Chaos Theory

http://www.coxandforkum.com/archives/06.03.30.ChaosTheory-X.gif

Mohammed Taheri-Azar's letter to police

Very telling letter about Islam from someone who knows all about it. Here's an exerpt.

In the Qur'an, Allah states that the believing men and women have permission to murder anyone responsible for the killing of other believing men and women. I know that the Qur'an is a legitimate and authoritative holy scripture since it is completely validated by modern science and also mathematically encoded with the number 19 beyond human ability. After extensive contemplation and reflection, I have made the decision to exercise the right of violent retaliation that Allah has given me to the fullest extent to which I am capable at present.

I have chosen the particular location on the University campus as my target since I know there is a high likelihood that I will kill several people before being killed myself or jailed and sent to prison if Allah wills. Allah's commandments are never to be questioned and all of Allah's commandments must be obeyed. Those who violate Allah's commandments and purposefully follow human fabrication and falsehood as their religion will burn in fire for eternity in accordance with Allah's will.

http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-716750.html

The Invasion of Canada

The Invasion of Canada 1812-1813
By Pierre Berton
Published 1980

The Invasion of Canada is Pierre Bertons excellent work on the first year of the War of 1812, a war that forever destroyed the dreams of a Native Confederacy in the Old Northwest, insured that the British North American Colonies would follow a different path then their cousins to the South, and that the United States would continue it's territorial expansion westword and become a force on the world stage. Berton gives some background to the conflict (ie. British trade embargo and harrassment of American shipping, American expansion onto Native lands, as well as the rise of the Shawnee brothers Tecumseh and The Prophet), before detaling the wars first year, marked by the Americans unpreparidness and at the command level incompatence, which resulted in the bloodless sezure of Detroit and much of the Northwest by the British under Major General Sir Isaac Brock. Berton's narritive continues to the Battle of Queenston Heights where another invasion force was repelled and Brock killed, onto one of the darkest most shameful chapters of Canadian military history, the Battle of Frenchtown in 1813 and following massacre of American wounded and prisoners, by Native Warriors ( Berton's narritive is refreshingly even handed as he nether excuses nor condones atrocities committed by both sides of the conflict, he merely reports them). All in all this is an excellent book for anyone seeking to learn more about this half-forgotten war that is immensly importent to Canadian and American history.

**** out of ****

Also reccomended is David Niven's novel 1812 which tells the conflict from an entirly American prospective.

From Cox & Forkum
http://www.coxandforkum.com/archives/000801.html

The Media is the Enemy

The Mainstream Media has apparently decided to side with the Jihadis and Tyrants over the West as they continue to turn a blind eye to anything that contradictes there preconcieved notions of what this war is about. An example...

In preparation for their story, ABC interviewed a native Iraqi that not only knew Tikriti dialect, military and Baath Party jargon, but had actually addressed Saddam in similar meetings, General George Sada. According to General Sada, ABC asked him to listen to the tapes, and he stated that Saddam was probably discussing an attack through third parties to set up plausible denial if he were accused. He suggested that Saddam made the outburst of “terrorism is coming” during Tariq Aziz’s briefing, then realized he was on tape and came up with the "warning” to cover himself. This possibility adds yet another layer of complexity. Brian Ross went on to interview General Sada for forty minutes, attempting to get a sound bite to dismiss the tapes. The general knew his intention and didn't oblige; so this man, probably the most qualified man in the world available to the media, was omitted from ABC's story.

Early on Saturday February 18th, the morning of the presentation, CNN ran a special on how the inspectors found nothing in Iraq. Later that day, they ran a television piece which filled the time focusing on their strenuous efforts to translate the tapes, and then in their television piece, reported only the Saddam – Aziz conversation. Apparently, status reports on rebuilding the chemical and nuclear weapons programs were not worth the cut.

FrontPage Magazine has the full article.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=21774

Cold War Not Over?

Ray Robison has a translation of an Iraqi document indicating that the Russians informed Saddam of American military strength before the war started.

http://rayrobison.typepad.com/ray_robison/2006/03/russia_provides.html

Canada concerned over Afghan facing death for being a Christian

Canada has joined the list of countries closely watching a court case in Afghanistan, where under Islamic law a man could be sentenced to death for converting to Christianity.

"Canada will continue to encourage the Afghan government to adhere to its human rights obligations," Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Pamela Greenwell told Reuters Tuesday.

I ask you? Are we sending our soldiers over there, possably to die, to protect a regime that would kill a man for his personal beliefs? I think not...

Abdul Rahman became a Christian 16 years ago while working in Germany, but he was charged with rejecting Islam only in February, when his family denounced him during a custody battle over his two children.

