Free Republic

Slavery still stalks the American consciousness, its wounds yet festering in many hearts. If Barack Obama were to set his mind to it, he could heal much of the damage this peculiar institution wrought on our national soul. This great and tragic error that must be given justice. Obama is the best person in the world who can recognize, remember and honor the deaths of 125 million and the enslavement of tens of millions of people. His unique qualifications can be found in his names. Until he was 20 years old, he went by the first name Barry. Then he...

It’s been described by one commentator as an example of Great Britain ‘surrendering’ itself and the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams was criticised for saying it will happen, but whatever the reaction, Islamic law now officially operates in the UK. Whereas before rulings by sharia courts in Britain could only be enforced if all parties in a Muslim civil case agreed to abide by them, now what the courts say will be legally binding, backed by county courts or the High Court. The five sharia courts are Birmingham, Bradford, London and Manchester with others planned for Glasgow and Edinburgh. They...

...In an essay entitled Put away the flags, Howard Zinn, the Leftist author of the best-selling book A People's History of the United States, writes that "On this July 4, we would do well to renounce nationalism and all its symbols: its flags, its pledges of allegiance, its anthems, its insistence in song that God must single out America to be blessed. Is not nationalism – that devotion to a flag, an anthem, a boundary so fierce it engenders mass murder – one of the great evils of our time, along with racism, along with religious hatred?" He concludes that...

The brand spanking new Airbus 340-600, the largest passenger airplane ever built, sat in its hangar in Toulouse, France without a single hour of airtime. Enter the Arab flight crew of Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies (ADAT) to conduct pre-delivery tests on the ground, such as engine runups, prior to delivery to Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi. The date was November 15, 2007. The ADAT crew taxied the A340-600 to the run-up area. Then they took all four engines to takeoff power with a virtually empty aircraft. Not having read the run-up manuals, they had no clue just how light an...

KENTWOOD -- Two families escaped the turmoil of war in post-Communist Eastern Europe to seek a free and peaceful life in West Michigan. Now, they see three of their teen sons facing a different kind of life -- in a Michigan prison -- if rape accusations are proven in court. Imer Gashi, 17, faces first-degree criminal sexual conduct charges for allegedly raping a 17-year-old at her Kentwood home on two occasions in August. His 19-year-old brother, Nesret Gashi, faces one count for aiding in the second alleged attack. A third youth, Armin Puskar, 17, is charged with first- and second-degree...

A leading U.S.-based Internet company says it's ready for any electronic attacks that may come its way for hosting a Web site featuring a provocative short film that is critical of the Koran. The movie, made by a controversial Dutch politician and due for release any time now, has sparked protests in the Islamic world and concerns in Europe. In recent days, the Dutch prime minister has reiterated warnings that his country's citizens and businesses could be attacked because of the film; the European Union's executive commission has confirmed it sent talking points on the film to E.U. missions abroad;...

July 20, 2007: Responding to protests from Christians in the Maluku islands, the government removed the senior military commander on the island. This time, it was because the military attacked and arrested local Christians who waved a separatist flag when the Indonesian president visited last month. The problem is that many Indonesians, including military and political leaders, are hostile to Christians, especially separatist Christians. Islamic radicals call for violence against non-Moslems, and the government does little to contradict such calls for "holy war." This hands off attitude helps keep the Islamic radicals in business. The government does not want to...

A U.S. defense analyst and author says Americans should be very concerned about some radical Muslim paramilitary compounds that have sprung up around the country and that are surrounded with "No Trespassing" signs. Hear This Report Greg Copley, president of the International Strategic Studies Association (ISSA), says the compounds are often populated with former U.S. convicts who were converted to Islam in prison. These convicts, he contends, are connected to a Pakistani organization. "Islamberg in New York, Ahmedabad in Virginia, and Holy Islamville in South Carolina, and so on are places which have been formed largely by Jamaat ul-Fuqra," Copley...

