All Bets Off!

There continue to be reverberations of blame-and-shame directed toward the United States, its executive and the orders given to the Navy SEALs to conduct an operation with the distinct purpose of eliminating the world's foremost terrorist. ...This is not the manner in which a civilized country prosecutes its agenda of forestalling terrorism. There are laws to be observed, international standards of niceties to be acknowledged.

And what the United States ordered be done was to conduct an official assassination. Yes, they did. They did what the Israeli Mossad has long considered to be effective and needfully useful.

Onlookers and bystanders are offended. Of course those who considered Osama bin Laden to be an honoured mujahedeen, a man of principle, a pious man of God, actually following orders from on high to defend Islam from the infidels and Crusaders are beside themselves with rage. Citing their determination to carry on without him, that his precious blood would not be spilled for no cause; he will be avenged.

Even his estranged sons whose own sensibilities were offended by their father's insistence on slaughtering innocent civilians; those of the West and Muslims as well, were dreadfully upset that their father was not politely arrested and placed on trial. Exception is also taken to the fact that his body was buried at sea; had film been taken of a Muslim scholar offering last rites in a land burial many claim they would have found that acceptable.

The burning question is why does it matter what his end was like considering the violence he espoused and demanded in the mass slaughter of innocent people? He was guilty of mass murder, and he continued to agitate for further slaughter in the name of Islam. He posed as a dire threat to the well-being of a good portion of the Globe, given the off-shoots of al-Qaeda posed and determined to terrorize their targets.

The niceties of the law become forfeit when facing up to a resourceful, indomitable, resistant-to-reason adversary who will grasp at any measures, however vile and destructive to wound an enemy mortally. Osama bin Laden was simply treated to his own brand of action in an act of official retribution for the thousands of lives he was responsible for terminating.

The United States is again being treated in some quarters - say for example, Britain, where the infiltration into society at many levels, including politics and academia of tolerance for Islamist rhetoric and claims for justice have been astoundingly successful, as an intolerant brute of a nation. An undercurrent of sympathy for bin Laden and recrimination toward the U.S. for killing the al-Qaeda leader runs through that society.

Even the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, had a sympathetic take on the situation: "I think the killing of an unarmed man is always going to leave a very uncomfortable feeling because it doesn't look as if justice is seen to be done." Justice? Why justice was indeed done, and seen to be done. It is the interpretation of justice that is at question here. Kill unmercifully and be yourself treated to no mercy.

Osama bin Laden whose sole raison d'etre is the destruction of Western society and the elevation of Islamism had no compassion whatever for those whom he delivered to death. He felt that anyone associated with the West was tainted and had no right to live. He engineered death traps, inspired followers to think of more inventive and useful ways to slaughter people.

Was he really owed the dignity of being handled with respect? His life was to be given the respect and the dignity and the honour that was denied by him to countless others? He used every and any means at his disposal to destroy life, why was his life worthy of special consideration? Those who express reservations about the manner in which his life was taken are clearly confused.

It's the same old story about reservations taken by those who are uninvolved; those who are not threatened, demanding of those who must defend themselves that they do so fully observing the fine points of the law. When you're dead because of a lack of attention to the big picture and too much attention to the fine details, the finality of it all cannot be reversed.

When faced with a deadly venom-spewing architect of death it is best removed expeditiously. Those who speak derisively of the U.S. action in removing any further options from bin Laden, whose voices caress the words "moral obligations", are sadly delusional.

An Impression of Pakistan

Pakistan is furious, beside itself with anger. Its sovereignty, its air space has been invaded by a foreign country's military. Moreover, a military engagement of the highest priority had not been vetted through disclosure of the event in its planning stages with Pakistan's government, or with its military or its secret service. That the United States failed to communicate its intention with official Pakistan is an insult to its honour, and one that will not be forgotten nor forgiven.

Pakistan is, after all, a staunch ally of the West in the battle against Islamist extremism. Pakistan has made many sacrifices in the war against terror. Pakistan's prime minister has warned the United States his country has every intention of protecting and defending its airspace from any further, future such incursions. Pakistan will not stand by to be insulted again.

The people of Pakistan are infuriated beyond frenzy that a foreign power would stain the honour of their country in such a brazen manner.

Pakistan, the recipient of billions of support funding for its military annually from the United States, is indebted to no one; no country, no foreign military machine, no diplomatic missions, and certainly no president other than their own. The humiliation that the country is reeling under is indefensible.

An ally should not be treated in such an insultingly cavalier manner. And it hardly bears repeating that no one in an official capacity had any knowledge of the presence of Osama bin Laden within Pakistan.

While it does seem peculiar that elite military officers located in an secure army academy a stone's throw from the al-Qaeda leader's compound knew nothing of his presence, and Islamabad's total ignorance of Osama bin Laden's six-year residence in a garrison town located within an hour's drive of the capital, it is nevertheless true.

The Inter-Services Intelligence agency simply overlooked his presence; there is no truth whatever to the U.S.-sourced rumours that state otherwise.

As minor pay-back, for the second time, Pakistan has outed the CIA station chief tasked with representing American interests in Islamabad. Like his predecessor, Mark Carlton, has left Pakistan since he is now a marked man in the down-payment on some measure of revenge at insulting the country.

Sullying the honour of Pakistan by insinuations that it has colluded with the world's greatest terrorist threat is unforgivable.

"The army is very much hurt. There was an understanding to continue our co-operation in the war on terrorism and then in the following weeks they did this. It shows how much they trust us. The Americans think they can do whatever they want, but the Pakistan people are full of hate for them." Pakistani government source

Sad how misunderstood Pakistan is. It is not a crucible for teaching jihadis terror methodology. It is not a haven for the Taliban and for al-Qaeda. It does not have a multitude of Saudi-funded madrassas teaching fundamentalist Islamism and glorifying martyrdom to impressionable students left with the impression that they must fulfill their obligations to Islam by becoming mujaheddin.

However could the world have gained such an impression of Pakistan?

Muslim Charities

Aren't Canadians curious about the fact that funding of terrorist activity is carried on as a quasi-legal action within this country? All the more so that our security services have tracked down precisely how this occurs? And that it is permitted to continue?

Mind, the federal government has taken steps to rescind the charitable status permitted to this fund-raising entity. Which does not, in fact, raise funds, but merely accepts the transfer of funds from a well-known supporter of terror groups, effectively, though transit in Canada, white-washing it, for further transfer to places like the U.S.

Our great good friend, the Libyan dictator, Moammar Gadhafi has long had a penchant for generously advancing cash credit to terror groups around the world.

Islamist groups who conduct a campaign of terror can always count on the largesse of oil money garnered through the thirst of the West for energy sources, for distribution to cells invested in spreading terror by conceiving of plots to challenge the lives of their perceived enemies. The more spectacular and gruesome the plot, the more victims are slaughtered in these atrocities, the finer the outcome.

The World Islamic Call Society - sounds innocent, doesn't it? - is based in London, Ontario.

Imagine that, a world-class Islamic society has chosen to position itself in Western Ontario; who knew we would be so deserving of such recognition? Except that the innocent sounding name represents a sole individual tasked to distribute funding in support of terrorism by a special fund of Col. Gadhafi's named the "Jihad fund". Now that's fairly straightforward; we understand quite well what that refers to.

Financial documents received by Canada Revenue Agency indicate that this registered Canadian charity has transferred thousands to Jamaat al-Muslimeen, known for its rape, torture and murder campaigns. Headquartered in Pakistan, it has associates in various parts of the world, including the United States.

Money was wired directly to the bank account of 75-year-old Assem Fadel, president of the sole Canadian franchise of the Islamic Call Society. From Mr. Fadel's personal bank account the money is transferred to the Society for further disbursement to all the terrorist organizations obviously thought to be deserving of this special attention.

