to martyr themselves, and tapes of his sermons were found in a flat in Germany used by some of the September 11 hijackers.

Mrs Smith said: “Public safety is our main priority and we will take all steps necessary to protect the public. We will ensure that necessary steps are taken to ensure the safety of the public.

“I am already seeking to appeal the Court of Appeal’s decision that it is not safe to deport Qatada and we will continue with deportation action with this and the other Jordanian cases.”

Qatada could be freed within days and it is thought he will return to his family, who are understood to be living in Acton, West London.

Once he has been released, the Jordanian father-of-five, can expect to receive £1,000 a month in benefit payments. The taxpayer will also face a bill of tens of thousands of pounds to keep the cleric under 24-hour watch.

Somalia jihadists seize police headquarters in Mogadishu

Remember, jihad is an interior spiritual struggle. This one just happens to be in the interior of the Mogadishu police headquarters now.

Somalia Jihad Update. "Armed Somali Insurgents Seize Police Headquarters in Mogadishu," from the Associated Press, May 8:

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Firing rocket-propelled grenades and heavy submachine guns, Islamist fighters seized the police headquarters at the heart of the government's stronghold in Mogadishu on Thursday in a bold attack that witnesses said killed two soldiers and two policemen.

The insurgents have tried many times to attack the heavily guarded K4 district but Thursday's raid was their first major success. The ambush could not be immediately be verified by Somali officials. It came a day after a bloody Wednesday in the Horn of Africa nation. Insurgents attacked Ethiopian military convoys in two rural areas, and the soldiers responded by opening fire on civilians in both towns, killing at least 17 villagers total, according to witness accounts.

It wasn't known how many Ethiopians died in that fighting and the witness accounts could not be verified. Ethiopia, which sent troops into Somalia last year to back up soldiers fighting Islamic insurgents, does not make public its troops' fatalities but the insurgents said one of their regional commanders was killed.

Elsewhere, a roadside bomb killed three Somali soldiers Wednesday, a military officer said. A separate attack on a World Food Program convoy in central Somalia killed a driver, U.N. officials said.

In the Mogadishu attack Thursday, witnesses said an explosion rocked Makalal Mukrama Road outside police headquarters in K4 district, sending plumes of black smoke into the night air after fighters set ablaze a captured "technical" -- a pickup truck with a submachine gun fixed to its bed. The blast came after the insurgents seized the police station yelling "God is great," witnesses said.

Thug-In-Chief: "Iran becoming a nuclear country was one of the Imam Mahdi’s miracles"

Here, courtesy Jihad Watch reader Charlemagne’s Funny Bone, is a quick summary -- but fuller than most that have appeared in the mainstream media -- of Ahmadinejad’s one hour and three minute speech before 200-300 clerics in the City of Mashad, Iran.

The last two years was the hardest time, after the establishment of the Islamic Republic, through which we have passed. Some Iranian people are telling me that the price of oil has gone up so why we don’t see any of its effect in our country. They ask me why the price of food and many other things are rising. I have to tell you when the price of oil goes up the price of everything go up. My government won’t receive all of the money that we make out of oil. Whatever Majlis approves, my government spends and rest of the money that we made on oil goes to the treasury. The government before me (Rafsanjani, Khatami) changed many things. Whenever I want to fix any corruption, many people within regime that I do not want to name begin to talk against me. In one of their meetings they (Rafsanjani, Khatami) said someone (Ahmadinejad) wants to go against us, but he has to know two things in the country that are in our hands: the Banks and Oil. So, he cannot do anything.

We have to work very hard to establish justice in our country. Our foreign enemies thought that by passing resolutions in the United Nations, they could stop us from becoming a nuclear country. But with God’s help, now we are a nuclear country and they cannot do anything about it. There are many problems that, God willing, we will pass. I will talk about how we pass all of these problems in the second part of my speech.

You people know that God did not create man to live the way he is living today. No one used his mind better than prophets and Imams. The glorifications of men all will happen with divine management. If there is not any divine management, nothing happens in the world. All of the fights from the beginning of humanity have been because of he who has to manage and govern the world. From the beginning of humanity, all of the prophets said that the world must be managed through divine direction. We have to create a situation for the establishment of divine government. Anything that happens in the world happens because of Imam Mahdi. The creation of the world was because of the Imam Mahdi. The misery of humanity is because they don’t think about establishment of divine government on earth. There is no other truth or goodness in the world except the establishment of Imam Mahdi’s government on earth.

One day I was in a gathering, some people asked me what are these things that you are talking about, I told them that I did not say these things, God said them. If we don’t connect ourselves to the Imam, we are nothing. The return of Imam Mahdi is the only truth that we must think about. From the beginning of humanity there have been people with evil intentions that have been trying to stop us from thinking about the return of Imam Mahdi. Some people just see the body of the enemies but not their intentions. For example, the people who came and occupied Iraq, it seems their intention is to steal Iraqi’s oil, but that is not the case. Actually they have studied and analyzed that something is about to happen in this area. A divine hand is about to come out from this area and obliterate the corruption in the world.

Some people think that at this time Imam Mahdi is living somewhere and doesn’t care about humanity, but they are wrong. At this time Imam Mahdi is managing the world. My dear people, let me tell you something, at this time humanity has entered a new era. The people around the world are up rising against the arrogant powers. At this time we are seeing many of miracles of Imam Mahdi. For example, Iran becoming a nuclear country was one of the Imam Mahdi’s miracles. The victory of Islamic Revolution in Iran was another miracle of Imam Mahdi.

Let me tell you something, one day one of the grand Ayatollahs, whom many of you know, told me, “I have heard that you are talking about the return of Imam Mahdi and that you are in contact with him. Is that right?” I told him that I believe Imam Mahdi is managing the world. Furthermore, I told him, “Do you know what my problem is? My problem is that I believe everything people like you taught me.”

I believe that Iran is becoming the center of this management. "We must solve Iran's internal problems as quickly as possible. Time is lacking. A movement has started for us to occupy ourselves with our global responsibilities, which are arriving with great speed."

Lebanon declares Hizballah's communications network illegal, Nasrallah says "war has started"

Perhaps the Lebanese government is tiring of the state-within-a-state.

An update on this story. " Gunbattles break out in Beirut," from CNN, May 8:

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- Gunfire broke out in downtown Beirut on Thursday after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said recent government actions amount to "a declaration of open war."

There are reports of open street battles in at least one neighborhood. Video showed people throwing stones at each other, as Lebanese soldiers used tear gas to disperse the crowds.

The violence is limited to Beirut's Shiite and Sunni neighborhoods and has continued into the evening hours.

Shortly after Nasrallah's speech, CNN's Cal Perry reported from Sodeco Square in downtown Beirut during an intense gun battle.

