Category Archives: al-Qaeda

Muslim group’s response to Christmas Day terrorist Abdulmutallab

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CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations prides itself on representing the voice of moderate Islam in the United States. The highly influential group relays a position of zero tolerance for Islamic extremism. Below is a portion of CAIR’s generic, passionless denunciation of terrorism:

‘The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has consistently and persistently condemned terrorism and the killing of innocent civilians.  CAIR has also organized fatwas, petition drives, placed advertisements in national and local newspapers, ran public service announcements on television and radio stations, helped local Mosques across the United States in holding open houses, published Op-Eds in local and national newspapers, conducted inter-faith meetings and worked with scholars to disseminate the peaceful teachings of Islam’.

So, where is their denunciation of Christmas Day terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab?

There isn’t one. Perhaps in the spirit of understanding and tolerance, we could excuse the glaring omission simply because they are bogged down with other, more weighty Muslim outrages to focus on rather than such a petty incident in comparison. Take for example, that CAIR-Chicago has asked CitiBank to apologize to a Muslim woman who was ‘humiliated’ after a bank employee allegedly verbally abused her because she was wearing a hijab. Or, that a group of Muslims in San Diego were ‘upset’ and ‘insulted’ after attending an international Church Christmas party which featured a magic show and a visiting pastor, an Egyptian convert from Islam to Christianity who railed against sharia.

Or maybe their time is better spent blaming Hollywood for stereotyping Muslims and Arabs in a bad light. Of course negative opinion associated to radical Islam could never be blamed on factual daily acts of violence and murder around the globe. It is not the vile ideologies of al-Qaeda or the Taliban, or other extremist groups that are responsible, but the sinister agenda of Tinseltown. True Lies, Executive Decision, the cartoon Aladdin and other ‘negative portrayals of Muslims and Arabs in cinema’ are to blame for the coloured public perception setting off more Muslim selective outrage.

It is now understood and has been confirmed by authorities, that Abdulmutallab has a London connection. Predictably, no official statement of denunciation has been issued by Islam4uk, the radical group in England headed by Anjem Choudary. Yet, Britain gives this hate-filled ‘cleric’ full attention and street space to speak out vehemently and repeatedly against western values. There is not a peep from Choudary or from those who support his ‘moderate’ spiritual campaign, as they too have busied themselves with other, more demanding Islamic projects such as denouncing the three harmful ‘idols’ confronting Muslims in the western world: democracy, secularism and freedom.

For CAIR to obsess on obscure ‘anti-Muslim’ instances, citing hurt feelings and insults as societal atrocities in place of denouncing acts of  terrorism and daily violence against innocents in the name of Islam is nothing short of absolute indifference to real suffering; it also reveals an unparalleled arrogance and self-centeredness within CAIR’s selective agenda. I for one, have come to understand fully that  it is not just what some North American Muslim organizations do say which reveals the truth, but what they fail to say.

U.S.: Nigerian Man Charged In Attempted Aircraft Bombing

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December 26, 2009 STRATFOR
The U.S. Justice Department charged Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab Dec. 26 with trying to set off an explosive device on an aircraft headed for Detroit on Christmas Day, Bloomberg reported. Abdulmutallab, 23, a Nigerian citizen, allegedly tried to bomb the aircraft using a device containing the explosive pentaerythritol. He told FBI agents he had trained with an al Qaeda leader, ABC reported. He also told investigators the explosive device was sewn into his underwear to escape detection.

U.S.: Nigerian Man Charged In Attempted Aircraft BombingDecember 26, 2009The U.S. Justice Department charged Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab Dec. 26 with trying to set off an explosive device on an aircraft headed for Detroit on Christmas Day, Bloomberg reported. Abdulmutallab, 23, a Nigerian citizen, allegedly tried to bomb the aircraft using a device containing the explosive pentaerythritol. He told FBI agents he had trained with an al Qaeda leader, ABC reported. He also told investigators the explosive device was sewn into his underwear to escape detection.

