Category Archives: Diana West

It May Not Be “Formal Doctrine,” But the Marine Corps Is Teaching Islamic Law

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part of the article from:

Diana West.net

 

Written by: Diana West
Thursday, December 01, 2011 12:28 PM 

“Hey Jack, which way to Mecca?”

Peter Arno, The New Yorker, 1938

—

This week’s syndicated column:

Having written countless columns and blog posts arguing that the see-no-Islam counterinsurgency strategy (COIN) has led to failure in two wars in the umma and the dhimmification of the U.S. military, it’s almost funny to see the debate more or less officially joined over my recent column on what appears to be simply the gross-out, PG-13 movie topic of peeing toward Mecca. Or, rather, not peeing toward Mecca.

The latter is the lesson that an Afghan Muslim contractor has been teaching Marines before they deploy to Afghanistan, in accordance with an Islamic canonical hadith called “The Prohibition of Facing the Qiblah When Relieving Oneself.” But maybe the debate had to take this excretory turn with the Pentagon awash in the phony fundamentals of Greg Mortenson’s discredited “Three Cups of Tea.”

Scatological or not, what we are talking about here is an untenable invasion of privacy of American citizens in uniform via religious dictate as taught by the U.S. Marine Corps.

The Nov. 28 print edition of Marine Corps Times carries both an article and a lead editorial on what the paper is politely calling “excretory etiquette” regarding Marines and Mecca – which, incidentally, is about 2,000 miles from Afghanistan. But this isn’t just about etiquette. Given its Islamic religious derivation, the Marines’ excretory instruction strikes me as a violation of religious freedom. Who is the U.S. Marine Corps to instruct American citizens to bring their personal hygiene practices into accord with Islamic law? The Corps in this case is acting as a vehicle of Islamic law, which comprehensively rules on all manner of personal habits, as well as on civil and legal affairs.

Needless to say, the Marine Corps doesn’t see it that way. Its spokesmen have contended narrowly that this lesson taught by a contractor (hired by the Corps) isn’t “formal Marine Corps doctrine,” as the Marine Corps Times editorial puts it. Formal or not, the editors also don’t think this Marine Shariah (Islamic law) is a bad idea. Headlined “Respect differences,” the editorial states: “Thing is, there’s value to this sort of insight.” Perhaps in the name of respecting “differences”?

Heavens, no. This is all about respecting Islam, not “differences.” After all, if it were about “differences,” the respect in question would extend to the non-Islamic belief that not all bodily functions taking place on planet Earth must key off the location of a town in Saudi Arabia. To each his own.

That’s not the editorial’s subject. The value, it says, comes “in light of the tense conditions under which both groups must coexist.”

Tense conditions – as in border firefights? Roadside bombs? No, again. The editorial refers to tensions between Muslims and infidels inside the wire. “Consider that in the last four years,” the editorial continues, “nearly 60 coalition troops have been killed by their Afghan counterparts.”

Please click through for the rest of this article.

Destruction of Copts Is Islamically Correct

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From Diana West:

Written by: Diana West
Friday, October 14, 2011 3:28 AM 

Coptic funeral, Muslim generals

This week’s syndicated column:

I am looking at a reproduction of an old engraving of Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulcher. It is in Bat Ye’or’s book “The Dhimmi,” which collects primary documents from history to chronicle the impact of Islamic law on non-Muslims through the centuries.

What is notable about the image, which is based on an 1856 photograph, is that the church, said to be at the site of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion and burial, has no cross and no belfry. Stripped of its Christian symbols, the church stood in compliance with the Islamic law and traditions of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire, which ruled Jerusalem at the time.

I went back to the book to find this image for a reason. It had to do with last weekend’s massacre of two dozen Coptic Christians in Cairo by Egyptian military and street mobs, which also left hundreds wounded. The unarmed Copts were protesting the destruction of yet another church in Egypt, St. George’s, which on Sept. 30 was set upon by thousands of Muslim men following Friday prayers. Why? The trigger was repair work on the building – work that the local council and governor had approved.

