Religion of temporary wives

Why any woman would want to belong to this religion is beyond me.

After a one week closed trial, Khadijeh Shahla Jahed was found guilty of the premeditated stabbing of Laleh Saharkhizan, the wife of the former international player and top coach Nasser Mohammad Khani.

If the sentence - which was disclosed yesterday - is confirmed by the supreme court, she will be hanged.

Khani, a star in the late 1980s who went on to coach Teheran's Persepolis club, was in Germany on a training trip at the time of the killing almost two years ago.

Shahla Jahed had been his temporary wife, a practice approved of in the Islamic republic. Their temporary marital status meant that Khani escaped any charges of adultery.

In Shi'ite Islam, Muslim males can take temporary wives for periods ranging from a few hours to several decades.

Iranian soccer star's killer mistress to be executed

The Black Vote

Captain's Quarters has a great piece on the black vote. He says:

In pressuring their community to focus solely on the Democratic party, they have thrown away their options to play on both sides of the aisle. While Republicans would love to have an opportunity to attract more support especially from middle-class blacks who might appreciate the laissez-faire economic policies of the GOP, they traditionally receive little response for outreach efforts. Take the assertion towards the end of the article that Jesse Jackson makes of being "shut out" of the government:

More than ever, Jackson said, black Americans are primed to vote against a sitting president. "Bush has a closed-door policy on civil rights and labor," he said. "He has not met with the NAACP, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the Congressional Black Caucus, except for once, or organized labor. We don't have access to our government."

Jackson lied. George Bush met with the NAACP -- he spoke at their meeting in 2000 during his first campaign for president. In return, they produced a series of ads tying him to the dragging-death lynching of James Byrd, a particularly egregious campaign commercial that even some NAACP members questioned, especially since Texas enthusiastically prosecuted the murderers responsible and sentenced them to death. Now that the NAACP burned its bridges with Bush, Jackson complains that Bush doesn't want to walk across the smoking wreckage.

We need to stop being sheep.

Voting Themselves into Irrelevancy

Likely charges against Saddam

One charge:

Attacks on Iraqi Kurds

In 1988, when Kurds in northern Iraq were pushing for autonomy, Iraq forces used cyanide gas against the Kurdish town of Halabja, killing an estimated 5,000 civilians.

Likely charges against Saddam

Saddam's Prisons

via Tim Blair

Ibrahim Idrissi has mixed feelings about the recent uproar caused by the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib under the US occupation. "As a humanitarian organization, we oppose this," he says. "But these are soldiers who have come to Iraq to fight, not to be prison guards. It was to be expected. Of course, if there are innocent people in there ... it is possible, I guess, that some of them are innocent."

If Idrissi seems a bit callous about the fate of the Iraqis in US-run jails, he has probably earned the right to differ. He recalls a day in 1982, at the General Security prison in Baghdad:

"They called all the prisoners out to the courtyard for what they called a 'celebration.' We all knew what they meant by 'celebration.' All the prisoners were chained to a pipe that ran the length of the courtyard wall. One prisoner, Amer al-Tikriti, was called out. They said if he didn't tell them everything they wanted to know, they would show him torture like he had never seen. He merely told them he would show them patience like they had never seen."

WARNING. Really, really graphic. Don't click the link if you're a squeamish person.


The Daily Star - Politics - To Saddam's prisoners, US abuse seems 'a joke'

This is good news

With the passing of a sheaf of documents and a prime minister's oath on a red Quran, the land once ruled by Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) received official sovereignty from U.S. administrators in a secretive ceremony moved up to thwart insurgents' attempts at undermining the transfer.

U.S. Hands Power to Iraqis Two Days Early

Religion of beheading

Beheading, the method that Islamist terrorists have used to execute three hostages in Iraq and Saudi Arabia, is specified by Islamic law, but should be used only in extreme cases, with at least one judge and credible witnesses to a crime, Islamic analysts say.
Others point out that the Koran refers to such a punishment for infidels and that Muhammad oversaw the beheading of several hundred men in his lifetime.

Beheadings allowed by Islam, but only in extreme situations

The Sacred Muslim Practice of Beheading

Interesting article.

