FreedomSeekersblog

Goodbye Abdulaziz, murderer of innocent people! (photo from Reuters) 

Savages did this!

Insight Online has obtained a shocking recruitment appeal seeking Iranians to commit suicide in deadly attacks on Israel, against American-led coalition forces in Iraq, on U.S. citizens around the world and, dulcis in fundo, against Salman Rushdie.




Translation:

In the Name of God

Preliminary Registration for Martyrdom Operations

I _____________, child of _____________, born 13_______ [Islamic calendar], the City of: _________________ proclaim my preparedness for carrying out martyrdom operations:

___ against the occupiers of the holy sites [referring to Najaf, Karbala, and other places in Iraq].

___ against the occupiers of [Jerusalem].

___ for carrying out the death sentence of the infidel Salman Rushdie.

Also, I would like to become an active member of the Army of Martyrs of the International Islamic Movement. Yes ____, No _____

Contact telephone:

Applicant's address:

Applicant's signature:

_____________________________________________________________________________

Spartacus

A Paris court on Thursday convicted former film starlet Brigitte Bardot of inciting racial hatred for portraying Muslims in a negative light in a book, comparing them, as the court said, to "invaders, cruel and barbaric."

Bardot and her publishing house, Editions du Rocher, were fined $6,050 each. She had risked a year in jail.

At a hearing in May, she told the court that she never meant to harm anyone with her book, "Un cri dans le silence" (A Cry in the Silence), published last year.

"I never knowingly wanted to hurt anybody. It is not in my character. If I did hurt someone, I'm sorry," Bardot said in May.

In her book, Bardot denounced the "infiltration" of France by Islamic extremists and criticized the ritual slaughter of sheep during Muslim religious ceremonies. She also described what she called the "Islamization of France."

Bardot had previously been found guilty on similar charges.

The court found that the actress had presented Muslims as "invaders, barbaric and cruel, responsible for terrorist acts, wishing to subdue the French people to the point of extermination."

This could lead the reader to "reject members of the Muslim community through hate and violence," the court concluded in its ruling.

The fine is to be paid to two anti-racism groups who had filed the complaint.

During her May trial, Bardot said that her book — which topped France's nonfiction best-seller list last year — was but a simple critique of the religious practices of Muslims and a denunciation of those terrorist attacks committed by Islamists.

"Among Muslims, I think there are some who are very good and some hoodlums, like everywhere," she said at the time. (from news.yahoo.com)

Italy arrested an Egyptian man suspected of helping to plan the Madrid train bombings as police across Europe swooped on Islamic militants in coordinated anti-terror raids, officials said Tuesday.
Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, known as "Mohamed the Egyptian," was seized in Milan in a operation that Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said was aimed at a "dangerous group of terrorists close to al Qaeda" which had been planning more attacks. (from Reuters)
 

Three Italians held hostage in Iraq for nearly two months and a Polish citizen have been freed as a result of a military operation, according to the U.S.-led coalition. Read article from CNN here.
 

It will be difficult, if not impossible, to read anything better than this today. So, why don't you go and visit Rabbi Lazer Brody at Lazer Beam.

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Do you want to know what this world is coming to? Then go and visit Anti-com.com

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The Greatest Day  

60 years ago we thanked the Allies like this. 

And like this. 

Today, after 60 years, we show our gratitude like this.(photo from Reuters) 

Thank you very much for your kind visit Mr Bush. The great majority of the Italian people are on your side. 

If it wasn't for these brave American soldiers, you wouldn't be able to protest today! Ignorance doesn't pay! 

Ignorance under the Roman sky.  

The Head of the Italian Communist Party protests against Pres. Bush! 

Funeral ceremony of Samuel Salamat Masih arrested under blasphemy laws and killed by police in Lahore on 29 May 2004
 

Christian beaten to death
in hospital by Muslim cop
Policeman: 'I have offered my religious duty ... I'm spiritually satisfied'



Samuel Masih was buried in Lahore, Pakistan, yesterday following injuries he received from a Muslim policeman who beat the 27-year-old Christian with a hammer as he lay in his hospital bed recovering from a bout of tuberculosis.

Masih had been in jail since Aug. 23, 2003, awaiting trial on charges of blasphemy under Pakistan's strict "Law 295" – which forbids desecrating the Quran and "defiling" the name of Islam's prophet, Muhammad. On the day of his arrest, Masih was collecting garden rubbish, which he heaped temporarily against the wall of a mosque in Lahore's Lawrence Gardens section while collecting more that he planned to burn later. This action brought the blasphemy charge, which carries a maximum two-year prison sentence.



He had been held in the Lahore Central Jail for nine months when he had a severe tuberculosis attack and was transferred to a local hospital. According to reports in the Lahore Daily Times, the constable assigned to guard the prisoner's room at the hospital, Officer Faryad Ali, savagely beat Masih with a hammer used for cutting bricks after learning he had been accused of strewing garbage near the mosque's walls.

Faryad Ali, who has been jailed and charged with murder, reportedly told investigators it was his religious duty as a Muslim to kill the Christian man. According to Voice of the Martyrs, he is reported to have said, "I have offered my religious duty for killing the man. I'm spiritually satisfied and ready to face the consequences."

"This is another example of the danger our brothers and sisters in Pakistan face every day," said Todd Nettleton, VOM spokesman.

Baboo Emmanuel, Masih's father, told the Daily Times he did not know his son was in jail until approximately four months ago. A whitewasher by trade, Masih was frequently away for extended periods while working. But even when informed of his incarceration for blasphemy, the family did not pursue the case because of fear of the police. No one defended him on the charge.

"Poverty, society’s pressure and the lawless wild police system prevented me from following my son's case, Masih's father told the Daily Times.

The Christian minority's fear of the police and Pakistan's blasphemy laws were themes echoed by Lahore Archbishop Lawrence J. Saldanha who led the procession of 500 mourners at Masih's funeral.