"Just in the past few minutes ... things have gotten a lot worse," he said, taking cover with the Lebanese army. He said government forces have not reacted to the violence.

The Lebanese army, which is charged with trying to keep peace in the capital, is in a precarious position, Perry explained.

"When you're talking about this much gunfire, when you're talking about [rocket-propelled grenades] fire, it's absolutely ludicrous to think that the army will put themselves between these two factions," he said.

Video of the scene showed empty streets and shuttered stores. There were no reports of violence in Beirut's Christian neighborhoods. Witnesses and journalists described a long line of cars on the main road leading out of Beirut after the violence broke out.

In his televised speech, Nasrallah offered harsh words for the government, blaming it for declaring war by banning Hezbollah's telecommunications system.

"We believe the war has started, and we believe that we have the right to defend ourselves," the Hezbollah leader said. "We will cut the hand that will reach out to the weapons of the resistance, no matter if it comes from the inside or the outside."

Rep. Hoekstra tries, fails to kill Orwellian speech codes restricting use of word "jihad"

“Trying to impose speech codes on how to describe our enemy smacks of McCarthyism in reverse.”

"Hoekstra Effort to Strip Earmarks from Intelligence Bill Successful," a press release from Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), May 7 (thanks to Patrick Poole):

...Hoekstra also sponsored an amendment, rejected by committee Democrats, that would prohibit the intelligence community from adopting speech codes that encumber accurately describing the radical jihadist terrorists that attacked America and continue to threaten the homeland.

“Trying to impose speech codes on how to describe our enemy smacks of McCarthyism in reverse,” Hoekstra said. “Al-Qaeda knows point blank that they want to kill Americans. How sad is it that as we approach the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, we are still debating how to define our enemy?”...

Muslim 911 operator fired -- faces felony charges for illegally searching state databases, including terror watch list

She says she's just being singled out because she is a Muslim. And I'm sure that's true. I'm sure there are plenty of 911 operators illegally searching the terror watch list, and they're getting off scot-free. It's Islamophobia, I tell you, and I'm not going to take it anymore! "Ex-911 operator accused of illegal database searches," by Brian Sharp and Victoria E. Freile for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, May 8 (thanks to JHN):

A former city 911 operator faces multiple felony counts for illegally searching state driving records and state police databases that included the FBI's terrorist watch list, officials said Wednesday.

The fired employee, Nadire P. Zenelaj, 32, of Rochester insists she did nothing wrong and is being singled out because she is Muslim.

"I feel they targeted me because of my religion," said Zenelaj, who worked at the 911 center for nearly six years. "I have no criminal history. I have never gone against the law."

Richard Vega, director of the city's Office of Public Integrity, said Zenelaj was "running personal information on herself, on her family and on friends. I think it went beyond curiosity. ... We think she was accessing this information to pass it on to others."

At least one of the 227 names that Zenelaj searched for was on the terrorist watch list, according to police. She was fired in December, arrested Tuesday and pleaded not guilty Wednesday to misdemeanor official misconduct and 232 felony counts of computer trespass — one for each allegedly illegal search.

As for knowing someone on the watch list, Zenelaj said: "Regardless of that person, I've seen many people on many lists."...

Vega said misconduct was the sole reason for Zenelaj's termination. He added that the city even went back through training materials and records to try to find any support for Zenelaj's claims. However, anyone who went through the training signed a document agreeing not to search personal information, he said.

Trainees also had to take a test, which included a question that specifically addressed the prohibition against personal searches. "She got that question right," Vega said....

New York: 3 Yemeni Muslims charged with money-laundering to aid Hizballah

Yehia Ali Ahmed Alomari, Mohamed Al Huraibi, Saleh Mohamed Taher Saeed ran mini-marts in southwest and northeast Rochester, and were trying to get the money to Hizballah -- or so say the charges. Hizballah's Hassan Nasrallah has chanted, "Death to America." Are these men naturalized citizens? Did they swear loyalty to the U.S.? If so, one would think this case would raise questions about immigration and oaths taken by Muslims who believe in the concept of religious deception as delineated by Qur'an 3:28 (see Ibn Kathir's explanation here). But it won't.

"Grand jury charges Yemeni trio with money-laundering," by Michael Zeigler for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, May 8 (thanks to JHN):

A federal grand jury has brought money-laundering charges against three Yemeni men for allegedly transferring money into overseas accounts they believed were controlled by the Islamic terrorist organization Hezbollah.

The charges were brought against Yehia Ali Ahmed Alomari, 27; Mohamed Al Huraibi, 41; and Saleh Mohamed Taher Saeed, 28, who ran mini-marts in southwest and northeast Rochester.

The indictment, handed up Wednesday, alleges money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The three were arrested in March 2007 and are in federal custody. They were indicted after attempts at plea negotiations failed.

If convicted, Alomari, Al Huraibi and Saeed face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, U.S. Attorney Terrance P. Flynn said.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement began an investigation in January 2005 after banking records showed that a Social Security number assigned to Saeed was associated with 324 overseas currency transactions totaling $12.3 million from October 2002 through November 2004....

That's a lot of Slushies.

Thug-In-Chief: Israel a "stinking corpse"

More love from the hero of Columbia University students: "Ahmadinejad: Israel a 'stinking corpse,'" from the Jerusalem Post (thanks to Louis):

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that the state of Israel is a "stinking corpse" that is destined to disappear, the French news agency AFP reported.

"Those who think they can revive the stinking corpse of the usurping and fake Israeli regime by throwing a birthday party are seriously mistaken," the official IRNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as having said.

"Today the reason for the Zionist regime's existence is questioned, and this regime is on its way to annihilation."

Ahmadinejad further stated that Israel "has reached the end like a dead rat after being slapped by the Lebanese" - referring to the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006.

Then they have the chutzpah to complain to the UN about Hillary. But of course, jihadists of all stripes have never found chutzpah in short supply.

Julia Gorin: This is a Kosovar Muslim?

In this Jihad Watch exclusive, Julia Gorin discusses yet another fruitless search for that ever-elusive unicorn, a genuine and broad-based moderate Islam:

In my fellow conservatives’ desperation to find a country that doesn’t hate America, and in the universal struggle to find a truly moderate Muslim population, articles and blog posts such as this one by Michael Totten, shamefully in Commentary magazine online, become ubiquitous.

It’s titled “This is a Kosovar Muslim” and has a picture of an elderly Albanian man wearing a “USA” sweatshirt with an American flag on it:

I'm writing this from the capital of Kosovo, the least “scary” Muslim country on Earth…Kosovo is surprising even to me. Islam in this country is so thoroughly liberal (“moderate” doesn't quite cover it) that, if it weren't for the mosques, there would be no visible evidence that Kosovo is a Muslim country at all…Bosnia notoriously welcomed thousands of Salafist mujahideen fighters from the Arab world during Yugoslavia's violent demise. But the Kosovo Liberation Army brusquely told them to stay the hell out of their country--even while they faced an ethnic cleansing campaign directed from Belgrade. [They didn’t.]

