August 31, 2006

This video inspired me to seek out the movie Johnny Got His Gun. I did, and still do, think it's an excellent movie.

I never "got" the anti-war message, maybe because when I first saw the movie, I was fairly apolitical. Or maybe I just lack nuance, not to mention layers.

It was the concept of being in that situation which captivated me. Unable to see, hear, speak, or move, yet being totally aware of what's going on around you.

At any rate, I really just decided to post this because we have incurable insomniacs around here that need some high-quality entertainment.

Cross-posted from The Dread Pundit Bluto

From the Associated Press:

After the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings, distraught U.S. Muslim leaders feared the next casualty would be their religion.
Islam teaches peace, they told anyone who would listen in news conferences, at interfaith services and, most famously, standing in a mosque with President Bush.

But five years later, the target audience for their pleas has shifted. Now the faith's American leaders are starting to warn fellow Muslims about a threat from within.

The 2005 subway attacks in London that investigators say were committed by British-born and -raised Muslims, and the relentless Muslim-engineered sectarian assaults on Iraqi civilians, are among the events that have convinced some U.S. Muslims to change focus.

Muslim leaders point to two stark examples of the new mind-set:

_A Canadian-born Muslim man worked with police for months investigating a group of Islamic men and youths accused in June of plotting terrorist attacks in Ontario. Mubin Shaikh said he feared any violence would ultimately hurt Islam and Canadian Muslims.

_In England, it's been widely reported that a tip from a British Muslim helped lead investigators to uncover what they said was a plan by homegrown extremists to use liquid explosives to destroy U.S.-bound planes.

Safiyyah Ally, a graduate student in political science at the University of Toronto, wrote recently on altmuslim.com that Shaikh, the Canadian informer, went too far.

She said the North American Muslim community "is fragile enough as is" without members "spying" on each other. Leaders should counsel Muslims against violence and report suspicious activity to police _ but nothing more, she argued.

"We cannot have communities wherein individuals are paranoid of each other and turned against one another," Ally wrote.

Yet some leaders say keeping watch for extremists protects all Muslims and their civil rights.

Salam al-Marayati, executive director of Muslim Public Affairs Council, an advocacy group based in Los Angeles, says working closely with authorities underscores that Muslims are not outsiders to be feared. It also gives Muslims a way to directly air their concerns about how they're treated by the government.

The beauty outside can't hide the ugly inside.

Mary Katherine is answering our post about the real reason we support Israel (Hot IDF Chicks) and our poll in which Israel came in second to that all important question of which country has the best looking women in uniform with this photo tribute to hunks of the IDF.

In the interest of keeping our dwindling female readership happy we'll link it. But dudes should keep away from it. If you're anything like me, the pics will leave you confused.

But as I just told Mary Katherine and Michelle "Man Candy" Malkin: There's good & bad IDF photos.

Hot IDF chicks: good
IDF dudes: bad

I think I'll go assert my all-the-way heterosexuality by taking at look at Chris at Home's latest tribute to sexy Asian Celebs (probably NSFW, but no nudity). Call it a late afternoon palette cleanser, and since the news coming out of Thailand isn't so great these days, you might as well check out these non-dhimmi Thai chicks as well. A few dozen Islamist bombs aren't going to keep them from showing some skin!

The guys at Vital Perspectives have obtained a copy of the International Atomic Energy Agency's report on Iran. You can see the full text of the IAEA Iran report here.

They also add:

The IAEA report details the progress that Iran has achieved, noting the continued testing of P-1 centrifuges with UF6 and the installation of a second 164-centrifuge cascade. It also details Iran's continued stonewalling and lack of cooperation with the IAEA. According to the report, Iran has not made any new information available on their P-1 and P-2 centrifuge programs. Iran has not provided a copy of a 15-page document describing procedures for the reduction of UF6 to uranium metal, which is critical to understanding the full scope of offers made by 'foreign intermediaries.' Iran has not been forthcoming with clarification on is plutonium separation experiments. Iran has not issued multiple entry visas to weapons inspectors on time. Iran refuses to discuss Project Green Salt, address verification and transparency issues, suspend enrichment related activities or act in accordance with the Additional Protocol. As a result, the IAEA still cannot make a determination as to the nature of the Iranian nuclear program.

Miss England, Hammasa Kohistani, proves that the stereotype of beauty queens being hot but dumb is bascially right. It also doesn't do that much for the stereotype of moderate Muslims as over-sensitive whiney bitches who take every opportunity they can to whine and seethe about prejudice and backlash whenever someone suggest they do something about the extremists in their midst. Not. A. Thing.

Perhaps instead of whining about Blair's calls for Muslims to root out terrorists in their midsts, Ms. Kohistani would prefer to move back to Afghanistan where her parents fled from the Taliban? I hear the Taliban are resurgent and have a secret and abiding love for Muslim women in swimsuit competitions.

BBC:

The country's first Muslim Miss England has accused Prime Minister Tony Blair of fuelling hostility towards Islam in the wake of the London bombings.

Hammasa Kohistani, 19, said government statements since last year's 7 July attacks had created a "negative image" of Muslims....

"Tony Blair addressed Muslims in particular, telling them that they need to sort out the problem within," she said....

That was a huge stereotype of the Islamic community.

"Even the more moderate Muslims have been stereotyped negatively and feel they have to take actions to prove themselves."

Previously: Hot Muslim Becomes Miss England

(Zanzibar, Tanzania) Muslims are outraged at the planned 60th birthday celebration for deceased rock star and Zanzibar native Freddy Mercury, born Farrokh Bulsara, because his sexual preferences and flamboyant lifestyle insulted Islam.

From Independent Online:

In a strongly worded letter to the semi-autonomous Tanzanian archipelago's culture ministry, a group of conservative Muslims said plans to honour the lead singer of the supergroup Queen at a gala bash next month must be stopped.

"There are people claiming that Freddie Mercury is a Zanzibari but he grew up outside Zanzibar and then changed his name," the islands' association for Islamic Mobilisation and Propagation (UAMSHO) said in the letter.

"Associating Mercury with Zanzibar degrades our island as a place of Islam," UAMSHO chief Abdallah Said Ali wrote, adding that the singer was known to have been gay, died of AIDS and had lived a wild life many Muslims would condemn.

"Allowing such a function for a person known outside Zanzibar as a homosexual tarnishes the name of Zanzibar," he said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by AFP. "Let us protect our good culture."

Companion post at Interested-Participant.

UPDATE by Rusty: You know what this blog needs? More music by ex-Muslim gay apostates! We are the Champions and We will rock you. I think Freddy Mercury actually wrote these songs to mock the loser Islamists in Zanzibar......

Finally, some bad gay I can support!

UPDATE: Jeff tells us that Freddy Mercury was of Indian/Parsis Zoroastarin descent. But still.....he does rock and he pisses off the Islamists. And in the end, isn't pissing off Islamists all that really matters?

A moderate Muslim I can finally agree with. Too often we hear the phrase 'moderate Muslim' as a descriptor immediately proceeding a diatribe against Western values. Perhaps there is hope after all. Omran Salman:

Rather than just condemn the plot and address the scourge of Islamic extremism, Muslim groups such as the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) and the Muslim American Society (MAS) sought to both legitimize terror and portray Muslims as victims.

Do these organizations really represent Muslims in the West? Hardly. It is their apologia of Islamic extremism, rather than discrimination or religious hatred in Western society, which most victimizes American Muslims.

The basic narrative of these self-described civil-rights groups is twofold: The United States provokes terrorism because of its foreign policy, and Muslims in the West face a backlash in the wake of terror....

Rather than help Muslims in America, most Muslim organizations hinder them. Self-appointed representatives downplay religious extremism and focus more on the image of Muslims rather than on the loss of innocent life. They remain silent on the assault waged on liberalism by Islamists. Most Muslims in America, though, fled the Middle East for the liberal values of their adopted country....

If these organizations wish to represent American Muslims, they should be at the forefront of defending both Muslims and non-Muslims against Islamic extremists who hate moderate Muslims almost as much if not more than Western governments. Terrorists deny the legitimacy of Western Muslims, arguing that their Western co-religionists just sit placidly while they, the true Muslims, are "waging jihad against infidels and crusaders."

It is wrong to argue so much over terminology and image that we lose sight of the real threat: Extremists who find motivation in religion to preach intolerance and wage war against Western values and peoples. This is the nonsense that causes Muslims to flee the Middle East. We should not defend its emergence here.

Bad news from Gaza, apparently another al Qaeda 3.0 is emerging. According to them, Hamas, Fatah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad just weren't Muslim enough.

WND:

A new Palestinian terror group aligned with the ideology of al-Qaida has been formed in the Gaza Strip and may plan attacks not just against Israel but also aimed at other "enemies of Islam and their collaborators among Arab regimes," the group's leader told WorldNetDaily in an exclusive interview.

"For the moment, our attacks are concentrated against the occupation, but I am sure that there will come a day where the Jihad operations will reach all the enemies of Islam and their collaborators among Arab regimes. The U.S. seems to do everything in order to speed this evolution," said Abu Mohammed, leader of the Palestine Army of Islam.

The Army of Islam is a splinter of the Popular Resistance Committees, a coalition of terror organizations operating in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The Army bills itself as the closest Palestinian organization ideologically to al-Qaida. It left the Committees earlier this year complaining the group was not "Muslim enough."

Hat tip: Joel

Forget the new "docudrama" in which Bush is assassinated, given the rhetoric, isn't the real question why hasn't Bush already been assassinated? I mean, if you actually believe that insane stuff, what's stopping you?

Oh, I forgot. In addition to being insane you are also a bunch of pussies.

Apparently all you need for Hezbollah to hack your website is to have a Jewish sounding name.
Boston Herald:

A computer hacker flooded a Gloucester theater company’s Web site with grotesque pictures of dead babies and pro-Hezbollah messages apparently because the company’s founder and director is named Israel.

Hat tip: Jay Tea who has more.

Granted, not in so many words, but:

There was no sign of Hizbollah guerrillas as the Lebanese troops moved south. Even unarmed members of the group seen on previous days riding around on scooters and giving instructions to journalists and residents in the south had disappeared.

Thanks to Kerry for catching this---a big slap on my forehead for missing it.

Words have consequences and these types of attacks are inevitable given the rhetoric of the increasingly not-so-fringe left .

At some point saying "I support the troops" while simultaneously jumping on every allegation against them that they routinely "massacre" civilians reaches the breaking point of psychological dissonance.

A rational and moral person cannot support troops which are baby killers. At some point, either you will reject the premise that our troops are bloodthirsty killers or you will hate them.

The victim's name is Alexander Powell and he has been instructed by his superior officers not to discuss the matter any further with the media.

KIROTV:

The Pierce County Sheriff's Department is searching for five people who allegedly attacked a uniformed National Guardsmen walking along 138th Street in Parkland Tuesday afternoon.

The soldier was walking to a convenience store when a sport utility vehicle pulled up alongside him and the driver asked if he was in the military and if he had been in any action.

The driver then got out of the vehicle, displayed a gun and shouted insults at the victim. Four other suspects exited the vehicle and knocked the soldier down, punching and kicking him.

“And during the assault the suspects called him a baby killer. At that point they got into the car and drove off and left him on the side of the road,” Detective Ed Troyer with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News.

The suspects were driving a black Chevy Suburban-type SUV.

I know it is hard for some of you to grasp, but people hate the United States and its soldiers because they actually believe we are the bad guys. I heard Howard Zinn on Dennis Prager's radio show yesterday. If you only believed half of what Zinn has to say, you'd spit on our soldiers too.

All the suspects are described as in their early 20s, many wearing red caps. Why all the red hats? Could it be.......

Michelle Malkin has more.

We'll leave naked Iranians for last. First, camel SUVs.

Punchline here

Next, the blue helmut blue flame.

Backstory here

Naked Iranian chick below the fold

Okay, she's not really Iranian, but for a dirty liberal hippie she's not that bad. And for once, we agree with Jen: 'tis better to be naked than to be burka'd.

Ace lets the lunatics run the asylum.

Not much different from what Rusty has done, actually.

But we don't post bad gay videos, we are Zionists after all. Only the story of Exodus as done by Metallica will do.

is Islam itself.

My home blog, but not my post.

Read Muslihoon daily.

An open letter to Dr. Shackleford: (I love doing open letters, because my best friend Beth hates them)

When you granted me this login status, I had no idea that September 16th, 2006, would be a momentous date in history.

When you promoted me to "Prick Editor-in-Chief", I remained clueless.

But recent wanderings around the interwebsinestrophericblogidohexinets have shown me that September 16th, 2006, will go down in Sandcrawler lore as the (digitally-speaking) bloodiest day in this blogs storied past.

Yes, Dr. Shackleford, 9/16/2006 is the day where I was once your student, but now I am the master.

For those of you who have no idea what I'm referring to, simply look at your college football schedules.

This could be the most intense intra-blog blogwar ever. But probably not. After all, Rusty did graduate from a university whose mascot is a pack of condoms.

August 30, 2006

Travel myth: You can't get from Bangkok, Thailand, to Boulder, Colorado for free.

The Roaming Freak:

"Nonsense! Just confess to a murder you didn't commit!"

Travelnotcity Travel Myth #33: You will be anally raped in the California Penal System.

The Roaming Freak:

"Mmpph glrk oogh guggle."

So, we have Hurricane John threatening Mexico, while Hurricane Ernesto (since downgraded...ALOT) threatened Florida.

If common sense ruled the world, Hurrican Juan would threaten Mexico, and Hurricane Ernest (since downgraded...ALOT) would have threatened Florida.

Of course, if common sense ruled the world, the media would stop obsessing over the latest chance to blame Bush for a natural disaster and start obsessing over the latest chance to blame Bush for a man-made one in the making.

The media is now also in hyperventilation mode over the Katrina anniversary. What will they have to say when an American city can't be rebuilt due to the half-life of U-235 (700 million years), or Plutonium?

Here are a few tidbits from a press release put out by the al Qaeda umbrella organization in Iraq, the Mujahidin Shura Council. That's right, terrorists have press releases. I'm not kidding.

In it, the MSC complains about media bias against them. The chief charge? They daily kill dozens and dozens of "crusaders" (ie, Americans and Britons) and "apostates" (ie, any one who works for the Iraqi government) but the MSM press only reports one or two zionist-crusaders killed! The Arab press repeats the official numbers when "true Muslims" should believe al Qaeda's reports and not the Americans.

What's funny is that last week, just as an experiment, I tallied the number of dead Americans and Brits as reported by terrorists in Iraq vs the actual number. For every dead U.S. soldier the terrorists claimed about 10-20.

O brothers of Tawid (ed, monotheism), don't you see how they try to erase mujahidin's news and to show them as a source of trouble and defect?

And look at the Arabic channels TV which become the same as the crusader media and which try to make doubt in the mujahadin's media .

O you who look for the truth and the real news, is the one who doesn't worship Allah more sincere than the mujahed mowahed [ed, strict follower] who doesn't worship except Allah and defend the true religion ??? Are Muslims the same as criminals, how do you judge and decide, and despite this you don't see this balance nor hear about " the dissenting opinion"....

We know certainty that the news and events pass over the crusader media which show what they want like the logic of Pharaoh who said " "I show you only that which I see", and we know that the RV Channels are forced to follow the crusaders and submitted to the lying and false articles [ie, censored].

But your brothers in the media committee of Mujahidin Shura Council don't care about that because they wish these events were diffused in the rewards' page to erase their sins and to raise their degrees, and Allah is All-Knower of the unseen and seen .

O brothers, our media is an incitement of the mouwahedeens [true followers] and an annunciation of Jihad and refutation of the slander

Bwahahahahaaaaaaaaa!!!!!

CNN is reporting the Senator who placed the secret hold on a bill that would allow citizens to see how tax dollars are spent is...

CNN has confirmed that Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, has placed a hold on a bill that would require the government to publish a database of federal spending online.

"He does have a hold on the bill," Stevens spokesperson Aaron Saunders told CNN. "At the time he placed the hold he notified Sen. [Tom] Coburn and his staff and identified several questions we had with the bill. Two weeks ago Sen. Coburn named Stevens as having a hold on the bill so we don't consider it a secret."

Senate tradition allows any senator to keep a piece of legislation from reaching the Senate floor by placing a hold on the bill.

Coburn's office confirmed that Coburn had revealed Steven's hold during a town hall meeting in Oklahoma two weeks ago.

The bill has become a cause célèbre for both liberal and conservative bloggers as they tried to uncover the "secret senator" who had blocked passage of the bill, titled "Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act" (S. 2590). The bill was introduced by Sens. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, and Coburn, R-Oklahoma, earlier this year.

Also See The Palm Beach Post, Mark Tappscott, Porkbusters, TPMuckraker and Senator Bill Frist's blog.

Ok now they are bloggin on it faster than I can link them. I'll Just say also see everybody.

Behrooz Bahbudi and Walid Phares have this in today's Washington Post, but since they also posted it over at CT blog I'd encourage you to go there and read it.

There are two major “trees” of Jihadism: The Salafists and the Khumeinists. The Salafists, influenced by the radical Wahabis and the “Muslim Brotherhood” call for the removal of the current Arab and Muslim Governments and their replacement by a worldwide power they call “Caliphate.” The Salafist movement produced al Qaeda and its affiliates around the world and identifies itself as “The International Salafi Jihadi Movement.” It is omnipresent in the Muslim world and has a significant presence inside democracies worldwide. The Salafi Jihadists established the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. This was the model they wished to multiply around the globe. The Khumeinists are the Jihadist followers of the teachings of Iranian Ayatollah Ruhallah Khumeini. They have established what they call an “Islamic Republic” in Iran and have funded movements, including Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Iranian Regime oppresses its own peoples and seeks regional and world expansion through Terrorism and Nuclear threat.

Because it's not just the method which is barbaric, but the utopian vision.

Beware of utopians with guns, but also beware of utopians who vote.

Back and forth and back again. I called shenanigans, Confederate Yankee backs it up with expert testimony. And unlike some other experts, these ones aren't anonymous commenters:

Looking at the picture received through the link on your email, the damage on the vehicle was sustained very long time ago and probably not by the rocket, or it was already tempered [sic] with[.]

UPDATE: John at Powerline, who has been going back and forth with me in e-mail over this, weighs in:

would think that a forensic examination of the vehlcle could answer the outstanding questions once and for all, and either validate or refute the claims made by Reuters. Clearly, there is enough doubt about those claims to warrant a full investigation.

Personally it looks more like debris on the truck to me--specifically, the kind of debris left after a hunk of concrete lands on your truck--but thats just me. And the photos Allah has posted seems to show just that. The other photos are after the vehicle has been moved and in daylight, so it could be rust under the debris shown in that photo. Or not.

Cross-posted from The Dread Pundit Bluto

Sergeant Frank Wuterich, one of the Marines that US Representative John Murtha judged and convicted of killing civilians "...in cold blood..." was recommended for a decoration based on what Lt. William T. Kallop, the only officer present during the battle in Haditha, described as his heroism in leading the counterattack.

From the Washington Post:

Lt. William T. Kallop wrote in a praise-filled memo that the incident on Nov. 19, 2005, was part of a complex insurgent ambush that included a powerful roadside bomb followed by a high volume of automatic-weapons fire from several houses in the neighborhood. He lauded Sgt. Frank Wuterich for his leadership in the "counterattack" on three houses while the unit received sporadic enemy fire.

The proposed citation indicates that Kallop -- the only Marine officer at the scene as the incident unfolded -- believed the unit was under a coordinated insurgent attack when Marines stormed civilian homes and opened fire, killing women and children. Whether Marines felt threatened and believed the homes to be hostile is a central element of their defense against potential criminal charges.

I'm not sure which is scarier? Saudi Arabia trying to "correct" the thinking of those they disagree with or Saudi Arabia releasing al Qaeda sympathizers after they have been "corrected".

Reuters:

Saudi Arabia has released over 700 suspected militants after clerics "corrected" their thinking in a special programme aimed at stemming a three-year-old campaign of violence by al Qaeda, officials said.

"They are sympathisers. There are many of this kind of people, who are subject to the process of an advisory committee. Hundreds of them have gone through this and been released," Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki said...

Fifi said he did not blame Saudi Arabia's controversial educational curriculum which foreign rights groups and Western governments have said promote extremism....

"The curriculum is not to blame since we've had it for over 30 years. The problem is some of the teachers," Fifi said.

And these people consider themselves moderates. Hell, is there any one who doesn't consider themselves a moderate? Remember, bin Laden thinks of himself as a moderate and is said to have accused Zarqawi of being an extremist.

Hat tip: Infovlad.

I'm not sure what good racial profiling is. The last time I checked, Islam was not a race.

Reuters:

Most Americans expect a terrorist attack on the United States in the next few months and support the screening of people who look “Middle Eastern” at airports and train stations, a poll showed on Tuesday.....

By a 60 percent to 37 percent margin, respondents said authorities should single out people who look “Middle Eastern” for security screening at locations such as airports and train stations — a finding that drew sharp criticism by civil liberties groups.

Since the questions asked in the survey say nothing about Islam, why is it that CAIR is concerned?

“It’s one of those things that makes people think they are doing something to protect themselves when they’re not. They’re in fact producing more insecurity by alienating the very people whose help is necessary in the war on terrorism,” he said.

Inasmuch as Muslims in America have not volunteered in great numbers to help fight the war then it no longer matters what they think. If killing Islamic fascist abroad and arresting them at home alienates Muslims--if it makes them feel picked on--then they are not our people. If you feel a closer kinship to my enemy than you do to me, then exactly why should I give a rat's ass if I offend you?

And if you're not helping already, if you already feel alienated, even when we don't single you out, then what harm can profiling you really do? I really don't see any downside to this, other than the obvious stupidity of calling it racial profiling.

I don't want racial profiling, I want religious profiling.

More at LGF

The Islamic Fascists that kidnapped Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig and force them to convert to Islam don’t like being called Islamic Fascists. Foxnews is running the interviews here. And to quote Allahpundit’s post here.

Centanni added that the captors asked them to write a letter to Bush defending Islam, calling on the President to free the Gitmo muslims, and demanding that he not use the term “Islamic fascists.” Centanni: “Yeah, they were very angry about that.”

Islamic Fascist, Islamic Fascist, Islamic Fascist, Islamic Fascist!

Related : Infidel Rusty's All Seeing Eye's post on President Bush using the term Islamic Fascist here.

So what should I call them? Freedom fighters? It seems to me they took away freedom and forced conversions in the name of Islam. If they shoe fits, and it does fit very well, wear it.

Images found at a website where Canadian students who support the Tamil Tiger terror group congregate. At least one of those affilliated with the website was arrested on terror charges last week. The images were taken down, but not before Dust My Broom grabbed a few.

Backstory here.

...what the hell is wrong with you people?

Jay at Stop the ACLU has the story: ACLU Wants Suspected Terrorists Allowed Back Into U.S..

August 29, 2006

It's just another isolated incident:

The spree began around noon in Fremont, where a man walking along the side of the road was hit by an SUV. He was thrown into a field and killed, police Sgt. Chris Mazzone said.

The driver then crossed the bay into San Francisco, where he injured at least 13 people during a 20-minute hit-and-run spree, police said...

...The driver's name was not immediately released, but Department of Motor Vehicles records show the license plate on the SUV registered to Omeed A. Popal of Fremont.

An aide to the mayor who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the open investigation said Popal was the suspect in custody.

Ellipses mine.

According to this site, "Omeed" is a Persian name meaning "hope."

Make of it what you will.

stein hoist: Leatherneck.

Update: Linda has the SF Gate story and the full name: Ohmeed Aziz Popal.

Sounds Irish, or maybe Vanatuan to me. Possibly Jamaican, too.

Update Too: SF Urinal quotes Gavin "teh ghey" Newsome thus:

"This was so senseless and inexplicable,'' the mayor said afterward.

No, he's not talking about his winning the mayoral election. We could only hope.

He's illustrating, albeit unwittingly, the Left's utter denial that we are threatened by an enemy that will not be stopped, unless it is utterly annihilated, until an Islamic flag flies over Washington D.C. and we live like this.

Update Tres (I bow to our Aztlan overlords): Via email, the Saint Joseph Mercury News reports that he was simply upset over an arranged marriage.

Notable excerpts:

But a recent trip to Afghanistan to participate in an arranged marriage could have caused him a lot of stress, Nekrawesh said.

He was born in Afghanistan, but came to the United States at a young age. Three months ago, he returned to his home country to marry, relatives said, and his wife's family was very traditional and strict.

Sleeper?

``The only thing would be some kind of mental pressure,'' Nekrawesh said, adding that Popal seemed happy before leaving for Kabul. "The lifestyle is very different in Afghanistan.''

As opposed to this description:

Two doors down, longtime resident William Lofton said the family moved into the house about three years ago.

``He never spoke,'' Lofton said of Popal. ``He never said hello. He was quiet. He never opened his mouth.''

Gee, happy people usually talk to their neighbors. Even happy Muslim people.

America has compiled a massive dossier of mass murderers. I'll flip through my Encyclopedia of Serial Killers, Volumes I and II" to see if I can find even one that was a nice American boy who suddenly decided to mow down innocent people after returning from a Muslim country.

As I have argued since day one on this blog: liberties are ordered and are always dependent on context. It's why a civil libertarian, like myself, can also call for more state intervention in the context of war. War changes everything. Apparently, an emminent legal scholar agrees. If you get the chance, be sure to listen to the whole thing.

What are we to make of the photos of a vehicle hit by an Israeli missiles and why does it matter if some of the specifics of the attack are wrong when the Israelis admit to firing on the vehicle?

It may seem trivial, but in war the editorial nature of pictures can win allies or make enemies out of friends. This is why pictures matter, and why the context in which they are taken must always be known in order for an accurate assessment of events to be made.

Okay, so Allah has this lengthy post about what possibly could have caused the mysterious damage to the Reuters van allegedly hit by an Israeli "missile" in Gaza. And Ace second's the motion here.

The gist of the argument (as I read it) is as Ace puts it The Israelis admit firing on the vehicle.

But I'm not sure that what I, or the others (eg, here, here, here & here), are saying is that the Israelis didn't fire on the vehicle. What we are saying is that what is being reported in the press is not what actually happened. We are not saying (I don't think) that nothing happened, only that the incident probably did not go down as described by Palestinian stringers employed by Reuters.

For instance, Reuters says:

The missile struck the 'P' of the bright red 'PRESS' sign on the roof of the armor-plated Reuters car as Gaza cameraman Fadel Shana hurried to film an Israeli raid.

It certainly doesn't to me. I'm no expert, so I asked the people over at Military Photos to examine it. Some of the answers were similar to Ace's--dismissive because the Israelis claimed the hit. Others were dismissive because it is an international forum and that implies a great deal of antisemitism, but here is some of what was said.

Just from the photo's posted, to me, it does not look like rust or burnt flaking paint on the roof of the car, it looks like dirt to me. My guess is that it was hit by a rather large rock or bolder or building material that impacted / punctured the roof and left a crap load of dirt / debris everywhere.

One might argue that, in the end, it doesn't matter whether a block or brick fell on the roof since it was probably the missile itself which caused the block to fall, perhaps off a nearby building. In other words, so the press got it wrong on the specifics, but it was still Israel that caused the damage.

But that misses the larger point being made about the incident in the press--the editorial point.

Claiming a missile came through the roof of the car at the "p" in "press" drives home the point that the Israelis must have known they were firing at a press vehicle--it was clearly marked.

And that is exactly how Reuters--and the AP--spins the photos. The photos are presented in the context of competing claims. The Israelis claim they didn't know it was a press vehicle, but:

The car was labeled on all sides as a press vehicle.

The missile hitting the car at the "P" is all that is needed to back claims made by Palestinians and their allies in the press that the Israelis are targetting journalists. Simply looking at the photo, as many un-savvy un-bloggerish consumers of the media would do, might lead to the conclusion that the Israelis must be lying. That there is no way they could not have known the vehicle was the press.

Forget that it was hit at night and that targetting cameras would probably not pick up the markings on the vehicle--most readers simply do not not pay that much attention to detail.

The picture tells the only story most will ever read.

But if that hole was made only incidentally to the missile strike--if it was caused by falling debris--than it changes the entire editorial context of the photo.

There are important implications to this story. Ones which, I hope by now, we are all familiar with.

The story is being used as part of a concerted propaganda effort against Israel. True or not, that is how it is being used.

Here is a Palestinian press release (emphasis mine):

CPJ Condemns Targeting 2 Cameramen by Israeli Forces in Gaza...

The Foreign Press Association (FPA) in Israel called the attack an "outrageous targeting" and demanded a full investigation.

Other allegations of deliberate targeting of journalists covering fighting in Gaza and south Lebanon have been made against the Israeli army over the past two months.

As Caroline Glick puts it in her JPOST column today about the incident:

Yet it is unclear why anyone should believe either Shana or Reuters. Shana told Reuters that as he was driving to the battle scene, "I suddenly saw fire and the doors of the jeep flew open." He claims to have been wounded by shrapnel in his hand and leg. These are minor injuries for someone whose vehicle was just hit by a missile.

It is not a coincidence that I saw the pictures of the Reuters' vehicle on Powerline and not in the media coverage of the purported attack. Both the global media and the international NGO community abjectly refuse to investigate themselves. As democratic governments and their militaries have proven incapable of dealing with the phenomenon (in part because they seek to curry favor with the media and the international NGO community), the blogosphere has taken upon itself the role of media watchdog...

As each day passes, the governments, formal and informal legal apparatuses, and media of free societies show themselves to be less and less capable of contending with the information operations conducted against their societies by subversive forces seeking their destruction.

No, it's not that nothing happened, it's just that it probably didn't go down the way the Palestinians--and Reuters--claim it did.

Last, let me reiterate a point that Confederate Yankee makes. Even if we are wrong on this one--that the incident happened exactly as described by Reuters--it really doesn't matter. After all, should the blogosphere stop questioning the mainstream press simply because we might be wrong, then our purpose is over. Done. Nothing left for us to do.

Because if we don't question the press then who will?

UPDATE: Shrapnel vs. a missile, does it matter? Absolutely. Via SeeDub, who now owns Junkyard blog, this:

Shrapnel from two missiles struck two cars including a Reuters’ vehicle.

Palestinian security sources and eyewitnesses said that several Israeli army tanks and armoured vehicles rolled into eastern Gaza City, backed by Israeli helicopters and reconnaissance drones.

The eyewitnesses said that the two camera operators were in a Reuters jeep heading to the area to cover the Israeli Army incursion into eastern Gaza City. They said that an Israeli helicopter fired two missiles at people gathering in the Sheja’eya neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City as the Reuters’ car drove past nearby.

Shrapnel hit the car, wounding Faddel Shana’a of Reuters and Sabah Hemeida, who works for Dubai Television.

That's not quite fair. The real question was about calling shenanigans on photos of vehicles that aren't all the way destroyed. And to answer that reasonable and fair question, I would agree with Allah. You can't call shenanigans on everything.

I do, however, call shenanigans here. Now. In this instance. Not because it was a vehicle, but because it was a media vehicle. Not because nothing happened, but because the photos (IMO) are being used to make propaganda points.

Here's another interesting question. Is there a way to avoid what Ace calls the meme-mentality, yet still be able to raise questions? There must be some happy medium between calling everything shenanigans and saying nothing out of fear of being labeled paranoid.

As always, I could be wrong.

To the "All Your Fakes Are Belong To Us" video.

Never Forget, Never let up.

Cross Posted to Howie's Moisture Farm.

Indeed:

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Monday he is deeply troubled by the success of terrorist groups in "manipulating the media" to influence Westerners....

"They are actively manipulating the media in this country" by, for example, falsely blaming U.S. troops for civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said.

"They can lie with impunity."