Rahman, 41, is now in jail in Afghanistan and faces the death penalty unless he agrees to convert back to the faith in which he was raised, said the judge at the Shariah court. (Shariah is the legal code of Islam, based on the Qu'ran.)

"We will invite him again [to renounce Christianity] because the religion of Islam is one of tolerance," trial judge Ansarullah Mawlazezadah told the BBC on Sunday. "We will ask him if he has changed his mind. If so, we will forgive him."

Sounds real tolerant to me, become a Christian and they kill you. Mayhaps Ansarullah should give us his definition of tolerance, because it sure as hell isn't the same as mine.

On Tuesday, politicians from Italy and German signalled they are unhappy that a man could be put to death merely for being a Christian.

Germany has about 2,700 soldiers stationed in Afghanistan. Italy has 1,775, compared to Canada's 2,200.

A former president of Italy, Francesco Cossiga, has proposed the country pull its troops out unless Rahman's life is spared.

"It is not acceptable that our soldiers should put themselves at risk or even sacrifice their lives for a fundamentalist, illiberal regime," Cossiga wrote in an open letter to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who faces a re-election battle next month.

Pulling out of Afghanistan is not an option as a withdrawel under any circumstance would be taken as a sign of weakness by Jihadi's the world over. My two cents. If Rahman is killed NATO up's the troop presence and takes direct control of the country until such a time as the Afghan people are brought (ether by themselves or dragged there by us) into the 21st century.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/03/21/afghan-christian060321.html

Prospects of Terror: An Inquiry into Jihadi Alternatives

The American Thinker is running a 3 part series on the struggle against the Global Jihad. Check it out.

Part 1 deals with the Middle East
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=5345

Part 2 deals with the Jihadi prospects in Europe, by far Europe offers the best prospects for a Jihadi victory.
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=5348

Part 3 deals with the U.S.
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=5351

The Islamist Challenge to the U.S. Constitution

Muslims in the U.S. are trying to establish there own seperate enclaves throughout the U.S. The Middle East Quarterly has a good article on it.

http://www.meforum.org/article/920

Canada has had some experiance with this in recient years as the article notes

While U.S. law might give such Muslims-only events the benefit of the doubt, flexibility may not go both ways. There is precedent of Islamists taking advantage of liberal flexibility to more extreme ends. Canada provides a useful example into how Islamist groups can exploit liberal legal tolerance. In 1991, Ontario, Canada, passed a seemingly innocuous law called the "Arbitration Act."[8] This act permitted commercial, religious, or such other designated arbitrators to settle civil disputes outside the Canadian justice system so long as the result did not contradict Canadian law. Like U.S. authorities are beginning to do now, Canadian legislators decided to give religious groups the benefit of the doubt, assuming that they would still hold national law to be paramount.

In October 2003, under the auspices of the Ontario legislation, the Islamic Institute of Civil Justice created Muslim arbitration boards and stated its intent to arbitrate on the basis of Islamic law.[9] A national furor erupted, particularly among Canadian Muslim women's groups that opposed the application of traditional Islamic (Shari‘a) laws that would supersede their far more liberal and egalitarian democratic rights. After nearly two years of legal wrangling, the premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty, held that religious-based arbitrations "threaten our common ground," and announced, "There will be no Shari‘a law in Ontario. There will be no religious arbitration in Ontario. There will be one law for all Ontarians."[10] On November 15, 2005, McGuinty's provincial government submitted legislation to amend the arbitration act to abrogate, in effect, all religious arbitration.[11] Requests for Muslim enclaves within larger U.S. communities may signal that U.S. jurisprudence will soon be faced with a similar conundrum. Islamist exceptionalism can abuse the tolerance liberal societies have traditionally extended to interface between religious and secular law.

In the Middle East the West is locked in battle with the Jihadists. Europe has faltered and only reciently begin to fight back, though it is probably too little too late. Now the Jihadist seek to gain a foothold in North America. A base in which to begin the Jihad here in earnest. It is time for all Canadians and Americans to speak up and demand that Islam submit to the secular laws, and the free society that so many have bled for. I can see the war clouds gathering, how long before Canada is given the choice to submit to Islamic Law, or face a war the likes of which few in this country are prepared to face?

