Archived news and commentary: October 9 - 15, 2006

2006/10/09 - 2006/10/15
2006/10/02 - 2006/10/08
2006/09/25 - 2006/10/01
2006/09/18 - 2006/09/24
2006/09/11 - 2006/09/17
2006/09/04 - 2006/09/10

› From 2001/09/11 -

Sunday, October 15, 2006

News and commentary:

"Girls forced to commit suicide" (Robert Triches, Aftonbladet, 2006/10/15)
Balcony girls II. Translation of an article in Swedish. "'Balcony girls' urged to commit suicide in the name of honour":
"Girls who jump from balconies, jump in front of trains, cut theirs wrists and take overdoses of sleeping drugs.
The police suspects that many of the deaths are covert honour killings, where the girls have been urged to commit suicide by their families and relatives.
”Of course, it makes it easier for them to avoid having blood on their own hands,” says Zübeyde Demirörs [who works at Elektra at Fryshuset in Stockholm] to Kaliber in P1 [a Swedish public service radio channel].
The so called Balcony girls are girls who have committed suicide, where the police and judiciary suspect — but have difficulty proving — that it is a question of covert honour killings.
The families often evade punishment, as it is difficult to prove what really happened afterwards. ...

Constant control

Ayse is 19-years old and is one of the girls who was urged to commit suicide. For several years she lived under constant control by her father.
”It was the summer when I was 17 in connection to an assault. He put a noose around my neck and said 'Now I will help you take your own life,'” she says to Sveriges Radio.
That time Ayse managed to break free and her father calmed down after a while. But last summer when Ayse was visiting her native country she was urged once again, this time by a couple of relatives, to throw herself into a precipice. But she managed to escape once again. Now she is living under protective custody in Sweden."

"Young women pressured to commit suicide" (Anna Landelius and Mikael Funke, Sveriges Radio, 2006/10/15)
Balcony girls I. Translation of an article in Swedish: "Young women are pressured to commit suicide when they have dishonoured their families, according to an investigation made by the radio programmes Kaliber and Front. It's used as a method to commit honour killings, with which the perpetrators can avoid to be sentenced.

”This particular method has become more common”

”This particular method has become more common after the murders of Fadime and Pela, because their relatives got sentenced. It's a new method in order to avoid punishment and be able to walk free,” says Sara Mohammed who runs the support organization ”Glöm aldrig Pela och Fadime” ["Never forget Pela and Fadime"]. ...

Many under pressure

Our survey shows that ten of the fifteen support organizations say that they have been in contact with young women who have been urged by their parents to commit suicide. Five of them say that they often hear this from young women.

There are three ongoing murder investigations where the police gradually have come to suspect that what initially was considered as suicides actually were honour killings.

Can choose method

Kickis Åhré Älgamo has worked with these matters for years on the National Police Board.

”It's not that unusual among the women I meet that they are urged to commit suicide. They can choose the method themselves — take pills, jump in front of a train and so on,” she says."

"One in 10 Indonesia Muslims back violent jihad: poll" (Reuters/Yahoo! News, 2006/10/15)
"JAKARTA (Reuters) - Around one in 10 Indonesian Muslims support jihad and justify bomb attacks on Indonesia's tourist island of Bali as defending the faith, a survey released on Sunday showed.
Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country, with 220 million people, 85 percent of whom follow Islam, giving the Asian archipelago the largest Muslim population of any nation in the world.
"Jihad that has been understood partially and practiced with violence is justified by around one in 10 Indonesian Muslims," the Indonesian Survey Institute said in a statement.
"They approved the bombings conducted ... in Bali with the excuse of defending Islam," it added, saying the percentage of such support 'is very significant.'"

"Darkness in Dhaka" (Bret Stephens, OpinionJournal, 2006/10/15)
"Meet Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury. As these lines are being written, Mr. Choudhury, a gadfly Bangladeshi journalist, is running for his life. Assuming he survives till Thursday, he will face charges of blasphemy, sedition, treason and espionage in a Dhaka courtroom. His crime is to have tried to attend a writers' conference in Tel Aviv on how the media can foster world peace. If convicted, he could face the death penalty. ...

In July, the offices of the Weekly Blitz were bombed by Islamic militants. In September, a judge with Islamist ties ordered the case continued, despite the government's reluctance to prosecute, on the grounds that Mr. Choudhury had hurt the sentiments of Muslims by praising Christians and Jews and spoiling the image of Bangladesh world-wide. Last week, the police detail that had been posted to the Blitz's offices since the July bombing mysteriously vanished. The next day the offices were ransacked and Mr. Choudhury was badly beaten by a mob of 40 or so people. Over the weekend he lodged a formal complaint with the police, who responded by issuing an arrest warrant for him. Now he's on the run, fearing torture or worse if he's taken into custody."