It must be true, Iowahwk wrote it:

According to Reuters spokesman Martin Aldwyn, the vehicle was used by the agency's local freelancers to transport poignant war-ravaged street urchins to Lebanese hospitals. Although clearly marked with a red cross, "PRESS," fuzzy dice, and the international symbol for "Baby On Board," the flaming 1950 Mercury was left nearly unrecognizable by the attack. Photos show that the impact of the Israeli missiles slammed the vehicle to the ground, lowered its roof five inches, and left it with a pancaked hood, shaved door handles, frenched headlights and De Soto grille.

Someone at The New Republic seems to think so, as cited by the UK's Telegraph. I couldn't find the original article, so if you come across it please e-mail me the link.

But the gist of it seems to be that there are so many radical Muslims in the UK, and because it is much easier for a British citizen to enter the US than, say, a Pakistani, then that is where our weakest point is.

We have much to fear from Islamists living in Europe and the UK. This morning I have been listening in to a secretly taped conversation one prominent UK cleric was having with his followers last week. Scary does not even begin to describe what these people preach to their audiences when they think nobody is watching.

Telegraph:

Britain now presents a greater security threat to the United States than Iran or Iraq, an American magazine said yesterday.

In an article on Islamists headlined "Kashmir on the Thames", the New Republic painted Britain's Muslim communities as a breeding ground for violent extremism.

Citing recent opinion poll evidence suggesting that one in four British Muslims believed that last year's London Tube bombings were justified, the magazine said: "In the wake of this month's high-profile arrests, it can now be argued that the biggest threat to US security emanates not from Iran or Iraq or Afghanistan, but rather from Great Britain, our closest ally."

Whoa. The Tamil Tigers are bad hombres. It looks like a Democrat in Congress actually took a trip paid for by this terrorist organization.

When we joke about Buddhist terrorists being a bit of an oxymoron it's not that there aren't Buddhist terrorists, they are just hard to find---and the Tamil Tigers are those terrorists. While the suicide mission is nothing new to the world, it may be possible to trace the modern iteration to the Tamil Tigers. So, in one sense, the Tamil Tigers actually may have inspired some of the tactics used by Islamist terrorists.

Chicago Tribune:

Chicago congressman Danny Davis and an aide took a trip to Sri Lanka last year that was paid for by the Tamil Tigers, a group that the U.S. government has designated as a terrorist organization for its use of suicide bombers and child soldiers, law-enforcement sources said.

Davis’ seven-day trip came under scrutiny this week following the arrests of 11 supporters of the organization on charges of participating in a broad conspiracy to aid the terrorist group through money laundering, arms procurement and bribery of U.S. officials.

I'm not really a Giuliani fan. Never have been. I'm not even a conservative and I find the conservative case against Giuliani compelling. The conservative case against John McCain is not so compelling and the Republican reaction to McCain reminds me of the Democratic reaction to Lieberman.

If you laugh at these covers of All Your Base are Belong to Us, you might be a geek. Hat tip: Gordo who is obsessed with all things that are belongs to us.

So what have we learned from this escapade?

Fitzgerald's got nuttin'. Richard Armitage is a coward. Joe Wilson is a liar and a hack. Valerie Plame is a super-secret media whore. Rove is a non-factor. Novak was doing his job. Russert is silent. Mitchell is silent. Bush is vindicated. Cheney is off the non-hook. Keith Olbermann is a jackass. Chris Matthews is in catatonic depression. Mark Ash and Jason Leopold are on suicide watch. Larry Johnson is incredulous. Ray McGovern is speechless. Bill Keller is mute. The Democrats are in denial. David Corn is slinking away from his original zeal. Scooter Libby is paying for dishonesty over a crime that wasn’t committed. Judith Miller spent time in jail for nothing. The MSM are pretending they had nothing to do with it. The US taxpayer is furious. The left is hysterical. The right is chuckling. The average American doesn’t really care.

Feel free to add if I missed anything.

Cross-posted at Mein BlogoVault.

August 28, 2006

To everyone who signed up, we did it!

Full list under the fold.

Update: Well, it looks like the list got cut off. You can view the whole list here.

Has it really been only four days since our very own Sout al Kuffar posted this at Youtube? Well, it's time to see it again. And again. And again!

It's called a teaser. Mr. al Kuffar is in post-production of a brand new Youtube film. At least, that's what he tells us in the secret Jawa sandcrawler cave that we keep. Stay tuned.

And if you like his work, be sure to rate his vid at Youtube and recommend it to your friends.

After having given my conversion to submit to Allah serious thought, I now renounce Islam. Yeah, they've got that whole 72 virgins thing going for them, and they also get to blow shit up--which are both cool--but I also have this little aversion to stoning whores to death. I'm more the live and let live kind of guy. Especially when it comes to whores.

So, even if there is no God but God, Mohammed was definitely not a prophet. IMHO.

Oh, and there's the pork thing. Mmmm, pork.

The Maximum Leader reminds me that today is the feast day of St. Augustine of Hippo. To help our Catholic/Anglican/Episcipalian friends celebrate, some words of wisdom from Augustine, The City of God, Book XIX, Ch. 12.

Augustine reminds us that everyone wants peace. To say you want peace is like saying you want air. Yes, Morrissey was wrong on this one. And John Lennon? A retard for stating the obvious. The real question is, on whose terms should that peace be founded? Hitler and Hamas both want peace. Iran too. But peace at what cost?

Whoever gives even moderate attention to human affairs and to our common nature, will recognize that if there is no man who does not wish to be joyful, neither is there any one who does not wish to have peace.

For even they who make war desire nothing but victory,--desire, that is to say, to attain to peace with glory. For what else is victory than the conquest of those who resist us? and when this is done there is peace. It is therefore with the desire for peace that wars are waged, even by those who take pleasure in exercising their warlike nature in command and battle.

And hence it is obvious that peace is the end sought for by war. For every man seeks peace by waging war, but no man seeks war by making peace. For even they who intentionally interrupt the peace in which they are living have no hatred of peace, but only wish it changed into a peace that suits them better.

They do not, therefore, wish to have no peace, but only one more to their mind.

And in the case of sedition, when men have separated themselves from the community, they yet do not effect what they wish, unless they maintain some kind of peace with their fellow-conspirators. And therefore even robbers take care to maintain peace with their comrades, that they may with greater effect and greater safety invade the peace of other men.

And if an individual happen to be of such unrivalled strength, and to be so jealous of partnership, that he trusts himself with no comrades, but makes his own plots, and commits depredations and murders on his own account, yet he maintains some shadow of peace with such persons as he is unable to kill, and from whom he wishes to conceal his deeds.

In his own home, too, he makes it his aim to be at peace with his wife and children, and any other members of his household; for unquestionably their prompt obedience to his every look is a source of pleasure to him. And if this be not rendered, he is angry, he chides and punishes; and even by this storm he secures the calm peace of his own home, as occasion demands. For he sees that peace cannot be maintained unless all the members of the same domestic circle be subject to one head, such as he himself is in his own house.

And therefore if a city or nation offered to submit itself to him, to serve him in the same style as he had made his household serve him, he would no longer lurk in a brigand's hiding-places, but lift his head in open day as a king, though the same coveteousness and wickedness should remain in him.

And thus all men desire to have peace with their own circle whom they wish to govern as suits themselves. For even those whom they make war against they wish to make their own, and impose on them the laws of their own peace

Suspect? Some Purto Rican.

ABC News:

A commuter airplane flying from Philadelphia to Houston was diverted to a Tennessee airport Monday after a threatening note was found on board, authorities said.

None of the approximately 55 people aboard US Airways Flight 3441 was injured, and no bomb was immediately found, authorities said.

The plane landed at the Tri-Cities Regional Airport in eastern Tennessee without incident about 11:30 a.m., according to airport spokeswoman Melissa Thomas.

Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Amy von Walter said a threatening note was found on board, and FBI, TSA, canine bomb-sniffing teams and local law enforcement were investigating. Details about the note's contents were not released.

I hope whatever dumb teenager wrote the note will get his ass kicked. Hard.

The colors are so bright on this Adnan Hajj photo, my first thought was that it must be Miami's art deco district that was hit by the Zionist aggressors.

Debunking here.

But seriously, I've talked to Allah about this one and he leans towards calling shenanigans while I'm not as sure. In my book, it's borderline. According to some journos I know, it's SOP and considered acceptable practice to adjust contrast, tint, and color. This one seems a bit over the top, though. PS-and by 'over the top', I mean the manipulation of the photo is over the top, beyond the ethically acceptable. But still not all that bad in comparison to the other Hajj jobs.

As we reported on Saturday, Palestinian "witnesses" claim that an Israeli missile hit this Reuters truck.

Does this look like a truck that was hit by a "missile" to you? Is that rust on the roof?

The damage seems much more consistent with a cinder block falling on the truck, than with a missile. A missile would have obliterated the truck--armoured or not.

Here's another photo showing the extent of the damage caused by the alleged "missile".

If it was a missile, there's no way it hit the truck directly.

Power Line and Snapped Shot have more.

Maybe it's just me, but this photo of Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig seems to be a slam dunk case of fauxtography. The image, run by Rueters*, purports to be a grab from the video in which the two hostages "convert" to Islam.

Now, compare that to the actual undoctored pic here.

Yes, we know Reuters believes Islam is #1, but this time they've gone too far'

*Disclaimor: Not an actual Reuters pic. If you are Reuters, don't sue me, it's just a joke. If you are a Muslim, don't kill me--I really do think Allah is #1. Plus, I recently converted to Islam of my own free will.

I, Dirka Jihad Rusty, issue a fatwa against the infidel Mary Katherine Ham, for her summary of the Zionist plot to discredit our allies in the media.

Today, I converted to Islam. Why? Because Islam is the religion of peace. There is no compulsion in religion, under Islam. Islam tolerates all religions. Muhammed (PBUH) was a shining example of tolerance and love. His example shows us the way.

The fact that I am being held hostage had nothing to do with my conversion. Force has never ever ever been used to convert people to Islam. If you hear otherwise, it is a Zionist lie. A lie I tell you!

Cross-posted from The Dread Pundit Bluto

The Lebanese Christian website Libanoscopie reports that Palestinians in Lebanon have refused requests to disarm from the Lebanese government:

The Lebanese government would have asked, via an intermediary of Palestinian Fatah representative Abbas Zaki, that the refugee camp located on the edge of the Litani region in south Lebanon be disarmed.

In response, Mounir Mekdad, leader of the Palestinians in the region has categoricaly refused to disarm the Palestinians. In an interview with a Jordanian newspaper, their refusal comes based on their opinion that UN Security Council Resolution 1701 is illegal because it does not specify the return of Palestinians to their territory.

In the same story, Libanoscopie reports that Hizballah has dismantled 14 fortified positions around the disputed Chebaa Farms area.

The longer I'm in academia, the more I realize how meaningless Ph.D.'s are. Last spring I was sitting in on a roundtable about terrorism with a bunch of 'experts' in academia. Biggest point of contention? Whether or not the word 'terrorism' ought to be used at all since 'one man's terrorist is another man's freedom-fighter'.

Your tax dollars at work.

So, who is the Doogie Howser of Terrorism? My friend, Evan Kohlman. Sun Sentinal:

Defense lawyers in a major South Florida terror case want to make sure jurors never hear from witness Evan Kohlmann....

He has no Ph.D., no faculty position and no real-life experience in the Middle East. Plus, there's the age thing. Kohlmann, who has testified five times for the government already, is just 27. He has been called the "Doogie Howser" of terrorism.

Kohlmann has fought off such attacks before.

Totten reports from the border with Gaza:

"Lots of Qassams hit this city," Shika said. "Most people killed by the Qassams live here."

"How many rockets are hitting the city right now?" I said.

"Not as many today," he said. "Because of the war in Lebanon."

"What does Lebanon have to do with it?" I said.

"All the journalists forgot about us during the Lebanon war. So the terrorists are waiting for the media to come back before firing rockets again. They don't want to waste those they have."

The Electoral College system - an American tradition and governmental safeguard in place in the US for over 200 years - has suddenly become catastrophically unacceptable to some residents of California.

Sure - it was positively dandy when the Clintons were in power. There was no need to change anything, because all was right with America. Now that the letters have changed decisively from D to R, however, something has to be done. This wasn't supposed to happen.

According to Opinion Journal, legislatures in California are trying to usurp these constitutionally mandated safeguards to favor large, uneducated liberal urban populations of inner cities. The proposal would mandate that any candidate that got the popular vote would automatically get the state's electors - regardless of the number of communities that participate in the electoral process. In other words, if voters in LA, San Fran and San Diego outnumber the rest of the state, then these three cities determine who gets California's electoral votes.

I won't go into the number of constitutional and logistical problems this would create for all candidates and voters - the Opinion Journal article does that quite effectively - but the American public at large should be aware this is going on. It is being pushed by one party - the Democrats.

Yes. The Democrats want the dense inner-city populations and their infinitely successful approaches to problems like education, crime and corruption to run the national government without regard to what anybody else outside of the large population centers might think.

Times have changed so much under the long dark night of Bushiburton fascism that the very democracy that was perfectly acceptable a decade ago has collapsed entirely and needs to be replaced with procedures favorable to urban liberal constituencies.

Didn't y'all country boys and gals get the memo? Your votes are no longer needed or relevant, thankyouverymuch.

Stein hoist: Daily Pundit.

Update: I worded a particular passage above badly. Jim corrected me in the comments: " It would be more correct to say that if Candidate 'R' wins the majority in California (not the most likely outcome) but Candidate 'D' wins the majority of the popular vote nation wide, then instead of California's electoral votes going to 'R' as they are currently required to do they would go to 'D' anyhow."

Apologies for the oversight.

August 27, 2006

Breaking news!

(Gaza City) The Holy Jihad Brigades have freed the kidnapped FoxNews journalists, Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig.

From CNN.com:

Two Fox journalists kidnapped two weeks ago in Gaza have been released, according to the Palestinian news service Ramattan and Fox News.

The release came shortly after the broadcast of a video in which the journalists read statements saying they have embraced Islam with the Prophet Mohammed as their leader.

Free, safe, and well. Thank God.

August 26, 2006

Go see The Quiet, don't see The Invincible.

Let's examine this review further. Debbie Schlussel (shown with Sean Hannity):

Elisha Cuthbert, who stars in The Quiet

I know who I'd rather spend my time with this weekend. Later all, I'm going to watch The Quiet over and over and over.

Schlusselupagus gives an insight to her plight at the bottom of her post:

"Avoid like the plague."

Yup, that's what the men tell their penises when they meet you, Debs.

Apparently Fox is running video of it. This is all I could find on the newswires.

Developing......

Forbes:

Two missiles fired by Israeli aircraft early Sunday morning hit an armored car belonging to the Reuters news agency and wounded a television cameraman inside, Palestinian witnesses said.

The Israeli army said it was checking the report.

The Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh claims that two Fox News employees held hostage in Gaza will be released within hours. For the sake of Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig, we hope the reports are true.

Michelle notes that the 72 hour deadline has passed. Allah promises updates. We will do our best to keep abreast of this one too.

With the news that the families of murdred hostages Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley are suing Syria, I wonder if Wiig and Centanni's family have a case as well? Maybe not against Syria, but against states that support the PA? Oh, right, we support the PA too.

AP:

With a deadline looming in the case of two kidnapped Fox News journalists, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Saturday that he hoped the crisis would be resolved "in the coming hours."...

"We hope that this issue is going to be over in the coming hours," Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, said in a statement. "There are promises that the journalists will not be harmed. I hope that this case is going to be ended and solved in a way that reflects that the Palestinians respect their guests."

The families of Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley--both civilian hostages murdered by Abu Musab al Zarqawi in Iraq--are suing the Syrian government.

AP:

Survivors of two civilian contractors taken hostage and beheaded in
Iraq filed a federal lawsuit Friday against Syria, which they claim supported the group who murdered him.

This is a step they can take to deter states who sponsor terrorists," said John Salter, an attorney for Jack Hensley's widow, Pati Hensley, and their teenage daughter, Sara.

The plaintiffs also include Francis Gates of Michigan and Holly Pettis, now living in Canada. They are the mother and sister, respectively, of Eugene "Jack" Armstrong, who was taken hostage and slain along with Hensley and a British co-worker.

The families are also seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. "The trick is collecting," Salter said.

Salter said the lawsuit is based on the attorneys' investigations that show Syria was responsible for supporting and harboring the group that killed the men in September 2004.

The lawsuit also names Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and a Syrian Air Force general. Keep an eye on this one. We may learn a thing or two about the Syria-insurgent connection through it.

Hat tip: Hostage watcher.

This story has everything: strippers, al Qaeda, and a corrupt State Department employee. You had me at strippers.

Former Jawa See-Dub is on the case. Once a Jawa, always a Jawa.

Q: Does Osama bin Laden get lap dances or what?

Publius Pundit returns from the Ukraine and Belarus with some good news and some bad news. Mostly good news. A few more like him, and we won't need the MSM.

Video here at Crooks and Liars. Plus Bill Maher is an idiot. He is ignorant of the theology his is bashing. There is no end of the world in Christian end time prophecy. Maher I dare you to have Van Impe as a guest. I double dog dare you. You aethiestic piece of liberal crap.

Transcript here at Newsbusters.

Some other lefty blog calls Hitchens, "far right neoconservative". News flash Hitchens is a liberal. Albiet an outcast liberal. Hell even I know that uglyprimatechicksfrombillfristshomestate. No linky for you.

And Christians do not start the wars of the last days (of mans rule on earth). Christ comes to stop those seeking to destroy. If you are going to be an aetheist and go after Christians at least know WTF you are talking about.

Sorry IM you will do OK, you have us praying for you. Bill doesn't, Wait yes he does, dangit now I have to pray for him too.

August 25, 2006

Apparently they beat the entire household over $1 worth of cannabis. Seems a bit extreme. I wonder what the penalty is for a six pack of beer?

CNN: MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- Islamic leaders in Mogadishu gave a woman 11 lashes for selling cannabis Thursday, the first female to receive such punishment since the fundamentalist rulers took over the capital in June.

The woman, who throughout the beating insisted she was innocent, was flogged alongside five other men at the Yassin Square in Mogadishu in front of several hundred people. The small bundle of cannabis, worth around $1 on the streets in the capital, was burned before the crowd.

Late Tuesday, Islamic militiamen raided a makeshift video hall in Mogadishu, beating up viewers watching an Indian film. Like the Taliban, members of the group appear to see any secular entertainment as un-Islamic.

Nations with no beer? Hell on earth for sure.

Well, okay, it isn't Churchill. But it's still a classic for all time.

Every time I see this, I realize...I am one with Bluto (this Bluto, not the Dread Pundit).

stein hoist: Annika @ 6MB

And by the good guys, I mean the Empire of course.

Hat tip: Flea.

Fake but accurate story by Greg Mitchell. The very same Greg Mitchell at the Editor and Publisher who thinks Reutersgate was nothing. Yeah, no big deal Greg. No big deal.

UPDATE 8/26: Once is bad, but twice? Think Adnan Hajj. No wonder Greg Mitchell is so sympathetic!

Okay, so can someone tell me why it takes three bloggers to fill in for Andrew Sullivan while he's "gone fishing"?

As far as I can tell, each of the fillins is twice as talented as he-of-the-ever-so-appalled-and-horrified.

By my calculations that makes The Daily Dish six times better now than it was a week ago.

Michael Totten is better. Way better. And he's actually reporting from the Middle East. He tells me in an e-mail that he's touring around Israeli villages near Gaza today.

As opposed to he who happens to know the objectively moral position to take on each and every issue in the Middle East--and if you disagree with him you're a hypocrite and you make baby Jesus cry!

And the artist formerly known as Wonkette? When Ana Marie links the iGallop--horseriding "exercise" machine--it's hot. If Sullie did it? Not so much.

There's good linking to not-so-thinly-veiled sexual self-gratification devices, and bad linking.

Ana Marie: good

Andrew Sullivan: bad

So, if you ever wanted to check out the Daily Dish, but we're afraid to do it, now is your chance.

The plot thickens in the German train bombing case. Guy named "Jihad" in Germany who has been e-mailing members of al Qaeda. What, me worry? Never:

“There is nothing clear now, but in his computer, we found something that can be related to al Qaeda, some contacts. He denied any contact til now with al Qaeda, but maybe he was working without knowing (it) himself under the umbrella of al Qaeda,” he added.

The wall of separation between what is and what isn't al Qaeda is not only very thin, but irrelevant.

If it looks like al Qaeda, walks like al Qaeda, and quacks like al Qaeda, might as well call it al Qaeda.

Until we think of a better name for it, that is.

How about adopting the terrorists own terminology and just call it Islam?

Since Germany is not part of the Coalition in Iraq, I'd also like to suggest that the Left shut their pieholes about why the terrorists hate us.

The movie Beerfest is why they hate us. It's the hot chicks. The dick and fart jokes. The drug humor. And the beer. That's why they hate us.

As far as solutions go, though, let me suggest this to the German people that each of them should find a Muslim, and take them to see Beerfest.

Beerfest: The cause of and solution to all of the West's problems. (inside joke hint)

See? You can impose less freedom on yourself. I wonder what the mullahs would think of "Yusuf's" former musical transgressions.

I misspelled "Yusuf" on the sleeve to boot. The shame.

Cross-posted at Mein Blogovault.

The following comes in from an emailer wishing to remain anonymous. The emailer is a research analyst whose work crosses the path with the IAEA.

It is said that the hostilities between Israel and Hizballah were initiated by Iran in order to divert international attention from the Iranian nuclear file. This diversion of public attention paid off when the Security Council's decision of 31 July, 2006 - that demands Iran suspend its enrichment activities - did not receive media coverage corresponding to its importance. However, Iran is not the only one profiting from the absence of public focus on its nuclear entanglement. Someone else also gained from the situation - the IAEA director, El-Baradei.

The Security Council resolution determines that El-Baradei must report to it by 31 August 2006, on the extent that Iran has complied with its resolution. If Iran has not complied, which is the current situation, this would give unprecedented legitimacy to the Security Council to impose sanctions on Iran according to Clause 41 of Section 7 and for the first time to significantly undermine Iran's efforts to achieve nuclear weapons. Lacking significant media coverage on the issue, El-Baradei can once again defend Iran, as he has done in recent years, produce a feeble report that conflicts with the reality of inspectors' findings and give Iran the time it needs to progress towards producing a nuclear weapon.

This is not a prophecy of doom or cheap demagoguery. There are many who agree with this gloomy picture I describe, including inside the IAEA itself.

In my line of work I have come into contact with people in the IAEA who naturally are afraid to express their views in public. In conversations with them a short while ago, there was cautious optimism after the German newspaper 'Die Welt' published details about the dismissal of Chris Charlier, one of the senior IAEA inspectors in charge of the Iranian nuclear issue, simply because his conclusions were unsympathetic towards Iran. These people hoped that the details revealed in the media would force the IAEA to set its house in order, despite the person at its head, and thereby expose the relationship between Iran and El-Baradei, who has on too many occasions been Iran's savior. But nothing has come of this affair. On the contrary, El-Baradei did his utmost to prevent sullying Iran's name and to conceal the affair as quickly as possible. The resentment of my colleges in the IAEA and their astonishment only grew when it came out that in recognition of El-Baradei's conduct Iran sent him 'gifts' - including extremely expensive traditional carpets of the highest quality (one Persian carpet could be valued as high as 50,000 euros.)

And what of the IAEA's reaction to El-Baradei's actions? There is no reaction. Because there is no one to demand a reaction. In the absence of an appropriate reaction, El-Baradei can continue to compliment Iran about its insignificant gestures and won't let the facts confuse him when he comes to writing up his conclusions and presenting them to the Security Council.

We cannot force the media to cover these issues (free media and the right to know is not something clear for a journalist who is exposed to the IAEA pressures) but we can demand answers from the IAEA. I call on you to approach the IAEA and demand clear answers about El-Baradei's improper actions. Can the Nobel Prize that El-Baradei received continue to serve as his fig leaf forever?

Is it the news concerning Chris Charlier, the former lead inspector in Iraq before Iran asked ElBaradei to fire him, that is most troubling to me. After Die Welt published the account, there was no coverage elsewhere. It was as if news that the lead inspector in Iraq coming to the conclusion Iran was building a bomb and before being pushed out by Iran is not actually news. Now what of the added gifts presented to ElBaradei? I have very little trust for the IAEA because of its head.

Good news: Olaf Wiig & Steve Centanni may, in fact, be held hostage by some disgruntled Fatah members who want backpay.

Bad news: Hamas is working hard to make it look like they will be responsible for the hostages' release. When the hostages are free, Hamas will take credit.

For instance, this headline: Hamas plots progress to free Fox reporters

So, one terrorist organzation helps free hostages from another terrorist organization? The only winners here will be the hostages.

I'm still skeptical, but this scenario is much more hopeful than the one I presented yesterday, and there is some evidence from the hostage video that it is correct.

In any event, continue to pray for the hostages to be released.

There's funny, and there's funnay. Goldstein and Dorkafork are the latter.

Oh, and this patriot wears flip-flops.

Nope no rules here. Add a link in comments or co-bloggers add some to relieve the burning pain of Filthy’s Gom Jabbar

Jeep Thang has started a blog. His post here on Kevin Casgrove’s call on 9-11 is worth checking out if you’ve not heard it. You will be angry but remember our enemies think it’s funny. It’s not funny not at all.

The left for free speech? Apparently not if it’s Joe Lieberman’s speech. Lieberman is a liberal to the bone. So I’d not vote for him. The lefties like Kos (yes I read it) think Republicans will vote for him thus giving Lamont sure victory.

Filthy: Place your mouse pointer upon the link.

Howie: What is inside the link?

Filthy: Pain.

Jawa Report's Turkish hack attacker captured! Travels with his mommy, Has tiny penis. Yep it's him (scroll down second story).

Adjacent Jew-Haters want their own country.

I give up. First I heard that France would be sending 'thousands' of peacekeepers to Lebanon. Then I heard that President Chirac decided to send only 200 troops because a large number of troops would be too big a target.

Then I heard that ten French troops actually showed up on the Lebanese shore from a French warship. Later, that number was revised to fifty and called an advance engineering force and Chirac upped his contribution to 400 troops total.

There was so much criticism that it was then reported that France committed to sending 2,000 troops to Lebanon, which was revised downward to 1,600 troops, then bumped up to 1,700.

Now I hear that Chirac is back to the 400-troop level and he considers a peacekeeping force of 15,000 to be excessive.

Frankly, I beginning to believe that French President Jacques Chirac has one of those magic 8-balls. Prior to making a public statement he shakes it and it tells him what to say.

Meanwhile, with presumably more reliable information, Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said today that he would initially send 302 peacekeeping troops with the number rising later to 394.

As a result, it's impossible to chart progress toward the deployment of an actual peacekeeping force in Lebanon.

Companion at Interested-Participant.

Remember all those photos of new children's toys and dolls set amongst the ruins in Lebanon? Pretty much every one called shenanigans. Here is some pretty conclusive proof that the dolls were staged. Pics of a man taking doll out of a suitcase, and then the same man carrying them around the rubble.

Go here to see the follow up pic.

I don't know if we've run these pics before or not---frankly, at some point there were so many staged photos coming out of Lebanon that I just lost track--but if it's an oldie, it certainly is a goodie.

Thanks to Fred Fry for keeping on top of this.

UPDATE: Allah says this can be viewed either way. Guy planting toys or guy salvaging toys. True enough. But, as he notes, pretty clean toys if they are being salvaged. So, not a slam dunk case, but a case nonetheless.

August 24, 2006

Jill Carroll via The Christian Science Monitor : Abu Rasha was next to me in the back seat. He leaned over me, or so it felt, as I panted, blind, beneath three black scarves.

“Jill, we asked the Americans for the women prisoners and there were none,” he said. Normally his voice was slow and quiet; now it was loud.

“Oh,” I said, crouched in darkness, blind, hot, and breathless.

“And then we asked the government for money, and they gave us none,” he said.
“Oh yes, I know,” I said.

“Now we’re going to kill you,” he said, agitated and close to my head.

I thought they were going to do it. I imagined the gun. All they’d told me that day had been lies.

I knew I couldn’t be afraid. I had to make them think they were good people who weren’t capable of killing me.

I forced a laugh.

“No, Abu Rasha, you’re my brother, you wouldn’t do that!” I said, trying to keep the desperation out of my voice.

He laughed, more convincingly than me. “No, we’re not going to kill you,” he said. “We’re going to take you to the Iraqi Islamic Party and drop you off.”

I went limp. Tired, frozen, spent, I didn’t know what was going on anymore. I couldn’t make sense, couldn’t analyze. I had nothing left.

Part VII and VIII.

Part VI.

Part V.

Part IV.

Part III.

Part II.

Part I plus relevant links including Jawa and Christian Science Monitor archives here.

One thing that comes to mind is for me is luck. Jill is a very lucky woman. Being a Jawa Report regular reader as well as blog helper I've seen the highs and lows. The release of Roy Hallums, The gruesome murder of Paul Johnson and others. The uncertainty of the Fate of Jeffrey Ake and others still missing. The sympathy I feel for Mrs. Ake and famiy who have gone two years with no word. We at the Jawa Report do not do this for any other reason than we feel it is right. It is the small contribution we make from our hearts. The joy of a hostage story that turns out well is the reward and the offset for the fate of the others. May they never be forgotten. And Jill I think I speak for all the Jawa cotributors when I say this: We are glad you are home and safe. Thanks for allowing us to follow your story and best of luck for the future.

Update: Epilogue posted below the break.

And hey, one more thing, Watch yourself kid ;)

Epilogue Here at The Chrisian Science Monitor.

On April 2, 2006, a white Lufthansa 747 with the designation “Hamburg” written on its side taxied up to a gate at Boston’s Logan Airport. At 12:22 p.m., Jill Carroll stepped off the plane and onto US soil.

As she passed through customs, agents and other officials on duty crowded around for a chance to see her. Whisked into a waiting car, she was driven to the Monitor’s headquarters in Boston’s Back Bay, a police escort around her and news helicopters overhead.

Jill was traveling light. She’d left a big yellow bag of clothes and toiletries from her captivity in the Green Zone in Baghdad. She’d decompressed there for a day, talking to members of the US Embassy’s Hostage Working Group, before traveling on an aircraft carrying American casualties to Ramstein Air Force Base in Landstuhl, Germany.
In Boston, her car went straight into the underground garage of the Christian Science church headquarters. She then jumped into a blue van – easily missing the media horde camped outside the Monitor building.

The van went only a few blocks, to a nearby church-owned townhouse. There, Jim, Mary Beth, and Katie crowded around an open window, yelling her nickname, “Zippy!”

Jill met them coming down the hallway in a whole-family embrace. She wept and said, “I’m sorry.” She was home.

Brit Hume is liking his zombies.

As Allah notes, Dan Riehl has been on it too. I think that Fox is just pissed because Dan didn't find Natalie Holloway for Greta.

Either that, or they found out that he's the founder of White Trash Wednesday.

Allah's second fisking almost gets the coveted Electric Bugaloo subtitle. Almost. Maybe we'll have to give that to Bob Owens?

The secret hold.

The Global Islamic Media Front today released a copy of the Steve Centanni & Olaf Wiig hostage video in an internet posting. Along with the video, the al Qaeda propoganda production and distribution outlet also released photos of personal IDs found on the hostages, and a copy of the statement faxed to two Arab media outlets yesterday. The posting was made at an Islamist forum with ties to al Qaeda.

The fact that it was the Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF) that released these artifacts is very bad news. The group is an al Qaeda mouthpiece that generally distributes high-production value propaganda pieces.