Mr. Fadel, for his part, rejects the 'allegations'. "The charity doesn't have a U.S. bank account so the money came to me and I distributed the money as directed by the mother organization in Libya", Mr.Fadel explained. Perfectly clear. He is resigned to continuing the good work funded by Col. Gadhafi less the charitable status now revoked.

For there is a noble purpose to the cause and its funding. For the past four decades that funding has gone to Muslim centres around the world for the purpose of spreading "Muslim culture".

Mr. Fadel also operates a travel agency where he organizes trips to Saudi Arabia. Saudi money also funds terror; the al-Qaeda cultural Muslim association benefits hugely from Saudi generosity, sent directly to its former leader, Osama bin Laden. The funding meant specifically for the purpose of narrowing the gulf of understanding between Western society and Islam.

None of the money has been used to fund terror: "The Muslim faith is the most misunderstood religion in the world, but once Christians sit down and talk with us about the issues, they understand", Mr. Fadel explained, reasonably. It is a canard that the terror group planning the 2007 bombing plot at J.F. Kennedy Airport was funded handsomely by the Canadian charity to the tune of $180,000; calumnies all.

With this knowledge well in hand and well understood, the mystery that remains is why these transactions are permitted to take place at all.

Simply revoking the charitable status of a money-transfer scheme that should never have been granted charitable status to begin with, does not respond to the reality that this is money laundering; taking foreign funds into the country to disguise its origins for later distribution to terror cells in the United States, Europe, and even back to the Middle East.

If the Canadian government is aware of this charade - which it is clear now that it is - why and how can it be possible that this is allowed to go on unobstructed, as an entitlement as a genuine charity under Canadian cover?

Al-Qaeda's New Fury

The world is on notice - the United States of America in particular has been forewarned, as though that was required - that the fanatic mission of al-Qaeda is still on track. There remain influential and respected leaders to enthuse, inflame and encourage their followers to mount exercises for the purpose of spreading terror. The death of Osama bin Laden did not, they claim, strike a death blow to the ongoing aspirations of al-Qaeda.

There remain ample resources yet to be deployed. And the death of bin Laden only spurs them on to greater resolve, through the infuriating and unspeakable assault on the honour of Islam, al-Qaeda and its leader. His presence and the inspiration that he engendered on his followers will simply be delegated to others equally endowed with the intellectual resources and spiritual renaissance to bring jihadists to agreement on their sacred duty to Islam.

There are sufficient elements dedicated to the furtherance of world domination of Islam enraged over the killing of their leader from among whom will arise another charismatic to lead them to victory. There will continue to be many victories, and each one will represent another triumph. Until the blood-soaked triumphs coalesce to the point where the infidels and the Jews cower in abject fear.

"America and those who live in America will never enjoy security until our people in Palestine enjoy it", al-Qaeda central now solemnly proclaims. Observe: Fatah and Hamas have joined forces, pledging to restrain from murdering one another, to focus their attention now on the State of Israel. Whose presence represents the fount of all the Islamic world's frustrations and anger.

Solve that conundrum and there will be no further reason to assault the West, is surely implied. The West has been listening intently to the message for quite a little while. And seems to have reached a similar conclusion. The delegitimization of Israel, and with that in fact, the presence of all Jews, has begun its gradual ascent.

There remains a mystery, despite that enlightening revelation that without Israel's presence in the Middle East to stir trouble all would be solved. For the hatred that streams out of that geography appears by all available evidence to have various strands. It is directed against Israel, most certainly. But it encompasses equally lethal hatred directed against the West as well.

Yet most tellingly, the radiating strands of hatred, revenge, and tribal animosities leading to mass atrocities are aimed at Muslims. Where Shia detest Sunni, where Sunni are enraged against Shia, and where break-off sects of Islam are seen to be heretics, despised and victimized. The blood shed by Muslim upon Muslim is far greater than that spilled by jihadists against non-Muslims.

Al-Qaeda, its associates and supporters require a new, revised, uplifting and explanatory narrative more invested to display its convoluted reasoning than what currently obtains. Otherwise, the conclusion is inescapable, that fanatical Islam is a death cult that celebrates and adores death. Which is to say the explicit purposeful delivery of death to hated ones.

And the circle of the hated is dense and all-encompassing. Tribal, clan, regional, political, sectarian - and the outside world. So much of the world is an obvious target. How will it be possible for a dedicated group of jihadists to fulfill their plan of annihilating all whom they identify as deserving of their hate, destined to be delivered to death?

Pakistan's secure premises of their nuclear warheads may be as secure as the knowledge that the country's secret intelligence and its military had of the safe haven for Osama bin Laden and his family over the past six years' tenure. The weak government and the infiltrated strength of al-Qaeda and the Taliban within the military and the ISI, supportive of an Islamist caliphate may provide the key.

And although Islam and Islamists speak so approvingly of the divine surrender to Islam through martyrdom, its leaders prefer life for themselves. Death for all others.

Loony Left Resurfacing

Things can get dicey sometimes when people begin to speak frankly what's on their minds. Leading listeners to conclude that their minds are somewhat lacking in reason, hampered by impressions that seem impressively in accord with conspiracy theorists. But of course this is a spokesperson for the New Democratic Party, in fact the NDP deputy chief, a man thought of normally as sober-minded and reasonably intelligent.

Perhaps he's been rattled by the necessity, as the senior - and for many years the sole - NDP MP in the Province of Quebec, of having to explain to skeptics that the new crop of NDP MPs who took the province by storm are perfectly legitimate candidates. Even one whose candidature is now being questioned by the very people who supposedly signed on to her nomination papers as having not done so. It does get confusing.

This is the party that suddenly appeared to that great unknowable beast, the Quebec-voters-in-aggregate as their new source for extraction of special entitlements from the rest of Canada. Thomas Mulcair, party deputy leader stated his well-thought-out opinion that the United States is bluffing; there are no photographs of the man shot dead by US Navy SEALs in his compound in Pakistan.

In the fine tradition of the NDP - not fondly named "dippers" for no reason, as in "dipsy" ; the antics of Svend Robinson come to mind - Mr. Mulcair felt it his responsibility to comment on world affairs which shed a dark light on the modus operandi of the United States. He is obviously invested with a sense of outrage that the world's super power took illegal means to destroy one who sought to destroy its symbols and its people.

"I don't think, from what I've heard, that those pictures exist. And if they do, I'll leave that up to the American military", he said in a spirit of generosity, and then expanded: "No, I don't think they do. If they've got pictures of a cadaver, there's probably more going on than we suspect in what happened there", he concluded. Why leave us dangling? Why couldn't Mr. Mulcair tell us precisely what happened?

And the web sites he has visited as well, to enable us to catch up with all the latest that the truthers have uncovered.

In Pursuit of Terrorism

"He was a huge man, hunted by the world. So why would he have chosen to live here, in a military restricted area, so close to the academy and to so many barracks, without a proper security detail of his own?" Neighbour of House 254; Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad compound

"How many times have we heard that Osama has been killed already? At least five. And this time is no different. I can't believe he was here and I don't believe he is dead." Pakistani anti-terrorist commando

It is likely quite true that Pakistan's President, Asif Ali Zardari, as he petulantly claims, had little actual knowledge of Osama bin Laden's residence so close to Islamabad. It is also likely to be more true that Pakistan's infamous secret service, the ISI, and the country's military elite, both of which have long been infiltrated by Taliban and al-Qaeda agents, collaborated on establishing bin Laden and his family in Abbottabad.

The locals, all of whom represented wealthy elite, many of them former high-placed military officers, were well aware that Arab-speaking people comprising an extended family, and choosing to isolate themselves from the community, lived very close to the country's top military academy. The residents of the compound were never seen, apart from two Pashtun brothers.

