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From Michael Graham (likely the same Michael Graham discussed in this previous post):
I was [in Iraq] as part of the much-maligned "Truth Tour" organized by Move America Forward, a conservative group based in California. According to reports in the mainstream media, I was part of a "propaganda" junket paid for by the Pentagon to buy some desperately needed positive coverage of the unwinnable military quagmire. All I can say is: If this was a junket, it was the worst-run junket in the history of public relations.
My radio station and I had to pay all my expenses, I slept on a bare cot in a tent in the desert, and at some locations the only available "food" (and I use that term under protest) were MREs — which stands for "Meals Ready to Eat...assuming you've already eaten both shoes and most of your undergarments."
This alleged "junket" failed in another way, too. The Pentagon didn't control what went out over the airwaves. Then again, neither did I. I left it all up to the soldiers.
I traveled about Iraq from Camp Victory at the Baghdad International Airport to Camp Prosperity on the very edge of the Red Zone, then down the Baghdad Highway to Camp Falcon, and on to the Command Headquarters in the heart of the city and, eventually, to the deserts of Kuwait and Camp Arifjan. And everywhere I went, I flipped on my mic, sat back, and let the troops tell their story.
...In all, I spoke to more than 100 soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines, with different ranks and different duties at their FOBs (forward operating base), and yet they overwhelmingly had the same things to say about the war in Iraq:
"We believe in the mission."
"We're making progress."
"The Iraqis are making progress, too."And, perhaps most important of all: "We're going to win."
Read the whole thing.
(Hat tip: Steve Finefrock).
Rice Urges World to Stop Making Excuses for Terrorists
WASHINGTON -– The U.S. secretary of state wants people to stop making excuses for terrorists.
In an interview aired July 28 on PBS's "Jim Lehrer NewsHour," Condoleezza Rice fairly bristled at the suggestion that the United States was creating terrorists with its policies. "When are we going to stop making excuses for the terrorists and saying that somebody is making them do it?" Rice said.
Michael Graham is a Conservative talk show host in Washington, D.C. He'd made public comments "linking the current theology and structure of Islam to the repeated acts of terror in its name." CAIR -- the same organization which recently decided not to contest statements that CAIR was founded by terrorists -- "sent mass e-mails to its members urging them to contact ABC and demand the company to punish Graham for his remarks." The result: Disney, which owns the station, suspended Graham without pay.
Status:
Score for this round so far:
Oh sure, let's give up our freedom of speech to Islamofascists. Good idea.
What you can do to help:
Call or email ABC Radio in Washington and express your support for Michael Graham and U.S. freedom of speech.
Chris Berry
General Manager, ABC Radio
Washington, D.C.
202-686-3100
email: feedback@630wmal.com
or email via the radio station's official contact web site
Update: Here's the email I sent:
I want to show my support for Michael Graham and for Freedom of Speech in the United States. I also want ABC and Disney to know that ABC and Disney have my full and total support to stand up to CAIR and reinstate Graham.
CAIR is an organization that recently decided it could not contest statements that CAIR was founded by terrorists. (See http://tinyurl.com/ctona for documentation.) That is the organization that wants to stop Graham from giving his views on the statements made by the terrorists themselves that they kill in the name of Islam.
Our freedom of speech is powerful precisely because it lets us get to the bottom of things like this. Sometimes we all have to fight to preserve it. This is one of those times.
ABC and Disney, please reinstate Graham with full back pay.
Thank you.
In a recent post, I closed with "So what exactly is the deal [with Pakistan]? Stay tuned." Details on what the deal is there are provided in this MSNBC interview, conducted by Monica Crowley, with Daniel Pipes, author of Militant Islam Reaches America, and Azzam Tamimi, director of the Institute of Islamic Political Thought and a senior member of the Muslim Society of Great Britain:
Crowley: Daniel, I begin with you on the question of Pakistan. How reliable are the Pakistanis as an ally to the United States in this war?
Pipes: Well, the government of Parvez Musharraf has said the right thing, makes the right noises, but has not cracked down. And so there is a problem. And the problem is a deep problem, because in fact the forces of radical Islam are popular in Pakistan. The clip you saw with Tom Brokaw suggests, [Musharraf] would be in danger [if] he took steps against radical Islam. So, to call the government an ally is to give it the benefit of the doubt, but it is not an ally in the war. It is caught between us and its constituency of Islamists.
...