The fact that the GIMF was not involved in the initial production of the video is a sign that the "Holy Jihad Brigades" is exactly as I feared: part of al Qaeda 3.0. What this means is that they are an al Qaeda inspired jihad gang, not directly under the control of the terror organization, but which is connected through a worldwide network of radical Salafists--most importantly through the internet.

More importantly, if they have made a connection with GIMF then it is likely that they see Abu Musab al Zarqawi as a source for inspiration. Zarqawi is infamous for popularizing the beheading murders of his hostage victims.

If this is the case--and these are words you may never hear repeated at The Jawa Report---then God help the Palestinian Authority and Hamas in finding them before it is too late.

I hope that I am wrong on this one, and there is some evidence to suggest that taking the Fox News reporters hostage has nothing to do with al Qaeda. However, the evidence trend seems to be that this is, at the very least, an al Qaeda inspired plot.

Many have wondered why these particular journalists were targetted. It is not clear why they were targetted, but a photo ID that the terrorists found on Steve Centanni may be a clue as to why they belive that his life can be used as leverage to pressure the US government.

It is a Congressional press pass.

Along with the press pass, was Centanni's driver's license (not shown), Olaf Wiig's CNN ID (below), and Wiig's Nairobi UN media press pass (not shown).

Below is an image of the first page of the letter stating the organizations demands. You will notice that it is a two sided document, the writing from the back side can be seen bleeding through the paper.

It is the same message as reported in the media yesterday.

We pray for the safe & immediate return of Centanni and Wiig.

Hat tip to Doubletap, friend of Vlad.

SITE also reporting this.

Again, it's time to pray.

UPDATE: A friend of mine at a Middle East news bureau reminded me in an e-mail that a lot of what GIMF does is simply distribute propaganda, and aren't official al Qaeda spokespeople, although they are al Qaeda's favorite distribution outlet. Again, I truly hope the GIMF connection means nothing.

UPDATE: Michelle links to a video from Centanni's brother. Very moving.

UPDATE: Allah has this roundup and Mary Katherine this one.

First, let me say that I hope I'm wrong.

Second, I'd discount (but not rule out) what the PA has to say, publicly at least. The last thing any one in the Palestinian territories wants (including many competing terror groups) is an al Qaeda presence.

But the "pay us our salaries" route, mentioned by the Jerusalem Post and linked by Allah, is consistent with what Wiig said in the video when he urged people to pressure on the local Gaza government for their release. So, it's plausible.

As I said yesterday:

The video has an al Qaeda feel to it, but the content of what Wiig said was interesting. In the video Wiig implores his family and friends to pressure the local goernment in Gaza to get their release. Which is an odd request, if the demand is for the release of Muslim prisoners from U.S. jails--a common Islamist demand in Iraq.

Third, I'd rule out the Shia claim, altogether. The text of the communique is classic Sunni Salaafism, and almost word for word AQ in Iraq.

Last, when thinking of terror organizations don't get caught in thinking of al Qaeda as something one must "belong" to or not. That might have been true at one time, but no longer.

Scholars are calling AQ 1.0 the al Qaeda of pre-9/11 days. Organized training camps, loyalty oaths, etc.

AQ 2.0 is the "franchise" al Qaeda. The al Qaeda of Abu Musab al Zarqawi. Remember, Zarqawi had his own organization, and only later called it "al Qaeda".

AQ 3.0 is something much looser. It exists as more of an idea, than a recognizable organization.

What's so scary about AQ 3.0 is that it entirely possible that a group of disgruntled PA security officials with radical jihadi tendencies can get together on the internet with like minded jihadis in Iraq, Afghanistan, or Saudi Arabia, give themselves a spiffy name, and voila--you are al Qaeda. Whether you call yourselves that or not, you are part of a network of jihadis with the most radical views and are not afraid to use the most disgusting and terrible tactics to achieve your goals.

To be honest, Dan Riehl called shenanigans on this one awhile ago.

Zombie's expose here just finishes off what Dan started. Brilliant.

Another myth busted. Case closed.

Andrew Bolt has some related thoughts.

UPDATE: Michelle has an excellent and extensive post here--scroll down for MSM contact info.

And did I say case closed? Well, nail meet coffin via Dan Riehl!

Al Manor is one of Hezbollah's TV stations. This would be like if al Qaeda actually owned al Jazeera, and had Jerry Lewis type telethons to raise fund for the families of Mohammad Atta. Since the ACLU is certain to defend this case, go read the story over at Stop the ACLU.

From London, a Muslim charity is alleged to be channeling money to terrorists.

From AlertNet.org:

Britain's charity watchdog froze the bank accounts of aid group Crescent Relief on Thursday as part of a probe to see whether aid money had been channelled to groups suspected of plotting to blow up airliners.

The Charity Commission, a British government department, said it had launched a formal inquiry into the UK-based group, which raised money for the victims of last year's earthquake in Pakistan, after allegations in British newspapers.

From my perspective, the involvement of Muslim charities with terrorists long ago blasted past the 'allegation stage.' It should be considered as a stone-cold fact, reversible only through complete, open, and 'down to the penny' accountability.

Companion post at Interested-Participant.

A video from our very own Sout al Kuffar! PS-sorry about the slow load time, it's a Youtube side problem.

PPS-Please vote for this video at Youtube here. Just click on the red star that is farthest to the right if you think al Kuffar's work is awesome.

UPDATE: Who is Sout al Kuffar?

Is it:

a) Howie
b) Vinnie
c) Rusty
d) Good Lt.
e) All Seeing Eye
d) Bluto

Enquiring minds want to know!

The Iraqi "resistance" is claiming that they used poisoned Pepsi to kill 11 Iraqi "shock troops" near ad-Dulu‘iyah.

It would be very worrying if the report out of Islamist media sources with links to the "resistance" were true, but as far as I can tell, they aren't. I bring you the story only to make a point: the "insurgents" and their Arabic propaganda outlets simply make stuff up.

Here is what a Mafkarat al-Islam reporter claims happened. On Monday, four "resistance" fighters delivered poisoned Pepsi to an outpost of Iraqi troops near ad-Dulu‘iyah. Within five minutes of delivering the Pepsi, all 11 at the outpost were dead.

To make the "resistance" seem more humane, the reporter claims they resorted to the poison Pepsi ruse in order to avoid killing civillians who live close to the outpost. See how that works? The "resistance", which in reality intentionally and routinely murders civilians, are spun as trying to avoid civilian casualties. For instance, today alone, in only one of dozens of such incidents, a car bomb in Mashtal killed five civilians.

The way the reporter "knows" that the 11 Iraqi soldiers really are dead? He claims that ambulances were seen going to the outpost. Yup, must be true.

Other than Arabic Islamist news outlets and English language jihad sites translating them, there are no other reports of this "incident". In fact, the only news about Pepsi in Iraq is that, apparently, the company is doing brisk business--especially in the Shia south.

In addition to this, the "resistance" routinely inflates the number of Coalition casulaties. For instance, today's "resistance report" claims 9 US troops killed in Iraq today.

This kind of nonsense is actually believed in many quarters of the Arab world.

It's one of the reasons that we've found it so hard to pacify Iraq: they actually believe they are winning and that they are the good guys.

US military policymakers should learn this one lesson, if they learn nothing else: a committed enemy only surrenders the fight when they believe they have no chance of winning in the end.

Idealistic notions of not imposing press restrictions because it sends the wrong message are not only naive but dangerous. It is only after you have crushed your enemy that you can even begin to think about rebuilding a more liberal society.

You cannot have free speech in a war zone.

William H. Donahue, the President of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights based in New York, answers:

No. They are entirely too corrupt....They are the legal arm of the political left. Even with a few whistle-blowers, the ACLU is more corrupt now than ever.

August 23, 2006

Jill Carroll via The Christian Science Monitor : I felt I was beginning to lose my self-control. One of my biggest problems was that I had let myself have hope. Numerous times, the insurgent leader, the black-eyed Abu Nour, had said my release was only a matter of settling details. Inevitably, my mood would soar – and then the release wouldn’t happen.

Then there were the videos. They had been astounded when my first hostage video, in which I had been forced to plead for the release of women at Abu Ghraib, had coincided with the freeing of five female prisoners by the US.

They kept wanting to film different videos with different demands aimed at different audiences. Sometimes I was pleading with the American people in general for help. Once I asked the King of Jordan to free Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi, a woman who tried to blow up a Jordanian hotel Nov. 9, 2005. Another time I begged for aid from the leader of the United Arab Emirates. Later, I made one denouncing him.

While only four of my videos ever reached the outside world, I made nearly a dozen, including re-takes done when I didn’t cry enough to satisfy my mujahideen producers. And I dreaded making them, not so much because it’s scary to plead for your life in front of a camera, as because I recognized that each one was a guarantee I would remain in captivity for some time longer.

Of course, there was an even worse alternative – that the death threats and deadlines they mentioned would be real.

Part VI.

Part V.

Part IV.

Part III.

Part II.

Part I plus relevant links including Jawa and Christian Science Monitor archives here.

Pretty good read. Almost as interesting as the fact that UBL likes McGyver and reads Playboy is the fact that her captors often watched Tom and Jerry. Heh.

I’ve been catching some “heck” for following Jill’s story. I find it interesting and was flattered to be asked to blog it. Not by Jill Herself but by the Monitor. So if the trolls out there who have never met Jill think they deter me in any fashion they are mistaken. In fact the knowledge that I am annoying the “insert expletive here” out of them is quite satisfying. Yesterday Bill Roggio, who has actually met and worked with Jill, posted this.

Bill Roggio via National Review: After her capture and subsequent release three months later, the blogosphere was ripe with accusations and assaults on Jill's character. She was described as an insurgent, terrorist sympathizer, “anti-war” and anti-American. She was savaged for the video taken at Dulaimi’s headquarters on the day of her release, because she wore the hijab and said those who imprisoned her treated her kindly. Those who wrongly criticized Jill fail to realize that she was still in fear for her safety when she made the tape.

During my short time with Jill, nothing she said or did gave the slightest impression that she deserved the slanders attributed to her. Jill was honest, brave, and respected by the Marines who met her. I had the honor of joining the Marines of the 4th Mobile Assault Platoon, Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, and the Iraqi Army on a raid on a small weapons cache on the Euphrates River. Jill joined us. She dismounted and walked the site with us, viewed the weapons cache (which can be dangerous, as the rounds can be “hot” or rigged to detonate) and even returned from the raid with the Iraqi troops on the back of an unarmored Iraqi transport, something quite dangerous with the high roadside bomb threat in Western Iraq. I insisted on traveling in an armored vehicle.

Hat Tip : Vinnie.

The connections between the Nazi regime and what we are currently seeing accross the globe are vast, and it would have been impossible to try to outline even a fair number of those connections in a ten minute video, but I hope to have laid the groundwork for viewers to at least do some added research in to the arena.

I have long contended the Muslim Brotherhood movement during the early 20th Century is primarily responsible for the deaths we are seeing today (coincidentally that's another reason why I mocked their email to me) and one of the group's early philosophers was one Amin al-Husseini, otherwise known as the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. The Grand Mufti was an ally of Adolph Hitler, but we also see the movement of Nazism within the Middle East as an extension of the teachings of the MB and I'm hoping the video will shed some light upon those other connections and why the hatred we see today could rightly be called the Islamonazi Final Solution.

There's crazy and then there's Deb Frisch crazy. Apparently Deb Frisch is the latter. Couldn't have happened to a better Lefty blogger. Goldstein says his stalker's arrest had nothing to do with him or his pulled pork sandwich....although I question the timing of that sandwich!

So, am I the only blogger left on the planet who hasn't been stalked by Deb Frisch?

A fisking so devastating to an Editor and Publisher article on Reutersgate--which mentions the Jawa--that I'm almost embarrassed to link it. Almost.

UPDATE: I wonder if E&P took note of this?

UPDATE: We've had our run-ins with E&P before......bunch of terrorist sympathizing bastards.

And, from our first run-in with E&P:

It's not so much that E&P is a liberal rag, it's that its a liberal rag masquerading as an impartial industry journal.

And so it continues. The world welcomes the "stability" brought by the African Taliban to Somalia even as terror training camps become more apparent.

You may have heard about the Marines about to call up thousands in the inactive reserves? While the media focuses on these troops being needed for ongoing operations in Iraq, a good number of them will be sent to The Horn of Africa. I'm afraid that many many more will be needed.

CT blog is on a roll today.

Could be nothing. Could be something. Reuters:

Dutch police confirmed the arrests of 12 passengers on a U.S. Northwest Airlines plane bound for India which was forced to turn back to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport on Wednesday.

"The 12 people that have been arrested were passengers," a spokesman said. "They will be interrogated in the coming hours by police investigators".

Twenty minutes into the flight, when the plane was over Germany, the pilot requested permission to return to Amsterdam and asked for a military escort. The Royal Netherlands Air Force sent two F-16 fighter jets to meet the plane.

All twelve were using their cell phones after the plane took off. You never see an entire group of passengers engage in such flagrantly illegal behavior.

UPDATE: Goldstein says he has a friend who is an Air Marshal. Might be interesting if he is able to comment on it.

Via Rob, this from AP:

An American woman aboard the Northwest Airlines jet says she saw officers handcuff and remove several men who looked to be South Asian.

Is there nothing the hot dog can't improve?

UPDATE: We have what we believe is the original video. Scroll down.

UPDATE: Not so fast. The video has an al Qaeda feel to it, but the content of what Wiig said was interesting. In the video Wiig implores his family and friends to pressure the local goernment in Gaza to get their release. Which is an odd request, if the demand is for the release of Muslim prisoners from U.S. jails--a common Islamist demand in Iraq.

But the statement by The Holy Jihad Brigades sounds very much along the lines of al Qaeda 3.0. UPDATE: And a group with a similar name has operated in the Palestinian territories, and is linked to al Qaeda. "Jihad Brigades in the Border Districts" is al Qaeda in Gaza.

Developing....scroll down for updates.

It is exactly as I feared. The Palestinian terror group that has taken Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig belongs to the cult of Abu Musab al Zarqawi. They have given the 72 hours notice. If their demands are not met, they will be murdered.

Reuters:

Two Fox journalists who were kidnapped in Gaza last week were shown sitting together and speaking on a tape obtained by Reuters on Wednesday.

A previously unknown militant group, the "Holy Jihad Brigades," earlier claimed responsibility for the kidnapping nine days ago of two journalists and demanded the United States release "Muslim prisoners" within 72 hours.

Developing....

UPDATE: Washington Post:

"We are going to exchange the Muslim female and male prisoners in American jails in return for the prisoners that we have. We are going to give you 72 hours beginning midnight tonight to take your decision," Ramattan quoted the statement as saying.

"If you implement and meet our condition, we will fulfill our promise. If not, wait, and we are going to wait," the statement said.

Centanni: "We've been captured in Gaza and been held prisoner here and we are in good condition and live as well and in good health. We have water and food and everyday access to the bathroom, shower.

We have clean clothes. Our captors are treating us well and so just letting you know that I'm here and I'm alive and I give my love to my family and friends and ask you to do anything you can to help us get out of here."

Wiig: I guess I will add for myself that I know my family. If you can find local pressure or local government here in Gaza and the West Bank to help us, I would appreciate it. To my family, please don't worry. I am okay.

Centanni: We love you all and hope to see you soon.

Update: I like this one word summation of optimism: Alive.

UPDATE: Kidnappers statement via Ms. Underestimated. It's a pretty straightforward call to be converted to Islam, submit to dhimmitude, or die; followed by the demands. The statement does have a Salaafist Islamist feel to it, indicating that there may be an al Qaeda 3.0 connection here:

"This is a statement directed to the infidels in general, without discrimination of their georgraphical location. This is an invitation to enter into the religion of God before a day comes when being an infidel will not do you any good. The victory of God's soldiers can only be achieved by God's help. Nobody can frighten us about our enemy and what it possesses. In the name of God and taught Adam the names. If they throw us in fire it would be cool and safe on us. And if they throw us in water then the whale would pick us up and take us to land. If they want to cut us up, God will save us by sending a sacrifice and deliver us to safety.

No nation can be defeated without the will of God. Quoting Mohammed: 'Do not be sad for God is with us.'

Therefore lords of infidelity and masters of darkness and injustice believe in God and you will be safe or else wait for your turn because we come to slaughter. And every soul will reap what it has done.

You have angered us and we are not the kind that is angered. We are subdued, but rather the fountains of Islam and faith spring up in us.

We now tell you this is the chance we give you. God knows how often this kind of chance can be repeated.

In exchange for the release of the Muslim prisoners, males and females in the prisons of America, with our prisoners.

Release our prisoners and we will do the same. This applies to all without exception. And every Muslim is more cherished and more generous that a 1,000 Bushes. But this is a tradeoff of equals.

We will grant you 72 hours, that starts as of noon today during which you can look into this and if you carry out our condition we will carry out our promise, or else wait and we will wait with you and it will be in God's hands. And God's order is higher than any other and most people do not know. 'Those who have been injust will find out the consequences.'

The time you have starts as of noon Wednesday the 29th of Rajab (the Islamic month) of the year 1447 (Muslim year) which is the 23rd of August 2006.

Our thanks to God, the most gracious.

Signed

The Holy Jihad Brigades"

For more info on the plight of hostages around the world, please see our extensive hostage archive.

UPDATE: In related news, I saw a beheading propaganda video the other day that may shed a little light on why it is becoming so hard to distinguish between al Qaeda and other groups. This video bore the logo of The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, but a flag in the background looked like it was that of al Qaeda.

The audio distorted the voices of the two armed boys in it. I say boys, because, by their looks, they seemed to be very young men. After reading a statement, the two boys show a head on a table. The decapitated head appears to be the same one shown in this Palestinian Islamic Jihad video.

The point to all this is that al Qaeda is only one organization that belongs to a larger radical jihadi movement. It has inspired a new generation of terrorists through their careful manipulation of propaganda--especially on the internet--to follow their tactics. So, whether or not the Fox News reporters were kidnapped on the orders of higher ups in al Qaeda, or by teenagers in a gang inspired by al Qaeda, it really makes little difference.

UPDATE: A friend in the media, who has some experience with other hostage takings, offers this hopeful piece of analysis via e-mail

one thing that can be interpreted as good news is that Wiig and Centanni were allowed to speak very freely in their segment.

UPDATE: I've now seen the video on several news websites and something important is missing from it. Something that you might not notice if you hadn't seen dozens of similar videos.

The logo.

Believe it or not, terror organizations are well versed in branding. Each organization has a distinctive logo that they emblazen on their videos. This one does not seem to have it.

I noticed it earlier, but both the Fox News and CNN vids had their own logos running over where the terrorist's logo ought to be. But none of the vids I have seen show a logo. Nothing conclusive, but it is an indication that we may be dealing with amateurs, wannabes, or perhaps money seekers.

Once I get the original vid, we'll know more.

UPDATE: I have what I believe to be the original vid. It looks like the vid run in the MSM is pretty much complete, except for a bit of Arabic writing in the begining and some English titles that name the hostages, which runs about 10 seconds.

Here are a few frames that Howie put together.

UPDATE: Allah e-mails this from ABC's Blotter. I think it is pretty much in line with what I have been saying above.

The language in the statement, which denounces the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is similar in style and content to the kind of dispatches issued by Abu Musab al Zarqawi when he was leading al Qaeda in Iraq...

"The rhetoric is vintage al Qaeda," said Fawaz Gerges, an ABC News Consultant and professor of Middle Eastern Studies at Sarah Lawrence College. "This is consistent with what we have seen in Iraq and other places."...

f it is confirmed that a branch of al Qaeda is behind the hostage taking, it would represent a major new front for the terrorist organization, which has in the past deferred to Palestinian groups such as Hamas to conduct the "resistance" against Israel.

1) Branding. Abu Musab al Zarqawi's al Qaeda in Iraq--and it's predecessor organization of Tawhid i Jihad--always branded their videos. Always. This was either done through flags or symbols embedded in the vids.

2) Nasheed & Quranic injunctions. Al Qaeda in Iraq--and later the main al Qaeda organization in Pakistan and it's offshoot in Saudi Arabia--always begin their videos with a nasheed, or Islamic hymn, and quotes from the Quran.

3) Death threat. Although there is an implied death threat in the video and the accompanying statement, there is no overt threat. Zarqawi always was clear on the consequences of not meeting his demands.

What this seems to indicate to me is something I mentioned above, that the hostage-taking was not ordered by al Qaeda, but that the al Qaeda "organization" as once existed, has been transformed into something much larger. Any group of young men can get together, watch al Qaeda propaganda videos, start what is essentially a "gang", give it a cool name, and start copying the tactics of Abu Musab al Zarqawi.

UPDATE: Biting the hand that feeds?

So, I read this from Michael Totten. It's pretty good. But the problem with these human interest type stories is that they all follow the same template.

1) Meet people who adhere to evil ideologies expecting deranged psychos.
2) Shocked to learn that they are pretty nice people on the individual level.
3) A new understanding is learned, we can all now get along.

Let me reveal my geekiness in hopes of making a point. Once on the BBC produced sci-fi show Red Dwarf, the crew became time travellers. They especially liked to go back to the 1940s. Why? Because the Hitlers threw a fabulous dinner party!

I wouldn't mind a peacenick being my neighbor, but I'd sure hate them being my Congressman.

Arab infobabe interviews not so gorgeous Hamas candidate. Tough questions are asked, like, isn't killing civilians bad PR? Did you cry when your sons died murdering Jews? The tough ones.

Israel is set to have two new diesel-electric, known as Dolphin-class, submarines in its Navy to add to the three already in operation.

From JPost.com:

In the face of Iran's race to obtain nuclear power, Israel signed a contract with Germany last month to buy two Dolphin-class submarines that will, according to foreign reports, provide superior second-strike nuclear capabilities, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

The submarines will be assembled in Germany and provided with a propulsion system allowing them to remain underwater for far longer than the submarines currently in the Israel Navy's fleet.

The submarines will be manufactured by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft AG and cost $1.27 billion. They will carry a crew of 35 and have a range of 4,500 kilometers. The deal was approved several months ago by the German government under new Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Companion at Interested-Participant.

Anti-NSA Judge Anna Diggs Taylor, let's just say, has some highly questionable ties to Michigan Democrats, the ACLU, the plaintiffs in the case, the money funding the NSA suit, et cetera.

Hmmm.

I question the timing.

You be the judge

Hezbollah's infobabe, Wafaa Ai-lyka-sukka-kokka:

That chick from "Strangers With Candy"

August 22, 2006

(Karachi, Pakistan) The Taliban and al-Qaeda are backers of illegal FM radio stations which can reach out to a radius of 10 miles in the mountainous regions of Pakistan. Frequently, they are mobile units.

From DNAIndia.com:

Illegal radio stations in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province were preaching religious militancy and sectarian hatred, a senior official said on Monday.

Scores of illegal FM stations are broadcasting in NWFP and in the restive, semi-autonomous tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, and some have been accused of fanning violence.

"We are taking this issue very seriously. Because some stations are creating problems with their hate material which promotes violence," said Gul Bacha Wazir, the provincial interior secretary.

This year at least 26 people have been killed in clashes between factions led by Muslim clerics in a tribal area after one of the clerics used a radio station to incite his followers to attack families loyal to a rival.

It's a guess but I'd speculate that a large portion of the world's Muslim population has never seen nor met a Jewish person. Nonetheless, they are taught to hate them daily.

Companion post at Interested-Participant.

Jill Carroll via The Christian Science Monitor Part VI: One morning at the location I knew as the mujahideen clubhouse I awoke to find fresh dirt in the bathroom, dirt in the shower, and dirt in the washing machine. I didn’t think much of it. Maybe they were washing their shoes.

But I quickly learned that the appearance of dirt meant that someone in the house had been out planting bombs – IEDs, or Improvised Explosive Devices, the mujahideen weapon of choice. I knew from my reporting, and the time I spent embedded with US Marines, that IEDs were now responsible for about half of all US combat deaths in Iraq.
Not all their explosives were offensive weapons. At least one of my guards – Abu Hassan, a serious man – wore a suicide vest inside the clubhouse.

One night, he was leaning over a little gas-powered stove, cooking eggs and potatoes in oil, and then he sat back and pushed the open flame away, saying something like, “Oh, have to be careful!”

The suicide vest was under his shirt, sort of swinging back and forth. He was afraid the fire would ignite the explosives. And if it did, we’d all be dead.

He used to complain about how heavy it was. He’d wear it at night. He would mime for me what would happen if soldiers came, showing how he’d put it on, with shoulder straps, and then how two wires would connect. Then he would move his hands outward in a big motion indicating an explosion, look upward, and go, “BOOM!”

Part VI.

Part V.

Part IV.

Part III.

Part II.

Part I plus relevant links including Jawa and Christian Science Monitor archives here.

Cross posted at Howie's Moisture Farm and The Dread Pundit Bluto.

I replace the quote and changed the links. Two posts would be close together I thought.

Related.

Hezbollah wipes out Israeli division to the last man

A Hezbollah tank rumbles by after taking out an Israeli tank.

Hezbollah freedom fighters examine the wreckage of a downed Israeli fighter-bomber.

A downed Israeli helicopter

Look out Fox News babes, Hezbollah is offering some competition!

This is Wafaa Hoteit. She is Hezbollah's new spokesperson. Hezbollah's first and only woman spokeperson. She is, in fact, Hezbollah's very own infobabe. The Lebanon Daily Star describes her as a;

beautiful 41-year-old woman. She has dark green, almond-shaped eyes, high cheeks and forehead, a small elegant nose and a big radiant smile that almost never leaves her face.

Wafaa Hoteit has three loves: oppressive sharia law, the Ayatollah Khomeini, and nuclear bombs

The Lebanese journalist Wafaa Hoteit said the school of thought advocated by the late founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini is capable of providing answers to all man's questions....

In answer to a question regarding Iran's peaceful nuclear activities, she regarded it the responsibility of Iranian government, as a Muslim body which according to Islamic teachings is duty bound to make continuous progress to the benefit of humankind, to develop and pursue its own peaceful nuclear program.

"It was a very hectic and stressful time," said Hoteit, "especially for Hizbullah staff because we are targeted because of what we symbolize and represent. I felt I was a target."

Hoteit, who lives in the southern suburbs, had at some point to leave her home to relatively safer regions, although she said she "commuted back and forth. I had no other alternative. I cannot leave my organization at a time of war and return at a time of peace."

Hoteit said she is now counting the days till she and her colleagues in different Hizbullah organizations meet their leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

"I want to thank him because he made us hold our heads high. He is a true leader," she said.

Classes start tomorrow. Yikes!

Let's hope that it is not as I feared, and that Fox News reporter Steve Centanni and freelance cameraman Olaf Wiig were not taken by the cult of Abu Musab al Zarqawi from al Qaeda in Palestine. Our concern is not so much that they are journalists, but that they are human beings.

We demand their immediate & unconditional release.

Michelle has more. As for why not more coverage? This is either an indication that Fox is in ransom negotiations for the hostages and have asked other news agencies to pipe down until they are over--in which case, the request has not trickled down to our level--or it is because they are from Fox News. As we have pointed out time and time again, when a Leftist or someone deemed anti-war is taken hostage, the masses are mobilized and the media takes note.

We pray for their safe return.

UPDATE: Disgusting. This guy makes Debbie Schlussel look like a saint.

An interesting method of repair but I like it.

Hat Tip : Mark

Hezbollah's official website is running this pic which it claims is the Israeli ship which it damaged off the coast of Beirut.

The only problem, as discovered by Andrew Bolt of The Herald Sun, is that the ship in the pic is actually the Australian HMAS Torrens being decomissioned in 1998.

If the photographs aren't convincing---after all, many ships in the same class should look similar--than ask yourself this question: How did Hezbollah take the pic?

Also, the "Israeli ship" in the pic is about to sink. Notice that the explosion has broken the ship in two. The actual Israeli ship was damaged slightly on the helicopter deck, but it was able to make its way back to port.

One last thing, the ship was hit at 8:30 in the evening. This "Israeli ship" was clearly hit during daylight hours.

YNET:

The stern of the ship was hit shortly after 8:30 p.m. Friday night and a conflagration ignited on the helicopter landing pad. The hit also damaged the ship’s internal operating systems.

The ship was towed back to the Israeli port of Haifa.

And this from reader dj elliott in the comments:

Also it is a Leander Class Frigate and the Israeli was a Saar V Class Corvette.

And that is clearly a Torpedo hit...

Okay, so maybe a loon or two in Iran are taking this 8/22 thing a little too seriously? But, in my book, it's sheer coincidence. Since when have the mad mullahs ever needed an excuse to act irrationally?

Bloomberg:

Iran attacked and seized control of a Romanian oil rig working in its Persian Gulf waters this morning one week after the Iranian government accused the European drilling company of ``hijacking'' another rig.

An Iranian naval vessel fired on the rig owned by Romania's Grup Servicii Petroliere (GSP) in the Salman field and took control of its radio room at about 7:00 a.m. local time, Lulu Tabanesku, Grup's representative in the United Arab Emirates said in a phone interview from Dubai today.

``The Iranians fired at the rig's crane with machine guns,'' Tabanesku said. ``They are in control now and we can't contact the rig.'' The Romanian company has 26 workers on the platform, he said.

UPDATE: Apparently the oil rig was being run by.....wait for it...Halliburton. So, I guess the Iranians are the good guys after all?

August 21, 2006

It's between 3 and 4 a.m. in Tehran, so, Rusty may scoff, but there's still plenty of time for the almighty Mahdi to crawl from the well.

Unleash your creative juices and submit your pictures of the 12th Imam rising as if you were Adnan Hajj snapping away live at this momentous event.

Email them to vinceautmorire@gmail.com

If you don't see it right away, don't worry, your submission will be posted.

Darth Vag:

Kevin:

Fred Fry:

More Darth Vag:

Howie:

Has been for hours. Tomorrow is today. Funny how those time zone thingies work that way.

And yet the Hidden Imam is still hidden, Tel Aviv is still not suffering radiation afterglow, Hizbollah sleeper cells still have not bombed Detroit, Stotch still has regular moral dilemas, and Vinnie is still passed out drunk in his bomb shelter where he dug in awaiting the end of times.

On my way to El Tepeyac--the best Mexican food in LA--I came across this mural on the corner of Caesar Chavez Ave. and Evergreen. If the imagery of it doesn't scream fascism, I don't know what does. The Mexican uberman breaking the chains of the oppressed.......

I haven't dedicated much space on this blog to what I see as a fringe group, but it would be nice to see Mexican-Americans treat the La Raza (the race) crowd with the contempt they deserve.

I don't know to what extent this is true, but if US taxdollars are going to promote a racist school, I'm sure not happy about that either.

PS-The mural above was taxpayer funded.

Ever want to e-mail a terrorist? If you receive any reply, please forward the message to me immediately. Thank you.

iaisite@yahoo.com

The way this story is written, you'd think it was Hindus that opened a Hitler themed cafe. Question to Indian readers: what kind of name is Punit Shablok, the owner of the restaurant?

Do I need to even say what certain religion of peace the name Fatima Kabani probably indicates?

Reuters:

Hitler's Cross', which opened last week, serves up a wide range of continental fare and a big helping of controversy, thanks to a name the owners say they chose to stand out among hundreds of Mumbai eateries.

"We wanted to be different. This is one name that will stay in people's minds," owner Punit Shablok told Reuters.

"We are not promoting Hitler. But we want to tell people we are different in the way he was different."...

A huge portrait of a stern-looking Fuehrer greets visitors at the door. The cross in the restaurant's name refers to the swastika that symbolized the Nazi regime.

"This place is not about wars or crimes, but where people come to relax and enjoy a meal," said restaurant manager Fatima Kabani, adding that they were planning to turn the eatery's name into a brand with more branches in Mumbai.

