Category Archives: USA

The wages of multiculturalism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Yesterday’s bombers are still unknown, but their enablers on the Left are standing right in front of our eyes. It was Mayor Livingstone who openly praised and defended Islamofascist Sheikh Al Qaradawi as ‘a man of peace’. The radical Left imposed multiculturalism on Britain, which is of course left-wing political monoculturalism. Leftists in the educational system drilled generations of children to loathe their own political culture as morally inferior to the bloodiest tyrannies in the world. The Left has blocked any sensible British immigration reform, so that it became impossible to deport the most dangerous terrorists in the world.”

A rant from one James Lewis, which also contains the revelation that “it was Red Ken who scapegoated the half-Jewish leader of the Conservative Party in the recent election, in order to appeal to radical Muslims in London”. Must have missed that one.

American Thinker, 9 July 2005

Fascist quotes Qur’an to show Islam is not a religion of peace

Posted on by Bob Pitt

In an “open letter” to Sir Iqbal Sacranie and the Muslim Council of Britain, BNP leader Nick Griffin writes: “Terrorism; the slaughter of innocents; war against the Unbelievers; mass murder – all are (assuming the words of various Koranic verses are taken to have their ordinary English meanings) ‘justified’ in the Koran, and anyone who denies this is a liar. How can we say such Politically Incorrect things? Because we have studied the Koran….”

BNP website, 9 July 2005

This could have been lifted almost word for word from Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch, couldn’t it? In fact, if the racist filth that appears in the comments section of Spencer’s site is a guide to the sort of people who read his writings, it probably was.

Spencer must be really pleased with himself. Not only is he an influence on more “mainstream” right-wingers like Melanie Phillips, but his work also serves as an inspiration to out-and-out Nazis like Griffin.

‘Leaked No 10 dossier reveals Al-Qaeda’s British recruits’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Leaked No 10 dossier reveals Al-Qaeda’s British recruits,” the Sunday Times announces. Yeah, the same dossier the leaking of which was a hot news item in the Sunday Times … over a year ago. The same dossier which is used by the Sunday Times to suggest that thousands of British Muslims are potential supporters of terrorist attacks on the West because they attended a conference organised by Hizb ut-Tahrir – an organisation that unequivocally rejects terrorist attacks on the West.

Indeed, the leaked document concedes that Hizb ut-Tahrir “does not advocate violence”, that “membership or sympathy with such an organisation does not in any way pre-suppose a move towards terrorism”, and that at most “what it may indicate is the possibility of a few of its members being open to gradual consideration of far more extremist doctrine” …  while offering no evidence that any of them in fact have been.

Over at Jihad Watch, Rebecca Bynum posts the article as if it were some new revelation about the extent of Islamic terrorist organisation within the UK. But what can you expect from a site that repeatedly told its readers that Al-Muhajiroun was the largest Muslim organisation in Britain, and continued repeating this nonsense long after that tiny, marginal, extremist group had disbanded itself? You really wonder how much jihad watching the folks at Jihad Watch actually do.

Friedman wrong about Muslims again

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“To this day – to this day – no major Muslim cleric or religious body has ever issued a fatwa condemning Osama bin Laden”. Thomas Friedman’s monumentally ignorant claim in his New York Times article (see here) is demolished by Juan Cole.

Cole remarks: “I don’t personally care for Yusuf al-Qaradawi. He is an old-time Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood preacher who fled to Qatar and now has a perch at al-Jazeera. But he does have some virtues. He … absolutely despises Bin Laden and al-Qaeda. Al-Qaradawi has repeatedly condemned the latter. He even gave a fatwa that it was a duty of Muslims to fight alongside the US in Afghanistan against al-Qaeda!”

Informed Comment, 9 July 2005

Sheikh al-Qaradawi: Islam condemns the killing of innocent people

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Qaradawi2Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi has denounced the London bombings as “evil acts characterised by barbarity and savagery, which are condemned by Islam in the strongest of terms”.

Al-Qaradawi presented his condolences to the families of the victims who have lost their loved ones, stressing that “Islam and its scholars, regardless of their school of thought, stand against these acts which cannot be sanctioned by any faith, morality or law, regardless of the religion or race of their perpetrators”.