St. Patrick's Prayer

I bind to myself today
The power of Heaven,
The light of the sun,
The brightness of the moon,
The splendor of fire,
The flashing of lightning,
The swiftness of the wind,
The depth of the sea,
The stability of earth…
God’s power guide me,
God’s wisdom teach me,
God’s eye to watch over me,
God’s hand to guide me,
God’s shield to shelter me,
God’s Host to secure me…
Against everyone who
Meditates injury to me,
Whether far or near,
Whether the few or the many

Canada Must Lead In Supporting Democratic Taiwan

Canada must lead in supporting democratic Taiwan
Commentary by the Canadian Coalition for Democracies
Alastair Gordon, March 15, 2006

Permission granted for re-publication

This week marks the one-year anniversary of the passage of China's Anti-Secession Act, an act that legitimized the use of military force by China to impose its will on the 23 million people of democratic Taiwan. This act is no idle threat, as China now has 800 ballistic missiles aimed at this tiny island to enforce its unilateral statute.Taiwan has never, not even for a day, been part of the People's Republic of China. The people of Taiwan have repeatedly voted to remain independent from China in fair and open elections. Hence, China's claim has neither historic nor democratic legitimacy. Yet last year Paul Martin, for reasons he never explained to Canadians, signed the One China Policy, endorsing the imperialist aims of non-democratic China over a democratic ally.The new Conservative government has promised to "articulate Canada's core values of freedom, democracy, the rule of law, human rights, free trade... on the international stage" (p 44 - Conservative Election Platform). Canadians are now looking for a change in our policy toward Taiwan to reflect that platform.What can Prime Minister Harper do to keep his pledge?

Canada can revoke its endorsement of the One China policy.

Canada can allow democratically-elected representatives from Taiwan to visit Canada, both as private citizens and as government officials.

Canada can accept the credentials of Taiwanese diplomatic officials in Canada, rather than have them serve here under the pretence of being economic affairs officials.

Canada can modify its policy of offering preferential third-world tariffs to a manufacturing giant like China, while charging full rate for Taiwanese imports.

Canada can end the absurdity of China being our largest recipient of foreign aid. Whose interests are served by sending nearly 60 million hard-earned Canadian tax dollars every year to China, a country with the world's largest army, a GDP over $7 trillion, and 800 missiles aimed at peaceful, democratic Taiwan?

Canada can support Taiwan's entry into the United Nations. Adding another democratic voice to the UN will be helpful in offsetting the undemocratic majority in the General Assembly.

Canada can support Taiwan's entry into the World Health Organization, now blocked by China.
With its history of open scientific enquiry and innovation, Taiwan is an essential ally in fighting avian flu and other health threats originating in southeast Asia.

Is there an economic risk to normalizing relations with Taiwan? With our balance of trade overwhelmingly favouring China, any trade retaliation by Beijing would hurt China, not Canada. Canada can do the right thing with little or no economic consequences.

In 1968, Canadians were proud when Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau announced that he would break with world opinion and pursue diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. But Trudeau promised that this new initiative would be without prejudice to Canada's then close relationship with the nation that today is democratic Taiwan.

Prime Minister Harper has shown that Canada can lead the world in articulating and delivering an ethical foreign policy. Without the need for military muscle, our recognition that the people of Taiwan have the same democratic rights as Canadians to determine their future would demonstrate Canada's independence and project Canadian values to a world that is crying out for such leadership.

From the Canadian Coalition for Democracies
http://www.canadiancoalition.com/index.shtml

Udder Madness

From Cox & Forkum, one of the best editorial cartoon sites on the web
http://www.coxandforkum.com/

Nazis and Islam

FrontPage Magazine has an interview with Chuck Morse, author of a new book on the Nazi-Islamist connection in World War 2. Check it out.

Glazov: Give us the story on Amin al-Husseini.



Morse: Amin al-Husseini, regarded in the Arab world as the founding father of the Palestinian movement, chose the path of denying the national rights of the Jews to that tiny area between the Jordan Rover and the Mediterranean Sea known as Israel.



Al-Husseini instigated a pogrom against indigenous Palestinian Jews in 1920. After conviction in absentia, he was pardoned by British Mandate Governor Herbert Samuel, himself a British Jew. Samuel was responsible for elevating al-Husseini as Mufti of Jerusalem thus establishing a strange pattern of western leaders supporting extremists over moderates, a pattern that continues to this day in many cases.



In 1936, al-Husseini met with Adolf Eichmann, one of the Nazi masterminds behind the Holocaust against the Jews, in Palestine where Eichmann visited for a few days. Al-Husseini then was put on the Nazi payroll and received Nazi funds which he used to instigate the Arab Revolt of 1937-1939 according to testimony at the Nuremburg and Eichmann trials.



In 1941, al-Husseini played a key role in instigating a pro-Nazi coup in Iraq. Following the collapse of the coup, al-Husseini helped instigate the Fahud, or the murder campaign against the indigenous Jews of Iraq, a campaign that has been compared to the kristalnacht in Germany.



In November, 1941, al-Husseini met with Hitler in Berlin where he was treated as a visiting head of state. al-Husseini spent the war years in Nazi Germany where he was recognized as the head of state of a Nazi-Arab government in exile. Hitler promised al-Husseini that he would be chief administrator of the Arab world after the Nazi "liberation."