If it was a Hindu who opened the restaurant, we are in deeper shit than I thought.

Parenthetically, a few readers from India have e-mailed me saying they can now access my blog. As far as we can tell, we are still officially banned in India, but unoficially....... you can't stop the Jawa juggernaut!

British taxdollars at work, staging Hezbollah propaganda photos, endangering the lives of children. BBC:

The shell is huge, bigger than the young boy pushed forward to stand reluctantly next to it while we get our cameras out and record the scene for posterity.

Hat tip: Charles "Grand Master Flash" Johnson

11 British Muslims have been charged with crimes related to a plot to blow up multiple airplanes bound for the U.S. 11 more remain in custody, charges may be forthcoming. Scroll to the end for the actual charges.

The Crown Prosecution Service has this press release:

Susan Hemming, Head of the CPS Counter Terrorism Division, today made the following statement in relation to an alleged plot to detonate explosives on board aircraft:

"I was briefed in relation to these allegations before the arrest and asked to advise on some preliminary legal issues both before and just after arrest. Together with another senior CPS lawyer, I have been working with the police full time at New Scotland Yard for the last eight days. We have been carefully examining and assessing the evidence against each individual with the assistance of anti terrorist officers in order to come to charging decisions at the earliest practicable opportunity.

"This morning I made a decision that there was sufficient evidence and authorised, with the approval of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the charge of 11 individuals.

"Eight individuals have been charged with two offences relating to an alleged plot to manufacture and smuggle the component parts of improvised explosive devices onto aircraft and assemble and detonate them on board. Those individuals have been charged with conspiracy to murder and the new offence of preparing acts of terrorism contrary to Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006.

"In addition, three have been charged with other offences under the Terrorism Act 2000. One has been charged with possession of articles useful to a person preparing an act of terrorism and two with failing to disclose information of material assistance in preventing an act of terrorism. One woman has been released from custody without charge.

"I would like to remind you of the need to take care in reporting the events surrounding this alleged plot. These individuals are only accused of these offences and they have a right to a fair trial. It is extremely important that there should be responsible media reporting which should not prejudice the due process of law.

"Finally, 11 other individuals are still in custody and remain under active investigation. Their position is being assessed on a regular basis with a view to considering the need to keep them in detention. We cannot yet make a decision about whether further charges will follow or if a further application for detention will be made on Wednesday as the evidential picture is continuously developing. Any such application would be made by a Crown Prosecutor to a High Court Judge in accordance with the new legislation."

Meanwhile, in the UK, Muslim clerics continue to call for jihad against the West. See-Dub has related.

Here are the actual charges:

# Details of charges are:

AHMED ABDULLAH ALI aka ABDULLAH ALI AHMED KHAN

On diverse days between 1 January 2006 and 10 August 2006 within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court conspired with other persons to murder other persons.

Contrary to Section 1 (1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977

On diverse days between 1 January 2006 and 10 August 2006 within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court with the intention of committing acts of terrorism engaged in conduct to give effect to their intention to smuggle the component parts of improvised explosive devices onto aircraft and assemble and detonate them on board.

Contrary to Section 5 (1) of the Terrorism Act 2006
TANVIR HUSSAIN

On diverse days between 1 January 2006 and 10 August 2006 within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court conspired with other persons to murder other persons.

Contrary to Section 1 (1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977

On diverse days between 1 January 2006 and 10 August 2006 within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court with the intention of committing acts of terrorism engaged in conduct to give effect to their intention to smuggle the component parts of improvised explosive devices onto aircraft and assemble and detonate them on board.

Contrary to Section 5 (1) of the Terrorism Act 2006
UMAR ISLAM aka BRIAN YOUNG

On diverse days between 1 January 2006 and 10 August 2006 within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court conspired with other persons to murder other persons.

Contrary to Section 1 (1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977

On diverse days between 1 January 2006 and 10 August 2006 within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court with the intention of committing acts of terrorism engaged in conduct to give effect to their intention to smuggle the component parts of improvised explosive devices onto aircraft and assemble and detonate them on board.

Contrary to Section 5 (1) of the Terrorism Act 2006
ARAFAT WAHEED KHAN

On diverse days between 1 January 2006 and 10 August 2006 within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court conspired with other persons to murder other persons.

Contrary to Section 1 (1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977

On diverse days between 1 January 2006 and 10 August 2006 within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court with the intention of committing acts of terrorism engaged in conduct to give effect to their intention to smuggle the component parts of improvised explosive devices onto aircraft and assemble and detonate them on board.

Contrary to Section 5 (1) of the Terrorism Act 2006
ASSAD ALI SARWAR

On diverse days between 1 January 2006 and 10 August 2006 within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court conspired with other persons to murder other persons.

Contrary to Section 1 (1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977

On diverse days between 1 January 2006 and 10 August 2006 within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court with the intention of committing acts of terrorism engaged in conduct to give effect to their intention to smuggle the component parts of improvised explosive devices onto aircraft and assemble and detonate them on board.

Contrary to Section 5 (1) of the Terrorism Act 2006
ADAM KHATIB

On diverse days between 1 January 2006 and 10 August 2006 within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court conspired with other persons to murder other persons.

Contrary to Section 1 (1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977

On diverse days between 1 January 2006 and 10 August 2006 within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court with the intention of committing acts of terrorism engaged in conduct to give effect to their intention to smuggle the component parts of improvised explosive devices onto aircraft and assemble and detonate them on board.

Contrary to Section 5 (1) of the Terrorism Act 2006
IBRAHIM SAVANT

On diverse days between 1 January 2006 and 10 August 2006 within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court conspired with other persons to murder other persons.

Contrary to Section 1 (1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977

On diverse days between 1 January 2006 and 10 August 2006 within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court with the intention of committing acts of terrorism engaged in conduct to give effect to their intention to smuggle the component parts of improvised explosive devices onto aircraft and assemble and detonate them on board.

Contrary to Section 5 (1) of the Terrorism Act 2006
WAHEED ZAMAN

On diverse days between 1 January 2006 and 10 August 2006 within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court conspired with other persons to murder other persons.

Contrary to Section 1 (1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977

On diverse days between 1 January 2006 and 10 August 2006 within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court with the intention of committing acts of terrorism engaged in conduct to give effect to their intention to smuggle the component parts of improvised explosive devices onto aircraft and assemble and detonate them on board.

Contrary to Section 5 (1) of the Terrorism Act 2006
A 17 YEAR OLD MALE

On a day between 1 October 2005 and 10 August 2006 within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court had in his possession a document or record, namely a book on improvised explosives devices, some suicide notes and wills with the identities of persons prepared to commit acts of terrorism and a map of Afghanistan containing information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

Contrary to Section 58 (1) (b) of the Terrorism Act 2000
COSSAR ALI

On diverse days between the 1 January 2005 and 10 August 2006 within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court had information which she knew or believed might be of material assistance in preventing the commission of another person namely, Ahmed Abdullah Ali aka Abdullah Ali Ahmed Khan, of an act of terrorism and failed to disclose it as soon as reasonably practicable.

Contrary to Section 38B (1) (a) and (2) of the Terrorism Act 2000
MEHRAN HUSSAIN

On diverse days between the 23 September 2005 and 10 August 2006 within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court had information which he knew or believed might be of material assistance in preventing the commission of another person namely, Nabeel Hussain, of an act of terrorism and failed to disclose it as soon as reasonably practicable.

Contrary to Section 38B (1) (a) and (2) of the Terrorism Act 2000

Michael Barone on our covert enemies. RCP:

Our covert enemies are harder to identify, for they live in large numbers within our midst. And in terms of intentions, they are not enemies in the sense that they consciously wish to destroy our society. On the contrary, they enjoy our freedoms and often call for their expansion. But they have also been working, over many years, to undermine faith in our society and confidence in its goodness. These covert enemies are those among our elites who have promoted the ideas labeled as multiculturalism, moral relativism and (the term is Professor Samuel Huntington's) transnationalism....

Nevertheless, the default assumption of our covert enemies is that in any conflict between the West and the Rest, the West is wrong. That assumption can be rebutted by overwhelming fact: Few argued for the Taliban after Sept. 11. But in our continuing struggles, our covert enemies portray our work in Iraq through the lens of Abu Ghraib and consider Israel's self-defense against Hezbollah as the oppression of virtuous victims by evil men. In World War II, our elites understood that we were the forces of good and that victory was essential. Today, many of our elites subject our military and intelligence actions to fine-tooth-comb analysis and find that they are morally repugnant.

And by the Left, I do not mean liberals, but true Leftists. Think Chomsky.

Decision '08 & Dr. Sanity have more.

UPDATE: For the Leftist retards with no memory who are commenting.

Noam Chomsky, Feb. 1, 2002, the most cited Leftist intellectual on the planet:

One may reasonably ask just whose needs are served by these priorities, and what status they should have in reconstruction from the horrors of the past two decades.

U.S. and British intellectual opinion, across the political spectrum, assured us that only radical extremists can doubt that “this is basically a just war.” Those who disagree can therefore be dismissed, among them, for example, the 1,000 Afghan leaders who met in Peshawar in late October in a U.S.-backed effort to lay the groundwork for a post-Taliban regime led by the exiled King. They bitterly condemned the U.S. war, which is “beating the donkey rather than the rider,” one speaker said to unanimous agreement.

Idiots.

No. I take that back.

Useful idiots.

Bush's greatest folly is his loyalty to his friends. It's a wonderful character trait to have if you're my neighbor. But if you're my President? Not so much.

There were two Iraq wars. The first one we won, and big. That was the war to oust Saddam Hussein. The war to send a message that in the post-9/11 world, do not think of even looking cross-eyed at the United States, or we will deal with you. Rumsfeld did a great job.

The second war, the war to establish democracy in Iraq, hasn't gone so well. The vast majority of American casualties have come from this war. The vast majority of Iraqi casualites have come from this war. This war is not going so well, it is not clear that one can ever succeed in nation-building, and it's not clear that this war is even worth fighting.

Rumsfeld should be fired. And it's not like I haven't been saying this for some time now.

So, Lieberman is right that Rummy has to go. What is not clear, though, is the inconsistency in the idea that Rumsfeld should be fired, yet the U.S. should stay the course in Iraq.

AP

Sen. Joe Lieberman, attacked by fellow Democrats as being too close to the White House on the Iraq War, on Sunday called on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign but said the United States cannot “walk away” from the Iraqis.

The Commissar and Rick Moran have important related posts.

McQ and Mark Steyn have the counterpoint.

What to do with Muslims? Melanie Phillips has some answers.

I was always taught never to discuss religion or politics at a dinner party. Somehow, though, I was always under the impression that both subjects would lead to heated debate, not getting your head cut off.

WSJ:

This readiness to take offense is not yet terrorism--but it is a sign of the deep-down insecurity of the Muslim psyche in the modern world. In the presence of Islam, we all feel, you have to tread carefully, as though humoring a dangerous animal. The Koran must never be questioned; Islam must be described as a religion of peace--isn't that the meaning of the word?--and jokes about the prophet are an absolute no-no. If religion comes up in conversation, best to slip quietly away, accompanying your departure with abject apologies for the Crusades. And in Europe this pussyfooting is now being transcribed into law, with "Islamophobia" already a crime in Belgium and movements across the continent to censor everything at which a Muslim might take offence, including articles like this one.

Don't offend those Muslims, esse. Don't you know they're loco?

Okay, it's not a literal fatwa. More like a virtual one. Which is still more fatwa than I've been getting lately.

You know what this site needs? More fatwa!!

(Moscow, Russia) Earlier today, it was reported that a faulty gas cylinder caused the explosion(s). Now, it's believed that a hand-made explosive device was used in a suspected terrorist act.

From MOSNEWS.com:

The latest reports say at least ten people were killed and about 30 injured.

"The explosion occurred at around 10:30 a.m., at 2 Sirenevy Boulevard [eastern Moscow]," a police source told the RIA-Novosti news agency. "Then the fire broke out," he added.

Fire brigades and rescuers arrived at the scene.

The Emergency Ministry said the blast occurred after a hand-made explosive device went off at the market.

Some reports said two blasts had been registered at the market, the first having occurred at 10:01, the second followed fifteen minutes later. The blasts caused the market roof to collapse, the ministry said.

Companion post at Interested-Participant.

UPDATE by Rusty: Many of you know that I lived in Moscow for a year, so I have a particular concern about acts of terror in Russia. I have never been to this particular market--at least, not that I can remember off the bat. My initial response is the same as the news reports: this could either be gang related or Islamic jihad related. Both are powerful forces in Russia and both fully capable of acts of horror.

Gateway Pundit is following this closely.

(Tehran, Iran) The Syrian Grand Mufti, Ahmad Bader Eddin Hassoun, arrived in Tehran yesterday for the 19th International Conference of the Islamic Unity.

From SANA.org:

He stressed the significance of Syria's role as a center of human civilizations and a site of meeting among all Islamic and religious spectrums.

More than 150 Islamic personalities from all over the world are participating in the three -- day conference to discuss many issues related to the latest accelerated regional developments following victory of the Lebanese resistance and the necessity of Islamic countries to close ranks in facing the expected challenges targeting the Islamic unity.

Of course, that's not really news.

Companion post at Interested-Participant.

VDH:

Nasrallah, Assad, and Ahmadinejad blabbered ad nauseam about their newfound sense of “honor” and “pride,” as if they were talking heads in some stale Viagra infomercial. Once more, the pathetic obsession of the Middle East with lost manhood is explicable by a society immersed in gender apartheid, patriarchy, and tribalism. It is as if the Middle East fundamentalist and dysfunctional family has been elevated to the national government, and then its resulting adolescent insecurities are aired for the long-suffering world.

Iran promised relief aid to Hezbollah — and, of course, immediately sent thousands of chadors.

If you haven't yet, read the rest.

August 20, 2006

Well, well, now the time is come for all good smelly hippies to come to the aid of their international community.

There were no signs of further clashes, but the flare-up underlined worries about the fragility of the cease-fire as the U.N. pleaded for nations to send troops to an international force in southern Lebanon that is to separate Israeli and Hezbollah fighters.

Why, we have a vital peacekeeping force able to serve in this dire time right here in America. Some of them are at "Camp Casey," some of them are marching in San Francisco, some of them are marching, well, wherever in the hell they march.

Thousands upon thousands, on a regular basis, get out and burn American and Israeli flags, and threaten counter-protestors, and destroy property, in the name of Peace.

I call on Kos, and Atrios, and Jane Hamster, and Arianna Huffington, and Deb Frisch, and Noam Chomsky, etc. etc. ad nauseum, to exhort their bloodthirstyless hordes to do what's right in the name of Peace.

Get your chicken asses over to southern Lebanon and do your duty for peace, justice, and the Leftist way. The United Nations needs you. NOW!

CP @ VAM, MM, MVRWC, JR, TDPB, HMF.

August 19, 2006

The last few days have been very depressing. Part of this depression is the result of an inner conflict I am having.

Every single Muslim I know is a great person. Every. Single. One.

Yet, nearly every single Muslim organization or group I know of can be counted on to support tyranny. Not all, but nearly.

Shirer quotes Goethe in the opening pages of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich as saying:

I have often felt a bitter sorrow at the thought of the German people, which is so estimable in the individual and so wretched in the generality.

What do you do when individuals are wonderful, but groups of those same individuals, dangerous?

What to do? What to do?

I really don't know.

In the past, I have argued that religious worker visas ought to be contingent upon reciprocation. The recent UK terror plot drives home the need for such action. Native born Muslims, both here and in Europe, often find religion in mosques which are led by foreign clerics. Countries, such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, which forbid proseletyzing are exporters of an Islam that is antithetical to Western liberalism.

But beyond this, what should we do? What can we do? We need real policies that aknowledge the threat, yet ones which are in line with our notions of religious freedoms.

I have no clue what we should do. A good start would be to aknowledge the problem. But from there......I'm open to suggestions. Ones that are both practical and moral.

It's not exactly news, but Drudge is running the headline as if it were. We've been reporting for awhile that at least two martyr-suicide tapes were found. Perhaps the 'news' is that more than two were found?

BBC:

Police investigating an alleged plot to bring down airliners have found several martyrdom videos in the course of their searches, the BBC has learned.

An unofficial police source said the recordings - discovered on laptop computers - appear to have been made by some of the suspects being questioned.

Cross-posted from The Dread Pundit Bluto

Even the UK's rabidly leftwing Guardian Unlimited seems to find this alarming:

An internal Lebanese army statement, circulated among forces in the past week, has called for troops to stand "alongside your resistance and your people who astonished the world with its steadfastness and destroyed the prestige of the so-called invincible army after it was defeated".

The UN's expected deployment of 15,000 troops is seen as an additional force to assist in Lebanon's defence against Israel. "We are happy with such a large force to provide sufficient deterrent to Israeli aggression," said Gen Kader.

One more thing, Hizballah has decided to add "ordinary Americans" to its hitlist of infidel enemies:

Ordinary Americans are now enemies of Hizbullah, a Shia cleric said yesterday at the funerals of the 29 victims of the July 29 Qana bombing, above.

"American people, you are partners in these massacres, you are partners in this war," said Nabil Kaouk, the leading Hizbullah official in southern Lebanon. "After this no Lebanese can trust an American. You are all murderers and criminals."

I just saw it on CNN. A French warship arrived off the coast of Lebanon and ten French soldiers got into little boats for transport onshore. Obviously, they're the first contingent of the promised 200 French peacekeepers [It is 200, isn't it, or has that changed?].

They didn't appear to be carrying much equipment. It will probably be delivered later.

August 18, 2006

By my math, 10 gigawatts is enough to power approximately 8.26 DeLoreans:

U.S. wind energy installations now exceed 10,000 megawatts (MW) in generating capacity, and produce enough electricity on a typical day to power the equivalent of over 2.5 million homes, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) announced today. A megawatt of wind power generates enough to serve 250 to 300 average homes. . . .

Saving fuel: Today’s 10,000 MW of wind power saves about 0.6 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/day), or about 3.5% of the natural gas used nationwide to generate electricity.

(Austin, Texas) Updating a previous Jawa post regarding the controversy over an educator's nude photos on the Internet, Austin High School art teacher Tamara Hoover (pic) has resigned from her job.

From Statesman.com:

Hoover submitted a letter of resignation Wednesday. She said that she will receive a $14,850 settlement from the Austin school district, several months' salary. District officials said that a settlement is pending and that the board of trustees is expected to consider it Monday. Mel Waxler, the district's general counsel, would not confirm the amount, saying he was not at liberty to discuss the matter before it is finalized.

Hoover said she's sad about the outcome but will focus on moving forward.

"I wasn't prepared to stop teaching. I never wanted to resign from teaching," she said. "I don't think this is the most ideal outcome. I was definitely impressed by (the district's) willingness to come to the table. I just wish they would have done that in the beginning."

Hoover's plans include obtaining credentials to teach at the university level. Likely remaining hidden are some hard feelings. Publicly, she leaves on a positive note through her praise of the students and staff at Austin High School.

Companion post at Interested-Participant.

Cross-posted at The Dread Pundit Bluto

Writing in Editor & Publisher David Perlmutter wonders if, in the wake of the Reutersgate/fauxtography scandals photojournalism is "...being murdered, committing suicide, or both."

Perlmutter makes no bones about crediting bloggers with exposing the rampant fraud that has characterized mainstream news coverage of the Israeli-Hizballah War [emphasis added]:

Perhaps it would be more reassuring if the enemy at the gates was a familiar one - politicians, or maybe radio talk show hosts. But the photojournalist standing on the crumbling ramparts of her once proud citadel now sees the vandal army charging for the sack led by "zombietime," "The Jawa Report," "Powerline," "Little Green Footballs," "confederateyankee," and many others.

In each case, these bloggers have engaged in the kind of probing, contextual, fact-based (if occasionally speculative) media criticism I have always asked of my students. And the results have been devastating: news photos and video shown to be miscaptioned, radically altered, or staged (and worse, re-staged) for the camera. Surely "green helmet guy," "double smoke," "the missiles that were actually flares," "the wedding mannequin from nowhere," the "magical burning Koran," the "little girl who actually fell off a swing" and "keep filming!" will now enter the pantheon of shame of photojournalism.

Via Greg Sheffield at NewsBusters ( I also blog here as Al Brown).

Rusty’s stuck in a meeting. Where the minutes are kept and the time is wasted. I think the rest of us are busy. Never fear! Between us all we did get links to most everything.

Patterio: I now read the opinion. It is one of the most embarrassing pieces of garbage I have ever read.

“Tolerant islamic nation” Iran don’t like TEEVEE.

Hat tip: Instapundit.

Follow that one for sure, very good.

We briefed (U.S. President) Bush. You brief whoever you want.

More of Michael Totten’s actual reporting from the war zone in Lebanon. It’s different than anything you will find in the MSM. It’s truthful.

Islamophobic - anyone who objects to having their transport blown up on the way to work.

Related.

Also Related : If you see these men, kill them or something. I’m only trying to be fair. Signed Darth Odie.

Uh Duh!

Shocking News! The Fwench wuss out. Remember, the only time France actually fights is if they have some chance to shoot at the Brits. (no link Captain’s Quarters down? Substitute Pajman Yousefzadeh )

Filipina Chick withdrawls? Click here! (She touches herself, thinking of Howie I guess)

New blog Girl Genius.

Dread Pundit notes more Reuters funny business. Includes Green helmet guy and his whole family. The family that lies together makes the news, Literally.

Sweet Justice delivered very swiftly from the sweetest little newswhore anywhere.

Very special panties! Seriously where does he get this stuff?

Traderrob: most loved blogger in India on the capture of an al-Qaeda Mu-slime.

Fishing and drinking!

We have the infidel and we will do meetballs from his bodies!

Iran Shelling Iraqi Kurdistan.

following courtesy of ASE.

Haditha Cover-up?

New Hybrids.

Chocolate Madonna.

Are We Handcuffed by Our Own Western Values?

Making the World Safe for Shari'a.

La Raza Responds to Malkin.

Umarov Surrenders in Chechnya.

S. Koreans Dispute U.S. Allegations of Nork Nuke Testing.

This post would be open TB but TB are not working. But you can enter links with the new comment thingy.

(no spam) yeah might as well invite the crap. I will delete it I swear. Busy busy, Pant pant pant.

I'm not dead. At least not yet. Just busy. Blame the man. I do.

Catherine Mayo, the Pakistan-based "journalist" who caused an international flight to be diverted by her bizarre antics, in her own words:

I am an American child of the 1960s. We defied the standards of our parents and declared that a war was unjust. And we were heard. We changed the way humans think. We dared to say that the human race does not have to fight wars. Ever. All conflicts can be settled by peaceful means.

Props to Allahpundit and Jawa reader "yo".

Cross-posted from The Dread Pundit Bluto.

Via ABCNEWS

BRITISH PLANE EN ROUTE TO EGYPT WAS IS DIVERTED TO ITALY AFTER PILOT REPORTS SUSPECTED BOMB ON BOARD, ITALIAN OFFICIALS SAY

Update more here Via CNN:

Salvatore De Paolis, with the border police at the airport, said authorities searching the plane found a handwritten note in English that said there was a bomb on the plane.

De Paolis told Sky Tg 24 television news that the search was continuing.
The plane was flying from London's Gatwick airport to Hurghada, Egypt, ENAV said.

Italy's Air Force said it had sent an F-16 to intercept the plane before it landed.

Update II :False Alarm Via The Scottsman:

ROME (Reuters) - A bomb threat scrawled on a sick bag caused a passenger plane from London to Egypt to be diverted to southern Italy on Friday, but police said it appeared to be a false alarm.

"The alarm has been called off," said Brindisi border police chief Salvatore de Paolis....

...But budget airline Excel said it was only a precaution taken after a passenger found a threatening note written on a sick bag in a seat pocket.

"It is all over," said a spokeswoman for Excel. "The checks have gone on and once it is all cleared the passengers are going back onto the aircraft and it will resume its journey -- sooner rather than later, we hope."

So this Mayo woman is just a garden variety nutjob.

Oh really:

Mayo's son, Josh, 31, described his mother as a peace activist and said she had been in Pakistan since March. She traveled there often since making a pen pal prior to Sept. 11, 2001, he said. The pen pal hasn't been allowed to visit the U.S., he added.

Do tell. Oops, he spoke too soon:

"I guess she just had a bit of a bad time on the plane, and everybody's a little paranoid," the son said.

Sorry, Mayo son, it's not paranoid when they're actually out to get you.

Funny, when people do crazy things, like pee in the middle of an airplane, they're automatically assumed to be, well, crazy.

But yet, the truly crazy, say, Ted Bundy or the BTK killer, get away with it for years and no one notices.

What's the point? I think the son's quote sums it up quite nicely. "Peace activist" + "Pakistan since March."

I could be off my rocker, but someone acting crazy on a plane would be a nice distraction for someone trying to plant something on a plane.

I think our defenses are being probed. The cell phone stories, the airplane stories, a lot of shit seems to be going on right at the moment.

I think we're going to get hit again, and soon.

But don't call me paranoid, I have a hollly quoran that says I'm not.

But you are free to question my timing.

*With apologies to Pink Floyd

August 17, 2006

Jill Carroll via The Christian Science Monitor: One afternoon in the first week after I’d been taken – and I’d been moved to yet another house – Abu Ali called me into a big sitting room with green velveteen couches. On the far wall, above the TV, was a gigantic poster of waterfalls and rocks and trees.

But my captors wanted me to look at something very different: DVDs of them waging war.

By their count they were killing dozens or even hundreds of soldiers a day. They could prove it, they said, with videos of their operations showing humvees and tanks blowing up and snipers shooting soldiers.

So Abu Ali sat me down to show me the videos. They were all in Arabic and included audio overlays of mujahideen singing in low, somber tones.

Others had pictures of an American Hummvee driving along, and then it would blow up, and they’d cut to a graphic of a lightning flash, and thunder clapping.

Abu Ali would glance over at me as I watched the videos, asking me what I thought of them. I couldn’t say anything good, but I tried to say things that were true, like “Oh, this is the first time I’ve ever seen this, I didn’t know this was out there”.

To Abu Ali, though, this was their mission, a righteous path; this was their work for God.

While I sat there watching them I felt like the insurgents were sending me a message: they hate Americans so much, they’re proud of these attacks. It’s normal to them.

Part III.

Part II.

Part I plus relevant links including Jawa and Christian Science Monitor archives here.

This, you poor, dumb bastard: Better Men Than Me

Thanks to Jack Bauer at Hollycrud, if the link doesn't open for you, go to Hollycrud and click on the link in the sidebar, "Better Men Than Me", on the right.

In fact, go there anyway and thank Jack for creating this tribute.

Liquid explosives found on woman at regional airport in West Virginia. The woman is an American citizen of Pakistani heritage.

But I feel much safer now that national security decisions have devolved to U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor. Much safer.

WSAZ:

The Transportation Security Administration reports that a passenger's water bottle screened positive for an explosive material around 9:15 this morning. A second test was confirmed at 11:25. TSA is waiting for further testing to determine the exact substance.

NBC News reports that federal screeners found four containers of liquids inside a woman's carry-on bag during the screening process this morning. Larry Salyers, Tri-State Airport Director, tells WSAZ the woman is of Pakistani origin, lived in Jackson, Michigan and most recently lived in the Huntington area. She is being detained for questioning.

You can also watch a live, unedited feeed from the WV airport at this link. And I mean live. The direct network feed.

WSAZ is reporting live that the Pakistani-American woman is still in the airport being questioned by the TSA and that she is not shackled. The reporter is making this out to be a false positive. Let's hope.

Surprised the TSA didn't call her "Asian" or make sure to emphasize that the woman could have been part of the large minority of about 1% of Pakistanis who are Christian.

See also Allah and Mary Katherine.

UPDATE: At first people calm after electronic security device picks up suspicious substance in two water bottles. Witness says bomb-sniffing dog "bee lined it" to the woman's bag. Panic ensued.

UPDATE: Woman bought one way ticket to Michigan yesterday. Claims to have excuse for why she brought banned substance on airplane.

UPDATE: I'm watching the live feed. It's pretty funny listening to the reporters banter with one another....and yell at people to get out of the shot. You know, since they have those totally sweet reporter powers, maybe they should move the people themselves......with their minds.

UPDATE: The spin? Better safe than sorry. Phrase repeated at every update. Reporters continue to make sure we, the uneducated masses, know that the woman is not being "held" only "questioned" and that she is not a "suspect".

Here is a link to the airport and a map showing it's location. It's a small regional airport in West Virginia, near the Kentucky and Ohio borders.

UPDATE: News reporters get pizza. 10 boxes. Important stuff. But look what Allah dug up from the BBC:

The likelihood that a container that had not come into contact with explosives would come up positive on both tests was extremely low, [an expert at Jane's Aviation] said.

In answer to question about whether bomb-squad had exploded substances, the reporter says no.

Two containers of liquid. If each was explosive on its own, wouldn't bomb squad dispose of them? Does this mean that each is benign on its own and that only when mixed they are dangerous? Or does this simply mean that the substance which set off an electronic "sniffer" and which a trained bomb-sniffing dog immediately noticed just isn't that dangerous? Dual use, perhaps?

UPDATE: TSA saying liquid is not "substance" but "residue". The liquid is not explosive, but has residue of something in it.

UPDATE: FBI says that "Person of interest" fits no suspicious profile at all. Woman of Pakistani origin. Has some sort of residue that sets off alarms and bomb sniffing dogs. Nope, no suspicious profile there. Move along.

UPDATE: Now they are saying that bottles may have been "make up" bottles and that "residue" could be any nitrate--including "hot dog" residue. Yeah, hot dogs will get a dog interested, I'd say.

Which part of "no liquids" did this idiot not understand?

UPDATE: Feed is now of local news, not live from airport. Mark says this in the comments:

With luck, this will turn out to have been a "dry run" that we actually caught. (If the reports about the bottles having "residue" instead of significant quantities, that would make sense; one of the things you'd want to determine is whether the substances could get past the screening methodologies.)

But, can someone tell me if many small regional airports have electronic "sniffers" at them? Because, once you get past the security gates at BFE airport, the skies the limit.....

UPDATE: Yes, I'm in favor of profiling. Slippery slope my ass. Everything and anything can be construed as a slippery slope. I'd hate to inconvenience people and hurt their feelings. Feelings are paramount. And since the reaction from the Muslim community, so far, has been to deny that Muslims are behind terrorism, then it no longer matters if we have their cooperation. If Muslims reacted the way the Japanese did in WWII--a group we treated horribly--then they would be volunteering in record numbers to join the FBI, CIA, and military. They aren't. Screw them.

See this too via Joel.

UPDATE: Live conference with State Troopers. "Substances" being tested as we speak. Will take one to two hours for testing of suspect items in mobile testing unit. No word on what they were. No one being charged or arrested. FBI is talking to woman.

TSA first found "prohibited items". Secondary screening with "sniffer". Bomb dogs called in.

"Explosive residue". Troopers have no knowledge of "excuse" for bringing on prohibited items.

UPDATE: Live feed cut off completely.

UPDATE: No more updates til morning. I'm spent. I truly hope this turns out to be nothing.

Probably not SFW. Remember, John Wayne aint dead---he's frozen. Thanks to the Llama Butcher's for reminding me of this classic song.

Cross-posted from The Dread Pundit Bluto

Covering a speech by Lebanese political leader Saad Hariri, son of Rafik Hariri, whose assassination launched the Cedar Revolution resulting in the withdrawal of Syria from Lebanon, the Guardian Unlimited goes so far as to list Israel first as a target of Hariri's condemnation. Their story highlights Hariri's words about Israel, placing them on a par with his attack on Syria:

Hariri's son condemns Israel and Syria
The son of Lebanon's assassinated former prime minister and leader of the largest faction in the Lebanese parliament today condemned the involvement of both Israel and Syria in the country's month-long war.