Crowley: Daniel, you mentioned earlier that Musharraf is walking a political tight rope here because his country has a huge constituency of radical Islamists who are certainly engaged in terrorist activity, he's got the fundamentalists he has to worry about, and pressure from the United States and from the west to crack down on the groups and individuals. It's amazing to me that Musharraf has been able to survive for so long. How has he been able to manage that? And is that tenable into the future?
Pipes: He has been able to survive in part through luck. There have been significant attacks on him and some people have died in the course but he has survived. I am a little surprised that Mr. Tamimi looks to socio-economic reasons and talks about dignity and the like, when he lives in London and London just some days ago had rounds of explosions killing 55 people. It had nothing to do with dignity and poverty and humiliation or lack of democracy. Britain is a democratic, rich country. The point is that the ideologues in Leeds or the ideologues in Pakistan seek to overthrow whatever government and impose Islamic order, a radical Islamic order. And they are not people who can be bought off through concessions; they are people who have to be defeated. Either Mr. Musharraf is someone who will defeat him or he is not. I think we have to put him to the test. We have not done that yet. We have accepted his good will but have not pushed him hard enough to take the steps to crack down in a way required in Pakistan.
Crowley: Daniel, do you believe the will exists in Pakistan for Musharraf to do that even if he wanted to?
Pipes: I think that if he is a supple and cautious and long-range strategic politician and general he can manage it. It won't be easy, but he needs to do it for his own survival as well as for our interests.
So that's what's up: Pakistan is a hotbed of Islamofascism, and Musharraf hasn't yet found a way to shut that down.
Monica Crowley wouldn't tolerate Tamimi's insults directed towards Pipes. The following is a message from Pipes to his email list:
Dear Reader:
Islamists have insulted me many times on television but never before has an anchor stood up on my behalf and prevented a fellow panelist from continuing - until Monica Crowley did so for me earlier this week, as seen in the transcript below. Here is an excerpt:
Tamimi: ... You [the U.S. media] don’t want to enlighten the American people about what actually goes on in the world. And you bring in the likes of Daniel Pipes to continue to keep the American people in the dark. You should listen for a change --
Crowley: You know, excuse me Azzam, I’m sorry I try to be respectful of all of my guests, it seems you are grossly --
Tamimi: You have not respected me from the beginning. You called my statement outrageous --
Crowley: That is because you are blanketing us with untruths and I just, I have to put a stop to it on my program. I’m sorry.
And with that, Tamimi was left speaking into a dead microphone. I am most grateful to Ms Crowley. I also plan to write a column on the subject of putting "the likes of" Azzam Tamimi, someone who has declared his own willingness to be a suicide bomber (see below for a link to his saying that), on American television.
Yours sincerely,
Daniel Pipes
Pipes is not exaggerating about Tamimi's declaration of willingness to be a suicide bomber:
TIM SEBASTIAN: And meanwhile you advocate the suicide bombing. You said on an internet chat forum early in 2003: 'For us Moslems martyrdom is not the end of things but the beginning of the most wonderful of things'.
If it's so wonderful to go and blow yourself up in a public place in Israel why don't you do it?
...
DR AZZAM AL-TAMIMI: Not a single person of those who bomb themselves, bomb themselves because they are desperate or poor. It doesn't happen because of this. They do it because they want to sacrifice themselves for a cause after all avenues have been closed before them. If the Palestinians today are given F16s and Apache helicopters ...
TIM SEBASTIAN: No - please come back to my question. Please come back to my question. Why if it is so glorious and honourable to do this, why don't you do it?
DR AZZAM AL-TAMIMI: I would do it ...
TIM SEBASTIAN: When?
DR AZZAM AL-TAMIMI: If I have the opportunity I would do it ...
TIM SEBASTIAN: When are you going to do it?
DR AZZAM AL-TAMIMI: When? If I can go to Palestine and sacrifice myself I would do it. Why not?
TIM SEBASTIAN: So what's stopping you?
DR AZZAM AL-TAMIMI: I cannot go to Palestine. I cannot go to Palestine.
TIM SEBASTIAN: You simply can't get in?
DR AZZAM AL-TAMIMI: No, I cannot get in.
That's the villains in this drama; they like to kill women and children. To defeat them, it's necessary to impose rigorous blow-back on the communities that give birth to the terrorist killers themselves. I discuss this most recently here.
Circulating on the Internet:
HISTORY TEST
Please pause a moment, reflect back, and take the following multiple choice test. The events are actual cuts from past history. They all actually happened!!!