Series of SITREPS from Stratfor on terrorism attempt NW Airlines

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U.S.: Attempted Attack On Northwest Airlines Flight

December 26, 2009
A passenger on a Northwest Airlines flight bound for Detroit attempted to detonate an explosive device that was strapped to his leg during the flight, the Wall Street Journal reported Dec. 25, citing a statement by an unnamed senior U.S. official. The suspect is believed to be a Nigerian national, and has told U.S. investigators that he has ties to al Qaeda. The flight originated in Nigeria and stopped in Amsterdam before departing for Detroit.

December 26, 2009
The passenger on a Northwest Airlines flight who attempted to detonate an explosive device aboard the plane has told investigators that he was given the explosive device, originally thought to be a gunpowder firecracker but now believed to be more sophisticated, by al Qaeda operatives in Yemen, according to a U.S. official, The Wall Street Journal reported Dec. 25. The suspect also claims to have received training in Yemen on how to detonate the explosive. The device, which reportedly consisted of a liquid and a powder, caught fire as the individual attempted to set it off.

December 26, 2009
The U.S. government has declared the incident aboard a Northwest Airlines flight to be an attempted terrorist attack, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued a statement saying that screenings may be increased in response to the incident, the New York Times reported Dec. 25. U.S. President Barack Obama, currently on vacation in Hawaii, was briefed on the incident during two secure conference calls with his national security team.

December 26, 2009
A U.S. counterterrorism official said the suspect in the attempted Northwest Airlines attack Dec. 25, Nigerian national Abdul Mudallad, was in a U.S. intelligence database and on a government no-fly list, The New York Times reported. A passenger three rows in front of the suspect on the plane told National Public Radio that the suspect attempted to detonate the device during the plane’s descent, and that after noticing a glow and the smell of smoke, another passenger tackled the suspect immediately.

U.S.: Suspect Had Terror Connections, Not On No-Fly List – Congressman
December 26, 2009
U.S. Representative Peter King said that the Nigerian suspect, identified as Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, was not on any government no-fly lists, as had previously been reported, but his name was in an intelligence database for individuals suspected of terrorist connections, CNN reported Dec. 25. King also said that an investigation has begun to determine whether the incident was isolated, or part of a larger plot. MSNBC has reported that the suspect had purchased a one-way ticket for his flight.

U.S.: Suspect Departed Nigeria, U.S. Entry Visa Issued June 2008
December 26, 2009
The suspect in the attempted attack on a Northwest Airlines flight Dec. 25 began his journey in Nigeria on board KLM Flight 588 and made a connection in Amsterdam aboard Northwest Flight 253, ABC reported. The individual’s entry visa stated he was traveling to the United States for a religious ceremony, and the visa was issued June 16, 2008 and valid through June 12, 2010.

Northwest Airlines Flight 253: Islamic terrorist tries to set of explosive aboard passenger plane

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From The National Post

Attempted plane bomber has Al-Qaeda ties

Published: Friday, December 25, 2009

DETROIT — A Nigerian man linked to al Qaeda tried to set off an explosive device aboard a U.S. passenger plane as it approached Detroit on Friday, but was overpowered by passengers and crew and the plane landed safely, U.S. officials said.

The suspect suffered third degree burns and was taken into custody. The passengers, two of whom suffered minor injuries, left the Delta Air Lines plane, which had departed from Amsterdam.

“We believe this was an attempted act of terrorism,” a White House official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. President Barack Obama is on vacation in Hawaii and was monitoring the situation.

Representative Peter King, who sits on the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, said the explosive device was “fairly sophisticated,” and the suspect was a 23-year-old Nigerian.

“When it did go off, he himself was seriously injured. He has third degree burns. … It appears to be different from what we’ve encountered before,” Mr. King told Fox News.

Speaking to CNN, King, a New York Republican, said the suspect “did appear in a database as far as having a terrorist connection.”

“My understanding is … that he does have al Qaeda connections, certainly extremist terrorist connections, and his name popped up pretty quickly” in a search of intelligence data bases, Mr. King said.