In other words, in a speech excoriating Syria for their part in provoking the Israeli actions in south Lebanon, Hariri made a pro forma criticism of Israel to counter Assad's claim.

Even al-Jazeera didn't take that route, reporting instead that Hariri placed the blame squarely Syria:

Al-Hariri: Syria worse than Israel

The leader of Lebanon's largest parliamentary bloc has said the Syrian president's attack on Lebanese politicians is worse than the destruction wreaked by Israel.

Thank you Judge Taylor for shutting down the international wiretapping program. I feel so much safer knowing that my Constitutionally protected right to chat with Ayman al Zawahiri about the weather in Waziristan is safe in your hands. Thank you for saving me from the evil hands of George W. Bush. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I can finally breathe again after being oppressed for so long.

AP:

A federal judge ruled Thursday that the government's warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it.

U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit became the first judge to strike down the National Security Agency's program, which she says violates the rights to free speech and privacy.

I'm back at my normal computer after two months and I've come to the conlusion that Bloglines sucks. What's the best RSS reader out there? Any suggestions?

UPDATE: I use gmail, and a lot of you say Google's RSS reader is just great. Seems like that would be an easy solution. But a few people hate the Google RSS reader. What are it's disadvantages?

Holy War under the swastika.

Hat Tip: Little Green Footballs.

I am not an admirer of George W. Bush. He's a fantastic failure on many fronts. Especially his stubborn and unforgivable unwillingness to fire generals when they clearly deserve it.

But for all of Bush's stupidity, at least he fights. The alternative seems to be a Democratic party which has returned to it's 1864 roots. In that year, the Democrats nominated General George McClellen on an end the war/bring home the troops platform.

The Democrats were sick of the blood and carnage caused by what they called "Mr. Lincoln's War" which would eventually claim the lives of over 500,000 Americans. They also feared the very real suppression of civil liberties--suppression which was sometimes bloody. They feared Lincoln more than they feared Lee.

Kevin Drum, what's old is new.

And yet, I know perfectly well that criticism of Iran is not just criticism of Iran. Whether I want it to or not, it also provides support for the Bush administration’s determined and deliberate effort to whip up enthusiasm for a military strike....

I’m simply not willing to be a pawn in the Bush administration’s latest marketing campaign.

See Dub has the rest and a very good analysis.

What a wonderfully moderate country you have there, Indonesia. The Bali nightclub bombings killed 202 people. But they were mostly infidels, so, I guess they don't really count.....all the way.

You'll remember that the Indonesian government did precisely the same thing this time last year. Last year's Indonesian Independence Day was celebrated by reducing the sentence of Abu Bakar Bashir--the spiritual leader of the organization that carried out the attack, the bin Laden of Indonesia if you will--to 765 days. That's 3.8 days per victim.

That's 3.8 days per victim

LA Times:

At least nine Islamic militants jailed for the 2002 Bali bombings got four-month reductions in their sentences to mark Indonesia's independence day, a Justice Ministry official said.

They played relatively minor roles in the suicide bombings, including carrying out robberies to finance the attacks and helping shelter suspects.

Forget Canada, where many Hollywood productions actually take place because of lower overall costs, I hear that scale in Beirut is cheap, cheap, cheap. I'm not talking Mexico cheap either, real cheap.

Oh, but if you're Spielburg, I'd stick with Canada. The Lebanese don't seem to like his kind.

Either everyone in Lebanon is a civilian, or someone is lying. Hmmm, I wonder which one it is?

Patterico makes a bulletproof case that the LA Times seems determined to let stand a factual error regarding John Murtha's recounting of a briefing he recieved "before" he made his infamous "in cold blood" remarks.

By simply contacting the source Murtha was briefed by, Patterico found that their version of events plainly contradicts the LA Times's reporting. He concludes thusly:

I can only speculate about where Murtha got his information, but according to Gen. Hagee’s Public Affairs Officer, it wasn’t from General Hagee himself (as Murtha had claimed to the Philadelphia Inquirer). Not only did Murtha make his statements before the investigation was complete, he didn’t receive his preliminary information from the top brass before accusing Marines of cold-blooded murder.

More from Ace.

UPDATE: Yet more from Allah, who thinks the circumstantial evidence is stronger than the direct, but is more than enough to get an explanation from the LA Times.

John Mark Karr (pic) has been talking about the murder of JonBenet Ramsey.

From WFTV.com:

"I was with JonBenet when she died," John Mark Karr told reporters in Bangkok, visibly nervous and stuttering as he spoke. "Her death was an accident."

Police said Karr, 41, admitted to the killing after he was arrested Wednesday at his downtown Bangkok apartment by Thai and American authorities.

Karr will be transported to Colorado in the next week where he will face charges of murder, kidnapping and child sexual assault, said Ann Hurst, a U.S. official with the Department of Homeland Security.

Previously here. Companion post at Interested-Participant.

From the AP:

The owner of a tree service company was killed after being pulled through a wood chipper, police said Wednesday.

Jeremiah P. Sanders, 30, used his foot to free a jammed log and was pulled into the machine Tuesday, Pleasant Prairie police spokesman Pete Jung said in a statement.

Don't worry - the article has no pictures.

Yes, we've all heard the stories of those third-world madrassas that teach school-age boys nothing but the words of the Koran. Such madrassas are all over the world--even in New York. From the NYT via Ann Althouse:

By not offering instruction in other subjects, the school may be inadvertently running afoul of state law, according to city and state education officials. Private religious schools like the Muslim Center’s program are required to provide “substantially equivalent” instruction to that offered in public schools, they said. But tracking every school-age child who leaves the public school system can be difficult. . . .

[The mother of one of the students] confessed that she sometimes questioned whether she was doing the right thing with her son, fretting that Thaha, who would have been entering the sixth grade this year if he had stayed in regular school, does not know his multiplication tables, for example.

But the beauty of this country, Mrs. Sherwani said, is that her son is free to have it both ways, to be steeped in Islam and be whatever he wants.

Cross-posted to The Sammenhold Blog.

A group of 85 high-profile Hollywood stars, directors, studio bosses and media moguls, has taken out a powerfully-worded full page advertisement in today's Los Angeles Times:

We the undersigned are pained and devastated by the civilian casualties in Israel and Lebanon caused by terrorist actions initiated by terrorist organisations such as Hezbollah and Hamas ...

If we do not succeed in stopping terrorism around the world, chaos will rule and innocent people will continue to die.

We need to support democratic societies and stop terrorism at all costs.

Props to Wizbang and Riehl World View.

Cross-posted to The Sammenhold Blog.

August 16, 2006

From The Jawa Report's favorite videographer, blowmoulder1

At my request, blowmoulder1 kindly modified the video to remove a particularly offensive word at the end. If you just have to know what blowmoulder1 said instead of @&$!, check it out here, along with his other work.

Jill Carroll via The Christian Science Monitor: Exhausted, Jim Carroll walked the streets of Washington, headed back to his hotel. He’d hardly eaten all day, so he ducked into a bar for dinner. He hadn’t been there long when his cell phone rang. It was the FBI. They wanted to know the family’s decision – a 72-hour deadline issued by the kidnappers was nearing.

This wasn’t going to be pleasant. “We’re not going your way,” Jim told his FBI contact. “We’re going to go with the sympathy statement.”

Insurgents had seized Jill Carroll in Baghdad 10 days ago; it was time her parents publicly plea for her life.

The FBI wanted the father – him – to shake his fist, in essence; to go on TV and address the men who held Jill as murderers and thugs. Jill’s colleagues at The Christian Science Monitor’s Baghdad office thought that would misfire in the Middle East. They said the words should reflect how much Jill’s family loved and missed her.

Jim and Mary Beth and Katie, Jill’s twin sister, had been over this and over this and over it again.

On the other end of the phone, Jim’s FBI contact sounded very unhappy.
Jim rang off. He felt he was living in a new world, where you got one percent of the data you needed to make a decision, but it didn’t matter, you had to decide anyway, you couldn’t walk away, and you had to do it now, right now, and the price of a misstep might be his daughter’s life.

Jill’s life.

Despair billowed over him.

Part II

Part I plus relevant links including Jawa and Christian Science Monitor archives here.

Jawa Report posts on the statement here and here.

Letters of support for Jill Including Susan Hallums Here.

British sources are beginning to confirm suspicions first raised by The Jawa Report that the failed UK terror plot was linked to exiled cleric Shiekh Omar Bakri Mohammed.

On August 10th a source in the UK told The Jawa Report that followers of Omar Bakri were almost certainly involved in the failed mass-murder plot. Followers of the jailed cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri were also implicated. Both of the radical clerics preach a message supporting the imposition of Islamic law and an Islamic empire and many of their followers travel in the same circles.

The Syrian born Omar Bakri Mohammed has been the leader of several British Musllim organizations, which many claim have ties to al Qaeda. Three of them have been banned in the UK. They are Al-Muhajiroun, al-Ghurabaa and the Saved Sect.

The British government considers Bakri persona non grata and he now resides in Lebanon.

The Jawa Report can independently confirm that despite Bakri's exile, he still has a large following and continues to direct the activities of radical Muslims in Britain. Bakri also continues to raise money from British Muslims which he claims are for the help of the mujahidin--or, holy warriors.

The Guardian:

Intelligence sources in Pakistan have linked Rashid Rauf, 25, the Birmingham man being held in Pakistan and alleged to be at the centre of the plot, to members of al-Muhajiroun in the UK.

Bakri's followers in Birmingham are known as The Saved Sect. Some time ago we revealed that members of The Saved Sect were using The Birmingham Grid for learning, a publicly funded education establishment operated by the Birmingham City Council, to spread their Islamist hate propaganda.

In July, members of al Ghurabaa & The Saved Sect gathered in a Birmingham community center and openly mocked victims of the 7/7 London tube bombings.

The Jawa Report had led an unsuccessful campaign to shut down The Saved Sect's website in July. Shortly after the British government foiled the terror plot the website was down.

Birmingham was one of several locations where police arrested suspects involved in the plot.

More connections from The Guardian:

Waltham Forest council banned the extremist group al-Ghurabaa from holding clandestine meetings at premises within walking distance of the homes of several terror suspects arrested last week, the Guardian has learned

Al-Ghurabaa booked the council-owned community hall in Walthamstow on two occasions, but gave false information about the purpose of the events. One of the planned meetings, in February at Waltham Forest Asian Centre, was to plan protests against the Danish cartoons bearing images of the prophet.

The Jawa Report also noted at that time that al Ghurabaa's own website openly advocating killing any person who blasphemed Mohammed.

More:

It was claimed the hall would be used to celebrate the festival of Eid. The local authority cancelled the meeting on police advice when it was found the meeting was to discuss the creation of an Islamic state in Britain. Flyers publicising the meeting depicted a man standing next to 10 Downing Street holding a rocket-launcher.

The Islamic Thinkers Society of New York has organized protests in the past in which they shouted "next time we will get all of NYC" and have publicly desecrated the American flag. The group's website once openly advocated the imposition of Sharia law in the US, but has recently added password protection.

Bakri has sometimes claimed to be the spokesman of the political wing of the International Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders, led by Osama bin Laden. At other times, Bakri has denied and distanced himself from the military wing of the organization, al Qaeda.

Expect more updates and confirmations in the coming days.

UPDATE: C/T blog has related info, Goldstein questions the timing, and Ace on the ever present "Sullie" connection.

Breaking news! I'd say good news.

From ABC:

An arrest has been made in connection with JonBenet Ramsey murder case, Ramsey family attorney Hal Haddon told ABC News.

The arrest comes nearly 10 years after the 6-year-old girl was found strangled and beaten to death in the basement of her home on the day after Christmas, in a case that shocked the country and that has remained unsolved.

The Associated Press, citing U.S. law enforcement officials, reported that a man was arrested in Thailand in connection with the slaying. Federal officials familiar with the case told the AP on condition of anonymity that the man was being held in Bangkok on unrelated sex charges.

In related news, a known pedophile on the Australian National Child Offender Register was reportedly arrested last Friday at a checkpoint along the border between Thailand and Cambodia. Aussie authorities wanted teacher Paul Thompson, 57, on child sex charges.

From ABC.net.au:

Thompson was facing prison in Australia on child sex offences but fled to south-east Asia, where authorities are working to have him deported.

Acting Detective Superintendent Kellie Properjohn says Western Australian police have been liaising with federal authorities to locate Thompson.

From a CNN report, the man arrested is a 41-year-old American and a 2nd-grade teacher who was being held on unrelated charges.

[Update 1730 EDT]

Fox News reports the man's name is John Karr. He apparently has been under investigation for a couple months and knew details of the JonBenet murder that were not public knowledge.

Two days hostage in Gaza is a long time. If you're not a Jew. Especially if you're a reporter. The various Palestininian terror groups understand this is bad P.R.

Perhaps the rumors that al Qaeda has successfully established cells in Gaza are true? If it is, I fear these are more Zarqawi al Qaeda types and less followers of bin laden.

Breitbart:

The wife of a kidnapped Fox News cameraman made a public plea Wednesday to his kidnappers to release him and his fellow journalist. Palestinian officials said they have no firm leads on where the two men are being held.

The cameraman, Olaf Wiig, 36, of New Zealand, and American reporter Steve Centanni, 60, were taken Monday from their TV van near the Palestinian security services headquarters. Major militant groups in Gaza have denied involvement and the kidnappers have yet to make any demands.

Wiig's wife, Anita McNaught, appealed to the kidnappers to free her husband and Centanni.

"The bottom line is, there is no good reason for these two men to be held," said McNaught, a freelance television journalist. "They are friends of the Palestinians. They are here telling the Palestinian story for weeks now, when the rest of the world's media has not been here."

Directing her words to her husband in the on-camera interview and choking back tears, McNaught said: "It's going to be all right. You are going to come home to me."

So, is there an al Qaeda connection? The Palestinian Authority is denying that there is one in one breath, and in the other denying that they even know who took the American and New Zealander hostage.

The Age:

No one has claimed responsibility for the kidnappings, and police said no one has come forward with demands.

Interior Ministry spokesman Khaled Abu Hilal called on Palestinians to give the authorities any information they had regarding the missing journalists and denied that the kidnappers had any connection with al-Qaeda.

The coverage provided by the Jawa Report back on July 28 of an AP reporter named Bassam Mroue apparently caused him to scrub, scrub, scrub!

The National Review Media Blog noted this in a post today on more of Mroue's pronounced anti-Israeli biases:

Mroue apparently thinks that Israel "launched" (i.e. started) this war. MyPetJawa had more on this back in July. Apparently, in the fallout from that coverage, Mroue deleted many of his more inflammatory posts.

Lucky we gots da screenshots and quotes. Click the pix to enlarge (best viewed with Firefox.)

LGF hoists the Mroue flag along with the Jawa Report..

Muslims find it offensive that five year old girl poses for passport photo with bare shoulders.

Far less offensive, it seems, is the thought of their 'Prophet' Mohammed marrying six year old Aisha and then molesting her when she was nine.

Dhimmitude on display in England:

A five-year-old girl had her passport form rejected when an official said the bare shoulders on her photograph could offend Muslims.

The post office assistant stunned Hannah Edwards's parents by claiming the skin exposed by her daughter's halter-neck dress would not be accepted by the Passport Office as it might prove unacceptable in a Muslim country.

Hat tip: someone who is cooler than me. Update: Cooler? Yes. But also a whiney biyatch.

The lessons of history are doomed to repeat it. There has been some discussion of who won the conflict in Lebanon. Hint: It wasn’t Israel. I’ve said this a few times but today Arthur Herman at the NY Post says it very well.

HISTORIANS will look back at this weekend's cease-fire agreement in Lebanon as a pivotal moment in the war on terror. It is pivotal in the same sense that the Munich agreement between Adolf Hitler and Neville Chamberlain was pivotal in an earlier battle against the enemies of freedom. The accord in October 1938 revealed to the world that the solidarity of the Western allies was a sham, and that the balance of power had shifted to the fascist dictators.

Hat Tip Not Allahpundit, but Bryan Preston at Hot Air. Also see Tammy Bruce.

It's interesting to note that many Muslim countries living under secular authoritarians are turning toward Islamism and the imposition of sharia law to save them. But wherever sharia is in place, Muslims see the ruling clerics as the problem. In Iran, for instance, the movement is toward secularism. In Egypt, towards the Islamist vision.

Trading in one form of totalitarianism for another is no solution.

Indonesian province moving away from Sharia.

Cross-posted from The Dread Pundit Bluto

The New York Post fronts this story of unbelievable depravity in the service of Islamic Jihad:

Baby Bomb

August 16, 2006 -- Twisted young British parents planned to sacrifice their precious baby in the evil cause of jihad by mass murder.

Fanatical terror suspect Abdula Ahmed Ali, 25, and his wife, Cossor, 23, are among those being interrogated by police as suspects in the massive plot to attack trans-Atlantic flights in midair.

Doubtless, CAIR will soon have an explanation as to why Islam is not to blame.

DarkSyde, who blogs at DailyKos, is tired of the country "whining" about terrorism:

when did the Republican Party become infested with what sound like so many loud, whining cowardly pundits? One second Reagan is up there standing toe-to-toe with the Rooskis, negotiating cool as a cucumber with 20,000 nukes pointed at him, and the next thing I know, the likes of Limbaugh or the crew at Powerwhine and Freeperland, are all shrieking like a class full of tweaked-out, neurotic fifth-graders having a panic attack every time OBL pops up in a grainy video with a rusty AK in the background. ...

...reading or hearing a bunch of yelping GOP crybabies incessantly screeching in craven horror that Al Qaeda is the worst, gosh-darn biggest bad-ass threat we've ever faced is, frankly, an act that has grown tired and embarrassing. And when they yammer, time and time again, that it's not enough for them to be quivering under their beds, they insist the entire country crawl under there and obsess along with them, while they lay in fetal position swaddled in their faded George Bush security blanket squawking in fear, it's enough to make Burt the Turtle duck and cover in disgust. (emphasis added)

The ironic thing here is that DarkSyde is one of DailyKos' resident "sky is falling" Chicken Littles on--you guessed it--CLIMATE CHANGE. DarkSyde is fond of posting dire announcements of "startling new data indicating that climate change and global melt may be even worse than we thought" and similar alarmism:

There are many dangers associated with global warming. What's critical to understand is they often work together in ways that are genuinely alarming to contemplate. A near term, moderate rise in sea level of even a few feet, combined with a virtually instant increase in the intensity of hurricanes, both products of global warming, means that the deadly and destructive storm surges that accompany hurricanes would be greater and reach further inland. Gulf states, from Florida to Texas, would be especially vulnerable to this synergy. The Houston shipping channel, gulf energy platforms, the port of Miami; all could be knocked out of commission for months at time, or cease to exist. Imagine several million refugees fleeing a wrecked, inundated coastline at the same time a significant fraction of oil imports and other essential supplies are cut off, and you have some appreciation for the near term consequences of climate change. (emphasis added)

August 15, 2006

Stratfor on the Israel-Lebanon cease-fire:

All [Hezbollah] did was survive and, at the end of the war, retain its ability to threaten Israel with such casualties that Israel declined extended combat. Hezbollah did not defeat Israel on the battlefield. The group merely prevented Israel from defeating it. And that outcome marks a political and psychological triumph for Hezbollah and a massive defeat for Israel. ...

[W]hen a reality that has dominated a region for 58 years is shattered, it is historic. Perhaps this paves the way to new wars. Perhaps Olmert's restraint opens the door for some sort of stable peace. But from where we sit, he was sufficiently aggressive to increase hostility toward Israel without being sufficiently decisive to achieve a desired military outcome.

Hezbollah and Iran hoped for this outcome, though they did not really expect it. They got it. The question on the table now is what they will do with it.

(Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) A 20-year-old Pakistani woman, Zarni, claimed she endured three years of being raped by her father before the authorities were notified. Subsequent to her father's arrest, Zarni was pressured by her mother to recant. She did and now Zarni is being sent back to Pakistan.

According to a neighbor,

"When she reaches Pakistan it will be her end, literally," said Umm Abdul Aziz. "She comes from a Balochi tribal family and they are known to be very unmerciful in rape situations. The only way they solve it is by killing the woman." It is generally referred to as honor killing.

Everything's bass ackwards. Even if Zarni filed a false report, which I frankly don't think is the case, she doesn't deserve to die.

Companion post at Interested-Participant.

Jill Carroll via The Christian Science Monitor: After dinner they told me to put on a track suit they’d given me two days earlier, and remove my head scarf. I wanted to wear my hijab if they were going to film me; they said no, they wanted to make my hair messy, make me look bad.

They brought me back into the sitting room, and men began filing in, carrying AK-47s and RPGs.

Then the leader turned and coached me intently. I must say that they were mujahideen fighting to defend their country, that they wanted women freed from Abu Ghraib prison, and the US military, particularly the Marines, were killing and arresting their women and destroying their houses.
And I must cry, on cue.

I started to give my speech. A man standing behind the camera ran his fingers down his cheeks, to signal that I needed to cry.

It took me a while to work up to the crying part. But I had a lot of pent-up emotion and stress, and by the time we finished, I was crying for real.
As the taping ended, I put my head down and I just kept crying. I heard Abu Rasha behind me go, “ughh”, in a sympathetic way, like he felt bad that I was sitting there crying in front of them.

Ink Eye’s reaction was different. He showed no sympathy. And I knew his opinion of me – my personal character – might make the difference in whether I lived or died.

He said, “We have to do this again.”

Part I plus relevant links including Jawa and Christian Science Monitor archives here.

In today's segment she speaks about the making of the first Video her captors made of her. The Jawa Report's post on that video here.

A fauxtography roundup by Al Brown.

The message is clear: this is jihad, a holy war.

Story at Ray Robison's via blogfather Charles Johnson who identifies the shill of a stringer as involved in Qana propaganda.

Courtesy of Jawa alumnus See-Dub:

Meanwhile Rusty saw the photoshopped jet

Up in the sky and said, these guys don’t know s***

From shinola.

Your news is faux-faux-faux-faux-la

State sponsored terrorism in Britain? Yes. The British government funds Islamic groups on university campuses which, in turn, preach jihad. And, as The Jawa Report first revealed, links between the foiled terror plot and exiled cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed have begun to be uncovered.

The Australian:

Waheed Zaman, 22, a biochemistry student and president of the Islamic Society at London Metropolitan University, was one of those arrested when British authorities foiled an alleged attempt to blow up planes over the Atlantic.

As London's Daily Telegraph reports, buildings on university land set aside as a prayer room and library contained a stash of handy materials for those interested in plotting mass murder. There were pamphlets preaching jihad, instructions on how to deal with security services and cassette tapes produced by al-Muhajiroun, the terrorist body once headed by Omar Bakri Mohammed, now living in exile in Lebanon.

Security sources suggested that several of those arrested are suspected of having links with universities. And when you think about it, setting up jihad school on campus makes perfect sense. It's just the latest manifestation of the tolerant West inadvertently funding its own destruction.

Welcomed by British authorities with promises of tolerance, asylum and welfare cheques, chaps such as Bakri Mohammed openly preached the West's destruction. When sleepy British authorities finally woke up, these Islamo-fascists were duly turfed out of mosques. Then the jihad leaders went on recruitment drives in the sprawling markets of east London, using loudspeakers to preach their hate: "Now is the time for jihad." Told to move on, they have discovered that universities are the ideal place to recruit more potential killers.

Popular Science is hosting a fembot gallery.

There's also an article, if you like that sort of thing.

Props to Glenn Reynolds.

No, it's not scientific, but interesting anyway. I see that Giuliani managed to pull in almost 50% of the Instapundit readers--which probably represent some kind of cross-section of something. An impressive showing, though I'll be curious to see how well Rudy can hold on to that number once he has to start taking positions on the issues.

Curious that media darling John McCain pulled in 9%, while Bill Frist brought in only 1%.

Here's the original post.

In response to President Bush's denunciation of "Islamic fascists," the Saudi government has warned against "hurling charges of terrorism and fascism at Muslims without regard to the spotless history of Islamic civilization."

Previous:
Arend on "Islamic Fascism"
Bush (Finally) Names the Enemy

I recently posted the "suggestions" of Britain's Muslim groups as to how the British might avoid "trouble" in the future. As you might expect, the foreign policy suggestions were only one side of the coin. LGF has the details on the Muslims' renewed domestic demands:

Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly had prepared an uncompromising message on the need to tackle dangerous radicalism.

But, in what she admitted were ‘sharp’ exchanges, some senior Muslim figures turned the tables yesterday and made a series of demands which also included the introduction of Sharia law for family matters.

Dr Syed Aziz Pasha, secretary general of the Union of Muslim Organisations of the UK and Ireland, said: ‘We told her if you give us religious rights, we will be in a better position to convince young people that they are being treated equally along with other citizens.’

In the movies, the "good cop, bad cop" / "protection" racket works pretty well against young street punks and store owners. Will it work on an entire country? This is a grand experiment on the part of the British Muslims--poking, prodding, studying... learning one day at a time just how hard they can push the British public with this approach. So far, it's been working for them. The authorities don't hold a press conference about parking violations without falling all over themselves praising the "critical contributions" of their "valued partners" in the Muslim leadership. Only time will tell if the Brits will continue to roll over for it...

Cross-posted at Mein Blogovault.

If you are subscribing to the conventional wisdom (which doesn't seem all too wise these days), then Hezbullah won simply by virtue of its existence.

Cardinalpark over at Tigerhawk has a great post up reminding us that the reason Hezbullah is claiming "victory" is because the bar is set so pitifully low for them and so impossibly high for Israel that it makes it easy for Western dupes to fall into the ass-backwards "tortured calculus" of Arab "victory" :

This "war" is about a month old. Hezbollah is reputed to be the toughest Islamist militia on the planet. The IDF is reputed to be a very tough fighting force in its own right. Hezbollah is committed to the destruction of Israel. Near as I can tell, Hezbollah has killed a small fraction of Israel's 8 million people (as compared to Lebanon's total population of around 2 million people). Nobody in Israel seems prepared to come out with a white flag and their hands up. In fact, most statistics aficionados would likely admit that in the bodycount category, Hezbollah and Lebanon have faired poorly. Hence the malarkey about an absence of proportion. Israel's fighting capability is simply more effective.

Now, let's talk real estate. Near as I can make out, the IDF is parked in Southern Lebanon. About a month ago, that was Hezbollah's real estate; no IDF. They left in 2000, right? Now they're back. Cease fire or no cease fire, the IDF and its hardware are all over Southern Lebanon.

Northern Israel, however, hasn't a trace of Hezbollah personnel on it, just poorly aimed rocketry. No significant infrastructure damage, no military damage, no strategic damage. If Hezbollah is serious about taking out 8 million Israelis, they've got a ways to go. Nice allies they've got in Syria and Iran too. Nice that they weighed in with all of the firepower they had to offer -- not much, hmmm? Do we even need to catalog the infrastructure losses in Lebanon?

Last bit to evaluate - politics. The Israeli cabinet voted 24 - 0 with one abstention to accept the cease fire. For Lebanon's part, they said they would march the Lebanese army into the south and disarm, er, blend together with Hezbollah. Nasrallah already told the Lebanese PM to pound sand. So, we have the makings of a potential standoff between the Lebanese Army, whose job it is to march into Southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah. So much like the stand off which plagues Hamas and Fatah in the Palestinian territories, we now have a similar and related standoff in Lebanon.

I have to admit, I am having a hard time seeing how Israel lost here -- as if anyone can actually win a war in 4 weeks. The tortured calculus of the Hezbollah victory evades me. Everybody acknowledges that Israel defeated Egypt and Jordan in 1967 and again in 1973. Why? Well all Israel really had to do was survive. That's what everybody has forgotten. That's all Israel needs to do to win. Survive. It's the other guys who are trying to destroy Israel, not the other way around.

It is incomprehensibly pathetic, but has been the Arab world's standard of "victory" for centuries. Hence, the current state of affairs in the Middle East.

The IDF has expressed dissatisfaction with Olmert's dove-ish approach to the Lebanon conflict, and rightly so. Israeli stated objectives of rescuing the kidnapped soldiers and completely wiping out Hezbullah were not accomplished. The IDF was prepared to strike hard and fast, and had a plan to root out the infestation within two weeks. Olmert scrapped that well-laid plan for this current one. Blame for this can be laid squarely at the feet of the Israeli politicians that cut military funding over the past few years and scrapped the original IDF plan. Figures - wars fought by politicians instead of generals and soldiers are never as effective as they need to be. Yes - Iraq could be chugging along at a more favorable clip if our political class in this country were united, but they aren't. That's the new reality of postmodernism.

While the political fallout takes its usual blame-the-Western-power course, keep this in mind. By any objective or traditional military or logistical standard of measurement, Hezbullah got its collective butt pounded into the hills of South Lebanon and into the concrete of select Beruit neighborhoods. The only "loss" for Israel is that they didn't exterminate each and every last cockroach that there was.

Don't buy "conventional wisdom" that you hear from any media organization or television talking head. The same 'tortured calculus of Arab victory' could be applied to the apprehension of murderers in our own country. We've "lost" the war on crime since we haven't apprehended every criminal or murderer out there. Might as well give up, eh?

That same "conventional wisdom" and the apathy towards aggressive fact finding almost allowed a slew of propaganda pieces manufactured for Reuters and the wire services by Hezbullah media operatives into the narrative of this conflict - we found that the "conventional wisdom" in that case was fabricated and exaggerated BS.

There are far too many otherwise intelligent folks that buy "conventional wisdom" already, and look how gullible and unable to assimilate new facts they are. Don't fall into the trap.

From the Persian Journal:

Hezbollah's commander Hassan Nasrallah leads an Iranian jihadi army that exports terror round the world. And just as it did with the rival jihadists of al Qaeda, Britain ? a prime target of Iranian terror ? is once again allowing itself to become a theatre of the Iranian jihad and a weak link in the chain of resistance against it.

Many on the British left mistakenly believe that Hizbollah is merely another Muslim liberation movement to add to its collection. (The thinking which leads the left to classify genocide as liberation is a story in itself). As a result, the comrades of 'Stop the War' march behind placard images of their new hero Nasrallah; while George Galloway MP proclaimed at the demonstration: 'Hezbollah is not a terrorist group and I am here to glorify the Lebanese resistance movement.'

August 14, 2006

Cross-posted from The Dread Pundit Bluto

"Report: X-Rays Don't Detect Explosives" is the red letter entry at the Drudge Report, linking the latest Associated Press scoop from a leaked document:

X-ray machines that screen airline passengers' shoes cannot detect explosives, according to a Homeland Security Department report on aviation screening.

I haven't seen the report, which is most likely classified and should earn the leaker a trip to Leavenworth, but from what AP has written, it most likely was pointing out that the small amount of explosive in a shoe bomb would be difficult to detect. True. That's what Explosive Trace Detection (ETD) equipment is for. But what's a good indicator to determine which shoes might deserve to be tested by the ETD? Anomalies in the x-ray image of the shoe.

While many commentators have roundly criticized Mike Wallace for letting the Iranian President walk all over him in the recent 60 Minutes interview, the reality-based community at Daily Kos is upset that Wallace was so terribly rude to Amadinnerjihad:

The comments to the poll are here. This is a fun one:

Ahmadinejad seemed to be more in touch with reality than our Dear Leader....

At least it sounded like he takes time in the day to stay current on things other than his own narrow focused agenda (meaning Bush's way).

As to any statements regarding Israel and the Holocaust - we don't know of anyone who uses inflammatory rhetoric, do we?