While in Nazi Germany, al-Husseini directly participated in the Holocaust against the Jews by preventing the exchange of Jews for German POW's and instead insuring that they went to the crematoria. Al-Husseini led in the effort to train Bosnian Muslim brigades and other Muslim European brigades who were involved in many atrocities. He funneled monies form the sonderfund, money looted from Jews as they were sent to the concentration camps, sending the funds to the Middle East to be used to promote Nazi and anti-Jewish propaganda.



After the war, al-Husseini escaped to Cairo ahead of indictment at Nuremburg where he spent the rest of his life agitating against Israel. He died in Beirut in 1974.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=21654

Afghan president thanks Canada for 'giving the lives of your sons'

Prime Minister Harper concluded his trip to Afghanistan with a visit to President Hamid Karzai who thanked him for Canada's commitment to Afghanistan.

Karzai said he was willing to come to explain to Canadians why their presence is so important, a message he asked Harper to take home to a Canadian public grown somewhat skeptical of a mission that has taken the lives of 12 Canadians since 2002.

"Please convey to your people, to the people of Canada, the immense gratitude of the Afghan people for what your country, your people have done for us," he told Harper after an hour-long meeting.

"For giving the lives of your sons, for contributing in money, for contributing in soldiers and for being one of the biggest helpers in Afghanistan."

Harper's meeting with the Afghan leader came toward the end of his first foreign trip as prime minister. The high-security visit was aimed at boosting military morale, as well as support for the mission back home

Karzai also sees what Layton can't, that victory in Afghanistan is essential for Canada's future security.

Canadians are helping with everything from security, to training police, to helping the new provincial government in Kandahar set up its ministerial departments and even helping its governor organize press conferences.

Karzai said the help has been indispensable. And he argued that in helping Afghanistan, Canada is also helping itself and its Western allies.

"Afghanistan and Canada are united in one common objective," he said.

"By providing stability in Afghanistan, helping Afghanistan on its own feet, the Canadian troops - the Canadian sons and daughters - are also providing for the long-term security of Canada and the countries around it."

My respect for Harper continues to grow. Here's an idea, if Karzai ever comes to Canada we start the camera's rolling and sit him down with Layton. Layton can then explain why he feels the need to turn tail to Karzai personally with the whole country watching.


http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=ac4d15a1-6109-41f2-88c7-59ffe3f31670&k=50401&p=1

Israeli Raid on Jericho

Fearing the realese of several terrorist by the Palestinians, the Israel Defense Force (IDF) launched a raid on Jericho to capture the terrorists.

JERICHO, West Bank (AP) - Israeli forces driving bulldozers and firing tank shells burst into a Palestinian prison Tuesday and removed dozens of inmates in a raid targeting prisoners convicted of killing an Israeli Cabinet minister.

The raid was apparently successful and shows they dispite talk of withdrawel at least some in Israel are prepared to meet Jihad with force

Sudden Jihad Syndrome

Daniel Pipes has an excellent article about the danger within are own borders.

Until his would-be murderous rampage, Mr. Taheri-azar, a philosophy and psychology major, had a seemingly normal existence and promising future. In high school, he had been student council president and a member of the National Honor Society. The Los Angeles Times writes that a number of UNC students found him "a serious student, shy but friendly." One fellow student, Brian Copeland, "was impressed with his knowledge of classical Western thought," adding, "He was kind and gentle, rather than aggressive and violent." The university chancellor, James Moeser, called him a good student, if "totally a loner, introverted and into himself."

In fact, no one who knew him said a bad word about him, which is important, for it signals that he is not some low-life, not homicidal, not psychotic, but a conscientious student and amiable person. Which raises the obvious question: Why would a regular person try to kill a random assortment of students?

The case of Taheri-azar shows just how widespread the Jihadist ideology is embedded within the Muslim community in the West. With Europe already faltering before an ever expanding Muslim population determined to impose Sharia on Europe (who's multicultural obsessed leaders seem determined to do everything to assist) how long before this trend hits Canada? My prediction within the next generation or two Canadians will ether be submitting to Sharia or be forced to fight to preserve our way of life from the Jihadists. War clouds have already began to form Europe's just the begging.

http://www.danielpipes.org/article/3450

The Last Village in Iraq

Michael J. Totten has another great pieace on Iraqi Kurdistan.

http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/001072.html

For Shame....

Well looks like the Westboro Baptists continue to find ways to show the world what truly disgusting human beings they are...

Five women sang and danced as they held up signs saying "thank God for dead soldiers" at the funeral of an army sergeant who was killed by an Iraqi bomb.

For them, it was the perfect way to spread God's word: America was being punished for tolerating homosexuality

I'd like to give a big tip of the hat to the Patriot Guard Riders, a group oppossing the Westboro group.