Does that explanation make any sense? Not to anyone ignorant of Islamic law. Unfortunately, that criterion includes virtually all media reporting the story.

Raymond Ibrahim, an Islam specialist, Arabic speaker and author of “The Al Qaeda Reader” (Broadway, 2007), catalogs the key sequence of events that turned a church renovation project into terror and flames. With repair work in progress, he writes online at Hudson New York, “It was not long before local Muslims began complaining, making various demands, including that the church be devoid of crosses and bells – even though the permit approved them – citing that ‘the cross irritates Muslims and their children.'”

Please click over to DW.NET for the rest

 

Missing: The Face of the Age

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(I feel it should be mentioned, both Ezra Levant and Michael Coren on Canada’s SUN TV have shown the cartoons more than once, and in fact, whenever it was relevant)

From Diana West:

Written by: Diana West
Friday, September 16, 2011 4:27 AM

This week’s syndicated column:

Having passed the 10th anniversary of 9/11, I can now say with certainty that something major was missing from all of the ceremonies, the symbolism and the media coverage. It was something that not only captures the meaning of the attacks themselves, but better defines our response to them than any other single thing. It is the face of the age itself, and it is not Osama bin Laden’s.

I refer to the most familiar of the 12 Danish Muhammad cartoons, the one by Kurt Westergaard. I always think of this world-famous drawing as “Bomb-head Muhammad,” for the lit bomb that serves as Muhammad’s turban. (This is no fantastical image, as we learned last month when Afghan President Hamid Karzai prevailed upon local imams to implore their flocks to stop putting bombs in their turbans after three separate assassinations via turban bombs took place.)

I say “world-famous drawing,” but have you ever actually seen this cartoon printed in a newspaper, or shown on a news broadcast? No. With exceptions to be counted on one hand, this ultra-potent image has never received mainstream media display, despite its almost continual newsworthiness.

Yes, the media have covered the most violent eruptions of jihad that Muslims still wage against Denmark for having a free press with the temerity to function in dereliction of Islamic law. These have ranged from Islamic rioting that killed more than 100 people, to Islamic attacks on Danish interests, to Islamic boycotts of Danish products, to Islamic plots against the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, to this week’s Islamic security threat against Westergaard that sent him home early from a trip to Norway.

Please click through to Diana West.net for the rest

Michigan Court Establishes “Blasphemy”-Free, No-Go-Zone for Islam

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From Diana West

Written by: Diana West
Sunday, April 24, 2011 6:17 AM 

Writing  at The Corner, Nina Shea recaps the latest in the saga of Terry Jones, who has been trying to take a peaceful, non-flammable protest of sharia and jihad to the sidewalk outside the largest mosque in America in Dearborn, Michigan only to be outlawed by the Michigan District Court. Like all other envelop-pushing cases, this latest incident serves as a stress test of the rule of law in our society. And, like most other such envelop-pushing cases,  it proves that the rule of law is strong —  only the law that is strong is sharia (Islamic) law.

The Michigan District Court’s egregious ruling against Jones is all about protecting Islam from criticism, rather than about protecting criticism from Islam, which is what US jurisprudence, not to mention the American Way, demands. It is sharia that the US court is enforcing.

One particularly hideous aspect of the ruling bars Pastor Jones and his colleague Assistant Pastor Wayne Sapp from visiting the vicinity of this mosque for the next three years.

For the rest of this article please click over to Diana West.net

Diana West on ‘Catch and release’ policy in Afghanistan.

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Add this to the piece we republished on the policy towards Somali pirates even caught with booty, weapons and slaves.

This is the beginning of the article. Please click here to Diana West’s webpage to read it all.

Recon Marine Cpl. Todd Love (above) got a hero’s welcome in his hometown of Acworth, Georgia this week. Love lost both legs and his left arm in an IED explosion in Afghanistan a few months ago. The Washington Examiner story below by Sara Carter tells us that even if US  forces had photographed the bomber in the act and captured him with bomb traces on his hands, they would then have had to feed him, clothe him … and let him go.

