America - Stupid Media Remarks

Right Wing News has a great round up.

Sample.

"Here we will have possibly a bunch of tax dodgers deciding the election." — Time's Margaret Carlson on Florida absentee ballots from military personnel, on MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, Nov. 8. Florida does not have a state income tax.

"So now the question is, basically, right now, how will (the Osama Bin Laden tape) affect the election? And I have a feeling that it could tilt the election a bit. In fact, I'm a little inclined to think that Karl Rove, the political manager at the White House, who is a very clever man, that he probably set up bin Laden to this thing." -- Walter Cronkite, former CBS anchor, once known as the "Most Trusted Man in America," on the Bin Laden tape that showed up right before the 2004 election.

"As I watched Tuesday night's network coverage of the unrelenting political propaganda hour known as the Republican National Convention, the first thought that came to mind was of old newsreels of those self-congratulatory Nazi rallies held in Germany during the reign of Adolf Hitler." -- Hugh Pearson, Newsday

No wonder the media is losing viewers and readers by the droves while Fox News soars.
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Iraq - Terrorists Factions Fighting Each Other

Iraq the Model reports on some interesting developments in Mosul which led to the capture of a high ranking terrorist.

It's becoming clearer that most of those groups have begun to doubt the benefits of violence and their reluctance has been taking the shape of an internal conflict with the hard-line groups and I think what supports this theory is the message that came from Al-Qaeda to the Sunnis warning them from the consequences of being involved in the political process and I think that Al-Qaeda wouldn't have threatened its allies in Iraq if Al-Qaeda didn't feel that the carpet was being pulled from under its feet.

Moreover, the claims of the "Takfiri" trend that the whole constitutional process is an American fake started to become unconvincing to the other armed groups.
I think the most important factor that widened the gap between the two wings was the accusations of the "Takfiri" trend (who classically consider everyone else as infidels) to the less radical groups of being traitors and this is supposed to grow even wider after Abu Talha was supposedly handed to the security forces by people from inside their ally groups.

Not quite the civil war the left wanted, now is it?
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Iraq - Zarqawi Henchman Arrested

The Guardian reports.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The Iraqi government announced Sunday it had arrested a suspected member of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida in Iraq, a man it claimed was responsible for building car bombs and carrying out more than 60 bombings around the capital.

Musaab Kasser Abdul Rahman Hassan, known as Abu Younis, was arrested on May 26 during an operation in Baghdad, the government said in a statement.

``The terrorist Abu Younis is one of the extremists who has close ties to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and is the mastermind of more than 60 terrorist attacks in Baghdad, targeting governmental officials and Iraqi army and police'' it said.

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America - Gingrich: Censure Durbin

Trey Jackson reports on the former speakers call for Durbin to be censured.

About time too.
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Britain - Cleric Calls for Storming US Embassy

The mad mullah of Tottenham has called for the killing of the infidels, you and I, and the storming of the US Embassy.

Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammad called the Tottenham mullah, despite watch on him by anti-terror units, has reportedly again called on Muslims to kill the non-believers. He is said to have appeared on an Islamic website urging supporters to rise up and support a holy war.

Bakri was shown in front of a cheering crowd, demanding supporters seek out non- Muslims-Kafirs-and kill them. He also, according to a media report, appeared to suggest the US embassy should be stormed. He was quoted saying, " We're going to incite people to do jihad, incite people to hate the new pharaoh (President Bush). Why not do more? Maybe take over the Embassy."

And what is PC Plod doing about it?

Bakri, a former asylum seeker who lives with his family of eight, is already under investigation by Scotland Yard for similar speeches.

Nothing, because Britain is on the Muslim appeasement road. In fact, Britain is so far down that road that they want to enact laws making it a crime to criticize Islam.
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Iraq - Captives Tell of Torture House

All the lefties, anti-war types and the Democrats should be made to to read this so they can tell the difference between real torture and the discomfort the Gitmo prisoners are given.

When marines burst in, one of the captives was lying under a stairwell, badly beaten. At first, they thought he was dead.

The others were emaciated and battered. Mr. Fathil had fared the best. The other three were taken by medical helicopter to Balad, a base near Baghdad with a hospital.

But he still had been hurt badly. Marks from beatings criss-crossed his back, and deep pocks, apparently from electric shock burns, were gouged in his skin.

The shocks, he said, felt "like my soul is being ripped out of my body." But when he would start to scream, and his body would pull up from the shock, they would begin to beat him, he said.

And dimwit Durbin calls our guys Nazis.
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Europe - Terrorist Recuritment Drive

In a sign of how successful the US is at eleminating the terrorists in Iraq, the terrorists have had to go on a recuritment drive.

As you read the Guardian article, notice how they try and blame the war in Iraq for the rise in the number of terrorists. But if that were the case, why the need for a recruitment? Wouldn't the jihadists simply flock to Syria and sign up?

Islamic militant networks are on a recruiting drive across Europe for potential suicide bombers in Iraq, according to US and European police and security sources.

The claim comes amid evidence that the high number of recent attacks is forcing terrorist leaders into a drive for new volunteers. [In other words, the US is capturing or killing too many jihadists]

Analysis of recent patterns of activity, based on tracing the identities of suicide bombers killed in Iraq, indicates that Europe is experiencing the sharpest growth in the recruitment of suicide bombers in comparison with North Africa, the Middle East and Asia, although those areas still supply the largest numbers of jihadis.

Well golly gee, I guess that puts an end to the media's claim that the terrorists in Iraq are Iraqis who oppose the US liberation of Iraq, doesn't it?

Evidence of the rise in recruitment in Europe has emerged as concern grows that sympathy for the conflict is spreading to mainstream Islamic communities that have thus far rejected violence. There are fears of an 'Afghanistan effect' in a new generation of young men, inspiring them to fight the Americans in Iraq in the same way that a previous generation flocked to fight the Russians.

So the terrorists are moderate Muslims now?

If the previous generation flocked to fight the Russians in Afghanistan why didn't they flock there to fight the Americans? Again, if sympathy is spreading to mainstream Muslims and they "flocked" to fight the Russians before, why the need for a recruitment drive? Seems these terrorists are more being driven than flocking.

And remember how the BBC told us all to get a good cuppa, go to bed and not worry about world wide terrorism? In fact Aunty told us, in "The Power of Nightmares", that this was all just a myth.

However, another media myth does bite the dust. The media are always harping on what they claim is the root causes of terrorism - poverty. We are constantly told that these terrorists are poor and uneducated; the result of capitalism robbing them of their livlihood and way of life. But as you will see, that just isn't so.

A typical volunteer is a well-educated, upwardly mobile man in his mid-to-late twenties - European volunteers are on average aged 25 - from a middle-class background and a stable family, and without a strong religious upbringing. Many spoke several languages and were technologically literate. Almost two-thirds - including Europeans - were married.

So why do they do it?

The most common route to joining the jihad is through groups of friends - often experiencing similar feelings of isolation. There is a suggestion that several volunteers from central Europe appear to have have been brought up as Christians.

They're lonely? Notice how the Guardian is trying hard to steer you away from the fact that these terrorists are Muslim jihadists? By saying that these terrorists were brought up "without a strong religious upbringing", their just feeling isolated and some "appear" (were they wearing crosses or something?) to have been brought up as Christians, the Guardian totally ignores the fact that these terrorists are being recruited by using the Koran. Iraq is merely the excuse of the day.
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Europe - Terror Network

The Sunday Times reports on europe's terror network.

A SERIES of arrests in Spain, Germany, France and Holland has revealed a European terror network that recruits fighters and suicide bombers and sends them into Iraq.

For two years recruiters have been providing fake documents, training and finance for the fighters, communicating secretly over the internet and liaising with cells based in Syria.

Not to worry, according to the BBC's "The Power of Nightmares", this is all just a myth.

And Spain's appeasement move seems to have failed.