…

American flags are on sale at kiosks everywhere. They fly in front of government buildings. The world's second largest replica of the Statue of Liberty sits atop the five star Hotel Victory. The largest street downtown was renamed Bill Clinton Boulevard…Clinton is rightly hailed as a liberator, but one resident told me “We are Republicans here in Kosovo.” They want a strong American President who won't back down from commitments. Just a few short blocks from Bill Clinton Boulevard is the Israeli Odyssea Bakery. It is not just a Jewish bakery, but an Israeli bakery owned and operated by an actual Israeli.

As with everyone else who has deigned to finally write about Kosovo now that it’s back in the headlines, Totten sees only what’s on the surface, because he didn’t bother following Kosovo from 1999 on (not to mention pre-1999). Yes, Albanians are pro-American, thanks to our distinctly un-American operation on their behalf. The last time someone expanded Albania for them, Albanians were so grateful that they formed two Nazi divisions to show their appreciation, rounding up Jews for Bergen-Belsen, and killing Serbs. Before that, they converted to Islam to benefit from Ottoman patronage, get higher status and get the upper hand over the Slavs. Albanians will be whatever they have to be, and the love is always conditional.

As I wrote in an article titled “The Pro-American Terrorists” and in another titled “Why Do They Love Us?”: Whoever secures more land for Albanians--in the current case a second country (while Jews still struggle for just one)--that’s whom they’ll love. So now we’re their patrons. Ottomans. Nazis. USA (along with Saudi Arabia and UAE). Which means that just as there is a Clinton mural in Kosovo, there is also a Hitler diner and a “bin Laden Mosque” (dubbed as such because of all the photos of bin Laden that adorned its walls until the Americans complained).

Totten further reveals his credentials as an imposter to this issue when he writes that the “Kosovo Liberation Army brusquely told [mujahedeen] to stay the hell out of their country--even while they faced an ethnic cleansing campaign directed from Belgrade.”

The ever-present use of State Department-issued language concerning “ethnic cleansing directed from Belgrade” aside (and please note that when it comes to any discussion of Kosovo, there is no variation from government to media to art), the KLA did in fact have Islamist help. Bin Laden co-financed, co-trained and co-fought with the KLA. Even the Brooklyn-based gun smuggler Florin Krasniqi listed al Qaeda as among those helping his KLA in a PBS-aired documentary (2005), saying that he would have worked “with the devil” too. Just as Totten’s article was being published the other day, al Qaeda-linked Kuwaitis were admitting that they were also fighting in Kosovo, in addition to every other kind of mujahed—one of whom told a journalist in 1999, “This is my eighth jihad.” As one National Guard source recently told me, the jihadists come and go as they please.

But I would certainly be interested in seeing some documentation for the notion that Totten conjured up of KLA telling the mujahedeen to “stay the hell out of their country.” I’d like to see even something quoting an Albanian leader, an “ex” KLA fighter or international administrator making this up, but Totten naturally offers zero documentation in his Commentary blog post, which reads like a ventriloquist act to anyone who has heard it all before—from Albanians.

To understand how things work in Kosovo and surrounding areas, Totten needs a heavy dose of Chris Deliso’s book The Coming Balkan Caliphate, from which he would glean that the Albanians have an “arrangement” with the fundamentalists that goes like this: If your boys touch the internationals here--who are giving us what we need--we will kill them. Tell them to keep their heads low, and they can continue to operate in the region.

While Albanians are slowly reawakening to Islam after a communist slumber, Kosovo is filling with mosques and is the center of al Qaeda heroin-trafficking. In case anyone ever seeks to question why U.S. leaders and the State Dept. sabotaged Serbian-Albanian negotiations at every turn, using absolutist language throughout (e.g. “Independence is the only option”), he or she will find that we were responding to the perpetual threat of violence by the Albanian leadership, our new “friend”. Of course, the Albanian leadership does not mean all Albanians, but even those Albanians who don’t have blood on their hands are all too happy to accept their independent Kosovo/Greater Albania however the KLA managed and bludgeoned to win it. They take their goodies from whoever is handing them out, and however they can get them.

Meanwhile, the receptiveness that the jihadists have found among young Albanians (like young Bosnians) to fundamentalism isn't unlike the void that Islam is filling in millions of young people everywhere. But the point is that our intervention opened that floodgate, and we continue down the same road even post-9/11. Instead of promoting multi-culturalism, we promoted the most radical elements, ethnic supremacy and a victim mentality that ultimately seeks out the old faith. And that faith is making inroads in Kosovo with access it didn’t have before 1999. (Just look at how surprised the famous shill for Balkan Muslims, Stephen Schwartz, was on this bus trip.)

Totten goes on to assert not only Albanians’ pro-Americanism, but their pro-Semitism:

Accomplished businessman and practicing Muslim Luan Berisha told me that 90 percent of Kosovars support Israel in the Arab-Israeli conflict. I don't know if that's really true. But if so it means Kosovo is more pro-Israel than even the United States…No one in any Arabic country would say such a thing. Kosovo sharply contrasts also with nearby Serbia on this question, where General Wesley Clark is seen as a sinister Jewish figure who plotted Belgrade's destruction, and where Saddam Hussein was considered an ally.

Forced into dealing with countries that weren’t part of the Western-led sanctions, boycotts and bombings against it, Serbia was isolated and had few options. Hence the dealings with Saddam Hussein, who was our ally as well when we needed him. While Wesley Clark is rightfully hated in Serbia, Israel is supported and, as Yohanan Ramati, Chairman of Jerusalem Institute for Western Defense, wrote in the Jerusalem Post in 1995, “Israelis are still liked and welcomed.” There was good reason that Israel was against the bombing of Serbia and was providing covert assistance to Belgrade even while providing humanitarian aid to “Kosovars”.

For years, Serbia continued to face Westward despite our crimes against it, even offering troops for Afghanistan and Iraq. But having dug ourselves into a hole, we continued to dig—and continued to kick Serbia’s teeth in. Whatever geo-strategic advantages and goals we’ve managed to carve out of our disastrous 1990s errors (quietly admitted to here and there), at least as much could have been accomplished working with our WWI and WWII ally, Serbia, which also has an incredible intelligence apparatus and had good border security in Kosovo until we dismantled it. (Recall it was Serbia that caught a key suspect in the Madrid bombings 16 months after the attack--as he transited untouched through Europe, most likely on his way to Kosovo or Bosnia, writes Deliso.)