This is another Afghanistan scandal that should get Congress pounding tables and demanding answers from the Pentagon and the White House. It should get readers doing the same. After all, we pay $350 million a day for this.

Carter writes:

Several Taliban detainees who had been captured in February after being observed placing bombs in the culverts of roads used by civilians and military convoys near Kandahar were fed, given medical treatment, then released by American troops frustrated by a policy they say is forcing them to kick loose enemies who are trying to kill them.

(Over to Diana West.net for the rest please.)

Diana West: Culture Check 2011

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Diana West.net

What happens when Everyguy Icon Bill O’Reilly pushes the calamitous absurdity that Pastor Terry Jones “has blood on his hands,” and Hezbollah puts a $2.4 million bounty on Jones’ head?

We don’t know.

We do know the epic scale of invective hurled at Jones the world over has helped turn  this American citizen who has broken no law but Islam’s into a moving target. But it has also objectified a human being. When Jones is gratuitously disparaged as a “kook,” a “nut,” an “insane Christian” (as O’Reilly said), and much, much worse for his (perfectly logical) symbolic act of putting on trial  and burning a copy of a book that codifies conquest and enslavement, supremacism and bigotry, Jones is making a statement. Just as Fitna made a statement. Just as the Pope’s Regensberg Address made a statement. Just as the publication — and particularly the re-publication — of the Danish Motoons made a statement. These statements vary but none of them violate legal, peaceful means of expression. None of them caused the murder and mayhem many Muslims engaged in in illegal and violent and Islamically sanctioned reaction. Geert Wilders is no more responsible for the murders of two Dutch soldiers in Afghanistan following the release of Fitna than the Pope is responsible for the murder of an elderly nun in Somalia following his Regensberg Address than Pastor Jones is responsible for the murders of UN personnel and others in Afghanistan following his Koran-burning act — heretofore unnoticed, by the way, until Hamid Karzai publicly denounced it and called for Jones’ arrest.  (It would be most interesting to know the hidden chain of events that drew Karzai into this.)

But just as the nature of the Islamic world is revealed by its reaction to these peaceful if robust critiques, so, too, is the nature of the Western world revealed. It is an ugly thing. Like Pavlovic  robots, our dhimmified, mentally besieged peoples rush to protect Islam, to ward off “disrespect” of its chief symbol — its “holy” book —  like primitives engaging in a communal fetish. In so doing, they desert our un-Islamic, indeed, anti-Islamic freedoms, leaving them unguarded and devalued. In the case of Jones, a rural preacher with a big mustache, they isolate and dehumanize a man at the margins of the public square they dominate. Our elites, our leaders, society at large have thus marked Jones for discard with the 21st-century equivalent of a scarlet letter “A” (apostasy  against sharia). Such objectified contempt, as history shows us, is a perilous state of being

But note: Just as society objectifies Jones the living, breathing human being, society endows the book, the thing, the object he burned in protest with a spirit, rights, even a sensitive nature that demands the utmost consideration and respect of all.

Culture Check 2011: Jones the Man is spurned and objectified. The Koran the Thing is elevated, anthropomorpized, made … incarnate.

We are way into the danger zone.

Diana West on what we hope is the Vox Populi

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I must say, that woman who made those 2 excellent videos on the Koran burning may be destined for some real recognition and deserved celebrity. Lets hope so. Below, Diana West’s article on her and her videos. No worries about taking them down though. The moment they disappear, IF they disappear, they will reappear as one file on a site which allows embeds, and youtube has no control over.

Apr 5

Written by: Diana West
Tuesday, April 05, 2011 5:42 AM 

VS.

Below, I am posting links to a 2-part video by a gal in Colorado named Ann Barnhardt whom I am most pleased to call a fellow citizen — as opposed to such fellow citizens as the craven Lindsey Graham, the battle-stressed David Petraeus and the Islamophile Barack Obama (?), to name a few of the most prominent dhimmis functioning in and dominating the public space.