Feminism, Islamist-style: Omaima Hassan urges muslimah to suicide martyrdom

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We are family…..I want all my sisters with me……

Omaima Hassan wife of Osama bin Laden’s right hand man Ayman al-Zawahiri, has urged her sisters to fight alongside their husbands and sons in the jihad against the West. In her first public announcement, (and more than likely her only one) she states that the holy war is an obligation for all Muslims, and encourages the muslimah to become suicide martyrs while abiding by feminine ways……..

This puts a whole new spin on Sister Sledge’s tune ” We are Family” wouldn’t you say?

From ABC News

Al Qaeda Reaches Out to Women

Zawahiri’s Wife Releases Statement, Tells Women They Can Be Suicide Bombers

By MARK SCHONE
Dec. 18, 2009
Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s second-in-command, has been a regular presence on Islamic web sites for years , releasing statements and videos via al-Qaeda‘s propaganda arm that blast the West and urge Muslims to wage holy war. Now his wife may have joined the family business.

PHOTO A grab taken from a video entitled

A grab taken from a video entitled “An invitation to Islam” produced by Al-Qaeda-linked media group as-Sahab and released on the Internet in September, 2006 shows Ayman al-Zawahiri, at an undisclosed date and place.

(AFP/Getty Images)

In what is thought to be her first public statement, Omaima Hassan published a statement on Islamic web sites Thursday that encouraged “Muslim sisters” to assist with jihad, but only in suitably feminine ways. She called supporting jihad “an obligation for all Muslims, men and women.” ABC News could not independently confirm the authenticity of the statement.

In the seven-page letter, after assuring friends and family that she and her husband are safe and well, Hassan outlines the ways in which women can assist their men with jihad. Hassan suggests that women work side by side in defending Islam with their men, but underlines that the most important role for women is to support male mujahideen by caring for their children.

“Jihad is an obligation for every man and woman,” wrote Hassan, “but the way of fighting is not easy for women.”

“Our main role — that I ask God to accept from us — is to preserve the mujahideen in their sons, and homes, and their confidentiality, and to help them raise/develop their children in the best way.”

But Hassan also suggests that women can become suicide bombers, which she refers to as “martyrdom missions.”

——

Follow-up: Please read Phyllis Chesler’s ” Al-Qaeda Tells Women to be Suicide Bombers”

London ‘Mega-mosque’ a clear political sign of Islamic primacy.

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The fact that Ken Livingston is the main force behind this mosque should be enough to concern any true liberal.

If anyone who is reading this or watching this short clip has not already read the short book by Sam Solomon, The Mosque Exposed, it is very important that you do so, for a perspective on what this clip actually means. Even the producers of this clip at CBN do not seem to grasp the full import of it. Mosques are not, nor were they ever an analogue of a church or temple of any kind. They are a beach-head. A toe hold. They are a political and military incursion into an area with the express and exclusive purpose of establishing Islamic primacy and the use of Islamic sharia as the basis of jurisprudence, not just for Muslims but for all. This is not to say that Muslim prayers are not said in them, but the purpose is more political than religious from our frame of reference. From theirs, the distinction is meaningless.

Exclusive: Never before seen footage at Islamburg released first here on Vlad and…

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Gates of Vienna. This is never before released footage from the Christian Action Network.

Some info on all parties:

