Mired In The Middle Ages

Ancient Persia has a magnificent and an ancient heritage. Modern Persia not so much.

With the Islamic Revolution the country under its new ruling Ayatollahs seemed to regress rather than progress socially. Iran's parochial concerns with its Shia traditions and its animosity toward the larger Sunni populations outside its borders, allied with its xenophobic attitude toward the outside world and its close embrace of Islamism earns it the reputation of a closed society.

Any country ruled by elite religious figures who consider themselves the supreme authority on politics, technology, social conditions and external relations and who bind themselves to the rigid traditions of religious fascism represents of its very nature, a totalitarian one that rejects human rights for its population.

Under the authority of the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as religious head and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as political head, there is the spectacle of the hornet and the scorpion. There is a struggle for power and authority between the two figures, even while the Supreme Leader remains the titular head of state and the religious authority.

Iran's president, who exemplifies the country's rigid authoritarian stance and fervent religious devotion, while aspiring to acquire the annihilating properties of nuclear fission, believes himself to be the superior authority figure. While each supported the other's ambitions they were able to function as heads of government.

Now, it seems that the aspirations of each outdistances their usefulness to one another. It is hard to imagine which of the two is more fundamentally deluded. Both are intensely invested in fundamentalist Islam. The president is meant to take his orders from the Ayatollah, but it is clear that the President feels he should be junior to no one.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad feels his experience on the world stage and his ranking in the country gives him the authority to make decisions unauthorized by the Supreme Leader. Causing offence to those who support the Ayatollah, let alone Ali Khamenei himself. Each sponsors a different replacement as president for upcoming 'elections'.

This is a country that believes in the resurrection of a Hidden Imam, who will bring with him Armageddon; the ascension of the righteous to heaven and the destruction of the unworthy to dwell forever in the netherworld. Only those whom Shia Islam of the Iranian variety blesses will be saved; the lives of all others are forfeit for they are clearly undeserving.

This is a country where the political elite employ exorcists. Where Ahmadinejad's former spiritual mentor feels his pupil has been placed under an evil spell. "I am almost certain he has been bewitched", the ayatollah explained. Indubitably.

Like Oil and Water

How many countries of the world are there who while celebrating their creation, must contemplate that their neighbours view that event as a black day of mourning? Pakistan came into being at roughly the same time, Bangladesh some years later; who contests their creation? British colonial rule left arbitrary borders around geographic areas that later became 'nations', countries whose tribal adversities have never resulted in peace; who suggests their destruction?

Palestinians continue to claim that Israel exists on land that is rightfully that of the Palestinians. Yet the Palestinians who remained within Israel at its declaration remain there yet, with full civil rights equally administered under the law. It is claimed that 700,000 Palestinians fled out of fear and at the urging of surrounding Arab governments that they could return once the new state was demolished by a combined Arab military assault.

That original 700,000 now numbers roughly six million who live in neighbouring Arab state as refugees for their neighbours, other Arabs, always refused them citizenship and equality, with the exception of Jordan. The world, through the United Nations which established a special refugee agency just for the Palestinians, have paid ever since for their welfare.

It is estimated that some 800,000 Jews were expelled at the same time from the Arab countries they had lived in for millennia. Their worldly goods were confiscated, there was never any compensation, nor was any offered since 1948. Their long history in Arab lands was simply an inconvenience; the affront of the creation of Israel resulted in their expulsion.

No international outcry was heard at that event, nor did the world offer assistance to the refugee Jews. But the endless plight of refugee Arabs whom other states refused to absorb, while Israel absorbed the refugee Jews remains highly visible and an ongoing incendiary issue. The Palestinians urge a return to Israel, but it would not be Israel, it would be Palestine; a Jewish state no longer.

Because of a heritage tradition within Islam of land consecrated to Islam never permitted to be absorbed into another religion or heritage, just as within Islam secession from Islam is considered a capital offence, it is not the 1948 or 1969 borders that are contested for a new Palestinian State; it is the entirety of the geography dedicated to the State of Israel that is to be re-claimed; in Arabic, not English.