About that public space: It’s extremely hard to get a word in there — hard to stand out against the static, hard to punch through the murk of propaganda and appeasement that serves as an excuse for news and policy. Punching through becomes the work of activists, lightning rods, so-called “zealots,” people whom it is all too easy for gloss-encased, college-pedigreed elites to dismiss as “nuts,” and worse. Random, recent examples here, here.

But, folks — due to the emergency crisis in our leadership, civilian and military, professional and clerical, and their total surrender to Islam, as evidenced never before more gut-wrenchingly than in this latest Afghan-massacre-queued capitulation by the presidency (no surprise, obviously), by the military command, by the Congress, by  the media, by the undefinable but still perceptible “consensus” — we are down to these supposed “nuts” and lightning rods. God bless them and America.

The fact is, I could write a (relatively) non-“nutty” syndicated column a week for 10 years on the copiously, redundantly, patently documented evils of Islam (gee, come to think of it …). I could get lots of supportive mail that I deeply appreciate, refine my arguments, work on a book or two (half) on related subjects, give talks at home and even abroad — and what. Nothing changes. No ignition — except, of course, that of the country, which continues, hell-in-handbasket-style, to go up in smoke, which is a far stretch worse than a single copy of the Koran burning; or, as our dhimmified, diss-able “leaders” prefer, aping the “a la mode,” the holy Qu’ran. Continue Reading →

Obama ‘community organizing’ in France. Apparently only Muslims and blacks.

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Please go to Dianna West’s site to read an analysis on this. I am reluctant to use any adjective on this issue as I haven’t yet managed to quantify something of this magnitude. I can ask the usual question though. Of course Bush would simply not have done anything like this. But if he had, how loud would his detractors be about it?

Eeyore for Vlad

From WIKILEAKS:

January 19, 2010:

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 PARIS 000058

SUBJECT: EMBASSY PARIS - MINORITY ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY

Classified By: Ambassador Charles H. Rivkin, Reasons 1.4(b),(d).

1. (C/NF) SUMMARY: In keeping with France's unique history
and circumstances, Embassy Paris has created a Minority
Engagement Strategy that encompasses, among other groups, the
French Muslim population and responds to the goals outlined
in reftel A. Our aim is to engage the French population at
all levels in order to amplify France's efforts to realize
its own egalitarian ideals, thereby advancing U.S. national
interests. While France is justifiably proud of its leading
role in conceiving democratic ideals and championing human
rights and the rule of law, French institutions have not
proven themselves flexible enough to adjust to an
increasingly heterodox demography. We believe that if
France, over the long run, does not successfully increase
opportunity and provide genuine political representation for
its minority populations, France could become a weaker, more
divided country, perhaps more crisis-prone and
inward-looking, and consequently a less capable ally. To
support French efforts to provide equal opportunity for
minority populations, we will engage in positive discourse;
set a strong example; implement an aggressive youth outreach
strategy; encourage moderate voices; propagate best
practices; and deepen our understanding of the underlying
causes of inequality in France. We will also integrate the
efforts of various Embassy sections, target influential
leaders among our primary audiences, and evaluate both
tangible and intangible indicators of the success of our
strategy. END SUMMARY.

--------------------------------------------- -----
BACKGROUND: THE CRISIS OF REPRESENTATION IN FRANCE
--------------------------------------------- -----