“As for the captives, the amir [ruler] has the choice of taking the most beneficial action of four possibilities: the first to put them to death by cutting their necks; the second, to enslave them and apply the laws of slavery regarding their sale and manumission; the third, to ransom them in exchange for goods or prisoners; and fourth, to show favor to them and pardon them. Allah, may he be exalted, says, 'When you encounter those [infidels] who deny [the Truth=Islam] then strike [their] necks' (Qur'an sura 47, verse 4)”....Abu’l-Hasan al-Mawardi, al-Ahkam as-Sultaniyyah." [The Laws of Islamic Governance, trans. by Dr. Asadullah Yate, (London), Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd., 1996, p. 192. Emphasis added.]

Read the entire article.

Please pull them out

Annan was asked whether he was concerned that the United States might now follow through with the threat and create difficulties for peacekeeping operations.

"I hope everyone will see it as a helpful decision, and I hope the U.S. will not introduce other threats or ... carry out this threat made two years ago to withdraw from peacekeeping operations," he said.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters Wednesday that the issue of future peacekeeping operations was still being studied.

Every request will be examined, he said, and a key factor will be "what the risk might be of prosecution by a court to which we're not party."

U.N. Hopes U.S. Won't Pull Peace Forces

Media fifth colunmn watch

Scary how little understanding there is of the great evil we face. It's as if we -- the media in particular -- don't want to know. For instance, has anyone given you this latest insight into our enemy?

Al-Qaida and its friends issue demands -- such as ransom for the life of the now-beheaded American hostage Paul Johnson -- through their Internet site, Sawt al-Jihad.

Our suicide mission [20jun04]

Islamophobia

Great article from Faith Freedom Org.

You accuse the Westerners of being prejudiced against Islam and being rancorous for the defeat of the crusaders. It is this absurd and mindless thinking that is frightening. What prejudice are you talking about when Muslims can even run for political offices in these so called “Christian” countries and they enjoy all the benefits that other citizens have? Compare that to the plight of the Christians and other minorities in Islamic countries. What rights do they have? ...None!

Read the whole thing.

Another beheading

An Iraqi militant group has beheaded its South Korean hostage, Al-Jazeera television reported Tuesday.

Iraqi Terrorists Reportedly Behead Korean

Bastards.

Fifth Column Watch

In a private interview with WND, a Queens based Al-Muhajiroun leader said he would be "absolutely honored" to give up his life in a "martyr operation" against American civilians. The leader warned that "a jihad is coming to America because of the moves of the Bush administration."

Al-Qaida suspect tied to U.S.-UK jihad group

Our friends, the Saudis

Ex-officer 'to lead Saudi al-Qaeda'

An ex-Saudi policeman has become leader of the al-Qaeda militant group in Saudi Arabia, according to media reports from the troubled kingdom.
Saleh al-Oufi, 38, will take over from Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin, who was killed by police on Friday.

Saudi security forces have been hunting al-Qaeda members in Riyadh, following the execution of a US hostage.

Community Angered Over American's Slaying

I'm not seeing any Muslim Imam or head of state on TV condemning these kidnappings and beheadings. It would be nice if even one of these heads of state came out publicly against these kidnappings and beheadings...just one..

Phil Galasso posted the cardboard sign saying "Stamp out Islam" on a utility pole near his house in Eagleswood Township. It depicted a hand-drawn boot over a crescent and star.

"I'm getting a little fed up with the mindless violence against civilians who had nothing to do with the war in the Middle East," Galasso said.

Community Angered Over American's Slaying

After all, Islam is a religion of peace, right?

Iraq group threatens to behead S.Korean hostage-TV

Here we go again. These people are barbarians.

"We ask you to withdraw your forces from our land and not to send any more troops, and if not we'll send you this Korean's head," one of a group of armed, masked men standing around the South Korean man said.

The group said South Korea had 24 hours from Sunday night to withdraw its decision last week to send troops to Iraq, al Jazeera said.

A banner in the background named the group as Jama'at al-Tawhid and Jihad, the name of the militant group led by al Qaeda operative in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The video showed the Korean pleading desperately: "Please get out of here, here, here. I don't want to die."

South Korea's YTN television named the hostage as Kim Sun-il, 33, an employee of a South Korean trading firm. It quoted government officials as saying he had only very recently gone to Iraq.

Iraq group threatens to behead S.Korean hostage-TV

A good man is hard to find

After years of searching I'm so happy that I found one of the good ones.