Islamistan in Britain? http://www.getreligion.org/?p=2321 Monday, April 2, 2007 Posted by dpulliam Tensions in the growing Muslim population within Great Britain do not get much coverage in the United States, largely because the issues are different on the west side of the pond. Sometimes it’s hard as an American to understand just how much Islam is changing and challenging Britain, but this New York Times piece by Jane Perlez does a great job summarizing the issues. Perlez hooks her story to a decision by a town to allow a building that used to be a Methodist church to become a mosque....

Israeli government authorities are building a ramp to allow non-Muslims to reach the enormous platform atop the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The old access ramp was condemned as unsafe and torn down several years ago. The interim ramp that replaced it was designed for short-term service only. (Muslims control the Temple Mount and therefore have their own private access routes.) The new ramp is controversial. Some ramp must be built or non-Muslims will have no way to reach the Mount; but leading Israeli archaeologists say that the ramp under construction is badly placed and ought to be someplace else. This...

...100 women, representing seven Middle Eastern countries, had demanded equal rights for Arab women. The 100 women, who had challenged the words of the Prophet, had traveled to Egypt by train and plane in search of emancipation. They were seated calmly, if a little self-consciously, in Cairo's ornate Royal Opera House. None wore the flowing charshaf (Moslem robe). Like Egypt's royal princesses, and other upper-class Moslem women, none hid her good looks behind a harem veil. Married delegates had discarded the Arabic word for wife aqila (the tethered one), in favor of qarina (partner). For some of the delegates this...

THE BEAR GOES WALKABOUTby Mark Steyn You gotta love these alternative theories for the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, the late “Russian dissident” (and there’s a phrase one hadn’t expected to make a comeback quite so soon). Relax, say the Kremlinologists (and there’s another), it wasn’t Putin who had the guy whacked. It was rogue elements within the state apparatus who gained access to supposedly secure facilities and then contaminated five international jets and dozens of joints all over London in order to pull off the world’s first radiological assassination. Oh, well, that’s okay then. Nothing to worry about. The late...

Would a Muslim boycott of Northwest Airlines hurt the company's bottom line? Yes No

POLICE have been asked to protect Australia's largest mosque next weekend because of concerns that a bikini march staged to coincide with the anniversary of the Cronulla riots may get out of control. The caretaker of Lakemba Mosque, the Lebanese Muslim Association, says it is taking no risks, requesting at least 32 police officers to protect the place of worship on Saturday and Sunday. Association president Tom Zreik said he met police on several occasions to ensure there would be adequate numbers of officers present to defuse problems and arrest troublemakers. "We are treating this as something that is funny...

THE HAGUE -- When Geert Wilders rose from his desk, his head almost touched the narrow ceiling. The tiny corner office underneath the parliament's roof wasn't selected for space but security. Possible assassins can only come from one direction, making life easier for the two bodyguards outside. Mr. Wilders has been living under 24-hour police protection ever since the assassination of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh two years ago. The Dutch-Moroccan who stabbed and shot van Gogh in Amsterdam left death threats behind against him and the Netherlands' other, more famous critic of Islam: Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Like the Somali-born...

RECRIMINATIONS THE UNAPOLOGETIC VARIETY © by Norman Liebmann A principal bone of contention in the recent election devolved on which party would more likely keep America safe. In a world full of Moslems, safety is an illusion, and nobody promised it more lavishly and irresponsibly than the Democrat Party. What passes for safety among Democrats is denial. Liberals are unprovoked beyond finger wagging and tongue clacking by Islamic excesses. They believe the silver lining to being beheaded by jihadis is that it is a quick cure for a migraine headache. The Republicans waged an irresolute political campaign pretty much like...

In a nutshell, this open letter to the Pope by the world’s thirty‑eight greatest scholars of Islam, already dubbed as the ‘Fatwa 38’ will be deemed to a piece of document of historical importance. It will also be historical in lies, dishonesty, deception and stupidity for its content; given the fact that modern world’s greatest brains of Islam have been the architects of this letter.