Those two identified themselves as having come from the North-West Frontier province, an isolated mountainous tribal area. The story bruited about was that they had run afoul of another tribe through a feud that threatened their very lives. The compound they built a stone's throw from the military academy six years earlier represented their escape from tribal retribution.

The gate leading to the compound, set into its four-to-six metre high retaining wall topped with barbed wire, was always closed. Few entered or exited, and they were always authorized to do so. Security was tight, and those existing within the compound lived an extremely secluded life. The story seemed plausible enough to neighbours in a country where tribal vengeance was lethally traditional.

But the military installation would know in minute details everything about every resident in the area. It is not even remotely plausible that they would not be aware of whom the compound sheltered. The former Pakistani high commissioner to Britain and formerly located in Abottabad as a government functionary stated his own disbelief at the government's disclaimer of knowledge.

"I believe it is inconceivable that the authorities in Pakistan did not know about Osama bin Laden's whereabouts in Abottabad. This is not some sort of place you have an outlaw like Osama bin Laden, unless ... through the connivance of the authorities." So put that absurd
disclaimer to rest. Although President Zardari defies the international community's thoughts on Pakistan's complicity.

It is, without doubt, an embarrassment to Pakistan's government. It is also unquestionable that there is more authority residing within the military and the ISI than within the government of Pakistan. In the past President Zardari has been forced to admit that he has not always been made aware of what the military is involved in. In forging peace with India he must first have the assurance of the military that he may proceed.

This is a country whose government has never been able to extend its authority to Waziristan and the NWF provinces. It is also a government and a military that has always fomented problems for Afghanistan, nurturing, training, arming the Taliban, before they had to face a Taliban of their own. Yet Pakistan plays both sides of the fence, claiming to be a partner with the West against global terrorism.

This nuclear-armed Islamic country has confronted its neighbour India time and again over its conflicted position with respect to Kashmir, claiming ownership and coming to the brink of war now and again. Attacks on India, in Kashmir and more recently in Mumbai, were conducted with the active assistance of the Pakistan military in league with Lashkar e Taiba.

"Such baseless speculation may make exciting cable news, but it doesn't reflect fact", stressed President Zardari, in defending his administration from the calumny of the truth; that official Pakistan remains in league with both the Taliban and al-Qaeda. And Pakistan hastens to assure the United States that it is totally innocent of collaboration with the enemy.

Despite the U.S. secret service knowing full well the extent of Pakistan's collaboration. And the billions keep rolling in, courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer, to help Pakistan pay for its costly military. It has become addictive to Pakistan; swear allegiance to the West's need to protect itself from jihadists, and count the billions - roughly $20-billion since 9-11 - that accrue.

Pity a forensic audit couldn't be conducted to trace how much of U.S. taxpayer-funded treasury has been invested in aiding and abetting the Taliban, let alone paying for the bin Laden compound.

Do We Care? Should We?

The narrative got a little carried away with itself. The world's past-perfect number one terror agent did not, after all, grab for the nearest machine gun in his bedroom when confronted with U.S. Navy SEALS but his astonishment at being accosted was taken as a signal that he was resisting his own abduction, so he was therefore put out of commission, and the abduction carried out without any further fuss or mess.

Oh, apart from his wife also being put out of commission in a far gentler way that she will recover from.

Osama bin Laden, not so much. Shots aimed directly at the head, and another for good measure at the heart have that long-lasting effect, after all. Should we mourn the passing of this dread menace to the world? Only if you enjoy the spectacle of masses of innocents dying long before their time. Only if you're a devoted member of violent jihad. Only if you belong to Hamas and Hezbollah; if you're part of the Iranian establishment.

Oops, wrong there; for it seems that ordinary Muslims, some of whom would be dispatched on his orders without the blink of an eye, feel that whatever else he was, he was a Muslim and as such being killed by infidels is a travesty, a dishonour, an affront to all Muslims. Of course the reverse is also true, that non-Muslims felt rather put-upon being mortally threatened by someone who espoused it as a solemn and sacred duty to kill them in the name of Islam.

To take this lethal threat to the international community out of commission is not, on a scale of to-dos to make the world a better place, too low a priority. Having done so, it has caused a sense of quiet satisfaction among those whom al-Qaeda has threatened, among those who have lost loved ones, among those who believe he had no right to live while others died at his command.

And, of course, it has caused shrill outrage among those who venerated him.

Who are, even now, feverishly planning how they may best undertake to avenge their peerless martyr. The entire event has captured the attention of the United Nations, as well. The Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, considers the event a "watershed moment in our common global fight against terrorism." An opinion not shared by Navi Pillay, High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Who qualifies the operation as an 'illegal' act by a state entity. The High Commissioner has requested that Washington supply her with minute details to convince that the assassination of Osama bin Laden was a needfully necessary act of spring cleaning. This was a stealthy operation, one long planned, to extinguish the evil genius of jihad central. There are no rules to this particular game.

The United States more or less made up its own rules on the fly. There were existing templates and they were taken due note of. Success builds upon future successes. Kill and be killed. The niceties of legal conventions occasionally should be dispensed with.

For The Greater Good

"We will always reserve the right to defend ourselves. We will never tolerate our security being threatened, nor stand idly by when our people have been killed. Tonight, we give thanks to the countless intelligence and counterterrorism professionals who've worked tirelessly to achieve this outcome."

Another little-reported interview with Benjamin Netanyahu, after yet another successful IDF exploit? Responding to another attempt to breach the protective wall between the Palestinian Territories and Israel with murderous intent? The successful Iron Dome shielding Israel from Hamas-propelled rocket attacks? The apprehension of another group of terrorists entering Jerusalem to blow up civilians?

Not Netanyahu? Ah, Barack Obama, of course.

This is not Hamas being referred to, or Fatah-associated militias on a murder spree caught before their mission could be completed. This is Osama bin Laden caught asleep in his bedroom in his luxurious, well guarded villa in the scenic mountains of Pakistan. He sleeps now in perpetuity, released from his mortal coil. His cold flesh food for carnivorous fish, his bones settling on the ocean floor.

If he had the time to recognize what was occurring when the Navy SEALS burst into his compound and through to the second floor, to understand that his long and successful career in instilling fear and terror in the hearts of Western civilian populations was coming to a close, it would be interesting to know whether he felt fear and terror. He was resolute in his determination to sever life from innocents; how resolute was he finally on his own behalf?

The highly successful targeted operation, in the planning stages for a long time, and for which a rehearsal was staged on a purpose-built set comprised of a look-alike compound in the United States went off flawlessly. The man who pioneered the strategic art of confounding his chosen enemies with a series of impeccably organized and executed attacks claiming thousands of innocent lives no longer exists.

His legacy does, unfortunately; those countless hate-mongers who inspired by his cunning and bold example, do their utmost to emulate him, devising new and sometimes successful pursuits in establishing new standards for mass murder. Recruits range from the mentally retarded to adventurously vulnerable adolescents, along with the seasoned warriors who value their own lives, and exploit those of the gullible.

A mere 30 miles distant from Islamabad, that secret, guarded compound. A veritable stone's throw from an elite military base of the Pakistan military. In a town where the wealthy and the entitled live, and where the ISI and the military must make it a common practise to know who goes there. The presence of Osama bin Laden and his family quite unknown to the Pakistan government.

What an amazing surprise. Who knew? Well, no one. The United States is jubilant, the operation the first of its kind in precision perfection. The Israeli raid on Entebbe, foiling the PLO and Idi Amin's guard not representing a template? Is it legal, is it moral for a country to order its specially trained militias to embark on high-stakes missions like this or to use predator drones to 'take out' high-value targets?