"Sections 295 B and C and Section 298 A, B and C of the PPC are vague and can be interpreted in ways that cause suffering and death and devastating pain to society," Saldanha said. "The existence of these laws gives rise to injustices. It is usually the poor and weak who are the victims."

Masih's father, emboldened by the support of several human-rights non-governmental organizations and media publicity, is asking the government to investigate the basis for the blasphemy charge against his son. No one in his senses would attempt blasphemy, he insisted to the Daily Times. "Particularly a person who belongs to a minority would never dare to do so because of the extreme sentence provided in the law," he said. Emanuel believes his son became a victim because he belonged to a minority.

According to human rights groups, Pakistan's blasphemy law is much abused and frequently used to settle personal grudges. Where convictions are made, most are overturned on appeal. However, Reuters notes that several Christians and Muslims accused of blasphemy have been killed by "religious fanatics" while in prison or police custody.

"This is a brutal act of terrorism committed by the police constable and a clear misuse of blasphemy law," said Shahbaz Bhatti, president of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance. "This is the time that government should abolish blasphemy law."

President Pervez Musharraf has called for a review of Pakistan's system of strict Islamic law, including the laws against blasphemy introduced in the 1970s during the regime of military dictator Gen. Zia-ul-Haq.

At first, the police reportedly refused to let the family take Masih's body to the church for a Christian funeral, insisting they take the corpse home and bury him quickly. The assistant superintendent of police told the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan this was done to avoid any political protests.

"This is an individual’s case against an individual," he said. "We do not want to make it a political issue."

The family was latter permitted to take the body to Sacred Heart Cathedral for the funeral which was peaceful and without incident. (from WorldNetDaily)



Spartacus

That Al-Qaeda has links with the Mafia is not in question. I have posted several articles on this website about the links between Muslim "activists" and the Calabrian mafia, known as the "'ndrangheta".
Everybody keeps reading statements from al-Qaeda chiefs and the "intelligence" usually ends...with the translation! Great effort!
The statement by the Al-Qaeda chief in Saudi Arabia, Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin, is quite important, because, for the first time ever, an Al-Qaeda chief talks about links with the Mafia (and other smugglers!)


Saudi Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin is the suspected mastermind of the May and November suicide bomb attacks in Saudi Arabia, in which 53 people died, including nine Americans.

Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin is in his 30s, and he also traveled to Afghanistan when he was 17 for training and later joined the war in Bosnia. He, too, spent time in a Saudi prison, where he learned the Koran by heart.


DUBAI: A statement purported to be from the al-Qaeda chief in Saudi Arabia and posted on a militant website on Thursday urged his followers to wage an urban guerrilla war of assassinations, kidnappings and bombings. The "execution group" or "strike force" in each four-tiered cell should be "trained to carry out operations inside cities, including assassinations, abductions, bombings, sabotage, raids and the liberation of hostages," said the statement attributed to Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin and posted on www.qal3ah.org.
The lengthy statement, the authenticity of which could not be independently confirmed, appeared to be several months old. It was not clear why it was made public now. It refers to the Saudi authorities' announcement "in recent days of the names of 26 Mujahid (fighter) ... which showed the failure of their security agencies to track down the Mujahideen."

The reference was to a list of 26 most-wanted terror suspects issued by Saudi authorities in December following a series of suicide bombings that targeted residential compounds in Riyadh in May and November 2003. Muqrin tops the list of presumed al-Qaeda militants, which is now down to 18. In the statement, Muqrin said each guerrilla cell should be composed of four groups: a field command, an intelligence-gathering group, a third assigned to prepare the equipment and groundwork for operations, and a fourth that would execute the attacks and would be made up of two to four members.

"In a country which has no places suitable for action such as mountains and forests, one should suffice with urban forces and collaborators," the statement said. Militants "need a strong Islamic intelligence apparatus to confront the dangers surrounding clandestine action in cities," it said. The guerrillas in charge of preparing operations should include people "with links to the Mafia or other smugglers, because the latter have experience and can be very useful," the statement said. (From Pakistan Today)

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To Kill a Prime Minister

It was a particularly hot afternoon when I decided to go shopping for permission (Fatwa) to kill the prime minister.

It was probably the summer of 1994 and Benazir Bhutto was laboriously inching through her second non-productive term as prime minister of Pakistan.

At that time, Pakistan’s Blasphemy law was a sword in the hands of the unscrupulous and they were flailing it blindly, right, left and centre.

One day, there was a small news item that a Christian from the Punjab province had been taken into custody for allegedly using some derogatory words against the Prophet of Islam. A few days later, there was another, even smaller, news story that the Benazir government had released the young man quietly and he had been granted asylum in some western European country.

Having a deep love for Prophet Mohammad, I was among those who were very angry at Benazir Bhutto. The dense mass of anger squirming in my mind took a particular direction when the same evening I happened to stumble into a religious gathering where an especially eloquent ‘religious leader’ reproached Banezir Bhutto in many languages and urged the crowd quite convincingly: ‘Is there not even one among you who can take out that enemy of Islam?’

I promised to myself that I would be the one to ‘take out that enemy of Islam.’

Next afternoon I went to the same mosque to seek permission from the Pesh-Imam (prayer leader) to kill the prime minister.

He said that since he was not a Mufti (a religious scholar who is authorized to issue religious edicts – Fatwa), he was unable to issue the kind of permission I sought. He referred me to a well-known Mufti in Karachi.

I went dashing to the Mufti and put my case before him.

“So, you want to kill the prime minister?” asked the Mufti. “Indeed, I do. I feel it is my duty to do so,” I said.

“And why do you think it is your duty to kill the prime minister,” asked the Mufti with a hint of a smile in his eyes.

I narrated all the ‘known details’ of the case and said heatedly, “This proves that the government has deliberately set free a person who insulted our beloved Prophet. There is no choice but to kill the prime minister because, as the head of the government, she is responsible for what happens in her administration.”

