Thursday, March 31, 2005

Syria - Training Hamas

The AP reports "ASHKELON, Israel (AP) - A 20-year-old Palestinian recruited from a mosque in Gaza by Hamas militants told The Associated Press in a jailhouse interview Tuesday that he received weeks of military training in a Hamas camp in Syria this year."

The allegations by Osama Mattar, now in Israeli custody, mark the first time a Palestinian has spoken publicly about being trained in Syria, and contradict repeated Syrian denials.

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UN - More Scandal

The Times (UK) reports on yet another UN scandal.

High-flyer who organised Iraqi elections stands accused over sexual harassment in her office

A RISING United Nations star who played a key role in organising the Iraqi elections has been accused of running an office in which favouritism, misuse of funds and sexual harassment were rife.

[All too familiar]

Carina Perelli, the outspoken Uruguayan director of the UN electoral assistance division and the youngest woman at her level in the organisation, had won praise for her work in setting up the Iraqi elections on dangerous trips to Baghdad.

However, a confidential review by external management consultants has questioned her “basic integrity”.

Ms Perelli, 48, who holds the high UN rank of D2, allegedly boasted: “There’s nothing they can do to me. I’m the youngest D2, a woman from a developing country.”


How does Annan still have his job?
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Iraq - Here is the UN webpage stating: "Almost half of Iraq’s total population is aged under 18. Even before the conflict began, many children were highly vulnerable to disease and malnutrition. One in four children aged under five is chronically malnourished. One in eight die before their fifth birthday." Which totally contradicts the BBC's quote of the latest UN report claiming the rate is now "double" at 8%. What fuzzy math are they using to state a drop from 25% down to 8% is a doubling? Posted by Hello

Iraq - "Children 'starving' in new Iraq" blares this BBC headline. The article quotes a UN report that says: "Malnutrition rates in children under five have almost doubled since the US-led invasion - to nearly 8% by the end of last year, it says. " Which is strange since this same UN said this before the war: "Almost half of Iraq’s total population is aged under 18. Even before the conflict began, many children were highly vulnerable to disease and malnutrition. One in four children aged under five is chronically malnourished. One in eight die before their fifth birthday." Correct me if I'm wrong, but 1 in 4 is 25%. So how is 8% now double 25% then? I'll post the UN article citing a 25% rate before the war, next. Posted by Hello

Iraq - Children 'starving'

That's the headline from this BBC article. Whenever you see a headline like this from the BBC you can be sure it's completely false. The BBC do not even bother to check the "facts" as presented by the UN Human Rights Commission. Why should they? Well for one thing the commission has some interesting members such as China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia.

Here is what the report says:

Malnutrition rates in children under five have almost doubled since the US-led invasion - to nearly 8% by the end of last year, it says.


So, if the rate doubled to 8% then the rate must have been 4% before the invasion, right? Not according to the same UN. UNICEF reported that "before the conflict began":

Almost half of Iraq’s total population is aged under 18. Even before the conflict began, many children were highly vulnerable to disease and malnutrition. One in four children aged under five is chronically malnourished. One in eight die before their fifth birthday.


Question for the BBC: If the UN reported before the war that malnutrition in Iraqi children under 5 years old was 25%, how could the same UN report the rate to be double now, at 8%?

Answer: The BBC are all too happy to report, without the slightest fact checking, anything that is anti-American. Just as they were with the much discredited Lancet report which falsely claimed that US forces had killed over 100,000 Iraqi civilians.

The BBC replaced Pravda a long time ago as the world's anti-American propaganda machine.
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Communism and Hollywood

BRIDGET JOHNSON writes it's time for Hollywood to get over its love relationship with communism.

Guevara oversaw executions at La Cabana prison; some of those executed were his former comrades who wouldn't relinquish their democratic beliefs. "To send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary," he said. He didn't assuage his barbarity by being a brilliant statesman, either, helping drive the economy to ruin as head of Cuba's central bank and minister of industries. "Though claiming to despise money," writes Fontaine, "he lived in one of the rich, private areas of Havana." Guevara told a British reporter after the Cuban Missile Crisis that the nukes would have been fired if they were under Cuban control--which would have wasted all of those future American suburban revolutionary wannabes.

Since "The Motorcycle Diaries" got an "R" rating for language, many teens missed out on the rosy, heroic portrayal of young Che saving a leper colony. But don't expect the MPAA judgment to get lighter for any of these proposed movies about the real toll of communism. The death count will surpass that of all "Rambo" flicks--nearly 100 million dead through the 20th century. Yes, it would stretch the boundaries of Hollywood's tidy "R" rating. But being impaled by a Bolshevik isn't pretty.


Will they ever learn?
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Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Islam - What Are Islamic Schools Teaching?

Daiel Pipes asks.


“Shocked” is how Aisha Sherazi, principal of the Abraar Islamic school in Ottawa, described the reaction of the school’s administration and board on learning last week that two of its teachers had incited hatred of Jews.

And “shocked” was how Mumtaz Akhtar, president of the Muslim-Community Council of Ottawa-Gatineau, described his own reaction to the front-page news about the Abraar school.

But they may have been the only two persons on the planet to be “shocked” to learn that teachers at an Islamic school are promoting anti-Semitism or other aspects of the Islamist agenda. The fact is, inquiries into Islamic schools repeatedly discover just such a radical Islamic outlook. Some examples:

New York City: An investigation by the New York Daily News in 2003 found that books used in the city’s Muslim schools “are rife with inaccuracies, sweeping condemnations of Jews and Christians, and triumphalist declarations of Islam’s supremacy.”

Los Angeles: The Omar Ibn Khattab Foundation donated 300 Korans (titled The Meaning of the Holy Quran) to the city school district in 2001 that within months had to be pulled from school libraries because of its antisemitic commentaries. One footnote reads: “The Jews in their arrogance claimed that all wisdom and all knowledge of Allah was enclosed in their hearts…Their claim was not only arrogance but blasphemy.”

Ajax, Ontario, 50 kilometers east of Toronto: The Institute of Islamic Learning is a Canadian emulation of the extremist Deobandi madrassahs of Pakistan. It focuses exclusively on religious topics, has students memorize the Koran, demands total segregation from the Canadian milieu, and requires complete gender separation. Former students complained about the school’s cult-like devotion to its head, Abdul Majid Khan, and complained that it “twisted religion and used it to its own benefit.”

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Islam - Stifling Dissent

Muslims don't like it when you criticize their religion.

Facing pressure from the radical front Muslim organization, The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the National Review has caved in and pulled two books critical of Islam from its book sales.

And students at the University of Toronto are trying to stop people speaking out against Islam.

You can learn more about CAIR's terrorists connections here and here.
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Iraq - Medal of Honor to Be Awarded

The New York Times reports "WASHINGTON, March 29 - Sgt. First Class Paul R. Smith, killed nearly two years ago defending his vastly outnumbered Army unit in a fierce battle with elite Iraqi troops for control of Baghdad's airport, will receive the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military award, administration officials said Tuesday."

True to form, The NYT just can't help but inject their venom into the story.

The story of Paul Ray Smith is that of an ordinary recruit from Tampa, Fla., who fresh out of high school joined the Army not out of patriotism but for a steady paying job, and who 15 years later, as a battle-hardened platoon sergeant, was hurled into an extraordinary test, for which he paid the ultimate price.


And how in the hell does the Times know this? The guy was in for 15 years and nothing in this article backs up the Times claim that he was in "for a steady paying job". In fact, there is ample evidence to suggest the opposite.