After all, the bad guys don't care who they kill in the pursuit of their agenda. The good guys do care, take especial steps to ensure civilians are not caught in cross-fire. Sigh, those predator drones striking the wrong target; civilian deaths. And the raid on bin Laden's compound that saw him shot in the head, twice, and the chest, once, to ensure the job was done ... an estimated 22 unidentified men and a woman also died.

So there are sacrifices ... for the greater good. The greater good representing the avoidance, through acting thus, of further civilian deaths on the good guys' side. Somewhat like the aerial bombing of Dresden. Like Little Boy hitting Hiroshima. Like seven dead Turks aboard the Mavi Marmora? Like dead Palestinian Gazans whom Hamas used as human shields during the IDF invasion responding to rocket attacks?

Depends. The international community does not invest too heavily in criticizing a power like the United States, taking its inspiration from another country that responds as it must to deadly provocations from a determined enemy. But the international community does respond with vigour and passion to a tiny country encircled by deadly antagonists, decrying "disproportional" or "inhumane" responses.

Funny how things play out.

'Justice Has Been Done'

In April 2001, the ISI funded the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, headed by Maulana Fazlur Rehman, to hold a three-day International Deoband Conference near Peshawar. (The Deobandi are a sect of Sunni Islam, among whose adherents are the Taliban and Pakistani extremists who believe in active jihad.) Hundreds of thousands of people attended the meeting, which pledged support to the Taliban. A message from Osama bin Laden was read out in support of Mullah Omar. Western embassies in Islamabad were appalled at the rally, as it was in total defiance of UN sanctions against the Taliban. In late April, the ISI allowed Lashkar -e-Tayyaba, one of the largest extremist groups fighting in Kashmir, to hold a similar rally near Lahore, in which it denounced the British government for placing it on a list of terrorist groups. By staging such rallies, when all political rallies were banned by the regime, the ISI was sending an unambiguous message to the Americans and the UN: that Pakistan continued to support the Taliban even as the UN attempted to seek an end to the civil war in Afghanistan. Ahmed Rashid: Descent Into Chaos

Not quite. Vengeance has had its day. But it is a hollow cause for celebration. For truth is, the death of Osama bin laden has been too long in coming. In the years since the attacks on the World Trade Center, and the years previous to that exercise in wholesale terror, with previous attacks on symbols of the West, the man with the mission had ample opportunity to leave a legacy by creating an empire of jihad through the enthusiastic connivance of eager young Muslims eager to become one with Islamist militant fanatics.

Osama bin Laden's bold challenge of the "infidel" United States, his assertion that the West was intent on completely subjugating the Islamic world for the larger purpose of humbling Islam to Christianity - and in the process taking ownership of the wealth that resided in Islam's geographies in the form of fossil fuels greedily acquired by Western interests, leaving little of value behind for the true owners - made him a popular revolutionary figure.

The boldness of his enterprise in planning and targeting the very symbols - military, political, financial of the most powerful nation on Earth, guaranteed him a place of honour in the Muslim pantheon of revolutionary heroes. "Dead or alive", claimed U.S. President Barack Obama's predecessor, but the target eluded him, just as it had his predecessor, before 9-11. Is there a strange twist to justice here that the scion of a Muslim man from Kenya, a biracial president, now claims victory on the death of the prime nemesis of the West?

Had this man who was born from wealth and privilege and who portrayed himself as a humble mujaheddin in the service of Allah, been apprehended at a far earlier date, thousands of lives would have been spared. Among them thousands of Muslim lives who fell victim to the bloody depredations of al-Qaeda-affiliated militias. For although it is Western targets that claim world headlines when jihadist disaster strikes, it is Muslim lives that represent the larger life-forfeited contingent.

There was much conjecture about the health of bin Laden; he was presumed to be morbidly ill with some dread disease on more than one occasion; thought so because of his ascetic appearance in seemingly difficult circumstances, living inconspicuously in mountain caves. Yet it was within a palatial mansion adjacent to a Pakistani military installation in a small town not far from Pakistan's capital, where the political-military head of al-Qaeda was discovered to be discreetly residing.

His death is at this juncture, more symbolic than practical. He had ample time and opportunity to help establish countless offshoots of al-Qaeda, spreading them throughout the world; not only in the Middle East the Far East and the African Maghreb, but through little associated cells in North America. And his chief lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahri is alive and well and more than capable of filling not only his own operational role but that of bin Laden's as well. He can now issue videos inspiring the faithful to destroy the West.

Burial at sea could guarantee that no shrine could be erected over his burial site, but bin Laden remains an inspiration to the jihad-embracing men and women who venerated him for his contempt for the West and his unswerving devotion of violent jihad. Jihadists are now honour-bound to redeem bin-Laden's infelicitous death at the hands of infidels, by mounting further devastating attacks.

They have been empowered.

Strong Stands Against Terrorism

Why would Canada's relationship with Colonel Moammar Gadhafi have been any different than that of Canada's allies? The Western world reacted in lock-step horror after the monumental disbelief that overtook everyone, witnessing by remote the unspeakable carnage and convulsive destruction that fanatical ideological religious hatred was capable of producing.

And when the Western world recognized through the conclusive evidence that soon followed that the incendiary hatred of jihadists through the efforts of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda was directed without equivocation at all vestiges of "Western imperialism" traditionally feasting off the natural resources of the Arabian Peninsula as violent jihad stated, they joined in a self-protective phalanx of security.

Muslim countries took notice, and some, like Libya, decided that it would volunteer to give up its nuclear program initiated courtesy of Pakistan's Q.Khan and offer to co-operate with the West since it too was struggling with the fanatical extremists in Libya motivated by political Islam, not matching the violent ideological "socialism" that Moammar Gadhafi espoused linked to his own resentment of the colonialist West.

So there we were, in the wake of full knowledge of Libya's former investment in funding, inciting and spreading violence against the West exemplified by the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 with the Canadian military, under the influence of Britain, France, Italy and the U.S., viewing Libya as a willing and helpful bulwark against al-Qaeda, a mutual enemy of Libya.

Much was forgiven Libya when Gadhafi agreed to pay restitution to the families of those who died in the Lockerbie bombing. France and England sold advanced weaponry to their new ally against Islamist extremism, and British special forces trained Libya's government troops. The irony cannot be lost on many that Gadhafi blamed al-Qaeda for the popular uprising in his country.

This time around, however, as a result of his tyrannical and brutal repression of a popular peoples' revolt, the tide has turned and the former allies have been busying themselves urging the the UN, NATO, the African Union and the Arab League join forces in the just support of the peoples' rebellion in Libya to enable human rights to prevail.

The jaunty self-assurance of the rebels insisted initially there was no need for foreign intervention on the ground though they would appreciate the courtesy of some assistance in detaining Libyan warplanes and helicopter gunships from decimating their numbers as they steadily advanced on Tripoli.

Canada's Department of National Defence, echoing the attitudes of other NATO member-countries, no longer views Gadhafi as a front-line defence against radical Islam. Canadian warplanes are flying missions over Libya along with a few other NATO member-nations, and Qatar. And the U.S. has added more accurate, low-flying unmanned drones to the armoury.

And, confoundingly to NATO and its members, al-Qaeda in eastern Libya, long viewed by Gadhafi as an Islamist stronghold, continues to provide the rebels with recruitment, training and other assistance in the battle against the government. While al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is taking the opportunity to take possession of surface-to-air missiles and other looted military equipment from government munition stores in rebel-controlled areas.

Which weaponry will most certainly continue to be trafficked out of Libya, taken to safe sites like Yemen and stockpiled for future use against the infidel crusaders who are even now occupying yet another Muslim country for their own nefarious needs.

This is an old story, seen countless times before, where merging, supporting then fractured alliances come back to haunt the West in its attempts to make common cause with the East.