While Middle East countries are grappling with inner unrest fomented by civil protests against authoritarian governments, Israel waited warily for the inevitable. And Syria's administration has sought a diversion from its brutal crackdown on regime protests by urging Palestinians to cross their border into Israel. Another FaceBook revolution taking place, ushering in the Third Intifada with young Palestinians planning a concerted mass entry into Israel.

From Lebanon, from Jordan and from Syria and Gaza, they came, declaring their intention to return to the land their grandparents occupied. A clear diversion for the heads of government, and an obvious disavowal of recognition of a Jewish State in the midst of Arab Muslim states.

UWO Academic Funding

"[We want] to express our alarm over the disclosure that two Islamist organizations - the Muslim Association of Canada and the [Virginia-based] International Institute of Islamic thought - will provide most of the $2-million in funding for a new Chair in Islamic Studies in the Faculty of Theology at Huron University College. While we commend the College for undertaking to 'make a substantive contribution to understanding of Islamic thought and Muslim identity in pluralistic societies' through the establishment of this Chair, we think it is extremely ill-advised of the College to accept funding from any organization implicated in violent jihad.

"We think that it is reckless for Huron University College to accept up to $1-million in funding from a tainted organization like the IIIT. Would the College have accepted funding from the IRA for a chair in Irish studies? We think not." Letter sent by 26 faculty alumni and friends of the University of Western Ontario to Trish Fulton, interim principal at Huron University College, affiliate of University of Western Ontario.

With good reason. There are precedents, of course. Saudi Arabia used a good whack of its oil revenues to establish Wahhabist madrassas in countries around the world, from Afghanistan to Canada and points in between. In those madrassas, mullahs taught their students the fundamentals of Islam, encouraging the obligation of jihad and martyrdom for the cause. It was institutions like those that inspired today's terror groups, including al-Qaeda.

The Muslim Brotherhood has its tentacles all around the world, including cells in Canada. It portrays itself as a respectable, law-abiding group whose only purpose and function is furthering the honourable cause of restoring Islam to its former glory. Its Egyptian founder, Hassan al-Banna, wanted to promote Islamic piety; he rejected the influence of the secular West in the Middle East, advocating a return to Islam.

That was in 1928. His ideas motivated many devoted Islamists to broaden his vision, and pick up on his urging of Muslims to undertake holy war as a defensive strategy to an offensive one. The Brotherhood excelled at assassinations of political figures. It had a huge influence on Yasser Arafat, spawned Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad and had great influence with al-Qaeda leaders.

The Muslim Association of Canada links itself to the Muslim Brotherhood. On its website: "MAC adopts and strives to implement Islam ... as understood in its contemporary context by the late Imam, Hassan Albanna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood." The Brotherhood, which aims to restore Islamic laws and values in the face of growing Western influence.
Although the Muslim Brotherhood has influenced a generation of violent, radical groups, MAC spokesman Yaser Haddara told the news conference (on instituting Sharia law in Ontario) without blinking an eye, that the group's core values are consistent with Canadian values. MAC states on its website that "We do have a firm belief that our philosophy and vision are superior to others and we strive to ensure that they are actualized." How MAC will "actualize" the Muslim Brotherhood "philosophy" in Canada is not elaborated." Tarek Fatah - Chasing a Mirage; the Tragic Illusion of an Islamic State

The answer to that question posed by Tarek Fatah seems to be held within this initiative to fund a Chair in Islamic Studies at the University of Western Ontario, in London, Ontario.

Hassan Al-Banna envisioned Middle East Muslim states re-affirming their Islamist fundamentals. Eschewing the growing trend toward Westernizing their outlooks and priorities, abandoning their Islamic bona fides. His current-day followers advocate for a slow and steady infiltration into Western society with a view to substituting Western values and thought with those of Islam.

A 1991 memorandum by a member of the Muslim Brotherhood Shura Council proposed that Muslim settlement in Canada and the United States be considered a "Civilization-Jihadist Process". "The MB must understand that their work in America is kind of a grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house."

We are sleep-walking helpfully to the fulfillment of the Muslim Brotherhood agenda.

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?

