Part 1 is here. T. E. Lawrence thought of himself as a great expert on the Arabs, and he managed to convince others to share in that belief. And he met a felt need, in Great Britain in the 1920s, after the Great War, for a hero, and a hero on a horse, whose heroism […]
Archives for 2010
Yemen: “Lackawanna Six” figure back in custody
That’s the good news. The bad news is, Jaber Elbaneh has a habit of getting away — once even tunneling out of prison to a mosque. More recently, the Yemeni government released him of its own accord. Add to that Yemen’s refusal to extradite Elbaneh when it has had him in custody, and this chapter […]
Bin Laden’s son: “My father has a religious goal. He is controlled by the rules of jihad.”
But…but…I thought he was a Misunderstander of Islam — indeed, the Misunderstander of Islam par excellence — who had twisted and hijacked the Religion of Peaceâ„¢! “Osama bin Laden is ‘worth more alive than dead’, declares his son,” from The Times, January 22 (thanks to Kris): Osama bin Laden is worth more to the United […]
Turkey: father sells 12-year-old girl for four cows
Islam upholds women’s rights, say the Islamic spokesmen in the West, and it all sounds great. Yet stories like this reinforce the often-reinforced impression that in Islam women are treated essentially as commodities. “Turkey: 12-Year-Old Girl Sold By Father for 4 Cows,” from ANSAmed, n.d. (thanks to Insubria): (ANSAmed) – ANKARA – A 12-year-old girl […]
“Americans are more than twice as likely to express prejudice against Muslims than they are against Christians, Jews or Buddhists”
All victimization of innocent people is reprehensible. This survey is speaking, rather, about “dislike” of various religions. One may suspect that the widespread “dislike” of Islam comes not from ignorance of it, but from the increasingly common phenomenon of its most devout adherents murdering members of other faiths and justifying those murders by reference to […]
Malaysian Islamic scholars: Hey, we just discovered that “Allah” is not an accurate translation for “God”
The Islamic supremacist attempt in Malaysia to prevent Christians from using the word “Allah” for the God of the Bible — as Arabic-speaking Christians have done since pre-Islamic times — has just taken a new twist: for the first time, Islamic scholars are saying that “Allah” is not properly translated “God” — something that their […]
Jewish man prays on plane, plane makes emergency landing
Law enforcement officials constantly assume that every group is just as likely to commit an act of terror as every other group, and so there is no point in singling out members of any particular group for special scrutiny. That is the kind of thinking that led to this incident, although it could conceivably have […]
Obama Adminstration removes ban on Tariq Ramadan entering the U.S.
Master of doublespeak In Brother Tariq Caroline Fourest examines Ramadan’s positions and actions in immense detail, and concludes that he is “remaining scrupulously faithful to the strategy mapped out by his grandfather, a strategy of advance stage by stage” toward the imposition of Sharia in the West. Ramadan’s grandfather, of course, was Hasan Al-Banna, founder […]
CAIR and other Muslim groups “worse than useless” in fighting jihad terror
Hmmm, now why might that be? “Muslim groups still MIA on terror,” by Adam Brodsky in the New York Post, January 19 (thanks to Pamela): […] Another law-enforcement source tells me CAIR and other groups have been worse than useless: To this source’s knowledge, US Muslims have played virtually no role in foiling local plots. […]
“If Geert Wilders is your last hope, then we have got bigger problems than Holland”
That’s not saying anything about Geert Wilders, who is one of the heroes of our age. It is saying something about the rest of us. The incomparable Kathy Shaidle spoke at a rally for Geert Wilders in Toronto last night, and called on all of us to become Geert Wilders. Precisely. Kudos. Excelsior.