Do you remember?
In 1968 Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by:
a. Superman
b. Jay Leno
c. Harry Potter
d. Muslim male extremist between the ages of 17 and 40
1. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and massacred by:
a. Olga Corbett
b. Sitting Bull
c. Arnold Schwarzenegger
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
2. In 1979, the US embassy in Iran was taken over by:
a. Lost Norwegians
b. Elvis
c. A tour bus full of 80-year-old women
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
3. During the 1980's a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by:
a. John Dillinger
b. The King of Sweden
c. The Boy Scouts
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
4. In 1983, the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by:
a. A pizza delivery boy
b. Pee Wee Herman
c. Geraldo Rivera
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
5. In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70 year old American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard in his wheelchair by:
a. The Smurfs
b. Davy Jones
c. The Little Mermaid
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
6. In 1985 TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens, and a US Navy diver trying to rescue passengers was murdered by:
a. Captain Kidd
b. Charles Lindberg
c. Mother Teresa
d. Muslim male extremists mostly be tween the ages of 17 and 40
7. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:
a. Scooby Doo
b. The Tooth Fairy
c. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
8. In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by:
a. Richard Simmons ;
b. Grandma Moses
c. Michael Jordan
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
9. In 1998, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:
a. Mr. Rogers
b. Hillary Clinton
c. The World Wrestling Federation
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
10. On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to take out the World Trade Centers and of the remaining two, one crashed into the US Pentagon and the other was diverted and crashed by the passengers. Thousands of people were killed by:
a. Bugs Bunny, Wiley E. Coyote, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd
b. The Supreme Court of Florida
c. Mr. Bean
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
11. In 2002 the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against:
a. Enron
b. The Lutheran Church
c. The NFL
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
12. In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by:
a. Bonnie and Clyde
b. Captain Kangaroo
c. Billy Graham
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
13. 2004 - Spain Railway bombings. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
AND NOW!
14. 2005 London Railway bombings Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
Nope, I really don't see a pattern here to justify profiling, do you?
So, to ensure we Americans never offend anyone, particularly fanatics intent on killing us, airport security screeners will no longer be allowed to profile certain people. They must conduct random searches of 80-year-old women, little kids, airline pilots with proper identification, secret agents of the President's security detail, 85-year old Congressmen with metal hips, and Medal of Honor winning and former Governor Joe Foss, but leave Muslim Males between the ages 17 and 40 alone because of profiling.
Let's send this to as many people as we can so that the Gloria Aldreds and other Dunder-headed attorneys along with Federal Justices that want to thwart common sense, feel doubly ashamed of themselves - if they have any such sense.
As the writer of the award winning story "Forrest Gump" so aptly put it, "Stupid is as stupid does."
Come on people wake up!!! Keep this going. Pass it on to everyone in your address book. Our Country and our troops need our support and prayers
(Hat tip: Lily Steiner)
When I started posting here on July 12th, about deporting Islamofascists, I thought I was suggesting something that was good policy, but that was unlikely to be implemented. Yet now, just a few weeks later, it's happening in France.
France ejects 12 Islamic 'preachers of hate'
Imams and their followers who fuel anti-western feeling among impressionable young French Muslims will be rounded up and returned to their countries of origin, most commonly in France's case to its former north African colonies.
Mr Sarkozy also revealed that as many as 12 French mosques associated with provocative anti-western preaching were under surveillance. Imams indulging in inflammatory rhetoric will be expelled even if their religious status is recognised by mainstream Muslim bodies.
Those who have assumed French citizenship will not be protected from deportation. Mr Sarkozy said he will reactivate measures, "already available in our penal code but simply not used", to strip undesirables of their adopted nationality. "We have to act against radical preachers capable of influencing the youngest and most weak-minded," Mr Sarkozy told the French daily Le Parisien.
They're being deported in a manner similar to something I discussed in a comment:
The question of where to deport them to, may depend on the agreement of the receiving nation. One possibility may be to seek agreements permitting them to be deported to the country of their heritage—Pakistanis to Pakistan, Iranians to Iran, and so forth.
Deport enough of the people who support Islamofascists, and their society will cease to produce new killers. To stop the production of new terrorists, there must be a cost to the society that encourages them. It's not enough just to arrest or kill those directly responsible for the terrorist actions, because the society that produces them will just bring forth more of them. But impose some fairly rigorous blow-back on that society -- in this example, by deporting enough of them -- and all that will stop. This is the way to fight the Islamofascists. England and America would be well-advised to follow suit.