Sergeant Smith grew up in Tampa, enlisted in the Army in 1989 and served in the 1991 Persian Gulf war. As a sergeant, he was considered a taskmaster, insisting his troops keep their weapons spotless, Cpl. Daniel Medrano, who served with the sergeant in Bosnia in 2001, told The St. Petersburg Times. Sergeant Smith would push a Q-tip into rifle barrels, looking for dirt, Corporal Medrano said.


Sergeant Smith was a veteran of the first gulf war and still he re-enlisted and from his subordinates we learn he was a "taskmaster". Does that sound like someone who was just in "for a steady paying job"? Most steady jobs don't entail warfare.

From Smith's wife we learn:

Reached at her home in Holiday, Fla., on Tuesday, Sergeant Smith's widow, Birgit, expressed gratitude. "I'm proud and honored that Paul would be recognized by his country in such a meaningful way," she said in a telephone interview. "He loved his country; he loved the Army; and he loved his soldiers."


Sounds pretty patriotic to me. But not to the Times. Oh no. Far be it that Americans can serve in the military for patriotic reasons. I guess Pat Tillman was in it for a steady job having turned down a multi-million dollar deal with the NFL.

So, there you have it. A patriotic American lays down his life for his country, his men and the people of Iraq and the Times claims he was in it for the paycheck. The Iraqis shot him in the front while he was standing but the Times is stabbing him the back while he's down. Assholes.
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UN Oil For Food Scandal Update

Roger Simon has some thoughts on the latest report. Meanwhile, MSM are pushing the "Annan is innocent" line.
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Lebanon Update

Publius Pundit has a great round up of where things stand in Lebanon.
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College Faculties A Most Liberal Lot

So says a new study.

By their own description, 72 percent of those teaching at American universities and colleges are liberal and 15 percent are conservative, says the study being published this week. The imbalance is almost as striking in partisan terms, with 50 percent of the faculty members surveyed identifying themselves as Democrats and 11 percent as Republicans.


This explains why so many Muslims want to learn in the land of the great Satan. Two pillars of Islam's war plan state:

Democrats and Leftist will support us. And. Western Universities will educate us.

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Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Iraq - Good News Round Up

Chrenkoff's latest Good News Iraq series is up.
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Monday, March 28, 2005

Google - Searching For Jihadists

Like most good things you knew it couldn't last. Google is the world's largest search engine and some might say the best. But there are ominous signs the search giant is furthering its own agenda.

First, we know that Google almost exclusively backs the democrats.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- Employees of U.S.-based search engine Google gave $207,650 to federal candidates for the 2004 elections -- virtually all of it to Democrats.

A USA Today analysis published Monday indicated 98 percent of the money went to Democrats, the most-lopsided giving of any of the top tech company donors.


Next we notice that Google seems to be building a “dirt chest” of secrets to unload during the next election.

Let's add it up: Google a blatantly Liberal entity, is found to have tons of sensitive data archived on its site, and seems to be using the robots.txt files to sniff out where that sensitive information is hidden.


Google has gone so far as to try and shape the news by deciding to include far left websites in news searches and not include centrist or
right wing sites.

Google News Biased?

Michelle Malkin and LGF think so. I do too.

Note that the Google News index now searches quite a few blogs (including Power Line, Polipundit, and Wonkette) and includes other sites with, to say the least, serious credibility problems (including hard-core anarchist site Infoshop, Justin Raimondo’s paleocon antisemitic site antiwar.com, barking moonbat lunatic asylum Democratic Underground, radical Islamic jihadi sites khilafah.com and Jihad Unspun, and extremist pro-Palestinian site electronic intifada).

Strange that Google would not include Malkin or LGF but include the Democratic Underground with is a bulletin board and not even a blog.


This has prompted Jeff Jarvis to look into how bad the bias is.

GOOGLE NEWS' COVERAGE PROBLEMS: In response to concerns about Google News' inclusion of Nazi "news" sites, Jeff Jarvis is asking for examples of sites that Google shouldn't include, but does, and, in a separate post, for examples of sites that Google doesn't include, but should.


Google's actions are not limited to baking the Democrats, collecting damaging data and shaping the news to fit the left's agenda. There are signs that Google has an even more sinister plans. As Michelle Malkin notes:

A reader notes that Google usually changes its logo on holidays such as St. Patrick's Day, World Water Day, and so on. So, he asks, "why no logo for Easter?"


Wow! That's your sinister plan? No. But
this is.

The largest news service in Israel, Ynet, reports that Google has been running advertisements for the recruitment web site of the terrorist group Hamas, that show up when the word “Hamas” is entered in Arabic: Google advertises Hamas.


Fox News has been phenomenally successful as an alternative to the left wing media. Maybe it's time someone created a right wing search engine to take on Google. I'd like some of that IPO.
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Iraq - Baghdad's "Fall From Grace"

Chrenkoff does a great job of fisking this bullshit from the AP's RAWYA RAGEH.

Here's my favorite part.

Rageh's last paragraph, however, really does it for me:

"Even democracy has taken its toll on Baghdad. Posters and banners of candidates running in the landmark Jan. 30 elections -- a collage of mismatching colors -- are still plastered everywhere, tainting roundabouts and walls two months after the vote."

Ah, that messy democracy. Baghdad was so much more orderly and aesthetically pleasing when only the countless pictures of the One Leader were allowed to grace the public spaces.


Got that? "Even democracy has taken its toll on Baghdad" - he actually wrote that. Do you have any doubt whose side the AP is on?
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Mexico - Border Concerns

The BBC are quick to note rising tensions along the US/Mexican border.

Armed with night vision goggles, radios and light aircraft, their quarry are the hundreds of immigrants who each night seek illegally to cross the wire fence separating the US from Mexico.


The BBC also point out American fears.

Founder James Gilchrist describes the Minuteman Project - named after militiamen of the American Revolution - as vital to protect the country from the security threat of uncontrolled immigration.


Those fears are not unfounded. During America's world cup soccer qualifer with Mexico, Americans were treated to this:

The crowd booed the U.S. national anthem and a spattering of fans chanted "Osama! Osama!" before play started, and shortly after Lewis' goal.


How big is the problem?

And for those seeking to join up to six million undocumented Mexican workers already in the US, the crossing is about to get tougher.


I'd say Americans have every right to be worried.
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Terrorists - Looking For An Exit Strategy

While terrorists in Iraq are looking for an exit strategy, terrorists in Afghanistan have found one.

"A Taliban commander Mullah Amanullah surrendered in response to the government's announcement," ministry spokesman Mohammed Zahir Azimi said, adding that he handed over his Kalashnikov rifle on Saturday. Amanullah was deputy to a frontline Taliban commander identified as Jahad Yar.


See? It's not so hard fellas.
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Islam - Who's In Charge?

We are constantly being told that Islam is the religion of peace and that the majority of Muslims are "moderate". Acts of terrorism or any form of extremism practiced are done so by "radical" Muslims.

In this report, the AP let the mask slip a little and we see what main stream media and the politically correct have been denying for some time.

Terrorist attacks by al-Qaida and other militant groups add urgency to the ideological debate, which challenges the long dominance of Saudi Arabia's fundamentalist Wahhabist strain that has used its wealth and influence to mute moderate Islamic voices.


Which prompts Robert Spencer to note:

"Long dominance"? I thought that we were supposed to believe they were a tiny minority of extremists. It's funny how AP can acknowledge so breezily, as if everyone knows it, what the mainstream media and the Administration have been strenuously denying since 9/11: that the jihad terrorists have not "hijacked" the religion, but are in fact the majority view. How did so many hundreds of millions of people get their religion so drastically wrong?


How indeed?
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Democracy - Everybody Wants It

Looks like the images of Iraqis defying the terrorists and voting for democracy has emboldened just about everybody.