These five, in turn, are closely linked to Mohamed Achraf, an Algerian awaiting extradition from Switzerland. Achraf is known to have been planning a lorry bomb attack on the National Court in Madrid. The aim was to punish Spain, kill the investigating judges and destroy terrorism records in a single action.

There's also bad news for those that tried to claim the Van Gogh murder wasn't linked to terrorism.

Telephone records prove a link between Achraf and Mohammed Bouyeri, the alleged killer of Theo van Gogh, the Dutch film maker.

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Zimbabwe - Mugabe's Genocide

Where is the outcry from the Left over this.

It is a wasteland. Street after street razed in a scene that looks like a natural disaster. The hundreds of thousands who have been left homeless are calling it Zimbabwe's tsunami. But man, not nature, is to blame for the destruction enveloping this country.

The full force of Robert Mugabe's state is destroying homes and lives in what it calls Operation Restore Order. But all that can be seen is chaos and trauma. There is no compassion, only carefully executed brutality.

At Hatcliffe orphanage, run by Dominican sisters, the nuns, workers and 180 orphans were given a day to get out before the bulldozers arrived.

Many of the children had lost their parents to Aids. Now, thanks to what the regime justifies as a crackdown on illegal settlements and traders, they have lost the roof over their heads and have nowhere to go.

Why doesn't Geldof take his protest march to Zimbabwe's embassy and protest against Mugabe?

What is the Left's patron saint, the UN, doing?

The Left are too busy calling US troops Nazis and Gitmo a Soviet Gulag, to be bothered by a little real torture and genocide.
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Guantanamo - Steyn On Insane Democrats

Steyn remarks on the insane Democrats.

"America was once very rightly viewed as a leader in human rights and the rule of law, but Guantanamo has drained our leadership, our credibility, and the world's good will for America at alarming rates."

So, until Guantanamo, America was "viewed as a leader in human rights"? Not in 2004, when Abu Ghraib was the atrocity du jour. Not in 2003, when every humanitarian organization on the planet was predicting the deaths of millions of Iraqis from cholera, dysentery and other diseases caused by America's "war for oil." Not in 2002, when the "human rights" lobby filled the streets of Vancouver and London and Rome and Sydney to protest the Bushitler's plans to end the benign reign of good King Saddam. Not the weekend before 9/11 when the human rights grandees of the U.N. "anti-racism" conference met in South Africa to demand America pay reparations for the Rwandan genocide and to cheer Robert Mugabe to the rafters for calling on Britain and America to "apologize unreservedly for their crimes against humanity." If you close Gitmo tomorrow, the world's anti-Americans will look around and within 48 hours alight on something else for Gulag of the Week.

Absolutely spot on!

The senator from Illinois' comparisons are as tired as they're grotesque. They add nothing useful to the debate. But around the planet, folks naturally figure that, if only 100 people out of nearly 300 million get to be senators, the position must be a big deal. Hence, headlines in the Arab world like "U.S. Senator Stands By Nazi Remark." That's al-Jazeera, where the senator from al-Inois is now a big hero -- for slandering his own country, for confirming the lurid propaganda of his country's enemies. Yes, folks, American soldiers are Nazis and American prison camps are gulags: don't take our word for it, Senator Bigshot says so.

This isn't a Republican vs Democrat thing; it's about senior Democrats who are so over-invested in their hatred of a passing administration that they've signed on to the nuttiest slurs of the lunatic fringe. It would be heartening to think that Durbin will himself now be subjected to some serious torture. Not real torture, of course; I don't mean using Pol Pot techniques and playing the Celine Dion Christmas album really loud to him. But he should at least be made a little uncomfortable over what he's done -- in a time of war, make an inflammatory libel against his country's military that has no value whatsoever except to America's enemies. Shame on him, and shame on those fellow senators and Democrats who by their refusal to condemn him endorse his slander.

And shame on these people as well.

Be sure to read Steyn's entire piece.
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America - Demented Democrats

God it is so much fun watching the Democratic party implode.

They make Dean, who rants and raves like a lunatic, their chairman, and he goes on to insult all Republicans by saying they haven't done a days work in their life. He offends the rich backers of the Democrats so much that they pull out.

Newsweek puts out a bogus story accusing our troops of desecrating the Koran.

Eason Jordan of CNN falsely accuses our troops of targeting journalists and is fired. Linda Foley makes the same false claims, goes to ground and the media clam up.

Durbin, the number two Democrat calls our troops Nazis.

Amnesty International compares Gitmo to the Soviet Gulag.

Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, organizes a fake impeachment of Bush based on the fake Downing Street memos and distributes material accusing Israel of involvement in 9/11. It's interesting that Dean choose to speak out against this and remains silent on Durbin's remarks.

No wonder they keep losing so badly!
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Iran - Hitchens Meets Khomeini

Frontpage Magazine reports on Hitchens' trip to Iran and his meeting with Khomeini's grandson. What he finds is enlightening.

"I stand," he tells me calmly, "for the complete separation of religion and the state." In terms that would make the heart of a neocon soar like a hawk, he goes on to praise President Bush's State of the Union speech, to warn that the mullahs cannot be trusted with nuclear weapons, and to use the term "Free World" without irony: "Only the Free World, led by America, can bring democracy to Iran."

Read the whole thing, it is a first hand account of what the people of Iran really think about the mad mullahs.
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Britain - Downing Street Memos Fake

The AP reports that the Sunday Times reporter, Michael Smith, now admits he typed the memos himself and burned the originals in order to protect the identity of the source. Yeah, right.

The eight memos — all labeled "secret" or "confidential" — were first obtained by British reporter Michael Smith, who has written about them in The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Times.

Smith told AP he protected the identity of the source he had obtained the documents from by typing copies of them on plain paper and destroying the originals.

The AP obtained copies of six of the memos (the other two have circulated widely). A senior British official who reviewed the copies said their content appeared authentic. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the secret nature of the material.

So, an un-named source, without seeing the orginals, says the content "appeared authentic". Have jounalistic standards slipped so far, that the Sunday Times accepted Smith's story, without asking to see the original documents, using an un-named source to verify them and whose best opinion was they "appeared authentic"? This being the case, all of the AP's assertions in the rest of the article are baseless and meaningless.

If all this sounds familiar, it should, Dan Rather of CBS, had to resign after using these same tactics in an attempt to smear Bush just before the last US presidential elections. And CBS had to issue and apology. Time for Smith to go and the Sunday Times to apologize.

After pounding the Downing Street memo drum, watch the media now play the fake but accurate horn.

UPDATE

Since the memos cannot be authenticated and an un-named sources best guess is they "appeared authentic", all stories based on them are meaningless; including this Times (UK) article whose headline screams:

British bombing raids were illegal, says Foreign Office

If you would like to complain to the Times, their email address is online.editor@thetimes.co.uk

UPDATE

It appears the originals may still exist after all. Raw Story has this tid bit:

“I first photocopied them to ensure they were on our paper and returned the originals, which were on government paper and therefore government property, to the source,” he added. [...]

“It was these photocopies that I worked on, destroying them shortly before we went to press on Sept 17, 2004,” he added. “Before we destroyed them the legal desk secretary typed the text up on an old fashioned typewriter.”

Smith appears to be tripping up here. He says he returned the originals because they were on government paper and therefore government property. So, photocopying a page out of a book makes the words no longer the property of the author?

Now let me get this straight. Dan Rather's forged documents were typed up on a computer using the default setting of Microsoft Word. And now Smith wants us to believe that his legal secretary used "an old fashioned typewriter" to forge the Downing Street memos? When was the last time you saw an old fashioned typewriter, let alone use one? Why would you want to type them up on a typewritter instead of a computer? Was Smith trying to make them look more authentic? Was he trying to avoid his own Rathergate?

This is nonsense.
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Iraq - House of Horrors

CNN currently has a video of a house of horrors found in Iraq. It's on the top right of the main page.

Dick Durbin and the rest of the Democrats need to watch this and maybe it will refresh their memory as to why we are in Iraq in the first place.
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Britain - BBC Schills for the Democrats

Scott notes the BBC's shilling for the Democrats over the Downing Street memo.