Armed youths today hijacked and burned a bus in Paris on the eve of the anniversary of the riots which tore through France last year.Around ten hooded men, five of them carrying handguns, put a weapon to the head of the driver and forced him and his passengers off a bus heading to the eastern suburb of Montreuil in the early hours of the morning. The gang then drove off in the vehicle before setting it alight in the second incident of its kind in Paris within a few hours. In the other attack in the suburb of Nanterre around...

THE United Muslim Women Association (MWA) today condemned comments by a senior Islamic cleric that women who wore revealing clothes invited sexual assault. Sheik Taj al-Din al-Hilaly compared skimpily-dressed women to "uncovered meat" and suggested they were "the problem" that caused sexual attacks, The Australian reported today. Maha Abdo, manager of the association, said she was shocked by the comments, which they did not reflect mainstream Muslim beliefs. "From what I know of the imam, he's always been very supportive of women's rights and women's issues, and advocate of women," she said. Speaking from the association's offices in Lakemba in...

The French housing estates hit by a wave of riots a year ago could once again descend into violence, an intelligence report has warned. The conditions that led to the 2005 unrest are still in place, it says. The warning comes just days before the anniversary of the first riots, following the death of two youths in an estate north-east of Paris. Recent weeks have seen a rise in clashes between police and youths in the capital's immigrant suburbs. The report by the intelligence agency of the interior ministry, dated 11 October, was leaked to the Figaro newspaper. The BBC's...

LONDON -- U.K. intelligence officials have just provided a chilling assessment of the terrorist threat Britain faces. The country has become "al Qaeda target No. 1," security sources told me, confirming last week's press reports. Intelligence services now judge Britain's "home grown" terrorists to be organized, trained and controlled either directly from Pakistan or via Pakistani networks in Britain. Until now, intelligence services thought British Islamist terrorists had no hard links to al Qaeda despite sharing its ideology. "Clean skins" in the security jargon, they were believed to have acted alone or in self-constructed cells. This theory was the product...

NICOSIA, Cyprus -- Defying the Islamic clamor in some European countries, Tunisia has served notice that it will continue to oppose any "sectarian dress" incompatible with its tradition. This includes head scarves for women, who have been reminded that, according to a 25-year-old government directive, they are not to wear the "Islamic scarf" in schools and public buildings. In contrast to neighboring Algeria, the veil has rarely been worn in Tunisia. Such a form of dress, a senior Tunisian official said, "reminds us of the time when extremists threw acid in the faces of unveiled women. Fundamentalists have totally failed...

PARIS: Lawmakers in France approved a bill Thursday introducing fines and prison sentences to those who deny that the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during and after World War 1 amounted to genocide. Deputies in the National Assembly, France's lower house of Parliament, voted 106-19 favoring the bill, which recognizes the killings of about 1.5 million Armenians from 1915 to 1919 as genocide and imposes a fine of 45,000 euros and a year in prison on those denying it. Senators from the upper house will now consider the bill, which upon passage, will go before president Jacque Chirac. The...

JERUSALEM – A Jewish man removed by Israeli police from a key section of the Western Wall for blowing the shofar, or ceremonial ram's horn, during prayer services for last weekend's Rosh Hashana high holiday has been barred from the holy site for the upcoming Jewish holidays, WND has learned. The shofar traditionally is blown hundreds of times during Rosh Hashana prayers. Shmulik Ben Ruby, a spokesman for the Jerusalem Police Authority, told WND the Jewish man, 19-year-old Jerusalem resident Eliyahi Kleiman, was taken forcibly from the Western Wall last weekend for fear the sound of the shofar would offend...

Islam is wrong. There. I said it. It's garbage. Anyone who believes in a guy who suddenly came onto the scene six centuries after the Incarnation saying everything that preceeded him was wrong suffers from intellectual myopia. Take a look at the last part of that sentece. 600 years. Muhammad comes along and claims that the Three Persons that make up the Holy Trinity are wrong. He mocks the idea that Christ our Lord was not only a man, but God Himself. He scurrilously claims that the Apostles who followed Our Lord either purposely or ingnorantly perverted the message of...