The Muslims of America have concluded — by some statistical method unknown to everyone else — that Muslims actually form a majority in the United States, and that they are under threat from their domestic and foreign enemies.
Thus they are not waging jihad per se, but simply defending themselves.
Violent jihad is always justified in this manner, because Muslims always feel under threat, and thus always have to defend themselves.
The very existence of non-Muslims constitutes a threat to Islam, and jihad is therefore an act of self-defense in the face of an existential menace.
This is a reminder of why the non-Muslim world is known as Dar al-Harb, the House of War.
[09-12-11 10:11:14 AM] Baron Bodissey: that’s my post
[09-12-11 10:11:18 AM] Baron Bodissey: let me cut it down for you
[09-12-11 10:13:08 AM] Baron Bodissey: For several years the Christian Action Network has conducted a lengthy investigation of Jamaat ul-Fuqra and its front organization, the Muslims of America. Their efforts culminated earlier this year in their movie Homegrown Jihad, which included excerpts from a secret jihad video featuring Sheikh Gilani and JuF mujahideen training with automatic weapons and explosives.
Christian Action Network has recently uncovered another JuF training video. This one features talking-head appearances by two of the American leaders of Jamaat ul-Fuqra, and some previously unreleased footage of live-fire weapons training at the Muslims of America national headquarters at Islamberg, near Hancock, New York.
Additional information on Jamaat ul-Fuqra here:
http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2007/02/charlotte-county-files.html
The Muslims of America have concluded — by some statistical method unknown to everyone else — that Muslims actually form a majority in the United States, and that they are under threat from their domestic and foreign enemies.
Thus they are not waging jihad per se, but simply defending themselves.
Violent jihad is always justified in this manner, because Muslims always feel under threat, and thus always have to defend themselves.
The very existence of non-Muslims constitutes a threat to Islam, and jihad is therefore an act of self-defense in the face of an existential menace.
This is a reminder of why the non-Muslim world is known as Dar al-Harb, the House of War.

Additional information on Jamaat ul-Fuqra here, “The Charlotte County Files”: and here, ‘Muslims are majority of Amerians’

This is an exclusive. This is literally the first place this footage has ever been shown publicly. Please send this link far and wide. It is with permission of the creators of this video. Please do pay attention this is very serious and needs to be seen by all.

More:

For several years the Christian Action Network has conducted a lengthy investigation of Jamaat ul-Fuqra and its front organization, the Muslims of America. Their efforts culminated earlier this year in their movie Homegrown Jihad, which included excerpts from a secret jihad video featuring Sheikh Gilani and JuF mujahideen training with automatic weapons and explosives.

Christian Action Network has recently uncovered another JuF training video. This one features talking-head appearances by two of the American leaders of Jamaat ul-Fuqra, and some previously unreleased footage of live-fire weapons training at the Muslims of America national headquarters at Islamberg, near Hancock, New York. Additional information on Jamaat ul-Fuqra here:

The Muslims of America have concluded — by some statistical method unknown to everyone else — that Muslims actually form a majority in the United States, and that they are under threat from their domestic and foreign enemies. Thus they are not waging jihad per se, but simply defending themselves.

Violent jihad is always justified in this manner, because Muslims always feel under threat, and thus always have to defend themselves.

The very existence of non-Muslims constitutes a threat to Islam, and jihad is therefore an act of self-defense in the face of an existential menace.

This is a reminder of why the non-Muslim world is known as Dar al-Harb, the House of War.

Fort Hood brings in radical Muslim to speak on Islam.

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Apparently the US government’s vetting procedures are not quite as good as google yet.
The US military, or some component of its leadership seems incapable of learning. Once again, we, the secular rational people of the western world have to depend on CBN, The Christian Broadcasting network, to inform us of the clinical certifiable insanity Western nations including the United States engage in, to sustain the illusion of multiculturalism and moral equivalence. Thank you to CBN for carrying the ball where the highly paid, massively staffed and very powerful ‘main stream news’ cannot and it’s incompetence borders on the criminal of Nuremberg proportions.

Links and news. Some worthy articles for today.

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Posting has been light as both Grace and I had the privilege of attending a free speech conference in Ottawa today. Expect to see some videos and articles here from that in the near future. Among the speakers was John Robson, one of my absolute favorites in Canadian journalism as well as Barbara Kay who was also there. Videos will be snippets and up as the various groups allows. As I have been asked to edit some of the footage, there may be bits available soonish.

Here is a Phyllis Chesler article on the Swiss Minaret issue. Nothing much has happened yet as a result of the Swiss vote, but something will most likely. Phyllis points out how we never hear about proportional response when it comes to Muslims. Below, a section of it:

The Islamic world does not allow new synagogues or churches to be built. Further: Muslim fundamentalists currently persecute, torture, and murder those Christians who dare remain in the Middle East, and they kidnap, forcibly convert, and “marry” their very young daughters.

It is time to demand—or at least to expect–reciprocity. Otherwise, we are really being racist in having one (higher) standard for Westerners and another (much lower) standard for the barbarians.