In an article about a Democratic congressional publicity stunt, the BBC today sings from the American-left songbook regarding the infamous Downing Street Memo. As the BBC says:

The affair has received scant coverage in the mainstream US media, although left-wing bloggers have had some success in bringing it to public attention.

Scant coverage? Perhaps the BBC does not consider the New York Times (9 stories since May 16 that include the phrase "Downing Street Memo"), The Chicago Tribune (7 stories since May 17, including this one), or The Washington Post (35 stories just this month) to be part of the "mainstream US media. (Oh, if only that were true!) The problem is not scant coverage. It is scant interest. Consider this reaction from Michael Kinsley, sydicated columnist, editor of the LA Times, and certainly no friend of either Bush or Republicans:

Read the rest for a taste of the BBC Bias Bake of the day.

UPDATE

Here is an email I left on their Newswatch Webpage.

The referenced article says:

"The affair has received scant coverage in the mainstream US media, although left-wing bloggers have had some success in bringing it to public attention. "

When in fact since early May:

The New York Times has run 9 stories.
The Chicago Tribune has run 7 stories.
The Washington Post has run 35 stories.

Is that what you call "scant coverage"?

The article also says:

"Gold Star Families for Peace, a non-partisan group, has expressed its support for the hearing. "

This organization is anything but non-partisan. Their entire goal is to pull US troops out of Iraq. Just look at their main webpage which features a large banner that says: "Bush lied. Demand a resolution of inquiry".

That sound non-partisan to you?

I'll let you know if they respond.
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America - Koffigate: BBC Response

I recently posted an email I sent to the BBC, criticizing them for reporting on two of their webpages, that Volcker had cleared Annan of wrongdoing in the UN oil for food scandal. A statement they know to be false because I have repeatedly emailed them about it.

In response, the BBC amended one article but not the other. And the one amendment is weak to say the least.

Here is their reply and my response to that.

Thank you for your comment on our Kofi Annan story. We have now amended
it to say the panel "found no evidence" of wrongdoing - not the same as
"cleared" him of wrongdoing. We also mention the criticism of Kofi Annan
by the Volcker panel.
Regards, Laurence Peter. Europe editor.

My response:

Mr. Peter,

Thank you for the reply and amending the article in question. However, there still remain several outstanding issues.

First, only one of the two articles was amended and one still contains the error stating Volcker's panel cleared Annan of wrongdoing. That article can be found here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4232629.stm

Second, while the panel in fact did say they "found no evidence" of wrongdoing, when pressed further Volcker stated emphatically that he had not cleared Annan of wrongdoing. By simply using the phrase "found no evidence" without noting Volcker's statement that he had specifically not cleared Annan of wrongdoing, you leave the public with the false impression that Annan was cleared. Why does the BBC continue to refuse to print Volcker's statement?

"Asked point-blank whether Mr. Annan had been cleared of wrongdoing in the $10 billion scandal, Mr. Volcker replied, "No."

This is particularly relevant in light of the discovery of the two Cotecna emails specifically naming Annan as having been in direct contact with the firm; something Annan has always denied.

And why does the BBC continue not to quote the lead investigators who say they did not clear Annan?

""We did not exonerate Kofi Annan," Swiss organized crime expert Mark Pieth, one of Volcker's three investigators, told The Associated Press."

It is obvious from reading these quotes that Volcker's panel has definitely not cleared Annan of wrongdoing. It is not obvious from reading the BBC website that this is the case.

Note also, the BBC never mentions that two of the three lead investigators resigned over the watering down of their findings in the interim report by Volcker.

I note your title is "Europe editor" and therefore you may be unable to amend the second article. Can you find someone who can?

Do you not feel the public are entitled to know the true nature of Annan's situation?

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Britain - Media Incorporating Bloggers

This is the way it should be, main stream media embracing bloggers and incorporating their input into stories of national importance.

Tim Worstall and others have their input noted in this Telegraph (UK) article about Britains National Identity Register Database.

You can say, "If you've got nothing to hide, you'd got nothing to fear." But there is a bunch of people who fear the National Identity Register Database mightily, and for good reason. They're bloggers. Bloggers understand what databases are, they understand information technology and if they're not tech-head geeks themselves, they know people who are. British bloggers are going crazy about the database.

One blogsite, no2id.com, is trying to get three million refuseniks to sign up to resist registering. Another, talkpolitics.com, has done a mass of work unpicking ways in which the Government can use "foreign keys" (no, I don't know what these are) to unlock your medical records. (They don't quite say they'll never do this.) Tim Worstall, who runs a BritBlog Roundup every week (which means he spends hours looking at websites), has "not yet come across one that is actually putting the case for the scheme. Would anyone want to point me to a UK blog that tries to do so?" Nobody has so far. Resist this, readers. Let freedom ring.

This is the way main stream media should embrace and not fear bloggers.

Evidently Vicki Woods, the author of the Telegraph piece isn't tech savvy enough to use hyperlinks for the blogs. But Tim put them up on his blog.
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Britain - arrests in anti-terror raids

Breaking news from The BBC so not much detail yet.

Anti-terrorist police have arrested four men in London.
Officers raided three addresses in Barnet and Finchley, in the north of the capital, early on Friday.

The men were arrested under section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000, and taken to a central London police station for questioning.

Police are searching the addresses, raided as part of "ongoing enquiries". Two of the men were arrested in a vehicle in High Road, Barnet.

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America - Democratic Senator Calls Troops "Nazis"

Michelle Malkin has a great round up of the blog swarm forming over the outrageous comments by Democratic Senator, Dick Durbin.

One blogger called other Democratic Senators to get their reaction to his comments. As you read their comments, remember, they say the are against the war in Iraq but support our troops.

Ted Kennedy 202-224-4543...."Not quite sure, I'll have to check on that." Not quite sure?

Joe Lieberman 202-224-4041...."Mr. Lieberman has no comment at all." Really?

John Kerry 202-224-2742...."Sen. Kerry doesn't have a position on Sen. Durbin's comments." Why doesn't this surprise me?

This is your United States Senate at work. Proud?

And then you have Eason Jordan and Linda Foley making unsubstantiated and slanderous claims that our troops are targeting journalists.

If this is their idea of supporting our troops they can keep their support.

UPDATE

Likewise, the media are always spouting off about how they too support the troops. Their silence over Durbin's and Foley's remarks shows otherwise.

One newspaper has spoken up though - The Boston Herald.

The second highest ranking Democrat in the Senate has compared American servicemen and women to Nazis on the floor of that body. Has political debate sunk so low that a comment that hideous can be made by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) without repercussions?

Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) lost his leadership position for the lesser if still odious offense of praising Strom Thurmond's presidential campaign which had taken place decades earlier.

``If I read this ... and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime - Pol Pot or others,'' Durbin said of Guantanamo ``abuses'' like ratcheting up the air conditioning in detainees' cells.

When Amnesty International makes such comparisons it irreversibly damages its credibility. When a U.S. senator does so, he damages the institution and the country he serves.

Durbin must go.

No comment so far from John Kerry's newspapers, The Boston Globe, New York Times or LA Times.
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Iraq - Welcoming the Americans

Norm points us to a video and transcript of Christopher Hitchens' experience of being welcomed as a liberator in Iraq.

You can see Christopher Hitchens talking to Peter Robinson on the programme Uncommon Knowledge, and also read a transcript of their conversation, here. An excerpt (corrected by me from the video clip):

Christopher Hitchens: The welcome that I've seen American and British forces get in parts of Iraq is something I want to start - I want to mention first because there are people who say that that never happened. It is commonly said by, umm, political philosophers like Maureen Dowd say that the - where were the sweets and where were the flowers? Well, I saw it happen with my own eyes and no one's going to tell me that I didn't. I saw it with - months after the invasion, people still lining the roads, especially in the south.

Peter Robinson: In the south?