So what has happened to our 'men' as a result? All our whining about wanting our men to be more sensitive and emotional, and to pay more attention to their appearance, and to be more socially aware is responsible for the emergence of a segment of 'metrosexuals' who have embraced customs and attitudes once deemed the province of women.
These young men are highly informed consumers when it comes to hair-care products, they keep regular manicure and facial appointments, they read fashion magazines and are often better turned out than the women they date.

Read the whole thing.

Annan Against U.S. Peacekeeper Immunity

It's way past time for the US to pull out of the UN. Perhaps the UN could move to Belgium.

Despite intensive lobbying, council diplomats said Washington does not have the minimum nine votes of support on the 15-member council to approve the resolution, which would renew American immunity from prosecution by the International Criminal Court for a third year.


France, Germany, Spain, Brazil and Chile already said they would abstain on a new exemption, and Romania and Benin indicated they were likely to join them, council diplomats said.

Annan Against U.S. Peacekeeper Immunity

Another beheading by Muslim terrorists

I guess beheading is their favorite killing method.

Gruesome photographs of the beheading of Paul M. Johnson Jr. (search), the American contractor taken hostage by terrorists last weekend, were posted along with news of his killing on an Al Qaeda (search) Web site Friday.

The Arab satellite network Al-Arabiya broke the news of the execution, and Al Qaeda also reported on its Web site that the members who captured the Lockheed Martin employee had killed him.

Al Qaeda Executes American Hostage

Bastards!

The Black Vote

It would be a good thing if Bush could attract some of the Black vote. IMO, the Democratic Party takes us for granted.

But the president has the opportunity to flip the script. With a direct appeal, President Bush could win at least 20 percent of the black vote — and the White House.

How can he attract those votes?

First, the field is open. Compared with previous Democratic campaigns, Mr. Kerry's has done a poor job of reaching out to black voters. As Donna Brazile, Al Gore's campaign manager in 2000, said recently, "Don't expect me to go out and say John Kerry is a great man and a visionary if you're not running ads on African-American or Hispanic cable networks. Fair is fair. So send my dad a postcard, send my sisters a bumper sticker." The Kerry campaign has also been notable for its lack of blacks and Hispanics among the candidate's top advisers. And Mr. Kerry has rarely been identified with issues that compel black voters — notably affirmative action.

Second, it's increasingly clear that blacks are no longer willing to vote as a bloc, automatically lining up with the Democrats. This is particularly true of younger black voters. A 2002 poll by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a research group based in Washington, found a shift in the political identification of black voters. For example, 34 percent of 18- to 25-year-old black voters identified themselves as independents. Overall, 24 percent of black Americans of all ages see themselves as independents — a four percentage point increase since the 2000 election. And now 10 percent of blacks call themselves Republican, a six percentage point rise since 2000.

Bush Shouldn't Write Off the Black Vote

This is chilling

Al-Nashami:"We left the apartment at precisely a quarter to six. We drew near the site, and we changed our clothes and belted on the ammunition pouches and weapons. We asked Allah to help us, and make things go easily for us.

"The company [compound] had two gates, and we went to the first. Our brother Nimr and the other brothers went and ordered the guard to open the gate. There was a man behind the gate and the fence. Two security personnel were outside the gate, and one was inside, and he was the one who could open [the gate]. [So] the brothers told him: 'Open the gate!' but he refused. The brothers wanted to break in, but he hid behind the counter.

"We were in a hurry, because we had to finish with this company, and go on to the other [company]. [So] we turned to the second main gate, broke through it, and finished dealing with the guards that were there.

"As soon as we entered, we encountered the car of a Briton, the investment director of the company, whom Allah had sent to his death. He is the one whose mobile phone on the seat of his car, with the blood on it, they kept showing [on television]. We left him in the street.

Commander of the Khobar Terrorist Squad Tells the Story of the Operation

Olympians weigh safety vs. glory

I'm really nervous about these games.

As he rowed out in the water during last month's Olympic qualifying trials, he knew his head wasn't where it should be. Out of concern for the safety of his wife and children, he had already decided they would not be joining him this summer if he made it to the 2004 Games. But suddenly he began to think of his own security and rowed back to shore.

Read the whole thing.

Royalties frozen from Sean Paul's 'I'm Still in Love with You Girl'

The company responsible for the sale of the record would not know who to pay until a court makes a ruling on the matter," Stowe said. "The reason this became an issue now is because the song is making money. This would probably lay low for another 50 years. It's generally when there is a hit with the song, that is why you see these cases pop up because there is money to be claimed."