MASS MARCH URGES REFORM IN BAHRAIN

MANAMA (Reuters) - Tens of thousands have marched in one of Bahrain’s largest opposition demonstrations to demand democratic reforms in the pro-Western Gulf Arab state.


Democracy Protests in Mongolia

More than one thousand people marched in front of the Mongolian seat of government here demanding more democracy in a protest inspired by the revolt in Kyrgyzstan, witnesses said on Saturday.


Zimbabwe Clergyman Urges Mugabe's Ouster

Police arrested nearly 200 opposition supporters after a rally Sunday in the capital, Harare, the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change said in a statement.


Publius Pundit has a great round up of sources covering the March 31 elections in Zimbabwe.
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UN - Koffi Knew

Roger Simon reports that Annan knows more than he says he does about the UN oil for food scandal.

This blog has new information from sources close to the investigation of the United Nations Oil-for-Food Scandal by Paul Volcker's Independent Inquiry Committee. After some delay, the committee is releasing its preliminary results at noon Tuesday. This report may reveal, among other things, startling information tending to indicate Secretary General Kofi Annan had more knowledge of, or was closer to, his son Kojo's activities with Cotecna - the company whose role in the scandal seems so pervasive - than previously thought.


Read the rest.
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Sunday, March 27, 2005

Islamic Teachers - Killing Jews OK

The (UK) Telegraph reports "Two teachers at an Islamic school in Canada who praised a pupil's essay about killing Jews with hand grenades and machine guns have been suspended for allegedly inciting racial hatred."

But hey, according to Britain's Gordon Brown speaking of Muslims:

The Chancellor said they had contributed to Britain spiritually and economically because Islam was a religion that encouraged fair play, social justice and equality.


What Gordy and many others fail to understand, is that this only applies to male Muslims. Women and all others need not apply.
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Syria - Pressure Mounts

Assad is being out maneuvered everywhere he turns. Yesterday I noted this:

With pressure building from within for Assad of Syria to go, the US is stepping up the outside pressure by moving three aircraft carriers into the Middle East.

In a possibly related move, Austin Bay reports on interesting going ons at Incirlik, Turkey.


Now comes news that the US is already talking to his replacement.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration is stepping up contacts with the Syrian opposition amid concerns that unrest in Lebanon could cause wider instability, administration officials said on Saturday.

Senior U.S. officials involved in Middle East policymaking met in Washington on Thursday with prominent Syrian Americans, including political activists, community leaders, academics and an opposition group.

"White House officials were present," said a White House official who confirmed the meeting took place.

Representatives from other departments, including State and Defense, took part.


The clock is ticking for Assad.
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Iraqi resistance begins to crack

You know it's a good day when the rabid anti-American Guardian is forced to report this.

Intelligence officials believe that ordinary Iraqis are increasingly turning against the militants.

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Saturday, March 26, 2005

Endorsements - More of these please

We all want endorsements but some are just better than others.

WARNING! Not safe for work viewing!

Well, you have to have fun sometimes. :)

Hat tip Tigerhawk
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Iraq - Terrorists Shame

ITRZ reports on just how bad things have gotten for terrorists in Iraq.

Bullets and explosives may kill anti-Iraqi fascists, intelligence may round up and imprison their cells. But the most lethal weapon--the power that corrodes, weakens and will eventually break their morale--is laughter. When the world, especially the Muslim world, ceases to perceive Islamoterrorists with admiration and fear, but with ridicule and contempt, the ability of the reactionaries to inspire, recruit and execute plans--and people--will diminish and fade, like a desert wind.

And so it is with much curiosity and hope that we read this article by Steve Negus and Dhiya Rasan in yesterday's Financial Times. The headline and first few grafs say it all:

Television helps break mystique of holy warrior

Say the word mujahid--or holy warrior--these days and many inhabitants of Baghdad are likely to snigger.


Read the rest at In the Red Zone to find out why.
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Britain - Courting The Muslim Vote

How low will labor stoop to court the Muslim vote? This low.


Gordon Brown last night paid tribute to British Muslims as "modern heroes" who brought hope and idealism to the country.


Now I could be tempted here to produce any number of examples to prove Brown wrong but some would simply say I'm using extremists as examples and they don't represent so called "moderate" Muslims. So I'll do better than that - much better.

The Muslim Council of Britain is considered "the" moderate voice of Muslims in Britain. Here is what their leader, Iqbal Sacranie, recently had to say about Muslim terrorists.


'There is no such thing as an Islamic terrorist. This is deeply offensive.


Sacranie is at a loss to explain how all terrorists so far have all been Muslims.

Brown continues his pandering for Muslim votes.


The Chancellor said they had contributed to Britain spiritually and economically because Islam was a religion that encouraged fair play, social justice and equality.


Well, golly gee Gordon, could you please tell us why women can't vote or drive a car in Saudi Arabia? Surely Saudi Arabia is considered "moderate" Islam, isn't it? If you believe that Gordon, then perhaps you can explain the hate being taught against the "infidels" by the Saudis.

In the Red Zone has more "from the Center for Religious Freedom's absolutely essential report...

"To be disassociated from the infidels is to hate them for their religion, to leave them, to never rely on them for support, not to admire them, to be on one's guard against them, never imitate them, and to always oppose them in every way according to Islamic law.

-- literature found by the Center for Religious Freedom's researchers at the the Saudi Arabian-supported Islamic Center of Washington, D.C. (For a pdf-formatted version of this eye-opening report, go here; for an executive summary, here.)


Pandering for Muslim votes is one thing but old Gordy has bought into the whole Muslim psycobable and is busy converting Britain to Islamic or Sharia Law. Don't believe me? Take a look at this:

The UK has already begun to adopt Sharia Laws.

Gordon Brown, the chancellor, has already made one significant concession to adapt to the dictates of sharia. In the 2003 Finance Act he spared Muslims from paying stamp duty twice on their properties when they took out “Islamic mortgages” that complied with the sharia ban on paying interest.

More Sharia laws are planned here in the UK.

THE Inland Revenue is considering recognising polygamy for some religious groups for tax purposes. Officials have agreed to examine “family friendly” representations from Muslims who take up to four wives under sharia, the laws derived from the Koran.

Just think, this guy might just well be the next prime minister after Blair. Buy your turbans and burkas now.

UPDATE

Via the Adventuress

Gordy might do well to read this report from Human Rights Watch.

Women migrants, like their Saudi counterparts, face a system of Islamic jurisprudence under which women’s testimony carries half the weight of the testimony of men. Victims of sexual violence, including rape, have little prospect of holding their assailants accountable in shari’a courts.


Erm, excuse me Gordy, but what was that you were saying about "social justice and equality"?
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Turkey - Military Moves

With pressure building from within for Assad of Syria to go, the US is stepping up the outside pressure by moving three aircraft carriers into the Middle East.

In a possibly related move, Austin Bay reports on interesting going ons at Incirlik, Turkey.

The huge NATO airbase complex at Incirlik, Turkey, played a key role in the Cold War, in the Persian Gulf War, and in enforcing the northern “no-fly zone” against Saddam.

Now it’s being prepared to provide logistical support for potential “operations” to the east. The article says Afghanistan and Iraq. But other nations may read this quote from Defense News in different ways– peacekeeping requires logistical support (eg, the UN faces a huge logistics burden when it deploys 10,000 peacekeepers to Sudan later this year). Iran will read it as a building military threat. Kyrgyzstan may see it as either a peacekeeping lifeline– or the launchpad for western troops. Syria is only “slightly east” of Adana (more south, actually).


How much longer can Assad survive?
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Iran - Demonstrations

There are reports of demonstrations in Iran.