Palestinian Authority, Partner for Peace

PA Demands Release of Terrorist Killers
by Maayana Miskin

The Palestinian Authority called Sunday for the release of all PA Arab prisoners held by Israel, including terrorists and other murderers. PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas announced that he will not make peace with Israel until all prisoners are released.

Abbas' demand came as Israeli forces announced that they had captured two PA Arab men responsible for the murder of five members of the Fogel family in Itamar. He is asking for the release of the men, along with many others convicted of similar crimes.

The face of the PA campaign for prisoner release, Nael Barghouti, is also a murderer. Barghouti has served 33 years of a life sentence for a murder committed in the course of a terrorist attack. He has spent the longest term in prison of any PA Arab, and is referred to as “dean of the Palestinian prisoners” or by the honorific “Abu An-Nur” (lit. “Father of the light”).

PA officials referred to Nael Barghouti as a “political prisoner” during Sunday's events calling for prisoner release.

Events to promote the release of all PA Arabs in Israeli jails were held throughout Judea, Samaria and Gaza. In Jenin, prisoners' families protested outside the local Red Cross building. Mayor Kadoura Moussa expressed hope that “This year will be the year in which all prisoners from the West Bank, Gaza, Al-Quds [Jerusalem], and the 1948 territories [Israel], in all Israeli prison, will be released.”

In Shechem, a rally on behalf of terrorist prisoners was attended by Issa Qaraqe, the PA's “Minister of Prisoners' Affairs.” Qaraqe has frequently praised terrorists in the course of his work for the PA. On Sunday, he said, “Struggle is the story of the Palestinian people.”

Schools under PA rule dedicated one hour on Sunday to teaching students that all PA Arab prisoners should be released from jail. Mosques and churches joined the cause as well, calling to free prisoners in speeches and ringing the bells in a display of solidarity.

In Gaza, Hamas called to secure the release of PA terrorists by kidnapping Israeli soldiers.

As published online at ArutzSheva, 18 April 2011

J'Accuse!

Hamas Blames Israel for ISM Activist's Murder in Gaza
by Gavriel Queenann

Islamic organizations and terror groups in Gaza rushed to distance themselves from the murder-kidnapping of Italian ISM activist Vottorio Arrigoni.

Islamic terrorist organizations in Gaza decried the murder of Italian ISM activist Vittoria Arrigoni, who was kidnapped on Thursday. Arrigoni was found dead early Friday morning in the Strip.

Among those groups denouncing the murder was none other than Tawhid wal-Jihad, the al-Qaida-linked group who initially claimed responsibility for Arrigoni's kidnapping. Tawhid wal-Jihad said they were holding an Italian national and said they would only release him if their leader, held in Hamas custody, was released.

Hamas security personnel found Arrigoni's body in an abandoned house in Gaza following his abduction by 'militants,' a Hamas official said on Friday.

Two men were arrested and others were being sought in relation to Arrigoni's murder, the official added

Hamas condemned the murder and characterized it as "a shameful act, contrary to the tradition of the Palestinian people."

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said, "the goal of this depraved band of outlaws is to spread chaos and anarchy in the Gaza Strip, a desperate attempt to strike at the stable security situation."

Barhoum claimed the kidnapping and murder of Arrigoni was intended to scuttle the next Gaza flotilla, expected to depart next month. Barhoum explained that he believed the murder was meant to dissuade other foreign activists from arriving in the Strip.

In that vein, the Hamas spokesman accused Israel of perpetrating the murder noting Arrigoni had been a vocal opponent of Israel's policies in Gaza, and frequently blogged about 'Israeli crimes against Palestinians' equating Israeli policies to 'Nazi' crimes. Arrigoni had also been arrested twice by Israeli authorities, Barhoum alleged.

Accusing Israel of acts perpetrated by the terrorist groups themselves is a time-honored tradition among Arab terror leaders in Israel.

Tawhid wal-Jihad, a Jihadist Salafi group in Gaza, had threatened on Thursday to execute Arrigoni by 5 p.m. local time (2 p.m. GMT) unless their demands were met.

As published online at ArutzSheva, 15 April 2011

Not Our Fault, But Theirs!

He is described as a peace activist. One can only wonder what kind of mind it is that accommodates itself to living as a 'peace activist' concerned with the human rights of Palestinians living in Gaza, who finds that it accords with his vision of 'peace' to live under a Hamas-controlled society. Someone who identifies with the mission of Hamas, a jihadist group that clearly states its major concern is to destroy the State of Israel, while considering Israel, concerned with defending itself and its people from mayhem and slaughter, to be genocidal in intention.

A young Italian man who was obviously an idealist. He apparently eschewed the opportunities available to him to campaign against endemic corruption in Italy, against the customary sexual predations on women in Italy, against the violence of organized crime in Italy, against the poverty-stricken condition of many Italians, and opted instead for the more exotic allure of joining the pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli movement intent on breaking an internationally lawful sea blockade.

So inspired by his mission to travel on one of the "Free Gaza" flotillas he decided to remain in Gaza, and from that vantage point write about the intolerable conditions defying human rights imposed upon Palestinians in Gaza - not by the rigorously theocratic Hamas, but by the IDF, charged by their nation to protect and defend the Israeli population from ongoing rocket attacks, and attempted suicide attacks that continually breached Israeli security and civilian lives.

He was abducted as a potential person of value to be exchanged for rival Islamist gang members whom Hamas has imprisoned. The same rabid-Islamist-Wahhabist inspiration that inspired bin Laden and al-Qaeda, a Salafist faction of Sunni Islam. A-Tawheed wal Jihad used him as a bargaining chip to free some of their own from incarceration. They may have used the abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, held by Hamas as a template for their own escapade, kidnapping Vittorio Arrigoni.

Whom, when threats to kill him did not convince Hamas to free the Salafist prisoners they hold - quite unlike the actions of the State of Israel in permitting hundreds of Palestinian prisoners to be released in exchange for a single Israeli held by Palestinians - tortured and killed the Italian man who had dedicated his life to the Palestinian cause. One supposes that Hamas did not feel sufficiently co-dedicated to the cause of Mr. Arrigoni's continued lifespan.

Palestinians are now in the throes of bewailing the man's unfortunate death. Another instance of Muslim Arabs dispatching their own, as it were. Here was a foreigner sacrificing his time, energies, passion and future to the cause of the Palestinians. And he is used as a chess piece, a disposable, dispensable object whose life can be bargained away with a check-mate. And then, the grieving Palestinians look about for answers to another of their little bloody tragedies.

A former member of Yasser Arafat's inner circle, now a fervent member of Hamas, bemoans the fact that it is more than obvious to him that the Salafist Muslim group has been infiltrated; no other way to explain how and why they would murder someone dedicated to the cause of the Palestinians. He could see, he said, furiously, Netanyahu's hand in all of this. It was an Israeli plot to avenge themselves on Mr. Arrigoni and upon Hamas.

That would be the same Hamas that pondered the choice of saving Mr. Arrigoni's life in exchange for Salafist prisoners they held, and their discretionary choice condemned Mr. Arrigono who had doubly dedicated his life in vain, to an untimely, and most unfortunate death. Which, of course, Hamas is not responsible for. But Israel, most decidedly is.

"Israel has every right to laugh and sing, even while it massacres its neighbour. Palestinians are only asking to die a different death, one of old age." Vittorio Arrigoni

Islam's Agonizing Paroxysms of Hatred

The murder of United Nations aid workers in Afghanistan, the work of a raging mob, spurred on to express their hatred of the West in search of Americans on whom to wreak their vengeance for the reported burning of a Koran by a fundamentalist preacher in the United States has not resulted in calls for justice to be done in a search for and arrest of the murderers. What the mob extracted from the humanitarian aid workers was justice evidently; their lives to redeem the insult to Islam.