See also:
"Nightmare in Dhaka" (Shoaib Choudhury, The Jerusalem Post, 2005/05/19)
"The Muslim media's culture of death" (Shoaib Choudhury, The Jerusalem Post, 2005/04/12)
"An ambassador's lies" (Richard L. Benkin, The Jerusalem Post, 2005/04/12)

"Do Muslims really want apartheid here?" (David Davis, The Sunday Telegraph, 2006/10/15)
David Davis is the shadow home secretary: "There are some issues that are so explosive they are only capable of being resolved if they are handled coolly and analytically. These are the unexploded bombs of modern politics and 10 days ago Jack Straw detonated one of them with his comments on the use of the veil by Muslim women. ...
What Jack touched on was the fundamental issue of whether, in Britain, we are developing a divided society. Whether we are creating a series of closed societies within our open society. Whether we are inadvertently encouraging a kind of voluntary apartheid. ...
At the starkest level, we may be creating conditions in the recesses of our society that foster home-grown terrorism. ...
So the issues are very real. Are we going to find the compromises to preserve the freedoms, the tolerance, the give-and-take, that characterise the most open, vital and creative society in history? Or are we going to allow the splintering of loyalties, the division of communities, that will corrode the foundations of that society?"

"BBC mounts court fight to keep 'critical' report secret" (Chris Hastings and Beth Jones, The Sunday Telegraph, 2006/10/15)
"The BBC has spent thousands of pounds of licence payers' money trying to block the release of a report which is believed to be highly critical of its Middle East coverage.
The corporation is mounting a landmark High Court action to prevent the release of The Balen Report under the Freedom of Information Act, despite the fact that BBC reporters often use the Act to pursue their journalism.
The action will increase suspicions that the report, which is believed to run to 20,000 words, includes evidence of anti-Israeli bias in news programming. ...
The High Court action is the latest stage of a lengthy and expensive battle by Steven Sugar, a lawyer, to get access to the document, which was compiled by Malcolm Balen, a senior editorial adviser, in 2004. ...
Mr Sugar said: 'This is a serious report about a serious issue and has been compiled with public money. I lodged the request because I was concerned that the BBC's reporting of the second intifada was seriously unbalanced against Israel, but I think there are other issues at stake now in the light of the BBC's reaction.'"

"Straw branded a 'Christian fascist'" (David Paul, Daily Express, 2006/10/15)
"MUSLIM demonstrators hurled insults at Jack Straw yesterday, calling him a “Christian fascist” and saying he had “declared war” on the Islamic community.
The Commons leader was jeered by furious protesters as he arrived for a surgery in his Blackburn constituency.
Protected by tight security for his visit to a community centre, Mr Straw, who wants Muslim women to remove the veil in face-to-face contacts, refused to speak to the 70 demonstrators. They included a number of women wearing veils.
Police had earlier banned a planned demonstration by 8,000 Muslims on safety grounds.
The crowd included Tasaddiq Rehman, from the Blackburn Muslim Council, who said: “Jack Straw didn’t really start a debate. He declared war against the Muslim community and then he wants a debate.
“This talk about the veil is another affront to the Muslim community. Jack Straw is a Christian fascist.
“He has actually segregated the community in the name of trying to call for Muslims to integrate.”
A group of women wearing niqab veils chanted: 'The veil is our choice and our liberation. The veil is our freedom.'"

Saturday, October 14, 2006

News and commentary:

"The British officer said: 'We are now just another tribe'" (Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, The Guardian, 2006/10/14)
A report from Basra on reactions to General Richard Dannett's comments that "the British military presence in southern Iraq "exacerbates the security problems" and that they should get out 'sometime soon'":
"Part of the difficulty is identifying the enemy. Basra has become riddled with organised gangs, militias and death squads, and its police force is corrupt. According to senior coalition advisers, there are around 20 different security and police groups in the city, ranging from the directorate of education police to the justice police; the governor alone has 200 armed gunmen protecting him. Some of the police units are active in organised crime and have been infiltrated by militias, others work as death squads. There are also around a dozen religious militias.
"We are in a tribal society in Basra and we [the British army] are in effect one of these tribes," said Lt Col Simon Brown, commander of the 2nd Battalion. "As long as we are here the others will attack us because we are the most influential tribe. We cramp their style." ...
One recent episode illustrates this. A military base in Amara called Abomaji had been held by the British for months, attracting heavy mortar attack. In late August it was handed to the Iraqi army; within 48 hours, according to the commander of the unit, everything on the base had been looted. The decision was taken to set up a mobile base in the desert, shifting position every 48 to 72 hours. Staying in one place to be shot at, it would seem, wasn't worth the trouble." (See also: "What the general said" (The Guardian, 2006/10/14))