Granted: The West is not as barbaric and intolerant as the Islamic world; we do not willingly wish to become intolerant. Yet, tolerating the intolerant is unwise, or as the Jewish sages tell us: Being kind to the cruel results in cruelty to the kind.

It would apper that now one is a ‘racist’ if one believes that national identity should be allowed and those who wish to impose foreign views on it should not do so. I bet that only applies though if the nation is white. No one seems to think its racist if an Arab state insists that no foreign ideas should even be considered, or if an African state like Zimbabwe actually throws people off of their land or out of their homes on the sole basis of skin color as they did to the white farmers. Then somehow that isn’t racist. But when French citizens feel that French national identity should have something to do with France well that is downright racist. Culture. Use it or lose it. h/t snaphanen

Kadhafi claims that the Swiss Minaret ban is an invitation to Al-queda to attack the Swiss. Kadhafi no doubt thinks that would be an appropriate response. Of course, it would only prove the Swiss, and by extension the rest of Europe who clearly would all ban the building of more minarets if given the chance, correct that a minaret is indeed a symbol of Islamic manifest destiny. If Muslims do terrorist acts on Switzerland for not allowing minarets, then we should be nuking meca for what they do not allow in terms of competing ideologies.H/T TROP

Here is one for ‘The Golden Age of Spain’ file. 9 men arrested for trying to murder a woman they accused of adultery Islamic style.

SPANISH police have arrested nine men suspected of seeking to have a woman killed after they accused her of adultery, claiming they were following Islamic law, authorities said.

The men were arrested on November 14 and seven have been held in jail, a police spokesman said.

According to police, the woman had been taken in March and held in an isolated house in Valls in northeastern Catalonia.

Authorities say the men set up a court there to judge her for adultery.

“These men had formed a kind of court to apply (Islamic) sharia law,” the spokesman said, adding the woman told authorities she was tried and sentenced to death.

She was later able to escape and report what happened to police.

What do you want to bet the BBC does not include this gem on their next feature on the wonders of Al Andaluz?

Lastly, ministers in the UK are told to avoid using certain words that might offend Muslims. Ok thats not news. We are used to that. I mean we all know that if you use words like ‘soap’ or ‘toothpaste’ you might really offend new Muslim immigrants but now even the words ‘Islamist and Fundamentalist’ are on the no speak list. I was kidding about soap and so on obviously but exactly what is it we are allowed to say or that doesn’t offend these tyrants? Oh yeah, welfare, dole, public housing and ‘not guilty on a technicality’ seem to be OK.

Here is a ten second video on English landmarks.


Oh yes and of course, ‘Schtick Muzzie’, Anjem Choudery is at it again with a subtle variation on his usual theme. This time he is trying to annoy the elderly with claims that Jesus would have wanted sharia law. I suppose his marching around with a photoshop of Buckingham Palace with an onion on top was wearing thin with his fan club. I certainly can’t say that I speak for Al Queda, but dollars to donairs I bet AQ and the rest of us do have one thing in Common.

We all think Anjem is a total schmuck.

(this is the one and only video where Anjem uses the classic Bin Laden ‘Jihad Flag’ for his background. We at Vlad are willing to bet he got a call that scared the kebab out of him for being a fake martyr and using that flag as a prop to annoy the yokels.)

Security incident aboard AirTran Flight 297 suggests terror “Dry Run”

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Canada Free Press…By Doug Hagmann  Thursday, December 3, 2009

On November 17, an incident took place aboard AirTran Flight 297 scheduled to fly from Atlanta Hartsfield Airport to Houston that the media does not want to cover and everyone from the airline to the TSA and other government agencies want to keep very quiet.  The reasons, I have been told, is fear of predatory lawsuits, negative publicity from accusations of religious profiling, and the obligatory subjugation to mindless mandatory Muslim sensitivity training that make a mockery of our American system of values. Interestingly, one airline official told me “we don’t want to become another flight 300,” which is a reference to a very similar scenario that took place aboard US Airways Flight 300 exactly three years ago.