With Rosh Hashanah upon us, inaugurating 10 days of repentance dedicated to freeing ourselves of negative personal habits, it seems an appropriate time to ask if fundamentalist Islam can be freed from its most bloody and aggressive tendencies. Is the enmity between many Muslims and the West destined to remain a feature of world history until the end? That question lies behind much of the debate about the defensive war President Bush is waging against Islamist terrorism. Bush invaded Iraq as a step toward democratizing the Arab Middle East. According to neoconservative thinking, that’s also a step toward securing our...

“Whoever offends our Prophet Mohammed should be killed on the spot by the nearest Muslim.” Those were the words of Sheikh Abubakar Hassan Malin to a gathering of Muslims in Mogadishu on Friday, September 15, 2006. On Saturday, Palestinians wielding guns and firebombs attacked five Christian churches in the West Bank and Gaza. On Sunday, September 17, in London, outside Westminster Cathedral, Anjem Choudary addressed a demonstration and said that those who insulted Islam “should be subject to capital punishment.” These were among the reactions to a speech given by Pope Benedict XVI at Regensburg University, in Germany on Tuesday,...

An al-Qaida-linked extremist group warned Pope Benedict XVI on Monday that he and the West were "doomed," as protesters raged across the Muslim world to demand more of an apology from the pontiff for his remarks about Islam and violence. The Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of Sunni Arab extremist groups that includes al-Qaida in Iraq, issued a statement on a Web forum vowing to continue its holy war against the West. The authenticity of the statement could not be independently verified. The group said Muslims would be victorious and addressed the pope as "the worshipper of the cross"...

Depressing Times Oriana Fallaci, RIP, the Pope, and a Sad Age Rarely has the death of a public intellectual affected me as much as the passing of Oriana Fallaci. I never met her, and only received a brief note once from her accompanying a copy of The Rage and the Pride. The story of her career is well known, but her death, at this pivotal time, was full of paradoxes and yet instruction as well. Radical Islam is, among other things, a patriarchal movement, embedded particularly in the cult of the Middle-Eastern male, who occupies a privileged position in a...

Just in. I am looking at a picture of the WTC with smoke pouring out of the western tower. Looks like a huge amount of damage. Debris raining down on people in the street.

Here are some links from the FR archives in observance of the fifth anniversary of 9/11/2001 - Threads list of several breaking news items - Latest Articles The first post reporting the attacks by OldEconomyBuyer - World Trade Center Posted on the first anniversary - Associated Press newswire - September 11, 2001 - Chronology of news alerts, bulletins and flashes

A Christian man is recovering from a beating that left him with a broken collarbone and dislocated shoulder after he drank water from a glass reserved for the poor at a construction site in Pakistan. The report comes from Voice of the Martyrs, the Christian aid organization with a vision for working around the world to help those who are facing persecution for their Christian faith. The report said Nasir Ashraf, a Christian stonemason, was working on the construction of a room at a school near Manga Mandi outside of Lahore when he got thirsty and took a break.

The controversial Czech TV documentary “I, A Muslim,” in which a reporter used a hidden camera to record inside mosques, has been posted (with English subtitles) at Google Video by LGF reader “Abu Kafir:” I, a Muslim

The text of resolution 1559 (2004) reads as follows: “The Security Council, “Recalling all its previous resolutions on Lebanon, in particular resolutions 425 (1978) and 426 (1978) of 19 March 1978, resolution 520 (1982) of 17 September 1982, and resolution 1553 (2004) of 29 July 2004 as well as the statements of its President on the situation in Lebanon, in particular the statement of 18 June 2000 (S/PRST/2000/21), “Reiterating its strong support for the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon within its internationally territorially recognized borders, “Noting the determination of Lebanon to ensure the withdrawal of all non-Lebanese...