It is also alleged that the producers, Steely (Wycliffe Johnson) and Clevie (Cleveland Browne), never got permission from Jamrec, the publishing arm of Coxsone Dodd's Studio One, the publisher of the song. And Alton Ellis had forfeited his copyright by selling the song to different music entities.

Royalties frozen from Sean Paul's 'I'm Still in Love with You Girl'

Poor little terrorist

From the Globe and Mail. I guess they want their readers to know and understand how rough the poor terrorists have it.

He is living underground, moving from place to place inside Ramallah under protection of Palestinian bodyguards, sleeping in a different spot every night. He spends very little time in the open air and sees his wife when he can.

"It's a very difficult life in all senses of the word. Unsettled. Very tiring. It's an abnormal life, not natural," Mr. Subuh said in an interview that offered a rare look at the life of a dedicated militant.

The meeting was arranged at a secret location through a trusted intermediary. Security men linked by two-way radios commanded the street outside. He arrived with a bodyguard who kept watch while we talked. At the end of our meeting, he was bundled away, destination unknown.

But Israeli security forces nearly got to him despite such precautions.

Read the whole thing.

Fifth Column Watch

What is it with terrorists and the cell phone business. The Madrid terrorists also operated a cell phone business.

"Current credible intelligence indicates that al-Qaida wants to hit the United States and to hit us hard," he said. "We know our enemies will go to great lengths to lie in wait and to achieve the death and destruction they desire."


Abdi, who operated a cell phone business in Columbus, also is charged with fraud and misuse of documents by claiming that he had been granted valid asylum status in the United States. Prosecutors say he obtained that refugee document under false pretenses.

Man Charged in Alleged Plot on Ohio Mall

Why are Americans still in Saudi Arabia?

If the US government tells you it's not safe. You see people around you getting killed because they are not Muslim. The terrorists say openly that they are targeting you. The Saudis don't seem able to protect you. Why not leave?

Am I missing something?

Also Saturday, a purported al-Qaida statement claimed the terror group had kidnapped an American man in the Saudi capital and threatened to treat him as U.S. troops treated Iraqi prisoners. The U.S. Embassy confirmed an American was missing but would not identify him.

"We do have reports of a missing American," an embassy spokesperson said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We are working with local authorities to find him and are in touch with his family."

The al-Qaida statement, posted late Saturday on an Islamic Web site, showed a passport-size photo of a brown-haired man and a business card bearing the name Paul M. Johnson.

American Killed in Saudi Arabia; 1 Missing

Palestinian gunmen raid UNRWA offices in Jenin

I wish someone would build me a free house.

Five men armed with M-16 rifles raided the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) offices in the camp on Friday to protest that the new houses were two small. The gunmen threatened to harm the UN staff if their demands for larger houses were not met.

Residents of the Jenin camp are complaining that their new houses, replacing those destroyed in Israeli incursions, are not big enough, said Sami Mshasha, a spokesman for UNRWA in Jerusalem.

Palestinian whine that housing too small

Nuclear nation

Just what we need, a nuclear weapon in the hands of the mad mullahs. The possibility gives me chills.

"Iran has to be taken seriously," Kharrazi said. "Iran is powerful and has to be recognized as a responsible member of the atomic club, this is inevitable. Iran will not give up its rights to the peaceful use of atomic energy as well as its right to supply nuclear fuel to its power plants."

Iran wants recognition as nuclear nation

Africa Activists Express Deep Disappointment Over G-8 Results

Here is the perfect opportunity for the UN, Canada and Europe to step up to the plate and put boots on the ground. I'm not holding my breath. It's a lot easier to bitch, whine and point fingers when the US takes action.

But, against the background of the Darfur crisis in Sudan, Booker was unimpressed. "Instead of talking out of their hats about training 50,000 peacekeepers, the G-8 leaders must act NOW to put boots on the ground in Sudan to halt genocide, as is required by the international Genocide Convention," he said.

Even the G-8's communique on Sudan was disappointing to activists who have been calling for intervention. Instead of describing the situation as the world's "worst humanitarian crisis," as the UN did several weeks ago, the world's most powerful leaders noted "continuing reports of gross violations of human rights, many with an ethnic dimension." It called on all parties to the conflict to respect the cease-fire worked out last month and on the Khartoum to disarm the Arab militias and other armed groups responsible for the abuses.