Entitlements, Islamist and Otherwise

The Dutch politician, Geert Wilders has the well-deserved reputation of bluntly speaking his mind. And his mind has been lingering over the transformation that has taken place in his country, in tandem with the rest of Europe, as a result of immigrants from Muslim countries continuing to practise religious and cultural customs that often run counter to the values, religious, social, secular and lawful of their adopted country.

The solution of this disparity in values and priorities has not been to have the immigrant population shed their deep-seated and socially-, culturally-engrained traditions, but rather to witness as they insist that the laws and customs of their adopted country should be altered to reflect their needs. This is not the manner in which people have traditionally integrated into receiving societies in a world of migrating groups through the millennia.

But this is the manner in which immigrants from Muslim-majority countries have been treating the societies of their adopted countries. Despite that they have fled often enough from repressive societies and exploitative governments to find greater opportunities to fit their aspirations for the future, they still cling to the traditional ways of life that give them comfort in their new homes, choosing to eschew those of their new home.

Making a clean break from all that is familiar is not possible overnight. And accommodating one's ethnic and heritage traditions to a new social contract, a new system of justice in a pluralist society is difficult, but it can be accomplished. It can be accomplished with a sense of goodwill and a realization that some things must be sacrificed for the greater good. Entitlements must be earned, and not demanded.

Instead a general thought process appears to have evolved, where imposing a foreign and alien way of life onto an entirely different kind of society with its own traditions and values upsetting the natural order of social life, has evolved. Where countries which absorb immigrants with the expectation that the newcomers are willing to adapt to their values, find instead that immigrants insist the welcoming societies turn their values inside out and upside down to accommodate them.

It is precisely because Islam, the religion, also carefully instructs its faithful to live Islamic principles and values in every aspect of their lives, transforming the religious/spiritual, to a social, judicial, political, all-consuming and overwhelming surrender to an implacable template impervious to inviting any changes for accommodation purposes, that a conflict has arisen.

Geert Wilders states unequivocally, based on the record of what has occurred throughout Europe, his unassailable argument that Islam is rigidly indisposed to being transported to Western-value countries because of its demands. He claims also that the Islamic holy book encourages violence, and as a result moderate Islam is a figment of the imagination of the deluded. Spiritual jihad has succumbed to violent jihad fairly generally.

The logic is there in the various displays of Muslim and Islamist behaviours as fanatics impress the West with their lack of reason and utterances of impassioned belligerence to any and all questioning of Islam. From chaotic, violent displays of incendiary anger resulting in mob-murders, to well-conceived and carried-out jihadist attacks against Western targets and populations.

Supported by a silent, simmering, resentful Muslim ummah, which has never invested itself in making any effort to restrain the fanatics among them; deny that their mission of upheaval reflects their own vision; never wholesale condemned the atrocities committed on behalf of Islam; never admitted that Muslims commit unspeakable acts of violence against other Muslims, let alone infidels and Jews.

So the argument that a Netherlands politician who points out simply what is occurring on the international scene proves in and of itself what he claims, represents a goad and a spur to violence for his confrontational style in a last desperate act to counteract the effects of Islam fully infiltrating the culture and society that he holds dear, holds no water.

It is not a matter of isolating or marginalizing, or threatening or attacking minority group rights. This is a matter of clearly and resolutely pointing out that the receiving society and culture has its inalienable rights, and those rights, to honour and retain their origins and values - trump those of an alien ethnic, cultural, religious group determined to impose theirs on the indigenous society.

It's as simple as that. The need to stop radicalization in its tracks; that of an Islamist belligerent group insistent on its entitlements, and that of a beleaguered indigenous society which has no wish to see its laws, values and culture undermined in favour of honouring one that cannot give due honour to those who have generously opted to share their future.

One group of beings cannot exercise freedom and entitlements at the intolerable expense of despising and refusing to tolerate the identity and values of another. But it is not Western society that claims its superior religion and values must be paramount to all; it is fanatic Islamists quietly watched and supported by a majority insisting that all that is non-Muslim be subordinate to Islam.

The violence that emanates from Islam, both verbal and physical, has its carefully laid-out agenda in the Koran and the history of Islamist conquests.

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.

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.