“Let’s view the whole thing from a distance and we shall soon find out whether I can give you permission to go ahead with your plans,” reasoned the Mufti.

In his lengthy discourse over a cup of tea laced with substandard milk powder, the Mufti presented the following scenarios:

· The speaker in the last evening’s gathering may have been politically motivated. One needs to verify whether he is a man of ‘solid character’ (Swaleh) and whether one can trust that he had no hidden motive when inciting a crowd to take an extreme action.

· Are there at least four witnesses of solid character who can testify that the Christian young man really insulted the Prophet? What were his exact words, and in what context did he utter those words? Was he aware of what he was saying? Is it possible that he said something in answer to an argument where a Muslim may have insulted Jesus Christ? If so, then the other person who insulted Jesus Christ, should also have been charged under the same law because Jesus is also the prophet of Islam, as are Moses, Abraham and all other prophets.

· Even if we assume that the charges are correctly levelled against the Christian in question, are we sure that Benazir Bhutto personally authorized his release? Is it not possible that some local functionary released him because of sympathy or monetary gratification?

· Killing someone is an extreme action. The basic principle is that we cannot take what we cannot give. Since we cannot give life we should be extremely reluctant to take it. The Blasphemy law, as it is, has many loopholes. Moreover, killing or imprisoning someone means that we are unable to find arguments to refute what they are saying.
My conversation with the Mufti, and his set of arguments as mentioned here, would probably come as a surprise to some who make a beeline to a particular seminary in Pakistan and rush back breathlessly with exciting stories about ‘breeding grounds of terrorism and havens for Al-Qaeda and Taliban.’

The last sentence of Mufti changed my mindset – and my life – then and there: “Killing or imprisoning someone means that we are unable to find arguments to refute what they are saying.”

I died that day, right on the worn-out rug in the Mufti’s office. Or, to put it more precisely, I was born that day.

(from nCaWeeklyColumn: The Mind of a Terrorist, by Tariq Saeedi)(www.newscentralasia.com/). The link to the excellent article is here.


Spartacus

2 Feb. 2004 the title of my post was "Will anyone investigate Mr. Tahir?"
Jeff Ooi, one of my favorite bloggers (but he's more than that!), today reports that Mr Tahir has been detained under the Internal Security Act in Malaysia yesterday.
"His activities came to the attention of the US Central Intelligence Agency and Britain's MI6 following the seizure of "centrifuges" on board a vessel in Italy on Oct 4." Jeff's post is here.
I have written and posted several articles on the vessel BBC China, the centrifuges for Mr Qaddafi and the links between evil countries and evil people (who love to call themselves "Doctors", "Heroes" and "Scientists"!)which you can read here, here, here, here
Well done Malaysia!

Spartacus

Michael Moore's far left politics are bad enough, but the fact that his political films continue to win major awards as documentaries is absurd. (from http://www.CoxAndForkum.com )
 

Spartacus

The C-16 Eurofighter 

So why did Spain buy 87 C-16 Eurofighters? Give me just one good reason!

Spartacus

WASHINGTON (AP) - Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Wednesday new information indicates terrorists are planning an attack on America, possibly connected to high-profile upcoming events such as the dedication of a new World War II monument, economic summit and political conventions.

"I can confirm that we have seen for the past several weeks a continuous stream of reporting that talks about the possibility of attacks on the United States," Ridge said.







U.S. counterterrorism and law enforcement officials said Tuesday that new intelligence indicates a group of terrorists already deployed inside the United States is preparing to launch a major attack this summer. This information was described by a senior counterterrorism official on condition of anonymity as extremely credible and backed by an unusually high level of corroboration.

Spartacus

Italian MPs reject Iraq pull-out

Twenty Italian troops have died so far in Iraq
The Italian parliament has defeated a motion tabled by the centre-left opposition, calling for the withdrawal of Italy's 3,000 troops from Iraq. Read it here


North Korean Security Believes Ryongchon Train Explosion an Assassination Attempt

According to a source, North Korea's State Safety & Security Agency concluded that the massive explosion that occurred in the North Korean city of Ryongchon on April 22 had been conspired by anti-North Korean government forces to harm North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. So, from now on, mobile phones are banned from North Korea Read it here


Freedom in China? Not yet...!

"The most important battleground for freedom of speech in China is on the Internet now. The authorities realize that, and they are trying to suppress it," Wu said recently, peering at his smudged computer screen and giving a tour of his Web site. "At the same time, we are continuously challenging their bottom line, and pushing them back. . . . This is a critical time." Read it here


The Communist Syndrome (from FrontPageMagazine)

"...These conspiracy theories advanced by the Left are somehow similar to the
conspiracy theories advanced by the nazis back in the 1930s. Every
demented form of evil is being ascribed to Americans and Israelis --
nothing to the real nazi-wanna-bes -- the Islamofascists." Read it here


Spartacus

"Who Is Abu Zarqawi?"


From the May 24, 2004 issue: What we know about the terrorist leader who murdered Nicholas Berg.
by Robert S. Leiken & Steven Brooke
05/24/2004, Volume 009, Issue 35 The weekly Standard

WHO KILLED NICHOLAS BERG? His grief-stricken family blames the U.S. government for the appalling videotaped beheading of their son in Iraq. A more fitting object of outrage is the executioner. For the terrorist who claims credit for the killing of the Jewish-American civilian is no walk-on, no lackey or even lieutenant of Osama bin Laden. Instead, he is an independent operator with a long history in global jihad--sometimes coordinated with al Qaeda, sometimes not--who may be challenging bin Laden for the leadership of global Sunni terrorism.

Abu Musab al Zarqawi is hot right now. He masterminded not only Berg's murder but also the Madrid carnage on March 11, the bombardment of Shia worshippers in Iraq the same month, and the April 24 suicide attack on the port of Basra. But he is far from a newcomer to slaughter. Well before 9/11, he had already concocted a plot to kill Israeli and American tourists in Jordan. His label is on terrorist groups and attacks on four continents.