While Totten is in Kosovo’s capital, Pristina, he should look around and ask himself why it’s so pristinely Albanian. And while showing us “This is a Kosovar Muslim,” he should remember that so was one of the Fort Dix Six planning to massacre American soldiers—and three others were Albanian Muslims from western Macedonia, a.k.a. Greater Kosovo. Indeed, Totten’s timing on this post couldn’t be better, as today is the one-year anniversary of the arrests that should have been America’s red light on Kosovo independence.

Too bad conservatives can’t distinguish themselves from the Democrats and other appeasers on this front.

Canada: Jihad suspect tries to walk out of his own trial, saying he doesn't recognize Canadian law

Authorities are treating it, of course, as a sign that he may be unbalanced. No one gets the idea that maybe, just maybe, he is acting upon some principle of Islam that it might be good for Western authorities in general to know about. "Terrorism suspect tries to quit his own trial," by Colin Freeze for the Globe and Mail, May 6 (thanks to Cindy):

TORONTO — An Islamic convert facing terrorism charges was re-arrested after trying to walk out of his own trial Tuesday – saying simply that “I'm outta here” – after telling the court he wouldn't recognize Canadian law.

The 20-year-old, who can't be identified because he was underage at the time of his arrest two years ago, had been released on bail. But he spent last night in jail, and his legal future is unclear.

At the time proceedings broke down, a police officer had been on the stand, and the court was discussing the young man's mental status, including whether he was suicidal.

The only youth among 11 Torontonians accused of a variety of conspiracies is also the only suspect whose case has got to its trial phase. He faces charges of attending a terrorist training camp. The court has heard only preliminary motions so far, and has yet to delve into evidence or testimony.

While on bail, the young man had been living with his Hindu parents.

A Toronto Muslim preacher told The Globe that the suspect had been coming to Friday prayers, saying that he'd rather return to jail than live in a non-Islamic household.

“He said ‘In jail, I can at least pray,'” Aly Hindy, imam of the Salahuddin Islamic Centre in Scarborough, said in an interview.

“I said ‘Don't do this!'” Mr. Hindy said. He added that he counselled the young man to pray in secret, but tensions between the suspect and his father had reached a boiling point.

The family did not comment.

Mr. Hindy added that the young man is “confused” and that “lots of young people, they need guidance.” The young man had lately been expressing an interest in circumcising himself, the imam said, consistent with his understanding of what the Prophet Abraham had done.

A self-described Islamic fundamentalist, Mr. Hindy has appeared as a proposed bail surete for a variety of individuals facing national-security-related proceedings. The imam said that nothing in Islam calls for Muslims to disregard the Canadian criminal-justice system....

The imam was sugar-coating, not surprisingly. Traditionally Islam has no respect for any criminal-justice system except Sharia, save for limited self-government granted to dhimmi communities. Thus while many Muslims in Western countries are generally taught that they should obey the laws of that country for a time, they're also taught a contempt for those laws and the need ultimately to replace them with Sharia. It is, then, no surprise at all that this young jihadist wouldn't recognize Canadian law.

Ahmed, we hardly knew ye

Has Ahmed Bedier, who very recently seemed to be a rising star at CAIR, left the unindicted co-conspirators behind and become a freelance "civil rights activist"?

In "The Mystery at CAIR Tampa," May 7, The Investigative Project (thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist) has details.

Maybe now Bedier will have time to answer my questions about Islamic moderation.

But I won't be holding my breath. Some of Ahmed's greatest hits:

South Carolina: 2 Muslims charged with felonies in explosives scare (Bedier says they're "Naive Kids")

CAIR's Ahmed Bedier passes up a chance to condemn stoning

CAIR's Ahmed Bedier stops by Jihad Watch to tell me no one is reading Jihad Watch

Online jihadist forums teach how to manufacture poisons, weapons, and explosives

And note the quotations from the Qur'an and ahadith which they offer to justify and encourage those activities. For associating violence with Islam, they must be a real bunch of Islamophobes, right?

"Islamist Forums Teach Mujahideen How to Manufacture and Use Explosives, Weapons, and Poisons," by D. Nagy for MEMRI, May 8:

In recent years jhihadist organizations have been using the Internet for purposes of indoctrination, propaganda, recruitment and maintaining morale among the mujahideen. In addition, Internet forums provide venues not only for sharing views, but for exchanging information that serves the operative needs of the mujahideen, such as guidance in guerilla warfare techniques, and information on manufacturing and using explosives, weapons, and poisons.

Such information is often posted in special Al-'Udda Wal-I'dad (Equipment and Preparation)( [1] ) sections of numerous jihadist forums, including Shabakat Al-Firdaws Al-Jihadiyya (www.al-firdaws.org ),( [2] ) Shabakat Al-Ma'arik Al-Salafiyya (www.m3ark.com ),( [3] ) Shabakat Al-Mujahideen Al-Elektroniyya (www.majahden.com ),( [4] ) Shabakat Shumoukh Al-Islam (www.shmo5alislam.net ),( [5] ) Minbar Al-Battar Al-I'lami (www.albatar.1talk.net ),( [6] ) Mawqi' Al-Muhajir Al-Islami (www.asia.geocities.com/mohajerlb ),( [7] ) and others.( [8] )

It is worth noting that #4 is registered through GoDaddy.com, and as of 10pm PDT, is still available, as is the Geocities page (omit the "www" from the URL).

In addition to postings dealing with weapons and warfare, Al-'Udda Wal-'Idad sections also include messages on a wide range of other topics relevant to terrorist activity, from forging documents to techniques for withstanding interrogation. Most of the material is translated into Arabic from non-Arabic sources It should be noted that Islamist sites without an Al-'Udda Wal-I'dad section also present military information of this type, on other sections of their sites.

The following message, posted on Al-Firdaws by a member calling himself Al-Battar, shows the importance forum members attribute to the content on the Al-'Udda Wal-I'dad sections: "...Looking through several threads on this forum and on others, I discovered that the young [members] write about various topics without knowing anything [about them]... [So] it is your sacred duty to convey [information about] them to our brothers the mujahideen...

"[The Koran says:] 'And prepare against them what force you can and horses harnessed for battle, to strike terror into [the hearts of] the enemies of Allah and your enemies and others besides them, whom you do not know (but) Allah knows them [Koran 8:60].'

"Allah's Messenger, peace and prayers be upon him, interpreted the word 'force' in this verse to mean 'shooting'... So 'force' refers to shooting (arrows, catapults, guns, pistols, cannon, or rockets of various types). Of all these weapons, we [should] use the ones that inspire the most fear, as mentioned in the verse. In other words, if today there are advanced weapons, which cause more damage [than the weapons of the Prophet's day], we [must] be prepared to obtain and [use] them, even if the only way to obtain them is to learn how to make them [ourselves]...

A far cry from "Better Living Through Chemistry."