Syria's Uncontested UNHRC Seat

Bashar al-Assad does not seem to mind the well-earned obloquy with which he is regarded. After all, it is not Muslim states, and his neighbours in the Middle East who are looking at him askance, naming him now for what he has always represented; a repressive, murderous tyrant. It is only Europe and North America, perhaps the United Nations marginally. But he has his friends and supporters.

Turkey, as intermediary, merely requests that Syria not be so embarrassingly blatant about sending in those Alawite-majority militias so capable of brutally dispatching protesters. Political repression is being condemned by European countries, but Middle Eastern governments know what is involved here; a pathology of unrest spread like a virus among ingrates.

It will only be when civil war can no longer be averted that Syria will demonstrate exactly what it is capable of. Behind the scenes people are being abducted, towns emptied of males older than 15 and spirited away; women raped, children and the elderly used as target practise for army marksmen; instilling fear is practical and useful in stifling dissent.

Libya's situation, where government installations are being bombed by NATO, is not quite so feasible for transference to Syria. That kind of scenario would simply represent as too volatile, a slow-spreading fire of animosity toward the interference of the West in Arab affairs. The Arab League would certainly look upon any such move as insufferably arrogant and divisive.

Libya is seen as a pariah state. Syria, practising now what Libya pioneered so recently, remains in high regard. The 53 Asian group choice among India, Indonesia and the Philippines includes Syria to sit on the UN's Human Rights Council. After all, if Libya could be represented on the Council, and Iran be considered for placement on the UN's Rights of Women's group, why not Syria on the UNHRC?

Yes, the United States led a censure proposal at the UNHRC, mildly condemning Syria, which Arab states abstained from while Russia and China campaigned against the resolution, but that embarrassing bit in the proposal making mention of Syria's candidacy for the Council while making use of lethal force against its people, was cut.

So Syria has been "unequivocally condemned" for killings and arrests of protesters. Isn't that a relief? Now that's out of the way, matters can move forward and Syria, along with the three other nominated Asian countries can sit in comfort on the Human Rights Council. Sit in judgement on others whom they may accuse of violations of human rights.

Israel comes quickly to mind. For no other country in the world is recognized as so manifestly involved in human rights abuses as the one country in the Middle East where all religions and ethnic groups are granted citizenship and given the guarantee of free access to justice under the law of the land.

Africa's Rainbow Nation

Nobility of spirit is a rare commodity so that when it modestly exhibits its presence it takes people aback, they sit up, they take notice, they applaud. The team of Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu transformed the spirit of South Africa. Of course they had a little help from their friends, countries like Canada which undertook to exert diplomatic and trade embargo pressure on the Apartheid government.

And South Africa was also indebted to its neighbours, like Zimbabweans, Mozambicans and Angolans who kindly gave shelter to black South Africans fleeing the violence of their country during the paroxysms that finally led to the surrender of the country by the ruling white Afrikaans back to the rightful owners, black South Africans. At which juncture Mr. Mandela was finally freed from prison and governed his country offering equal rights to all.

And Bishop Tutu presided at the spectacle that became a healing circle called the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, where victims gave witness to the unspeakable and the suffering, and violators confessed their sins and all was forgiven. And the country settled in to become other than what it had been, with an honoured place for all and promises of housing and jobs.

A noble dream to be sure. What happened next was a slow, agonized climb in the resolute determination to become a fair and free society, but it was fairer and freer for some, not all, and endemic poverty was scarcely relieved, and decent living conditions still eluded in the slums. And tribal antipathies proved as resistant to enlightened thought as the moneyed-class system.

Where wealth could be achieved, but it had to be lived behind barbed wire and stone walls, sheltered from the crass thievery of the mobs who would take advantage if they could, of the riches known to reside there, protected by armed marksmen. So it is not they who are targeted, but the easier prey, the poor, murdered, their scant belongings looted, children violated.

One of the most crime-ridden, violent societies on Earth now; most unfortunate. And what is particularly notable is the resurrection of ancient primitive tribal and clan hunts. Where South Africans armed with chains, spears, whips, axes, cudgels, shovels, metal sticks; just about anything serviceable to the purpose, set out to hunt down defenceless refugees.