Sadly, due to Mike Wallace's condescending behavior and the own demonstrated incompetence and obtuseness of George Bush, I couldn't help thinking that in another time and place, Ahmadinejad with his education and obviously quick wit would have been more than a match for the dolt we have running our country.

Iran has no such history of instability, and is in fact one of the few stable democracies in the mideast - even though it might not be a form you or I might like, as it's closer to the religious democracy right-wing Christians would prefer. When only one antagonistic power in a region has nukes, you can argue that it's an unstable situation, such as when India had them before Pakistan. Right now, only Israel has them in the mideast, and has indicated a willingness to use them. Iran is in a dangerous neighborhood, with 3 antagonistic nuclear powers within striking range of its territory. And the most dangerous, aggressive, hostile nuclear power in the world, the US, has made threats against it.

Let's see: the NPT specifically ALLOWS uranium enrichment as well as other technical research. There is no apparent evidence to date, according to the UN, that Iran has a weapons program. You seem to assume there is one because...the Bush administration says there is? What other assumptions have you swallowed from Bush?

In my view, Iran NEEDS nuclear weapons, if only to hold the US at bay - a government which has made clear threats against Iran, has a previous history in overthrowing Iran's democracy, and a recent history in waging unprovoked war against one of Iran's neighbors. Further, Iran is now bordered on two sides by the military forces of that same government.

(Tehran, Iran) I was somewhat surprised that Iran is outsourcing a portion of its industrial base. I think that's what is happening.

From Xinhuanet.com:

A new assembly plant for Iranian-designed cars has been inaugurated by Iranian Minister of Industries Ali-Reza Tahmasbi in the Belorussian capital of Minsk, the official IRNA news agency reported on Saturday.

The assembly line for "Samands," a model of passenger car of Iran's Khodro Industrial Group, the biggest automobile manufacturing company in the Middle East, was inaugurated in the Unison Company in Minsk on Friday.

The plant will assemble up to 1,000 Iranian-designed "Samands" car by year's end, and up to 6,000 by next year, according to the report.

Nevertheless, I propose that the Belorussian/Iranian venture will likely not be a big success. There is a large element of contrariness between the warmed-over communist kleptocrats of Belarus and the authoritarian Islamist mullahs of Iran. I don't foresee a smooth working relationship.

Companion post at Interested-Participant.

Jill Carroll Via Christian Science Monitor: That first day, they were spooked by how close the soldiers had come to finding me. Abu Rasha said they had to move to the house of Abu Ali, his “brother.” I thought he meant his real brother. Later, I realized this was just a reference to a fellow mujahideen.

Abu Rasha removed my glasses and put two black scarves over my head and face so I wouldn’t be able to see where they were taking me. Hanging onto his arm, I stumbled blindly out of the house and into a car, trying to suck fresh air through the suffocating layers of black polyester.

After a short drive we switched cars, and I cowered, motionless in the strange, new back seat. Soon I realized that there were children next to me, and men in the front seat.

A cassette blared a recitation of the Koran and every few minutes the nervous men would mutter “Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar,” as we drove through the darkness.

Then one of them said in Arabic, “What are you? What are you?”

A tiny voice next to me replied, “I’m a Mujahid,” a holy warrior.

It was a boy - I’d learn that his name was Ismael, and he was 6 years old. Just a child, already indoctrinated.

I've noticed what appears to me to be a trend in modern news reporting. It seems that actual "details" of a news story are becoming ever more difficult to come by. "Men" and "women" are often conflated to "individuals". "Terrorists" have become "soldiers", "fighters" or "militants". Terror groups are "militant groups" or "political groups". Individuals of a given nationality are defined by their continent of origin rather than their country. Details portraying particular groups in a negative light are often simply omitted. If this keeps up, we won't need news reporters for much longer, just a few stock MAD-LIB templates. Every news story about a terror ring, for example, pretty much condenses to the following:

[INSERT CITY HERE]--Authorities have announced that one or more individuals are suspected of causing, or planning, [INSERT VAGUE EVENT DESCRIPTION]. Authorities emphasize that the suspects come from the "broad strata of society" and were not identified through the use of any profiling techniques whatsoever.

Authorities emphasize that there are no links between the suspects and any known international political group. Authorities further emphasize that this event does not constitute "terrorism". It is not known at this time whether all individuals involved in the causation or planning have been detained or questioned by authorities, but authorities are confident that all future suspects will also be found across the "broad strata of society". The authorities continue to investigate the event or events, and the details of the planning, and may have additional details to provide as the investigation develops.

In related news, a group of Asian religious leaders has expressed its confidence that the detained individuals are innocent of all charges and are the victims of an Asian 'witch-hunt' because of their ethnicity. The group has roundly and unequivocally condemned "undeserved, unjustified, unwarranted, immoral violence against blameless, innocent, moral people everywhere", but notes that, while the individuals in question are innocent, actions of this type would be "an understandable by-product of the alienation brought on by Mr. [PRESIDENT'S NAME]'s aggressive and punitive foreign policy initiatives". The group also warns of an inevitable "backlash" against individuals of Asian descent.

The FBI said Monday it had no information to indicate did not believe that the three Palestinian men Asian individuals arrested with about 1,000 multiple cell phones in their van vehicle had any direct connection to known terrorist political groups.

Authorities had increased patrols on Michigan's 5-mile-long Mackinac Bridge after local prosecutors said investigators believed the men individuals were targeting photographing the span.

Local authorities didn't say what they believed the men individuals intended to do with the phones, but they noted that prepaid cell phones can be untraceable and used as detonators provide enhanced security and privacy for individuals offended by Bush's highly-controversial warrantless wiretapping program.

The FBI issued a news release Monday saying there is no "imminent threat" to the bridge linking Michigan's upper and lower peninsulas. The term 'imminent threat' is often invoked in connection with the non-existent weapons of mass destruction alleged by the White House to have been possessed by Saddam Hussein. The release also said the FBI had no information indicating did not believe that the men individuals, Palestinian Asian-Americans living in Texas, had any direct links to any known terrorist political groups or to the alleged "plot" to bomb divert trans-Atlantic jetliners vehicles that was announced in London Europe last week by the government of Tony Blair, who has been described as a "staunch apologist" for Mr. Bush's "war on terror", which has often been described by military officers as a "mess" and a "quagmire", particularly in Iraq, where almost 3,000 American soldiers have died, including Casey Sheehan, whose mother, Cindy Sheehan, has, along with many others, accused Mr. Bush of "war crimes" and has camped out near his ranch on a hunger strike seeking a meeting with Mr. Bush.

In this Reuters slideshow on The Daily Mail UK we seem to have the same woman. Being pulled from rubble, thirsty and last but not least dead.

Here we have her as a survivor "being dragged from the rubble".

Next she is thirsty.

And last but not least we have what appears to be the same woman with the caption

A constant flow of bodies are recovered from beneath the town's toppled buildings.

Of course they didn't say the body was dead just that it was a body.

Hat Tip: Rooster50.

The very fist pic is similar too with the pattern on the dress being the only feature that distinguishes her from the rest.

Michael Totten has a great post today. He also is seeking support for his stay to allow him to continue his reporting. I read it. It’s very good as usual and the pics are fantastic and unaltered.

Michael Totten: Real war is not like the movies. At least it isn’t always. It is slow and methodical. I don’t know what the Israeli army was shooting at when they fired their shells into Lebanon. Those who fired the shells didn’t know either. Unlike Hezbollah, though, they were shooting at actual targets. They were not just firing explosives at random toward Lebanese towns. Soldiers on the other side of the border had specific military targets in mind, and they called in coordinates.

Hat Tip: Mike via The Macktastic Rusty Wicked

Excellent podcast, despite my 10 minute interview. Worth the listen. PS-sorry for all the self-congratulations lately. I'm really busy, and these kind of posts remind you that I'm not dead yet.

My second composition video on using children as tools in a war upon non-Islamic civilization is below. Please enjoy.

Previous video: Arafat wanted proof
Related: Baby Jihad

You know these clowns. They hate George W. Bush, and they're gonna prove it to you. So consumed with personal hatered for a person none of them have ever met, these antiwar activists openly side with Islamic terrorists and fascists around the world to prove how much they hate George W. Bush.

Hey - its leftism. It doesn't have to make logical sense - just the hyperemotional, schoolyard insult kind of sense.

Kudos, as always, to zombie. Wake up, America. They're here, and they vote Democrat. I'll give ya 12 guesses as to why they vote Democrat, and a hint. You can see Ned Lamont's (D) sole campaign issue in the lower right corner of the bottom photo.

Anti-Semites, terrorists supporters and the "new" Democrats. Strange bedfellows, indeed.

Cross posted at Mein BlogoVault.

Two Fox News journalist have been abducted in Gaza. I expect them to be freed unharmed within the next 24 hours. Of all the terrorist PR machines, the Palestinians (of all stripes) have the best. Taking hostages is not good PR.

Reuters:

Palestinian gunmen kidnapped two foreign journalists working for the Fox News television channel in Gaza on Monday, a witness said.

The witness, a Palestinian who worked with the two journalists, said one of them, a producer, was an American, and the other, whose nationality he did not know, was a cameraman.

The Fox News bureau in Jerusalem said it was checking the report.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the abduction.

In other hostage related news, an American has been kidnapped in Nigeria:

Seven armed men stormed a crowded nightclub in Nigeria's southern oil city of Port Harcourt late Sunday and kidnapped four foreign oil workers. An American and a Briton were said to be among those abducted.

Monday, three Philippine gas workers were released after 10 days in captivity. Port Harcourt journalist Joe Onah witnessed the transfer of the men to Philippine embassy officials and says the ex-hostages looked well.

Hat tip to George.

Rusty and The Jawa Report made Rocky Mountain News on Saturday. Cool beans.

Dave Kopel at Rocky Mountain News: If you see a news photograph of the war in Lebanon, shot from within Hezbollah territory, can you be confident the picture and caption are accurate? Unfortunately, the answer is no.

Earlier this week, Reuters fired photographer Adnan Hajj and withdrew his portfolio of 920 pictures after Little Green Footballs, The Jawa Report, and many other weblogs provided evidence that Hajj had used digital editing and other techniques to fake numerous photos of the Lebanon war.

Senator McCain has long proclaimed his ardor for the fight against Islamic-Fascism, and the forces of terrorism including Hezbollah. He has also been a strong reformer of many industries in the past. He holds the Chairmanship of the Senate Commerce Committee. This means he has power to force testimony by the media.

The Filthy Report is no more, No more Snatchy The Clown, dangling gonads, Nope none of that stuff. So I came back to work depressed over my return to hell. But there is a tiny light at the end of the tunnel. It's called Islamotard.blogspot.com

Mysterious Author of Islamotard: No more pictures of balls, nekid clowns, hairy men, fat chicks, Korans in the toilet.

Fresh Air. Drink it in. Always goes down smooth.

(depressed sigh)

I've finally returned home from a 3 month working "vacation". Mail is piled up. Email is backed up. Phone calls are unreturned. Mucho work.

I do read all of my e-mail, but I may not respond. Sorry. Many good and important points and tips, just not enough time to address them right now.

Full-size image at The Peoples Cube.

The leaders of 38 Muslim groups in the UK have released the following statement:

Prime Minister, As British Muslims we urge you to do more to fight against all those who target civilians with violence, whenever and wherever that happens. ...

[Translation : "Why are you worried so much about our boys here in Britain? There's lots of violence in the world. If you're worried about what might happen here, maybe you should pay attention to what's going on in the rest of the world (hint, hint)..."]

... It is our view that current British government policy risks putting civilians at increased risk both in the UK and abroad. ...

["...I mean, this is a mighty fine country you've got here. Sure would be a damn shame if something bad were to happen to it..."]

... To combat terror the government has focused extensively on domestic legislation. While some of this will have an impact, the government must not ignore the role of its foreign policy. ...

["...just no telling what might happen if our boys don't calm down a bit. They can get a little 'worked up', ya know, especially when they hear about those Jews. We ask 'em to behave, of course, but can you blame them, really??..."]

The debacle of Iraq and now the failure to do more to secure an immediate end to the attacks on civilians in the Middle East not only increases the risk to ordinary people in that region, it is also ammunition to extremists who threaten us all.

["...damn shame if they got a little excited again, upset about those out-of-control Jews and did something disproportionate to your pretty country, here. Now, if you were to rein in those Jews, we might manage to get our boys to calm down and listen to a little reason..."]

... Attacking civilians is never justified. This message is a global one. We urge the Prime Minister to redouble his efforts to tackle terror and extremism and change our foreign policy to show the world that we value the lives of civilians wherever they live and whatever their religion.

Such a move would make us all safer. ...

["Yup, it's a deal, I tell ya. A real deal. Really would be a damn shame if something happened to this nice place..."]

First, this footage of a Paris Hizb'Allah rally, courtesy of Moonbat Media:

Then there's this footage of this D.C. rally, courtesy of Age of Hooper

August 13, 2006

A message from Lord John Stevens, former commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police:

WHEN will the Muslims of Britain stand up to be counted?

When will they declare, loud and clear, with no qualifications or quibbles about Britain's foreign policy, that Islamic terrorism is WRONG?

Most of all, when will the Muslim community in this country accept an absolute, undeniable, total truth: that Islamic terrorism is THEIR problem? THEY own it. And it is THEIR duty to face it and eradicate it.

To stop the denial, endless fudging and constant wailing that somehow it is everyone else's problem and, if Islamic terrorism exists at all, they are somehow the main victims.

Because until that happens the problem will never be resolved. And there will be more 7/7s and, sometime in the future, another airplane plot will succeed with horrific loss of innocent life.

Equally important, those British politicians who have seemed obsessed with pandering to, and even encouraging, this state of denial, must throw off their politically-correct blinkers and recognise the same truth—that Muslim terrorism in Britain is the direct responsibility of British Muslims.

Props to LGF.

Cross-posted from The Dread Pundit Bluto (Le Pandit Bluto De Crainte)

ynet news links to a Lebanese Christian site that accused Hizballah on the day of the Qana tragedy of placing handicapped children in the building at Qana, then firing rockets from the roof in order to create "Qana 2".

The Lebanese site is published in French. I've translated their posting below:

Qana Massacre, Lebanon-Israel Negotiations Reported

July 30, 2006

Lebanon is waking up to a new massacre of innocents, the victms are handicapped children who were sheltering in a building that was attacked by the Israeli air force.

Qana, again a symbol; "Grapes of Wrath" [codename of the Israeli operation] failed in 1996 because of this mistake. 40, maybe 50 deaths today at Qana in south Lebanon. The horror.

But why a similar mistake, error? A usually well-informed source told us this version:

Hezbollah, trapped by the 7 points proposed by prime minister Fouad Siniora, which put forth a deployment plan for the Lebanese army over all its [Hezbollah's] territory, mainly in south Lebanon, and therefore the disarmament of the Party of God [Hezbollah], wanted to sabotage the negotiations. It put in place a Machiavellian plan to stifle the project. Knowing very well that Israel would not hesitate to bomb civilian targets, the Hezbollah fighters installed a missile launcher on top of a building in Qana and packed it with disabled children with the firm intention of provoking a response from the Israeli air force and creating a new situation, using the massacre of the innocents to retake the initiative in negotiations.

To reiterate: They have used Qana, which was already a symbol of the massacre of innocent ones; they have fomented Qana 2.

Indeed, Nabih Berri, speaker of the Lebanese assembly, has announced that negotiations with American Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice will not be pursued for the moment without an unconditional ceasefire, the first requirement of Hezbollah; it's necessary to begin again.

Jill Carroll Via Christian Science Monitor: We drove to the second house, which appeared to be the home of one of the kidnappers.

They took me upstairs to the master bedroom. Within a few minutes an interpreter arrived, and an interrogation began.

They wanted to know my name, the name of my newspaper, my religion, how much my computer was worth, did it have a device to signal the government or military, if I or anyone in my family drank alcohol, how many American reporters were in Baghdad, did I know reporters from other countries, and myriad other questions.

Then, in a slightly gravelly voice, the interpreter explained the situation.

“You are our sister. We have no problem with you. Our problem is with your government. We just need to keep you for some time. We want women freed from Abu Ghraib prison. Maybe four or five women. We want to ask your government for this,” the interpreter said. (At the time, it was reported that 10 Iraqi women were among 14,000 Iraqis being held by coalition forces on suspicion of insurgent activity.)

“You are to stay in this room. And this window, don’t put one hand on this window,” he continued. “I have a place underground. It is very dark and small, and cold, and if you put one hand on this window, we will put you there. Some of my friends said we should put you there, but I said, ‘No she is a woman.’ Women are very important in Islam.”

Interviews with Jill, her family and colleagues. (videos)

Jill answers questions from readers. (video)

Listen to a podcast of the story. (Audible.com)

Cast of characters.

Jawa Report entry on al-Qaeda's first video claiming they were holding Ms. Carroll and threatening her life.

Jawa Report Jill Carroll Archive, Jawa Report Hostage archive.

More here from ABCNEWS. Jill will also be on GMA on Monday.

Wire story on ABC:

Jill Carroll pleaded with one of her captors for a quick death by pistol, saying: "I don't want the knife."

(Dhaka, Bangladesh) To have the Voice of America (VOA) spewing anti-American propaganda is inexcusable. Some action should be taken to correct the situation.

From yesterday's AsianTribune.com:

Voice of America (VOA) Dhaka correspondent, Matiur Rahman Chowdhury, called today's revelation of a mega terror plot a "game of the British government." Chowdhury made his comments on the program, "Today’s Newspaper," shown on Channel I in Dhaka. Chowdhury went on to accuse "western governments," and in particular the United States and the United Kingdom, of deliberately fabricating the terror plot to deflect world attention from what he called "Hezbollah victories."

[ ... ]

Chowdhury, who is also editor of the Bangla paper, Manavzamin, claimed that airport security has become too tight for such a plot to succeed and that if the revelations of the plot are true, "then there is no security" on the airlines. An employee of an American government agency, VOA , Chowdhury said, rather that the claims about the plot are part of a "conspiracy against Islam" by the United States.

With a VOA broadcaster spewing outlandish conspiracy theories, is it any wonder that so many people believe them?

Companion post at Interested-Participant.

Vulva Puppets:

As well as adorning altars, lounges and bedrooms purely for their outrageous novelty and sensual beauty, these Wondrous Puppets are used all over the world by educators, lovers, artists and healers to support gentle, non-threatening and humorous expression on all aspects of feminine sexuality.

And the paper too. Can you say photoshop?

Fatwas issued for last week's contest:

The "i will cut ur neck" fatwa issued against...The Gentle Cricket for:

Pay je Ganta Solo un Wookie!"

translated"Bring me Solo and the Wookie."

I'd really like to see that picture of you with Abraham Lincoln!

Why Helen, you are looking wonderful!

Formaldehyde?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This week's photo:

Fatwas issued in next week's edition.

Related and funny too.

If I can find the one wax Castro on the telephone again I'll add it to the extended and allow captions of that one too.

August 12, 2006

Christian Science Monitor's Jill Carroll archive and Preview.

Jawa Report Jill Carroll Archive, Jawa Report Hostage archive.

Hat Tip : Hugo.

The Jawa Report is delighted to be following Jill's Story as always. Stay tuned.

For the "emerging third world war." (WWWIII I thought I decared this last week),

Win!

Newt Gingrich Via Washington Post: This is the most important debate of our time. It rivals both Winston Churchill's argument in the 1930s over the nature of Hitler and the Nazis and Harry Truman's argument in the 1940s about the emerging Soviet empire.

Yet Holbrooke indicates that he would take the wrong path on American national security. He asserts that "containing the violence must be Washington's first priority."

As a goal this is precisely wrong. Defeating the terrorists and thwarting efforts by Iran and North Korea to gain nuclear and biological weapons must be the first goal of American policy. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, if violence is necessary to defeat the terrorists, the Iranians and the North Koreans, then it is regrettably necessary. If they can be disarmed with less violence, then that is desirable...

Yes vacation is over. Did I miss anything?

"Honey, I'm home..."

Cross-posted from The Dread Pundit Bluto

In an article that frankly, surprised me, the Los Angeles Times's Tim Rutten comes down hard on fellow journalists for failing to take the Reutersgate scandal seriously enough.

Here, Rutten dismisses Reuters' explanations for why the altered photos were used:

There are, however, two problems here, and they're the reason this controversy shouldn't be allowed to sputter to its inglorious conclusion just yet: One of these has to do with the scope of what strongly appears to be wider fabrication in the photojournalism Reuters and other news agencies are obtaining from their freelancers in Lebanon. The other is the U.S. news media's grudging response to the revelation of Hajj's misconduct and its utter lack of interest in exploring whether his is a unique or representative case.

There's more, and it's worth your time to take a look. That's one of the undeniable strengths of the Internet and of the blogosphere, and the fact that it is being employed to help keep journalism honest ultimately is to everybody's benefit.

That brings us to the most troubling of the possible explanations for these fraudulent photos, which is that some of the photojournalists involved are either intimidated by or sympathetic to the Hezbollah terrorists. It's a possibility fraught with harsh implications, but it needs to be examined thoroughly and openly.

You may be required to register (free) with the LA Times in order to read this piece. It's worth the aggravation.

Via The Moderate Voice.

Islamotards get terrorism-related charges.

This is pathetic:

"All we did is buy the phones to sell and make money," Louai Abdelhamied Othman told the magistrate. He said it wasn't the first time the group had been questioned.

Riiiiiiiight. How were you going to make money? By selling them cheaper than where you bought them from, Wal-Mart?

Or were you going to make money by selling them for more than what Wal-Mart charges? Who would buy them when they could go to Wal-Mart and get them cheaper?

I can laugh at these two, and the others that were caught. What isn't funny is that there is a high probability that there are more out there who aren't this stupid.

Anyone else get the feeling that some serious shit is about to go down as August 22nd gets closer? No less a luminary than Bernard Lewis does.

As a final note, look at the headline of the story. "Three Texas men..."

Sam Houston rolls in his grave.

LGF has the story, courtesy of photographer Bryan Denton:

i have been working in lebanon since all this started, and seeing the behavior of many of the lebanese wire service photographers has been a bit unsettling. while hajj has garnered a lot of attention for his doctoring of images digitally, whether guilty or not, i have been witness to the daily practice of directed shots, one case where a group of wire photogs were choreographing the unearthing of bodies, directing emergency workers here and there, asking them to position bodies just so, even remove bodies that have already been put in graves so that they can photograph them in peoples arms. these photographers have come away with powerful shots, that required no manipulation digitally, but instead, manipulation on a human level, and this itself is a bigger ethical problem.

Ace describes it as “a serious, meltdown level scandal for the media.”

Allahpundit says:

It’s worth reading the whole thread at Lightstalkers, not only for the blog-bashing and grotesque moral equivalence (”Israel is no different than Saudia Arabia or Egypt when it comes to oppressing people”), but because the guy who made the accusation showed up and left a second comment

i have also heard from friends of mine in lebanon, respected photographers, that this was not an isolated incident.

Even the AP admits this imposed "cease fire" deal is a crock:

For Israel, the U.N. cease-fire deal is far from perfect. A U.N. force deploying in south Lebanon as part of the truce will have trouble keeping Hezbollah at bay for long or prevent the Iranian-supplied guerrillas from rearming, critics said, pointing to past failures of international peacekeepers.

The U.N. terms will buy temporary calm, but make the next war between Israel and Tehran's proxy army inevitable, former Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and some military analysts warned.

"It begs the question, `What was it all for?'" Shalom said, reflecting a growing chorus of criticism. . . .

Defense analysts warned more fighting was likely in the future.

Iran can easily reactivate Hezbollah for its own political needs, particularly if it were to be attacked by the West over its nuclear weapons ambitions, Israeli counterterrorism expert Boaz Ganor said.

Shalom, of the right-wing Likud Party, agreed that another war is inevitable. "This was just the preview for the main movie," he said of the conflict that began July 12 when Hezbollah crossed the border and captured two Israeli soldiers.

"They (Hezbollah) will now rebuild themselves. We could then see long-range missiles, perhaps with non-conventional warheads," warned Shalom.

Roger L. Simon thinks Rudy may just be the right man for the job in '08, despite expected objections of the moral majority folks:

If today's events have taught us anything - and I think most of us already knew it - we are, alas, only at the beginning of the Global War Against Islamofascism. More than ever we need a wartime leader capable of uniting as much of the country behind him as possible. For whatever his pluses and minuses, Bush has been weak in that regard. Giuliani seems to have more abilities in that direction, although that is not to say it will be remotely easy for him. But as of this moment, there is no one else but Rudy with the vitae and the charisma to do it.

And as we also all know, all those other issues that people clutch to their bosoms like so many sacred icons - from the economy to stem cell research - pale by comparison to the victorious resolution of this war. In fact, if we don't succeed, they are all completely and forever irrelevant.

As of today, the abortion debate seems to have largely been subsumed into the battle over the Supreme Court. After Bush's Harriet Miers debacle, no future Republican president with half a brain should find any good reason to pick a fight with the GOP's conservative wing on Supreme Court nominations. If there was ever any question over whether it's a good idea for a Republican president to pick a fight with the base over the Supreme Court, I think that question's been conclusively answered in the negative. I imagine Giuliani would have to make some fairly solid commitments on future judicial nominations to get the conservatives' blessing, and I predict he'll be willing to do so. Would he be willing to promise Janice Rogers Brown a Supreme Court slot? Maybe not, but I doubt that'd be a requirement.

(BTW, if the name "Janice Rogers Brown" doesn't ring a bell, this is what her worst enemies have to say about her.)

But top of the hour Fox News Radio is reporting that Israel will cease offensive operations at around 7 a.m. EDT Monday.

(pda post, sorry no link)

Cross-posted from The Dread Pundit Bluto

He came to Israel to help with a camp for Palestinian children and got a knife in the back instead. From United Press International:

JERUSALEM, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- An Italian law student, visiting Israel to help with a camp for Palestinian children, was stabbed to death in Jerusalem in what police call a terror attack.

Angelo Frammartino, 24, was out with friends Thursday night when he was attacked near the Damascus Gate, Corriere della Sera reported.

Police investigators said they do not believe the attack was a robbery gone wrong but a deliberate attack by a Palestinian. A yeshiva student was wounded in a similar attack near by three weeks ago.

In a letter sent a few months ago to a local newspaper, Angelo expressed his world view: "We must recognize that in a situation with no violence is a luxury in many parts of the world, but we are not seeking to prevent legitimate self defense operations. I never dreamt of condemning the resistance, the blood of the Vietnamese, the blood of nations under colonial occupation, or the blood of Palestinian youths from the first intifada," he said.

A little cold perhaps, but not nearly so cold as a knife in the back.

Say it isn't so.

Several noted pundits have compared these times to 1938, or 1939.

Well, it just got pushed up to 1940, and the analogy is Dunkirk.

August 11, 2006

"No mas" in Spanish (thanks, Shanghai Kid Noon*) means "no more." In Jawa-speak, "no mas" means "send more photoshops."

So, I've added a few stragglers to the You Can Be A Reuters Stringer Too Extended Dance Remix.

Original post here.

The application process is officially closed, the interviews are done, and everyone has been hired.

*Seriously, watching the movie "Shanghai Noon," I had to ask my wife what "no mas" and "uno mas" meant. And if you're a Spanish linguophobe like I am, they mean "no more" and "one more."

It's the great Islamic Cell Phone Roundup of 2006!

Hundreds bought in WV.

Here's a 1000.

Then, in the case of the Amazing Disappearing Egyptians, one shows up at O'Hare airport, all of the sudden interested in finally completing his trip to Montana. And, this is a shocker, causes a disturbance.

According to the U.K.'s Daily Mail, next Wednesday was supposed to be the day that airplanes were to be dropping out of the sky.

I would personally like to breathe a sigh of relief, but I had to go and read this in the Washuffington post:

Some U.S. counterterrorism officials said plans originally were to allow the conspiracy to develop even further. But U.S. and British investigators made a sudden decision this week to close down the operation after they became increasingly worried that there were other bombers they had been unable to locate or identify, U.S. officials said.

Via no-linky-to-us Drudge.

Geography quiz: which, if any, of the following countries are "Asian" countries?

India
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Pakistan
Saudi Arabia
Syria

All of the above are considered "Asian" countries under the common geographic definitions of "Asia".

In other words:

Pakistani terrorists are "Asian" terrorists
Syrian terrorists are "Asian" terrorists
Saudi Arabian terrorists are "Asian" terrorists

At least 40 have been arrested in Italy in connection with suspected terror plots. Not clear yet whether the suspects are "Asians".

George Galloway: Is there a terrorist he doesn't support?

Explosives recoverd from Boston flight? Maybe, but skeptical.

Pregnant woman arrested in terror plot.

Vid: half a million Brits belong the the Fifth Column

Terror trail runs through *shock* Pakistan.

Terror suspects named.

Not related, but important: Taliban murders mother and child for delivering laundry. Via Professor Chaos.

Sock puppet, thy name is Frisch.

I bet Debbie could kill Goldstein and Matt......with her mind.

See the video here.

I'm in The Jerusalem Post. I've made it.

Misleading Reuters caption of the day. Misleading is a stretch.

Good point. All liberties are not the same, are context contingent, and are ordered.

If life is not more important than lilberty, then I guess there is no difference between the death penalty and a prison sentence?

UPDATE: Stupid caption retraction of the day.

Georgetown's Anthony Arend has noticed Bush's new-found affection for the term "Islamic Fascism". According to Arend, the term "Islamic fascism" was first employed on May 25th of this year and has been used on a number of occasions since. Arend comments:

The use of these terms-- "Islamic fascism" and "totalitarianism"-- is most interesting. Unlike many previous Administration statements that characterized the enemy merely as "terrorists," these statements indicate an effort to describe both a brand of ideology and a method of imposing that ideology-- I take totalitarianism to be a method of imposing the ideology. As some level, the use of these terms seems to be a theoretical advance. . . .

Moreover, the use of "Islamic fascism " and "totalitarianism" also seems to have a significant public relations component. It reminds me of the Second World War. At that time, the United States and its allies were often portrayed as fighting a war against "fascism" or "totalitarianism." By using these words, Bush seems to be connecting the current conflict with what is often seen as the epic battle between good and evil that played itself our in World War II.

At any rate, it's critical that the people understand that we're not at war with an emotion (terror), an unsavory tactic (terrorism) or the adherents of that tactic (terrorists). Although many of our enemies are terrorists, our enemies could cease the use of terrorism tomorrow and not end this conflict. If Hizb'Allah stopped shooting unguided rockets at cities (i.e., terrorism) and started firing guided missiles at Israeli military bases (not terrorism), this would not end the conflict. The conflict in Lebanon is a perfect illustration of the fact that we're not at war with "terror" (i.e., an emotion), "terrorism" (i.e., a tactic) or even "terrorists" (i.e., political militants that employ that particular tactic). We can quibble over whether "fascists" is the perfect word, but I'm willing to accept it as a fairly reasonable approximation of what we're facing in this struggle. The sooner we all understand that, the better.

Props to Prof. Bainbridge.

8:35 AM ET, the day after British authorities broke up the most audacious terrorist plot since 9/11, and US broadcast network "news" fare includes:

NBC: Cross-dresser karaoke

CBS: Tasty corn-on-the-cob grilling tips

ABC: Emeril's spicy root beer & bourbon glaze

Nothing to see here, folks, move along.

Green Helmet Guy now has his own blog. And he be liking the photoshops:

Props to LGF.

Cross-posted from The Dread Pundit Bluto

The Bank of England has released the names and addresses of nineteen people whose assets have been frozen in the investigation of the UK Airline Bomb Plot:

The Bank of England, as agent for Her Majesty’s Treasury, has today directed that any funds held for or on behalf of the individuals named in the Annex to this News Release must be frozen, and that no funds should be made available, directly or indirectly to any person, except under the authority of a licence.

