Of the Saddam Connection and Al Qaeda's Unraveling

The Press from Hell has really done it this time, or so it seems. Things are moving on the counter terrorism front you wouldn't believe! Or perhaps you do ... judge for yourself:

- American Thinker: "A Quiet Triumph May be Brewing" by Ray Robison - "There are signs that the global Islamic jihad movement is splitting apart, in what would be a tremendous achievement for American strategy. The center of the action is in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the very territory which is thought to harbor Usama, and from which Al Qaeda was able to launch 9/11. Capitalizing on existing splits, a trap was set and closed, and the benefits have only begun to be evident."

"This cannot be overstated: it is the most crucial development since the capture of Khalid Sheik Mohammed. Cutting al Qaeda's support in Pakistan has been a massive coup, of which our media has no clue of right now. It is the exact sort of thing that the Democrats and their media accomplices always complain that we are not doing and then completely ignore when we do it."

"By way of correlation, you may remember that the German government recently arrested Islamic terrorists planning an attack on US targets. It turns out that those men were trained and controlled by Uzbek terror camps in Pakistan -- this time meaning actual Uzbeks. The stated purpose of the attack was to force the German military to cease operations at an Uzbekistan base which is supporting operations in Afghanistan. The German terrorists were part of the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU) which is an offshoot of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). Other recent reports have noted that the order to the terrorists to start the attacks stated it was crucial for them to "go now" and attack within days during early September."

"To cause the German public to demand an end to operations in Afghanistan just as the Madrid train bombings caused the Spaniards to demand an end to that government's involvement in the war on terror. Since the Germans are the only western forces allowed to operate in Uzbekistan this would help al Qaeda forces trapped in Tora Bora."

"The Bush Administration, most likely through the CIA and DIA, has pulled off a fantastic maneuver to split the global Islamic jihad movement at its base. This is the kind of stuff we may not hear about in detail for another fifty years. Congratulations to our President and our brave soldiers and intelligence assets for making this happen. Al Qaeda is losing in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The fact is now inescapable that they have lost the ability to impose their political will on the West, athough this does not mean ...."

Here's a link to a 3D map of Tora Bora, Afghanistan which ran in Time Magazine in 2001.

Here's the entire article! It reads like a spy novel ...! >>>

Wait, there's more by the same author. We already touched the subject in yesterday's digest. The Saddam-Al Qaeda connection!


- American Thinker: "Al Qaeda's Man in Saddam's Iraq" - "As is widely known, Zarqawi was indeed moving between Iraq and Iran at this time but his links to al Qaeda and reasons for being in Iraq have been contested."

"As I explained in a previous American Thinker article, he was indeed al Qaeda and he was in Iraq to fight Americans instead of Saddam. In that article I detailed how the Jordanian population had become more radicalized by a “jihad stream” of Palestinian refugees who were kicked out of Kuwait by that government for collaborating with Saddam when Iraq invaded in 1990. Those Jordanians, like Zarqawi, were directed by an al Qaeda associate named al Barqawi."

"Zarqawi’s mentor Barqawi was a Saddam sympathizer and al Qaeda affiliate who sent these Jordanian-Palestinians to Iraq to fight the Americans. Clearly these Jordanian-Palestinians were not in Iraq to impose their own brand of regime change on Saddam; they were there to kill US forces."

"Now a man named Hamid Mir, who is an Executive Editor for Geo TV in Islamabad, Pakistan, writing for the popular India news website rediff.com, reveals his inside knowledge ... >>>

Gates of Vienna: Join the Art Project!

"Inspired by Knute at Every Kinda People, Conservative Swede conceived the idea of the Öland Modoggie Free Speech Flag, and asked for my help in executing it. As CS explains below, by doing this we become part of Lars Vilks’ grand art project.