People who have fled the dangers in their own countries, from Mozambique, Angola, Nigeria, Somalia, Malawi and Zimbabwe. There are said to be over three million Zimbabweans seeking haven in South Africa. Robert Mugabe's people amidst their home-grown tribal 'misunderstandings', prefer to flee to where they might stand a chance of survival.

Even though they are hunted mercilessly by South Africans for whom an evening of blood games, of looting, beating, killing, raping, provides entertainment and a purpose in life.

From the time of Apartheid's Soweto killings and Winnie Mandela's sporty bodyguards under her direction abducting Stompie Moeketsi, a 13-year-old boy to torture and "necklace" him to the present where the very nationals who had once offered protection to South African asylum seekers are now set on fire for the entertainment of the mobs.

Even the retired Desmund Tutu who entreats South Africans to "Please, please stop! These are our sisters and brothers. We can't repay them (for their past support of desperate South Africans fleeing violence before the end of apartheid) by killing their children", exercises his conscience in vain, for no one hears, and none are interested.

"They set you alight ... and laugh at you while you are burning. It's so shameful right now to be a South African, seeing all these things happening here, while claiming to be a rainbow nation, after all the struggles that our parents have gone through."

Reason, Logic, Humanity Denied

How do you make peace with a people whose instincts, culture and continual incitements lead to ongoing attacks against your existence? Those who see you not as like themselves and worthy of consideration as other human beings, but as impediments to their own aspirations and existence. The primeval gut instinct inbred in humans to distrust to the point of violent hatred those unlike themselves alive and well in the Middle East.

Where tribalism and sectarian religious strife among Arabs have always contributed to violence and unrest; from bellicose warning to vicious slaughter as clan and tribe and versions of religious adherence traditionally led disparate groups to war one upon the other. What brings the various Muslim states together is the presence of a non-Muslim state.

The single unifying principle that brings all the factions together in agreement is the presence of an historical group quite unlike their own with another religion entirely in the geography. Land held to be consecrated to Islam is not to be tolerated for use of others who worship another religion. Even if that other religion pre-dated Islam and the presence of the Palestinians.

And then the cries of Allahu Akbar! ring out. As occurred when a group of settlers set out to worship at Joseph's Tomb in the West Bank without first contacting the IDF to accompany them, pre-arranging with the PA military to allow Jews to access their holy site. The settlers, in a convoy of vehicles, sought to spontaneously, without notifying the IDF, pray at the tomb.

"When we got back to the vehicles the police shot at the vehicles, they were screaming 'Allahu Akbar'. It was crazy, they were shooting to kill. I screamed at the driver to drive out of there quickly. When we got to Har Bracha we attended to the wounded."

But there was one death, a 24-year-old settler, father of four young children. In the Middle East, one does not take precautions lightly, spontaneity can result in death. Enraged Palestinians then attacked the funeral procession of the young father, with rocks. And then Palestinians desecrated Joseph's Tomb, as they have done also in the past.

In an interview following the killing of the settler and the wounding of his companions, Palestinian Authority security forces' spokesman General Adnan Damiri, stated that Jewish settlers "are not normal people", and as a result there was no need to issue any kind of statement that might be taken as an apology for the attack.

How does one reason with such people?

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.

Cool News, Sweet Anchors

All that fuss for another news channel that only promised to present as a 'balance' to the usual fare that assure they are neutral but whom many viewers see as otherwise. So, to restore balance to the interpretation and presentation of news stories, the CRTC permitted the presence, albeit more muted than the usual networks, of Sun News Network.

The hysteria is done and over with. Sun News is now a current reality. Their presence offers Canadians another choice, another angle, another perspective. It's still news. People can take from what is being presented what they will. Or leave it where it is. Some, having visited out of curiosity, have decided it's simply not for them.

The emphasis on casual clothing for the attractive young female news anchors appeals to some (women, of course) as downplaying the intelligence of women. It isn't at all seemly, they feel, to see lissome young women baring their arms, sporting short-short skirts. Too distracting, too demeaning. Bare arms?

Seems that every time we see Michelle Obama, First Lady of the great United States of America, no intellectual lightweight herself, a fully capable professional, her firm fairly young arms are bare. No one thinks of her as being flighty and mind-addled as a result. She simply has her personal sense of style. Apparent when she is seen in public.