Deep Disappointment Over G-8 Results

Besides, isn't Europe supposed to be closer to Africa? Lately, I've been leaning towards being very isolationist. We should only take action if our interests are directly affected.

Denny's cook busted for special ingredients

Kinda makes me not want to eat out.

Anthony Lindhorst, of Waterloo, is charged with five counts of aggravated battery for allegedly lacing brownies with marijuana and mixing his semen into the restaurant's sauce.


Lindhorst is accused of serving the brownies to co-workers and the tainted sauce to two customers.

Read the whole thing.

Honouring Maroon music

IT IS a nice irony of history that the warlike Maroons, whose campaign against the English army in Jamaica ended in a treaty granting them considerable autonomy, are now being honoured internatonally for their musical heritage. The Moore Town Maroons in Portland have been recognised as one of the world's 28 'Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage'. As such, they are to be the beneficiaries of a $55 million UNESCO grant which, among other community priorities, will help to preserve their musical tradition.

Honouring Maroon music

WMD

They'll start covering this on CNN any minute now if they can tie it in somehow with Abu Ghraib.

/sarcasm

The United Nations has determined that Saddam Hussein shipped weapons of mass destruction components as well as medium-range ballistic missiles before, during and after the U.S.-led war against Iraq in 2003.

The UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission briefed the Security Council on new findings that could help trace the whereabouts of Saddam's missile and WMD program.

UN inspectors: Saddam shipped out WMD before war and after

This is disgusting

Mr Hall said both men put mice in their mouths and bit off their tails. One of the men went on to further chew his mouse then spat it out.

They were taking part in a "Jackass promotion" - named after a US TV stunt show - which took place on Wednesdays at the Exchange Hotel in Brisbane and involved undertaking dares, one of the hotel's managers told BBC News Online.

Australians chew mice to win holiday

OAS clears way for probe into Aristide's ouster

Over the initial objections of the United States and Haiti, the OAS General Assembly approved a resolution Tuesday night that would allow an "assessment" of what occurred in Haiti in February when Aristide was ousted.

OAS clears way for probe into Aristide's ouster

Chuck Fenda

Fast-rising dancehall DJ Chuck Fenda has been forced to pull out of his North American tour scheduled to begin in Philadelphia tomorrow because of a bruised lung he received in a major motor vehicle accident on Monday night.

Chuck Fenda pulls out of North American tour following motor vehicle accident

Why Saudis Love Osama

From August to November of last year—within months of the May al Qaeda attack in Riyadh that killed 36 people—15,000 Saudis were questioned about a range of topics, including their views on Osama bin Laden.

In results that could only be surprising to the deluded—i.e. the Saudi royal family and their best friends at the U.S. State Department—just under 50% of Saudis polled expressed a favorable opinion of bin Laden’s “sermons and rhetoric.”

How could this happen in a country supposedly filled with college graduates (many educated in the West) and in a country that is (officially) an ally of the U.S.?

It’s the education, stupid.

For several decades now, Saudi schoolchildren have become mere vessels for radical Islamic fundamentalism, with its profound hatred of the West in general, and Jews and America in particular.

Nawaf Obaid, a Saudi national security consultant who conducted the survey, told CNN yesterday that Saudis expressed greatest support for bin Laden’s diatribes against the “Zionist conspiracy.”

Read the whole thing.

European nations tighten laws to oust extremists

Pass a law. That will work.

PARIS — Western European countries are tightening their laws to facilitate the expulsion of Islamist extremists, a response to court rulings overturning several high-profile deportation orders.
In France, an imam expelled for publicly advocating violence against women won a court ruling last month that allowed him to return.

Read the whole thing.

Worried families wait back home

Raymond has been in the US army for three years and by his count, he is one of at least eight other Jamaican-born soldiers at his location, with others stationed in different sections of Baghdad.

Jamaicans fight in US army.

Caribbean politicians pay tribute to late US president

FORMER ST. LUCIA Prime Minister Sir John Compton has described former United States President, Ronald Regan, as a true friend of the Caribbean, who may have saved the region from Communism. In paying tribute to Reagan, who died on the weekend, Sir John said he had a deep economic and political interest in the region.

He said the establishment of the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) was intended to open a window of opportunities for preferential trade between the Caribbean and the United States.

Sir John also made reference to President Reagan's decision to send US military troops to Grenada in 1983 following the death of the then left wing Prime Minister Maurice Bishop by members of his own Peoples Revolutionary Government (PRG).