This all came about because an angry Pakistani mob, thinking they were burning a Swedish flag, burned a green and yellow flag by mistake. Conservative Swede wrote to me about it the other day:

"The green/yellow flag “meme” is already spreading somewhat. The green/yellow flag is a real Scandinavian flag, but for the tiny island Öland. Kurt Lundgren (a great Swedish blogger) is from Öland and made fun of how the diplomatic relations between Pakistan and Öland now are worse than ever."

From a tiny grain of sand grows a great lustrous pearl, and so Conservative Swede presents…Join the Art Project!" ... read it all >>>

Of Free Range Porky & The Return of Talib's Mum

It's been some time since we've done loose niche noos. There are some worth the bother:

The MS (and not so MS) M:

- Military.com: "China's People's Liberation Army hacked into a computer network at the Pentagon in an attack that has US officials concerned about the growing regularity and sophistication of China's technological assaults" ... "two days before German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao in Beijing last week (that) Chinese hackers had infiltrated German government computers with spy programs." >>>

- The BBC is reporting that the Mother of the Taliban is heading home: "Former Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto says she will return to the country "very soon", despite having reached no power-sharing deal with the government ... she would announce the date of her return on 14 September." >>>

- EUX: (N.B.!) "The European Commission ... on Monday outlined what it called "radical" changes to its relations with the countries that border on the union ... European Commission Vice President Benita Ferrero-Waldner said the Commission proposes to open up the European markets to workers, services and goods from the EU's neighbours." >>>

From Stop the Islamization of Europe (SIOE) Headquarters:

- SIOE HQ: There have been some rumours that different political parties and organisations have planned to hold several demonstrations in Brussels (on 9/11). This could not be further from the truth! ... we are brothers and sisters for this one day. ... No Sharia Here! Democracy not Theocracy! Enough is Enough! >>>

The Blogs:

- Flanders Fields: "The next step toward the dissolution of the USA was officially put into place on Saturday. The beginning of the NAU (North American Union) has now been officially established ... This is the American equivalent of the forcing of the EU constitution on the people of the formerly independent states of Europe ... The intent is ... to merge areas which were once sovereign into manageable regional authorities, and that there will be no cohesive group which has power to oppose the consolidation ... wait until you face the interjection of innumerable regulatory committees into the bureaucracy of such an entity. Europeans already face this ... The same fate is planned for the USA and it's citizens, of that I have no doubt. >>>

- A different take on dysfunction in Islamic societies, by The Truth Shall Set You Free's Justin Halter, Professor of comparative religions, a rare species in contemporary humanity, the Seeker of Truth: "Arabs formalized and guaranteed permanent polygamy through their religion, and thus introduced a powerful destabilizing element in their own societies ... This continual and perpetual shortage of women created a continual and perpetual surplus of warriors, fodder for the expansion of the society through conquest. >>>

- "Chimes of Freedom!" Let Liberty Reign! Let Freedom Ring! ... or A Real Live Example of Narcissistic Awe or Psychological Projection (probably both): if you think of yourself as a nice and peaceful person, while actually you are full of wrath and hatred, the psychological coping device of projection makes the object of your wrath the one that's hateful, divisive, full of vitriol and bile, bigoted, intolerant and hatemongering ... something like:

"BS! This blog is very much an incitement to racial hatred ... the cynicism of capitalist business organisations ... endorse fascist movements ... Fascists and racists are not so much birds of prey but scavengers ... should (not) be tolerated ... by allowing scum the freedom to publish, both Blogger and Google put themselves among the lowest and most vile company of the human species. ... the scum of the earth, the lowest of the low, parasites, viruses indeed, unworthy of living ... The sooner they are dealt with, prevented from spewing their venom, the better ... nothing but a lowly coward ... canaille are parasites, blood-suckers who feed like vultures ... devils like Bush, Blair & Co whose interest is ... to rape the Earth and its peoples. It is THEY who are the Evil Ones, the "forces of dajjal" as Islam calls them ... We remind these new chickenhawk fascists of the words of the Spanish Internationale: "¡No Pasaran! In this filthy game you dare to play, you will not win ... the phrase 'Peace be Unto Him' ... is "Hello, my friend, I respect you." Similarly PBUH." >>>

More from the Dept. of Information next time round. For those who - in the face of perpetual persecution by 'the voice of freedom' and his ilk - wish to join me in a request to Blogger to reinstate the publishing rights of the culprits, Le Blog de Cochon Hallal, go here.
Bees pee upon them all (BPUTA)!
Hat tip: Le Blog de Cochon Hallal

Updating throughout the day, as The News As We Like To Report It, presents itself.

