Category Archives: Right wing

‘CAIR’s airbrushed Islam’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Last Friday night I went on Alan Colmes’ radio show to discuss Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s suggestion that American mosques be wiretapped. Romney was right, I said, because American Muslims had not taken any concrete steps to separate jihadists and those with jihadist sympathies from their ranks. Colmes invoked in reply the condemnations of terror by the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). He chided me for not taking CAIR’s condemnation of terrorism at face value.”

Robert Spencer explains that Muslims who condemn terrorism can’t be taken seriously.

Human Events, 22 September 2005

‘Ontario: a shari’a-free zone’ (US Right backs WPI)

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Arjomand Front Page“Iranian exile Homa Arjomand scores a key victory for Western civilization,”  Front Page Magazine proclaims. Alyssa A. Lappen (for further articles by this author, see here and here) offers a gushing endorsement of the Islamophobic activities of a central committee member of the Worker Communist Party of Iran:

“When Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced on Sunday September 11 that Ontario would outlaw all forms of religious arbitration, including Islamic law or Shari’a, Western civilization won a great victory. For that success, Canada and the US owe their thanks to Iranian exile Homa Arjomand, director of the International Campaign Against Sharia Court (ICASC).”

Front Page Magazine, 20 September 2005

Homa Arjomand takes her place alongside Robert Spencer, Daniel Pipes and Jamie Glazov – which is exactly where she belongs.

‘Dundee students recruited by terrorist groups’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Islamic fundamentalists have used Dundee University as a recruiting ground for terrorists, a new study will warn this week. Shamsul Bahri Hussein, a suspect in the Bali bombing, was recruited at the institution, which is one of 30 universities that have been targeted by terror groups, it is claimed.

“Professor Anthony Glees, author of the study, is convinced that Hussein was recruited by militants while studying applied mechanics at Dundee in the 1980s. He is one of eight suspects wanted in connection with the 2002 bombing, which claimed 200 lives.

“‘What is clear is that Shamsul Bahri Hussein was a student at Dundee University’, said Glees, whose study, When Students Turn to Terror, coincides with a planned crackdown on radical student organisations by the government.”

Sunday Times, 18 September 2005

Yes, and that is about the only thing that is clear. Glees’s report states that Hussein “read applied mechanics at Dundee” … and that’s all! The report contains not a shred of evidence that even a single student was recruited to a terrorist group at Dundee University.

‘Don’t apologize, governor Romney!’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Andrew C. McCarthy gives his enthusiastic backing to Mitt Romney, the Massachusetts governor who called for the wiretapping of US moques.

National Review Online, 19 September 2005

But McCarthy’s plan – which would involve snooping on “not all mosques, but many of them” – is a bit liberal for Robert Spencer’s tastes: “The only problem here is that we cannot know which mosques need monitoring without monitoring them.” According to Spencer, 80% of mosques in the US are under “extremist” influence. Clearly, the only solution is to wiretap the lot.

Jihad Watch, 19 September 2005

‘Dundee students recruited by terrorist groups’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Islamic fundamentalists have used Dundee University as a recruiting ground for terrorists, a new study will warn this week. Shamsul Bahri Hussein, a suspect in the Bali bombing, was recruited at the institution, which is one of 30 universities that have been targeted by terror groups, it is claimed. Professor Anthony Glees, author of the study, is convinced that Hussein was recruited by militants while studying applied mechanics at Dundee in the 1980s. He is one of eight suspects wanted in connection with the 2002 bombing, which claimed 200 lives.

“‘What is clear is that Shamsul Bahri Hussein was a student at Dundee University’, said Glees, whose study, When Students Turn to Terror, coincides with a planned crackdown on radical student organisations by the government.”

Sunday Times, 18 September 2005

Yes, and that is about the only thing that is clear. Glees’s report states that Hussein “read applied mechanics at Dundee” … and that’s all! The report contains not a shred of evidence that even a single student was recruited to a terrorist group at Dundee University.

Bishops suggest apology for war

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Church of England bishops have suggested Christian leaders apologise to Muslim leaders for the war in Iraq. A report from a working group of bishops says the war was one of a “long litany of errors” relating to Iraq. As the government is unlikely to offer an apology, a meeting of religious leaders would provide a “public act of institutional repentance”, it said. It urges a “truth and reconciliation” meeting, but acknowledges that arranging it could be difficult.

The report, entitled Countering Terrorism: Power, Violence and Democracy Post 9/11, was written by a working group of the Church of England’s House of Bishops. It suggests the meeting would be an opportunity to apologise for the way the West has contributed to the situation in Iraq, including the war.

BBC News, 19 September 2005

Not a proposal that finds favour among the folks at Harry’s Place or their co-thinkers at
Jihad Watch

Islamophobia is not racism – Rod Liddle

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“When Islam appears on the agenda, the goalposts are moved: the normal rational thought processes are not applied. Suddenly those Left-liberal shibboleths are not very important: they can be forgotten. Append the description ‘Muslim’ to anyone and all bets are off; he or she can get away with pretty much anything, be it the execution of homosexuals or the idea that Jews and Freemasons are running the government. This springs from the misconception, widespread on the Left, that being anti-Islam is in some way ‘racist’. It is not. It has nothing to do with race.”

Another anti-Muslim rant by Rod Liddle in the Spectator, 17 September 2005

“Nothing to do with race”? Well, apart from the fact that the overwhelming majority of Muslims are non-white, of course. But then, Liddle claims that his hardline anti-immigration stance has nothing to do with race either.

He identifies racism narrowly with prejudice against people on the basis of their skin colour. This of course ignores the fact that racist propaganda these days more often takes the form of diatribes against the supposed undermining of “British” values by “alien” cultures. From which standpoint Liddle is clearly categorisable as a racist.

Muslim groups, others call for Romney apology

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A coalition of Muslim and civil-libertarian organizations yesterday demanded that Gov. Mitt Romney apologize for suggesting earlier this week that some mosques be wiretapped. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee of Massachusetts delivered a letter, co-signed by 21 other organizations, saying Romney’s comments depicted Muslims living in the United States as potential or actual terrorists.

“Governor Romney, the safety of Massachusetts is built upon the trust all residents – citizens and immigrants – have in their government,” the letter stated. “Your willingness to profile and scapegoat an entire community based on religious affiliation only serves to erode trust and increase fear.”

Lowell Sun, 17 September 2005

See also Boston Globe, 17 September 2005