While Westboro's congregation remains stable at around 100 people - most of whom are the extended family of founder Fred Phelps - the ranks of the Patriot Guard Riders has swelled to more than 16,000 in just a few months.

Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center probably hit the nail on the head with this quote about Westboro founder Fred Phelps

Phelps' virulence and frequently graphic condemnations of anal sex could mask a deeper issue than a radically literal interpretation of the Bible, Potok speculated.

"This man probably thinks more about gay sex than any other person in the United States of America and one can only guess at what that means," he said. "Many of the most homophobic people are deeply afraid that they might be gay."

About the Patriot Guard Riders

The Patriot Guard Riders is a diverse amalgamation of riders from across the nation. We have one thing in common besides motorcycles. We have an unwavering respect for those who risk their very lives for America’s freedom and security. If you share this respect, please join us.

We don’t care what you ride, what your political views are, or whether you’re a "hawk" or a "dove". It is not a requirement that you be a veteran. It doesn't matter where you’re from or what your income is. You don’t even have to ride. The only prerequisite is Respect.

Our main mission is to attend the funeral services of fallen American heroes as invited guests of the family. Each mission we undertake has two basic objectives.

1. Show our sincere respect for our fallen heroes, their families, and their communities.

2. Shield the mourning family and friends from interruptions created by any protestor or group of protestors.

We accomplish the latter through strictly legal and non-violent means

http://www.patriotguard.org/

Surpressed Writing

The Telegraph and Google apparently don't want anyone to read this article and have removed it. Fortunatly YARGB saved it. Here it is.

The day is coming when British Muslims form a state within a state By Alasdair Palmer (Filed: 19/02/2006)

© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2006.

For the past two weeks, Patrick Sookhdeo has been canvassing the opinions of Muslim clerics in Britain on the row over the cartoons featuring images of Mohammed that were first published in Denmark and then reprinted in several other European countries.

"They think they have won the debate," he says with a sigh. "They believe that the British Government has capitulated to them, because it feared the consequences if it did not.

"The cartoons, you see, have not been published in this country, and the Government has been very critical of those countries in which they were published. To many of the Islamic clerics, that's a clear victory.

"It's confirmation of what they believe to be a familiar pattern: if spokesmen for British Muslims threaten what they call 'adverse consequences' - violence to the rest of us - then the British Government will cave in. I think it is a very dangerous precedent."

Dr Sookhdeo adds that he believes that "in a decade, you will see parts of English cities which are controlled by Muslim clerics and which follow, not the common law, but aspects of Muslim sharia law.

"It is already starting to happen - and unless the Government changes the way it treats the so-called leaders of the Islamic community, it will continue."

For someone with such strong and uncompromising views, Dr Sookhdeo is a surprisingly gentle and easy-going man. He speaks with authority on Islam, as it was his first faith: he was brought up as a Muslim in Guyana, the only English colony in South America, and attended a madrassa there.

"But Islamic instruction was very different in the 1950s, when I was at school," he says. "There was no talk of suicide bombing or indeed of violence of any kind. Islam was very peaceful."

Dr Sookhdeo's family emigrated to England when he was 10. In his early twenties, when he was at university, he converted to Christianity. "I had simply seen it as the white man's religion, the religion of the colonialists and the oppressors - in a very similar way, in fact, to the way that many Muslims see Christianity today.

" Leaving Islam was not easy. According to the literal interpretation of the Koran, the punishment for apostasy is death - and it actually is punished by death in some Middle Eastern states. "It wasn't quite like that here," he says, "although it was traumatic in some ways."

Dr Sookhdeo continued to study Islam, doing a PhD at London University on the religion. He is currently director of the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity. He also advises the Army on security issues related to Islam.

Several years ago, Dr Sookhdeo insisted that the next wave of radical Islam in Britain would involve suicide bombings in this country. His prediction was depressingly confirmed on 7/7 last year.

So his claim that, in the next decade, the Muslim community in Britain will not be integrated into mainstream British society, but will isolate itself to a much greater extent, carries weight behind it. Dr Sookhdeo has proved his prescience.

"The Government, and Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, are fundamentally deluded about the nature of Islam," he insists. "Tony Blair unintentionally revealed his ignorance when he said, in an effort to conciliate Muslims, that he had 'read through the Koran twice' and that he kept it by his bedside.

"He thought he was saying something which showed how seriously he took Islam. But most Muslims thought it was a joke, if not an insult. Because, of course, every Muslim knows that you cannot read the Koran through from cover to cover and understand it.

The chapters are not written to be read in that way. Indeed, after the first chapter, the chapters of the Koran are ordered according to their length, not according to their content or chronology: the longest chapters are first, the shorter ones are at the end.

"You need to know which passage was revealed at what period and in what time in order to be able to understand it - you cannot simply read it from beginning to end and expect to learn anything at all.

