Cartoon inspired by Mark Steyn’s claim that “the real suicide bomb is ‘multiculturalism'”.
See the Daily Telegraph, 19 July 2005
Category Archives: USA
‘Terrorism expert’ denounces US fatwa
“Terrorism expert” Steven Emerson (you remember him – the man who insisted that Muslims were responsible for the 1995 Oklahoma bombing) pours scorn on a recent fatwa against terrorism and extremism (see here) issued by Muslim leaders in the US and Canada:
“In fact, the fatwa is bogus. Nowhere does it condemn the Islamic extremism ideology that has spawned Islamic terrorism….. It does not condemn by name any Islamic group or leader. In short, it is a fake fatwa designed merely to deceive the American public into believing that these groups are moderate…. I spoke with Judea Pearl, father of murdered journalist Daniel Pearl who told me that the fatwa was ‘vacuous because it does not name the perpetrators of Islamic terrorist theologies and leaders of Islamic movements like Yousef Al Qaradawi, Osama Bin Laden, Ayman Al Zawahari, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, etc.’”
Counterterrorism Blog, 28 July 2005
That would be the same Qaradawi who was the subject of a sympathetic article by Daniel Pearl in the Wall Street Journal, would it? (See here.)
British school students get ‘know Islam’ kits
A British council has presented resource packs covering the basic teachings of Islam to primary schools across the London borough of Harrow in an effort to provide a better understanding of the Muslim faith, according to a local paper.
“The new resources will help school staff further develop their approach to high quality teaching of Islam – a religion that is far too often misunderstood,” the Harrow Times quoted as saying Councillor Navin Shah, leader of Harrow Council, which has become the first to fully fund the teaching of Islam in primary schools.
The resource packs include books, artifacts, CDs, videos and teaching aids covering the basic Muslim beliefs and practices through interactive class projects.
Resources for secondary schools are also being developed and will be available to schools across the borough, according to the paper.
The packs for primary schools were produced by the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), in partnership with the Department of Education and Skills.
“We believe education is the key to creating a vibrant and understanding society,” MCB Secretary General, Iqbal Sacranie, told Harrow Times. “These resources, developed by our team of educationalists, aim to support the teaching of Islam in schools by making available creative, engaging and child-friendly resources on Islam and Muslims.”
Robert Spencer is understandably outraged that an extreme Islamist organisation like the Muslim Council of Britain should be allowed this opportunity to undermine the foundations of western society.
Nuke Mecca? Nope
Robert Spencer reassures us that he doesn’t support nuclear attacks on Islam’s holy sites. Aside from anything else, “it contravenes Western principles of justice which, if discarded willy-nilly, would remove a key reason why we fight at all: to preserve Western ideas of justice and human rights that are denied by the Islamic Sharia law so beloved of jihad terrorists”.
Front Page Magazine, 28 July 2005
Well, we certainly look forward to Spencer explaining how the proposal made by his colleague Rebecca Bynum yesterday – that terrorist outrages should be met with reciprocal attacks on Muslim civilians – can be implemented while remaining true to those well-established Western principles of justice and human rights.
And it’s worth noting that Spencer’s supporters are quite taken aback by his refusal to support what they regard as Tancredo’s perfectly reasonable call for nuclear retaliation. See Jihad Watch, 28 July 2005
Homeowner removes Quran ‘flushing’ display
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said today that one of its representatives helped convince a Florida man to remove a toilet in his yard with a sign attached that read: “Koran flush 1 p.m.” (See here)
The owner of the toilet said it was designed to honor those who died in the 9/11 attacks and in Iraq. It was also retribution, he said, for what he believed to be a failure of Muslims to object to the terrorism of extremists. (See here)
After CAIR-FL Central Florida Director Ahmed Bedier learned of complaints about the display, he went to the home to take a picture. When he noticed that the owner was home, he knocked on the door to inquire about the motivation for the display. Bedier, who happened to have his laptop computer with him, showed the homeowner some of the Muslim condemnations of terrorism and CAIR’s “Not in the Name of Islam” public service announcement. After about an hour of discussion, the homeowner offered to take down the toilet display. (See here)
“This incident proves that anti-Muslim prejudice decreases whenever ordinary people are given accurate information about Islam and have personal interactions with Muslims,” said CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. Hooper thanked the homeowner for his willingness to change his preconceived ideas about Islam and Muslims.
Robert Spencer uncovers British jihadists (not)
“Jihadist groups operate ‘with impunity’ in UK.” Well, it must be true. Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch says so, and he has it on the authority of General Musharraf of Pakistan. You couldn’t find more reliable sources than that, could you?