Zarqawi was first thrust into the global media spotlight in February 2003, before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, when Secretary of State Colin Powell at the U.N. called him an "associate and collaborator" of bin Laden and part of a "sinister nexus between Iraq and the al Qaeda terrorist network." Zarqawi, however, is not Osama's man, and still less was he Saddam's.

Zarqawi was born Ahmed al-Khalayleh to a Palestinian-Jordanian family in 1966 and grew up in a shabby two-story dwelling in a dusty mining town 17 miles north of Amman. The town was called Zarqa--hence the nom de guerre. (1)
But while we know the details of bin Laden's privileged youth, we know next to nothing about Zarqawi's impoverished early years. His parents are dead, and few near relatives have been uncovered by the press. His passport picture is on a U.S. poster offering a $10 million reward for him, but his height and weight are listed as "unknown." Nor do we know what he studied in school; only that he dropped out of high school and locals say he was "pious." Until recently, the mystery man rarely claimed credit for his terrorist exploits. U.S. intelligence once thought he'd been injured in the American assault on Afghanistan and had taken refuge in northern Iraq, later traveling to Saddam's Baghdad to have his leg amputated; now they're not so sure.

(Latest Info from ABC News: After the fall of the Taliban, he fled to northwestern Iraq and worked with poisons for use in potential attacks, officials say.
During the summer of 2002, he underwent nasal surgery at a Baghdad hospital, officials say. They mistakenly originally thought, however, that Zarqawi had his leg amputated due to an injury.)


We do know that like thousands of Muslim youths he rallied to the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan and gained renown as a fighter. Returning to Jordan after the Soviet withdrawal, he may have joined the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which merged with al Qaeda in 1998. While in Jordan he also associated with Hizb ut Tahrir, an angry, anti-Semitic conclave devoted to the restoration of Islamic rule. Released in 1997 after five years in a Jordanian prison for plotting to replace the monarchy with an Islamic state, Zarqawi fled to Europe. He returned to Afghanistan in 2000 and built his own network of training camps near Herat, seizing control of the clandestine routes between Iran and Afghanistan.
In his camps, Zarqawi dispensed his specialized knowledge of chemical
weapons and poisons to loyal followers, who then dispersed to the Middle
East and Europe. The week of April 19, Jordanian police broke up a
Zarqawi-financed and orchestrated plot they estimate would have detonated 20 tons of chemicals and released a cloud of poisonous gas into central Amman.
The blast could have killed some 80,000 civilians and destroyed the U.S.
embassy and Jordanian intelligence headquarters. In a videotaped confession shown on Jordanian TV, the head of the cell admitted, "I took explosives courses, poisons high level, then I pledged allegiance to Abu Musab al Zarqawi, to obey him without any questioning."


ABU ZARQAWI knows no limits and many continents. Investigating the Hamburg cell after September 11, German authorities came across another terrorist group called al-Tawhid (unity), made up mainly of Palestinian militants trained in Zarqawi's Afghan camps. Tawhid operatives told investigators they got their start in Europe selling stolen and forged documents to militants traveling between the Middle East and Western Europe.

With the outbreak of war in Iraq, Tawhid converted its alien-smuggling and document-forgery ring into a two-way underground railroad between Western Europe and the Middle East. According to European press reports, networks in Spain, Italy, and Germany send recruits into Iraq via Syria. U.S. military officials in Iraq now blame the most heinous terrorist attacks on "the Zarqawi network." But Zarqawi's alien-smuggling system also dispatches Middle Eastern jihadis into Europe via Spain, Turkey, Italy, and Greece. In November 2003, Italian wiretaps recorded two Tawhid operatives speaking of "the jihad part" and its "battalion of 25-26 units" of suicide bombers.

If Zarqawi's underground railroad demonstrates the terrorist uses of illegal immigration, the investigation into the Madrid bombings reveals new connections to Zarqawi every week. Zarqawi's lieutenant, a 36-year-old Moroccan named Amer el Azizi, planned the Madrid terror and is the living link between al Qaeda, the Zarqawi network, and the Moroccan immigrant cell that set the Madrid bombs. Azizi also organized and presided over the 2001 meeting in Spain where Mohammed Atta and al Qaeda leaders put the finishing touches on the September 11 plan.

Azizi fled Spain in November 2001 as Spanish authorities dismantled the al Qaeda logistics cell. He jetted to Afghanistan via Iran, where Zarqawi's cross-border networks helped him elude the coalition. While falling in with Zarqawi, Azizi kept an eye on Spain and his Moroccan colleagues, who managed to set off bombs in Casablanca in May 2003. Shortly before the Madrid 3/11 train bombings, Azizi left Iran via Turkey and slipped into Spain to witness the carnage firsthand. He is still at large.

PROBABLY THE MURKIEST and most intriguing feature of this man of many
mysteries is the question of Zarqawi's relations with Osama bin Laden.
Though he met with bin Laden in Afghanistan several times, the Jordanian
never joined al Qaeda. Militants have explained that Tawhid was "especially for Jordanians who did not want to join al Qaeda." A confessed Tawhid member even told his interrogators that Zarqawi was "against al Qaeda." Shortly after 9/11, a fleeing Ramzi bin al-Shibh, one of the main plotters of the attacks, appealed to Tawhid operatives for a forged visa. He could not come up with ready cash. Told that he did not belong to Tawhid, he was sent packing and eventually into the arms of the Americans.

Zarqawi and bin Laden also disagree over strategy. Zarqawi allegedly
constructed his Tawhid network primarily to target Jews and Jordan. This
choice reflected both Zarqawi's Palestinian heritage and his dissent from bin Laden's strategy of focusing on the "far enemy"--the United States. In an audiotape released after the recent foiled gas attack in Amman, an individual claiming to be Zarqawi argued that the Jordanian Intelligence Services building was indeed the target, although no chemical attack was planned. Rather, he stated menacingly, "God knows, if we did possess [a chemical bomb], we wouldn't hesitate one second to use it to hit Israeli cities such as Eilat and Tel Aviv."