Reports are coming in of demonstrations taking place all over Iran (Tehran, Esfhan, Tabriz, Abadan, and others) against the regime, using the soccer victory over Japan as an excuse to go into the streets. The victory is an excuse for people to go into the streets. The people can claim the are celebrating their victory while those in their midst demonstrate against the regime.

The reports say that the demonstrations are dispersed in neighborhoods all across Iran. The streets are being jammed with traffic and thousands are gathering in the center of each of these demonstrations. These traffics jams are apparently protecting the demonstrators. The reports further state that those in the center of these demonstrations can be heard making statements against the regime. In a new development, there are calls for "armed resistance" and some are raising guns (a capital offense against the regime).


Time may be running out for the mad mullahs too.
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Iraq - The Dominoes Are Falling

Hedieh Mirahmadi writes that Iraq was the first dominoe to fall with Lebanon next.

From the energy in the air, it is obvious that Lebanon and the whole of the Arab world are at a turning point, presented with a singular opportunity that would have seemed impossible only years before. Rather than revolution by bloody coup or an external plot for regime change, there is a peaceful, grassroots coalition for independence clamoring for change. And their lineage, their boldness, can be clearly drawn from the democratic transformation of Iraq.

The outcome of the recent Iraqi elections proved the integrity of American intentions in the region; this has been evidenced throughout the region by a decline of vocal anti-Americanism. For the first time in many years, policy discussions do not focus around "horrible U.S. foreign policy against Muslims," but have turned instead to hope for the future, and American support for those dreams. Who would imagine one could find posters, in downtown Beirut, with the picture of President Bush in between the American and Lebanese flags?


Now, I wonder why we don't see those pictures on the BBC? After all, the BBC are quick to show anyone anywhere burning an American flag.

Who's next? Syria or Iran?
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Syria - Time Up For Assad?

The UN is pointing the finger directly at Assad for the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri.

UNITED NATIONS, March 24 -- Syrian President Bashar Assad threatened former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri with "physical harm" last summer if Hariri challenged Assad's dominance over Lebanese political life, contributing to a climate of violence that led to the Feb. 14 slayings of Hariri and 19 others, according to testimony in a report released Thursday by a U.N. fact-finding team.


Now Assad is being openly criticized in the press.

Except the author of this piece is not Lebanese, but Syrian, writing - at serious risk - from Damascus. Signing himself as Hakam al-Baba, this journalist goes on to identify himself as someone who has worked for the past 20 years for a Syrian state newspaper, Tishrin. And like the Lebanese who for the past five weeks have been tearing down posters of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, Mr. al-Baba of Damascus is saying he has had enough.

In biting metaphor and with blunt fury, he describes how, under 42 years of Baathist rule, Syria's media has performed as a tin pot press. Reporters and editors have been required to stage Orwellian stunts in which the cruelties and depravities of the Baath Party are described as glorious deeds, in which "their corruption is turned into achievements, and their profligacy into profits." Mr. al-Baba reminds his audience of the days before Baathist tyranny, when Syria had hundreds of lively magazines and newspapers instead of a few orchestrated, official ones. He calls for a press in Syria that would be free to "learn and make mistakes, get it right, fail and succeed" and write the truth instead of trumpeting on cue the party line.


On the ground in Damascus, Syrian blogger Ammar reports on his interrogation and the growing signs of stress from the regime.

For ours is not simply a system where the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing, it is a system where the thumb, or the middle finger if you like, does know what the other fingers of the selfsame hand are doing. And so it goes. In order to assure yourself that you have true deniability, you have to grant too much autonomy to the worst most ignorant and sadistic elements in the system.

Yes. Yes. These days are coming back, just when we thought and hoped they were gone never to come back. Few of us might end up going first to this cross, but all shall soon follow. It does not take a prophet to predict this.

No. This is not a comforting thought. Nothing about this is comforting. Comfort has no place here. But then, when the noose tightens, comfort is not exactly what’s at stake.


Will the recent uprising in Lebanon and now the revolt in Kyrgyzstan inspire the Syrians to rise up and overthrow Assad?
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Iraq - exit strategy

Look who wants out now.

Many of Iraq's predominantly Sunni Arab insurgents would lay down their arms and join the political process in exchange for guarantees of their safety and that of their co-religionists, according to a prominent Sunni politician.

Sharif Ali Bin al-Hussein, who heads Iraq's main monarchist movement and is in contact with guerrilla leaders, said many insurgents including former officials of the ruling Ba'ath party, army officers, and Islamists have been searching for a way to end their campaign against US troops and Iraqi government forces since the January 30 election.


The Democrats and the left have been calling for an exit strategy for years now. Somehow, I don't think this is what they had in mind.
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Blogversary

Today is the first anniversary of USS Neverdock! Was it luck or fate that I started blogging in the year that bloggers became a force of their own? Dan Rather and Eason Jordon brought down and the biggest prize of all, John Kerry defeated, were just some of this years high points.

When I started a year ago today, my main goal was to expose the bias of the BBC. Little did I know how biased most of the media are. Thankfully, I have had some small success in getting the BBC to retract or amend some reports. Still, the damage was done and the BBC show little chance of changing - for now.

Here's to the next year!
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Friday, March 25, 2005

Iraq Workers Protest Terrorists Attacks

More signs that the tide has turned against the terrorists in Iraq.
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Lite Blogging

Slowly getting back to normal. The flu is fading but now I've got a chest infection. Sigh. What next?

I'll blog when I can.
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Thursday, March 24, 2005

Google - Blogsphere's Next Victim?

I've posted before about Google's bias towards the left. More proof here.

Things seem to be heating up with Roger Simon leading the way and dropping Google Ads. That's the ticket - hit'em where it hurts - in the wallet.

From Instapundit:

GOOGLE NEWS' COVERAGE PROBLEMS: In response to concerns about Google News' inclusion of Nazi "news" sites, Jeff Jarvis is asking for examples of sites that Google shouldn't include, but does, and, in a separate post, for examples of sites that Google doesn't include, but should.

UPDATE: Roger Simon is renouncing Google Ads.
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UN Scandal Continues

The New York Sun reports "After All Its Denials, U.N. Admits It Paid Oil-for-Food Program Aide's Legal Fees "

And The Financial Times reports "Annan son received $300,000 in payments"
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Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Iraq - Killing Terrorists

The tide has indeed turned in Iraq. Terrorists are being killed or captured by the score.

At least 80 insurgents have been killed by Iraqi special forces backed by US troops in a raid on a training camp near the city of Tikrit, officials say.

An Iraqi commando unit engaged in heavy fighting before seizing control of the camp, 160km (100 miles) north-west of Baghdad, on Tuesday.

Iraqi officials confirmed that at least seven Iraqi commandos died, alongside insurgents from a number of countries.

Correspondents say it is the heaviest blow to the insurgency in months.


Not a good sign when you see the phrase "correspondents say". The BBC is admitting it is relying on others for their reporting on Iraq. Wonder why and why they don't give credit to the correspondents involved?

In a separate operation on Tuesday in the northern city of Mosul, the US military said, 70 suspected insurgents were arrested by Iraqi forces.

Well, at least the Beeb are giving credit to the Iraqi forces.

Earlier this week, US troops killed up to 26 insurgents after an ambush south of Baghdad.

176 terrorists killed or captured. Nice work!

Also in the capital, witnesses said shopkeepers fought a gun battle with insurgents on Tuesday, killing three of them.

Correspondents say the incident is the first time private citizens are known to have retaliated successfully against insurgents.


There's that phrase again. Maybe the Beeb is using it to give cover for their errors. This is not "the first time private citizens are known to have retaliated successfully against" terrorists.

Here are a few examples.