However, when you read the Times article on which Spencer’s claim is based (see here), you find the only two “jihadist groups” that Musharraf claims “operate with full impunity” in Britain are Al-Muhajiroun, which dissolved itself last year, and Hizb ut-Tahrir, which states:
“Hizb ut-Tahrir is convinced that the change we seek must start in the minds of people and we do not accept for people or societies to be forced to change by violence and terror. Consequently, Hizb ut-Tahrir does not advocate or engage in violence. The party strictly adheres to Islamic law in all aspects of its work. It is an Islamic intellectual and political entity that seeks to change people’s thoughts through intelligent discussion and debate. We consider that Islamic law forbids violence or armed struggle against the regime as a method to re-establish the Islamic State.”
A sect that has a negative impact on Muslim communities in Britain, you could argue. But a “jihadist group”? I don’t think so.
Nuke Mecca? Don’t rule it out, says Jihad Watch
Rebecca Bynum proposes the killing of Muslim civilians in retaliation for terrorist bombings:
To fight a terrorist war waged by Muslim civilians, we have no choice but to impose retaliatory measures on Muslim civilians, thereby impeding the advance of Islam, for that is the only thing the Islamic terrorists value, and this is by the standards of Islam they follow. Human life is, for true believing Muslims, famously Hobbesian – ‘nasty, brutish and short’ affair. Human life is not something cherished by Muslims; to be nurtured and preserved above all things, the way it is in our own Judeo-Christian tradition. The ideal Muslim life is one that is sacrificed for Islam. Therefore, we must make certain kinds of Muslim sacrifice, namely suicide bombings designed to kill infidels, totally untenable, and so damaging to the umma, the Community of Believers, and so damaging to the other instruments of Jihad, that the terrorism will cease, or be severely limited in scope.
Are these people seriously loopy, or what? We look forward to Melanie Phillips (who appears to have developed a mutual admiration for Jihad Watch) taking up this suggestion in her next Daily Mail column.
US Muslims call comments by radio show host ‘hate-filled’
A local radio talk show host touched off complaints from an Islamic civil rights organization yesterday after repeatedly describing Islam on the air as “a terrorist organization” that is “at war with America.”
The organization, the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), asked the station to take disciplinary action against Michael Graham, who hosts WMAL-AM’s late-morning call-in program. A station executive, Randall Bloomquist, said yesterday that Graham’s comments were “amped up” but justified within the context of the program. He said the station, which is owned by the Walt Disney Co., had no plans to reprimand Graham.
The show host touched off the flap during a discussion of the Muslim community’s response to recent acts of terrorism. Graham suggested the fault lies with Muslims generally because religious leaders and followers haven’t done enough to condemn and root out extreme elements. “The problem is not extremism,” Graham said, according to both CAIR and the station. “The problem is Islam.” He also said, “We are at war with a terrorist organization named Islam.”
London bombings due to lax immigration policies, multiculturalism (it says here)
“Sadly, many metropolitan leaders seem less than prepared to meet today’s current terrorist threat head-on, in part due to the trendy multiculturalism that now characterizes so many Western cities. Consider London’s multiculturalist Mayor Ken Livingstone, who last year actually welcomed a radical jihadist, Egyptian cleric Sheik Yusuf Qaradawi, to his city….
“In continental Europe, multiculturalism has been elevated to a kind of social dogma, exacerbating the separation between Muslim immigrants and the host society. For decades, immigrants have not been encouraged or expected to accept German, Dutch or British norms, nor have those societies made efforts to integrate the newcomers. Not surprisingly, jihadist agitation has flourished in Hamburg, Amsterdam, Madrid, Berlin and Paris as well as London.
“If cities are to survive in Europe or elsewhere, they will need to face this latest threat to urban survival with something more than liberal platitudes, displays of pluck and willful determination. They will have to face up to the need for sometimes harsh measures, such as tighter immigration laws, preventive detention and widespread surveillance of suspected terrorists, to protect the urban future.
“They will also need to institute measures that encourage immigrants to assimilate, such as fostering greater economic opportunity for newcomers or enforcing immersion in the national language and political institutions.”
Joel Kotkin in the Washington Post, 24 July 2005
Hispanic, Islamic groups want Tancredo out
Hispanic and Muslim groups called on US Republican Tom Tancredo to resign, saying he has embarrassed Colorado by suggesting that Americans bomb Islamic holy sites if terrorists launch a nuclear attack on the United States.
They also criticised the Republican congressman’s staunch advocacy of tougher immigration controls. “Enough is enough. We’re here to say ‘Stop,”‘ Hispanic activist Manolo Gonzalez-Estay told a crowd of about 200 people at the state Capitol.
Abdur-Rahim Ali, imam of the Northeast Denver Islamic Center, said Tancredo’s statement that “you could take out” Islamic holy sites in a retaliatory attack was unacceptable. “What would happen if a prominent Muslim made that statement about Catholic holy places like the Vatican?” asked Ali.
Tancredo’s spokesman, Will Adams, said the four-term congressman would not comment on the rally, but has no intention of apologising or resigning. “They are a lot more upset about what he stands for, our nation’s security and border policy, than anything else,” Adams said.