Category Archives: USA

An anatomy of the London bombing

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“To criticize Islamic fascism is supposedly to be unfair to Islam, so we allow on our own shores mullahs and madrassas to spread hatred and intolerance, as part of our illiberal acceptance of ‘not offending Islam’. It is not that we don’t believe in Western values as much as we don’t even know what they are anymore. The London bombings were only a reification of what goes on daily with impunity blocks away in the mosques and Islamist schools of London.”

Victor Davis Hanson on the London bombings.

National Review, 8 July 2005

WPI blames ‘the Islamic movement’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Such attacks are part of the wretched and cruel track record of the Islamic movement against innocent people, which places bombs in public places, carries out assassinations, killings, torture, execution and repression.” Thus the Worker Communist Party of Iran on the London bombings.

Note the use of the term “the Islamic movement” – which conveniently blurs the distinctions between Islam, political Islamism in all its shades, and Islamist terrorist groups.

WPI press release, 8 July 2005

For an alternative assessment, which analyses the terrorist acts of violent jihadist groups in terms of the contradictions and conflicts within Islam and Islamism, read Marc Lynch. He argues that the London attacks arise in part from an attempt at reassertion by the terrorist tendency within Islamism, who had been increasingly marginalised by reformists such as Qaradawi and Huwaydi:

“The London attack can be seen as an attempt by al-Qaeda to impose itself on this internal argument among Islamists and Muslims in the way it knows best: a spectacular, violent attack. A throw of the dice – an attempt to turn the debate back to clashes of civilizations, of an inevitable conflict between the West and Islam, of war and mistrust and fear. To shut down any rapprochement between the West and moderate Islamism – the kind of rapprochement which threatens al-Qaeda and the radicals where it counts, among the Muslim umma.”

Abu Aardvark blog, 7 July 2005

Earth calling Jamie Glazov

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Over at Front Page Magazine, Jamie Glazov offers his views on the London bombings:

“… overall, there is deafening silence coming from the Muslim community at large in terms of denouncing this terrorism and the killing of innocents. If Islam is a religion of peace and this terrorism is against Islamic law, where are the world’s Muslims ferociously repudiating these terrorists for slandering their religion by carrying out terrorist acts on behalf of Islam?

“… The Left, of course, will be celebrating this attack. Earlier you mentioned George Galloway. He has even called for an alliance between the Left and radical Islam. The likes of Galloway and Michael Moore and Noam Chomsky – all of them will clearly be rubbing their hands in glee because of this attack in London…”

You have to ask: what planet does Jamie Glazov live on? Even Robert Spencer stops short of this sort of raving.

Crackdown on civil liberties? Muslims only have themselves to blame

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Thomas Friedman warns that “when Al-Qaeda-like bombings come to the London Underground, that becomes a civilizational problem. Every Muslim living in a Western society suddenly becomes a suspect, becomes a potential walking bomb. And when that happens, it means Western countries are going to be tempted to crack down even harder on their own Muslim populations”.

And what solution does he propose? The need for a vigorous defence of civil liberties, perhaps? No, Friedman argues that the central problem is that Muslims have been “derelict in condemning the madness of jihadist attacks”. Unless they change their ways, and “take on, delegitimize, condemn and isolate the extremists in their midst”, Muslims will only have themselves to blame for the resulting crackdown.

New York Times, 8 July 2005

In the same issue, Peter Bergen warns of the threat posed to the US by UK-based terrorists, who have been drawn to Britain by its “relatively permissive asylum laws”. Bergen cites a figure of 10,000 to 15,000 Al-Qaida supporters in Britain, based mainly on the fact that 10,000 Muslims attended a 2003 conference held by Hizb ut-Tahrir – an organisation which of course specifically repudiates Al-Qaida and its methods.

New York Times, 8 July 2005

Don’t blame AIDS on Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

It is hardly surprising that Muslims feel singled out for unfavorable categorization by the West. AIDS is a global threat which is ravaging Africa and threatens to do the same in populous Asia. But a supposedly concerned U.S. think-tank has chosen to present the threat in religious terms.

The report of the National Bureau of Asian Research entitled “Behind the Veil of a Public Health Crisis; HIV/AIDS in the Muslim world” proclaims that this is a “heretofore largely unexplored problem” and demands that “countries in the Muslim world tackle these problems now.” It sees the Muslim world as one and describes the spread of HIV among Muslims as “the newest phase in the global pandemic.”