In the stories of "community policing": "A group of Huriyah citizens captured four terrorists who were responsible for ambushes against security forces in Iraq along Highway 6. They kept hold of them Special Police Commandos could pick them up... Residents gathered outside to greet the commandos with applause. An announcement from the Mosque loudspeakers welcomed the arrival of the Iraqi Police." In one day of recent operations, Iraqi citizens led the troops to a roadside bomb north of Ar Ramadi, and to two weapons caches in Fallujah. Elsewhere, "opposition to the insurgency apparently boiled over into bloodshed yesterday 25 miles south of Baghdad as the townsmen of Wihda attacked militants thought to be planning a raid on the town and killed seven.

UPDATE

After I emailed the BBC and pointed out that this is not "the first time private citizens are known to have retaliated successfully against" terrorists, low and behold, the BBC stealth edited out that part. Isn't technology wonderful?
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Thank You

Thanks for visiting. Sometime over the last 3 days that I've been in bed with the flu, my visitor count went over 50,000 visitors. Thanks to all who visit and I hope to be back blogging soon.

Thank you.
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Lite Blogging

Sorry for the lite blogging lately. Bad case of the flu and I've been in bed for the last 3 days. Back as soon as I can.
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Sunday, March 20, 2005

Iraq - Message To anti-War People

Go to hell. That's from me. Here is what Iraqis think of you.

TWO YEARS LATER, WAS THE IRAQ WAR WORTH IT? Iraqi blogger Husayn Uthman writes:

So you ask me, Husayn, was it worth it. What have you gotten? What has Iraq acheived? These are questions I get a lot.

To may outsiders, like those who protested last year, who will protest today. This was a fools errand, it brought nothing but death and destruction. I am sheltered in Iraq, but I know how the world feels, how people have come to either love or hate Bush, as though heis the emobdiement of this war. As though this war is part of Bush, they forget the over twenty million Iraqis, they forget the Middle Easterners, they forget the average person on the street, the average man with the average dream.

Ask him if it was worth it. Ask him what is different. Ask him if he would go through it again, go ahead ask him, ask me, many of you have.

Now I answer you, I answer you on behalf of myself, and my countrymen. I dont care what your news tells you, what your television and newspapers say, this is how we feel. Despite all that has happened. Despite all the hurt, the pain, blood, sweat and tears. These two years have given us hope we never had.


Egyptian blogger Big Pharaoh comments: "I believe it should be published in newspapers worldwide. Reading about Husayn's feeling is special because he lost his cousin in the Hilla terrorist bombing."

UPDATE: Meanwhile, this antiwar protest in Rhode Island gets a rather negative review from American blogger Kelli Sorrells. And don't miss this report from Dean Esmay, either.

The next time you meet an anti-war person and they start to spout off their spiel, tell them to go straight to hell and that you support freedom for all mankind.
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Islam - Battle of Britain Part Two

Before reading this post from Jihad Watch, you might want to refresh yourself with Islam's War Plan which includes, "...nearly impenetrable barriers of kinship, language and religion."

The MI6 man leaned toward me and in a conspiratorial manner, whispered: "Because our Muslims can't be trusted, that's why. Their first loyalty is to Islam, not to Britain. It's the same in the US."

My host concurred: "Islam poses such a powerful bond over its fellow believers that the problem of recruiting Muslim undercover agents is acute. Walk into a Muslim neighborhood and begin making inquiries about terrorists and you will hit a wall of silence."

Grimly, as if infected with an existential angst, Sir Charles brooded: "We've never had a security problem like this in England before. And it's getting bigger all the time."


The post concludes with this but be sure to read the whole thing.

Sir Herbert, his long aristocratic nose white with resentment, blew out his cheeks and exclaimed, "This is the Battle of Britain Part Two, and it's more insidious than the last. Think about it: western civilization has been locked in an historic war with Islam now for 1,000 years. We had thought we had settled it for good in our favor, thanks to our technological superiority. But look what's going on now. All our modern gadgetry is impotent in face of their fanaticism. So, by George, yes - the MI6 and the CIA could do with a strong infusion of Mossad and Shin Bet savvy. Do me a favor and tell your people that when you get back home."

Unfortunately, due to political corrects almost no one wants to admit this openly.
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Iraq - Terrorists Attacks Falling

The Belgravia Dispatch notes the New York Times buried the good news coming out of Iraq.

The top Marine officer in Iraq said Friday that the number of attacks against American troops in Sunni-dominated western Iraq and death tolls had dropped sharply over the last four months, a development that he called evidence that the insurgency was weakening in one of the most violent areas of the country.

The Dispatch notes this at the end of his post:

P.S. You might have thought the linked New York Times piece would be front page news. It wasn't, alas, as I found out whilst thumbing through the paper edition today. Imagine the placement of the story if the insurgency had worsened since the elections. Much more prominent, one suspects, eh?
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Iraq - Lancet 100,000 Dead Claim False

Instapundit has more on the debunking of the Lancet's report that over 100,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed by coalition forces.

Here is the original debunking by Slate.

Despite the total discrediting of the Lancet report, the left wing media continue to report it as fact.

I like this Instapundit comment:

Are we honestly to believe that twice as many non-combatants have died as a result of the liberation of Iraq as were American combatants in 8 years of VietNam? In a war designed and fought to minimize civilian casualties with things like GPS guided bombs?

Readers, where ever you see the Lancet report cited, write to the offending media and demand a retraction. Let them know you're fed up being lied to. Links to various media complaints departments are on the top left of my blogroll.
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Terrorists Rounded Up

Here is a good round up of terrorist captures around the world.

I liked this one in particular.

Taking Back Iraq's Streets-On patrol and training with Iraq's new Counter Terrorism force (Excerpted)By CHRISTOPHER ALLBRITTON

Eyes peering through slits in black masks, the commandos creep up the floors of the Baghdad apartment building, ready to pounce. Their target is Omar Tamimi, an insurgent believed to have carried out the January assassination of the governor of Baghdad province. Until recently, the responsibility for such high-profile operations has been shouldered by teams of elite U.S. troops. But on this night, the American commandos are playing a support role to members of the new Iraqi army's Counter Terrorism Task Force, a unit the U.S. is training to take on more counterinsurgent dirty work. The early stages of the operation unfold smoothly. One team of troops stops on the second floor, the other continues to the third, where they place explosive charges against a thin wooden apartment door. Two booms in quick succession echo in the concrete stairwell. The doors shatter inward in a storm of wooden splinters, and the Iraqi and American troops, identically outfitted with US-made M4 carbines, night-vision goggles, boots, uniforms and body armor, burst in.

Inside the troops find children and three women, one of them elderly, cowering on the floor. The Iraqi forces search the apartment and find three men. They turn up Tamimi's identification papers, but not the target himself. After cuffing the adults—including the women—with plastic ties, the Iraqi commander grills them about Tamimi, but gets nowhere. Then an Iraqi officer begins chatting with the children; before long one of them reveals that Tamimi had been in the apartment moments before the troops rushed in. "He's still here," the officer tells the Americans. Soon a Green Beret is heard yelling and laughing in the kitchen. Under the sink he'd kicked a thin wall. Behind it was Tamimi, a thin sketch of a man, curled into a ball.


Excellent!
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Irish terror groups 'to hit London'

The Observer reports "Police have issued a stark warning that mainland Britain faces a 'substantial threat' of an Irish republican bombing campaign, The Observer can reveal. "

The chilling note, seen by The Observer, states: 'Reporting indicates that dissident Irish republican terrorists are currently planning to mount attacks on the UK mainland.'