I was first contacted about this incident two days after it happened by a passenger who was aboard AirTran Flight 297. Based on the allegations made by this passenger, we conducted additional research, interviews and investigation, all of which takes time to insure accuracy, and are now able to release our report of the incident that took place aboard that aircraft. Be prepared to be shocked, angered, and perhaps saddened by our national and corporate acquiescence to mafia-type tactics by Islamists who are engaged in a full frontal assault, and laughing about it.

Unsurprisingly, the facts we developed during the course of our investigation are inconsistent with those being reported in the media, despite the media having the responsibility to report the truth.

The incident

A group of thirteen men dressed in traditional Muslim attire were among 73 passengers who boarded AirTran Flight 297 on Tuesday, 17 November 2009, a routine flight scheduled to depart Atlanta Hartsfield Airport, gate C-16 at 4:43 PM ET to Houston Hobby Airport. Reports developed by this investigator found two witnesses who observed direct interaction among all of these Muslim men at the terminal.

As the passengers boarded the aircraft, two of the Muslim men took seats in first class, while the remaining eleven were seated throughout the remaining rows of the aircraft. Most had carrying-on bags that they stowed in the overhead compartments above their seats.

As the aircraft began to taxi to the runway, a female flight attendant was beginning to issue the normal passenger advisories over the PA system. Almost on cue at the time passengers were told to turn off all electronic devices, one of the Muslim men seated in the front of the plane began to use his cell phone in a manner that was described by a flight attendant and passenger “as deliberate and obvious.”  He was talking loudly in Arabic, nearly at the level of the flight attendant. Some reports suggest that this man actually called another Muslim passenger, although this has not been immediately confirmed. It is possible, however, as another passenger reported that a Muslim man seated toward the rear of the plane answered his cellular phone at the same time the man in the front began using his.

At this point, the flight attendant in the front of the plane approached the Muslim man using his telephone and instructed him to immediately turn it off. A second female flight attendant did the same at the rear of the aircraft. Concurrent with this cellular activity, two other Muslim men seated adjacent near the middle of the aircraft began operating what one passenger described as a palm type camcorder, ostensibly to view previously taken footage. It is possible, according to one flight attendant interviewed by this investigator, however, that the camcorder was being used for recording purposes. Whatever its use, a third flight attendant, aware of the incidents taking place in the front and rear of the aircraft, approached the two men for the purpose of securing the camcorder.  At least two passengers reported that the men became abusive to the flight attendant and initially refused to comply with her request.

It was at this time that most of the passengers began to notice the multiple incidents involving over a dozen men dressed in Islamic attire. Next, as if previously rehearsed, at least ten of the 13 Muslim men aboard the aircraft began to leave their seats at the same time. At least one passenger stated she observed one of the Muslim passengers using his cell phone to take photos of other passengers on the aircraft, while one other Muslim passenger sang loudly in Arabic. According to information provided to this investigator from one of the flight crew who was alerted to an onboard emergency, the aircraft was now being taxied back to the terminal. The TSA, FAA and FBI were notified. Continue Reading →

Tots transformed into jihadists, courtesy Islamic Jihad Union, al-Qaeda

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When I was a child I asked my mother if there was indeed a place called Hell and a Satan who lived there. She told me that they both did in fact exist, but not in the pictorial, fiery underbelly sense. Instead she said, Hell was a place on earth and the work of Satan was commissioned through humans void of any compassion, reason, empathy, tolerance or love.

Mighty big words for a youngster, but for any loving parent, human values to be taught to tots long before they are capable of fully understanding their broader context or good worth. Of all the stories that I have researched and covered on Islamist extremism, this one has brought me closest to those who would inhabit the pit of Hell and exist as Satan’s proxy. I now understand fully my mother’s words and as a mother myself, deplore anyone who would commit their children to dance for the Devil.

The following story comes from this Hell.

Grace for Vlad.

From The Sun U.K., courtesy TROP

Al-Qaeda tot stunt

By SIMON HUGHES
Chief Investigative Reporter

Gun girl … child forced to pose with AK-47 rifle

A TINY girl aged barely two sucks her fingers in childish innocence – while grasping an AK-47 assault rifle almost as big as her.