Friday, October 13, 2006

News and commentary:

"Somalia: Islamic Courts Try to Impose Draconian Rules On Mogadishu Media" (Robert Spencer, Jihad Watch, 2006/10/13)
"Draconian, eh? The Western media doesn't seem to think so. They've already taken on most of these voluntarily.
From Reporters sans Frontières, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

A list of 13 rules of conduct for the privately-owned media which the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) gave to journalists in Mogadishu on 8 October 2006 has been condemned as completely unacceptable by Reporters Without Borders.

"The result of this draconian charter which Mogadishu's new masters want to impose on Somalia's journalists would be a gagged, obedient press, one constrained by threats to sing the praises of the Islamic courts and their vision of the world and Somalia," the press freedom organisation said....

A gagged, obedient press? You mean like the American one?

The 13 rules are:

1. The media must not publish or disseminate information contrary to the Muslim religion, the public interest or the interest of the nation.

2. The media must not disseminate information likely to create conflicts between the population and the Council of Islamic Courts.

3. The media may reproduce information obtained from credible sources, but must reveal the identity of the sources.

4. The media must cooperate with the information bureau of the Council of Islamic Courts.

5. Media directors are responsible for the news and programmes they disseminate.

6. Each media must have a physical address and contact details.

7. The media must not serve foreign interests.

8. Media employees must have good professional training and must respect professional ethics and conduct.

9. The media must not participate in seminars or programmes supported by foreign organisations without express permission from the information bureau of the Council of Islamic Courts.

10. The media must not publish or disseminate elements of a foreign culture contrary to Islamic culture or promoting bad behaviour, such as nudity on film.

11. A media cannot work in areas controlled by the Islamic courts without previously registering with the information and propaganda bureau of the Islamic courts.

12. If media are guilty of misconduct, they must make amends.

13. The media must not employ the terms which infidels use to refer to Muslims such as 'terrorists,' 'extremists' etc."

"Muslim pharmacist refuses to give morning after pill 'on religious grounds'" (The Evening Standard, 2006/10/13)
"Worried mum Jo-Ann Thomas was left stunned when Muslim pharmacist refused her a morning after pill on religious grounds.
Jo-Ann, aged 37, a school lollipop lady, went to her local chemist but when she asked for the pill she was told she would have to speak to the pharmacist.
She was told she would be quizzed by the pharmacist - described by staff as a "deeply religious Muslim" who would ask her a few questions.
But after waiting for several minutes another assistant told Jo-Ann her: "Sorry I can't give you the pill, why don't you go to your GP."
When she asked repeatedly she was told the chemist stocked the drug but the pharmacist had refused to sell it to her.
Mum of two Jo-Ann from Thurcroft, Rotherhamm said: "I asked why I couldn't have the pill and the assistant went bright red and after a pause said ' I can't tell you'."
I said: "I want to know why and she said 'don't say anything to anyone - it's because of his religion'."
I just stared at her with my mouth open."

"Muslim leader fears backlash over Liberal views" (Radhika Panjwani, Mississauga News, 2006/10/13)
"The new president of the Muslim Canadian Congress (MCC) says she is feeling the wrath of Islamic fundamentalists because of her stance on such issues as terrorism, homosexuality and religious law.
Now, Mississauga's Farzana Hassan Shahid is calling on Queen's Park to intervene. She wants Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant to incorporate the kind of threats made by various radical groups against her and other members of the MCC into the framework of existing hate crime laws.
"There is an underlying fear all the time...that uneasy feeling is part of my daily life," Hassan Shahid told The News. "I have been declared an apostate (a person who forsakes their religion) twice, for opposing the Sharia (a form of Islamic law). We have asked Michael Bryant to include or acknowledge accusation of blasphemy and apostasy into the existing hate laws so the public and legal frame work is sensitized to this issue."
Hassan Shahid said she and other members of her organization receive threatening e-mails and are subjected to other acts of hatred from radical Muslim groups. One strongly worded hate-mail accused her of being the, 'younger sister of Satan'" (Hat tip: Jihad Watch.)