2. (C/NF) France has long championed human rights and the
rule of law, both at home and abroad, and justifiably
perceives itself as a historic leader among democratic
nations. This history and self-perception will serve us well
as we implement the strategy outlined here, in which we press
France toward a fuller application of the democratic values
it espouses. This strategy is necessary because French
institutions have not proven themselves flexible enough to
adjust to the country's increasingly heterodox demography.
Very few minorities hold leadership positions in France's
public institutions. As President Sarkozy's own Diversity
Czar Yazid Sabeg told Ambassador Rivkin in December, the
National Assembly "serves as a mirror of the crisis of
representation in France" (reftel B). The National Assembly,
among its 577 deputies, has a single black member from
metropolitan France (excluding its island territories), but
does not have any elected representatives of Muslim or Arab
extraction, though this minority group alone represents
approximately 10 percent of the population. The Senate has
two Muslim Senators (out of 343), but no black
representatives and only a few Senators hail from other
ethnic or religious minorities. Sabeg also noted that none
of France's approximately 180 Ambassadors is black, and only
one is of North African descent. Despite Sarkozy's
appointment of leaders such as Rachida Dati, Fidela Amara and
Rama Yade, minorities continue to confront a very thick glass
ceiling in France's public institutions. The French media
remains overwhelmingly white, with only modest increases in
minority representation on camera for major news broadcasts.
Among French elite educational institutions, we are only
aware that Sciences Po has taken serious steps to integrate.
While slightly better represented in private organizations,
minorities in France lead very few corporations and
foundations. Thus the reality of French public life defies
the nation's egalitarian ideals. In-group, elitist politics
still characterize French public institutions, while extreme
right, xenophobic policies hold appeal for a small (but
occasionally influential) minority. Post will continue to
explore other underlying causes of the social, political and
economic barriers impeding the advancement of minorities in
France (see Tactic 6, below).

3. (C/NF) France suffers consequences when its leading
institutions fail to reflect the composition of its
population. We believe France has not benefited fully from
the energy, drive, and ideas of its minorities. Despite some
French claims to serve as a model of assimilation and
meritocracy, undeniable inequities tarnish France's global
image and diminish its influence abroad. In our view, a
sustained failure to increase opportunity and provide genuine
political representation for its minority populations could
render France a weaker, more divided country. The
geopolitical consequences of France's weakness and division
will adversely affect U.S. interests, as we need strong
partners in the heart of Europe to help us promote democratic

PARIS 00000058 002 OF 004

values. Moreover, social exclusion has domestic consequences
for France, including the alienation of some segments of the
population, which can in turn adversely affect our own
efforts to fight global networks of violent extremists. A
thriving, inclusive French polity will help advance our
interests in expanding democracy and increasing stability
worldwide.

-------------------------------
A STRATEGY FOR FRANCE: OUR AIMS
-------------------------------

4. (C/NF) The overarching goal of our minority outreach
strategy is to engage the French population at all levels in
order to help France to realize its own egalitarian ideals.
Our strategy has three broad target audiences in mind: (1)
the majority, especially the elites; (2) minorities, with a
focus on their leaders; (3) and the general population.
Employing the seven tactics described below, we aim (1) to
increase awareness among France's elites of the benefits of
expanding opportunity and the costs of maintaining the status
quo; (2) to improve the skills and grow the confidence of
minority leaders who seek to increase their influence; (3)
and to communicate to the general population in France that
we particularly admire the diversity and dynamism of its
population, while emphasizing the advantages of profiting
from those qualities by expanding opportunities for all.

--------------------------------------
TACTIC 1: ENGAGE IN POSITIVE DISCOURSE
--------------------------------------

5. (C/NF) First, we will focus our discourse on the issue of
equal opportunity. When we give public addresses about the
community of democracies, we will emphasize, among the
qualities of democracy, the right to be different, protection
of minority rights, the value of equal opportunity, and the
importance of genuine political representation. In private
meetings, we will deliberately direct questions about equal
opportunity in France to high-level, non-minority French
leaders. Rather than retreating from discussions involving
two sacred cows in France -- the concepts of "secularism" and
"communitarianism" -- we will engage French leaders directly
about the role that their terminology and intellectual
frameworks could play in creating (or diminishing) equality
of opportunity in France. We will endeavor to convey the
costs to France of the under-representation of minorities,
highlighting the benefits we have accumulated, over time, by
working hard to chip away at the various impediments faced by
American minorities. We will, of course, continue to adopt a
humble attitude regarding our own situation in the U.S., but
nevertheless will stress the innumerable benefits accruing
from a proactive approach to broad social inclusion,
complementing our French partners on any positive steps they
take. In addition, we will continue and intensify our work
with French museums and educators to reform the history
curriculum taught in French schools, so that it takes into
account the role and perspectives of minorities in French
history.