"That is one reason why it takes so long to be able to read and understand the Koran: the meaning of any part of it depends on a knowledge of its context - a context that is not in the Koran itself."

The Prime Minister's ignorance of Islam, Dr Sookhdeo contends, is of a piece with his unsuccessful attempts to conciliate it. And it does indeed seem as if the Government's policy towards radical Islam is based on the hope that if it makes concessions to its leaders, they will reciprocate and relations between fundamentalist Muslims and Tony Blair's Government will then turn into something resembling an ecumenical prayer meeting.

Dr Sookhdeo nods in vigorous agreement with that. "Yes - and it is a very big mistake. Look at what happened in the 1990s. The security services knew about Abu Hamza and the preachers like him. They knew that London was becoming the centre for Islamic terrorists. The police knew. The Government knew. Yet nothing was done.

"The whole approach towards Muslim militants was based on appeasement. 7/7 proved that that approach does not work - yet it is still being followed. For example, there is a book, The Noble Koran: a New Rendering of its Meaning in English, which is openly available in Muslim bookshops.

"It calls for the killing of Jews and Christians, and it sets out a strategy for killing the infidels and for warfare against them. The Government has done nothing whatever to interfere with the sale of that book.

"Why not? Government ministers have promised to punish religious hatred, to criminalise the glorification of terrorism, yet they do nothing about this book, which blatantly does both."

Perhaps the explanation is just that they do not take it seriously. "I fear that is exactly the problem," says Dr Sookhdeo. "The trouble is that Tony Blair and other ministers see Islam through the prism of their own secular outlook.

They simply do not realise how seriously Muslims take their religion. Islamic clerics regard themselves as locked in mortal combat with secularism.

"For example, one of the fundamental notions of a secular society is the moral importance of freedom, of individual choice. But in Islam, choice is not allowable: there cannot be free choice about whether to choose or reject any of the fundamental aspects of the religion, because they are all divinely ordained. God has laid down the law, and man must obey.

'Islamic clerics do not believe in a society in which Islam is one religion among others in a society ruled by basically non-religious laws. They believe it must be the dominant religion - and it is their aim to achieve this.

"That is why they do not believe in integration. In 1980, the Islamic Council of Europe laid out their strategy for the future - and the fundamental rule was never dilute your presence. That is to say, do not integrate.

"Rather, concentrate Muslim presence in a particular area until you are a majority in that area, so that the institutions of the local community come to reflect Islamic structures. The education system will be Islamic, the shops will serve only halal food, there will be no advertisements showing naked or semi-naked women, and so on."

That plan, says Dr Sookhdeo, is being followed in Britain. "That is why you are seeing areas which are now almost totally Muslim. The next step will be pushing the Government to recognise sharia law for Muslim communities - which will be backed up by the claim that it is "racist" or "Islamophobic" or "violating the rights of Muslims" to deny them sharia law.

"There's already a Sharia Law Council for the UK. The Government has already started making concessions: it has changed the law so that there are sharia-compliant mortgages and sharia pensions.

"Some Muslims are now pressing to be allowed four wives: they say it is part of their religion. They claim that not being allowed four wives is a denial of their religious liberty. There are Muslim men in Britain who marry and divorce three women, then marry a fourth time - and stay married, in sharia law, to all four.

"The more fundamentalist clerics think that it is only a matter of time before they will persuade the Government to concede on the issue of sharia law. Given the Government's record of capitulating, you can see why they believe that."

Dr Sookhdeo's vision of a relentless battle between secular and Islamic Britain seems hard to reconcile with the co-operation that seems to mark the vast majority of the interactions between the two communities.

"Well, it isn't me who says Islam is at war with secularisation," he says. "That's how Islamic clerics describe the situation."

But isn't it true that most Muslims who live in theocratic states want to get out of them as quickly as possible and live in a secular country such as Britain or America? And that most Muslims who come to Britain adopt the values of a liberal, democratic, tolerant society, rather than insisting on the inflexible rules of their religion?

"You have to distinguish between ordinary Muslims and their self-appointed leaders," explains Dr Sookhdeo. "I agree that the best hope for our collective future is that the majority of Muslims who have grown up here have accepted the secular nature of the British state and society, the division between religion and politics, and the importance of allowing people to choose freely how they will live.

"But that is not how most of the clerics talk. And, more significantly, it is not how the 'community leaders' whom the Government has decided represent the Muslim community think either.

"Take, for example, Tariq Ramadan, whom the Government has appointed as an adviser because ministers think he is a 'community leader'. Ramadan sounds, in public, very moderate. But in reality, he has some very extreme views. He attacks liberal Muslims as 'Muslims without Islam'. He is affiliated to the violent and uncompromising Muslim Brotherhood.