Update: In Denmark and Germany four and three men were apprehended respectively in 'major terrorist threats'. Of the lot arrested in Germany, two were converts to Islam. I'd like to make a prediction here and now that within the foreseeable future most terrorist threats will come from converts, men and women. Sad, but true. They are certainly as fanatical as jihadis ("the fire of the convert" is proverbial) and about three times as pathological! Of course you have to be an insane totalitarian in the first place to resort to such practices.

Biding our Time

If things seem a little uninspired lately it's because we're working on an in-depth series of posts regarding the Neo-com story. We've dug out some insightful and at times disconcerting new information on the subject, which is to be the next main political development in postmodern history.
Therefore today again assorted news items:

- Ominous news is emerging from Pakistan, a Muslim country with a strong strain of the fundamental variety, a nuclear power, a country with uninhabitable mountain areas under Taliban rule, and a military strongman as President who seems to be losing it. An interesting article from Canada's National Post.

- CNN is reporting that the Lebanese security forces are doing battle with Sunni jihadist operatives near the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp: Islamic militants, security forces battle in Lebanon. Jerusalem Post is reporting the possibility of Syrian involvement, and thinks it knows why: Analysis: Why might Syria wish to sow chaos in Lebanon now?

Not reported by the Western media:

- Israeli Army vows to operate till Hamas surrenders
- Qassam hits house in Eshkol town
- Barrage continues: 16 Qassams hit western Negev

Quick, while it's still legal ...! Part 3.

- While we are on the subject, let me remind you of part 1.

- For those of real short memory, here's part 2.

- And for those who, contrary to expectations, may have any illusions if the Pakistan and OIC initiative towards defamation of Islam were to become reality, here's part 3.

Good night.

Quick, while it's still legal ...!

Let me write this quickly while it's still legal. A new low watermark in humanity's march backwards has passed virtually unnoticed by the mainstream media, except perhaps significantly by a brave little Calvinist newspaper in the Netherlands, Reuters and the Jerusalem Post.

On Friday 30th March the United Nations Human Rights Council - yes, the one which was silently set up last year to replace the Human Rights Commission, which was simply too much disgraced to keep on - adopted a Resolution by 24-14, calling for combating defamation of religion. It was drafted and tabled by the OIC, the Organization of Islamic Conference [1].

Superficially this may seem beneficial for humanity as a whole - except perhaps for those radical enlighteners that like to bring trumped up charges to bear on Christianity, as if a giant autocratic theocracy headed by Benedict XVI or Bartholomew I is just a matter of days, not months. This Resolution however is almost exclusively drafted in defence of Islam at the expense of basic human rights.

The Resolution was an initiative of Pakistan's President Musharaf. Since he is not a democratically elected head of state and sits at the pleasure of radical elements in the army and elsewhere, it may be assumed his initiative primarily serves a domestic purpose. As a 'friend of the West' he is in a perpetual balancing act, playing two boards at once.

The telling lack of media interest perhaps stems from the fact that such politically motivated Resolutions are passed quite regularly and have no teeth to speak of. This new U.N. body for human rights is rapidly going the same way as its predecessor, as we shall see. Still, a trend has been already set, and bit by bit inroads are made towards exchanging Western inspired universal human rights for less enlightened ones, with the help and assistance of indigenous crypto-totalitarians who have declared war on occidental ethnocentricity in the name of multiculturalism.

