July 25, 2005

The Pakistan Connection

From UPI:

As British police and intelligence officials descend on a prison cell in Islamabad to interview a London-born "holy warrior," the Pakistan connection is emerging as the key to this month's London bombings.

The young man in the Islamabad prison is Zeeshan Siddiqui, arrested by Pakistani police in April after they tracked him in contact with some leading al-Qaida personnel, including its supposed No. 3 in the hierarchy, Abu Faraj al-Libbi, now in U.S. custody.

Siddiqui was supposed to be small fry, except for one intriguing connection. At Britain's Cranford community college, he was best friends with another young British-born Pakistani, Asif Hanif, who killed himself as a suicide bomber on an Israeli nightclub two years ago.

And then among the names that Siddiqui let slip under interrogation in Pakistan were Shehzad Tanweer, whom he had met, and Mohamed Sidique Khan, both now infamous as two of the London Underground suicide bombers. And Israeli security sources were cited in a report in the Israeli paper Ma'ariv that Khan had also been involved in the planning of the Israeli attack.

Khan, Tanweer and the third British-born Pakistani of the London bombings, Hasib Hussain, had all visited Pakistan earlier this year. 

Meanwhile, in Egypt:

5 Pakistanis Sought in Egypt Terror Probe

SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt - Police said Monday they were searching for five Pakistani men in their widening investigation into Egypt's deadliest terror attack, which killed scores of people, including an American, at this Red Sea resort. 

...Police at checkpoints around this resort also were circulating photographs of five Pakistanis who apparently were among a group of nine Pakistanis who arrived in Sharm el-Sheik from Cairo on July 5, according to two investigators who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the probe's sensitivity. 

However, President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan is no friend to the Islamofascists, who have tried to assassinate him multiple times:

Musharraf has increasingly become a target for Islamic militant groups since he turned against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and sided with the United States after the 11 September terror attacks on New York and Washington in 2001.

It would be great if Musharraf was offering an explanation of what appears to be involvement by people in Pakistan with the recent London and Cairo bombings, but that's not what we have yet:

Al-Qaeda 'destroyed in Pakistan'
 
Pakistan says its troops have al-Qaeda on the run

Pakistan has destroyed al-Qaeda's ability to operate on its soil, President Pervez Musharraf has said.

He said the network could not have orchestrated deadly bombings in London, Egypt or elsewhere from his country.

"Al-Qaeda does not exist in Pakistan any more," he told reporters in Lahore, after unconfirmed reports Pakistanis were being sought over bombs in Egypt.

Yet it appears that some kind of organized support for the terrorists is going on in Pakistan. 

...It emerged that two of the four suicide bombers, both Britons of Pakistani descent, flew into Karachi last year.

What they did for three months has not been established but security officials want to know if they met militants or attended religious schools where they might have been radicalised.

Last week, Gen Musharraf defended a recently launched crackdown against extremists but also said Britain must do more to tackle its own militancy threat.

On Monday, he promised that those arrested for publishing hate material or misusing mosque loudspeakers would be tried in anti-terrorism courts.

So what exactly is the deal? Stay tuned. 

Report: Persecution of Christians in Muslim Nations

From commenter Tsar Lazar:

...look at the current plight of the Orthodox in Kosovo and Byzantium (Istanbul), the Copts and other Christians in Egypt and the rest of the Middle East---indeed, the severe restrictions imposed upon any non-Muslims in any nation dominated by Islam.  The myth of “Islamic tolerance” is widespread and currently in vogue, and the historical and contemporary realities are grossly ignored by the media.

...I am Serbian Orthodox (though not an Ethnic Serb) and I have many friends that make regular trips to Jugoslavija.  Many Christian churches (both Roman Catholic and Orthodox) were destroyed by Muslim militias during the Balkan Wars in the 80s and 90s.  The Albanian Muslims continue to desecrate and destroy churches and monasteries in the Kosovo region of Serbia---and all is done while NATO troops look on.  As an American citizen I am appalled at the US role in Kosovo, for although the forces there are saving Christian lives, their mandate does not allow them to protect holy sites, including several that are central to Serbian Orthodoxy. 
I also have two good friends who were present in Constantinople (Istanbul) during anti-Christian pogroms a few months ago.  These are common occurances which are never reported in the mainstream media, and which our government overlooks since Turkey is a long-standing NATO ally.  I am very pro-US, but there are times when my heart aches at some of the deals we make.

Mark Steyn:"Multiculturalism is a kind of societal Stockholm Syndrome."

Bryant is an official with the US Department of Agriculture in Florida, and the late Atta had gone to see her about getting a $US650,000 government loan to convert a plane into the world's largest crop-duster. A novel idea.

The meeting got off to a rocky start when Atta refused to deal with Bryant because she was but a woman. But, after this unpleasantness had been smoothed out, things went swimmingly. When it was explained to him that, alas, he wouldn't get the 650 grand in cash that day, Atta threatened to cut Bryant's throat. He then pointed to a picture behind her desk showing an aerial view of downtown Washington - the White House, the Pentagon et al - and asked: "How would America like it if another country destroyed that city and some of the monuments in it?"

Fortunately, Bryant's been on the training course and knows an opportunity for multicultural outreach when she sees one.

...Usually it's the hostage who gets Stockholm Syndrome, but the newly liberated Wood must occasionally reflect that in this instance the entire culture seems to have caught a dose. And, in a sense, we have: multiculturalism is a kind of societal Stockholm Syndrome. Atta's meetings with Bryant are emblematic: He wasn't a genius, a master of disguise in deep cover; indeed, he was barely covered at all, he was the Leslie Nielsen of terrorist masterminds - but the more he stuck out, the more Bryant was trained not to notice, or to put it all down to his vibrant cultural tradition. 

More Like Science-Fiction Than Any Other Real Article I've Ever Read:

One-atom-thick materials promise a 'new industrial revolution' 

...Previously, it was thought that such thin materials could not exist in principle, but the research team have, for the first time, demonstrated that they are not only possible but fairly easy to make.  

(via GeekPress.) 

“Many Egyptians see terrorism as…an attack on all humanity and on the Egyptian economy”

Mavenette emails this from Egypt: 

...this is the fifth terrorist attack in Egypt in just 12 months. As for public opinion, the average Egyptian is very angry rather than hysterical, especially since many Egyptians make their living from the ailing tourisim industry. Many Egyptians see terrorism as a global problem rather than a local problem. They don't feel that they are being targeted as individuals. They see this as an attack on all humanity and on the Egyptian economy.