Christopher Hitchens: Especially in the south - still lining the roads and waving and the children waving which is always the sign, because if the parents don't want them to, they don't. For miles, it was like going - it was like, this is the nearest I'll get to taking part in the liberation of the country, to ride in with the liberating army. I'll never forget, and I will not allow it not to be said that that did not happen. And in the marshes too - the marsh Arab area of the country which was drained and burned out and poisoned by Saddam Hussein. Again, almost hysterical welcome, and in Kurdistan in the north. So, extraordinary. But remember you said the population hated Saddam Hussein, that's true, really true. But more than anything, they feared him. They were terrified of him. These are people who were not just forced to obey under terrible and believable threat, but made to applaud, made to participate, made to come out and vote, made to come out and demonstrate that they loved him, made to applaud when their relatives were executed. If your kids were going to be shot, you had to attend and you had to applaud, okay. A pornographic regime in other words. Now people who have been through that are humiliated.

He also has some thoughts on Iran, so be sure to read the whole thing.
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Britain - Blair to Testify Over Iraq?

The Mirror is reporting that British PM Tony Blair may be called to court to testify over Iraq.

The mother-in-law of a marine killed in the Iraq war has been given a judge's permission to summon Tony Blair as a witness in her court case.

Pat Blackburn, from Dorchester, is being prosecuted for refusing to pay £16,000 income tax in protest at the war in which Sergeant Les Hehir died.

A Downing Street spokesman declined to comment.

Since she's only his mother-in-law, you have to wonder how his parents must feel about this.
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Iraq - Iraqis Turn on Terrorists

Zarqawi has said any Iraqi who joins the new government is an infidel and a legitimate target. He has also tried to provoke a civil war between the Shias and Sunnis.

In a sign that the Sunnis are turning their backs on Zarqawi, the Sunnis have reached a deal on drafting the new Iraqi constitution.

Shia leaders agreed to allow Sunnis to take 15 of the panel's 55 seats as well as having 10 advisers, representatives of the two communities said in Baghdad.

And Iraqi citizens have turned in one of Zarqawi's top aides, the leader of al Qaeda in Mosul.

"Talha has been one of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's most trusted operations agents in Iraq," Alston said. "This is a major defeat for the al Qaeda organization in Iraq."

"Numerous reports indicated he wore a suicide vest 24 hours a day and stated that he would never surrender. Instead, Talha gave up without a fight," Alston said.

Talha surrendered to multinational forces in a quiet neighborhood in Mosul, Alston said, after information from Iraqi civilians contributed to his capture.

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America - Media Scandal Turns Criminal

Captain's Quarters reports on the widening Newsday scandal involving their fraudulent circulation numbers that has now turned into a criminal prosecution.

And he notes how silent MSM are on the subject.

In the month where the newspaper industry regaled us with endless pixels and reams of paper on self-congratulatory retrospectives on Watergate and their role in uncovering government corruption, they remain oddly mute about their own industry's fraud on advertisers and readers, even as the scandal expands. On the other hand, as the movie Broadcast News put it, it must not be news if they don't cover it -- or at least that's what they hope.

Yep, just like Foleygate.

Ironic, isn't it? All MSM have to do is start telling the truth, stop shilling for the Democrats and terrorists, report all the news not just the ones that fit their agenda and their numbers might improve. I say might because getting their credibility back is going to be difficult if not impossible.
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Britain - BBC Bias

The American Expatiate has only been blogging for a few weeks but Scott is chuning out a lot of good posts exposing the bias at the BBC.

Just start at the top and scroll down.
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Britain - Archbishop Williams Attacks Bloggers

The Times (UK) reports.

THE Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has criticised the new web-based media for "paranoid fantasy, self-indulgent nonsense and dangerous bigotry". He described the atmosphere on the world wide web as a free-for-all that was "close to that of unpoliced conversation".

What a twit! Dr. Williams needs to read my Case against the BBC and refresh his memory with all the fake stories put out by MSM.

Dr Williams also extended his wide-ranging critique of journalistic practice to the traditional media, arguing that there are "embarrassingly low levels of trust" in the profession and that claims about what is in the public interest need closer scrutiny. He called for a "more realistic, less fevered" approach to stories by journalists and added: "There is a difference between exposing deceptions that sustain injustice and attacking confidentialities or privacies that in some sense protect the vulnerable."

Like John Kerry, Dan Rather, Eason Jordan or Linda Foley perhaps?

He attacked the "high levels of adversarial and suspicious probing" that send the clear message that any kind of concealment means "guilty until proved innocent", and he challenged journalists and broadcasters to attempt to regain lost public confidence.

Well, they can start by not concealing, lying and fabricating stories.

Dr Williams said that the way news is packaged inhibits the public from becoming engaged with issues and understanding them.

Earth to Dr. Williams, that is precisely why blogs exist.

How can Williams be so clueless and yet get this part right.

The way most news is packaged and marketed tends to work against real engagement and deeper public understanding, creating a parallel universe remote from most peopleÂ’s real experience, he said

But then again, he turns right around and blows it.

He recommended a greater willingness to correct mistakes in order to offset "the deep cynicism that is generated by a marked habit of reluctance to apologise or explain". Dr Williams said that it was important not to scapegoat the media and praised the courage of journalists such as Frank Gardner of the BBC who have promoted "moral change and vision".

The BBC are the most corrupt news oganization on the planet!
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Pakistan - Al-Qaeda 'on the run'

That's according to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

I don't know why the BBC reports on this because, according to the BBC in their "Power of Nightmares", world wide terrorism is a myth.

I think Musharraf just wants to be seen to be doing something. And he's wrong about the causes of world terrorism.

"We also believe that, along with action to eliminate and dismantle terrorist cells, there is need to address the root causes that lie in political disputes and deprivation and poverty that breed extremism," he said.

The Pakistani president said that a "solution of the Palestinian dispute and also the Kashmir issue" would help in countering al-Qaeda and resolving regional conflicts.

Research has shown that the leaders of world terrorism come from wealthy and well educated families. Bin Laden is a millionaire.

The Palestinian issue is a red herring. World terrorism would still exist even if Israel didn't.

The root cause of world terrorism is Islam's desire to rule the world.
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Britain - BBC Covers Up for Annan

Here is a copy of an email I sent to the BBC's feedback webpage and sent directly to Sarah Brown of the BBC.

Sarah,

Here is a copy of an email I left on the BBCs feedback webpage: http://news.bbc.co.uk/newswatch/ukfs/hi/newsid_3950000/newsid_3955200/3955259.stm

I am emailing you directly because, despite repeated emails to the BBC over this issue, the BBC continues to spread this lie on their website.

Is it the BBC’s policy to intentionally deceive the public on this issue?

Can you explain why the BBC continues to cover up for Koffi Annan?

Do I need to take this matter to the relevant bodies in order to force the BBC into telling the truth?

In addition to being a member of the public who is entitled to the truth, I also pay the television tax – your salary. As your employer, I am entitled to and I demand better service than this.

Here is the post I left on the BBC feedback site.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Why does the BBC continue to lie about Koffi Annan's involvement in the UN oil for food scandal?

In the referenced article you state: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4097850.stm


"A UN team looking into the former UN Iraq oil-for-food programme cleared Mr Annan of any wrongdoing in March. "

That is an outright lie, not a mistake, a lie. I say that because I have emailed you before on this issue.

Volcker, who heads the UN investigation, has said publicly, on the record, that he did not clear Annan of wrongdoing.

"Asked point-blank whether Mr. Annan had been cleared of wrongdoing in the $10 billion scandal, Mr. Volcker replied, "No."

http://washingtontimes.com/world/20050427-120309-4065r.htm


And the lead investigators in the case also say they did not clear Annan.

""We did not exonerate Kofi Annan," Swiss organized crime expert Mark Pieth, one of Volcker's three investigators, told The Associated Press."