It goes on to explain that methods used by dissident groups in Northern Ireland could be transferred to Britain. These include 'incendiary and improved explosive devices' used in recent republican campaigns, 'postal devices' and 'shooting attacks'. The police warning adds that hoax calls have also been made 'to amplify the disruptive effect of such attacks'. The level of the threat is now said to be 'substantial', just one stage below the 'severe general' threat from al-Qaeda.

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Iraq anti-War Protest Fizzles

The New York Times reports on the failing anti-war movement. They used to attract millions but with the successes in Afghanistan and Iraq coupled with the Palestinian elections and Lebanese uprising, the world has turned against the anti-war movement. About time.

LONDON (AP) -- Tens of thousands of anti-war protesters demonstrated across Europe on Saturday to mark the second anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, with 45,000 Britons marching from London's Hyde Park past the American Embassy to Trafalgar Square.

I think it's telling that all the major news outlets are using this one AP report for their story; with one notable exception - The BBC. The BBC doesn't report on the failed marches at all. The only thing on their website is a slideshow with a few protesters comments with one of the organizers claiming that 150,000 protesters showed up. The London police put the figure at 45,000 but it looked a lot less. I guess the BBC didn't want to report on the failure of their left wing buddies.

What really stands out in this report is what's missing from it. Did you notice that in this one AP report that all major outlets are using, that there is absolutely no mention of protest numbers in America? Why? After all, the whole point of the protest is to attack the great Satan - America - isn't it?

Here's why they don't report the numbers from America:

Two years after the American-led invasion of Iraq, relatively small crowds of demonstrators - the home guard of the anti-war movement - mobilized yesterday in New York, San Francisco and cities and towns across the nation to condemn the war and demand the withdrawal of allied forces. [...]

The American crowds ranged from about 350 in Times Square to several thousand in San Francisco. And in contrast to the vociferous rage of demonstrations two years ago, yesterday's protests were mostly somber and low-key, with marchers carrying cardboard coffins in silence to the beat of funereal drums, with rally speakers alluding often to the war dead and subdued crowds keeping behind police barriers.


It's taken over 30 years to defeat these moonbats but thanks to Bush and with the aid of bloggers, the communist led anti-war movement is finally dead. Good riddance to bad rubbish!
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Saturday, March 19, 2005

Iraq Protests Organized By Communists

The BBC in its anti-American zeal is quite happy to report on and quote organizers of planned anti-war protests. What the BBC doesn't tell you is that these protests are organized by the Communist Party.

Convenor Lindsey German said: "The nomination of Wolfowitz, the man who is recognised as chief architect of war with Iraq, will outrage most decent people."

Besides disgraced George Galloway's RESPECT London mayoral candidate, who is Lindsey German? A communist.

Members of the coalition, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and the Muslim Association of Britain are expected to speak at the rally.

Kate Hudson, of CND, said: "We will be marching because we reject warmongering foreign policy as well attacks on our civil liberties at home.


Kate Hudson is vice chair of The Communist University.

Meanwhile, MP George Galloway, another speaker, said there was still much opposition to involvement in Iraq.

One of Galloway's more famous statements is this:

"Yes, I did support the Soviet Union, and I think the disappearance of the Soviet Union is the biggest catastrophe of my life."

Scott Burgess has a good round up of quotes from these moonbats.

Bring back the Taliban:

But what if a U.S. withdrawal means the return of the Taliban and Saddam Hussein?

"Anything would be better than American Imperialist rule," she [a Stop the War Spokesperson] snapped back.

Bring Back the Soviet Union:

the disappearance of the Soviet Union is the biggest catastrophe of my life. (Galloway)

Bring Back Saddam Hussein, and March on Jerusalem:

Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability. And I want you to know we are with you until victory, until Jerusalem.(Galloway, to Saddam Hussein)

[Galloway has tried to backtrack and claim he was talking to the Iraqi people. Sound that way to you?]

Give Communism another chance:

I don’t think communism failed (Comrade Bob Crow, trade unionist and Monbiot associate)

Stand in Solidarity with North Korea:

Our Party has already made its basic position of solidarity with People[']s Korea clear(Andrew Murray, chair of the Stop the War Coalition, and Politburo member, Communist Party of Britain)

See suicide bombers as the 'only option' for Palestinians:

"Many people criticise these operations but the Palestinians have no other option," (Dr Azzam Tamimi of the Muslim Association of Britain)


The BBC should be ashamed of itself for being a mouthpiece for these communists and terrorists sympathizers.

Instapundit has some suggestions for these moonbats.

WAR CRITICS want to mark the anniversary of the war -- there will be an "antiwar protest" at my local mall tomorrow and there are all sorts of events planned worldwide -- but a proper way of marking the date would be with a mass apology to the Iraqi people, and to George W. Bush, for taking the wrong side at a crucial moment in history.

Sackcloth, ashes, and signs reading: WE WERE WRONG, SORRY WE TRIED TO BLOCK ARAB DEMOCRACY, and WRONG ABOUT AFGHANISTAN, WRONG ABOUT IRAQ -- DON'T LISTEN TO US NEXT TIME would be appropriate.

I'm not expecting that. But at least some people are marking the occasion in suitable fashion. It may be premature to gloat, but it's not premature to point out the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of the "peace" movement, which has been apparent since the very beginning.


The protests in America are organized by communists as well.

As I said in that post:

March away you moonbats! Shout! Scream at the top of your voice! Wave anti-American banners! Denounce all the great changes that are happening around the world. Tell the Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Saudis, Egyptians and Lebanese you want things to go back to the way they were! Go on, shout it loud and clear! The world deserves to see the moonbats in full regalia and then they will know that, truly, the emperor has no clothes.

Anyone who attends these protest should be ashamed of themselves.
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Iraq death policy 'irresponsible'

The BBC and many others, continue reporting on the now much descredited Lancet report.
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Agence France Presse Sues Google

Ruters is reporting "Agence France Presse has sued Google Inc. (GOOG), alleging the Web search leader includes AFP's photos, news headlines and stories on its news site without permission."

What does this mean for bloggers?
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Friday, March 18, 2005

Islam - Deporting The Holy Men Of Hate

Jihad Watch reports on the pending deportation of Fawaz Damra, the imam of Ohio's largest mosque.

Damra's attorneys said their client was never a member of the Islamic Jihad. They said that prosecutors' use of "affiliation" was ambiguous. His attorneys also said he never persecuted anyone.

Citing videotapes played at the trial in which Damra wailed about the need to give money to kill Jews, the unanimous three-judge panel disagreed....

The court also upheld the use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act involving secretly taped calls Damra made to Sami Al-Arian, who prosecutors say is a leader in the Islamic Jihad. The calls concerned Damra's attempts to launder money with the help of a former mosque leader, Dr. Azzam Ahmed, for Al-Arian, according to court records....


Seems Holland, France, Italy and others are fed up with the Holy Men Of Hate.

When is Britain going to take some action and deport these evil people? Oh, that's right. Britain will not deport these men of hate to countries where they may face the death penalty even though these people openly call for war on Britain.
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Jihadists launch online fund-raiser

Jihad Watch notes terrorists have launched an online fund raiser. Maybe shutting down all those fake charities is starting to bite.

I'll use their template to create an online anti-jihad fund raiser.

The anti-Jihad Donation Campaign

My generous brothers, we call upon you join in the anti-jihad in the anti-jihad donations campaign; do not deprive yourself of the price and the reward

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

The anti-Jihad Donation Campaign

You, my brothers:

From each of us according to what we can give in support of this blessed uprising. Each of us he contributes what he can from his salary for its support. We have started this fund-raising campaign for our brothers, the pajamahideen of the world, and all money raised will be required to be used for anti-Jihad. For Allah above said: "fight hard in Allah's name with your money and your work" Qu'ran, Surah: The Repentence, Verse 41. Each of us must exert ourselves to give what we can so that we can encourage our brothers to give what they do....