"The West's Self-Imposed Censorship" (Amir Taheri, Gulf News/FrontPageMagazine, 2006/10/13)
"In Communist-ruled East Germany, they had a term for it: pre-emptive obedience. This meant guessing the future orders of the politburo and obeying them before they were issued. East Germany was thrown into the dustbin of history a long time ago. However, "pre-emptive obedience" is making a comeback in re-unified Germany and several other European countries.
It was based on "pre-emptive obedience" that the German Opera in Berlin decided to cancel its production of Mozart's Idomeneo after the managers decided that it might anger Muslims. ...
"Pre-emptive obedience" was also at work when the Whitechapel Art Gallery, one of London's major art exhibition venues, decided to withdraw a number of paintings by the surrealist Hans Bellmer. The reason? The management decided that the erotic paintings might "hurt the sensibilities of the Muslim community" which is strongly present in London's East End of which Whitechapel is a part. Again, no Muslim had seen the paintings or would have been able to interpret them as "an erotic assault on the Quran", let alone demand that they be withdrawn. ...
One editor tells me that he has rejected at least 10 manuscripts in the past year alone because he did not wish to "risk controversy or worse" with Muslims. "I don't want to live under police escort," he says." (See also: "UK gallery scraps art, fearing Muslim rage: curator" (Reuters, 2006/10/06))

Added today:
"Iraq: Kidnappers Behead Prist In Mosul" (Compass Direct, 2006/10/12)
"'Racist' Schoolgirl (14 yrs old) Arrested in al-Britannia" (Fjordman, The Brussels Journal, 2006/10/12)
"Abducted and raped, young Christian women and girls are driven to suicide in Iraq" (AsiaNews, 2006/10/11)
"La Poupée" (Hans Bellmer, 1933-45)
"UK gallery scraps art, fearing Muslim rage: curator" (Reuters, 2006/10/06)

Thursday, October 12, 2006

News and commentary:

"Iraq: Kidnappers Behead Priest In Mosul" (Compass Direct, 2006/10/12)
"October 12 (Compass Direct News) – Iraqi kidnappers who abducted a Syrian Orthodox priest three days ago left his beheaded corpse in an outlying suburb of the northern city of Mosul last night. Father Boulos Iskander, 59, was snatched off a Mosul street on Monday afternoon (October 9) while searching for car parts at local mechanic shops. The Muslim kidnappers telephoned the priest’s oldest son soon afterwards, demanding $350,000 ransom from the family. After negotiations in several more calls, the kidnappers gradually reduced their demands to $40,000 but added another stipulation: that the priest’s church must publicly repudiate Pope Benedict XVI’s remarks about Islam in his lecture in Germany last month. The family managed to raise and pay the ransom, and the St. Ephram parish of the Syrian Orthodox Church placed 30 large signboards on walls around the city, distancing itself from the pontiff’s comments. But then the telephone calls stopped. Fr. Iskander’s dismembered body was discovered last night (October 11) at about 7 p.m. in the remote Tahrir City district, two kilometers (1.2 miles) from the center of Mosul. His arms and legs had been severed and arranged around his head, which rested on his chest." (Hat tip: Dhimmi Watch. See also: "Abducted and raped, young Christian women and girls are driven to suicide in Iraq" (AsiaNews, 2006/10/11))

"'Racist' Schoolgirl (14 yrs old) Arrested in al-Britannia" (Fjordman, The Brussels Journal, 2006/10/12)
Arrested Schoolgirl II: "In al-Britannia, you end up in jail if you complain that immigrants do not speak English, but if you are saying that those who insult Islam should be killed, it’s OK. ...
A quote from The Daily Telegraph, 29 September 2006:

The Metropolitan Police has also decided not to take action against the controversial Muslim figure, Anjem Choudary, who allegedly said in a television interview about the row over the Pope that anyone who insulted the Muslim faith would be “subject to capital punishment”.

Some people, apparently, do not have to watch everything they say. The less control the authorities have with Muslims, the more control they want to exercise over non-Muslims. This strange mix of powerful censorship of public debate, yet little control over public law and order, has by some been labeled anarcho-tyranny. The reason why European authorities are becoming increasingly totalitarian in their censorship efforts is to conceal the fact that they are no longer willing or able to uphold even the most basic security of their citizenry."

"Schoolgirl arrested for refusing to study with non-English pupils" (The Daily Mail, 2006/10/12)
Arrested Schoolgirl I: "A teenage schoolgirl was arrested by police for racism after refusing to sit with a group of Asian students because some of them did not speak English.
Codie Stott's family claim she was forced to spend three-and-a-half hours in a police cell after she was reported by her teachers. ...
According to Codie, the five - four boys and a girl - then began talking in a language she didn't understand, thought to be Urdu, so she went to speak to the teacher.
"I said 'I'm not being funny, but can I change groups because I can't understand them?' But she started shouting and screaming, saying 'It's racist, you're going to get done by the police'."
Codie said she went outside to calm down where another teacher found her and, after speaking to her class teacher, put her in isolation for the rest of the day.
A complaint was made to a police officer based full-time at the school, and more than a week after the incident on September 26 she was taken to Swinton police station and placed under arrest.
"They told me to take my laces out of my shoes and remove my jewellery, and I had my fingerprints and photograph taken," said Codie. 'It was awful.'" (Hat tip: LGF.)