One does not insult Islam with impunity.

• Afghan protestors burn an effigy of U.S. President Barack Obama during a demonstration in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Sunday, April 3, 2011. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

If burning an effigy of President Barack Obama might be considered tit for tat, it might be understood. But the effigy-burning is but a temporary relief mechanism for the build-up of fanatical resentment, anger and hatred against any who dare criticize or hold to account any manifestations of Islam and its adherents' actions. From within Islam no condemnation of the murder of innocent Westerners issues.

HOLY QURAN BURNT in FLORIDA CHURCH
Assalam Alaykum Brother and Sisters,
Islam and Muslim are Under Attack,specially after 911 .Islam is being referred as Violent religion and Holy Quran as Violent Book.
The Christians call Christianity a Religion that spread love,Bible a Holy Book which speaks about love,but this is not fact.
Wel,,Muslims are already Labeled as Violent and Bad peoples,but Where is Love in them ?
During discussions they always show Bible teach Love Your Enemy,so Where is that Love. Muslims are violent&then what you are ?
Christians Pastor BURNT HOLY QURAN in florida church.Who did this ? The One who did is Christian Pastor,A Leader who guides others &.What is his guidance&? HATE MUSLIMS &
His knowledge about Quran : He never ever read full quran,just few verses.
Infact I feel that LOVE YOUR ENEMY IS HOAX!

For these are just desserts. Insult Islam in one country, even if a single individual is to blame, and the entirety of the Muslim world rises up in anguish over the assault on all they hold dear. The insult cannot be permitted to pass; slighting Islam by burning a Koran is deserving of a death penalty. If the Florida pastor cannot be sacrificed to uphold Islam's honour, then any Westerner will substitute.

The Koran must not be touched by Infidels. It is the living word of God. Unlike the Holy Bible or the Old Testament which are mere pretenders and which may be destroyed at the will of any who find them despicable for they are not authentic. Denounce, threaten, spew hatred, sow fear. Finally to express utter disgust, employ the last rites of mob murder. If one, then why not many?

While Muslims are being attacked by fanatics of their own faith,they give no credence to the experience, saving their burning opprobrium for the West. It is the West that takes the honour of Islam in vain, corrupting and denigrating its integrity as the word of God. To destroy a Koran is to invite death delivered by the righteous believers in the compassionate, true God.

It is not through the auspices of violent jihad and the Salafists whose assaults on the West to the greater glory of Islam that Muslims have need to fear for themselves, but those who spurn Islam and assault it. Although they die in great numbers through martyrdom attacks, where the fervid believer launches himself as a living bomb among crowds of Muslim believers, they cannot and will not believe that their own murder them.

Islam is above reproach. It is as the recruiters for political, active and violent jihad claim, the Western interests have embarked on a vicious campaign against Islam. It is called Islamophobia. This is a war that they wage to destroy Islam. It is a vast conspiracy against Islam and Muslims.

There is no option among the faithful but to destroy them first.

"It Is Almost a Certitude"

"The question we can't answer is: Are they 2% of the opposition? Are they 20%? Or are they 80%?"
"It is almost a certitude" says a former CIA expert with the Brookings Institute, that some portion of the Libyan opposition is comprised of al-Qaeda members.

In Libya the rebel opposition has been experiencing some setbacks. Among which are some losses. Among which are disagreements between the leaders of the opposition. Among which has been the suspicion among those who are weighing the risks of providing weapons to the rebels. Among which, tellingly, is the fact that the rebel militias are disorganized, untrained, basically without weapons capable of counteracting those of the Gadhafi forces.

One might assume that the regime's military defectors should be capable of some on-the-spot training so that some kind of discipline and cohesiveness could be achieved but such doesn't seem to be the case. Although it is a tall order, to haul together the ragtag army of people from ordinary walks of life who have no familiarity with arms and fighting, aside from a desire to defend themselves.

So the counterattacks of the rebels against the government forces, well trained and armed and determined to do Colonel Gadhafi's bidding remain at a clear disadvantage. But there is another, hidden element there, one that no one connected with the insurgency has any desire to underline to cause suspicion and draw support away from them.

That they have, without doubt, either been infiltrated or have been combined with at the outset, Islamists, those who are well accustomed to fighting, having done so in Iraq and Afghanistan and anywhere that the Taliban and al-Qaeda make their presence in challenging the Western presence.

And there, then, is the twofold challenge facing the NATO-run Western/Arab alliance.

That Gadhafi himself has cleverly - or his military hierarchy has - recognized the need to camouflage themselves to protect against NATO-led air strikes. To that end, they have taken the measure of abandoning their armoured vehicles and tanks in opposing the opposition forces and begun to use instead the same kind of pick-up trucks fitted with weapons, confusing those monitoring the no-fly zones.

How to tell the regime opposition from government forces from the air? The greater mobility also allows them to use their artillery, their mortars to great advantage without fear of being bombed from above.

"When Gadhafi's forces are close to the civilians we hope to safeguard, the utility of our air power is greatly reduced, but they retain the ability to use artillery, mortars, and ground troops."

And then there is the troubling facts on the ground. That U.S. intelligence knows there is al-Qaeda activity within the rebel groups in the country. NATO's operations commander affirmed that, following al-Qaeda's third-ranking official's issuance of a video on jihadist Internet sites urging that Islamists take up arms against Col. Gadhafi.

So isn't that a paradox to puzzle the curious mind? NATO and Western powers, along with those Arab states who have invested in removing the scourge of Libya are battling alongside al-Qaeda. The very group whose main agenda is the disablement by any means possible, of Western democratic society, is linked with them, in a struggle to overthrow Moammar Gadhafi.

It is clear what the NATO/Arab group means to achieve in giving assistance to the rebels whom they initially assumed were entirely comprised of Libyan civilians whose tolerance for tyranny had expired. It is, on the other hand, equally clear what al-Qaeda means to achieve, in responding to the opportunity to take advantage of this unforeseen struggle.

Primacy in destroying current regimes and replacing them with their global agenda.

They have already been enabled by the chaos that has overtaken the country, to avail themselves of explosives for the manufacture of more improvised explosive devices for roadside bombs. Libyan rebels - or their al-Qaeda counterparts - have been able to take possession of 12 warehouses brimming with anti-vehicle mines in Benghazi and to loot another 35 warehouses of munitions in Ajdabiyah.

"Bin Laden has proved adept at exploiting civil wars and strife in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Iraq, among other countries." Initially working with local fighting groups challenging national authority, they have extended the struggle to a more global positioning. So who is leading whom to the brink of disaster yet again?

What If?

It's not all that far a stretch of probability. It happened in Afghanistan with the U.S. and Pakistan conspiring to aid the mujahadeen, training and arming them to confront Soviet forces in the invasion of Afghanistan. And those mujahadeen formed the core of the Taliban which then ruled Afghanistan when the Soviet troops left.

And from among the mujahadeen another corps was formed, that of al-Qaeda. The alliance between the Taliban and al-Qaeda was a natural one.

And the flaming enmity of al-Qaeda toward the West and specifically the United States became the most evident turning point of the Islamist revival. Which has since spread incorrigibly throughout the Muslim world. The Islamists have succeeded in overturning moderate Islam to reflect a fundamentalist, fanatic version of Islam which conducted its own internal war within the ummah.

Islamists who fought in Afghanistan were recruited from all over the Muslim and Arab world. Many of them returned to their source, and one of those sources was eastern Libya. In 2009 a Canadian intelligence report described eastern Libya as an "epicentre of Islamist extremism", where "extremist cells" were well represented.