------------------------------
TACTIC 2: SET A STRONG EXAMPLE
------------------------------

6. (C/NF) Second, we will employ the tool of example. We
will continue and expand our efforts to bring minority
leaders from the U.S. to France, working with these American
leaders to convey an honest sense of their experience to
French minority and non-minority leaders alike. When we send
French leaders to America, we will include, as often as
possible, a component of their trip that focuses on equal
opportunity. In the Embassy, we will continue to invite a
broad spectrum of French society to our events, and avoid, as
appropriate, hosting white-only events, or minority-only
events. We will be inclusive, working in this way to break
down barriers, facilitate communication, and expand networks.
By bringing together groups who would not otherwise interact
together, the Embassy will continue to use its cachet to
create networking opportunities that cut through traditional
cultural and social barriers in France.

------------------------------------------
TACTIC 3: LAUNCH AGGRESSIVE YOUTH OUTREACH
------------------------------------------

7. (C/NF) Third, we will continue and expand our youth
outreach efforts in order to communicate about our shared
values with young French audiences of all socio-cultural
backgrounds. Leading the charge on this effort, the
Ambassador's inter-agency Youth Outreach Initiative aims to
engender a positive dynamic among French youth that leads to
greater support for U.S. objectives and values. Some

PARIS 00000058 003 OF 004

elements of our Youth Outreach Initiative have particular
importance for minorities, including:

-- Drawing heavily on new media, we aim first to build trust
and gain understanding among French youth from diverse
backgrounds.

-- While reinforcing mutual trust and understanding, we seek
to help France's next generation improve their capacity to
lead in their communities, while also conveying the
importance of transcending the bounds of their own
communities in order to make a broader, national impact.

-- To achieve these aims, we will build on the expansive
Public Diplomacy programs already in place at post, and
develop creative, additional means to influence the youth of
France, employing new media, corporate partnerships,
nationwide competitions, targeted outreach events, especially
invited U.S. guests.

-- We will also develop new tools to identify, learn from,
and influence future French leaders. Continue Reading →

The Sharia Reich: Three Years in Prison for Criticizing Islam?

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From Diana West at Big Peace:

A. Millar rightly calls our attention to the increasingly urgent case of Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, a brave Austrian who faces the possibility of three years in prison in  Austria for delivering a lecture on the Islamic threat to liberty — a factual, sourced lecture on the Islamic threat to liberty.

The headline asks the question: “Lawfare in Austria: Is Truth Illegal?” With Geert Wilders currently standing (kangaroo) trial in the Netherlands for similar “crimes” — in essence, devising a political program to respond to a factual, sourced understanding of the Islamic threat to liberty –  the question answers itself. The dhimmi-powers that be in the West desperately want to outlaw such facts about Islam, in the process rendering truth too dangerous to touch, speak, think about, comprehend and master. Will they succeed? Not if Elisabeth and Geert  and their growing numbers of supporters can help it.

Jihad at the Cordoba Cathedral: Halfway to a Whole Mosque?

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An excellent article by Diana West:

Photo: Inside the Cordoba Cathedral, the architectural legacy of its pre-13th century existence as Cordoba’s Great Mosque, which was built from Cordoba’s pre-8th century cathedral dedicated to Saint Vincent.

—

As noted in Andrew Bostom’s essay debunking the just-can’t-shake-it myth of Islamic “tolerance” in Muslim Spain, by the middle of the 8th century, the cathedral in Cordoba dedicated to Saint Vincent had been “converted” to a Muslim mosque. However, as 19th-century scholar of Muslim Spain (and Islamophile) Reinhart Dozy writes, this was “clearly an act of spoilation as well as an infraction of the treaty” between Cordoba Christians and the invading Arab Muslims.