The Tawhid cell (2) uncovered in Hamburg after 9/11 scouted Jewish targets,including businesses and synagogues. Zarqawi's operatives have been
implicated in an attack on a Mombassa hotel frequented by Israeli tourists and an attempt to shoot down an Israeli jetliner. He is also suspected to have played a role in the Casablanca bombings of a Jewish community center and a Spanish social club. In February 2002, a Jordanian court sentenced him in absentia to 15 years' hard labor for his involvement in a failed plot to kill American and Israeli tourists at the turn of the millennium, a scheme coordinated with Abu Zubaydah, a top lieutenant of bin Laden. And another Jordanian court sentenced him, again in absentia, to death for the assassination of U.S. diplomat Laurence Foley. Zarqawi is also the prime suspect in the August 2003 truck bombing of the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad.

Zarqawi has been associated with other groups besides Tawhid. Most notorious is Ansar al Islam, a largely Kurdish organization operating out of Northern Iraq, which U.S. officials have linked to al Qaeda. Before the war, Ansar al Islam ran chemical warfare camps in northern Iraq. Last year British counterterrorist investigators traced poisonous ricin found in Manchester to those camps. Zarqawi has been linked with two less-known al Qaeda splinter groups, Beyyiat el-Imam, implicated in attacks in Israel as well as the November 2003 attack on a synagogue in Turkey, and Jund al-Shams, a Syrian-Jordanian group blamed by Jordanian authorities for the assassination of Foley. Zarqawi has also been linked to Chechen jihadis, and Indian intelligence says he belongs to Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), a Pakistani Sunni group responsible for slaying hundreds of Shias in South Asia.

The slaughter of Shias touches on another Zarqawi beef with bin Laden. While both men follow the strict code of Salafi Islam, which reckons Shias as apostates, bin Laden prides himself on being a unifying figure and has made tactical alliances with Shia groups, meeting several times with Shia militants. Zarqawi, by contrast, favors butchering Shias, calling them "the most evil of mankind . . . the lurking snake, the crafty and malicious scorpion, the spying enemy, and the penetrating venom." American military officials hold Zarqawi responsible not only for assassinating Shia religious leaders in Iraq, but also for the multiple truck bombings of a Shia religious festival this past March, which killed 143 worshippers.

But though bin Laden and Zarqawi differ on strategy, Zarqawi too cloaks his plans for mass murder in the language of the religious zealot. To Zarqawi, "religion is more precious than anything and has priority over lives, wealth, and children." He considers Iraq ideal for jihad especially because "it is a stone's throw from the lands of the two Holy Precincts [Saudi Arabia] and the al Aqsa [mosque, in Jerusalem]. We know from God's religion that the true, decisive battle between infidelity and Islam is in this land [Greater Syria and its surroundings]. . . ." On the tape of the beheading of Nick Berg, entitled "Sheikh Abu Musab Zarqawi executes an American with his
own hands and promises Bush more," Zarqawi rages, "Where is the compassion, where is the anger for God's religion, and where is the protection for Muslims' pride in the crusaders' jails? . . . The pride of all Muslim men and women in Abu Ghraib and other jails is worth blood and souls."

The CIA has verified that Zarqawi himself spoke on the tape and personally beheaded Berg. Similarly, the videotaped beheading of Daniel Pearl of the Wall Street Journal in February 2002 was carried out directly by another jihadi leader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The latter, like Zarqawi, never swore allegiance to bin Laden. In this bloodthirsty crowd, it appears that slitting the throat of an American Jew wins laurels.

IN JANUARY 2004, Iraqi Kurds captured a message from Zarqawi in Iraq to bin Laden. Zarqawi offered bin Laden a chance to expand al Qaeda's role in Iraq. Victory, Zarqawi instructed, meant fomenting sectarian war between Shiites and Sunnis. There are no indications that bin Laden responded, and there are now signs of cooperation between some Iraqi Shia and Sunni militants. Are bin Laden and Zarqawi running competing terrorist organizations in Iraq?

Zarqawi's letter is addressed to a colleague or even a potential competitor rather than to one he regards as his sheikh or emir. He offers darkly, "We do not see ourselves as fit to challenge you." Zarqawi gives bin Laden two choices: "If you agree with us . . . we will be your readied soldiers, working under your banner, complying with your orders, and indeed swearing fealty (sic) to you publicly and in the news media. . . . If things appear otherwise to you, we are brothers, and the disagreement will not spoil [our] friendship."

Zarqawi exemplifies Sunni terrorism after 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq,
what some call "al Qaeda 2.0." The Western counteroffensive decimated al
Qaeda's leadership, stripped the organization of safe havens and training camps, and disrupted its command and control. Former al Qaeda subsidiaries became franchises, receiving inspiration from bin Laden's occasional messages but operating independently. Historically speaking, the dynamic of revolutionary movements favors the most radical faction--the Jacobins, not the Girondists, the Bolsheviks, not the Menshiviks. If this dynamic prevails in contemporary Sunni terrorism, Abu Musab al Zarqawi represents the future.

My Notes:
(1)One does not know why he uses Musab as his kuniyat. His real name is believed to be Ahmad Fadil Al-Khalailah, which means Ahmad son of Fadil of al-Khalil, which is the name the Arabs use for the Israeli town of Hebran.His family had apparently migrated to Jordan from al-Khalil (Hebron) and he himself was born in Zarqa. He also uses the kuniyats Abu Ahmad, Abu Muhammad and Sakr Abu Suwayd.

(2)The German authorities arrested on April 23, 2002,Shadi Abdalla, Mohamed Abu Dhess, Aschraf al-Dagma, Ismail Shalabi and Djamel Moustfa on charges of belonging to al-Tawhid and planning to carry out acts of terrorism in Germany. The German account of Abu Musab's jihadi career, according to which he had visited Iran in the past, contradicted the perception of him as anti-Shia.