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05093/481525.stm


You also repeat this lie here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4232629.stm


Volcker has said categorically that he did not clear Annan of wrongdoing. So why do you persist in lying to the world?
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Iraq - UN Scandal Cover Up Continues

Fox News reports.

One e-mail refers to the U.N. program and says: "We had brief discussions with the SG [the acronym for secretary-general] and his entourage. Their collective advise [sic] was that we should respond as best as we could to the Q-and-A session of the 1-12-98 and that we could count on their support." The contents of that e-mail were first reported by The New York Times.

The numbers "1-12-98 " refer to a Dec. 1, 1998, meeting between Cotecna executives and U.N. officials in New York at which the contract was discussed.

But the UN deny the meeting.

U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said Tuesday that U.N. officials reviewed the records of Kofi Annan's 1998 Paris trip "and there is no mention in that trip record of any exchange with Michael Wilson."

So, Annan was smart enough not to implicate himself and leave a paper trail, unlike Cotecna.

Annan, who was in Paris on Tuesday, also had "no recollection of any such exchange," Eckhard said.

Just like he had no recollection of meeting Cotecna officials - twice.

Annan at first did not tell investigators that he had met twice with Cotecna representatives as the Swiss company began soliciting U.N. business. One investigator for Volcker reportedly was so concerned with Annan's veracity that he sought to make note of it in the report.

But Volcker sought to cover up for Annan.

But the final report toned down the language offered by Robert Parton. He and another member of the IIC quit the panel following the report's release.

Which brings us to the release of these latest emails.

The consultant said the memo was found by accident three weeks ago in a search of company archives as part of an effort to account for all of Cotecna's payments to Kojo Annan.

But Roger Simon has evidence that says the UN had the emails during their investigation and when Volcker tried to cover them up, Parton and his associate quit and gave the evidence to Congress. Which explains why Volcker went to court and got an order stopping Congress from publishing the information. If those court orders are about to expire that would explain why the emails are being leaked now.

And The BBC continues lying for Annan here and here by claiming:

A UN team looking into the former UN Iraq oil-for-food programme cleared Mr Annan of any wrongdoing in March.

That is an outright lie and the BBC know it because I've emailed them several times and provided public statements by the investigators and Volcker himself, stating categorically that they did not exonerate Annan.

"I thought we criticized [Mr. Annan] rather severely," Mr. Volcker said of his panel's interim report, released March 29. "I would not call that an exoneration."

Asked point-blank whether Mr. Annan had been cleared of wrongdoing in the $10 billion scandal, Mr. Volcker replied, "No."

The BBC continue to cover up and lie for Annan.
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Iran - Lied About Nuclear Program

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you! The BBC reports.

United Nations nuclear monitors say Iran has admitted to misleading them over its experiments with plutonium.

The UN's nuclear watchdog is expected to confirm later that Iran continued experimenting with plutonium - a key component of atomic bombs - until 1998.

Iran had previously told the body it had ended its experiments in 1993.

Correspondents say these latest inconsistencies in Iran's account will fuel suspicions about the real aims of its nuclear programme.

Iranian presidential favourite Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has told the BBC that Iran did not report all nuclear work.

Well, the UN better send them a letter telling them how pissed off the UN is! That'll get their attention.

Speaking of the upcoming elections in Iraq, Rafsanjani said:

Mr Rafsanjani said Iranians who were dissatisfied with the political process in the country should be free to speak their minds.

"If they have reasonable points, we should accept them," he told the BBC. "If not, we should persuade them of our case."

With a cattle prod if need be!
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Guantanamo - US Senator: US Troops "Nazis"

Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, calls US troops Nazis.

If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime--Pol Pot or others--that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners.

And he refuses to apologize.

Sen. Durbin might be interested to know that not one prisoner has died at Guantanamo while millions died in the Soviet Gulags. But then again, maybe he wouldn't.
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America - Model Islamic School?

Time Magazine says its found one.

As they learn about the American Dream, these kids wonder if it's theirs to pursue.

And what is their "American Dream"?

"They are obsessed with foreign politics," says Steve Landek, who has been mayor of Bridgeview since 1999. "I come to talk to them about better sidewalks. They want to know how to run for Congress so they can change America's Israeli policy."

So, how do they feel about Iarael?

The students next door sometimes give voice to the commonplace resentment that can be found among Muslims the world over. Assigned by his English teacher to write an essay about his own American Dream, a 15-year-old wrote that the occupied territories should be returned to the Palestinians and "the Jews should be left to suffer."

Now, why do you suppose the sentiment that "the Jews should be left to suffer" is a "commonplace resentment that can be found among Muslims the world over"? Could it be that Muslims are constantly preaching hate against the Jews and constantly preaching that the Jews are Islams enemy and the Koran teaching Muslims not to make friends with non-Muslims?

Time Magazine shoud be ashamed of themselves for shilling for the Muslims. If they want the American Dream, they need to clean up their reigion first.
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Britain - Muslim Appeasement: How Far?

Yesterday I posted about the continuing Muslim appeasement in Britain. Well, here's more.

Muslim team forces FA rule change

The Football Association (FA) has changed its rules after a team was expelled by its league when Muslim players refused to play during Ramadan.

Manchester's Abraham Moss Warriors were fined by the FA and thrown out of the Lancashire League after the boys' team refused to play morning games.

The club was worried players fasting for Ramadan would become dehydrated as they could not drink before sunset.

The FA has now said no team must play if it affects religious observance.

Previously the rules only applied to Christians being asked to play on Sundays, Good Friday and Christmas Day.

Why not just seperate sports from religion altogether?
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Iraq - Hostage Wood Rescued or Released?

ABC (AU) reports on Wood's rescue.

Australian hostage Douglas Wood has been rescued in a military operation in Iraq, Prime Minister John Howard says.

"I am delighted to inform the House that the Australian hostage in Iraq, Mr Douglas Wood, is safe," Mr Howard told Parliament.

"Mr Wood was recovered a short while ago in Baghdad in a military operation that I am told was conducted by Iraqi forces in cooperation in a general way with force elements of the United States."

For some strange reason Sky News doesn't see it that way.

AUSSIE HOSTAGE FREED

Australian hostage Douglas Wood has been freed by his captors in Iraq after a six-week ordeal.

And yet a few short paragraphs later Sky Quotes PM Howard this way:

"Mr Wood was recovered a short while ago in Baghdad in a military operation conducted by Iraqi forces in cooperation with force elements of the United States."

Sloppy journalism?
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America - ZZ Top DVD Review

My wife and I watched ZZ Top's greatest hits DVD last night and loved it. If you're a ZZ Top fan you'll love it too. It's not a concert dvd but a collection of video peformances of their greatest hits including 'Gimme All Your Lovin', 'Sharp Dressed Men', 'Rough Boy', 'Stages', 'Burger Man' Viva Las Vegas', 'Sleeping Bag', 'Velco Fly', 'Legs' and 'My Head's In Mississippi'.

ZZ's Texas style of music captures south western US Americana. Hot rods, hot babes, hot music and cold beer. It's the kind of music you want to have a beer with or play at a BBQ - while drinking beer. The eye candy girls in skimpy outfits with long legs doesn't hurt either and did I mention the beer?

While I prefer "concert" DVDs as opposed to these collection types, this is a great collection of ZZ's greatest hits.

Here is how a top 100 reviewer on Amazon saw it:

Rock n' roll, texas style... that's what the Top were all about, and it's reflected in this value for money collection of promo videos. Eliminator and Afterburner were the two albums which lit a fire under these boys here, although many fine albums had come before, but in the true spirit of the MTV generation, the tracks with the good videos were the ones everyone remembers. Gimme All Your Lovin is pure 1985, Rough Boy has been copied many times since but never bettered, Velcro Fly was banned in the the US as being too suggestive, but I guarantee after a couple of beers you will be tryin to learn the moves... it's all good tongue in cheek fun, and the sound quality is excellent. Rock n Roll n Brew... Good Ole Boys rockin out for your enjoyment.