Canada's Integrated Threat Assessment Centre identified "several Islamist insurgent groups" based in mosques in Benghazi, urging its members to fight in Iraq. They are suspected of having infiltrated the ranks of the rebel forces now battling Moammar Gadhafi's forces. And, like a nightmare recurring, the United States, Britain , France and Qatar are considering arming the rebels.

A recently-convened conference of 40 governments and international bodies reached agreement to continue the NATO-led aerial bombing of Libyan forces, hoping to force Gadhafi to comply with the United Nations resolution to end its violence against its civilians. The conflict in Libya is between the West and the East of the country; a tribal conflict.

In many of the cities that rebound from government control to rebel occupation and then back again, there are citizens who battle on the government side, against the rebel forces. This is a country that has been riven by clan warfare and tribal antipathies, a reflection of what exists in every Arab and Muslim country globally.

It is into this melee that the West has intervened, focusing on the presence of a maniacal tyrant determined to continue his personal ownership of a country, violating the human rights of his own exploited people, celebrating his ownership of the proceeds of the country's natural resources. In the West this is considered moral anathema; in the Middle East it reflects tradition.

International aid agencies are on the scene, concerned that the conflict has cut off medical supplies, water, electricity and food to countless civilians. The focus of concern from within the international community and the reason for their involvement has been the security and safety of the civilian population. But the civilian population appears fractionated by loyalties, further complicating matters.

And through all of this, while the West and their Arab and African state allies remain anxious to have Western powers involved and commit to what they will not, Moammar Gadhafi keeps insisting that he is concerned for his peoples' welfare: "Stop your brutal and unjust attack on our country ... Hundreds of Libyans are being killed because of this bombardment. Massacres are being mercilessly committed against the Libyan people."

And on their part, the spokesmen for the rebels deny al-Qaeda links, despite damning admissions seen elsewhere. And the head of the U.S. European Command informs the U.S. Senate that American intelligence on rebel forces, while demonstrating some involvement of al-Qaeda or Hezbollah, they are lacking "detail sufficient to say there is a significant al-Qaeda presence."

The Devil We Know

The Western world, once again agape with disbelief at the suddenness of the implosion of dysfunctional, brutally autocratic regimes in the Arab and Muslim world, are quick to respond to appeals for assistance from the very populations who enjoy professing their contempt for the West and all its institutions, governments and societies.

We are so easily led, we of Judeo-Christian heritage leavened with Greek philosophical undertones, rising to the occasion with alacrity, despite residual doubts, prepared to sacrifice and to do all within our means to aid and assist the underdog. Even the underdog that snarls and snaps and occasionally makes the opportunity to viciously bite the hand so eager to come to its aid.

The same al-Qaeda that carefully planned and executed one bloody atrocity after another on the world of the West, enjoys great respect and admiration in the very world to whom we respond when the piteous cries for help ring out. And al-Qaeda is able to recruit from among those whom we shelter, give citizenship, education and lifestyle opportunities to.

NATO has now accepted the hot potato of negotiating the guidelines of the United Nations resolution that permitted entry of 16 Western coalition countries over the skies of Libya in a rebel-protective role to ensure that Libyan government troops not slaughter them, much as has been done in the past in Iraq, in Iran, in Syria, in Jordan, in Egypt, in Saudi Arabia.

The hope is that the Arab League, which views NATO and the West with great distaste as Crusaders and interfering infidels, will acquiesce to the expectation that they too will enter the fray, adding a kind of regional, political, religious, social legitimization to the no-fly coalition.

Paradoxically, the rebel commanders have allowed that they have among them members of al-Qaeda.

Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, the Libyan rebel leader, has said jihadists who fought against allied troops in Iraq are on the front lines of the battle against Muammar Gaddafi's regime.

In an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, Mr al-Hasidi admitted that he had recruited "around 25" men from the Derna area in eastern Libya to fight against coalition troops in Iraq. Some of them, he said, are "today are on the front lines in Adjabiya".

Mr al-Hasidi insisted his fighters "are patriots and good Muslims, not terrorists," but added that the "members of al-Qaeda are also good Muslims and are fighting against the invader".

The detested devil you know in the guise of brutal dictators so often turns out to be the lesser of two evils, the second of which eventually emerges when the dust of war settles and the original devil is ousted, permitting the successor devil to advantage himself while demonstrating his credentials far outstripping the original in evil intent.

Sincerely Neighbourly

Fogel Family Slaughter Deliberately Incited by PA
by Chana Ya'ar

The Palestinian Authority government deliberately incited its population to terrorism long before the Sabbath slaughter of the Fogel family in the Samaria Jewish community of Itamar this past Friday night.

“Incitement against Israel, which frequently turns into genuine anti-Semitic incitement, is an inseparable part of the fabric of life in the Palestinian Authority, “ noted Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in a statement issued by his media adviser following the murder. “These anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic messages are regularly heard in both the private and official media and in mosque sermons, and are studied in school textbooks. Terrorists are given honored status and become models for emulation in Palestinian society, both in the media and via ceremonies held by institutions affiliated with the PA."

“Institutionalized and systematic incitement against Israel has never ceased in the PA, even during the height of the diplomatic process in the 1990s,” the PMO noted.

Recent Examples of PA Incitement

Praising numerous attacks by terrorists, the PA government has made special efforts to encourage the murder of Israelis – and has not shied away from praising those who kill children, despite protestations to the contrary.

On the day before the brutal slaying of the Fogel family, Sabri Saidam, adviser to Abbas and under-secretary of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, told PA Arabs in a speech that “the weapons must be turned towards the main enemy [Israel] and that internal differences of opinion must be set aside.” Saidam denounced the low monthly stipends to families of terrorists who murder Israelis. He also called for the naming of another public square in honor of Dalal Mughrabi, the bloodthirsty terrorist who led the 1978 Coastal Road massacre that left dozens of Israelis dead, including 13 children.

On March 6, the Al Hayat Al Jadida newspaper advertised the naming of a “youth” tournament for 19 year olds honoring the memory of "shahida" (Martyr) Wafa Idris – the first female PA Arab suicide bomber. As a Red Crescent ambulance volunteer, she was able to bypass Israeli security and enter Jerusalem, where she murdered one person and wounded more than 150 others in January 2002.

One week prior to the brutal attack on the Fogel family, the Fatah faction led by Abbas held a ceremony at the Deheisheh neighborhood of Bethlehem, honoring those of its homegrown terrorists who were killed during the PA's terrorist campaign against Israel in the years 2002-2005. Those “honored” included suicide bomber Muhammad Daraghmeh, who murdered nine Israelis in Jerusalem, as well as Saed Saud Abu Amar, Jad Mahmoud Atallah, Issa Zakri Faraj and Ayyat Al-Akhras – who at age 17 was the youngest female suicide bomber, having murdered two Israelis in her suicide bombing of March 2002.

On February 9, the official PA TV station broadcast a clip from a campaign entitled “Women as Role Models” during which Dalal Mughrabi was extolled as a prime example. Last summer several children's camps were named in her memory.

Two months prior to the Fogel murder, PA Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas awarded $2,000 to the family of a terrorist who attacked and attempted to murder IDF soldiers. Khaldoun Najib Samoudy raced towards IDF soldiers at the Hamra checkpoint in December 2010, carrying two pipe bombs and screaming “Allahu Akbar!” (G-d is Great). His act was lauded in the January 25 edition of the Fatah-backed PA newspaper, Al Hayat Al Jadida, which covered an award ceremony in which Abbas bestowed a “presidential grant” of $2,000 on the relatives of the “Shahid” (martyr) in the village of Al-Yamoun. The article, in Arabic, was translated by media watchdog the Palestinian Media Watch (PMW).