Reaqan: a friend of the Caribbean

70 Taliban Reportedly Killed in Afghan Fighting

This is good. Too bad Bin Laden, Zawahiri or Mullah Omar weren't among the 70.

An Afghan commander said Wednesday that Afghan and U.S. forces killed more than 70 Taliban rebels in a seven-day operation in a mountainous southern district, including at least 20 militants who died in a single clash.

70 Taliban Reportedly Killed in Afghan Fighting

Dan and Tom: Enough Reagan

How come they weren't saying this when it was all Abu Ghraib all the time?

"Even though everybody is respectful and wants to pay homage to the president, life does go on," Rather told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

"There is other news, like the reality of Iraq," said the "CBS Evening News" anchor. "It got very short shrift this weekend."

Dan and Tom whine.

UN Slams Canada over Assassin

The US needs to get out of this useless, bureaucratic organization.

A United Nations committee has accused Canada of "flouting" international human rights rules when it deported a member of the Iranian government's foreign assassinations branch.

Although it took the Canadian government nine years to deport Iranian intelligence agent Mansour Ahani, the UN Human Rights Committee ruled that Ottawa was too quick to send him back to Tehran in 2002.

Read the whole thing.

Blacks and Islam

When you become Muslim, what do you really become anyway? It seems that a lot of African-Americans (Blacks) in America sought refuge in Islam during the conscious movement of the 1960s and 1970s. These people were looking for a way to connect to their own culture. Most of these people were interested in eradicating European (White) influences in their lives and got involved in Islam because they mistakingly believed that Islam was of African origin. Again, in the 1980s and 1990s more blacks fled the ways of White America, which they considered racist and oppressive, in favor of Islam and what they knew to be a different way of doing things. These individuals now pray in Arabic (if they are “good Muslims”), [Black] women wear their hair covered in a Middle-Eastern manner [hijab, burqa], must prescribe to the thought that Mecca is the Holy Land, and use traditional (more stoic) Arabic culture to define etiquette and ethics within their households. While we can say that Muslims are less likely to be drinkers and drug abusers can we say that they are expressing their pride in being Black? Are they any closer to the freedom that they desired when they left Christianity and White-American values? Maybe they are living more clean lives, but they can’t say they arrived at their original objective of knowing themselves better. Or are they simply trading one master for another?

Trading One Master for Another?

Some lessons from Normandy

Perhaps no West Indian was physically at Normandy, but we are almost certain that if there were none in body this region's men were there in spirit. And if they were, or had been, they fought, or would have fought, with the bravery of the bravest on that day. As did the hundreds of West Indian soldiers who served in the British army, the Royal Air Force and the Royal Canadian Air Force during the entirety of the war.

Some lessons from Normandy

Was Reagan an Enemy of Civil Rights?

I don't think so.

Though civil rights leaders mocked him and ridiculed his claim, Reagan’s Justice Department was far more aggressive in prosecuting, and getting convictions, in high profile police abuse and racially motivated murder cases than the Carter administration. Reagan continued to be especially sensitive, and on occasion speak out, on the issue of racially motivated violence.

In his last message to Congress before departing the White House in 1988, Reagan claimed that his Justice Department had prosecuted more criminal civil rights cases than any other administration in American history.

Though civil rights leaders continued to assail Reagan’s record on civil rights enforcement, Reagan’s Justice Department had taken a genuine activist role in criminal civil rights enforcement.

Racial Paradox of Reagan Presidency

"Don't Worry, We Don't Kill Muslims"

Be a good Dhimmi, pretend to be Muslim and you won't get killed.

After an Islamist rampage in the Saudi town of Khobar on May 29-30 that ended in the death of twenty-two persons, survivors of that atrocity have recounted how the terrorists went to great lengths to ensure that they would kill only non-Muslims. Their actions raise a delicate but urgent issue: how might non-Muslims best protect themselves if caught in such a situation?

Even as the massacre was underway, the terrorists took pains to distinguish Muslims from non-Muslims. Here are some of the survivors’ testimonies:

Hazem Al-Damen, Muslim, Jordanian: two terrorists knocked on his door and asked him and others hiding whether they were “Muslims or Christians.” On hearing “Muslims,” the assailants told them to stay in the room because their purpose was to rid the country of Americans and Europeans.