Grand Mufti of Lebanon denounces Hizballah; violent clashes in Beirut

"The clashes threatened to degenerate into an all-out sectarian conflict, with Hezbollah seizing offices of a major Sunni group and the Sunnis' spiritual leader denouncing the militant faction and appealing to the Islamic world to intervene."

Sunni-Shi'ite Jihad Update. "Grand Mufti: We had enough of Hezbollah," from Ya Libnan, May 8:

Beirut- Lebanon's long-simmering political crisis erupted into violent clashes between supporters of Hezbollah-led opposition and those of the government Wednesday, with explosions and gunfire ringing out across the capital after Hezbollah paralyzed much of the city with roadblocks of burning tires.

The clashes threatened to degenerate into an all-out sectarian conflict, with Hezbollah seizing offices of a major Sunni group and the Sunnis' spiritual leader denouncing the militant faction and appealing to the Islamic world to intervene.

"Sunni Muslims in Lebanon have had enough," Grand Mufti Mohammed Rashid Kabbani said in a televised address from his office, demanding an "end to these violations."

In unusually harsh words, he described Hezbollah as "armed gangs of outlaws that have carried out the ugliest attacks against the citizens and their safety," and called on Hezbollah leaders to withdraw their supporters from Sunni neighborhoods in Beirut.

Kabbani implicitly criticized Iran, saying "it is regrettable and sad that an Islamic state is funding such infringements that hurt the unity of Lebanese Muslims."

He warned Hezbollah against attacking the Lebanese civilians and hegemony over the Lebanese state and governmental institutions

What started Wednesday as a labor union strike supported by Hezbollah to protest the government's economic policies and demand pay raises quickly escalated into outright conflict at a time of rising political tension between the militant group and the government in their 17-month-long standoff.

Thug-in-Chief overreaches, irks clerics by implying the Mahdi backs his government

Whoops. From our You-Can't-Make-This-Stuff-Up File. "Iran clerics query president's religious remarks," from Reuters, May 7:

TEHRAN - Iran's president has alarmed some conservative clerics with remarks suggesting he believed a mystical Shi'ite religious leader backed his government, newspapers reported on Wednesday.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who came to power in 2005 with the votes of Iran's devout poor, has in the past courted controversy for his very public devotion to the return of the vanished 12th Imam, or Mahdi, a figure he regularly refers to in his speeches.

While the return of the 12th Imam to herald an era of justice is a core Shi'ite belief, some critics say he has encouraged "superstitious" practices surrounding the tenet.

"If the president means that the 12th Imam is supporting the government, we should say that it is wrong," conservative cleric Gholamreza Mesbahi-Moghaddam, who is also a member of parliament, was quoted by the daily Etemad-e Melli as saying.

Mesbahi-Moghaddam was referring to a speech Ahmadinejad made a month ago at a Shi'ite shrine in Mashhad, eastern Iran, and broadcast on state TV on Monday. The BBC monitored the address.

The president's Mashhad speech began with an appeal for the 12th Imam's speedy return and was peppered with references to him. But the president denied what he described as accusations that say he has claimed a particular relationship with the Imam.

"Surely the 12th Imam is not supporting the current 20 percent inflation in Iran," the cleric said, referring to a popular complaint -- Ahmadinejad's failure to curb price rises.

According to Shi'ite Muslim teaching, Abul-Qassem Mohammad, the 12th leader whom Shi'ites consider descended from the prophet Mohammed, disappeared in the year 941 but will return at the end of time to lead an era of Islamic justice.

Devout politician

"Ahmadinejad should think in a more worldly way. He should manage the country. People are not expecting (religious) advice from the president," another conservative cleric, Ali Asgari, from Mashhad, was quoted by Kargozaran daily as saying.

Ahmadinejad, Iran's first non-clerical president in more than a quarter of a century, has had other run-ins with the religious establishment. Several top clerics scolded him last month for blaming Iran's economic problems on "mafias".

One analyst said some in the clerical establishment were wary of Ahmadinejad who represents a new breed of devout politicians with less ties to the Islamic Republic's traditional clerical class, thus potentially undermining their authority.

Nevertheless, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all state matters under Iran's system of clerical rule, has lavished praise on Ahmadinejad.

In his Mashhad speech, Ahmadinejad said Iran had made nuclear progress with the 12th Imam's help.

"Iran has become nuclear before their eyes, despite their will... We behold the hands of Imam," said the president, who denies Western charges that Tehran wants to make atomic bombs.

You can't hug your Mahdi with nuclear arms.

U.S.: Iran maintains "capacity in the Americas as a threat against us in the event of any conflict"

The Iranian presence is nothing new, of course, especially in Argentina, Nicaragua, and Hugo Chávez' Venezuela. "US sees Iran as potential threat in Latin America," from Agence France-Presse, May 7:

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Isolated Iran sees Latin America as a place to push back US influence, from which it could maintain a terrorist threat against the United States in the event of a conflict, a senior US official warned Wednesday.

Iran views Latin America as a chance to break out of some of its international isolation and defy Washington's major power status in its back yard, State Department official Thomas Shannon said in Washington.

"It's a way to push back on us," Shannon told a conference bringing together cabinet ministers and other officials from North and South America to promote greater economic integration.

Shannon, the assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, said it also posed a threat there as he repeated charges that Iran was behind bombings against Israeli and Jewish targets in Buenos Aires in the 1990s.

Iran denies any links.

"Our broader concern is that it ... maintains that capacity in the Americas as a threat against us in the event of any conflict," Shannon said.

Despite a loud rattling of sabers over Iran's alleged support for Shiite militias in Iraq, the US military said last week that it has not embarked on new planning for war.

"As we urge countries to respect UN-based sanctions (over Iran's disputed nuclear program), we also remind them about AMIA, we remind them about the Israeli embassy bombings," Shannon said.

Twenty-two people were killed when the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires was bombed in 1992 and 85 people were killed when the headquarters of the AMIA, a charities federation for Argentina's big Jewish community, was bombed in the Argentine capital in 1994.

"And we remind them about the continuing relationships that exist in the region between groups in Latin America and groups that we consider to be terrorist in the Middle East, especially Hezbollah and Hamas," Shannon said.

Israel blames the Iranian-backed Hezbollah for both bombings in Buenos Aires, but there have so far been no convictions in either case.

"And we urge their intelligence services and their police services to monitor this activity with great care, because we do not want Iran to become a factor of violence within the Americas," Shannon said.

US urges officials to stop linking Islam with terrorism -- now if they could only convince the jihadists to stop also

There is not much new here that we haven't covered since we initially broke this story, but this story underscores the flimsy politically correct foundations of this new initiative.