Funny how the beer keeps coming up, isn't it?

You can buy the DVD here:


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Britain - Tesco DVD Rental Program

I don't know if any of you have tried the Tesco DVD rental program. You can find it on their main webpage on the left under "DVDs To Rent".

I tried the Amazon.co.uk program and it worked fine. The major difference is that Amazon's top priced rental program only allowed you to rent 6 DVDs a month, whereas Tesco's program allows unlimited DVD rentals per month. Both only allow you to have a maximum of 3 DVDs out at one time.

Both programs mail the DVDs to you first class post in a flat, stiff paper mailer which serves as a free return envelope. Tesco's program costs about £14 a month.

Why use such a system? Well, my family found out that we rarely watched the movies on Sky and I'm going to downgrade my service, dropping the movie channels. The savings will pay for the Tesco rental program.

In addition, you get to decide which movies you want to watch, they have movies you can't get at Blockbuster or your local rental store, and it works out to pennies per DVD. If you only rented 10 a month that works out to £1.40 per DVD and at 20 DVDs it's only 70 pence! I know what you're thinking, there is no way I would rent 20 DVDs a month. That's what we thought. Then I taught the wife and 3 kids how to order and trust me, we will probably rent that and more. In comparison, my local rental stores charge from £2.50 to £3.50 per dvd. Heck, even my library charges £2.50 per dvd!

There are several categories we use that you can't get at other rental stores; Concert, childrens and comedy DVDs to name a few. Then there are some oldies but goodies as well as TV series. My teenage son and I love Red Dwarf. The wife and I love the Concert DVDs. I've currently got a ZZ Top dvd and just sent back two Dire Straits. And today I just got a Billy Conolly World Tour.

Tesco also allows you to create a prioritized list of movies you want as well as "reserve" new releases before they become available. We've only been using the program for a month, so it remains to be seen how well they can provide new releases. We currently have 75 dvds on our list.

As I said, dropping the Sky movies channels pays for the Tesco program and for my money is a far better deal.
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America - The Stingy?

Not according to the stats provided by The American Expatriate.

Here is a sample, but be sure to read the rest.

While constituting 4% of the population, the US is responsible for 22% of the UN's operating budget and 27% of its peacekeeping budget
American taxpayers provide more funds to the UN than any other nation, and more than China, India, and Japan combined, which together constitute 39% of the world's population
US taxpayers fund 57% of the UN's World Food Program budget, more than all other taxpayers on the face of the earth, and in doing so help to feed 104 million people in 81 nations
Privately, Americans are profoundly generous:
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Islam - Make No Friends With Infidels

That would be you and I.

We are repeatedly told by Muslims that Islam is the religion of peace and tolerance. If we point to passages in the Koran that seems to say otherwise, we are told that we are mis-interpreting the words. If we point to specific acts committed by Muslims that seem to suggest otherwise, we are told these are extremists and not "moderate" Muslims.

So, it's refreshing when we have so called "moderate" Muslims expose Islam's true face using their most holy book - the Koran.

Dhimmi Watch notes this exchange on Islam Q&A.

Question :


I have questions about Islam; can you explain them to me? Is it permissible for a Muslim to be a sincere friend to a person who is not Muslim?.

Answer :

Praise be to Allaah.

It is not permissible for a Muslim to make friends with a mushrik or to take him as a close friend, because Islam calls on us to forsake the kaafirs and to disavow them, because they worship someone other than Allaah. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“O you who believe! Take not as friends the people who incurred the Wrath of Allaah (i.e. the Jews). Surely, they have despaired of (receiving any good in) the Hereafter, just as the disbelievers have despaired of those (buried) in graves (that they will not be resurrected on the Day of Resurrection)”

[al-Mumtahanah 60:13]

That is of course, unless you think you can convert them to Islam.

But it is permissible to deal with them in a kind manner in the hope that they might become Muslim.

Notice the subtle language "to deal with them in a kind manner". Not quite the same as being friends now is it? And remember, good Muslims, be kind to them only if you think you can convert them. Otherwise, do as you will.
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Canada - al Qaeda Cache Found

The Toronto Star reports.

OTTAWA—The RCMP and Canadian military believe they've discovered a vital cache of information on Al Qaeda that includes the whereabouts of wanted members and details of attacks on coalition forces in Afghanistan.

The information is allegedly contained in a laptop, dozens of DVDs, audiocassettes and the pages of diaries, seized by the RCMP officers who met Zaynab Khadr at Pearson airport with a search warrant as she arrived back in Canada in February, court documents state.

Khadr is the eldest daughter of a family that has admitted close ties to Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and whose patriarch was once believed to be the highest-ranking Canadian member of Al Qaeda. Her younger brother, Omar, is currently Canada's only known detainee in the American camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The Family admits it is an al Qaeda family.

The Khadr family has created its share of controversy. Khadr's father, Egyptian-born and Canadian citizen Ahmed Said Khadr, generated enough public pressure in 1996 to convince prime minister Jean Chrétien to intervene when he was facing charges in Pakistan in connection with the bombing of the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad. He died in a battle in Pakistan in October 2003. After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks he was put on a list of suspected Al Qaeda terrorists. His family's connections to bin Laden were confirmed three years later with a documentary where his son, Abdurahman, admitted to growing up in an "Al Qaeda family."

What's the big deal? The BBC told us in "The Power of Nightmares" that:

The most frightening of these is the threat of an international terror network. But just as the dreams were not true, neither are these nightmares.

In a new series, the Power of Nightmares explores how the idea that we are threatened by a hidden and organised terrorist network is an illusion.

It is a myth that has spread unquestioned through politics, the security services and the international media.

Boy, that's a relief!

I still don't understand why the BBC wastes our television tax money maintaining a website devoted to a "myth".
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Britain - More Muslim Appeasement

Muslim appeasement is catching on in Britain.

First, Britain begins to adopt Islamic law.

Then, They give a knighthood to the "Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain", Iqbal Sacranie.

You may remember Sacranie's more infamous quote: "There is no such thing as an Islamic terrorist. This is deeply offensive.

"And Sacranie "...welcomed plans to make inciting religious hatred an offence.

"But of course he does, because Sacranie says "Saying Muslims are terrorists would be covered by this provision'.

"There you have it. According to Sacranie if you call bin Laden a terrorists you could be locked up under the proposed legislation.

One has to wonder how Sacranie feels about becoming a Knight? I mean with the Crusades and all that.

Now, The BBC weighs in with a program called: Don't Panic, I'm Islamic

On the other hand, Sajidah, a softly spoken mother from Slough, explains: "There are many Muslims that come on the television but no one will ever say that they support Bin Laden. But privately if you speak to people there are many that will say what he did was right, that they (America) needed that smack in the face". While Sajidah sympathised with the victims of 9/11, she says that when Muslims are killed – such as those during the war and continuing strife in Iraq - there are no candlelight vigils or stirring speeches about punishing the perpetrators.

Muslims never go on TV and denounce bin Laden either, do they?

Let me get this straight, "America needed a smack in the face" - for what? Afghanistan and Iraq came after 9/11, the attacks on the US embassies in Africa, the attack on the USS Cole and were a response to those attacks. If anyone needed a smack in the face it was the Muslims who did these attacks, smacks they got and are still getting. This is more re-writing history, just like Muslims try to re-write the Crusades.

The comfortable middle ground is eroding as Muslims are asked to either accept the 'war on terror' and deny their heritage or become radicalised and condemned as 'terrorists'.

This prompted a commenter at Dhimmi Watch to say:

"So, by accepting the war on TERROR they deny their heritage? You mean, TERROR is part of their heritage? What is the Beeb trying to say here? That the war on TERROR is a war against Islam? I thought TERROR had nothing to do with Islam!"

And they don't plan to integrate into Britain either.

Don't Panic, I'm Islamic reveals a new current of Islam emerging among those in Britain's youth who reject the need to 'integrate'. "I am British, just like someone else is blonde or a brunette," says one contributor. "I don't need to integrate."