"Don't Worry, We Don't Kill Muslims"

Yes, Bush Will Win

It's not just that in Europe every leftist anti-American creep and every world-weary phony sophisticate wants and expects Bush to lose in November, and America to lose in Iraq. Surely the American people won't give them the satisfaction of having their wishes granted. Nor would the American people want to devastate the few beleaguered pro-American, pro-war-on-terror, anti-appeasement politicians and intellectuals in Europe.

Okay, that's wishful thinking. But there are grounds for hope. We are actually winning the war in Iraq, and the war on terror. We're not winning either as thoroughly or as comprehensively as we should be. Still, it is a fact that one year after the invasion of Iraq, Saddam and his regime are gone; a decent interim Iraqi government is taking over; we and the Iraqis have not suffered a devastating level of casualties; the security situation, though inexcusably bad, looks as if it may finally be improving; Moktada al-Sadr seems to have been marginalized, and the Shia center is holding; there is nothing approaching civil war. The failure to follow through in Falluja remains a problem, but it needn't
become a precedent. And last week, the new prime minister, Iyad Alawi, thanked the United States for liberating Iraq, said that it would be "a major disaster" for U.S. forces to leave, and privately said that to win the war you have to kill the enemy. So it's unlikely he will constrain our troops excessively.

Yes, Bush Will Win

South Korea Troop Withdrawal

It's about time. They don't want us there anyway.

The U.S. plan calls for withdrawing 12,500 of the 37,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, according to a statement released Monday by the U.S. military in Seoul. The statement coincided with the beginning of talks between the two allies on another sensitive issue: moving U.S. troops farther south away from the tense border with North Korea (news - web sites).


Those troops were long considered a "tripwire" that would ensure U.S. intervention in the event of an attack from the North. Many in the South also see it as a healthy restraint on the United States, believing Washington won't take military action that could provoke the North when U.S. troops are in harm's way on the border.

U.S. to Withdraw Some S. Korea Troops

al-Qaida Target

How many times are they going to threaten us?

The warning of attacks in "the near future" appeared on a Web site known for posting messages from militants, including the video in which a terror group with al-Qaida links executed Nicholas Berg, an American kidnapped in Iraq (news - web sites).


The authenticity of the statement, signed "Al-Qaida on the Arabian Peninsula," could not be confirmed. Al-Qaida uses the term "Arabian Peninsula" to refer to Saudi Arabia because it rejects the rule of the Al Saud dynasty, after whom the country is named.


In Washington, State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli noted that existing U.S. travel warnings call attention to possible threats to commercial aviation in Saudi Arabia and urge Americans to take that into account when making their travel plans.

Western Airliners May Be al-Qaida Target

Sexual Stimulant?

I wonder what this would do for me?

But Falmouth resident Barrington Sawyers, who has been drinking BABA Roots for over a year now, attests: "It is a real tonic. It strengthen yuh body. It give yuh energy, sexual energy. It give yuh more stamina like a 'Duracell' (battery) to go on and on."
His sentiments were echoed by Antoinette Stephens, who works as an office attendant in Montego Bay. "The BABA Roots nice, man. It taste good. It give yuh energy and stamina. We do need little roots sometimes inna wi body," says Stephens, who has also been drinking the roots for over a year.

Roots tonic: cure-all or sexual stimulant?

Freed Terror Suspect Deported

Chuck Schumer needs to get a grip. If the Justice Dept. cannot get a conviction of terrorists in a civilian court then what's the problem with deporting them?

"The court finds applicant does present a danger to national security," U.S. Immigration Judge Robert D. Newberry ruled, concluding al-Marabh was "credibly linked to elements of terrorism" and had a "propensity to lie."


Neither the courts nor al-Marabh's lawyers were given access to the most striking allegations provided by the Jordanian informant.


Asked to explain the decision to free al-Marabh, Justice spokesman Bryan Sierra said the government has concerns about many people with suspected terror ties but cannot effectively try them in court without giving away intelligence sources and methods.


"If the government cannot prosecute terrorism charges, another option is to remove the individual from the United States via deportation. After careful review, this was determined to be the best option available under the law to protect our national security," he said.


But a Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee (news - web sites) scoffed at the explanation. "It's hard to believe that the best way to deal with the FBI's 27th most wanted terrorist is to send him back to a terrorist-sponsoring country," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. He said the Justice Department could have used a military tribunal or a classified criminal. "This action certainly raises a lot of questions and demands a lot of answers," Schumer said.

Administration Freed Terror Suspect