All the churches in that city [Cordoba] had been destroyed except the cathedral, dedicated to Saint Vincent, but the possession of this fane [church or temple] had been guaranteed by treaty. For several years the treaty was observed; but when the population of Cordova was increased by the arrival of Syrian Arabs [i.e., Muslims], the mosques did not provide sufficient accommodation for the newcomers, and the Syrians considered it would be well for them to adopt the plan which had been carried out at Damascus, Emesa [Homs], and other towns in their own country, of appropriating half of the cathedral and using it as a mosque. The [Muslim] Government having approved of the scheme, the Christians were compelled to hand over half of the edifice. This was clearly an act of spoliation, as well as an infraction of the treaty. Some years later, Abd-er Rahman I requested the Christians to sell him the other half. This they firmly refused to do, pointing out that if they did so they would not possess a single place of worship. Abd-er Rahman, however, insisted, and a bargain was struck by which the Christians ceded their cathedral. Continue Reading →

Diana West: Eyeless in Afghanistan

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Written by: Diana West

Friday, August 06, 2010 3:18 AM 

This week’s column:

“Live our values,” Gen. David Petraeus wrote recently to troops in Afghanistan. “This is what distinguishes us from our enemies.”

Unfortunately, this is also what distinguishes us from many of our “friends.” This culture-chasm is what makes the infidel struggle for hearts and minds across Islamic lands so recklessly, wastefully futile, something I was once again reminded of on reading Time magazine’s cover story featuring 18-year-old Aisha. Aisha is a lovely Afghan girl whose husband and brother-in-law, on instructions from a local judge and Taliban commander, sliced off her ears and nose and left her dying to set an example for other wives thinking of running away from abusive in-laws. Only her discovery by U.S. troops saved Aisha’s life.

But where was Aisha’s father? Where was her family? Where were her town’s elders? Where was Hamid Karzai? Turns out her family did nothing to protect her from the Taliban, Time writes. Why? The magazine describes a mixture of fear and shame that I hope still strikes the average American family as so foreign as extra-terrestrials. Time further explains: “A girl who runs away is automatically considered a prostitute … and families that allow them back home would be subject to widespread ridicule.” When Aisha’s father enticed her home with promises of a new husband, the girl refused because she was fearful that her family would sell her into slavery, or murder her. Continue Reading →

Mega mosque at ground zero, and what it really means.

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I am so glad someone made this video. When I was interviewing Sam Solomon when he was in Ottawa June 7th, I was desperately trying to word questions to get this exact set of ideas out of him. What I got was on fact better than I had hoped, however this was what I was after. Mosques are not an analogue for a church or any other religious building. They are, exactly as Sam Solomon said, a place to plan wars, to inflame the troops, a school, a community center and the center of Islamic life. But also, they are a symbol of conquest over the Kuffar.

Very big thanks to Diana West for sending me this excellent video.

Just-Not-Mohammed’s-Face Book

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Written by: Diana West From Diana West.net

Tuesday, June 01, 2010 4:50 AM 

AFP Photo: Enlightened Bangleshis weigh in on free speech — and ban Facebook, too.

—

Islamic masters win another round.

From the AP:

Pakistan has lifted a ban on Facebook after the social networking site apologised for a page deemed offensive to Muslims and removed its contents.

Two weeks ago Facebook was blocked after a member used it to encourage people to post images of the Prophet Mohamed.

Slick AP Stylebook submission. What I refer to is the reference to “the Prophet Mohamed” — not “the Islamic prophet Mohammed,” or, as my 1988 AP Stylebook suggests, just “Mohammed,” period, described as “the founder of the Islamic religion.”

“In response to our protest, Facebook has tendered their apology and informed us that all the sacrilegious material has been removed,” said Najibullah Malik, from the information technology ministry. But at least 1,000 “sacrilegious” web pages that were also blocked will remain inaccessible.

Pathetic.

Another AP report on the story adds:

Facebook assured the Pakistani government that “nothing of this sort will happen in the future,” said Malik.

Good social-dhimmi networking site.