But blonds and brunettes are integrated.

There is nothing "emerging" here. This is all part of Islam's War Plan which includes non-integration: "...nearly impenetrable barriers of kinship, language and religion."
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America - Appeasing Muslims

It's not just Britain doing the Muslim march. America is appeasing Muslims too.

HINESBURG, Vt. -- The Crusaders of Champlain Valley Union High are now history.

The School Board in the Vermont community is selecting a new nickname and mascot for the school.

The Islamic world has criticized the Crusades.

And closer to home, some people object to a knight bearing a crucifix as the symbol for a public school.

Yeah, I bet the Muslims have criticized the Crusades, they didn't like Christians taking back the lands the Muslims conquered.

Perhaps the School Board should read this:


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Iraq - France Paid Ransom for Journalist?

The Belfast Telegraph thinks it might be true.

Her newspaper, Libération, appeared to give credence to the rumours by publishing a "log-book" or diary of the complex and confusing negotiations to win her release. The log-book, written over the past five months by the newspaper's deputy editorial director, Patrick Sabatier, suggests the motives of her kidnappers were financial.

"Information received in Baghdad suggests that the kidnappers are ready to do a deal, having abandoned their maximalist demands," the diary records in April. "But the latest French offer does not yet satisfy them." However, M. Sabatier, in a separate article, said that Libération had not been told whether a ransom was paid. Mme Aubenas, 44, was released on Saturday.

So that's where they get some of the money for these car bombs.

From Marxism to Capitalism, Allah will not be pleased!
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Iraq - Key Zarqawi Aide Arrested

Another one bites the dust.

According to the announcement, al-Bazi built and sold remote-controlled bombs used in roadside attacks from an electronic repair shop in Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad.

It added that al-Bazi sold the bombs for about $18,000 each ``and was involved in building suicide vehicle'' bombs and land mines that were used in Balad and Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad.

Seems these guys are more capitalists than holy warriors. Allah is not pleased.
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America - Lodi Terror Cell

The Counterterrorism Blog notes something interesting about the Lodi terror cell.

In the same story, Peter Bergen -- the author of Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden -- has some relevant comments:

"If the allegations are true, it's significant," said Peter Bergen, who has traveled extensively to research al-Qaida and appears as a terrorism analyst on CNN. "Second-generation" students of terrorism -- those coming of age after the Sept. 11 attacks -- have been somewhat common in Europe. But they haven't surfaced in the United States, he said. If Hamid Hayat's connections to al-Qaida prove true, they could signal terrorists' ability to recruit Americans with highly prized passports that allow them to travel more freely.

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America - More Google Bias

LGF points out Google's continuing bias.

We know that Google supports the Democrats and refuses to include right wing blogs in their news search database while including some of the most far left blogs on the planet.

So, I guess it's no surprise when we see things like this:

Accompanied by a photo of Dick Cheney from Al Jazeera, here’s a current featured headline at Google News: USVP Cheney Says Torture Facility Will Stay Open.

Interestingly, if you click through to the article at DailyIndia.com, you find their headline uses the word “alleged:” U.S. V.P. Cheney Says Alleged Torture Facility Will Stay Open.

The page title also contains “alleged.”

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America - Gingrich on Foleygate

Trey Jackson has a video and transcript of former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich's, comments on Linda Foley's unsubstantiated and slanderous claims that US troops target Journalists.

Trey Jackson: Are you familiar with Linda Foley's comment about a month back at the National Conference for Media Reform? Linda Foley is the President of the Newspaper Guild and she said: "Journalists, by the way, are not just being targeted verbally or … ah, or … ah, politically. They are also being targeted for real, um … in places like Iraq. What outrages me as a representative of journalists is that there's not more outrage about the number, and the brutality, and the cavalier nature of the U.S. military toward the killing of journalists in Iraq." What I wonder is, Eason Jordan apparently made a similar statement but there was no video of that statement or transcript... [actually there is a video but the conference holders refuse to release it without Jordan's consent, which he refuses to give. .ed]

Newt Gingrich: There's a pathology of being anti-American which runs through the American left. It shows up in journalism. It shows up in the academic community. It's a pathology. It's not something you can argue about. These people are out of touch with reality. You just have to say it. First of all, if she honestly believes the American military targets journalists, how come so many of them were embedded? How come so many of them survived everyday covering the war?

Check it out.
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Pakistan Demands Acton on Koran Desecrations

The Daily Times (Pakistan) reports:

LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly demanded that the US soldiers who ‘desecrated’ the Quran at the Guantanamo Bay prison be severely punished in a resolution that was unanimously adopted by the house on Monday.

Interesting. Pakistan wants to severly punish US soldiers for something that did not happen. Well, here's a suggestion for Pakistan, stop desecrating our flag - for real. Desecration like this US flag buring by protesters in Pakistan on Oct. 18, 2001; just over one month after the 9/11 attacks.



But this moron gets his just deserts.



That'll teach you to mess with the Great Satan! Bwhahahahahha!
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Syria - When to Use "Terrorists"

The media fall over themselves when deciding what term to use to describe terrorists. Terms like "militant" and "insurgent" are deemed to be more appropriate so as not to be seen as taking sides or offending Muslims.

So what should we deduce from the AP's use of the word terror and terrorists in this report?

Report: Syria Foils Planned Terror Attacks

Syrian forces raided a suspected terrorist hideout near the capital, killing two men, arresting a third and foiling alleged bombing plots that targeted the nation's Justice Palace, the official news agency reported.

A member of the Syrian security forces was killed and another was wounded in the Thursday clash in the Daff al-Shouk suburb of Damascus, according to a late Friday report by SANA.

So, according to the AP those that attack the Baathist Syrian regime are "terrorists". And since these terrorists are attacking said government they must be bad Muslims.

State-run Syrian TV showed footage from the scene of the confrontation in a rented apartment. The bloodied bodies of two men lay on the floor, one of them partially covered with a blanket. Machine guns, pistols, Jihadist documents and communications equipment, including mobile telephones, were scattered on the floor.

The AP is now admitting that there are indeed Muslim terrorists. Keep an eye out for future AP reports and see what term they use to describe terrorists acts.
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Iraq - Koffi Annan Linked to Oil Scandal

The New York Times reports:

A memo written by someone who was then an executive of a major contractor in the United Nations oil-for-food program states that he briefly discussed the company's effort to win the contract in late 1998 with Secretary General Kofi Annan and his "entourage" and that the executive was told that "we could count on their support."

The secretary general's son, Kojo Annan, was employed by Cotecna Inspection Services, a Swiss contractor based in Geneva, and the nature of that relationship is among the issues being investigated by a panel appointed by the United Nations and several Congressional committees.

Kofi Annan has said several times that he did not discuss the contract with his son and was not involved in Cotecna's selection. A United Nations panel headed by Paul A. Volcker, a former chairman of the Federal Reserve, concluded in March that Mr. Annan had not influenced the awarding of the $10 million dollar-a-year contract to the company.

But the memo appears to raise questions about the secretary general's role.

Yes, and it raised questions about Volcker's investigation, doesn't it?

The memo, written on Dec. 4, 1998, by Michael R. Wilson, then a Cotecna vice president who was Kojo Annan's friend and a family friend of the secretary general, describes a meeting that took place during the 20th summit meeting of Francophone leaders in Paris in late November 1998.

"We had brief discussions with the SG [Secretary General - Koffi Annan] and his entourage," the memo states. "Their collective advise was that we should respond as best as we could to the Q & A session of the 1-12-98 and that we could count on their support."

The "1-12-98" refers to a meeting Mr. Wilson and a delegation of Cotecna officials had in New York on Dec. 1, 1998, with senior United Nations officials who were considering which of three companies to select for the inspection contract that Cotecna won 10 days later.

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Iraq - AP Cries a River for the Sunnis

Stop it, stop it! You're breaking my heart! This AP article will just break your heart over the Sunnis desperate plight.