Ironically, this attempt to link Islam and AIDS denial has coincided with a UNAIDS meeting in Kobe, Japan, focusing on the situation and outlook in Asia, which clearly shows how the issue cuts across all religious and political divides.

New York Times, 7 July 2005

Cf. ‘The Muslim face of AIDS’, Front Page Magazine, 7 July 2005

Comments at Jihad Watch on the London bombings

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Robert Spencer’s admirers offer their insights into the causes and consequences of the London attacks:

“Every fibre in my being has anger in it and every bit of it is directed to Islam.”

“This is Islam – the TRUE one. Islam is EVIL.”

“And is Red Ken going to condemn the attacks, since he’s been cultivating these Islamic types for so long? And George Galloway?”

“I am sick of multiculturism and the Islamic colonialization it spreads. I am sick of Moslems whining that they are fucking ‘misunderstood’…. What can we expect when Moslems are imported en masse into Europe.”

“I am at a loss for words, but would like to express my complete and utter disgust for moslems throughout the world and their cult of death that causes, sanctions and encourages carnage such as this through the filthy, disgusting koran. You are ALL Shameful beasts of Satan, who should be made to pay a very heavy price!”

“I hope the Bill that restricts criticism of Islam has not gone through the House of Lords yet.”

“Meanwhile the Muslim Council of Britain has condemned the attacks and has asked for ‘calm’. They always ask for calm. Never do these sick people ask for ‘calm’ from islamic jihadis.”

“When is the world going to come out and call the bastards what they are; terrorists intent on world domination in the name of a ‘religion’ started by a murderous pedophile which advocates murder, rape, lying, theft, intimidation, and slavery.”

Jihad Watch, 7 July 2005

Comments at Jihad Watch on the London bombings

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Every fibre in my being has anger in it and every bit of it is directed to Islam.”

“This is Islam – the TRUE one. Islam is EVIL.”

“And is Red Ken going to condemn the attacks, since he’s been cultivating these Islamic types for so long? And George Galloway?”

“I am sick of multiculturism and the Islamic colonialization it spreads. I am sick of Moslems whining that they are fucking ‘misunderstood’…. What can we expect when Moslems are imported en masse into Europe.”

“I am at a loss for words, but would like to express my complete and utter disgust for moslems throughout the world and their cult of death that causes, sanctions and encourages carnage such as this through the filthy, disgusting koran. You are ALL Shameful beasts of Satan, who should be made to pay a very heavy price!”

“I hope the Bill that restricts criticism of Islam has not gone through the House of Lords yet.”

“Meanwhile the Muslim Council of Britain has condemned the attacks and has asked for ‘calm’. They always ask for calm. Never do these sick people ask for ‘calm’ from islamic jihadis.”

“When is the world going to come out and call the bastards what they are; terrorists intent on world domination in the name of a ‘religion’ started by a murderous pedophile which advocates murder, rape, lying, theft, intimidation, and slavery.”

Jihad Watch, 7 July 2005

Post-9/11 workplace discrimination continues in USA

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Nearly four years after the terrorist attacks, Muslim, South Asian and Arab-American employees continue to report discrimination on the job.

Compared with the first two years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the number of employees saying they’ve been discriminated against as a form of backlash because of the attacks has declined. But charges continue to come in, indicating that Arab-American and other workers still feel discriminated against.

“People are being called ‘terrorist’ at work, things of that sort,” says Arsalan Iftikhar, national legal director at Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). “A lot of cases continue to go on. People have been called Osama bin Laden, told they are going to mosque to learn how to build a bomb.”

Nearly 280 claims of discrimination in the workplace were received by CAIR in 2004, and the workplace was the second-most-common location for an alleged incident. The first was government agencies.

At the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, about 980 charges alleging post-9/11 backlash discrimination have been filed through June 11 since the 2001 attacks. Most involved firing and alleged harassment; the EEOC specifically tracks “backlash” cases, where employees claim discrimination relating to 9/11.

Likewise, religious bias charges are higher today than before 9/11. From Sept. 11, 2001, through June 11, the EEOC received 2,168 charges of discrimination based on an employee’s Muslim religion. That compares with 1,104 such charges in the same time span before the attacks.

The agency has obtained more than $4.2 million on behalf of employees alleging post-9/11 backlash. The EEOC has filed lawsuits against employers such as MBNA America Bank, the Plaza hotel in New York, Alamo Rent A Car and construction giant Bechtel.

USA Today, 5 July 2005