LONDON - One was an athletic teenager who had grown into a devout young man, another a soccer-loving convert to Islam. The youngest was 17, the oldest 35. Many were born in Britain and all were reared here. As police held 24 young British Muslims accused of plotting devastating airline bombings, both the authorities and their neighbors sought Friday to understand how ordinary communities spawned a terrifying plot. Police have not identified suspects, but 19 names were made public Friday by the Treasury after the government froze their bank accounts. They have names of Muslim origin, many of them common...

A pizza shop owner and a biochemist. An airport worker and the son of a political official. Husbands and fathers. Students as young as 17. Meet the faces of terror. Meet the madmen next door. Outside the view of friends, family and neighbors, a group of suburban men were allegedly plotting a terror campaign to rival - and even exceed - the bloodshed of 9/11. But in a series of raids that began before dawn yesterday, British police arrested 24 people - most of them sons of Britain, most of them never suspected of any wrongdoing by their neighbors. Several...

Hardline Islamic insurgent groups in Iraq are targeting a new type of victim with the full protection of Iraqi law, The Observer can reveal. The country is seeing a sudden escalation of brutal attacks on what are being called the 'immorals' - homosexual men and children as young as 11 who have been forced into same-sex prostitution.There is growing evidence that Shia militias have been killing men suspected of being gay and children who have been sold to criminal gangs to be sexually abused. The threat has led to a rapid increase in the numbers of Iraqi homosexuals now seeking...

A MUSLIMS-only day at Britain’s biggest theme park has been axed after a huge bookings flop. Organisers Islamic Leisure had hoped to attract 28,000 people to the event at Alton Towers, Staffs, on September 17 — but less than 1,000 tickets were sold. The fun day — exclusively revealed by The Sun — caused a race row after plans to ban mixed-sex rides, smoking, alcohol and gambling. Non-Muslims were angered by the plans. An Alton Towers spokesman said last night: “At least the park will be open to the general public.”

Fascinating online forum where Lebanese citizens discuss the current situation. Most are against Hezbollah.

CAIRO, Egypt — The fighting between Israel and Hezbollah exposed divisions across the Arab world, not only between Shiites and Sunnis but also between Arab governments and their citizens. Key Arab allies of the United States, predominantly Sunni countries such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, fear the rising power of Shiites in the region: Hezbollah militants who virtually control southern Lebanon, Iraq's majority Shiite government, and — most worrisome — the Shiite theocracy that has run Iran for decades. Yet many ordinary people, Sunnis as well as Shiites, are cheering the Lebanese guerrillas because of their willingness to stand...

Enraged by the failure of the Arab countries to help Hizbullah and Hamas in their confrontation with Israel, one of the major Palestinian militias announced on Tuesday that it had recruited dozens of women to join the fight against Israel. Dressed in military fatigue and armed with rocket-propelled grenades and Kalashnikov rifles, the women were sent to march in the streets of Gaza City, chanting slogans in support of Hizbullah and Hamas and calling on all Arabs and Muslims to launch a war against Israel. Some of the women fired into the air as they passed near the offices of...

Plans to build a mosque in a predominantly black neighborhood in Pompano Beach, Fla., have led to angry protests from some local ministers, one of whom referred to Islam as a "dangerous religion." They want the Pompano Beach City Commission to repeal the authorization it issued for the Islamic Center of South Florida to move into what the ministers describe as a "black Christian community" and build a 29,000-square-foot community center -- including a mosque -- on a nearly five-acre site. Islam is a "dangerous, evil" religion "that preaches hatred and killing," said the Rev. O'Neal Dozier, pastor of the...

A Virginia teen has been charged with driving his car into a crowd of people outside a bar that had just evicted him in a wealthy part of Long Island, N.Y. Sayed Khaled El-Waraky, 19, of Vienna, Va., was being held without bond Tuesday after the incident early Sunday morning in Glen Cove. Witnesses told police El-Waraky created a disturbance in the bar, and then threatened the bouncer, who threw him out, the New York Post reported. While getting into his Jaguar, the teen allegedly yelled "I'll kill you all," before heading for the exit and suddenly making a U-turn....