"Fingering Danny Pearl's Killer" (Timothy J. Burger and Adam Zagorin, TIME, 2006/10/12)
"U.S. officials are now convinced it was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of 9/11, who murdered the Wall Street Journal reporter ...
More recently, a new book by Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf, In the Line of Fire, speculates that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, was "the man who may have actually killed Pearl or at least participated in his butchery." According to Musharraf, "When we later arrested and interrogated him, he admitted his participation." ...
Now, several U.S. officials tell TIME that KSM's role in the Pearl murder appears more direct than previously acknowledged — and that the Bush Administration plans to try him for it. The officials tell TIME that KSM confessed under CIA interrogation that he personally committed the murder."

"Briton admits bomb plot against NY exchange" (Michael Holden, Reuters, 2006/10/12)
"A Briton arrested amid a massive U.S. security alert two years ago admitted in a London court on Thursday to plotting to blow up the New York Stock Exchange and carry out "dirty bomb" attacks in Britain.
Dhiren Barot, a Muslim convert, admitted to plotting to blow up the stock exchange and other U.S. financial hubs including the headquarters of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Citigroup and Prudential in Washington, New Jersey and New York.
"Explosions at these premises were clearly designed to kill as many people as possible", said prosecuting lawyer Edmund Lawson.
Amid tight security at Woolwich Crown Court in South London, Barot pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder and prosecutors outlined the details of his confession.
He admitted planning strikes on unspecified British targets in a conspiracy called the "Gas Limos Project", which "involved parking three limos with gas cylinders with explosives and detonating them in underground carparks," Lawson said.
Barot admitted another plan to detonate at least one "dirty bomb" contaminated with radiological material in Britain. The prosecution said Barot claimed the dirty bomb was not designed to kill but 'rather to cause injury, fear terror and chaos.'"

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

News and commentary:

"Apple 'Mecca' rising"
(Corinne Schulze, CNET, 2006/04/15)

"Apple's "Mecca Project" Provokes Muslim Reaction" (MEMRI, 2006/10/11)
"On October 10, 2006, an Islamic website posted a message alerting Muslims to what it claims is a new insult to Islam. According to the message, the cube-shaped building which is being constructed in New York City, on Fifth Avenue between 58th and 59th Streets in midtown Manhattan, is clearly meant to provoke Muslims. The fact that the building resembles the Ka'ba ..., is called "Apple Mecca," is intended to be open 24 hours a day like the Ka'ba, and moreover, contains bars selling alcoholic beverages, constitutes a blatant insult to Islam. The message urges Muslims to spread this alert, in hope that 'Muslims will be able to stop the project.'"

"Leftists For a Second Holocaust" (Paul Bogdanor, The Jewish Press/paulbogdanor.com, 2006/10/11)
Lots of links in the original: "It would be difficult to imagine a clearer expression of genocidal hatred than the ideology of today’s jihadist armies. What is even harder to accept is that these bloodthirsty killers, with their graphic incitement to the massacre of millions of Jews, are admired and defended by legions of intellectuals, journalists, agitators and demonstrators on the anti-Zionist left.
All sane observers understand that the official program of Hamas, if implemented, would result in an epoch-making bloodbath. One broadcast by Hamas activists announced: “My message to the loathed Jews is that there is no god but Allah, we will chase you everywhere! We are a nation that drinks blood, and we know that there is no blood better than the blood of Jews.”
But in the organs of the Israel-hating left, we read that the Hamas election victory is “the best news from the Middle East for a long time” (The Guardian). We read that it is time “to reinforce Hamas resistance [to Zionist ideology]” and its “ethical cry to the world” (CounterPunch)." (Hat tip: Melanie Phillips.)