He also sent a special message of condolence to the Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, saying “we send special condolences to our dear friend the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, a man of integrity who has for long sincerely defended the rights of Arabs and Muslims”.

Islam Online, 7 July 2005

Of course, none of this prevents right-wing Islamophobes in the US attributing theological responsibility for the London bombings to Dr al-Qaradawi. See here and here

Juan Cole on the London bombings

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“After Abu Ghraib and Fallujah, many Muslims felt that Bin Laden’s dire warnings to them that the United States wanted to occupy their countries, rape their women, humiliate their men, and steal their assets had been vindicated. These claims were not credited by most of the world’s Muslims before the Iraq war. Opinion polls show that most of the world’s Muslims have great admiration for democracy and many other Western values. They object to the U.S. and the U.K. because of their policies, not their values….

“Long-term Western military occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq is simply not going to be acceptable to many in the Muslim world. U.S. actions at Abu Ghraib and Fallujah created powerful new symbols of Muslim humiliation that the jihadis who sympathize with al-Qaida can use to recruit a new generation of terrorists.”

Juan Cole on the London bombings.

Salon.com, 8 July 2005

Islamist takeover: the inevitabilty of gradualness

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The Islamists could make huge strides in their campaign to undermine Western societies if they used any tactic other than terror. And, in fact, in Great Britain, they have made incredible progress by playing upon Britain’s overindulgence of any minority complaint. Middle East scholar Daniel Pipes keeps a running chronicle of British abjectness on his website….

“If the Islamists had but the patience to play upon the guilt-ridden West’s weakness, they might have their victory in a few decades. Leaning over backwards has become so common in the West that its enemies could reasonably wonder whether any spine remained at all. Brutal attacks like that in London snap us back to reality and remind all but the most weak-minded Europeans and Americans that appeasement is nothing less than slow surrender.”

Mona Charen offers tactical advice.

TownHall.com, 8 July 2005

Putting Islam on the Stand

Posted on by Bob Pitt

In a recent criminal trial in Virginia, the prosecutor told the jury that the defendant couldn’t be trusted to tell the truth, that he would lie to their faces – all because of his religious beliefs.

The defendant, an American citizen accused of supporting terrorism, was convicted. The religion in question, of course, was Islam.

Now, the Virginia attorney representing Ali Al-Timimi is pushing for a new trial, saying that prosecutors secured the guilty verdict by appealing to religious bigotry against Muslims.

Continue reading →

‘And this is why they did it’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“There are many Muslims who believe that the idea that all other faiths have been ‘abrogated’ and that the whole of mankind should be united under the banner of Islam must be dropped as a dangerous anachronism. But to the Islamist those Muslims who think like that are themselves regarded as lapsed, and deserving of death.”

Right-wing Iranian exile Amir Taheri, one of the “thinkers” promoted by the neocon PR company Benador Associates, offers his explanation of the motives behind the London bombings. Note that Taheri adopts the same approach as the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty – blurring the difference between political Islam and terrorism in order to suggest that all “Islamists” are terrorists.

Times, 8 July 2005

Indeed, for Taheri, there is a clear overlap between mainstream Islam and terrorism: “Go to any mosque in the West (let alone in the Islamic countries) on any Friday and you are sure to hear a litany of woes about how the ‘cross-worshippers’ have allied themselves with the ‘plotting Jews’ in order to destroy Islam, which, as God’s final message, is the only true faith.”

New York Post, 8 July 2005

Robert Spencer warns against concessions to British Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Does Robert Spencer fear a racist backlash against British Muslims? Not at all. Rather, he expresses anxiety that the dhimmis of the UK will demonstrate excessive concern for Muslim sensibilities, “making it altogether possible that the London bombings will end up winning more concessions for Muslims in the UK than they would have won otherwise. The idea that they are lashing out in frustration because their legitimate grievance is not being redressed, combined with utter ignorance of the jihad ideology, could make 7/7 the end of resistance to the proposed religious hatred law, and the beginning of more accommodations.”

Dhimmi Watch, 8 July 2005