"He calls the education in the state schools of the West 'aggression against the Islamic personality of the child'. He has said that 'the Muslim respects the laws of the country only if they do not contradict any Islamic principle'. He has added that 'compromising on principles is a sign of fear and weakness'."

So what's the answer? What should the Government be doing? "First, it should try to engage with the real Muslim majority, not with the self-appointed 'community leaders' who don't actually represent anyone: they have not been elected, and the vast majority of ordinary Muslims have nothing to do with them.

"Second, the Government should say no to faith-based schools, because they are a block to integration. There should be no compromise over education, or over English as the language of education. The policy of political multiculturalism should be reversed.

"The hope was that it would to ensure separate communities would soften at the edges and integrate. But the opposite has in fact happened: Islamic communities have hardened. There is much less integration than there was for the generation that arrived when I did. There will be much less in the future if the present trend continues.

"Finally, the Government should make it absolutely clear: we welcome diversity, we welcome different religions - but all of them have to accept the secular basis of British law and society. That is a non-negotiable condition of being here.

"If the Government does not do all of those things then I fear for the future, because Islamic communities within Britain will form a state within a state. Religion will occupy an ever-larger place in our collective political life. And, speaking as a religious man myself, I fear that outcome."

http://yargb.blogspot.com/2006/03/future-of-modern-liberalism-is.html

Protest Supports Free Speech

TORONTO (CP) - Between 100 and 150 protesters gathered in front of the Danish consulate in downtown Toronto today in support of free speech and the publication of controversial caricatures depicting the Islamic Prophet Muhammad.

Some of the protesters chanted and waved large Danish flags and carried signs about the importance of freedom of expression. One read All We Are Saying is Give Speech a Chance while another read Freedom Rings Whenever Opinions Clash.

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=35c91e39-5b27-4153-b66f-0ac5c52b3f7d&k=20305

Canada vetoes key UN motion on refugees

OTTAWA -- Canada voted against a controversial resolution on Palestinian rights at the United Nations yesterday, an early sign that the new Harper government is aligning its Middle East policy more closely with the views of Israel and the United States.

It's about time we took a position on this issue. Though as far as I'm concerned a lot more good could be accomplished if the UN was abolished. Again and again the UN passess measures to the detriment of Israel, while encourging terrorists to slaughtere innocents. Have the Israelis kept their hands clean? Of course not, but they at least have been open to the idea of peace while the "Palestinians" have repeatidly rejected peace, or talk peace while they slaughter more innocent lives. This news has of course upset enemy sympathizers in Canada.

Hussein Amery, the president of the National Council on Canada-Arab Relations, said that unlike the Liberals, the Conservatives did not even consult with Canadian Arab and Muslim groups before making such a significant policy shift.

"Now we [Canada] sit isolated, alone with the United States, against a resolution calling on Israel to allow displaced persons and refugees to return home. Is that the kind of image we want to project to the international community?" Mr. Amery said

Mr. Amery fails to mention that the resolution would flood Israel with thousands of potental terrorist operatives or sympathizers.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060311.UN11/TPStory/National

State Dept.: U.S. Hostage Tom Fox Killed

Tom Fox, one of 4 hostages taken in Iraq back in Nov. (2 where Canadian, the other British), a peace activist who went to Iraq to help it's people has been found dead according to the U.S. State Department.

An American who was among four Christian activists kidnapped last year in Iraq has been killed, a State Department spokesman said Friday.

The FBI verified that a body found in Iraq Friday morning was that of Tom Fox, 54, of Clear Brook, Va., spokesman Noel Clay said. He said he had no information on the other three hostages.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/03/10/D8G92PVO8.html

My condolensces to Fox's family. My prayers are with you.

Layton Doesn't Get It; Close Call for Hillier

It appears that Jack Layton and the NDP just don't get it. Until the Taliban and the Drug Gangs are defeated Afghanistan well remain unstable. To defeat them means going into combat.

OTTAWA (CP) - NDP Leader Jack Layton says he still hopes the House of Commons will have a chance to debate Canada's role in Afghanistan once it resumes next month.

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=8ef4b657-b9ea-45a1-85f0-a7d49b33d3fc&k=5523

Sad Layton and the NDP can't see the need to stay the course in Afghanistan but Clinton can.

EDMONTON -- Former U.S. president Bill Clinton thanked Canadians for staying the course in Afghanistan, knowing the price of that commitment is the blood of its soldiers.

"It's painful that you're losing people there and I'm sorry," Clinton said Thursday in a speech to 7,000 people at Rexall Place.

"But you've done a good thing for the cause of freedom and the stability of Canada.

"And as a citizen I am profoundly grateful that you've stayed the course and I appreciate it," he said to applause.