"U.S. officials urged to avoid linking Islam, jihad with terrorism," by Shaun Waterman for UPI (thanks to all who sent this in):

WASHINGTON, May 6 (UPI) -- U.S. officials are being advised in internal government documents to avoid referring publicly to al-Qaida and other terrorist groups as Islamic or Muslim, and not to use terms like jihad or mujahedin, which "unintentionally legitimize" terrorism.

"There's a growing consensus (in the administration) that we need to move away from that language," said a former senior administration official who was involved until recently in policy debates on the issue.

Instead, in two documents circulated last month by the National Counter-Terrorism Center, the multiagency center charged with strategic coordination of the U.S. war on terrorism, officials are urged to use terms like violent extremists, totalitarian and death cult to characterize al-Qaida and other terror groups.

"Avoid labeling everything 'Muslim.' It reinforces the 'U.S. vs. Islam' framework that al-Qaida promotes," reads "Words that Work and Words that Don't: A Guide for Counter-Terrorism Communication," produced last month by the center.

"You have a large percentage of the world's population that subscribes to this religion," noted the former official. "Unintentionally alienating them is not a judicious move."

Don't the jihadists who claim to be representing "pure Islam" alienate this large aggregate of peaceful Muslims? If not, why will Americans examining their claim alienate them? And what does their non-alienation by the jihadists, and the apparent fragility of their loyalties, such that they'll be driven into the arms of the jihadists they abhor by Western mention of the word "jihad," tell us? Or what should it tell us?

Urging officials not to use the word Islam in conjunction with terrorism, the guide notes that, "Although the al-Qaida network exploits religious sentiments and tries to use religion to justify its actions, we should treat it as an illegitimate political organization, both terrorist and criminal."

Great. And how exactly will ignoring the fact that it exploits religious sentiments make it stop doing so?

Instead of calling terror groups Muslim or Islamic, the guide suggests using words like totalitarian, terrorist or violent extremist -- "widely understood terms that define our enemies appropriately and simultaneously deny them any level of legitimacy."

By employing the language the extremists use about themselves, the guide warns, officials can inadvertently help legitimize them in the eyes of Muslims.

Yes, Muslims the world over regard the State Department as on a par with Al-Azhar.

"Never use the terms 'jihadist' or 'mujahedin' … to describe the terrorists," instructs the guide. "A mujahed, a holy warrior, is a positive characterization in the context of a just war. In Arabic, jihad means 'striving in the path of God' and is used in many contexts beyond warfare. Calling our enemies Jihadis and their movement a global Jihad unintentionally legitimizes their actions."

The guide also bans the use of the word caliphate -- the pan-national Islamic state -- to describe al-Qaida's goal. The term "has positive connotations for Muslims," says the guide, adding, "The best description of what (al-Qaida) really want to create is a 'global totalitarian state.'"

"There are some terms which al-Qaida wants us to use because they are helpful to them," Daniel Sutherland, who runs the Department of Homeland Security Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, told United Press International in an interview.

"This is in no way an exercise in political correctness … we are not watering down what we say."

Oh, of course it isn't. Oh, no.

Spencer: Hillary and Obliterating Iran

In Human Events today I discuss Iran's complaints about Hillary Clinton:

Last Wednesday Iran’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Mehdi Danesh-Yazdi, lodged a formal protest with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and the United Nations Security Council against…Hillary Clinton.

Hillary aroused Danesh-Yazdi’s ire with her remarks about what she would do if Iran nuked Israel while she was President. “I want the Iranians to know that if I’m the president, we will attack Iran. In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them.”

In his protest, the Iranian ambassador said this kind of talk was “provocative, unwarranted and irresponsible.” He declared: “I wish to reiterate my government’s position that the Islamic Republic of Iran has no intention to attack any other nation,” but “Iran would not hesitate to act in self-defense to respond to any attack against the Iranian nation and to take appropriate defensive measures to protect itself.”

Israel: Iran could have nukes by 2009

1938 Alert. "Israel now fears Iran could have nuclear bomb by mid-2009," by Yaakov Katz and Herb Keinon for the Jerusalem Post, May 6:

With Iran racing forward with its nuclear program, Israel now believes the Islamic Republic will master centrifuge technology and be able to begin enriching uranium on a military scale this year, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

The new assessment moves up Israel's forecasts on Teheran's nuclear program by almost a full year - from 2009 to the end of 2008. According to the new timeline, Iran could have a nuclear weapon by the middle of next year.

Iran, a senior defense official said on Tuesday, had encountered numerous technical obstacles on its way to enriching uranium but was now on track to master the technology needed to enrich uranium within six months.

Israel is also concerned that Teheran is developing a cruise missile that can evade interception by the Arrow, the IDF's anti-ballistic missile defense system. Iran is suspected of having smuggled Ukrainian X-55 cruise missiles and using them as models for an independent, domestic project. A cruise missile, which flies at low altitudes to dodge radar detection and interception, could be used to carry a nuclear warhead.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday that Israel had the ability to create the tools needed to ensure its continued existence. Hinting at Iran, Olmert said that nothing in the world could undermine or bring an end to Israel's existence.

Not even Olmert's own policies, hopefully.

In the past, the consensus in the intelligence community was that Iran had encountered technical difficulties with fuel enrichment and that its attainment of nuclear capability was much further off, Mofaz said, but a recent IDF Military Intelligence assessment showed that the Islamic Republic could go nuclear before the end of the decade.

Also Tuesday, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer warned that more nations would follow the examples of Iran and North Korea and work to develop nuclear weapons. He said that the possibility that Syria was building a weapons-capable nuclear reactor before the IAF destroyed it on September 6 showed that NATO must find an answer to ballistic missile threats.

Michigan: Muslim community leader wants apology from McCain after being dropped from finance committee over alleged Hizballah ties

"Jawad said he was not forced into resigning. He asked to be removed from the committee after receiving two calls from the McCain campaign inquiring about the allegations and questioning his integrity and loyalty to this country."

Why not answer the questions? This story gives little detail about the nature of Ali Jawad's connection to Hizballah, but a wealth of information can be found at Debbie Schlussel's site. A few highlights:

Ali Jawad and his company, Armada Oil, were convicted of insurance and mail fraud in federal court and ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution and fines. Michael Mustapha Makki, Jawad's co-defendant--also convicted--in the case, USA v. Makki et al, is a member of the Makki family, many members of which were convicted of cigarette smuggling for Hezbollah. [...]

Jawad isn't shy about his support for Hezbollah. He defended Ali and Mohamed "Mike" Boumelhem, when they were caught by U.S. Customs agents trying to smuggle weapons to Canada and ultimately to Hezbollah. And he told The Detroit News that the terrorist group, which murdered more Americans than any other besides Al-Qaeda, isn't a terrorist group: 'Killing innocent people -- we reject that. Hezbollah does not fit this category. It has protected its people'.