The Resolution also sheds light on the Danish Mohammed cartoon hysterics of last year. It has been estabished that this was a carefully choreographed piece of agit-prop in the best Marxist-Leninist tradition, the Islamist's revolutionary model of choice. It was thought at the time that the ulterior motives of the riots of hate were, well ... the riots of hate. It is now becoming clear they may have been concerted to provide a context and excuse for tabling and pushing this U.N. sponsored ban on the freedom of expression where 'the good name of Islam' is concerned. Here's another suggestion.

It should however not be confused with blasphemy, the defamation of God. Rather, it is towards a ban on insulting the religion of Islam and its Prophet, a crime for which many people are rotting away in prison cells, at best: just recently an Egyptian blogger was jailed for four years.

This text on the contrary has nothing to do with anyone's God. It astonishingly speaks of "attempts to identify Islam with terrorism, violence and human rights violations, the ethnic and religious profiling of Muslim minorities in the aftermath of the tragic events of 11 September 2001" and "urges states to provide protection and take resolute action to prohibit the dissemination ... of racist and xenophobic ideas and material".

In Eurabian style it even goes on to urge supposedly democratic states "to ensure that all public officials, including members of law enforcement bodies, the military, civil servants and educators, in the course of their official duties, respect different religions and beliefs and do not discriminate against persons on the grounds of their religion or belief, and that any necessary and appropriate education or training is provided ... on all manifestations of defamation of religions and in particular on the serious implications of Islamophobia on the enjoyment of all rights". I'm sure there are some Purple [2] dominated governments to be found that are more than happy to oblige.

The full text can be read here: minutes of the entire session at the UN site. As it's a bit of a stretch and a puzzle, here's the digest on this particular Resolution.

As a genetically determined Roman Catholic I heartily thank the Organization of Islamic Conference for speaking on my behalf. But still I'd rather they didn't, for the following reasons:

As multiculturalists well know - reason why they want to abolish them as ethnocentric - the universal human rights as mentioned in the Resolution, are based on Christian teaching. As long as Christians are prevented from freely practicing their faith in Islamic countries, indeed are killed and prosecuted, this reads as hypocrisy.

The liberally used designation, especially in tuition text books, of Jews and Christians as pigs and monkeys, is not consistent with peaceful coexistence and are parts of Islam that for starters might hit the religious antiquities and curiosa cellar, just as a gesture of good will.

The text of the Resolution is specifically addressing the West, the source and vessel of universal human rights. There is not a country in the West however in which the rights are Muslims are not upheld, even to the point of positive action at the expense of the indigenous populations and at the detriment of social cohesion.

This Resolution should be addressed instead to the Governments of those Islamic countries that violate human rights on a daily basis - primarily because such rights are not rooted in their religion - as some Islamic radicals do not stop to point out.

Moreover, it is an attempt to curtail the freedom of expression that is also a basic right in Western societies. In fact, this is the reason the OIC is able to draft this Resolution and bring it to bear in an international forum, in the first place.

Furthermore it has the undesired effect, of confirming radical and assertive seculars in their belief that religion as a whole is against freedom, is dictatorial, undemocratic, backward, obscurantist, and a danger to those same human rights they portent not to believe in as occidental hegemonism. It thus provides these secular ignoramuses with a stick to beat Christianity in particular and religion as a whole: they see it as a matter of "freedom of speech versus religion". Islam is spared because of its socially constructed victimhood, while religion gets a bad name.

Implementation of laws against religious defamation will either lead us up the path of semi-Soviet or French style secularism (laïcité), the banning of all religious expressions to the fringes of society and seclusion within the home, the state and public space being thus religiously neutralized; or the Anglo-Saxon variety will breed a Hobbesian, sectarian, multicultural wasteland of perpetual tribal war, of all against all. We could call that also the Balkan, or Yugoslav model. Either way, it leads to a totalitarian dictatorship.