'I'm frustrated Israelis don't get the point' Ruthie Blum, THE JERUSALEM POST Jun. 8, 2006 In Israel last month to receive the "Guardian of Zion" award from Bar-Ilan University's Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies, Middle East scholar and author Daniel Pipes pulled no punches. In his acceptance speech at the King David Hotel before a distinguished gathering of academics, politicians, business people and the media, Pipes did something that - while perhaps, par for his own lonely course of late - was unconventional to say the least. It certainly strayed from the pro forma podium fare that was the focus...

Moslems Upset by Jewish Land Purchases in Jerusalem 12:29 Jun 08, '06 / 12 Sivan 5766 by Hillel Fendel "We have to start a worldwide Islamic-Arab fund with the purpose of saving Jerusalem before it is lost to us." So says Sheikh Raad Salah, head of the Islamic Movement in Israel and Hamas supporter. The Sheikh, a long-time enemy of Israel, called upon Arabs this week to continue their efforts to conquer Jerusalem. "The battle for Jerusalem does not involve tanks or artillery," Salah said. "Instead, the various Zionist institutions have employed a low and detestable style, with the support...

By Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury Imagine Russia in 2050! According to Paul Goble, a specialist on ethnic minorities in the Russian Federation has predicted that within the next several decades, Russia will become a Muslim majority state. There is another bad news with fast decline in country’s population. This has already become a headache for Russian politicians and policy makers. President Vladimir Putin has called already for Russian women to have more children, because demographers predict that Russia’s population will fall from 143 million to 100 million by 2050. This situation has alarmed Russians as well Western leaders, more so...

In an earlier essay titled “Migration to the West and Radicalization of the Muslims�, I have delved into how Muslims suddenly become more radicalized or Islamized when they arrive in the West and how that helps in transforming the next generation Muslims into tools of violence and terrorism. I have also explained that the Western cultures are hateful and unacceptable to Muslims. - Islamic religious book, nor can there exist any Church, temple or synagogue. In so-called modern democratic Muslim states, such as Bangladesh and Pakistan, non-Muslims are routinely being harassed, their young girls are being abducted and forcefully married...

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice braved anti-war protestors and hecklers during a friendly visit to the heart of Britain, Washington's staunch ally. Some 200 opponents of the US-led war in Iraq protested her visit Friday to Blackburn in northwest England, after two dozen anti-war protestors greeted her upon arrival in nearby Liverpool from Paris on Thursday night. "Condoleezza Rice, Go home!" many chanted when Rice, using a side door, entered a high school in Blackburn, the home town of her host, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who visited her home state of Alabama last year. "Hey, hey Condi Rice, how...

A group of Moslem males have tried to get at the daughter of one of the 12 cartoonists who drew the cartoons of Muhammed at her school. The political spokesman of the Liberals, Jens Rohde, revealed this during an interview with TV-Avisen while explaining his and the Prime Minister’s attack on the business community in Denmark, charging that they have put profits over Freedom of Speech. Not at school Rohde says that the 12 cartoonists have had their lives overturned and are now living in hiding, after receiving several death threats. "And a daughter of one of cartoonist was sought...

Armenian among those marking sad anniversary    Rahan Kachian, 94, is haunted by painful memories of the 1915 Armenian massacre in Turkey. ORADELL - Ninety years later, Rahan Kachian still has the nightmares. In the daylight, she is healthy and happy. The horrors of her youth in Turkey are memories. But at night, she is five years old again. Burying the remains of her beheaded father in the family vineyard. Running. Watching strangers burn churches filled with people. Hiding between mattresses. Seeing her 2-year-old brother, Kourken, die of starvation. "I was 5 years old but I remember," said Kachian, 94,...