"Abducted and raped, young Christian women and girls are driven to suicide in Iraq" (AsiaNews, 2006/10/11)
"Iraq’s abduction industry does not spare young women and girls. Despite being released, some are unable to cope with the violence they experienced and kill themselves. In Mosul a Syrian Orthodox priest is kidnapped.
Baghdad (AsiaNews) – Young Christian women and girls have been abducted and released after ransom money was paid only to commit suicide because of the shock, violence and shame they experienced. This is happening in Baghdad where kidnapping has become a growth industry. Criminal gangs are lining their pockets as the number of victims grows and the line-ups at border posts grow even longer with people trying to flee the country.
Christians from any denominations, clergy or laity alike, are one of the preferred targets in the capital. ...
Last Sunday two young Christian women were abducted but under different circumstances: one at home as her helpless family could do nothing but watch; the other, at an open market where four armed men spirited her away in a car leaving behind a distraught mother.
Often incidents do not end with the prisoner’s release. In one case in Baghdad, the victim committed suicide after the ransom was paid and she went home because of the torture and sexual violence she suffered.
In another case, a young woman talked to her family by phone (the kidnappers allowed her to speak to her family to reassure them that she was alive) and told them: “I’m dead” (referring to being gang raped). She eventually committed suicide whilst still in the hands of her tormenters." (Hat tip: Dhimmi Watch.)

"Somalia: abroad Somali communities urged to return home for Jihad" (Mohamed Abdi Farah, SomaliNet News, 2006/10/11)
Via LGF [including emphasis]: "The Islamic Courts who are controlling most of southern Somalia have urged on Wednesday Somali communities in abroad to join their efforts to the holy war already declared by the Islamists to defend the country from infidels.
Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, the leader of executive council of Islamic Courts made the statement in an occasion happened in north of Mogadishu where members from Somali community in Sweden donated $7,000 to Islamic Courts. The money was collected from Somalis in Sweden.
“I am appealing to all Somali communities in abroad to take part in the Jihad operation against the Ethiopian troops who want to occupy our land,” Sheikh Ahmed said." (See also: "Somali Islamists declare "jihad" on Ethiopia" (Guled Mohamed, Reuters, 2006/10/09))

"Don't Bring that Booze into my Taxi" (Daniel Pipes, The New York Sun/danielpipes.org, 2006/10/11)
"A minor issue at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) has potentially major implications for the future of Islam in the United States.
Starting about a decade ago, some Muslim taxi drivers serving the airport declared, that they would not transport passengers visibly carrying alcohol, in transparent duty-free shopping bags, for example. ...
Other Muslims in Minneapolis-St. Paul and across the country could well demand the same privilege. Bus conductors might follow suit. The whole transport system could be divided between those Islamically observant and those not so.
Why stop with alcohol? Muslim taxi drivers in several countries already balk at allowing seeing-eye dogs in their cars. Future demands could include not transporting women with exposed arms or hair, homosexuals, and unmarried couples. For that matter, they could ban men wearing kippas, as well as Hindus, atheists, bartenders, croupiers, astrologers, bankers, and quarterbacks." (See also: "Global Cabifate" (Tim Blair, timblair.net, 2006/10/08))

"Ritual Muslim killing" (The Gold Coast Bulletin, 2006/10/11)
"A PLANNED conversion to Christianity from Islam is understood to have triggered a frenzied domestic dispute that led to the death of a Muslim mother on Monday night.
Bangladeshi-born Dr Muh-ammad Hussain, 49, remains under police guard in a critical condition in the Gold Coast Hospital as police piece together the circumstances leading to the death of his 41-year-old wife, Yasmine.
Mrs Hussain, who had arrived on the Gold Coast with her 17-year-old daughter at the weekend from Adelaide, died at her upmarket Southport apartment after receiving stab wounds to the chest.
A Muslim source told The Gold Coast Bulletin last night that Dr Hussain arrived a month ago to take up a position as a GP and prepare for his family to join him.
"From what we understand the daughter decided to tell her father of her radical plan to convert to Christianity which, in the eyes of most Muslims, is totally unacceptable and to be honest, sadly, many would react as he has done," said the source.
'It is the Islamic way that if a son or daughter does or plans to do something that is unacceptable or wrong for a Muslim then it is the mother who is automatically at fault and will bear the brunt of the blame.'" (Hat tip: Tim Blair.)

"Across Europe, Worries on Islam Spread to Center" (Dan Bilefsky and Ian Fisher, The New York Times, 2006/10/11)
"Europe appears to be crossing an invisible line regarding its Muslim minorities: more people in the political mainstream are arguing that Islam cannot be reconciled with European values.
“You saw what happened with the pope,” said Patrick Gonman, 43, the owner of Raga, a funky wine bar in downtown Antwerp, 25 miles from here. “He said Islam is an aggressive religion. And the next day they kill a nun somewhere and make his point.
“Rationality is gone.” ...
But many Europeans — even those who generally support immigration — have begun talking more bluntly about cultural differences, specifically about Muslims’ deep religious beliefs and social values, which are far more conservative than those of most Europeans on issues like women’s rights and homosexuality.
“A lot of people, progressive ones — we are not talking about nationalists or the extreme right — are saying, ‘Now we have this religion, it plays a role and it challenges our assumptions about what we learned in the 60’s and 70’s,’ ” said Joost Lagendik, a Dutch member of the European Parliament for the Green Left Party, who is active on Muslim issues.
“So there is this fear,” he said, 'that we are being transported back in a time machine where we have to explain to our immigrants that there is equality between men and women, and gays should be treated properly. Now there is the idea we have to do it again.'"