Update, August 5th -- England is now deporting terrorists as well.
Update, August 16th -- Italy is expelling them now as well.
A QUESTION TO READERS OF THIS BLOG. With all the serious stories going on around the world, that I like to blog on here, is it fun to also see occasional posts here on lighter subjects (like the one right before this on HDTV) or is it distracting? I'd be interested in any and all input, either in comments to this post, or by email. Thanks in advance to all for your thoughts.
TOP HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS AGREE ON STANDARDS FOR DIGITAL FILMS:
NEW YORK — Digital cinema, the long-awaited technology to make movies in the theater more vivid and versatile, took a big step from fantasy to reality Wednesday.
All of Hollywood's top studios endorsed a set of technical specifications defining how sharp digital films must be and creating mechanisms to fight piracy. They vowed to begin using them to offer digital versions of their new productions to theater owners as early as this year in some cases.
"It's a giant leap forward for those of us who create movies and ... for everyone who sees them," Star Wars director George Lucas, a longtime digital cinema advocate, said in a statement. "Digital cinema will increasingly become the standard and will change the way movies are made, seen and experienced around the world."
Unlike celluloid, movies in digital form won't scratch or smudge. They can include multiple soundtracks in different languages, and can easily project 3-D images.
And if that wasn't big enough news:
The new specifications, from studio-backed consortium Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI), require digital movies to have at least twice as many lines of resolution as a high-definition television — and clear the way for an alternative that's four times as sharp.
HDTVs "give most of the colors of the rainbow, but not all of them," says DCI Chief Technology Officer Walt Ordway. "There is no color that appears in the spectrum that cannot be digitally represented" in the files studios will use.
That means that within a few years after everyone who wants to, upgrades their home systems to HDTV, they will then have the opportunity to upgrade yet again to this new standard. And what a standard -- four times as sharp as HDTV.
[Bush] created a war in Iraq that has further helped bust the economy...
Stone is completely out of touch with the facts.
Sharp Rise in Tax Revenue to Pare U.S. Deficit
For the first time since President Bush took office, an unexpected leap in tax revenue is about to shrink the federal budget deficit this year, by nearly $100 billion.
On Wednesday, White House officials plan to announce that the deficit for the 2005 fiscal year, which ends in September, will be far smaller than the $427 billion they estimated in February.
And growth of the economy is the strongest it's been since 1999:
The economy grew by 4.4 per cent last year, the strongest performance since 1999. Private economists believe this year could clock in around 3.5 per cent, a slower but still healthy pace.
Those who opposed the tax cuts made a potentially serious mistake in doing so, and Stone would have us repeat that error.
See also these previous posts:
Lower Taxes Make the Economy Stronger
Newsweek's opinion of the American public is on display:
The vast majority of these so-called terrorists that the U.S. military brags about killing and capturing are actually insurgents fighting the American occupation and the fledgling Iraqi government. Categorizing them as terrorists has probably played well with a gullible American public—indeed, it probably makes them feel safer—but factually speaking it's wrong.
At a time when Newsweek's ad sales are off, you'd think its editors would be smart enough not to insult their own readers.
By the way, Newsweek's argument that those born in Iraq who are fighting against Iraqi democracy cannot be considered terrorists is based on Newsweek's wild assumption that they aren't involved in suicide bombings targeting civilians:
Most dictionaries define insurgents as members of an organized revolt against a recognized government, usually through harassment or subversion. Terrorists, on the other hand, generally target civilians, using violence for intimidation or coercion, often for ideological reasons or under cover of religion. It's clear that both are operating in Iraq at the moment, and equally clear that there are times when the line is blurred.
Newsweek presents no evidence that those born in Iraq aren't involved in suicide bombings, and, as quoted, even admits that it is "clear that there are times when the line is blurred."
What makes Newsweek think it can make a profit by insulting its readers and making stupid claims it can't back up? Note that this comes after a lot of other questionable behavior by this magazine this year.
DANIEL PIPES REPORTS THAT IN MARCH 2004 an organization called Anti-CAIR was sued by CAIR for making a number of statements, including the following:
CAIR's filing an amended motion has two apparent implications: that CAIR has tacitly acknowledges the truth of Whitehead's deleted assertions; and those assertions can now be repeated with legal impunity.