Jawad is known as one of the most important agents of Hezbollah in the U.S. He is related (through his brother's marriage into the Safieddine family) to Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah and the man Iran has designated as Nasrallah's heir apparent, Hachem Safieddine (currently a member of the 7-member Hezbollah ruling council, the Shurah Al-Karar). The Jawad and Safieddine families have many business dealings together. Both Ali Jawad and the Safieddines own many gas stations throughout the Detroit area. Armada Oil--of which Jawad is CEO--also distributes gas to gas stations throughout the Detroit area.

There is much more at Schlussel's website.

Now, can you see where this might make the McCain campaign a bit uncomfortable? It's a little hard to look tough on national security with a person with so many unanswered questions about his own standing with respect to national security serving on one's state campaign finance committee. And the fact that Jawad's background was not cleared or investigated beforehand by any prior campaign or by the party is also a political liability.

"Arab-American leader wants McCain's apology," from the Associated Press, May 6:

DEARBORN, Michigan - Arab- and Muslim-American leaders said Monday they want John McCain's campaign to apologize for severing ties with an Arab-American businessman serving on the Republican presidential candidate's Michigan finance committee.

Ali Jawad, founder of the Lebanese American Heritage Club, was listed with five other finance committee members on an invitation to a $2,300-per-person (Ð1,490) fundraising dinner McCain plans to attend Tuesday in Oakland County.

Jawad and his supporters said during a news conference that he was asked to resign from the committee after Michigan blogger Debbie Schlussel wrote that he had ties to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. They said her comments they said were based on rumor and innuendo.

Note that the previous paragraph and the first paragraph contradict the final paragraph below.

We do not want a president who makes a decision ... based on false information,' said Osama Siblani, president of the Arab American Political Action Committee and publisher of the Arab American News. This is an insult to every Arab-American and Muslim-American in the country.'

Requests for comment were left Monday afternoon with the McCain campaign.

Besides an apology, Siblani said Jawad's supporters also want McCain to ask the businessman to rejoin the finance committee. Jawad said it would be premature to say whether he would accept such a request.

Jawad told The Associated Press Monday evening that the accusations by Schlussel were false, including any links to Hezbollah. On one particular trip to Lebanon, he said, he met with the U.S. ambassador, who arranged all his appointments with the president and members of parliament.

This is our country by choice,' he said. We're patriotic Americans, as much as anyone else.'

McCain plans to be in Michigan for Tuesday's fundraiser and plans to hold a town hall meeting with supporters Wednesday morning at a local university. There are over 300,000 people in southeast Michigan who trace their roots to the Middle East.

Monday's news conference was held at the Lebanese American Heritage Club in Dearborn, a Detroit suburb widely considered to be the center of Arab America.

Jawad is president of Dearborn-based Armada Oil and Gas Co. He moved to the United States in 1976. A Republican, he said he has contributed to Republican candidates as well as Democrats such as Michigan Sen. Carl Levin.

Schlussel said among her concerns about Jawad were two federal cases involving him and his company: He was convicted in 1997 in U.S. District Court in Detroit for insurance fraud and sentenced to probation. His company was convicted the same year of mail fraud and was ordered to pay more than $250,000 in fines and restitution.

She also alleges that he has met with Hezbollah leaders and Hezbollah-allied members of the Lebanese parliament on two trips to Lebanon.

John McCain did the right thing by asking Ali Jawad to leave,' she said.

For his part, Jawad said he was not forced into resigning. He asked to be removed from the committee after receiving two calls from the McCain campaign inquiring about the allegations and questioning his integrity and loyalty to this country.'

Son of Kuwaiti ambassador to Poland abducts 3 Jews, claims he has bomb

Here yet again is more evidence of what we have pointed out many times over the years: that there is no reliable way to distinguish between Islamic "extremists" and Islamic "moderates" -- no doubt everyone would have assumed the son of the ambassador was in the latter camp, at least until he started abducting Jews and claiming he had a bomb.

"Polish police say he confessed to hotel hostage taking: Kuwait envoy's son behind Jewish abduction," from Al-Arabiya (thanks to Sr. Soph):

The son of the Kuwaiti ambassador has been charged with briefly abducting three Jewish teenagers at a hotel and claiming he had a bomb, press reports said Tuesday.

The 23-year-old son of Ambassador Khaled Al-Shaibani, identified only as Mohammad A., was charged with holding the teenagers against their will, Warsaw police spokesman Anna Kedzierzowska told AP.

Al-Shibani was too intoxicated to undergo questioning on Monday, but he spoke with authorities and confessed on Tuesday morning, police said.

He faces a suspended sentence of 10 months to three years. He will be released pending his court hearing, which has not yet been scheduled.

The Kuwaiti Embassy confirmed the suspect was the ambassador's son, but declined further comment.

Police on Monday stormed the room in the Warsaw Holiday Inn to free the three Brazilian Jews, who were taking part in a Holocaust memorial event.

Al-Shibani had said he had explosives, but none were found in the operation. The hotel was evacuated and searched.

UN teacher by day, jihadist bomb-maker by night

He probably didn't see any contradiction, and there isn't much of one, but of course there is the usual denial from the usual deniers. "UN teacher by day … Islamists' chief bomb-maker at night," by Adam Entous for The Scotsman, May 6 (thanks to all who sent this in):

BY DAY, Awad al-Qiq was a respected teacher and headmaster at a United Nations school in the Gaza Strip. By night, he built rockets for Islamic Jihad.

The Israeli air strike that killed the 33-year-old last week also laid bare his apparent double life and embarrassed a UN agency that has long had to reject Israeli accusations that it has aided and abetted guerrillas fighting the Jewish state.

Students and colleagues, as well as UN officials, denied any knowledge of Qiq's work with explosives. And his family denied he had any militant links, despite a profusion of Islamic Jihad posters at his home.

But militant leaders allied to the enclave's ruling Hamas group have hailed him as a martyr who led Islamic Jihad's "engineering unit" – its bomb makers. They fired improvised rockets into Israel in response to his death.

Qiq's body was wrapped in an Islamic Jihad flag at his funeral, posters in his honour still bedeck his family home and a notice posted on the school gate declared that Qiq, "the chief leader of the engineering unit", would now find "paradise".

The poster was removed soon after reporters visited the Rafah Prep Boys School, run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees. Staff there said yesterday that UNRWA officials had told them not to discuss Qiq's activities. No-one from the UN attended the funeral or has paid their respects to the family, relatives said.

[...]

Surrounded by Islamic Jihad mourning posters at the family home, Qiq's sister Naima insisted: "He's only a teacher and head of the school. School was his life. He had no time to work with Islamic Jihad." Other family members nodded in agreement. At the school, a 17-year-old who gave his name as Shadi read a poster for his former teacher and said simply: "Nobody knew."