The PayPal tip jar is on the top left of the blog.
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Blog Roll Changes

I've made the following changes to the blog roll:

Created a new category - "Jihad Watchers"

Deleted some blogs that are no longer active

Added some new blogs
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Iraq - Germany's Shame

Medienkritik reports on a must read article in Germany's SPIEGEL ONLINE.

Terminator? Demokrator!

By Claus Christian Malzahn

Iraq, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon: The virus of democracy is running rampant in the Middle East. German foreign policy must finally react to this joyous turnaround and look the fact in the eye that, in fact, freedom and democracy sometimes are brought with fire and sword.

[Which is the opposite of what you usually hear, namely that democracy can't be brought about by the barrel of a gun]

Berlin – George W. Bush – the man knows what he is talking about – once compared Germany’s abstinence from the Iraq war with the behavior of a dry alcoholic: For them a glass of beer is already one glass too many. War as a political means became taboo for the German Federal Republic after the Wehrmacht and SS left Europe in rubble and ash, murdered nearly all European Jews and struck a swath of death through the Soviet Union. At the moment, Germany is virtually sinking in a flood of memories of the Second World War; Almost every day 60 years ago is relived once again through the media. No other nation in Europe is so obsessed with history as the Germans. The fascination with “downfall” is nearly boundless.

But this flood of pictures and avalanche of history bury some important realizations that still possess validity even today. The Nazi rule was also not ended by sit-ins in front of the Führer headquarters. Hitler’s total war machine was fought to defeat at the greatest military and civilian sacrifice on the part of the Russians, Americans and British. We Germans were brought democracy carried into our land by bombs and grenades. It would not have worked otherwise, because the Germans did not want it otherwise. Many believed in their Führer to the very end, and the first steps of re-education back then were not motivated by social workers, but instead ordered by the US Army.


A must read article.
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Bush - Media Tried To Influence Election

Medienkritik takes a look at Germany's spin on how the media report on George Bush.

Here is what the report concluded:

The study found that in the critical period leading up to the 2004 election, television network news' reporting was overwhelmingly biased against President Bush:

"In the closing weeks of the 2004 presidential race, the period dominated by the debates, President George W. Bush has suffered strikingly more negative press coverage than challenger John Kerry, according to a new study released today by the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

More than half of all Bush stories studied were decidedly negative in tone (1). By contrast, only a quarter of all Kerry stories were clearly negative. (...)

Stories primarily about the President were more than three times as likely to be negative than were stories mostly about Kerry (52% Bush versus 17% Kerry).

Negative Bush stories also outweighed positive ones. Only 15% of Bush stories on TV cast him in a clearly positive light. The largest number, 33%, were neutral.

Kerry fared far better. Indeed, his coverage was more than twice as likely to be positive during this period as negative. Fully 57% of stories primarily about Kerry were positive and another 26% were neutral.

Most of the network TV stories were not solely about Bush or Kerry but discussed both candidates. While these stories tended to be more neutral than stories about primarily one candidate or the other, even here there was a pattern of Kerry coming out better. In all, 11% of these stories were clearly negative about Bush, versus 4% for Kerry. Likewise, 16% were positive about Kerry, versus just 7% about Bush."


And still Bush won.

All this helps explain why Trust in journalism has hit all-time low.

UPDATE

Commenter Dan points us to this BBC poll.

Voters 'don't trust politicians'

Yes and readers don't trust jounalists. Which explains the rise of the blogsphere.

What's worse is that the media lie about the lying.
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Islam - BBC Defends Terrorist - Again!

Last Night's BBC News catches the BBC's, "I cried for Arafat", Barbara Plett, defending Islamic terrorists - again!

So I'm watching the Ten O'Clock News when I hear Huw Edwards say: "Barbara Plett has sent this report from Beirut." BARBARA PLETT! Wasn't she sacked last year for proudly announcing to the world that she cried when Yasser Arafat was being airlifted from his Ramallah compound? Apparently not. Apparently BBC journalists can say pretty much anything in favour of Arab terrorists and keep their jobs. Was Middle East correspondent Fayad Abu Shamala fired after telling a Hamas rally that the BBC was standing "shoulder-to-shoulder" with the Palestinian people in their struggle against Israel? Hell, no!

It takes Ms Plett exactly one sentence to show her bias. She begins: "Lebanese are still demonstrating against the Syrian presence in their country." PRESENCE? Has this euphemism for occupation ever been applied to Israeli forces on the West Bank or US troops in Iraq?


No.

Read the rest.
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Islam Owes Christianity An Apology

Oh brother! Where to start with this one? Let's start with Tigerhawk.

Sheikh Fawzi Zafzaf, President of the Interfaith Dialogue Committee of Al-Azhar, said during a press conference that his committee has sent a request to the Pope last February, demanding an official apology on Christian crusades against the Muslim world, following the example of the Jews.

Christians owe a debt to Jews that no apology can expunge. Christians owe no such apology to Muslims. The Crusades were a counterattack, and barely a pinprick in a thousand years of Muslim ascendancy against Christiandom. Neither the Crusades nor Christianity's tolerance of science, technology, industry and trade is a reason to apologize to Muslims. The whole idea is offensive.


Next LGF weighs in.

Egypt’s Al-Azhar University, the highest Sunni Muslim institution in the world (where the Grand Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi has gone on record many times praising suicide bombers, and where the Islamic Ruling Committee has called for Islamic nations to acquire nuclear weapons), now demands an apology from the Pope—for the Crusades.

Next up NRO.

Now put this down in your notebook, because it will be on the test: The crusades were in every way a defensive war. They were the West's belated response to the Muslim conquest of fully two-thirds of the Christian world. While the Arabs were busy in the seventh through the tenth centuries winning an opulent and sophisticated empire, Europe was defending itself against outside invaders and then digging out from the mess they left behind. Only in the eleventh century were Europeans able to take much notice of the East. The event that led to the crusades was the Turkish conquest of most of Christian Asia Minor (modern Turkey). The Christian emperor in Constantinople, faced with the loss of half of his empire, appealed for help to the rude but energetic Europeans. He got it. More than he wanted, in fact.

Indeed, we are once again engaged in "the West's belated response to the Muslim" crusades.

In Germany:

Is Europe giving way to blackmail? The question was raised in Germany last month by an article in Die Welt, the country's most heavyweight paper, by Mathias Dúpfner, head of the big Axel Springer publishing group. He titled it Europe — Thy Name Is Cowardice. He said that a crusade is under way "by fanatic Muslims, focused on civilians, directed against our free, open western societies" that is set upon the "utter destruction" of western civilisation. This enemy, he said, was spurred on by "tolerance" and "accommodation", which were taken as signs of weakness. Europe's supine response, he said, was on a par with the appeasement of Hitler.

In Britain:

Some radical Muslims in Britain are openly declaring war on their host country.

9/11, 3/11 and Bali were all part the current crusade being waged by Muslims.

On the Internet:

But is anywhere safe? Internet Haganah reports that increasingly radical Muslims are using the internet to hunt down Christians. On a free website at a datacenter in New York, on a server operated by a company in Quebec, we have found evidence that Islamists continue to gather information in an effort to hunt down Christians who participate in online chatrooms (presumably at PalTalk).

And all accross Europe Al Qaeda tightens its grip. Since 9/11 between 20 to 30 Muslim terrorists attacks have been foiled.

Muslims spread their hate from their mosques.

In the Red Zone has more "from the Center for Religious Freedom's absolutely essential report...

"To be disassociated from the infidels is to hate them for their religion, to leave them, to never rely on them for support, not to admire them, to be on one's guard against them, never imitate them, and to always oppose them in every way according to Islamic law.