LET'S SEE IF CAIR ENDORSES THIS:
U.S. Muslims issue anti-terrorism 'fatwa'
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top U.S. Muslim scholars issued a "fatwa," or religious edict, against terrorism on Thursday and called on Muslims to help authorities fight the scourge of militant violence.
... Because Islam is not based on a world-wide hierarchical structure, the edicts are not globally binding, and only affect the community whose religious leaders have issued the rulings.
This appears to be a step in the right direction. But without the unequivocal endorsement of it by major Muslim organizations such as CAIR; without extensive, prominent, and unequivocal denunciations of terrorism on the part of all Muslim leaders in America; and without the public denunciation on the part of Muslim leaders of all the imams in America who preach Jihad, and of all the mosques in America at which people are taught to hate non-Muslims -- it can be considered at most no more than a step.
Those who claim terrorists would stop killing people if the U.S. abandoned Iraq to them will find it difficult to explain this:
Threats cause Egyptian writer to renounce life's work
Facing threats to his life, a well known dissident Egyptian writer, Sayyid al-Qimni, on July 16 took the unusual step of recanting his past work and vowing to forego future writing assignments or appearances in the media.
Explaining his decision, al-Qimni published a statement on elaph.com, a liberal Arabic language news site, that he does not want his children to be orphaned as those of his colleague, Farag Fouda, were in 1992. At the time, Fouda was a prominent voice for moderation inside Egypt. His work made him a target for Muslim militants, who fatally shot him outside his Cairo office after accusing him of mocking their views.
"I admit that death by breaking pens is a slow one as my life revolves around my pen," al-Qimni wrote in his statement. "It is the air that I breathe, but by taking such a step, I will have enough time to care for the precious ones of mine, my children - that is, in case this statement is accepted."
Al-Qimni went on to apologize for the alleged "heresies" he had written in the past and expressed his "determination to completely discontinue writing as of the date of publishing this statement."
...He has been an advocate for the pre-Arab Pharaonic identity of Egypt, a view that sees the current inhabitants of Egypt as direct heirs to the thousands of years of history that pre-dated Mohammed. According to Phares, religious leaders regarded al-Qimni as an apostate but he was never charged officially.
Al-Qimni also had expressed the opinion that the education system of many Muslim countries produced terrorists. In an essay written after the July 7 London attacks in "Roz Al-Yousouf," an Egyptian weekly, al-Qimni urged Egyptians to fight those who threaten society, even if they claim to act in the name of religion.
Al-Qimni's publisher, Khalid Zaghloul, says al-Qimni received the threat on July 13 through an e-mail that is believed to be from al-Qaida. The e-mail included a copy of the public statement claiming responsibility for the recent assassination of Egyptian ambassador Ihab al-Sherif in Iraq. The text stated that al-Qimni would be next if he did not stop writing and renounce his past works.
This Egyptian writer has nothing to do with the involvement of the U.S. in Iraq, but he's giving up his life's work due to a death threat from terrorists. And we're supposed to believe that terrorists will stop killing people if the U.S. leaves Iraq? Give me a break.
Blogging will be light Wednesday and Thursday, as I'll be at a conference about Blogging and Marketing on behalf of Pajamas Media. However, I expect to do some posting in the evenings.
David Littman emails:
INCREDIBLE EVENT AT THE UN SUB-COMMISSION at 6:00pm.
This press release and the reason for it might be of interest. It was the most extraordinary event that I have ever witnessed at the United Nations in my 20 years experience. Attempts to stop me speaking came from the "independent experts" from Pakistan, Morocco, and even Cuba. Read the statement attached that I delivered in greater part despite this censorship.
From an International Humanist And Ethical Union press release (no link):
IHEU today attempted to call on the United Nations to condemn killing in the name of religion, but were prevented from doing so by the heavy-handed intervention of Islamic representatives. The IHEU call, at today's meeting of the UN Sub-Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, follows moves by Islamic clerics to legitimise the current wave of terror attacks.
At this afternoon's meeting, IHEU representative David Littman attempted to deliver a prepared text in the joint names of three international NGOs: the Association for World Education, the Association of World Citizens, and IHEU, but was prevented from doing so by the intervention of Islamic members of the Sub-Commission. After repeated interruptions he was unable to complete his speech.