Let's start with the headline.

Iraq's Sunnis say things never worse

Well yeah, duh? Having lost all their privileges when Saddam bit the dust, has to be a downer.

Now check out this opening para.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's Shiite-dominated government has been in power less than two months, and minority Sunni Arabs, the dominant force in the nation's relentless and bloody insurgency — are struggling to find a place in the country's future.

I'll bet al Qaeda's man, Jordanian Zarqawi, is going to be pissed off when he reads that. He's already steamed that the Sunnis are looking for a way out. Especially since so many have now joined the government, military and police force. That's why he keeps trying to blow them all up.

As for "struggling to find a place in the country's future", they should have thought about that when the boycotted the elections. Life's a bitch boys.

Now whose fault is all this Sunni misery anyway?

But the once-powerful community, at its lowest point since the U.S.-led invasion and ouster of Saddam Hussein, refuses to accept second-class status and believes it still has trump cards to play, chief among them: withholding approval of a new constitution in a fall referendum.

Oh, yeah, almost forgot, nasty Americans came in and booted Saddam out and the Sunnis lost their meal ticket. Bloodly yanks, always busting the bad guys and spoiling the fun of the tyrants.

Get the hankies ready.

"These are very harsh times for us," said legislator Salih al-Mutlak, leader of a Sunni Arab umbrella group. "I am not optimistic, but maybe things will change after the next election."

Well my heart bleeds for you pal. Times were pretty good when you and Saddam were murdering thousands of your countrymen.

More of the obvious coming.

Worse under new government

As bad as conditions became after Saddam fell from power and the Americans were running things, many Sunni Arab leaders claim conditions have only become worse under the government of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.

Should have thought of that when you boycotted the elections pal. Did I mention that already?

Oh, it goes on and on. Cry me a bleeding river.

Does Al Jazeera own AP? Just asking.
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Iran - More signs of unrest

Publius Pundit reports on Iranian women protesting for equal rights. He has lots of photos of unveiled women too.

Hundreds of women staged an unauthorized demonstration in Tehran today, protesting sex discrimination under Iran’s Islamic leadership just days before the June 17 presidential elections.

The protest was the first public display of dissent by women since the 1979 revolution, when the new regime enforced obligatory veiling. “We are women, we are the children of this land, but we have no rights,” they chanted. More than 250 marched outside Tehran University, and about 200 others demonstrated two blocks away after hundreds of riot police swarmed in and barred them from joining the main protest.

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America - Terrorists Canvassing New York?

The New York Post reports on some interesting goings on in New York. Subscription required but it's a short piece so here is the whole thing.

June 13, 2005 -- Police early today were questioning a Middle Eastern man who they say was carrying maps and sketches of the subway system.

He was part of a group of five or six Middle Eastern men discovered in a commercial building at 1173 Broadway in Brooklyn's Brownsville section by firefighters inspecting the sprinkler system at around noon. The firefighters said the men appeared to be acting suspiciously, and they called cops, who found the maps and sketches along with fake IDs. Cops took one man into custody. The others fled.

Note the date of the article is today, the 13th and says these guys were discovered around noon. That would make it Sunday. Noon on Sunday in a commerical building.

They were probably just lost tourists looking for some better quality fake IDs and maps of the subway.
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Iraq - Polls Show Iraqis Support Government

Chrenkoff points us to this poll which shows Iraqis overwhelmingly support their troops and government.

Recent polling data shows that fully two-thirds of Iraqis believe their country is headed in the right direction, Saboon said. While a poll in January showed only 11 percent of Sunni Muslims in Iraq shared that view, that percentage has since grown to 40, he said.

Though Sunnis largely didn't participate in the Transitional National Assembly election Jan. 30, that outlook has changed as well in anticipation of coming elections. Saboon, who is a Sunni, said 92 percent of eligible voters throughout Iraq and 80 percent of the country's Sunnis are likely to vote in the next election. [There goes the civil war .ed]

Saboon told the group that Iraqi security forces now have the confidence of 83 percent of Iraq's population, that 70 percent are confident in the transitional Iraqi government, and that 73 percent believe the government is representative of the Iraqi population.

The "vast majority" of Iraqis do not support the insurgency, Saboon said. He added that the presence of coalition forces ranks fifth among the concerns of Baghdad residents, who believe having good sewer services in the city is more important.

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Iraq - Good News Part 29

Chrenkoff's latest Good News Iraq Series is up. Go read all the good news MSM don't want you to know about.
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Britain - Muslim Appeasement Continues

The appeasement of Muslims in Britain continues. The election of George Galloway over the Labor candidate by Muslims must have shocked the British establishment. So, what do they do? They give a knighthood to the "Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain", Iqbal Sacranie.

You may remember Sacranie's more infamous quote: "There is no such thing as an Islamic terrorist. This is deeply offensive."

And Sacranie "...welcomed plans to make inciting religious hatred an offence."

But of course he does, because Sacranie says "Saying Muslims are terrorists would be covered by this provision'."

There you have it. According to Sacranie if you call bin Laden a terrorists you could be locked up under the proposed legislation.

Britain has already begun adopting Islamic law. Now they want more Islamic laws and have a Knight of the Realm to champion their cause.

Better get out your Korans folks, it's going to be a long struggle. And just in case we lose the struggle you might want to read Robert Spencer's "The Myth of Islamic Tolerance: How Islamic Law Treats non-Muslims." That would be the infidels - you and me.

Until it's banned under Britain's proposed Islamic law, you can buy the book here:



And I highly recommend all the books on the left sidebar. I'm currently reading "Islam Unveiled" and plan to post a review when I'm done reading it.

UPDATE

Daniel Pipes has more with links and note this:

Sacranie has been one of the most important advocates of radical Islam in the United Kingdom – so what could be more appropriate than to reward him with a hoary English title?

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America - Clinton Raped Hillary Produced Chelsea

That's what Drudge reports author Ed Klein alleges in his new book "THE TRUTH ABOUT HILLARY: WHAT SHE KNEW, WHEN SHE KNEW IT, AND HOW FAR SHE'LL GO TO BECOME PRESIDENT".

I'm no fan of the Clinton's but this seems a bit over the top. But as Drudge notes, Klein is not part of the Clinton's imagined "vast right wing conspiracy".

But Hillary and her camp may have a hard time typecasting Ed Klein as a Clinton-crazed right-winger. Klein is the former foreign editor of NEWSWEEK and former editor in chief of the NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE. He is a frequent contributor to VANITY FAIR and PARADE.

Klein and his publishers would therefore be well aware of the laws governing slander and libel and Hillary says she is "considering" legal action. I doubt she'll sue. It would give too much publicity to the Clinton's private life not to mention Klien's book. We shall see.

In the meantime, Drudge says this claim is just the beginning of the revelations.

You can buy the book here:



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Iran - Upheaval Growing

Regime Change Iran has a good round up, complete with photographs, of the latest protests and bombings in Iran. Just start at the top and scroll down.

Things are heating up.
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Iran - Fingering the Bad Guys

Nice of Human Rights Watch to point out the real bad guys for a change, instead of harping on non-existent torture at Gitmo or fabricated Koran desecration stories.

(New York, June 12, 2005) — Iran’s discriminatory election laws and the Guardian Council’s exclusion of candidates prevents Iranian voters from freely electing candidates or standing for public office, Human Rights Watch said today ahead of Friday’s presidential election.

In a 17-page briefing paper, “Access Denied: Iran’s Exclusionary Elections,” Human Rights Watch details how election laws prevent candidates outside the ruling elite from running for high public office. Iran’s Guardian Council, an unelected body of 12 Sh`ia Muslim clerics and religious jurists, had interpreted these laws to exclude all women as well as all candidates whose views are critical of the current leadership.

“Iran’s elections for all practical purposes are pre-cooked,” said Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East Division. “The Guardian Council appoints a few candidates, and then Iranians get to choose from this very restricted list.”

Of course, Jimmy Carter would disagree.
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