Why slight attractive young news anchors on Sun News Network, as though their garb diminishes their capabilities to produce thoughtful presentations? And what's really wrong with a little light-hearted exchange of observations now and again among them and their professional peers?

The sober-sided Liberals seem to like the new network. They've lavished their election advertisements on the network. "Scary Harper" ads are there in living colour. Sun News must, then have the approval of the Liberals. The Conservative network's presentation doesn't seem to unduly bother them.

A few Liberal MPs even presented for the first, introductory news cycle. And they do appear to have some serious journalistic talent in there, with their political program. So there, one and all, take a deep breath, exhale, relax.

Suing for Statehood, Suing for Peace

The Palestinian Authority has pronounced itself ready for statehood. The United Nations has congratulated the Palestinian Authority for its work in resulting in producing nascent government departments, the administrative instruments of government required for the functioning of an independent state. Infrastructure development has been produced that will assist a new Palestinian State to govern well.

And there are 100 UN member-states prepared to support the PA's unilateral push for sovereign statehood.

Of these 100 state governments allied with the United Nations in the General Assembly and the United Nations administration itself, where are the questions looking for answers related to the PA's intentions toward its neighbour? Not much in the way of good will when the Palestinian Authority abrogates the necessary first step to living adjacent an established neighbour before seeking statehood.

That first step being a commitment to living in peace with Israel, the neighbour that the Palestinians have been attempting to dislodge from the geography since 1948.

Israel remains adamant that first things must be settled first, a not-unreasonable assumption that this would be in the best interests of both solitudes and by extension the entire Middle East. Agree on a peace settlement and in the process clean up the outstanding issues that have been a prickly matter of contention between both Israel and the Palestinians.

But to do so would be to clearly acknowledge that the Jewish State has a right to exist as a Jewish State. And that by extension the Palestinians agree to accept their portion of the geography, inside borders agreeable and practically useful to each.

The international community sees a Palestinian Authority claiming it has matured politically and socially and is prepared to take its place as a nation within a community of nations.

This is also the administration that continues to honour suicide bombers as 'martyrs'. In the process recruiting others to emulate the passionate and violent rejection of Israel's survival as a state. As a good neighbour the PA has chosen to use Passover as a jumping board to honour the PA terrorist responsible for the 2002 "Passover Massacre" in which 30 Israelis died.

The family of Abbas Al-Sayed who masterminded the deadly attack was officially awarded a "festive plaque, in celebration of the anniversary of the massacre". The bomber, Abdel-Basset Odeh detonated a bomb contained in a suitcase, killing outright 30 elderly civilians celebrating Passover, and maiming dozens more at the Park Hotel in Netanya.

Of more recent vintage was the attack on the Fogel family of five, one an infant, by two young men arrested later by Israeli Security. Amjad Awad, 19, and Hakim Awad, 18, both residents of the Arab village of Awarta, next to the Jewish community of Itamar, where the slaughter took place, were raised in families that had dedicated themselves to martyrdom.

They were proud of what they had accomplished, telling their interlocutors that had they known that two other children of the Fogel family were asleep in their rooms they would have killed them as well. They will be tried of the crimes of which they are accused in an Israeli court of law.

But not if Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has anything to say about it. For the Palestinian Authority and its Chairman now call upon Israel to release Palestinian prisoners as yet another condition of sitting down to discuss peace options. That these Palestinian prisoners languishing in Israeli jails are terrorists and murderers is not lost on the PA who consider them honourable martyrs.

This then, is the partner for peace that Israel is matched against. And to whom the international community and the United Nations is prepared to grant statehood on the basis of their having achieved the basic determinants for responsible governance. Absent the intention to live in peace with their neighbour.

Absent the determination to instruct their people otherwise than to continue to conduct violent raids against their neighbour. Reflecting, in fact, the issue seen but not recognized when Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated, speaking at the United Nations, that Israel should be wiped from the map of the Middle East.

This is the responsible governing entity prepared to enter statehood, one that insists upon the release of all Palestinians in Israeli jails, encouraging its public to hold protests across the West Bank for the release of prisoners in Israeli jails. They speak not of Israel, but of the "1948 territories".