"Study: 655,000 Iraqis die because of war" (Malcolm Ritter, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/10/11)
"A controversial new study contends nearly 655,000 Iraqis have died because of the war, suggesting a far higher death toll than other estimates.
The timing of the survey's release, just a few weeks before the U.S. congressional elections, led one expert to call it "politics."
In the new study, researchers attempt to calculate how many more Iraqis have died since March 2003 than one would expect without the war. Their conclusion, based on interviews of households and not a body count, is that about 600,000 died from violence, mostly gunfire. They also found a small increase in deaths from other causes like heart disease and cancer. ...
An accurate count of Iraqi deaths has been difficult to obtain, but one respected group puts its rough estimate at closer to 50,000. And at least one expert was skeptical of the new findings.
"They're almost certainly way too high," said Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington. He criticized the way the estimate was derived and noted that the results were released shortly before the Nov. 7 election.
"This is not analysis, this is politics," Cordesman said."

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

News and commentary:

"Protesters hurl petrol bombs at Danish mission in Iran" (Reuters, 2006/10/10)
"TEHRAN (Reuters) - Dozens of protesters pelted the Danish embassy in Tehran with stones and petrol bombs on Tuesday after Danish television broadcast footage deemed insulting to the Muslim Prophet Mohammad, witnesses said.
Denmark's state TV aired footage on Friday of a number of members of the youth wing of the anti-immigrant Danish People's Party (DPP) drawing cartoons in August mocking the Prophet. Iran condemned the broadcast.
Reuters witnesses said protesters hurled stones and petrol bombs into the embassy compound. The crowd chanted "Down with Zionists" and 'God praise the party of God.'" (See also: "Web sites remove videos mocking Muhammad" (Jan M. Olsen, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/10/09))

"Top Qaeda leader urges fighters to hit White House" (Reuters, 2006/10/10)
"A man believed to be a top al Qaeda militant who escaped from a U.S. jail near Kabul was shown in a new videotape broadcast on Tuesday exhorting followers in Afghanistan to fight on until they attack the White House.
"Allah will not be pleased until we reach the rooftop of the White House," Abu Yahya al-Libi was shown telling fighters in the tape aired by the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television.
The channel said the tape was one-hour long, showing footage of Libi urging fighters to train hard and even to try to acquire nuclear technology.
"You have to get well prepared by starting with exercise, and then you have to learn how to use technology until you are capable of nuclear weapons," he said."

"No More Troops" (Ralph Peters, New York Post, 2006/10/10)
"When it comes to judging Iraqi progress, the only useful measure is the security situation. If the carnage continues unchallenged by the Iraqis, game over.
Iraq is not yet lost, but it's harder every day to be optimistic. It's still too soon to give up - we must have the fortitude to weather very dark days. But we also need the guts to recognize when it's time to cut our losses. In Iraq, the verdict must come in 2007.
It's up to the Iraqis to make their case.
For us, the tragic aspect isn't what would follow an American withdrawal. That would be yet another grotesque Arab tragedy. What's heartbreaking is that we did the right thing by deposing Saddam Hussein, but we did it unforgivably badly. ...
People get the government they earn. Those of us who believed that the situation in the Middle East required desperate measures may have to accept that the cynics were right when they insisted that Arabs can't govern themselves democratically. What if it doesn't take a village? What if it takes a Saddam?
If Iraq does fail, the cold truth is that the United States will do fine. We'll honor our dead, salve the wounds to our vanity and march on stronger than ever (with the world's most powerful and most experienced military). But the Middle East will have revealed itself as hopeless."