The 59-year-old Clinton said in an increasingly interdependent world, keeping order in Afghanistan reaches beyond its borders.

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=b323faa5-3107-42a1-b429-da2ae31c2fff&k=71797

Meanwhile Canada's top soldier Gen. Hillier has found out just how dangerous Afghanistan can be, when a bomb exploded near his convoy. Fortunatly no one was hurt.

PADA, Afghanistan (CP) - Canada's top soldier had just finished an amiable chat with an Afghan village elder on Friday when a roadside bomb blasted a dark plume into the sky about 800 metres away, damaging a Canadian Bison armoured vehicle.

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=803abc42-de5a-46b2-bbfd-3997ba3d7ee5&k=91488

This is Where it Get's Nasty: Kandahar

Mr. Layton, I supported you in the last election despite your call to withdraw from Afghanistan. To back out now would be to make the same mistake Belgium made in Rwanda. Mr. Layton Canada's soldiers are involved in a mission vital to Afghanistan, Canada and the World, they deserve your support.

Canadian forces in Afghanistan began their biggest mission yet, involving several hundred soldiers backed by armoured vehicles, artillery and helicopters.

They are pushing out from Kandahar in southern Afghanistan into areas where the Taliban has returned after being defeated by U.S.-led coalition forces in 2001, the CBC's Kas Roussy said from the Kandahar base

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/03/09/canadians-mission060309.html

Images from Iraq

Strategypage.com has some images from Iraq that you probably won't find in the mainstream media.
http://www.strategypage.com/gallery/articles/military_photos_20063822.asp

Canada to Stay the Course

It good to see that Harper is willing to stand his ground on Afghanistan. What would it say to the world if Canada where to call it quit's because the going got tough? We've got to ask ourselves, are we committed to helping people only if we don't have to get our hands dirty? Am I the only one who remebers Rwanda?

Canada won't "cut and run" from Afghanistan, says Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and there's no need for a House of Commons debate that could potentially sap the morale of troops overseas.
Harper suggested Tuesday that a parliamentary vote on the mission would be a foregone conclusion anyway because his government supports it and he expects the Liberals - who made the original commitment - also support it.
"Canadians don't cut and run at the first sign of trouble," he said. "And when we send troops into the field I expect Canadians to support those troops, in particular those who made that decision."

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=00620c78-f792-46e3-8757-6489af341a82&k=56153

Operation Archery: Dec. 27 1941

On December 27 1941 British forces launched Operation Archery, a Commando raid supported by the Royal Navy Cruiser HMS Kenya along with several Destroyers as well as aircraft from the Royal Air Force and aimed at Vaagso, Norway. Archery's objective where to disrupt German war production and to divert German forces from the Eastern Front and North Africa. The British were successful in there objectives, losing 22 men well inflicting much higher casualties on the defeanding Germans, meeting their immidiate objectives ( eleminating Vaagso's garrison, destroying several factories, and damaging German shipping in the North Sea) as well as their long term objectives (fearing an invasion of Norway, the Germans diverted 30,000 troops as well as a large portion of the German surface fleet, ships and men that could have been used to tip the balance in Germany's favor elsewhere).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Archery

The Story of Canada at War and One Soldiers Fight to Survive

The Judas Cloak
By Walter Winward
Published 1989

December 1943: In a German POW camp a group of prisoners have gathered to execute one of their own, Sgt. Jack Lambert.

1947: In Calgary, Ben Lambert discovers that his war hero brother, Jack, my actually have been an informant for the Germans, known as the Cloak. Ben is determined to find the truth even if it means going to Occupied Germany.

The Story then follows Jack from the Depression where he enlists in the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry to deployment in England, Commando training in Scotland, his participation in the Raid on South Vaagso in December of 1941 and the ill fated Dieppe raid in August, 1942 where he becomes a POW. After Dieppe Jack lands in a Stalag near Frankfurt, it is there the Allied prisoners discover one of them has turned traitor...but which one?

Well written by an ex-member of the British Army, the Judas Cloak is an excellent book for anyone tired of your standard WW2 novel. Well a little flat at times Winward is to be commended as to how human Jack comes across as, and that he does not scimp on the sometimes brutal meathods of both sides of the war, particularly Jacks escape attempt and Gestapo torture chambers. All in all the Judas Cloak is highly recommended.

*** out of ****

Saddam's Crimes

Michael J. Totten has another great report from Northern Iraq, detaling a museaum dedicated to the memory of Saddam's victims.

The hardest thing to see was the cell used to hold children before they were murdered. My translator Alan read some of the messages carved into the wall.
“I was ten years old. But they changed my age to 18 for execution.”

“Dear Mom and Dad. I am going to be executed by the Baath. I will not see you again."

Someone tell me again why Canada didn't want to help end this?
http://www.michaeltotten.com/