...Commenting on this censorship, Roy Brown, President of IHEU said:
"This is part and parcel of the refusal by the Islamic representatives at the UN to condemn the suicide bombers, or to accept any criticism of those who kill innocent people in the name of God.These actions follow the refusal of the Islamic states at the meeting of the Commission in April to condemn those who kill in the name of religion, and to categorise their attempts to criticise Islamic terrorists as "defamation of religion".
"It is high time", Mr Brown insisted "that the Islamic States at the UN recognised that the suicide bombers are acting in the name of their religion, and to unequivocally condemn their actions."
THE FULL TEXT OF DAVID LITTMAN'S STIRRING SPEECH: (no link yet -- emailed to me by Mr. Littman)
ASSOCIATION FOR WORLD EDUCATION
Case Postale 205 - 1196 Gland - Switzerland
STATEMENT: Representative David G. LITTMAN. Tuesday (5:45pm) 26 July 2005
57th SESSION: UN SUB-COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS (25 July - 12 August 2005)
Sir, this is a joint statement on behalf of the Association for World Education, the International Humanist and Ethical Union and the Association of World Citizens.
It is appropriate to speak out during item 2 against a taboo subject at the United Nations: the radical Ideology of Jihad that includes calls for killing and terrorism in the name of God.
On 18 July a fatwa was issued by the British Muslim Forum, approved by 500 UK Muslim clerics, scholars and imams. Before quoting the Koran, it stated that: "Islam strictly, strongly and severely condemns the use of violence and the destruction of innocent lives… Such acts, as perpetrated in London, are crimes against humanity and contrary to the teachings of Islam."1
It has been argued that those who issue fatwas to kill innocent people in the name of Islam are not real Muslims [and should be treated as apostates]. But just before the London massacres a major conference of 170 Muslim scholars from 40 countries meeting in Amman, Jordan gave an opinion in a Final Communiqué, dated 6 July: It is not possible to declare these people apostates - they are Muslims.2 In this specific context, we advise members and others to read the report just published by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies (C.S.S.), entitled: "Islamic Legitimacy for the London Bombing." 3
On 18 April at the 61st session of the Commission, we organised a Parallel NGO Conference, entitled: Victims of Jihad: Muslims, Dhimmis, Apostates, and Women. The matters debated during eight hours at the conference by historians, writers, and human rights defenders are of crucial interest for the human rights of all. The dire effects of the extremist Ideology of Jihad presented at the Conference have been adapted as written statements for the Sub-Commission and are here available; these 10 statements and 5 other related ones are listed below with their titles.
They include a background historical analysis of Jihad by Dutch academic Johannes Jansen of Utrecht University; of Negationism by Bat Ye'or: specialist on Jihad, dhimmis,'dhimmitude' and author of a recent book Eurabia [2005]; of the treatment of Apostasy in Islamic law and its inconsistency with International Human Rights Instruments by Ibn Warraq; and of women in Islam by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Dutch Parliamentarian, writer of "Submission," a TV film produced with Theo van Gogh, who was slaughtered in an Amsterdam street last November by a fanatical Islamist.
In our written statement E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/NGO/4, we provide a warning by Dr. Ahmad Abu Matar, a Palestinian academic residing in Oslo, published on a reformist website the day before our NGO Conference. He stated that many Muslims in Europe foster conflict instead of coexistence and that they are being influenced by an extremist fundamentalist brand of Islam - and moderate Muslims are not speaking out adequately against this activity. 3
Mr. Chairman, the most essential and basic human right is the right to life! Several NGO appeals have been made to both the Commission and the Sub-Commission to condemn calls or references to God in order to justify any form of violence or hatred, and the use of any appeal to religion to kill civilians: men, women and children - but to no avail.
16 years ago 4 we warned both the Commission and the Sub-Commission on the lethal danger of the genocidal 1988 Hamas Charter [co-authored by the late Sheikh Ahmad Yassin and Abd al-Aziz al-Rantisi]. The slogan of that Charter in its article 8 - borrowed from the 1928 Charter of the Muslim Brotherhood - has since become the Islamist blueprint for global terror: "Allah is its target, the Prophet is its model, the Koran its Constitution; Jihad is its path, and death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its wishes." Regrettably, this and other extremist Jihadist interpretations of Islam have been approved by several Muslim clerics worldwide, including Yusuf al-Qaradhawi, dean of the College of Sharia and Islamic Studies at Qatar University. 5
On 30 December 2002, before the war began, the then Hamas leader al-Rantisi posted a Hamas website appeal for Muslims to flood Iraq with martyr/shahid Islamikaze 6 bombers. It stated: "The enemies of Allah…crave life while the Muslims crave martyrdom. The martyrdom operations that shock can ensure that horror is sowed in the [enemies'] hearts, and horror is one of the causes of defeat." 7
Only by an unambiguous public rejection of this murderous cult of hatred and death can the grave dangers of a clash of cultures and civilisations be avoided. On 24 Oct. 2004 thousands of moderate Muslims reacted in both print and websites against this cult of death.