From NationalReviewonline

Suri State of Affairs
Another “dynamic” duo.

By Lorenzo Vidino

In the eyes of many terrorism experts, Nicholas Berg's tragic beheading has elevated Abu Musab al-Zarqawi to a level approaching that of Osama bin Laden. The comparison seems appropriate, as Zarqawi, like bin Laden, has surrounded himself with other powerful extremists and several valuable contacts in the jihad underworld.


Bin Laden chose a well-connected Egyptian, Ayman al-Zawahiri, as his deputy in order to take advantage of Zawahiri's widespread network of terrorists and political knowledge. By the same token, Zarqawi appears to be teaming up with Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, a man who, so far, has not attracted much attention, but whose influence on Zarqawi cannot be overlooked. According to Italian military intelligence, both Zarqawi and Nasar are currently in Iraq, masterminding attacks there and throughout the world.

Nasar, better known by his nome de guerre, Abu Musab al-Suri, is well known to Spanish authorities, who wrote extensively about him in the September 2003 indictment of the Madrid al Qaeda cell. A Syrian veteran of the Afghan war against the Soviets, he spent several years in Madrid in the mid-1990s and acquired Spanish citizenship by marrying a Spanish convert. While in Spain, he befriended a fellow Syrian, Imad Eddin Yarkas, the leader of the Madrid cell. Both had fled Syria in the beginning of the 1980s after the Syrian regime violently cracked down on the Muslim Brotherhood.

But while Yarkas immediately went to Spain, Suri went to Afghanistan, where he met bin Laden and Abdullah Azzam, bin Laden's mentor and one of the founders of al Qaeda. According to the Spanish indictment of the Madrid cell, when al Qaeda moved to Sudan in 1991, Suri remained in Afghanistan, traveling sporadically to Khartoum to meet with bin Laden. In 1995 he moved to Europe and lived between Madrid and London, where he was one of the leading minds of the local Islamist scene now referred to as "Londonistan."

But upon realizing that British authorities suspected his involvement in the 1995 Paris Metro bombings, Suri decided to move back to Afghanistan, where he ran a terrorist training camp. According to Spanish authorities, while in Afghanistan Suri maintained contacts with both Osama bin Laden and former Taliban leader Mullah Omar. Suri also became Emir of the Syrians associated with al Qaeda, a title that proves his importance in the organization. The man who facilitated Suri's move to Afghanistan was another Syrian national, Mohamed Bahaiah, whom Spanish authorities have described as "bin Laden's courier in Europe" and who used to travel in Spain extensively.

Bahaiah is just one of Suri's contacts in Spain. Suri maintained a network of operatives there and he is now believed to have masterminded the March 11 train bombings in Madrid. Information provided by some of the individuals detained in relation with the attacks has shown that an intermediary of Suri traveled to Spain at the end of 2003. According to police inquiries, after arriving in Spain, the intermediary made contact with one of the bombers and passed on to him instructions from Suri. After staying in Spain for a few days, the messenger left for London, where Suri had instructed him to activate sleeper cells. Interpol has issued an arrest warrant for Suri in relation with the Madrid bombings. If this information is confirmed, it would be definitive proof that the Zarqawi network was behind the Madrid attacks.

But aside from his terrorist contacts throughout the world, Suri's importance lies in the profound political and religious influence he wields over Zarqawi. While Zarqawi is a high school dropout with scant knowledge of world affairs, Suri has a long history of writing about politics and is a Koranic expert who boasts a large following in the radical Islamic underworld. During his stay in London, Suri was one of the editors of the ultra-radical Al Ansar magazine, which for years published propaganda from dozens of Islamic terrorist groups. On one instance, Al Ansar published a fatwah that justified the killing of children and women in Algeria by the Algerian terrorist group GIA. The fatwah was issued by the Palestinian cleric Abu Qatada, a man that Spanish authorities have described as "Bin Laden's ambassador to Europe" and who also served as editor-in-chief of Al Ansar.

A further glance at Suri's extremist ideology is provided by tapes of his sermons that were seized in the apartment of a member of an Algerian terrorist cell dismantled by Italian authorities in Naples in 2000. The tapes reveal Suri's deep hatred for Shiites, whom he considers deviators from pure Islam. While other al Qaeda leaders have expressed their contempt for Shiites but nonetheless cooperated with Shiite groups, Suri categorically rejects any form of cooperation between Sunnis and Shiites. In fact, he points at the "negative influence" that Shiite groups have had on the Palestinian struggle, as some groups like Hamas have decided to work with Shiite groups like Hezbollah. This same contempt for Shiites can be seen in a letter written by Zarqawi last February, in which he openly incited a sectarian war in Iraq between Sunnis and Shiites. Zarqawi urged his followers to carry out attacks against Shiites because they "have declared a subtle war against Islam."

The letter reveals the influence that the older and better-educated Suri has on Zarqawi, who did not express any anti-Shiite sentiment while working closely with the Iranian government (as revealed by the confessions of Shadi Abdallah, a terrorist linked to Zarqawi who was arrested in Germany). Just as Zawahiri's ideas influenced bin Laden's actions and worldview, then, it appears that Zarqawi is acting in accordance with Suri's views. It is too early to say whether — with bin Laden and Zawahiri reportedly relegated to Waziristan — Zarqawi and Suri have become the world's most dangerous terrorist duo. It's also too early to say whether Iraq will represent for them what Afghanistan represented for the other duo. But it is clear that the two have managed to operate undetected for almost a decade and are now reaping the fruits of their work. It is now extremely important to understand Suri's ideas in order to penetrate Zarqawi's violent mindset.

— Lorenzo Vidino is a senior terrorism analyst at the Investigative Project, a Washington-based counterterrorism institute.