[...]

ISRAEL has long alleged that militants use UN Relief and Works Agency vehicles and facilities. The UN has denied those charges, although some UNRWA employees have had prominent political roles in groups like Hamas – such as teacher Saeed Seyam, who was the interior minister in the Hamas-led government elected in 2006.

Some western officials say UNRWA, as one of the biggest employers in the Gaza Strip, simply reflects the society it serves. But donors such as the United States, which fund the body's work, insist on vetting procedures to ensure their cash does not reach groups they class as terrorists – such as Islamic Jihad.

A UNRWA spokesman, Christopher Gunness, said: "We have a zero-tolerance policy towards politics and militant activities in our schools."

But he added: "Obviously, we are not the thought police and we cannot police people's minds."

Obviously.

U.S. officials: Hizballah training Iraq jihadists in Iran

A new twist on the well known problem of Iranian support for jihadists in Iraq. Well known, that is, to everyone but the Iraqi government, which is looking for more evidence that Iranian interference is still ongoing. "Hezbollah Trains Iraqis in Iran, Officials Say," by Michael R. Gordon for the New York Times, May 5:

BAGHDAD — Militants from the Lebanese group Hezbollah have been training Iraqi militia fighters at a camp near Tehran, according to American interrogation reports that the United States has supplied to the Iraqi government.

An American official said the account of Hezbollah’s role was provided by four Shiite militia members who were captured in Iraq late last year and questioned separately.

The United States has long charged that the Iranians were training Iraqi militia fighters in Iran, which Iran has consistently denied, and there have been previous reports about Hezbollah operatives in Iraq.

But the Americans say the reports of Hezbollah’s role at the Iranian camp offer important details about Iranian assistance to the militias, including efforts Iran appears to be making to train the fighters in unobtrusive ways.

Material from the interrogations was given to the Iraqi government, along with other data about captured Iranian arms, before it sent a delegation to Tehran last week to discuss allegations of Iranian aid to militia groups.

It is not known if the delegation confronted its Iranian hosts with the information, or how the Iranians responded.

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s government announced Sunday that it would conduct its own inquiry into accusations of Iranian intervention in Iraq and document any interference.

“We have experienced in the past that Iran interfered and has special groups in Iraq, but Iran also had evidence that they were participating in positive ways in security,” Ali al-Dabbagh, a senior Iraqi government spokesman, said in an interview.

“We would like the Iranians to keep their commitment, the commitments they made in meetings with the prime minister and with other groups that have visited them,” he said. “They had made the promise that Iran would be playing a supportive role.”

There has been debate among experts about the extent to which Iran is responsible for instability in Iraq. But President Bush and other American officials, in public castigations of Iran, have said that Iran has been consistently meddlesome in Iraq and that the Iranians have long sought to arm and train Iraqi militias, which the American military has called “special groups.”

In a possible effort to be less obtrusive, it appears that Iran is now bringing small groups of Iraqi Shiite militants to camps in Iran, where they are taught how to do their own training, American officials say.

The militants then return to Iraq to teach comrades how to fire rockets and mortars, fight as snipers or assemble explosively formed penetrators, a particularly lethal type of roadside bomb made of Iranian components, according to American officials. The officials describe this approach as “training the trainers.”

The training, the Americans say, is carried out at several camps near Tehran that are overseen by the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Command, and the instruction is carried out by militants from Hezbollah, which has long been supported by the Quds Force. American officials say the Hezbollah militants perform several important roles for the Iranians.

First, they say, the Iranians believe it is useful to have Arabs train fellow Arabs. Second, Hezbollah has considerable experience in planning operations and using weapons and explosives in Lebanon.

According to American officials, the four Shiite militants who provided the information on Hezbollah’s role were captured between last September and December after they had returned from training in Iran. They were questioned individually and provided similar accounts, the American officials said.

The captured men described themselves in the accounts as part of a class of 16 militants who crossed into Iran from southern Iraq and were taken to a camp near Tehran, where they studied in a classroom and in the field. Some had been in Iran several times as part of a program that American officials said was aimed at turning them into “master trainers” and which could last several years.

Read it all.

U.S. to Pakistan: Live up to 'war on terror' commitment. Please?

What is distinctly absent from this discussion is any mention of how the U.S. intends to persuade Pakistan to bolster its scant cooperation on rooting out jihadists in Pakistani territory to any meaningful level. All of the suggestions -- and that is how they come across -- have an abstract quality to them, as though it sure would be nice if Pakistan carried some of them out one of these days before an attack hatched on Pakistani soil causes massive casualties in the U.S., Europe, Australia, or elsewhere.

There are other issues, as well. One is evident in the continued use of the phrase "war on terror," which forces its users to settle for naming a tactic rather than the ideology that drives the enemy: Islamic jihad and its imperative of open-ended warfare to establish Islamic law and subjugate unbelievers accordingly. But that would raise additional questions about who our friends really are (and aren't), and how sure the U.S. can be of how "staunch" certain supposedly "staunch allies" are.

That would be difficult. Banning the term "jihad" is much easier.

"US asks Pakistan to live up to 'war on terror' commitment," by P. Parameswaran for Agence France-Presse, May 5:

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States said Monday it wanted Pakistan to live up to its commitment of urgently bringing security under control in its remote tribal areas allegedly used as safe haven by Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.

The call came amid worries in Washington that the new coalition government led by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, which is negotiating with a Taliban commander, may strike a deal with militants and undermine a long "war on terror" partnership.

Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said Islamabad recognized that bringing the mountainous and unpoliced Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) under control was an urgent priority for Pakistan's own sake.

"But let me be clear: we will not be satisfied until all the violent extremism emanating from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas is brought under control," he said at a forum of the Washington-based National Endowment for Democracy.

"It is unacceptable for extremists to use those areas to plan, train for, or execute attacks against Afghanistan, Pakistan, or the wider world," he said. "Their ongoing ability to do so is a barrier to lasting security, both regionally and internationally."

Negroponte said Pakistan's government "must bring the frontier area under its control as quickly as possible," pointing out that Washington was prepared to provide "appropriate assistance" in order to achieve that objective.

Gilani's government, formed after the backers of key war on terror ally President Pervez Musharraf were defeated in elections in February, has pledged to completely overhaul Islamabad's counter terrorism pursuit.

It has been trying to reach a peace deal with a Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud accused of masterminding the slaying of former premier Benazir Bhutto in December.

Warlord Mehsud declared a unilateral truce with security forces in the lawless tribal regions last month after officials said the government had drafted a peace agreement with Islamic militants.

But the militant halted talks last week because the government refused to withdraw its troops from his area.

Negroponte warned that Americans "don't want to see the tribal area being used as a platform for plotting and executing international terrorist activity against the West.