Such reactions greatly multiplied following the barbaric civilian carnage in London on 7 July. Amir Taheri, reputed author and columnist for a London Arab daily, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat made a crucial point: "Until we hear the voices of Muslims condemning attacks with no words [of qualification] such as 'but' and 'if,' the suicide bombers and the murderers will have an excuse to think that they enjoy the support of all Muslims. The real battle against the enemy of mankind will begin when the 'silent majority' in the Islamic world makes its voice heard against the murderers, and against those who brainwash them, and fund them." 8
This was followed on 9 July in the same Arab daily when Al-Arabiya TV Director-General Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed wrote, under the title Expel Extremism Today:
"For over 10 years now, I myself and other Arab writers have warned against the dangers of the reckless handling of the extremism that is now spreading like a plague within the British community. ( … ) Like many other diseases, extremism is a contagious one. ( … ) The British authority's leniency regarding fundamentalist fascism has allowed many, including Arab and Muslim intellectuals and journalists, to adopt ideologies that promote extremism and defend criminals such as bin Laden and Al-Zarqawi. The situation has escalated to the extent that Arab and Muslim intellectuals fear the repercussions of condemning extremists. The battle we face is against the ideology, as opposed to against the terrorists themselves. ( … ) The time has come for British authorities to deal harshly with extremism, before complete chaos is un-leashed onto British society. In the past, we talked about stopping them. Now, it is time to expel." 9
We agree with both analyses. Those who brazenly justify their indiscriminate killing sprees in the name of Allah threaten the entire world with their crimes against humanity, cloaked and justified under the guise of Islamist Jihad Ideology.10 British Prime Minister Tony Blair, speaking in the House of Commons on 13 July, referred to this "extreme and evil ideology." We have seen its devastating results in two dozen countries from New York to Bali; in the ongoing and indiscriminate slaughter in Iraq and Israel; not forgetting the hostages in the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow three years ago and the faces of the murdered children in Belsan.
Sir, all of humanity is concerned by these vile assaults on our common future. In the words of the English 17th century poet, John Donne, we are all "involved in Mankind."
The time has come for the distinguished representatives of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the Arab League, and individual Muslim religious and secular leaders to be heard at the United Nations, united in an unambiguous condemnation of those who defame Islam by calls to kill in the name of Allah, or of Islam - not just a condemnation of the acts, themselves. Indeed, the OIC and other States have an urgent responsibility to include such a condemnation in the resolution on the "defamation of religions" that they have sponsored since 1999 at the Commission.
After more outrageous bombings in London and the carnage at Sharm el-sheikh last week and more on the horizon - despite security walls - we solemnly call on all the members of this Sub-Commission to adopt a clear resolution by consensus, or a Chairman's statement, in which any call to kill, to terrorise, or to use violence in the name of God, or of any religion, is categorically condemned.
In face of this gathering storm: a global Jihadist cult of hate, death and destruction against the "Other," we are again reminded of the words of John Donne:
"And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee."
[1. Historical Background: Jihad Ideologies and their Muslim Victims - Prof. Johannes Jansen (Sub.2/2005/NGO/8)
2. Muslim Victims of Jihad in the Sudan - Sudanese human rights activist Hamouda Bella (Sub.2/2005/NGO/16)
3. The Culture of "Jihad and Martyrdom" in Egyptian School Textbooks - David G. Littman (Sub.2/2005/NGO/2)
4. The Culture of Hate in Saudi Arabian Textbooks and Growing Arab Reactions - author DGL (Sub.2/2005/NGO/3)
5. Jihad Ideology and Negationism lead to an Exclusion from Humanity - author Bat Ye'or (Sub.2/2005/NGO/31)
6. Apostasy, Islam Law and Human Rights - Ibn Warraq, writer on Islam and Apostates (Sub.2/2005/NGO/6)
7. Genocide and Slavery: Crimes Against Humanity in Sudan - Simon Deng, former slave (Sub.2/2005/NGO/15)
8. Problems of Muslim Women and their Human Rights Defenders (Introduction:Women) (Sub.2/2005/NGO/5)
9. The Plight of Muslim Women in Bangladesh, and other Muslim States - Taslima Nasreen (Sub.2/2005/NGO/28)
10. Women Victims of Islam - Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Member of Parliament (NL), Human Rts activist (Sub.2/2005/NGO/29)
*11. Arab Criticism of Muslim Extremist Activities in the West - MEMRI (see NGO/2; NGO/3) (Sub.2/2005/NGO/4)
*12. Written statement submitted by the Association for World Education (AWE) with the title:
Background on "Traditional or Customary Practices"/Female Genital Mutilation (Sub.2/2005/NGO/27)
(*) The 2 statements (with a single asterisk) were not adapted from the 18 April NGO Conference presentations.