Read also "The Zarqawi node in the terror matrix" here

Read also a BBC Profile of al-Zarqawi here

Spartacus

When you, the reader, find the word "islamofascist", you wonder what it means and if it can be applied to the present jihadists infesting the civilised world.


I am thankful to the excellent Italian blog, I Love America, for providing me with a visual answer to the term "islamofascist". Once you see this very interesting video, you too will know what "islamofascist" means!

http://www.npr.org/dmg/dmg.php?mediaURL=/me/20030409_me_imam&mediaType=RM

Spartacus

"A military source familiar with Korean Peninsula affairs revealed on 6 May that Syrian technicians were killed in a train explosion incident that occurred on 22 April in Yongch’on in the northwestern part of the DPRK and that the damage was especially serious in that section of the train where the Syrians were aboard, along with large equipment. The same source noted that although the contents of the equipment are unknown, DPRK military-related personnel wearing protective suits arrived on the scene immediately after the explosion and removed debris only from that section of the train where the Syrian group had been aboard. Consequently, there is a strong likelihood that the accident occurred when military materials were being secretly transported between the DPRK and Syria.

According to the same source, the technicians aboard the train had been sent from the Syrian technical research center called Centre d’Etudes et de Recherche Scientific (CERS). Although CERS was established to promote science and technology development, it is suspected of playing a major role in Syria’s weapons of mass destruction development program.

The technicians and the cargo were reportedly aboard the same section of the train. The same source said it was uncertain whether the cargo was the source of the explosion or whether it exploded after being set off by an explosion on another section of the train. The source then said, “The damage to that section of the train was the most serious,” noting that nearly 10 Syrians and accompanying North Koreans were killed" (from Littlegreenfootballs, 15/5/04).


C.E.R.S.

The Syrian Scientific Research Center more commonly is known by its French acronym, CERS (Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Scientifiques), and has maintained its government-to-government relationship with France and French state-owned weapons companies.

Intelligence analysts in the United States, Israel and Western Europe agree that CERS is the lead agency in Syria that handles research and development of both conventional and unconventional weapons. So critical is the role of CERS in the procurement of technology and materials for Syria's special-weapons programs that the U.S. and German governments have blacklisted it as a warning to exporters who might otherwise seek its business. CERS is funded and reports directly to the Office of the President of the Syrian Arab Republic. During the 1980s and 1990s, it focused extensively on military research involving radar, missile-telemetry systems, telecommunications, plastics, high-performance lubricants and artificial intelligence, with teams of buyers scouring Europe for dual-use technologies likely to further chemical-, biological- and nuclear-weapons programs.

Today, CERS is in charge of procurement for Syria's strategic-weapons programs. In 1999, it purchased 10 tons of powdered aluminum from Communist China for use as a solid-fuel propellant, according to the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.

In February 2001, the French Atomic Energy Agency sent a team of physicists to explore nuclear-cooperation projects at Syria's four state universities and at CERS subsidiary ISSAT, known in English as the Higher Institute for Applied Science and Technology. It was set up with assistance from the French Embassy in Damascus in 1983 to facilitate French technical assistance to Syria.

Syrian chemical-weapons plants have been operating for nearly 20 years, and were first mentioned publicly in the United States by then-director of the CIA, William Webster, in testimony before the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs on Feb. 9, 1989. "Syria began producing chemical-warfare agents and munitions in the mid-1980s, and currently has a chemical-warfare-production facility," Webster said.

In 1991, Israeli chief of staff Ehud Barak (who later became prime minister) told an audience of leading industrialists in Tel Aviv that Syria's chemical-weapons capability was "larger than Iraq's." Over the years, chemical-weapons plants were identified just north of Damascus, outside of Homs and near Hama, where Syria was believed to be producing VX agents in addition to sarin and tabun. A fourth production facility near Cerin was believed to be manufacturing biological-warfare agents.

Industrial facilities that could be potential targets include a pharmaceuticals plant in Aleppo, a large urea and ammonia plant in Homs, and a superphosphates complex in the desert near Palmyra, where Iraqi technicians reportedly have transferred technology Iraq used with success to extract uranium from raw phosphates ore. Another dozen government-run pharmaceuticals plants are spread across the country, some of which were built by major French, Swiss and German firms and could be used to produce biological-warfare agents.

Last year, the Israeli daily Yediot Aharanot identified a major chemical-weapons plant and Scud-C missile base in northern Syria, near the village of As-Safirah, and published satellite photographs of the site that it had commissioned.

The photographs show an extensive industrial complex, several munitions-storage depots, a missile-silo complex and a separate command-and-control site with a large phased-array radar. The complex is protected by SAM-2 surface-to-air missiles. Three tunnel entrances protected by box-canyon walls give access to buried parts of the site.

The As-Safirah complex, just west of Aleppo near Syria's Mediterranean coast, was built as part of a $500 million deal with North Korea signed in Damascus on March 29, 1990, by North Korean Vice President Yi Chong-Ok.

Bill Gertz, of Insight's sister daily, the Washington Times, first reported on the delivery of Scud-C kits from North Korea to Syria in March 1991. Today, the Israelis believe Syria has assembled several hundred Scud-Cs and is developing "multiple-warhead" clusters in an effort to defeat Israel's Arrow antitactical ballistic-missile system, according to defense analyst Anthony H. Cordesman.

The United States repeatedly has imposed sanctions on Chinese and North Korean state-owned companies for selling Syria missile kits, production technology, guidance kits and solid-fuel components. But U.S. officials acknowledge that the sanctions, which bar those companies from competing for U.S. government contracts, essentially are meaningless.

"We need to take a new look at the proliferation problem," one administration official tells Insight. "We need to start thinking about active intervention, new tools and tactics, and methods of preventing the actual shipment of weapons and weapons technology." (source: Insight on the News. "Sending a Serious Message to Syria" By Kenneth R. Timmerman)


Latest News


"The bodies of the Syrians were carried onto and
transported home on 1 May by a Syrian aircraft, which
had come to Pyongyang to deliver aid supplies.