The New York Times fills in with more gory details, including results of a recent poll of 8,000 Pakistani voters, 73 percent of whom wanted Facebook permanently banned, and the emergence of two Muslim social networking sites (“Pakistan” does mean “land of the pure [Muslim],” after all). The Times then wonders: “But where are Pakistan’s liberal and moderate voices?”

It doesn’t matter where they are. What matters is that they ain’t got no stinkin’ critical mass to make a dime’s worth of difference.

Meanwhile, in this video (below), the Pakistani Lawyers Forum gives off a strong whiff of an impression that Facebook’s submission just isn’t good enough.

South Park creators truly worthy of respect.

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Kurt Westergaard in my view is a hero. Not because he drew the Moetoon, that was his job and he had no clue what was to happen as a result. But because he wears the mantle of free speech martyr with great dignity and courage every day. I have met Kurt Westergaard and my impression of him, is of an unusually decent man who admires the arts and good things civilization offers and would like to live his life in pretty much any way other than he does as a  result of the Islamic worlds irrational and dare I say, somewhat arbitrary rage at his drawings.

Mr. Westergaard did not attempt to placate Islam or its adherents. He stoically spoke out in countless interviews and in many countries on the importance of free speech. He continues to live under very difficult conditions when, like Salman Rushdie, perhaps he could have kowtowed to Islam and won a sort of freedom at the expense of his principles.

This makes him a hero in that his actions led to hard choices and he made the best one for all of us, yet the most difficult for himself.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone however knew exactly what they where getting into when they did the 200th episode-anniversary show a chunk of which is below.

As you can see, Matt Stone and Trey Parker ask some perhaps less than obvious but very important questions. If it is forbidden to show an image of Mohamed, then what constitutes an image? Is a line with a circle on top OK? What about if it is a drawing within a drawing like we draw a big bear and say it is a costume within which, is a drawing of Mohamed. In the interview below, both these men quite clearly explain that one must not change principles because one group threatens you. Either it is OK to criticize irrational religious belief, or it is not. And this makes them heroes in my book.

Lastly, here is the all too predictable Muslim Outrage video over even the non-showing of Mohamed in the South Park episode. It is the usual crap but is clearly a threat on the lives of the creators of South park. Skip it if you want.

One last thing that really needs saying, South Park did an episode before the Danish Cartoon where they actually did show Mohamed as the religious leader with the power of flame. There was no reaction to it at all even though that episode probably reached thousands of times more people than the Danish cartoons ever would have, had it not been for the reaction to them.

This shows you that this has nothing to do with religious sensitivities, but to a growing political threat by Islam to the west. That Muslims are to set the agenda for what is OK for us to say, do, eat and think and how we live and not ourselves. Not that this changes anything. If it was about religious sacred imagery I would still say and do still say that the most important right civilization has, is to mock irrational religious authority. However this isn’t the real issue here. It is about control. History from the Super Best Friends episode of South park, to the Danish cartoons episode, to now prove that out.

Eeyore for Vlad Tepes Blog with a huge hat tip and thanks to the stalwart Diana West.

*****   Addendum *****

It would appear that youtube removed the video threatening the lives of the men who created South park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone. I understand completely why they did it. Youtube AKA Google cannot let itself be seen as the vector for death threats. Even so, while sympathetic, I think its equally important that we, the rest of us, be able to expose the mentality in the interest of eradicating it. So you will have to be satisfied with a description as to what was on the video. basically, some opening graphix to show they do quality video work, then on to the usual jihadi ‘we want to kill you all’ music which is the only allowable kind in Islam save for the piercing shrill nauseating call to prayer from the minarets that Obama likes so much.

Then, it goes on to show stills of the people who have been killed by various Muslims for doing things Muslims don’t like and the faces of people they want to kill, which now contain the faces of the ‘Toon twins’.

It wasn’t great viewing. But it was there.

***** Addendum two *****

Here is a great video about this whole issue. featuring Ayaan Hirsi Ali H/T Liberties Alliance