Clean Monday News Items

Although I'm preparing a major piece with astonishing revelations on the favorite subject, today Ash Monday (in Greek Clean Monday, Kathara Devtera) some noteworthy news items. First, what happened to Geert Wilders, the Freedom Party's M.P. in the Dutch Parliament? Well, never a dull moment, as they say.

For starters he's doubting if he should go on a Parliamentary 'fact-finding mission' to Pakistan and Afghanistan shortly. He's already on 24/7 police protection and he just hurled a major insult at the Prophet, hypothetically advocating deportation accompanied by tar and feathers treatment. Since this is punishable by death in Pakistan it is perhaps to be recommended to either stay at home or consider a trip to the sea-side instead.

Before he does so, it is to be decided if he should perhaps retract the whole blasphemous thing, including his words regarding the Koran, of which he said that half should be trashed before it becomes a respectable book. The Saudi government is 'unofficially' demanding a retraction and an apology to the ummah. I wouldn't go to Pakistan, if I were Geert. Doing so would be wreckless.

Equal rights for all ... except for Dutch municipal registry officials, if the Amsterdam 'gay community' gets their way. Not content with getting the preposterous concept of same sex marriage generally accepted, the Amsterdam Pink Action Group (or whatever the name of this little pressure society is) is insisting that present freedom of conscience of marriage officials - having the right to refuse marrying gay couples should they wish so - should be abolished. Mind you, they're still able to marry, only the proceedings will be done by an official who has no scruples in that regard. The 'gay community' however is as persistent as ever and is of the opinion, if there are officials with uncalled for discriminatory pangs of the conscience, they should go find themselves another job.

Expatica is reporting that "in the first nine months of last year almost 100,000 people left the Netherlands to settle elsewhere, 12,000 more than the same period in 2005... About half of the emigrants were Dutch natives ... if the trend continues, more than 130,000 people will have left the country by the end of this year.

Lebanon's Daily Star is reporting that British Anti-Terror Law also protects tyrants and dictators. Seems to me lawmakers are increasingly less able to do so. Loopholes and unintended effects abound!

The same paper also assures us that spring is in the air: The Taliban have deployed 10,000 fighters for a spring offensive of "bloody attacks" against foreign troops in Afghanistan, a rebel commander said on Friday.

Ending with some good news for the day! There are signs the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe is starting to show cracks as last! But it isn't a painless process ... Inflation has hit 1600 percent and "discontent is very high up to mid-level officers. They do not earn enough to buy basic groceries. They are suffering the hardships all of us suffer now, yet they are the ones Mugabe depends upon to be ruthless in putting down any opposition. It adds up to trouble for Mugabe."

Dissecting relativism, The Base (I): Demolishing relativism and its obnoxious relatives

The International political situation is getting more complicated and news items are getting grimmer by the day. While the Iranian, Syrian and Turkish wolves are encircling the dying remnants of Mesopotamia, ready to carve it up into three parts, rid it of its oil reserves and call such a concept as an independent Kurdish state a prospect of the past, Lebanon and Palestine are in trouble in more ways than one. In the meantime Pakistan is doing business in the time-honoured way in that part of the world, by playing two or more tableaus at once, and saying yes and doing another. Lest we forget we owe the existence of the Taliban to Pakistan, then ruled by the first female Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto! Apparently the hens are coming home to roost.
I belief it is just a matter of time before the fur starts flying seriously. The only question is whom against whom?

In the meantime I owe a book review of "Without Roots" (tagged The West, Relativism, Christianity, Islam) and co-written by Marcello Pera, Professor of Science Philosophy at the University of Pisa and former President of the Italian Senate, and Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, as Pope Benedict XVI was known before his election. Since however, this book is nothing less than at the very heart of this blog, I can hardly treat it as any other. If I followed what I'd really wish, I'd dissect it here page by page, word by word. But that would be taking the entire book apart, which would ne'er do. So, I think it suffices to say with sincere respect, but in rather domestic terms, that this is The Cookery Book for the next thirty to forty years or so, or at least until we have rid ourselves of the bane of our time, relativism and its big bully of a brother deconstructionism, including its little ugly cousins once removed, political correctness and multiculturalism. But we can analyse the problem, can't we?