Syrian and DPRK medical and military personnel who
were involved in transporting [the Syrians and other
victims] were also reportedly wearing protective suits
similar to those worn by the DPRK military personnel
who arrived on the scene immediately after the
accident.

The same source said, "The action taken by Syria and
the DPRK indicates that the cargo was top secret
matter, which the two countries did not want to bring
out into the open." With regard to the DPRK and Syria,
the United States and other countries have indicated
concern that the two countries are continuing to
cooperate in the development of Syria's "Scud-D"
missiles, as well as chemical and biological weapons.

Concerning the cause of the explosion incident, the
DPRK has explained that a train carrying fertilizer
containing ammonium nitrate and a railroad tank
carrying petroleum were being shunted, and, in the
process, came into contact with electrical wires, due
to carelessness."


Syria and the DPRK are playing with fire!

Spartacus

It's not a mere demographical statistic, but a carefully planned infiltration of every aspect of society in non-muslim Europe. All this thanks to the appeasers at the head of Catholic countries like Spain and France. Muslim voters do count now, and they will count more at the next general elections! Give them whatever they ask for...they will be thankful!
If you have a minute to spare, please read also my previous post, written yesterday, on State-supervised French Islam.

Madrid, May 15 – A proposal to constitute a council for Muslims of Spain has been presented to the new Socialist government. The council is aimed at representing Muslims in dealings with the government as well as to look after the affairs of the Muslim minorities in the country. It is estimated that there are 800,000 Muslims in Spain, most of them of Morocco origins.

The oldest profession in the world is still going from strength to strength.

Spartacus

Advice for the New Mother

by Fatima Barkatulla

"...Your good behaviour towards your husband will not go unrewarded insha Allah. Remember the hadeeth, in which Asmaa bint Yazeed ibn as Sakan (radiallahu anha) came to the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) and said:

“Oh Messenger of Allah, may my father and mother be sacrificed for you. I have come to you on behalf of the women. We have believed in you. We do not go out and we remain in your homes. We are your source of physical pleasure. We carry your children. A man goes out to pray jumu’ah and jamaa’ah and follows the janazah. And if you go out fo Hajj, or ‘Umrah, or Jihaad, we look after your wealth. We wash your clothing. We raise your children. Shall we not share in the reward?”

The Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) turned to his companions and said: “Have you ever heard anything a woman has said better than what she has said?”
Then he said to her: “Understand oh woman, and inform the other women. Indeed a woman’s perfection of her relationship with her husband, her seeking his pleasure, and doing that which he approves of is equivalent to all of that.” Asmaa left exclaiming “La ilaaha illa Allah!”[xi] (from IslamicAwakening.com)

Spartacus

Friday, May 14, 2004

State-supervised Committee To Train French Imams


PARIS, May 13 (IslamOnline.net) - The French experts committee, supervised by the Interior Ministry, to train imams in the European country, will also organize training programs for people interested to know about Islam, said a committee member.

"The main idea is to set up an institute that will not only train imams but also organize courses for journalists and judges to know more about Islam," Eric Geoffroy told IslamOnline.net.

"There are between five to six million French Muslims and France needs institutions to give the French people, both Christians and Muslims, an idea about Islam."
Geoffroy, also an expert in Islamic studies, Strasbourg University, further said that the institute's mission is to "present an open French Islam in harmony with the French environment."

Acknowledging there are 1300-1500 imams in France, he said they should be well trained to "present the French Islam."

State Interference

He confirmed that during the second meeting of the committee on Tuesday, May 11, with the representatives of the Paris Mosque and the Union of French Islamic Organizations (UOIF).

Geoffroy said "they might be afraid of the committee as they have their own projects about the issue [training imams]."

The UOIF has vocalized concerns vis-à-vis the state interference in the setting up of the imam training institute.

The body underlined that France's secularism bans the state from intervening in religious affairs.

It proposed, instead, forming an independent committee affiliated to the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCN).

On May 6, the Paris Mosque announced the formation of a committee to supervise the setting up of an imam training institute in tandem with the French federation of African and Comoran Muslim societies.

However, Geoffroy expressed opposition to CFCN tendency to set up institutes independent from the authorities.

"Muslims should not be left to handle the issue of imams on their own," he said, claiming interference from Algerian, Moroccan and Saudi parties affecting the independence of "French Islam."
French Foreign Minister Dominique De Villepin denied Wednesday, May 11, that the committee was an official body formed by the state, despite the supervision of his ministry on the appointment of its members.

Source: IslamicAwakening.com

Spartacus

From MPA News:
The extremist group “Revolutionary Struggle” claimed responsibility for the three explosions outside a police station in Kallithea, Athens, on May 5 in a letter published today on the Athens newspaper “Pontiki”, confirming that the attack was not linked with the Olympic Games. In a leaflet issued by the extremists, it is mentioned that the triple attack was in response to the Greek state's participation in Iraq and the new anti-terrorist law.

According to the letter, the bomb blasts were a response to the participation of the Greek state in the “antiterrorist” war and a warning for the imminent “humanitarian” involvement in Iraq by sending troops to the country.

Also, the group mentions that the attack in Kallithea was a response to the new “antiterrorist law” expected to be passed in Greece.

It is also mentioned that the global mercenary killers, state officials and wealthy western Olympic tourists who intend to attend the games are unwelcome.

Citibank in Neo Psychiko, a northern Athens suburb, has been targeted by the Revolutionary Struggle terrorist cell in early March this year, and the daily Eleftherotypia, that always publishes 17 November proclamations, has received a lenghty manifesto (eleven pages) signed by these terrorists.

On Sept. 5 2003, the same group claimed responsibility for two powerful bomb blasts at Athens' main court complex. The blasts were linked to the trial of members of Greece's deadliest terrorist group, known as November 17.

Welcome to the Olympic Games!

Spartacus