On January 2, the Al Hayat Al Jadida newspaper reported a speech by Azzam Al-Ahmed, a member of the Fatah Central Committee, which expressed the PA government's support for terrorism as a means of “resistance." During a gathering on the 46th anniversary of the faction's founding, Al-Ahmed was quoted as saying, “We emphasize today the aims for which the Fatah movement was established,” adding Fatah is a mass movement which believes in popular revolution and has wrested its right to use all means of resistance in order to achieve its aim.

On October 26, 2010, PA TV broadcast a documentary about the work of PA medical teams that included an entirely fictitious scene in which an Israeli soldier shoots a PA Arab in the head.

On June 21, 2010, a children's program was broadcast on the official PA TV channel which taught that “The Jews are our enemies,” and that “Israeli soldiers are wild animals.”

On December 27, 2009, official PA TV reported that Tayib Abd A-Rahim, a representative of Abbas, presented condolences on behalf of the PA chairman to the families of three terrorists killed by IDF soldiers after murdering Rabbi Meir Avshalom Chai. A-Rahim said on Abbas's behalf, that “without doubt, the Occupation authorities perpetrated a wild and barbaric assassination, maliciously and in cold blood.”

In PA schools, the “History of the Arabs and the World in the 20th Century” is a 12th grade textbook used the Palestinian Authority to teach about World War II. The textbook includes material on Nazi ideology – but does not mention the Holocaust at all.

Terminally Conflicted

Posing as an urbane intellectual, a reasonable man straddling two worlds, he appeared to have little trouble making influential friends at various courts. Money and power do confer a special status on those who can wield them both, and the man most certainly did. The scion of a man who ruled a kingdom, but modestly, as a benevolent despot who only occasionally permitted himself the luxury of exacting his wrath upon his unruly subjects.

Mostly, the illustrious father of this talented son contented himself with sending out his emissaries far and wide to covertly wreak havoc abroad. The father was widely feared and respected as well, but all can be forgiven for business opportunities. With wealthy societies eager to forge alliances and to come away with mutually beneficial agreements that were certain to fulsomely reward their industry and their investments in the desert sands of Libya.

The father who rose to the rank of Colonel in this corner of the Maghreb, took control in a military coup of a country comprised of nomadic tribes, of opposing Bedouin clans, and his palatial palace was in fact, a palatial tent for he was at heart a Bedouin, and proud of it. His loving son had other aspirations which the father encouraged, and he achieved a doctorate in political philosophy.

So far is the apple capable of falling from the tree under opportunistically salubrious circumstances. Saif al-Islam Gadhafi was greatly admired "as someone who looks to democracy, civil society and deep liberal values for the core of his inspiration." A mere $2.3-million of pocket change to the London School of Economics was sufficient to buy that unctuous encomium.

But he did indeed impress upon his informal academic adviser at the redoubtable London School of Economics the extent of his civilized world view, who spoke of his former pupil quite fondly: "The funny, witty man who, while always guarded about his family, was always willing to talk frankly with me about the fundamental questions about his own country and the Middle East in general."

That funny, witty man is now quite publicly speaking frankly on the fundamental questions about his country, appearing on television to warn that rivers of blood would run through Libya. "You must fight, until the last minute, until the last bullet. This is your country! We will show them what we're capable of. They can do nothing against us. They are just children."

Those 'children', the young men of Libya who are no longer willing to allow themselves and their country to be ruled by a brutal tyrant who suppresses the will of the people, who hugely benefits himself through the sales of the country's petrochemicals while the infrastructure of a civil society is denied his countrymen, have been targeted by the military that the "sword of Islam" commands.

Responding to the slaughter of protesters by the military, Saif al-Islam explained that the thousands who died were themselves responsible for the carnage. "The army was under stress, it is not used to crowd control, so they shot." So they did. One imagines that the military training specifically geared toward crowd control that Britain so graciously exposed them to simply did not take.

This man, son of the father, who displayed such a deep commitment to liberal democratic reform of his country, that he moved in highly respected, elite circles, a guest of British royalty, American social elite, celebrities, had written his thesis arguing in it against autocratic governments that are "authoritarian, abusive and unrepresentative."

Purportedly written it, that is, for which he received his doctorate. Suspicions have since arisen that it was ghost-written, plagiarized, improperly documented, alas. Not only is it likely he did not in fact write the 429-page tome, but it is also quite likely he never got around to reading it thoroughly.

No matter, the dashing desert warrior has overtaken the persona of the urbane, witty charmer.

It's a Joke, Right?

"The consequences of detonating the bombs would have been catastrophic. It is simply beyond question that, had the plan succeeded, many people, probably hundreds, would have perished. ...This country would have been dealt a massive blow, both physically and psychologically, and in all likelihood would never have been the same." Justice Fletcher Dawson, Toronto

Having said which, one can only wonder, despite mouthing those condemnatory and concerning words, does the sentence fit the crime? It is a crime of suspended but horrifying proportions. To deliberately work toward the goal of extinguishing the lives of people, to determinedly plan to destroy public institutions, to destabilize a country, to exact revenge on a nation that has given succour to oneself and one's parents. Incomprehensible.

Convicted former software engineer Shareef Abdelhaleem, one of the lead planners of the "Toronto 18" jihadis, was given an opportunity to plead pre-sentencing, for leniency. "I was mistaken in my conduct. I am unconditionally sorry." However, it would appear that his unconditional regret for his "mistaken conduct" was conditional on clemency. Odd that; one might consider the sentence meted out as brimming with kind consideration and a modicum of clemency.

A life sentence, after all, but one that is interpreted to offer the potential of seeking parole in just over five years. A ten-year life sentence. Why term this a 'life sentence'? That is quite the penalty, ten years, for planning to discharge jihadist rage by Canadians against Canadians. Who mightily resent and planned to 'resist' with all the opportunities at their disposal, the "Islamophobia" being displayed against their religious cohorts, and by extension, themselves.

"I am a brown Muslim, so I become a terrorist", Abdelhaleem seethingly, self-pityingly explained. Anticipate that, because I am a Muslim that I cannot be trusted, that I will do everything in my power to covertly plan a bloody disaster that will make you sit up and take notice. And because you consider me so likely to become a violent Islamist I shall become one. Well, he did, and he did his best, along with his co-conspirators, to exact revenge. We sat up and took notice.

Having done so, the plot was apprehended and the associates-in-murder arrested, and now the trials of those eleven members who were held by security authorities to be those who were most fully involved and held responsible for the planned carnage have been completed. Mr. Abdelhaleem not only shared a hateful ideological belief and dedication to political Islam's devotion to violent jihad, but he also shares his colleagues' belief in the "blatant injustice" that was meted out to them by Canada's legal system.

This time around, the Toronto stock exchange was spared destruction by disaffected Canadian Muslim plotters. This time around, the CSIS downtown Toronto premises were spared. This time, the Highway 401 military base near Toronto survived a threat. As did the Houses of Parliament in Ottawa, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper's tender neck. In addition, this time around, quite a few Canadians were spared an early and gruesome death.

Perhaps those who might be bold enough to make another concerted attempt will exercise more caution, having closely witnessed the manner in which security agents scrutinized and kept watch over the clandestine activities of the Toronto 18. Surely they will weigh the chances of success and notoriety and Islamist celebrity and blessings as martyrs-for-the-cause against the paltry sentence that will be handed down in response to their dedication.

However, Crown attorney Iona Jaffe in praise of Judge Dawson's decision seems content. "This is exactly the kind of sentence or message that should be sent out to those people contemplating this type of terrorist activity in Canada", said she. Is it truly? There are many who would disagree, little doubt about that. The man's lawyer claims his client will likely appeal. He can do that, through the justice system of this country.

In the final analysis, it is likely the devastated father of the convicted man, Tariq Abdelhaleem, who represents the image of one who has been unfairly sentenced. His sentence is one of profound parental grief.