** 13. Jihad & Martyrdom as taught in Egyptian primary/preparatory/secondary school text books (Sub.2/2004/NGO/27)
** 14. Hamas: Sheikh Yassin/al-Rantisi - UN & the grave worldwide cultural clash (Sub.2/2004/NGO/25*)
** 15. Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas/Hizbullah/Al-Qaeda:Terror Legacy of 'Jihad-Martyrdom-Bombings' (2004/NGO/26) (**) The 3 written statements from the 56th Sub-Commission (2004) are listed here because of their direct relevance.]
* * * * *
Notes:
1. BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk/4697365.stm.Published: 2005/07/19 15:41:43 GMT.
2. "Islam struggles to stake out its position," by Judea Pearl, International Herald Tribune, 20 July 2005, page 8. This article first appeared in the Boston Globe. King Abdullah's conference address is at: www.MaximsNews.com.
3. Dated 20 July 2005, prepared, edited and translated by Reuven Paz, Director and Editor of the Project for the Research of Islamist Movements (PPISM): http://www.intelligence.org.il/eng/sib/7_05/london_b.htm
4. www.elaph.com (17 April 2005) http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP92105
MEMRI, Special Dispatch Series - No. 921, 10 June 2005.
5. 31 January 1989 at the 45th session UNCHR, holding Arabic & English texts of the Hamas Charter of 18 Aug. 1988.
6."Britain acts to expel Muslim firebrands," by Alan Cowell, International Herald Tribune, 21 July 2005, pp.1, 5.
7. Raphael Israeli, Islamikaze: Manifestations of Islamic Martyrology (London /Portland, OR: Frank Cass, 2003).
8. MEMRI Special Dispatch Series - No. 457, 9 Jan. 2003. Extracts reproduced in E/CN/Sub.2/2004/NGO/25*. See also E/CN.4/Sub.2/2004/NGO/26 for references to the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Hizbullah, and Al-Qaeda.
9. Amir Taheri, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), 7 July 2005, translation in MEMRI Special Report, 8 July 2005 N° 36: http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sr&ID=SR3605:Arab Media Reactions to London Bombings:
"A Chapter in Word War III". Also Amir Taheri: "And this is why they do it", in TimesOnline (London), 8 July 2005.
10. Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), 9 July 2005. MEMRI: Special Report - Jihad & Terrorism, 12 July 2005, No. 37 (Arab and Iranian Media Reactions to the London Bombing - Part II: "The Attacks Were Anticipated Due to British Leniency to Extremists Acting in Britain"/"Expel Extremism Today":http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SR3705.
11. In early July, Le Temps (Geneva) published a fascinating series of six one-page articles from a forthcoming book by Sylvain Besson, La Conquête de l'Occident. (Editions du Seuil, October 2005) Earlier this year appeared: Frères Musulmans: dans l'ombre d'Al-Qaeda by Emmanuel Razavi. Two recent books by Bat Ye'or will help those trying to find their way through this Islamist labyrinth: Islam and Dhimmitude. Where Civilizations Collide (2002), and Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis (2005) (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press / Associated University Presses - both).
For many articles by Bat Ye'or, and a whole section on "Human Rights and Human Wrongs at the United Nations," (pp. 305-472), which includes four important texts on "Apostasy, Human Rights, Religion, and Belief: New Threats to Freedom of Opinion and Expression," being the four presentations made at a Parallel Conference organised by the same three NGOs at the UNCHR on 7 April 2004, see Robert Spencer (Ed.), The Myth of Islamic Tolerance. How Islamic Law Treats Non-Muslims (New York: Prometheus Books, 2005), pp.428-52.