-- literature found by the Center for Religious Freedom's researchers at the the Saudi Arabian-supported Islamic Center of Washington, D.C. (For a pdf-formatted version of this eye-opening report, go here; for an executive summary, here.)

In Holland:

Muslims threaten to kill politicians who criticize Islam.

Twelve Muslims arrested in Holland have been accused of threatening to kill prominent politicians critical of Islam.

The arrests followed the murder of a Dutch film director who made a movie that criticised the religion.

Prosecutors, speaking at a pre-trial hearing of the men, said last year's arrests had foiled further attacks.


Apology my ass! It's high time the west woke up to the Muslim crusade that is once again being waged against us and defeat it yet again. Thankfully, one man in the west is doing just that. George Bush.
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Hezbollah - EU blocks Hezbollah TV

This is good news.

The announcement came at a meeting of European Union broadcasting regulators in Brussels, where national watchdogs from the 25-nation bloc agreed to step up action against TV broadcasts which incite hatred or promote racism and xenophobia.

They may want to take a look at The Case Against The BBC.
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Lebanon - Syria Did It

According to The Times (UK) Syria killed Rafik Hariri.

An investigation by The Times finds clear evidence that Syria assassinated Rafik Hariri, the Lebanese politician.
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UN - Oil For Food Scandal Deepens

CNN reports "A former United Nations monitor of the organization's oil-for-food program in Iraq told a congressional committee Thursday that the program had "gaping holes" and that large amounts of aid never reached the Iraqi people."

Rehan Mullick testified that by his estimate more than 20 percent of the shipments to Iraq, worth $1 billion a year, were not distributed properly, with many goods pilfered by the Iraqi military.
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Thursday, March 17, 2005

Iraq - Who To Thank

As Tim Blair reports, some would rather give credit for the success in Iraq to anyone but Bush. That includes the Sydney Morning Herald’s Paul McGeough. You might remember him as the guy who created the fable that Iraqi PM Allawi personally shot some Iraqi prisoners with no proof and no corroboration.

Now, thanks to September 11 and the much-maligned Al-Jazeera and the other new Arab TV channels, the region is transfixed by the fact that there was an election in Iraq. Others want some of what the Iraqis are having, but only time will tell if it is a step towards their future or their past.

No thanks to the brave Iraqi troops and National Guard who helped make the election the success that it was. No thanks to the brave Iraqis who defied the terrorists and voted. No thanks to Bush, America and American troops.

The SMH should be ashamed to keep McGeough on the payroll.

And the media wonder why Trust in journalism has hit all-time low.
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Islam - No Special Privileges

Daniel Pipes says "Offer full rights – but turn down demands for special privileges." I agree.

He goes on to give a few examples of special privileges that should be denied.

Setting up a government advisory board uniquely for Muslims in America.

Permitting Muslim-only living quarters or events in America and Great Britain.

Setting aside bathing at a municipal swimming pool for women-only, as in France.

Banning Hindus and Jews from a jury hearing a case about an Islamist in Great Britain.

Changing noise laws to broadcast the adhan, or call to prayer, in Hamtramck, Mich.

Allowing a prisoner the unheard-of right to avoid strip-searches in New York State.
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Iraq - Kidnappings Continue

Want to know why? Because countries like the Philippines, Italy and now Spain keep paying ransom. Hey, if it works once, keep doing it until it no longer works.

Now let's see, how many innocent men, women and children are going to be killed and maimed by the bombs and bullets all this ransom money will buy?
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Iraq - US Troop Cuts This Year?

According to this report, maybe.

The annual U.S. force rotation for "Operation Iraqi Freedom 3" is already beginning and Cody said that troops sent into the rotation in the coming year are likely to be smaller in number than the soldiers coming out of the country.

There are 150,000 American troops in Iraq -- most of them Army soldiers -- but the number will go down to 138,000 before the end of this month. The force was increased by 12,000 in December to provide security for the Iraqi elections in January.

But U.S. defense officials have said the number will likely begin falling below 138,000 as the Iraqi army and security forces are trained to take over security in the country.

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Trust in journalism has hit all-time low

So says a report published by the Project for Excellence in Journalism. The report gives some shocking figures but the reasons given for the decline miss the mark.

Published by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, the report showed that in the past 17 years, the public has come to see the press as self-serving and discreditable. The number of those who thought the press was highly professional fell from 72 percent to 49 percent, while the number of those who thought the press covered-up its mistakes rose from 13 percent to 67 percent.

This lack of trust has translated into a decline in readership as the State of the Media also showed. According to the report, the number of newspaper readers has fallen from its height, 75 percent in 1992, to 60 percent in 2004, due to distrust and other factors.


I like this bit:

Bossen also said that while there is no single reason why the public is losing trust in the media, he believes it can partly be attributed to the variety of news sources that have become available.

How about because the media have been caught lying so much?

UPDATE

Let me see if I can help answer their question - "Why does everyone seem to hate me"?

First we have a study that finds that the media is biased against Bush.

“The criticism that George Bush got worse coverage than John Kerry is supported by the data,” the report concluded. “Looking across all media, campaign coverage that focused on Bush was three times as negative as coverage of Kerry.”

Well that would certainly turn off about 60 million voting Americans who probably used to read the press.

And then there is lying by omission.

Come to think of it, maybe the report is right, there is no single reason people no longer trust the media. There's plenty of reasons to not trust them.
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Iran - Burning the Mullahs 2 Posted by Hello

Iran - Burning the Mullahs. Remember how you use to see pictures of burning the American flag? My how times have changed. Posted by Hello

Darfur - World hypocrisy

America has been condemned the world over for intervening in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere, to stop crimes against humanity. The world cry is always the same, the US must go through the world's governing body - the UN. This despite things like the oil for food scandal, UN peacekeepers raping the people they are suppose to be protecting, failing to stop genocide and failing to stop the proliferation of WMDs.

Now comes this article in the Financial Times.

White House quiet as Darfur killings go on

So why isn't the FT crying to the UN?

Inside the UN, the Bush administration faces considerable resistance from China, the main customer for Sudan's oil exports, and Russia, Sudan's main provider of weapons and aircraft. US officials complain that France also opposes an oil embargo, in spite of recent harmony with the US over Syria and Lebanon.

Hey, those three names ring a bell. China, Russia and France are the three countries at the heart of the UN oil for food scandal. Imagine that!

Well, FT, why isn't your headline about the worlds governing body, the UN, failing to do something? The world is always calling Bush a cowboy and unilateralist. Are you now suggesting Bush should bypass the UN and act unilaterally?

The FT points this out:

But during the discussion Mr Rusesabagina warned Mr Bush that the current situation in western Sudan's Darfur region was "exactly" what happened in Rwanda 11 years ago.

And pray tell who was in charge of that genocide? The UN under none other than the current UN secretary general - Koffi Annan.

It's high time for this bullshit to stop. You can't have it both way folks; you either go after the UN for failing to do its job or you support the US when she acts unilaterally. Actually, you should do both.

ITRZ has this:

Not England, not the EU. Not China, the number one importer of Sudanese oil; not Russia, Sudan's premier weapons provider. Not even France--well, of course not even France. No, when trouble--serious, this-is-genocide trouble--erupts in the world, who do you call? Not England, not the EU, not China...

That ol' hegemonic, imperialistic, neo-colonial, Kyoto Protocol ignoring environment destroying war-mongering--did I say racist?--globalizing rogue nation, the United States of America. Let's hope the sheriff exerts some authority.


Why? They'll just condemn us anyway. Look how they criticized us over the tsunami relief.
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Brain Bliss