Added today:
"Web sites remove videos mocking Muhammad" (Jan M. Olsen, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/10/09)
"Iran Embassy protests to Danish Gov't for repetition of anti-Islam sacrilege" (IRNA, 2006/10/08)
"Danish Video Sparks Fresh Outrage" (Saeed Al-Abyad, Arab News, 2006/10/08)
"Indonesian Muslims angered by Danish broadcast" (AFP/Khaleej Times, 2006/10/08)
"Drive for multi-faith Britain deepens rifts, says Church" (Jonathan Wynne-Jones, The Sunday Telegraph, 2006/10/08)
"Britain says Pakistan is hiding Taliban chief" (Christina Lamb, The Sunday Times, 2006/10/08)
"Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood denounces what it calls 'new Danish insults' to Islam" (AP/IHT, 2006/10/07)
"Europe Is Growing Skeptical Of Dialogue With Muslims" (Youssef Ibrahim, New York Sun, 2006/10/06)

Monday, October 9, 2006

News and commentary:

"Web sites remove videos mocking Muhammad" (Jan M. Olsen, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/10/09)
"COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Videos showing anti-immigrant party members mocking the Prophet Muhammad were pulled from Web sites Monday as two youths seen in the clips were reported in hiding and the Foreign Ministry warned Danes against traveling to much of the Middle East. ...
Citing critical media reports from many Muslim regions, the Foreign Ministry cautioned against travel to Gaza, the West Bank, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey. ...
The video was produced by an artists' group, Defending Denmark. In a message posted along with the video, the group said it had infiltrated the Danish People's Party Youth, known as DFU, for 18 months 'to document (their) extreme right wing associations.'"

See also:
"Iran Embassy protests to Danish Gov't for repetition of anti-Islam sacrilege" (IRNA, 2006/10/08)
"Danish Video Sparks Fresh Outrage" (Saeed Al-Abyad, Arab News, 2006/10/08)
"Indonesian Muslims angered by Danish broadcast" (AFP/Khaleej Times, 2006/10/08)
"Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood denounces what it calls 'new Danish insults' to Islam" (AP/IHT, 2006/10/07)

"Somali Islamists declare "jihad" on Ethiopia" (Guled Mohamed, Reuters, 2006/10/09)
"MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's powerful Islamists on Monday declared holy war against Horn of Africa rival Ethiopia, which they accused of invading Somalia to help the government briefly seize a town controlled by pro-Islamist fighters.
Both sides confirmed the takeover of Buur Hakaba, the first military counter-strike by President Abdullahi Yusuf's interim government since the Islamists took Mogadishu in June and went on to grab much of Somalia's south.
"Starting from today, we have declared jihad against Ethiopia," Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed told a news conference, wearing combat fatigues and clutching an AK-47 assault rifle."

"N. Korea Reports 1st Nuclear Arms Test" (David E. Sanger, The New York Times, 2006/10/09)
"North Korea said Sunday night that it had set off its first nuclear test, becoming the eighth country in history, and arguably the most unstable and most dangerous, to proclaim that it has joined the club of nuclear weapons states.
The test came just two days after the country was warned by the United Nations Security Council that the action could lead to severe consequences.
American officials cautioned that they had not yet received any confirmation that the test had occurred. The United States Geological Survey said it had detected a tremor of 4.2 magnitude on the Korean Peninsula.
China called the test a “flagrant and brazen” violation of international opinion and said it “firmly opposes” North Korea’s conduct.
Senior Bush administration officials said that they had little reason to doubt the announcement, and warned that the test would usher in a new era of confrontation with the isolated and unpredictable country run by President Kim Jong-il."

 

Added in archive:
"Afraid of the Fear of Terror" (Henryk M. Broder, Der Spiegel, 2006/09/27)

 

See the archive for earlier news and commentary.

 

Copyright © Watch 2001-2006.
Copyrights of quoted materials belong to their respective owners.

"When people accept futility and the absurd as normal, the culture is decadent. The term is not a slur; it is a technical label."

Jacques Barzun

Articles of the week

"Losing the Enlightenment" (Victor Davis Hanson, OpinionJournal, 2006/11/29)

"Allah’s England?" (Daniel Johnson, Commentary. November 2006)

"'Sex in the Park': The latest doings of the Danish imams" (Henrik Bering, The Weekly Standard, 2006/11/18)

"Narcissism on Stilts" (Harold Evans, New York Sun, 2006/11/16)

"Terrorists are recruiting in our schools, says MI5 boss" (Philip Johnston, The Daily Telegraph, 2006/11/10)

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From the archives

Oriana Fallaci, R.I.P.

"The Rage, the Pride and the Doubt" (Oriana Fallaci, The Wall Street Journal, 2003/03/13)

"How the West Was Won and How It Will Be Lost" (Oriana Fallaci, The American Enterprise, from the January/February 2003 issue)

"On Jew-hatred in Europe" (Oriana Fallaci, dennisprager.com, 2002/04/13)

"Anger and Pride" (Oriana Fallaci, dennisprager.com, 2001/12/19)

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