The PA's "Minister of Prisoner Affairs, Issa Qarage who has praised terrorists in his official capacity, was out encouraging people to mount their protests, stating "Struggle is the story of the Palestinian people". "Struggle" being code for conducting violent attacks against the "oppressor"; Israel.

In the PA's school system an hour was dedicated to the indoctrination of students that all Palestinian Authority prisoners, regardless of their crimes, irrespective of the lawful judgements brought against them, must be released. In the West Bank mosques and churches added their encouragement calling for the release of prisoners in speeches, and clanging bells in solidarity.

This is Israel's partner for peace; not eschewing violence and entreating its citizens to do likewise, but celebrating violence; encouraging and honouring it. And this is the Palestinian Authority that will present itself as the new administration of a new country to be respected for its ability to govern itself well and be a credit to the United Nations in its human rights record.

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

Traditions and Courtesies

Woman fined for wearing full-face veil

Image Credit: Reuters
France stood fast to its principles, and for its efforts has been both congratulated and condemned. Needless to say, burqa-clad women - or possibly they're men by the hirsute looks of the hands holding up the signage that reads "Nicolas Sarkozy go to Hellfire" in one publicized photo - are not too fond of the French President for ensuring that the niqab ban passed into law.

It could be argued that France, the country that is proud to proclaim itself an exemplar of freedom, equality and brotherhood is also invested in its national values, priorities and customs. Many of which began to slowly exit the scene as immigration proceeded apace, leaving the country with an estimated five to ten million Muslims. From a religious heritage and customs that run counter to those of France.

Of that great number of Muslims, many of whom sequester themselves in ghettos called banlieues where they become a law unto themselves, both in recognition of Sharia and a hostile lawlessness demonstrating its presence in police taunting and the mass nighttime torching of cars, a relative handful of women, estimated no greater than one thousand wear full face and body coverings.

The women, whether through customary choice or through demands not of their own volition in a patriarchal society, may now face fines for wearing a niqab in public, and if their menfolk are suspected and found guilty of forcing the women to garb themselves in linen tombs, their fines will be astronomical.

It is, essentially, the spectacle of a woman made invisible that so infuriates those who don't subscribe to the wearing of burqas. It is a socially hostile act when it is performed in a country and within a society whose normative cultural behaviours find such apparel insulting to women. And it's a really tough call to make, since by so doing the law impinges on a woman's right to wear whatever she will.

On the other hand, there's a security factor involved, not only one of social interaction or lack of it. A full burqa represents a disguise, an identity shield, that anyone can wear in public incognito. The stranger has no idea who they are looking at. While being acutely aware that the wearer has no wish to reveal themselves to an onlooker. Something that, in a Western culture becomes an affront.

We are denied cues; whether the person has friendly or hostile intentions toward us. It has not been unknown for terrorists, and ordinary thugs to clad themselves in female full body-and-face covering for their own nefarious means. Most of all, however, in a free and equal society the symbol of a woman being maintained in a social purdah is an affront to our concepts of liberty and respect for the individual.

So, do we need to enact a similar law in Canada? How many women in Canada wear burqas? Depends, one supposes, where you live, whether there is a large and growing Muslim population. And, increasingly in Canada the Muslim population is large enough right now to be noticeable, and growing as well. While the incidence is relatively rare, it does surprise one now and again when it occurs.

And leaves a taste of alienation in the eyes of the beholder. The world is a seething mass of human migration, people moving through refugee camps into receiving countries, and immigrants looking for a better way of life for themselves and their children. There are certain standards of behaviour and customary expectations that should remain inviolable. This issue may not be one of the more important ones, but it does represent a start.

Come to this country, and accept the normatives of social intermingling and respect for others. It is clearly a sign of disrespect for women in general to insist they move about silently and without an identifiable face; expressions cannot be determined. It is equally a signal of disrespect for the welcoming society that distrust is such that women must be held to a standard repulsive to that society.

At risk of seeming like a social bully, and unfair to other cultures, there are times when traditions clash, and in instances such as this, one must submit to the other; not necessarily the welcoming tradition, courteously accepting the incoming one.

There are times when respect for indigenous norms and cultures must be maintained and those who enter as guests should be put on notice.

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?