The tot, in full Muslim dress, was made to pose with the weapon dubbed the “Widowmaker” as part of a sickening propaganda stunt staged by extremists of the Islamic Jihad Union, linked to al-Qaeda.

Harrowing ... youngsters wield terrorist rifles

Harrowing … youngsters wield terrorist rifles

The group – who target British and US troops from lairs on the Afghan border with Pakistan – also pictured the girl and five other toddlers with heavy weapons in front of a black Islamic flag.

Three boys aged five or six wield rifles in another chilling image posted online.

Link: Child Of Terror

Hizbullah: Big security fear is Al Queda

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h/t Islam in Europe

From The National.ae

Hizbollah goes public with security worries

Mitchell Prothero, Foreign Correspondent

  • Last Updated: November 03. 2009 9:53PM UAE / November 3. 2009 5:53PM GMT

Hizbollah militants stand at attention during a service for a recently assassinated commander. Tara Todras-Whitehill / AP

Beirut // A series of mysterious events along Lebanon’s tense border with Israel, as well as growing concern that the Shiite community could be targeted by Sunni militants, had pushed Hizbollah to increase security to previously unseen levels, according to members of the Shiite movement, as well as independent observers.

Hizbollah officials and members say the group faces a series of threats that, when combined, pose some of the greatest security challenges that the group has seen since the end of the Lebanese civil war in the 1980s.

“We have moved to the highest state of alert we have,” said one Hizbollah military commander, who is responsible for security in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where the group’s top officials and infrastructure is based.

“Between the arrest of over 70 Zionist spies in the last year, threats from Sunni groups with al Qa’eda and the incidents in the south, we have moved to our highest state of alert for internal security,” the commander said, speaking on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the press. “And we have had to act to prepare for an Israeli attack this winter.”

“In 20 years, I have never seen Hizbollah this paranoid and worried about security incidents,” said a resident of the southern suburbs with close ties to the group, who declined to be named

“We always thought they were paranoid before, but I think they have found a way to be even more so.”

Hizbollah’s armed forces are divided into a security wing, which protects Hizbollah facilities and the communities of its followers, and a military wing whose focus is Israel.

The primary concern for Hizbollah’s security wing at the moment has been a reported influx of Sunni jihadists from across the region who are drawn to Lebanon because of its poor internal security, proximity to Israel and its large population of Shiites, said the military wing official.

“The Qa’eda guys want to target us, you can see their statements on the internet about targeting the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon,” he said. “Now we are seeing new things in many of the Sunni neighbourhoods: Women wearing the niqab, men who dress like Afghans or Pakistanis. We have put many of them under surveillance, but we know that real Qa’eda guys will cut their beards and dress as westerners to avoid us. Continue Reading →

Terrorists enter Britain as students, visitors

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From The Telegraph U.K.

Hidden threat from al-Qaeda sleeper cells

Al-Qaeda terrorists are exploiting loose visa and immigration rules to enter Britain, the security services fear.

By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent
Published: 10:00PM GMT 27 Nov 2009

Counter-terrorism police and Whitehall officials believe dozens of extremists could have arrived here by posing as students or legitimate visitors.

They are concerned both by the relatively lax checks that are made on the visitors before they arrive and by the ease with which they can outstay their visas without anyone noticing.

As many as 13,000 visa applicants may have entered the country from Pakistan in a seven month period since October last year without any checks on their supporting documentation.

The security services fear that because most do not mix with home grown terrorists, they are able to operate under the intelligence radar, acting as sleeper cells until ready to launch attacks in Britain.

Every year around 100,000 visitors arrive in Britain from Pakistan alone, which has been described by the Prime Minister as being part of a “crucible of terror” along with Afghanistan.

They are supposed to be checked by Home Office visa staff working in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

But according to an official watchdog, the Independent Monitor for Entry Clearance, many visa officers do not have “enough time to go through applications carefully”.

The security services are also worried about arrivals from Somalia, Yemen and North Africa. Continue Reading →