1. ALI, Abdula, Ahmed
DOB: 10/10/1980
Address: Walthamstow, London, United Kingdom
2. ALI, Cossor
DOB: 04/12/1982
Address: London, United Kingdom, E17
3. ALI, Shazad, Khuram
DOB: 11/06/1979
Address: High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
4. HUSSAIN, Nabeel
DOB: 10/03/1984
Address: London, United Kingdom, E4
5. HUSSAIN, Tanvir
DOB: 21/02/1981
Address: Leyton, London, United Kingdom, E10
6. HUSSAIN, Umair
DOB: 09/10/1981
Address: London, United Kingdom, E14
7. ISLAM, Umar
DOB: 23/04/1978
Address: High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
8. KAYANI, Waseem
DOB: 28/04/1977
Address: High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
9. KHAN, Assan, Abdullah
DOB: 24/10/1984
Address: London, United Kingdom, E17
10. KHAN, Waheed, Arafat
DOB: 18/05/1981
Address: London, United Kingdom, E17
11. KHATIB, Osman, Adam
DOB: 07/12/1986
Address: London, United Kingdom, E17
12. PATEL, Abdul, Muneem
DOB: 17/04/1989
Address: London, United Kingdom, E5
13. RAUF, Tayib
DOB: 26/04/1984
Address: Birmingham, United Kingdom
14. SADDIQUE, Muhammed, Usman
DOB: 23/04/1982
Address: Walthamstow, London, United Kingdom, E17
15. SARWAR, Assad
DOB: 24/05/1980
Address: High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
16. SAVANT, Ibrahim
DOB: 19/12/1980
Address: London, United Kingdom, E17
17. TARIQ, Amin, Asmin
DOB: 07/06/1983
Address: Walthamstow, London, United Kingdom, E17
18. UDDIN, Shamin, Mohammed
DOB: 22/11/1970
Address: Stoke Newington, London, United Kingdom
19. ZAMAN, Waheed
DOB: 27/05/1984
Address: London, United Kingdom, E17

Via the Drudge Report

August 10, 2006

"Take me away from all of this death.*"

War, terror plots, media fauxtography. It all gets to be a bit much sometimes.

Luckily, we still have the French to laugh at, the dumbasses.

*Bonus points for the movie references. No IMdB searching allowed. I'm watching!

A caller to a highly influential right-wing radio talk show, which was indirectly responsible for the massive upsurge in this blog's traffic, opined on the discovery of today's terror plot by saying...

...wait for it...

......hold on....

....just another pixel or two, you're not gonna die....

"I question the timing."

That is an actual quote, and his name wasn't Josh Marshall.

Yes, he seriously believed that the plot to blow up airplanes over the Atlantic Ocean was concocted to obscure the news of Ned Lamont's glorious, exalted victory in the Connecticut primary.

I paraphrase from memory:

"It just seems that whenever there's good news for Democrats, the terror alert gets raised."

Apparently, he hadn't even heard of Cynthia McKinney. Or Great Britain, or the U.K., or Scotland Yard, or MI5, MI6 for that matter.

UPDATE RS: It's one thing for nutjob radio caller, it's quite another for nutjob MSM reporter to question the timing. There's a word to describe this that I just can't remember....... after modern or something.

Sources in the U.K. have informed The Jawa Report that suspects in today's terror arrests are linked to exiled cleric Shiekh Omar Bakri Mohammed.

24 people have been arrested so far in the plot to set off explosive devices on up to 10 airplanes. At least 5 suspects are still at large in the terror plot which has been described as in the final stages of planning.

ABC radio claims that at least 2 of those suspects had made martyrdom videos.

Three suspects have been named by The Blotter as Rashid Rauf, Mohammed al-Ghandra, and Ahmed al Khan.

Hot Air, PJM, and Drudge are reporting new developments.

Glen Jenvey, a member of the London based terrorist watch group Vigil, believes that there is sufficient evidence to conclude that those involved in the plot are linked to Bakri.

Just last month intelligence supplied by Vigil to the British government led to the banning of organizations linked to Bakri.

Jenvey also indicates that some of the plotters may be linked to Abu Hamza. Jenvey's testimony was instrumental in the conviction of the radical cleric.

The Jawa Report cannot confirm the extent to Bakri or Hamza's involvement.

Developing.........

The Syrian born Omar Bakri Mohammed was the leader of several Salafist organizations which many claim have ties to al Qaeda. In July, two splinter groups from Bakri's orignal Al-Muhajiroun organization were banned by the British government.

The Jawa Report, with the help of a British ISP, was instrumental in the removal of the Bakri linked al Ghurabaa website.

Bakri has sometimes claimed to be the spokesman of the political wing of the International Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders, led by Osama bin Laden. At other times, Bakri has denied and distanced himself from the military wing of the organization, al Qaeda.

After he was told by the British government that his presence was "not conducive to the public good", Bakri fled to Lebanon. Recently, Bakri was denied entry into to the U.K. when he tried to flee the war torn country.

Tapes made by Vigil record Bakri answering questions to followers on what he thought was a secret password protected forum. Bakri can be heard on the tape making a religious ruling that it was permitted for Muslims to attack civilian targets such as airports.

Bakri has also made statements justifying the killing of British soldiers by British Muslims in Iraq.

Other secret recordings reveal the transfer of money from London to Bakri in exile to be used for "the mujahidin".

While the organizations with formal ties to Bakri have been outlawed in Britain, dozens of offshoots have grown in their place.

One of Bakri's followers can be seen in the photo above. Developing.......

The suspects in today's foiled plot have been described as homegrown terrrorists and are said to be the children of Pakistani immigrants.

UPDATE: From a recent Times Online article on declassified documents which are being displayed at the British Library:

Another document, written by an FBI agent before the attacks on New York and Washington, accuses Omar Bakri Mohammed, the radical preacher now barred from Britain, of sending his Al-Muhajiroun supporters to flight training schools in America.

UPDATE II: Raid in Birmingham. Why is that important? Bakri has a cell called The Saved Sect centered in Birmingham.

Raids were carried out at homes in London, the nearby town of High Wycombe and in Birmingham, in central England.

"Ibrahim didn't do nothing wrong," Ghafoor said, referring to a suspect. "He played football. He goes to the mosque. He's a nice guy."

Extremists accused the Government of fabricating the extent of the threat. Anjem Choudary, the right-hand man to the cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed, said that the arrest of 24 suspects was a “baseless attack” on British Muslims that was designed to scare the public.

Mr Choudary said that he did not believe that a plan to commit “mass murder” had been foiled. “I think this is another case of whipping the public into a frenzy over terrorism with very flimsy evidence.”

Previous:
Bush Finally Names the Enemy
'Mass Murder on an Unimaginable Scale'
Brits Foil Major Plot to Bomb US-Bound Planes

Absolute best headline of the day anywhere.

The photo shows an Israeli jet dropping defensive flares. The caption claims they are missiles.

Tyre, LEBANON: An Israeli warplane drops missiles east of the southern Lebanese port of Tyre 10 August 2006. Lebanese police said earlier in the day an Israeli drone fired a missile on a road south of Tyre, killing a civilian on a motorbike, while a helicoper gunship attacked a building in the city housing a charity owned by Lebanon's Shiite spiritual leader Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah. At least 1,087 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since the offensive started on July 12, according to an AFP count of official tolls today. AFP PHOTO/HASSAN AMMAR

You'd think that AFP would be paying closer attention after this. And what would a photo be without the mandatory mention of dead Lebanese civilians?

Hat tip: Shaun

Bush's statement today on the UK terror plot:

The recent arrests that our fellow citizens are now learning about are a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation.

UPDATE : LGF noticed it, too. Michelle notes that "he got the 'I'-word in there."

Clarity & Resolve predicts that we should expect "a reaction from [CAIR] on Mr. Bush's clear observation."

Lefties like Pam Spaulding aren't buying it: "...is it possible Uncle Karl's rolling out his political game plan overseas now? Sure. Dear Leader, of course, is beating his chest on cue for the sheeple..."

Chris Floyd worries that this is a distraction from Lebanon, lamenting that "Bushists Blather While Lebanon Burns". Floyd cites an article by Juan Cole and invites readers to "...see the illustrations of the kind of 'Islamic fascists' being killed and despoiled with American weaponry even as we speak"

UPDATE 2 :Sure, enough, CAIR has issued a statement:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Muslim groups criticized President George W. Bush on Thursday for calling a foiled plot to blow up airplanes part of a "war with Islamic fascists," saying the term could inflame anti-Muslim tensions. . . .

"We believe this is an ill-advised term and we believe that it is counter-productive to associate Islam or Muslims with fascism," said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations advocacy group.

"We ought to take advantage of these incidents to make sure that we do not start a religious war against Islam and Muslims," he told a news conference in Washington.

LGF asks "The question now, of course, is: will Bush be politically compelled to issue a “clarification?"

James Joyner at Outside the Beltway and several other commenters note that Bush has used the similar terms "Islamic radicalism" "militant jihadism" and "Islamo-fascism" previously, for example:

Some call this evil Islamic radicalism; others, militant Jihadism; still others, Islamo-fascism. Whatever we choose to call this enemy, we must recognize that this ideology is very different from the tenets of the great religion of Islam.

As I said before: If these guys are guilty of involvement in a massacre that killed over 200--mostly women and children, let me volunteer my services for the firing squad. However, the Indonesian court system is based on Islamic law and, as we have noted here on several occasions, is a complete sham. Not a single Muslim has been brought to justice for the killing of Christians during the same period--even though far more Christians were killed in the sectarian violence than Muslims. Not. A. Single. One.

The unbiased Reuters which, in the interest of fairness, lets the readers know that 3 Muslims are also about to be executed. Of course, these are the Bali bombers--completely unrelated to the ongoing clashes between Muslims and the Christian and Hindu minorities.

Three Indonesian Christians on death row for leading a mob that killed Muslims during inter-religious violence in Central Sulawesi province are to be executed on Saturday, the Attorney General's office said.

Fabianus Tibo, Marianus Riwu and Dominggus Silva will face a firing squad just after midnight on Friday at a secret location in the Central Sulawesi provincial capital of Palu, a spokesman for the Attorney General said.

More hostage taking in Nigeria. Chron:

Gunmen in military fatigues seized two foreign oil workers in southern Nigeria early Thursday, the latest violence targeting the petroleum industry in Africa's largest producer, authorities said.

The workers _ a Belgian and a Moroccan _ were abducted as they traveled through the southern city of Port Harcourt, where many international energy firms make their bases, Rivers State Police Commissioner Samuel Adetuyi said.

Actual conversation a friend had with a news babe:

I met a friend for drinks tonight who works for the [MSM], and her new beat is technology. She was telling me about these new web pages that are a new form of media, and I said that I knew someone
who broke one of the fake Reuters photo stories.

Her response: "Oh my god, you know Charles Johnson?!?"

UPDATE: FYI my sitemeter is busted. It says I've had 0 visitors in the last 2 hours. Which I know is bogus, because I know I've been reading my own stuff. Any one else out there? Is this mic. on?

We already knew Green Helmet was an actor in the eh, 'blockbuster' production that was Qana II : Hezboogaloo. We conjectured that he might have even been the director. As this video makes abundantly clear, we were 100% right. Green Helmet sets up the shot, goes through a trial run, and then directs the camera as to how to set it up just right:

Props to LGF and HotAir.

Previous Posts on Qana:

MSM on to Green Helmet Guy
"Compelling Stories"
Qana : WaPo Defends Hizb'Allah's Honor
JPost : Blogger's Questions on Qana Spur Inquiries
Green Helmet to 'Helm' Miniseries
Qana : Hizb'Allah Story Still Falling Apart
More from the Qana Flim-Flam Festival
Qana : Turning Warheads into Whine?

Here's a followup to the previous report. Scotland Yard holds brief press conference.

From Guardian.co.uk:

Paul Stephenson, the deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan police, said he was confident that a plan "intended to be mass murder on an unimaginable scale" had been thwarted.

Unconfirmed reports suggested between three and 10 flights could have been targeted.

Police said 21 people had been arrested in London, the Thames Valley and Birmingham. Sources said those arrested were British-born and were held as part of an operation, involving the security services, that has been ongoing covertly for several months. [Note: SkyNews interviewee said the terrorists were of Pakistani origin.]

At 2am, the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre raised the UK terror alert from severe to critical - its highest level - for the first time. The Home Office website defines that as meaning an attack is expected "imminently."

Unnamed U.S. intelligence official says there is a serious al-Qaeda connection with the plot. U.S. Homeland Security to hold press conference at 0800 EDT.

Companion post at Interested-Participant.

Cross-posted from The Dread Pundit Bluto

From the BBC:

A terrorist plot to blow up planes in mid-flight from the UK to the US has been disrupted, Scotland Yard has said.
It is thought the plan was to detonate explosive devices smuggled on aircraft in hand luggage.

Police have arrested about 18 people in the London area after an anti-terrorist operation lasting several months.

Sky News reports that those arrested are thought to be "...mainly young, British-born Asian men," which usually means "middle eastern" in the British press. UPDATE RS: Actually, "Asian" always means Pakistani or Indian in Britain.

Few American media are covering the story yet. The Washington Post seems to be getting their information from the Beeb, but, for some reason, inserted this rather weird non sequitur into their version of the bomb plot story:

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has come under strong criticism at home and abroad for following the U.S. lead and refusing to call for an immediate ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas.

Via protein wisdom.

August 09, 2006

A major theme of MSM photos coming out of Lebanon is to make sure the reader is very clear that the people in the photos are civilians. And to make sure that the civilian victims are Lebanese. And to drive home the point that Lebanese civilians are being victimized by the Israeli military.

Number of photos at Yahoo News containing the search terms "civilians" "Lebanon": 765

Percent of the first 100 photos showing Lebanese "civilian" dead or other victims (such as the displaced or funeral mourners) of an Israeli military operation: 88%

Percent of photos showing the Israeli military, but also mentioning dead Lebanese "civilians": 16%.

Percent showing protests outside the war zone, but mentioning "Lebanese civilians": 2%

Percent showing Israeli "civilian" casualties or other victims of Hezbollah terrorism: 4%

Not scientific, but I think the differences are enough that the point is made.

Nope, no bias here. And did we mention all the victims are civilians?

That's right, civilians.

I said civilians.

Civilians!

CIVILIANS!!

Some photo examples below.

A Lebanese woman grieves during a funeral of Lebanese civilians, who died in an Israeli air strike on an apartment building Monday, at a funeral in Shaheedein cemetery in the southern suburbs of Beirut Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2006. A series of at least six missiles fired from Israel ships off the Lebanese coast slammed into the south Beirut suburbs Wednesday, as residents were conducting a funeral for some of the 41 victims killed in Israeli air strikes there three days earlier, police said. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

But, the MSM and their photojournalists always want to provide fair and balanced coverage. Here's an example of the 16% of the photos showing an Israeli victim.

Israeli soldiers carry away the body of a comrade after a rocket attack in the northern Israeli village of Kfar Giladi August 6, 2006. Hizbollah killed 10 Israeli soldiers on Sunday in its deadliest rocket strike yet and Israeli bombs killed 10 Lebanese civilians as Lebanon rejected a draft U.N. resolution to end the 26-day-old war. ISRAEL OUT REUTERS/Eric Sultan (ISRAEL)

Israeli soldiers and Lebanese civilians. Fair and balanced.

Oh, an Addidas outfit is a sure sign of a civilian.

Rescue workers and civilians evacuate the dead killed after an Israeli airstrike on the town of Mashghara, in the Bekaa valley, in eastern Lebanon. Israel's destruction of roads and bridges in Lebanon and its threat to bomb vehicles has virtually paralysed the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian relief, aid agencies said.(AFP/Joseph Barrak)

I watched this and noticed something.

This.

We cornshuckers get around.

The German paper Bild has picked up the Green Helmet guy story. Will the rest of the MSM realize that they are being played for fools by a well organized Hezbollah propaganda campaign?

They run these photos. First Green Helmet guy parading around dead babies in Qana from 1996.

Same guy. Same town. Same accusations of a "massacre". 10 years later.

Maybe time is circular after all? Hat tip: Peter Glover in TCS who has an excellent column.

By Rusty Shackleford, Ph.D. at 11:01 PM | |

I'm sure they were just there as tourists. I hear Tyre is so much nicer than Tehran this time of year.

Reuters: Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard have been found among Hizbollah guerrillas slain by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, Israel's Channel 10 television reported on Wednesday citing diplomatic sources.

It said the Iranians were identified by documents found on their bodies, but gave no further details on how many were discovered or when. Neither the Israeli military nor Hizbollah representatives in Beirut had immediate comment on the report.

Eleven Egyptian men with student visas dropped off the radar promptly upon arriving in the U.S. The following pictures are purported to be pictures of the 11 men. The authorities don't seem to be able to decide whether they're looking for the men or not, but here they are, just in case:

Watch this video of Charles on CNN. Wait for it. All the way to the end. There's something in the last 20 seconds or so that is going to blow your mind.

Anderson Cooper is no longer just that guy Seth Meyers rips on.

UPDATE: Why it matters that Hezbollah is staging photos. Because context is everything.

UPDATE II: Ace nails it, too. Hard.

Original post is here.

It takes so long to rebuild that post I've had to start a second one.

Enjoy! And you're all hired!

UPDATE: No mas! I think we're good! Thanks to everyone.

Closing it out with Rusty's entry (a couple new ones below, too):

Larry Chomstein, of Blame Bush!:

More Larry:

stiknstein:

More stiknstein:

Barking Moonbat Early Warning System:

White Trash Republican:

""Tikl al Elmohammed lays mortally wounded in a south Lebanese road after being shot by Zionist sniper, G. Gordon Liddy. Elmohammed was fleeing from a firebombing of his village by Israeli forces.""

Disclaimer: "We submit the following work as a example of our
ability to link America with Nazi Germany as we all know that America's military
is as evil as Hitlers.
For those that do not know, we are not serious about the statement comparing
America's military to Hitlers. America has the best and most professional
military in the world."

Ed:

"Jimmy did not realize Magic flute had a fuse."

More Pillage Idiot:

Scott:

"Adnan Hajj's mentor overlooks the Zionist destruction of a nursing home for
small, defenseless Lebanese kittens with big, sad eyes."

More Scott:

Barking Squirrel:

Resistance is Futile!

"Here is the latest from Reuters, showing a suffering woman caught in the latest wave of Middle Eastern violence:"

Fred Fry:

Jake:

Point Five:

More from Linda's email:

The Dick List

Anonymous:

More Beth:

Lost In Lima, Ohio

Daniel L.:

Dan M. sees no rigor mortis here:

Mike D.:

We. Get. Results.

A contact at Fox News made some phone calls to their Beirut bureau. Journalists there seem to know both Adnan Hajj and Issam Kobeisi/Kobeisy. They are two different people.

Reuters has also responded publicly to the questions we raised.

USA Today:

According to [Reuters Spokesperson] Kahn: "It is common practice to send more than one photographer to an incident."

Kahn also confirmed that a photo originally credited to Kobeisi had later been retransmitted under Hajj's name. "The picture in question was sent out at 11.57 GMT on July 23rd with the caption and byline Issam Kobeisi," she wrote. "As the caption was correct, but there was a mistake with the byline, the picture was reissued with the caption and correct byline, Adnan Hajj, shortly afterwards."

So, I was wrong. But, like I said, all we had was evidence, not proof. Enough to open an investigation, but not enough to convict.

Turns out, in this instance, Reuters was innocent and no charges were filed.

Crow, meet lips.

But Reuters answer in the USA Today column is still unsettling on a few fronts. Why would Reuters send two stringers on the same assignment? Maybe the cost of hiring a stringer is that low.

And its the word assignment that's most troubling.

Two stringers were sent on assignment to cover a tire fire....and yet neither of them let Reuters know that what they were photographing was a tire fire? One probably started on accident by Hezbollah.

Hezbollah starts a tire fire.....calls the press....organizes a swarm...poses with their guns.....the captions all make it seem as if the fire was the result of either an Israeli missile attack or the wreckage of an "object"---presumably a downed Israeli plane.

And there are still serious question over whether or not Issam Kobeisi's other photos are staged propaganda.

Reuters still has a lot to answer for. And so do the many other outlets that hire stringers or who do not reveal that their news and photos are taken at events organized by Hezbollah.

UPDATE: Check out my first Townhall column here, and Michelle's column here (I get a plug). Oh, and one last thing: Best Jawa Pshop contest ever!

UPDATE: Tyler Hicks is the same guy who took these!

Another Photoshopped photo? This time in a NY Times slideshow. Again, credit goes to Charles Johnson.
Original

Update: Charles has a bigger view of the pic up now, so I pulled mine to save bandwidth. Check it out. He can afford the bandwidth suck, I can't.

Update: At the risk of getting on Michelle's bad side, I disagree with Allah. It may not be a Pshop, but the guy pointed out by Allah is not the same guy that we are looking at. Unless he's like Chevy Chase in Fletch. Think about it. Update: Allah retracts on that point.

Update: Not 100% slam dunk, but it's evidence.....evidence that I'm right and that he-who-taunts-me-for-being-right-all-the-time is wrong.

From Egfrow who has a more detailed analysis here:

Could the face be a friend of the photographer, Tyler Hicks? Kind of an inside joke?

Or maybe a friend of one of the editors. A staff member's "Where's Waldo"?

I have a feeling some staffer at the NY Times owes an intern a beer for actually going through with it.

UPDATE: Not so funny staged photos. Allah may have solved the mystery of hte Hizbo soldier bravely pointing his AK-47 at a tire fire.

UPDATE II: Funniest staged photo of the day!

UPDATE III: We've found the actual undoctored photo below!

(Auburn, Maine) In early July, 33-year-old Brent Matthews rolled a frozen pig's head into a mosque frequented by Somali immigrants. Before the incident he asked a police officer what the criminal penalties would be for such an act. He was told that he'd be guilty only of littering or improperly disposing of animal parts.

Unfortunately for Matthews (pic), his act caused considerable outrage and he may be facing much more serious criminal offenses. He was arrested on a charge of desecrating a house of worship and the FBI is pursuing possible hate crime charges. Meanwhile, the Maine Attorney General's office filed a complaint charging Matthews with civil rights violations.

Matthews' attorney, James Howaniec, says it was all a joke and an act of stupidity. Nevertheless, Matthews faces a year in jail, if convicted, and a possible $5,000 fine from the state's civil lawsuit.

Oddly, although the pig's head story is true, the amount of outrage seems small when compared to the reaction to the phony Qu'ran being flushed down a toilet story or the Mohammad cartoon fiasco. Those latter incidents led to widespread rioting and death.

Companion post at Interested-Participant.

It's the only explanation for so many photos of Korans in Lebanon. That, or a call to holy war by propagandists and their tools and allies in the media.

Yesterday, Bizzy Blog sent me this photo he screencapped off the Fox News website saying it looked staged. I disagree. I mean, what's more natural than a guy picking though rubble and wearing gloves to pause for a quick sura read?

When not dropping Korans on Lebanon, Israel, it seems, is busy desecrating Korans.

A copy of the Koran burns in Southern Beirut after the Hizbollah stronghold was targeted by Israeli airstrikes July 16, 2006. Israeli air raids shook Beirut on Sunday, the fifth day of a devastating assault on Hizbollah and Lebanon that has prompted no UN Security Council action and only a mild plea for restraint from Israel's U.S. ally. Reuters/Adnan Hajj (Beirut)

Isolated incidents? The images of the Quran as victim of Israeli desecration juxtaposed with the Quran as the source of inspiration for Lebanese resistance?

Mary Katherine Ham finds more evidence of Koran staging:

A relative who lost family members in Monday's Israeli air strike prays over their odies before the burial ceremony in Ghaziyeh village, south Lebanon, August 8, 2006. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho (LEBANON)

But wait, there's more. A simple Yahoo News photo search reveals dozens of Koran photos. Everyone in Lebanon, it seems, is reading the Koran these days.

The Koran, it's the new black.

Much more below.

A Lebanese woman reads the Koran while her bother plays video games at a car park turned into a shelter for displaced people in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of Hezbollah.(AFP/Ramzi Haidar)

And what could possibly be staged abou this? Sad child, victim of Israeli fascism. Mother comforting family with the Koran.

A Lebanese woman and her children that fled the south of Lebanon read the Koran at a shelter in Saida, July 18, 2006. Israeli warplanes battered Lebanon on Tuesday, killing 31 people, and more Hizbollah rockets hit northern Israel, killing one, with no sign that diplomacy would halt the week-old conflict any time soon. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho (LEBANON)

Wait, the same family. Two Korans. I wonder where their husbands are? That's a toughie.

Lebanese women and children that fled the south of Lebanon read the Koran at a shelter in Saida, July 18, 2006. Israeli warplanes battered Lebanon on Tuesday, killing 31 people, and more Hizbollah rockets hit northern Israel, killing one, with no sign that diplomacy would halt the week-old conflict any time soon. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho (LEBANON)

The next Abraham Lincoln of Lebanon. Reading the Koran by candlelight while hiding from the vicious J-O-O.

Comforting words : A Muslim Lebanese family reads the Koran in a bomb shelter in Tyre, south Lebanon. (AFP/Hassan Ammar)

Family fleeing from Quran shellings.

Lebanese women, fleeing Israeli shelling in the village of Aitaroun, read from the Quran, Islam's holy book, as they arrive in the village of Tebnine, southern Lebanon, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2006. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

Best photo? Mother. Child. Koran. Victory.

A young girl flashes victory sign as others wave a Quran over their heads outside a Cairo, Egypt, mosque Friday, July, 28, 2006. Thousands of demonstrators chanted anti-Israel slogans and vowed support for Hezbollah, part of protests across the Muslim world on the Islamic day of prayer. (AP Phot/Hasan Jamali) ">

Bryan at HotAir notes that the Massachusetts Legislature denies tuition breaks to troops returning home, even though it grants tuition breaks to illegal aliens.

UPDATE RS: Long time readers know that if there is one issue that animates us, it is the cause of freeing hostages. I was thrilled when I heard this morning that those who had held Jill hostage had been captured. To Jill's friends who have contacted us in the past, we celebrate this with you.

Our Jill Carroll archive is here.

Let us not forget, though, that Jeffrey Ake and others are still missing. Please keep the Ake family in your prayers.
----------

Marines from 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5 and 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment have captured Jill Carroll's abductors:

Marines—By Cpl. Mark Sixbey, 1st Marine Division

Editor’s note: Marines from 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5 captured three insurgents responsible for the kidnapping and detention of Jill Carroll, an American journalist for the Christian Science Monitor, May 19. Intelligence gleaned from that raid led to the capture of one more, by Marines from 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment. This story was written shortly after, but held due to intelligence value. Jill Carroll since announced she will detail her captivity in an 11-part series. Only now can the story of those who captured her kidnappers be told.

Jill Carroll’s kidnappers are now themselves locked up.

Marines captured four members of an insurgent kidnapping cell responsible for the kidnapping of American journalist Jill Carroll of the Christian Science Monitor.

Marines of L Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment captured and detained three members May 19, in a small village west of Fallujah. A fourth member of the same kidnapping cell was detained later by Marines of 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment.

Both battalions operated as part of Regimental Combat Team 5.

Carroll was held hostage by insurgent captors for 82 days between January and March 2006.

“A piece of intelligence came to our attention a month prior to May that the kidnap house might be in a certain area,” said 2nd Lt. J. H. Cusack, Scout-Sniper Platoon Commander, Headquarters and Support Company.

But the information wasn’t enough for Marines to act upon. They needed more. One month went by before another clue gave them the green light.

“We went out west of Fallujah and went off key indicators and identified some specific things that led us to believe this was the place,” Cusack explained. “Based on what we’d seen, we knew we had a small window of time to get this guy.”

The next morning, Cusack rode with L Company’s personnel security detachment to return to search the house.

They met enemy resistance on the way to the house. Two improvised explosive devices detonated near the convoy.

“The lead vehicle got hit twice,” said Cpl. Estafanos Getahun, a scout-sniper with L Company PSD. “Getting there was more interesting than getting to the hit. It was beginning to look like a hard hit.”

Sgt. Jeff Bell, a platoon sergeant assigned to Headquarters Platoon, Company L, said he didn’t know the mission would make headlines when they made it to the house.

“Once I set foot in the front door, I was told what was actually going on in the house,” said the 27-year-old from Littleton, Colo.

Marines didn’t go in guns blazing. They talked the owner into allowing them into the house. Once inside, they began to match key descriptions of the house given by Carroll to the residence. It became clear; they were on target.

Marines gathered the family into one room while Marines searched the remaining rooms for evidence of Carroll’s detention. Every corner, every drawer, every shelf was searched.

“We methodically went room-to-room and searched the cupboards, pulled everything out,” Bell said. “If it was there, it got searched.”

Inside, they found a number of items that confirmed the identities of the insurgents, including incriminating documents and $3,600 in American paper currency. Descriptions of the house given by Carroll were a dead match for the home.

Marines had what they needed to take the three into custody. Still, they lingered. The three weren’t exhibiting any outward signs of nervousness, and Marines took a few minutes while several from their team were fixing the IED-damaged humvee.

“We were still fixing a flat tire from the IED,” Cusack said. “As soon as it was fixed we put everything together.”

“While the Marines were fixing it, people thought it was a normal thing they were doing,” said Getahun, 27, from Las Vegas. “It gave them some peace, because they thought it was a different thing. Then they arrested them.”

“As we were leaving, we said, ‘You’re coming with us,’” Cusack said.

Marines didn’t realize until a couple weeks later the significance of their seizure of the kidnappers. They took in those responsible for targeting an American for kidnapping and also found out that they were key members of a cell responsible for local attacks against Marines.

“A couple weeks later on we heard they were connected to some cells that were setting IEDs and firing rockets in the area,” Getahun said. “It did help us secure the route to Habbaniyah.”

“It’s a pretty good feeling knowing you got the guys who did such a horrible thing,” Bell said. “Hopefully it keeps that particular cell from repeating the kidnappings. Hopefully we can kind of quell that with this huge cell getting taken down and the other guys take note of that, knowing there’s nowhere to hide.”

Cusack said although the Darkhorse battalion arrested numerous insurgents during their seven months in Iraq, this raid held special meaning.

“We detained lots of bad guys over here, lots of kidnappers,” he said. “But this one connects with an American, someone people back home knew about. That makes it satisfying to have that direct connection to something people can relate to.”

Marines from 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment have since redeployed to the United States, finishing a seven-month deployment to Iraq.

Great job guys!

We've been seeing a lot of manufactured news lately. Seems like even more than normal--or maybe we're just paying closer attention. At any rate, these comments by Richard Engel of NBC News shed some light on the motivations behind the media's made-up news:

There are very few people left in the villages now. The only people, when we went recently, and found were just young military-age men, most likely Hezbollah or Amal Party fighters. So it is difficult to continue to find compelling stories, but every day the conflict is changing.

My first Townhall column is up. I think it makes an important point. Reuters Admits Faking Photos, Still in Denial:

Without the two forgeries it would be tempting to characterize the reporters at these staged events as victims of Hezbollah censorship. With the forgeries, it is now clear that many of these reporters are participants in a Hezbollah propaganda campaign against Israel.

Without the forgeries it would be hard to swallow the notion that the local Arab reporters employed by the larger news organizations were neutral and unbiased in this war. With the forgeries, it is clear that at least some are actually combatants and partisans on the propaganda front.

Wow. It's almost as if I've seen this picture before. Almost.

UPDATE: Pic looks legit. It's just kinda eerie, eh?

Because our average readers have above average intelligence, the plane in the photo has been ID'd as an F-15, rather than the F-16 in the fake photo. I said the readers were above average.....not the authors.