Dissecting relativism, The base (I) (which is al qa'ida in Arabic, but that's just an unpleasant coincidence and is neither here nor there).
The West's secularization, which has firmly set in at the end of World War II, is still in progress, but if signs don't deceive us at a less rapid pace than during the period roughly between 1980 and 2000. But by now there have been generations of children growing up without having learned about their Christian heritage, either from their parents or their (secular) teachers. Mom and dad have done away with faith and the church as something of their parents and grandparents', a relic of the past which has no place in modern society, that is all about getting an education, a home and a car, keeping up with the holidays of the neighbours and all other material wealth we think we need to be happy and healthy.

As the years went by this generation of baby-boomers rid themselves of the last remnants of their Christian "hang-up" of their youths: a frustrated sexuality, the feeling of being watched from above and the angst of being punished for bad mistakes in the after-life. Subconsciously they retained however a basic Christian morality: nothing elaborate, but what we must, or shouldn't do, like killing other people or stealing. But they also still felt guilty about telling lies and they kept true to other past values as solidarity, compassion, empathy and belief in the truth.

Of course they didn't want to "lumber" their children with the fears and inhibitions of their youths, so what the younger generation got from the faith of their parents were a few atmospheric stories for under the Christmas tree and a vague historical account of what is Easter. Christian official feast days could just as well be called bank holidays for all they are worth: a day to sleep in from the night before and keep up with the admin or homework. If those children happened to attend a faith-based school, their knowledge and awareness may go a little further than just skin-deep, but not very much. That is the extent of it.
To be continued.

Bizarre, bewildered and unconscious

Recently I've seen an interview with bizarre Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen) and frankly, I didn't think him all that funny. But now, it seems, he's got the Hysterical Women's Lib up in arms ("It doesn't really matter that a woman's brain is smaller than a man's", or words to that effect). Now I'm all for him. Long live Borat! That he may continue shocking the P.C.s for a very long time to come. In fact, I can even do better than that: here's The Unofficial Site! Watch, read, listen and imagine the indignation ... enjoy!


Which brings me to a very pressing bit of discourse, which I thought we were done with some forty years ago, when it became the done thing to poke fun at royalty, clergy and authority. Compared to what we are seeing today, makes what was done then, seem like a stroll in the park. Elsevier is reporting about a website (geenstijl.nl, no style dot nl) for youngsters (pfff, am I getting old!) which shows a girl being sick by undue cannabis use; this picture is obviously hilarious and the author is paid due homage as the true hero that he is. Clips and footage shown on this site are often undergoing an editing process for comic and unseemly result and never mind facts or truth. One of it's victims (who is no angel himself!) is considering legal action; the authors so confronted had one typical reaction: "Krijg de tyfus", which means exactly what you think it does! As if that is not representative enough of the moral and philosophical low ebb of the discourse, one commentator's contribution to the critical article in Elsevier is "your attempt at censoring annoys me" (Ik vind de sensuur ... storend"). Let us pray ... long and hard!


It's not all bad news though. The BBC is reporting that Pakistan's parliament has voted to amend the country's strict Sharia laws on rape and adultery. There may be some hope yet of bringing Islamic practice somewhat into step with what we have come to think of as universal human rights and civilization.


Back to polder now where a right-wing politician Marco Pastors, a follower of the assassinated Pim Fortuyn, makes no bones about the self-censorship under Islamic fundamentalist duress of journalists, comedians, columnists, politicians, and so on and so forth, in short the apologists, appeasers and cowards:

The islamization of The Netherlands resembles the growth of Nazism in Germany
in the twenties and thirties (red. of the last century). The extremists are setting the agenda and the establishment sits idle.

It's a bit of a tall order (?) and it is after all campaign time, but I am reserving judgment until 20 years from now.