Cross-posted from The Dread Pundit Bluto

Update: the New York Times issues a correction:

A picture caption with an audio slide show on July 27 about an Israeli attack on a building in Tyre, Lebanon, imprecisely described the situation in the picture. The man pictured, who had been seen in previous images appearing to assist with the rescue effort, was injured during that rescue effort, not during the initial attack, and was not killed.

The correct description was this one, which appeared with that picture in the printed edition of The Times: After an Israeli airstrike destroyed a building in Tyre, Lebanon, yesterday, one man helped another who had fallen and was hurt.

"Rescuer" poses as victim
Gateway Pundit has discovered that a photo from this New York Times interactive feature (number 15) apparently shows a man pretending to be dead for the photographers. The same man is seen scrambling among the rubble in other shots.

Here's the "victim". Note the absence of dust. Note the sweat on the "victim". Note also the hat tucked next to the "body". He was much livelier earlier in the photo shoot, when he still had his hat on:

It's hard to see how NYT reporter Sabrina Tavernise and photographer Tyler Hicks could have been unaware of this Hezbollywood production going on right under their noses.

Via The Wandering Jew.

UPDATE by RS: As I mentioned earlier, and had Bluto not been as drunk as a sailor of a 48 hour shore would have noticed, Bizzby Blog e-mailed me these photos earlier. But since I was so busy, my response was something like "so what"?

So, Gateway Pundit does the debunking.....because I was too busy.

Man, would I have loved to be the guy to do take the NY Times down! Instead, I'm the guy linking to the guy taking the The Grey Lady down a notch.

Always the bridesmaid, I guess.

Bizzyblog also sent me another photo though. I better start looking into it!

A little "aquatic insurrection" comedy to pile on with the comedy of photographic errors!

Photo credit.

August 08, 2006

No kiss-kiss, no bang-bang season for the 24-7 hurricane coverage teams.

Algore wept.

Cross-posted from The Dread Pundit Bluto

I know, a real dog-bites-man story. Is there anyone who didn't see this coming?

From Fox News:

UNITED NATIONS — The French-American alliance at the United Nations over a Mideast cease-fire agreement is crumbling, sources tell FOX News.

The French U.N. delegation has joined with Arab nations and is now calling for a complete and immediate Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon as a condition of any cease-fire, the sources said.

In addition, the French have reportedly agreed with Arab demands that the Lebanese force be accompanied only by UNIFIL, with no international force to be deployed.

After World War II, I guess collaboration just comes naturally to the Fwench.

Guess I was too "optimistic" when I posted this the other day.

Not really. Charles Johnson is. And everywhere else. Me? I'll never be on TV. Update: Just every where else!

I'm going to be the last OG blogger. Back in the day, people used to blog anonymously. Not like those other posers.

I keeps it real.

I'm calling it a night. Go check out Zombies typology of the four types of fraud coming out of Lebanon if you need a fix. Or just scroll down through all the updates on today's posts.

UPDATE: I was wrong. Reuters responds and I have independent verification from Fox News that the two are different. See update here.

Does Adnan Hajj have a second identity? A Rusty Shackleford to his Dale Gribble, if you will? UPDATE: Hajj may still be employed by Reuters! Scroll down. Note: This is evidence, not proof. But it seems like enough evidence to demand answers from Reuters.

Here is a Reuters photo by Adnan Hajj, dated July 23:

A Lebanese woman cries as she carries belongings from her home which was hit by an Israeli air strike in south Beirut July 23, 2006. REUTERS/Adnan Hajj (LEBANON)

Here is a Reuters photo from the same day by Issam Kobeisi. Seems kinda similar.

A Lebanese woman cries as she carries belongings she founded in the wreckage of her home that was targeted by the Israeli air strikes,in southern Beirut July 23, 2006. REUTERS/Issam Kobeisi (LEBANON)

Who is Issam Kobeisi? Does this one look familiar?

A Lebanese woman wails after looking at the wreckage of her apartment, in a building, that was demolished by the Israeli attacks in southern Beirut July 22, 2006. REUTERS/Issam Kobeisi

Is it possible that Reuters is sending two checks to Adnan Hajj? That his crimes go deeper than simple doctoring of photos? Are the editors at Reuters that lazy that they didn't notice that one of Hajj's photos is identical to that of Issam Kobeisi?

Or is this just a mislabelled photo attributed to the wrong journalist?

For what it's worth, Reuters has not used a single photo by "Issam Kobeisi" since Adnan Hajj was fired. UPATE: Looks like there are various ways to spell his name. Also spelled Issam Kobeisy.......and still working for Reuters.

Hat tip to Mrs Abe Froman who found the photos.

And just to clarify, this is not a slam dunk case. We're in the investigation stage still.

UPDATE: Variations on a theme? Way more evidence & updates below.

All of Hajj's photos have been taken off of Yahoo News. But Dan Riehl has this photo and caption attributed to Hajj. I've reduced the quality some to save on bandwidth, but Dan has the original.

A Lebanese man carries belongings he found in the wreckage of his home after it was targeted by the Israeli air strikes, in southern Beirut July 23,2006. (Adnan Hajj/Reuters)

Notice both the theme of the photo and the caption, this time by "Issam Kobeisi".

A Lebanese carries his belongings after his apartment was demolished by the Israeli attacks in southern Beirut July 22, 2006. REUTERS/Issam Kobeisi(LEBANON)

If you look through Kobeisi's photos, you find that they are very similar to Hajj's.

Of course, it's possible that this is nothing. That Reuters just attributed the photo to the wrong guy.

But, then again, why would a guy who has no problem photoshopping "missiles" into his pics have a problem with trying to collect two checks from Reuters?

Reuters admitted that the way photos were submitted from Beirut was pretty lax and, in response to the Hajj scandal, have changed their editorial process.

Filing drills have been tightened in Lebanon and only senior staff will now edit pictures from the Middle East on the Global Pictures Desk, with the final check undertaken by the Editor-in-Charge, Reuters said.

UPDATE II: Okay, now tell me this is a coincidence.

Adnan Hajj photo:

Issam Kobeisi photo:

A Lebanese Hizbollah guerrilla looks at a fire in a Beirut suburb, July 17,2006. (Issam Kobeisi/Reuters)

UPDATE III: Okay, this is just ridiculous. Here are a series of Hajj and Kobeisi/Kobeisy photos lined up in a row. Drinking from Home notes that they are all photos from two Reuters photographers. Just scroll down and note who took each photo.

UPDATE IV: Another interesting thing. While I found a fairly large Google trace of Adnan Hajj when I first began to investigate him, there is no Google trace of Issam Kobeisi/Kobeisy before mid July of this year. The date of the first Hajj photoshop? July 26.

In addition to being a stringer for Reuters, Hajj is also an editor at as Safir. Why is that important?

We know that as Safir is an openly anti-Israel Arabic news outlet in Lebanon. Right Winged has this excellent expose of them here.

The entire website is very similar to the dozens of Islamist websites that I visit. The main theme of these websites is almost always that Muslims are victims of some outside force. They use images of dead women and children to reinforce this, always blaming the outsider for their predicament. This "news" website is no different.

On a hunch, I found this story, which is the top story of the day. The photo caption says it is of a "Civil Defense worker taking the body of a dead child out of the collapsed al Shia building."

The photo is attributed to Reuters. No journalist is attributed.

But look at this photo of the same "civil defense worker" and this one.

Photographer: Issam Kobeisy

A photograph by "Issam Kobeisy" being published by a news agency where Adnan Hajj happens to be an editor. Coincidence?

But if that wasn't bad enough, check out the time stamp on the two Reuters photos attributed to Kobeisy. The same guy pulling out the same body.

First photo: Aug 08 6:37 AM
Second photo: Aug 08 6:55 AM

18 minutes. With the same body. On top of the same pile of rubble. Think about it.

More on the related and sitll developing scandals here.

Another update: And speaking of parading the bodies of dead children around.

More wailing women photos linked to "Kobeisy/Kobeisi" here and here.

UPDATES: So many updates, just keep scrolling down. Near the bottom, you'll se another Hajj/Reuters photo debunked.

Once is a lucky shot. Twice is lottery winning lucky. Three times and its time for the IDF to start thinking about taking out this objective journalist.

Once you become a propagandist for terrorists, you are a tool of the enemies of Western civilization and are a legitimate target in war.

Click the pic above for the rest of the photos. More commentary from George Lucas Ace.

Much more below the fold.

UPDATE: I'm not dead yet. I'm feeling much better now. Update: Scroll down. The pic is legit.

Read the rest from James Taranto Update: Taranto now retracting. This guy also notices the same as we do below. Via LGF who is still all over these photos.

UPDATE: At the request of Chad Evans, I checked into the photo. Turns out, it's probably legit. Honest mistake in my book. Guy looks like he's getting up, but he's not.

Chad's post is up here. It's pretty convincing.

Chad and I have been e-mailing back and forth for the past little while. He tried to get hold of Taranto, but no luck.

When he first told me the photo was legit, I set out to prove that he was wrong (this was before he had a post up). So, I dove into the Yahoo News photo archive and found these.

Now I'm eating crow. He was right. A lot of us are in such a rush to go after the MSM bias, that we're starting to get sloppy. This includes me. I wanted to believe the photo was staged.

Pretty definitive proof that the photos do not show a "dead man" getting up. This does not mean that the event wasn't staged, only that these are actual dead bodies.

Photo one: Compare to Taranto's photo above. Notice especially the wall in the background. Notice, also, the rolled up pants leg. SOURCE

I don't know how long it takes for bodies to become stiff, but it appears this is the case in the photo. Whether these bodies are "fresh" or ones that were brought in, I am in no position to tell.

Photo 2: Later in the day. The bodies are covered. More bodies now. Look at the wall in the photo. Notice pants leg. Notice two humps from under the blanket. SOURCE

Photo 3: This is the one Chad has up. Look at the wall. Look at the two humps.

Read Chad's post here.

Mia Culpas are in order.

UPDATE II: Rather than argue in the comments, I'll refer Improbulus Maximus to this post by John Hawkins. (Hat tip: Mary Katherine)

Somewhere between "there are no innocents in war" and "any killing of innocents is murder" is a moral stance that I can agree with.

UPDATE IV: For Reuters, there are no terrorists.

More updates than you can shake a stick at!

Remember the photo posted below? If you've been following this story from the beginning, it was one of the first photos I put up in our original post on the Reuters scandal---before our ten minutes of fame for debunking the F-16 photo.

This is what I wrote about it: And another one. I wish I had the original, larger photo. But this one is suspicious. Look closely. --Update within an update: Look at the explosion in the background. Seems a bit out of proportion.

But nooooo. You guys laughed at me. Called me crazy.

Dave S. said: And the pic with the guy holding the gun with the big fire... it looks fine too. The fire looks a little odd, but that's only because it is on a hillside next to a winding road. Or, that's my take, at least.

Yeah, I'm crazy.....like a fox.

A closer view, as provided by Allah at Hot Air.

What's even funnier is that the same photo appeared twice with two different captions.

Now, if I had only listened to reader Thorsten who dropped this comment a couple of days ago....Hi guys,
the picture under "Update3" i remember in n-tv.com been seen. on a cloes look you will see a dumpplace with old tyres on fire. not a factory or so. only car tyres. well, they smoke. but why in the hell they burn and whats the face in front with the gun?

Man, are my readers smart, or what? If I'd only listen to you guys more often, I'd be famous!

Yet Another UPDATE: Bizzby Blog e-mailed me these photos earlier. But since I was so busy, my response was something like "so what"?

So, Gateway Pundit does the debunking.....because I was too busy.

Man, would I have loved to be the guy to do take the NY Times down! Instead, I'm the guy linking to the guy taking the The Grey Lady down a notch.

Always the bridesmaid, I guess.

Bizzyblog also sent me this other photo though. I bet start looking into it!

But, while I'm looking into that, why not check out
my latest post on how Reuters may still be employing Adnan Hajj.

Those of you who haven't seen your Be A Reuters Stringer submission on the post yet, I'll be getting to them in a little while.

Thanks for your patience. Stupid job, gets in the way of blogging.

UPDATE: I've caught up!

UPDATE, TOO: I caught up again!

Again! I've got the attention span for a couple more if they're out there, but then that should do it.

Let me say this, If I were Reuters, you all would be hired!

1) Michelle Malkin's Vent. Very good analysis of the still evolving story. Mentions The Jawa Report so gets top billing.

2) Video and analysis of how Qana was staged by Hezbollah. Not faked, but staged.

3) Ace on Fox. Charles Johnson on Fox.

The story keeps evolving. It is now clear that not only are reporters victims of Hizbollah propaganda, but they are also active participants.

For a discussion on staging vs. faking, see this post.

UPDATE:

4) Roger L. Simon interviews The American Thinker in this podcast. Essential listening. Because it's audio, you might even be able to get away to listenning at work!

Worst. TeeVee. Ever. See it here. Meet the George Lucas look alike here.

Okay, not really. He actually did a great job of focusing the attention on the right issue.

But a freakin beard? How can you live the Ace-o-Spades HQ lifestyle with a beard?

To sum up Ace's appearence on Fox:

Good: Didn't drop f-bomb.
Bad: Didn't drop a reference to Rusty.

And, just to let you people know, I did get the invite to go on Fox, but I declined. TV and being anonymous don't really mesh all that well.

But, I will also add, that I told the very attractive sounding Fox producer that the real story wasn't the doctored photos, but rather the staged photos. Which, is the angle Fox ended up taking on this.

So, with Ace dropping out of the anonymous authoring game that leaves: Allah, Treacher, and Me.

Who will be the last to cave? Not me. I am master of my domain.

(There are other anonymous authors out there, but the Seinfeld joke only works if you have three dudes. So who will be our Elaine?)

UPDATE: Charles too, on Fox.

Cross-posted from The Dread Pundit Bluto

This is nice:

WASHINGTON -- U.S. authorities are searching for 11 Egyptian men who arrived in the United States last month but failed to turn up at Montana State University for a scheduled academic program.

According to the FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, the men were among a larger group of students who arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York from Cairo on July 29 with valid visas.

FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko said there is no threat associated with the men.

A law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the men are between 18 and 22 years old.

Via Flopping Aces.

Cross-posted from The Dread Pundit Bluto

Katyushas out:

Caption:
Tyre, LEBANON: Katyusha rockets are fired from the outskirts of the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre into Israel, 06 August 2006. Israel's army will carry on fighting Hezbollah in southern Lebanon until two soldiers, whose capture sparked the conflict last month, are returned, its ambassador to Washington said today. EDS NOTE: CORRECTING DIRECTION OF SHELLING. AFP PHOTO/SAMUEL ARANDA (Photo credit should read SAMUEL ARANDA/AFP/Getty Images)

"Israeli rockets" in:

Caption:
Tyre, LEBANON: Rockets fired from Israel are seen falling in the outskirts of the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre, 06 August 2006. Israel's army will carry on fighting Hezbollah in southern Lebanon until two soldiers, whose capture sparked the conflict last month, are returned, its ambassador to Washington said today. AFP PHOTO/SAMUEL ARANDA (Photo credit should read SAMUEL ARANDA/AFP/Getty Images)

Okay. These are the same photo, obviously showing Hizballah launching Katyusha rockets into Israel, not Israeli rockets landing in Lebanon. It's just another example of the mainstream media's eleventy-seven layers of editors doing their jobs.

Via LC Scott, commenting at The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler.

Fred Fry International has more strange observations on missile launch photos.

UPDATE by RS: Here's a little taste of what long time friend of the Jawa Fred Fry finds.

Israel "may have" committed a "war crime" with the Qana incident, says supreme do-nothing/ head of the Blue Helmet Sudan rapists Kofi Annan.

Hezbullah's indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israeli towns and civilians escaped condemnation and calls for investigation. Hezbullah's use of human sheilds and civilian homes for rocket positions and bunkers went without condemnation. No comment form Mr. What-Oil-For-Food-Scandal on the ubiquitous "White T-Shirt guy" or "Green Helmet guy" and why they were running around for hours parading corpses for Reuters and other "truth gatherers" (among them our newest, bestest friend Adnan Hajj.) No comment on why the nature of the targeted Israeli offensives and 'civilian' death tolls in Lebanon seem to be wildly exaggerated on a regular basis.

Hezbullah's human rights violations and dragging of the region into destabilization? Hezbullah's attacks on UN posts? Kidnapping Israelis and launching rockets on Israeli soverign territory? Iran and Syria admitting to starting and fanning the flames?

No investigation needed - Israel would be vindicated, and that is simply UNacceptable.

You are a worthless lying piece of garbage, Kofi Annan. I call for an immediate investigation of your role in the human rights violations and deaths of thousands of Iraqis at the hands of Saddam Hussein, your role in the human rights violations, rapes and murders of children under UN supervision in the Sudan, your role in allowing Hezbullah to fly under the radar of criticism and scrutiny in the current conflict and finally an all-encompassing investigation as to what it is you have actually accomplished in your tenure at the head of the world's most pointless and corrosive organization.

None of us are waiting up.

UPDATE: Dan Riehl kicks Annan's suggestion squarely in the jewels with "Qana Exposed."

Yet another staged Reuters photo. This one with much more distubing implications. A Koran being burned. The caption seems to blame this act of desecration on inaction by the U.S. and U.N. Who took the photo? Adnan Hajj.

I talked about this earlier, but felt it deserved its own space.

A copy of the Koran burns in Southern Beirut after the Hizbollah stronghold was targeted by Israeli airstrikes July 16, 2006. Israeli air raids shook Beirut on Sunday, the fifth day of a devastating assault on Hizbollah and Lebanon that has prompted no UN Security Council action and only a mild plea for restraint from Israel's U.S. ally. Reuters/Adnan Hajj (Beirut)

Very troubling because:

a) it's clearly staged
b) it's clearly meant to incite Muslims
c) it's by you-know-who

Hajj, like all of us, knows exactly what happens when infidels burn Korans. Or flush them down the toilet. Even if the infidels really don't desecrate the Koran, the accusation is enough.

Thanks to Jake for saving the photo and the caption minutes--literally--before Yahoo news yanked them. Jake adds this:

Clearly, there was some amount of time between the attack and Adnan Hajj arriving on scene to photograph the results.

If the book was set ablaze by the blast of the bomb, the book would have long disappeared into ash before Hajj arrived with camera and Photoshop in tow.

The intact burnt pages on the right indicate this is a fast burning fire that rapidly consumed half the book prior to the photo being taken, so fast that the fragile ashen pages have not disintegrated.

If the book was not set on fire by the blast of the explosion (which is unlikely anyway... the force of the atmospheric overpressure would likely prevent any jetsam object like a book to ignite...I was an aircraft weapons specialist in the US Air Force, BTW), but kindled by residual fires, then there should be burning debris or smoke rising from the rubble around the Koran. There is none in the
photo.

The only flames or smoke sources in that photo are from the rapidly disappearing Koran. I would wager two minutes after this photo was taken the book would be fully engulfed, and reduced to ash not long afterwards.

The MSM needs to put a disclosure statement on all pictures coming from Southern Lebanon warning readers that the images were taken as part of an organized tour put on by Hezbollah.

Oh, it would also be useful if they just came right out and said that they hate Israel. Save us all a lot of time.

In the spirit of past Karnivals, now seems like a good time to showcase your talents for the good folks at Reuters, who seem to be looking for a new "freelance" photographer in Lebanon.

Email your submission to vinceautmorire@gmail.com, and it will be added.

Feel free to put your URL in your submission.

Here's my entry:

Zionist oppressor Jack Bauer takes aim at an innocent Lebanese woman running from Israeli aggression. Photo by Margareuterville/Vinnie O'Mire.

The All Seeing Eye:

"This is a photo of the legendary Cedars of Lebanon in flames after being intentionally and ruthlessly firebombed by voracious IAF warplanes.

The brutal and senseless Israeli attack left hundreds of indigenous Ewoks homeless, and at least 56 3 are believed to have been irreparably singed. The Ewoks deny any involvement with Hizb'Allah or any other militia groups."

Darleen Click:

William Teach:

Randy:

"As a woman who travels with this photographer to pose in front of every destroyed building in Lebanon to pretend it's her home poses for this image, her friend Cindy Sheehan makes plans for Camp Hezbollah. August 8, 2006 (Randy Al-Hajj / Reutwinged.comers)"

Linda:

Evil Jewish troll stomps Lebanon.

Bluto:

The mystery of the ubiqitous "Green Helmet" solved: "Green Helmet" is actually the famous Qana sextuplets. The Dread Pundit Bluto

Another from All-Seeing Eye:

"A Beirut woman laments the tragic destruction of her moisture farm by yet another brutal and senseless Zionist raid. At least 526 40 two local residents were killed in the deadly genocidal massacre. At least four others are missing."

Beth

Another Beth:

Sultan Knish (with more here):

More Linda:

Is that George Lucas?

Pete's Damascus Dreamin':

Psycmeistr

Poor Hezbollah terrorists Lesbianese innocent Lebanese civilians search through rubble after Israeli Zionists pelted their compound with giant bagels. (Photo by Rooters)

Pillage Idiot

Patrick al-Kafir

Robert:

Anonymous via Linda's email:

More Bluto:

"Add-on Jihadi Hajj explains the art of "photographic dust removal"
at a hastily called news conference"

The Cranky Neocon

Annika

The Shaved Ape:

"Zionist Jawas are seen moments after destroying a neighborhood in southern Beirut."

Beth of Bluestar Chronicles:

Adnan Hajj finds Fidel in Beirut.

More from Bluestar Chronicles:

Sondra K:

The following contain graphic images

PTG

More Pillage Idiot:

August 07, 2006

Various items that speak to Adnan in his native language, Photoshopese.

Lazy journalists at AP quoting misleading journalists at Reuters:

AP: This photo released by the Reuters news agency Monday Aug. 7, 2006 showing an Israeli F-16 warplane firing missiles during an air strike on Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon, August 2, 2006 has been withdrawn by the agency. Reuters said Monday it has cut its ties with a Beirut-based freelance photographer who it found had manipulated two photographs from the ongoing fighting in Lebanon. In this photo, Reuters found that the photographer Adnan Hajj changed the image to show three flares being dropped by the plane, instead of just one, the agency said. (AP Photo/Adnan Hajj, Reuters)

UPDATE: Hajj busted....again?

UPDATE II: Yahoo News has pulled the pic, but reader Jake e-mails me this photo. What's so disturbing about it is this is:

a) it's clearly staged
b) it's clearly meant to incite Muslims
c) it's by you-know-who

Jake also says:

Furthermore, I believe it was staged. Clearly, there was some amount of time between the attack and Adnan Hajj arriving on scene to photograph the results.

If the book was set ablaze by the blast of the bomb, the book would have long disappeared into ash before Hajj arrived with camera and Photoshop in tow.

The intact burnt pages on the right indicate this is a fast burning fire that rapidly consumed half the book prior to the photo being taken, so fast that the fragile ashen pages have not disintegrated.

If the book was not set on fire by the blast of the explosion (which is unlikely anyway... the force of the atmospheric overpressure would likely prevent any jetsam object like a book to ignite...I was an aircraft weapons specialist in the US Air Force, BTW), but kindled by residual fires, then there should be burning debris or smoke rising from the rubble around the Koran. There is none in the
photo.

The only flames or smoke sources in that photo are from the rapidly disappearing Koran. I would wager two minutes after this photo was taken the book would be fully engulfed, and reduced to ash not long afterwards.

The MSM needs to put a disclosure statement on all pictures coming from Southern Lebanon warning readers that the images were taken as part of an organized tour put on by Hezbollah.

Back in Russia, they had a name for things like this: Potemkin villages.

PS: As someone who has set Qurans on fire, I can tell you that my experience is that they do not burn this fast.

PPS: Just kidding. I've never burned any Korans before. I have burned phone books before. They don't burn well.

PPPS: Islamists, please don't kill me for the burning Koran crack!

I hit the meatiest of the other side's meatsacks, Kos and Atrios, and neither of them has made a peep about Reutergate.

I should be shocked and appalled, but I'm not.

Cross-posted from The Dread Pundit Bluto

Here's a photo from disgraced Reuters photographer Adnan Hajj, with the caption that ran under it:

A Lebanese woman looks at the sky as she walks past a building flattened during an overnight Israeli air raid on Beirut's suburbs August 5, 2006. (Adnan Hajj/Reuters)

Journalists are shown by a Hizbollah guerrilla group the damage caused by Israeli attacks on a Hizbollah stronghold in southern Beirut, July 24 2006. (Adnan Hajj/Reuters)

Via Power Line

Update: More Mummery From Reuters and AP (below fold)

From Yahoo!news:

A Lebanese woman wails after looking at the wreckage of her apartment, in a building, that was demolished by the Israeli attacks in southern Beirut July 22, 2006. REUTERS/Issam Kobeisi

A Lebanese woman reacts at the destruction after she came to inspect her house in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Aug. 5, 2006, after Israeli warplanes repeatedly bombed the area overnight. Israeli commandos attacked near the southern city of Tyre early Saturday but were repelled by Hezbollah guerrillas who killed an Israeli member of the force and wounded others, the group said in a statement. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Drinking From Home also helpfully points out that the Timesonline is using both pictures on the same page. Another failure of eleventy-seven fact-checking editors.

Via The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler.

Great moments in higher educational history:

David Gabbard, an East Carolina education professor, acknowledges this isn't his field, but says "I'm smart enough to know … that fire from airplanes can't melt steel."

Well, that sounds about right. I mean, look at the guy.

I'll bet that he can melt steel.....with his mind.

stein hoist to haywood.

In a report today from MOSNEWS.com:

The majority of the Israeli Defense Force's ground-troop casualties, both infantry and armored, were the result of Russian-made anti-tank units of Hezbollah, according to intelligence sources quoted by Haaretz daily.

The same sources note that these units have not retreated from southern Lebanon following the deployment of large Israeli ground forces in the area.

The Hezbollah anti-tank teams use a new and particularly potent version of the Russian-made RPG, the RPG-29 that was sold by Moscow to the Syrians and then transferred to the Shi'ite organization.

At first Israeli inquiries that Russia was transferring modern anti-tank weapons to Syria and on to Hezbollah were received with anger. The Russians demanded proof that this had been done.

Contrary to common practice, Israel transferred to Russia the tail-end of a rocket for analysis. The Russian response was that in the absence of a serial number it was difficult to identify it as part of a load delivered to Syria.

Notably, in a later report and contrary to the above, Russia flatly denies supplying arms to the Middle East.

Russia has not supplied modern anti-tank armaments to the Middle East, so Hezbollah militants cannot possibly be in possession of them, Deputy President of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems Col. Gen. Leonid Ivashov told Interfax-AVN.

Frankly, I believe that the Russians just haven't had a chance to formulate a consistent story. Even so, one can't help but sense that they're hip deep in culpability.

Companion post at Interested-Participant.

Check out these other fine regular co-bloggers in their normal habitat.

The Dread Pundit Bluto

Howie

All Seeing Eye (not posting much there, like me, mostly full-time Jawa now.)

The Good Lt.

Mike Pechar

Pushing back the frontiers of ignorance, one Crayola at a time.

The elusive and mysterious "Tourist Guy", last seen atop the World Trade Center was recently spotted in Lebanon by a Reuters stringer:

Or was he?

UPDATE RS: The "original" undoctored Reuters photos being found everywhere. Check some of them out below.

UPDATE ASE: More pics by Reuters photographer Adnan Hajj here.

Click on images to go to the originals.

It's the J-O-Os!

Hajj at Lebanese American University---victim of the Zionist enitity?

Why clone IDF lilzard soldiers? Every one knows there is only one lizaroid alien ubermaster per IDF unit.

When does the death of one person become a massacre? Whenever a Jew does the killing, of course!

CNN:

Lebanon's prime minister said Monday an Israeli airstrike on the southern village of Houla left 40 people dead.

"An hour ago, there was a horrific massacre in the village of Houla in which more than 40 martyrs were victims of deliberate bombing," Fouad Siniora told Arab foreign ministers in Beirut.

“The massacre in Houla, it turned out that there was one person killed,”

Can I engage in a moment of what is probably way-off-the-mark blogosphere triumphalism?

Allow me, for a moment, to speculate that if inflated number of 40 dead in this 'deliberate' 'massacre' had been alleged yesterday, then no one would have paid attention.

That, yesterday, if Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora had made the accusation it would have been followed up with an on-the-ground tour by a Hizbollah media liason showing reporters a few dead bodies as 'proof' that the 'massacre' happened. The MSM would have circulated the photos. The U.N. Security Council would have called an emergency meeting. Israel would be roundly condemned.

Today? Not so much.

Self-promoting triumphalism? Maybe. Then again, perhaps the MSM will be more cautious about repeating the claims of Hizbollah because those claims are backed up with photographic evidence.

Photos do lie. Even those that aren't doctored. Context is everything.

A photo of a dead child may tell two different stories depending on the context. In one story, a child is the victim of Hizbollah's deliberate violations of the Geneva Conventions prohibitions on hiding among civilians. In the other story, the child is the victim of deliberate Israeli aggression and state-sponsored terrorism.

One picture, two stories. Which story you believe says less about the honesty of the picture and more about how honest the reporter is and, ultimately, how honest you are.

Confederate Yankee is all over this one.

If you came looking for the original photo debunking story go here.

Original photo debunking story here.

The nail in the coffin (via YNet). Kudos, Rusty!

Update: Fox News video of the story is under "Latest News Headlines"

Michelle Malkin: All of Hajj's photos have been pulled by MargaReuterVille.

Update too: Linked, but not named, in the UK Guardian. Down at the end.

Update RS: Best line ‘Twas Rusty killed the beast' Heh.

Still another: Rusty makes Best of the Web at Opinionjournal.

And another: On Rush and on Drudge radio. Sorta....by association.

And more: Mark Levin. Hey, Chuck....you know our url, don't ya?

UPDATE BELOW FOLD: Rushtalanche!

LA Mayor: We apologize to the Shura Council of S. California for condemning Hezbullah without condemning Israel!

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has apologized to Muslim leaders who accused him of taking Israel's side in the violence in Lebanon by going to a pro-Israel rally and ignoring their invitations to interfaith peace vigils...They noted that he attended a July 23 rally by the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, at which he condemned Hezbollah guerrilla rocket attacks on Israel, but failed to respond to repeated calls and e-mail invitations to interfaith vigils for people killed on both sides in Lebanon.

Via email:

Dear Vinnie,

I am writing this to you because of rusty's away message. i am adnan hajj, until recently a reuters photographer. why you insult holly quoran? i will cut ur neck and the devil will do meetballs from your bodies. when you are not making your underpants brown from ur summer cold, that is.

u peeple r so stupid, well, most are, this one has it right.

i am attaching photo of more evidence of Zionist crusader atrocitys. The zioinists have unleashed a secret hi techknowledgy weapon on the peaceful citizens of beirut, hizb'allebanon.

The photo accompanying the (I swear it's real!) email is below the fold.

The MSM is all offended that we, mere bloggers, would dare question the veracity of the professionally-produced images coming from Lebanon. How terribly cheeky of us! What could we know, after all, about what's going on in Lebanon? How could we possibly evaluate the quality of the reporting in Lebanon from the air-conditioned comfort of our offices? It's tough, to be sure, but I imagine we'll keep it up. After all, I'm sure we all remember these recent classics, all of which were either staged or photoshopped events:

This didn't really happen (photoshop)...

Condi's not really a zombie (photoshop)...

[MORE BELOW]

August 06, 2006

August 6, 1945, the United States of America uses a nuclear weapon on Japan for the first time.

I, for one, feel no guilt on my country's behalf over the act.

Thanks to PTG for the reminder.

Image from here, but via Google image search. I don't hang out at UN websites.