Thursday, August 31, 2006

Message from the Chechen President


Chechen President's address to the people

The Kavkaz Center news agency received a video of a short address of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria's President Dokku Umarov to the Chechen people.

The President reminded of a recent martyrdom (Shahideen, insha Allah) of the two Chechen leaders, the President Abdul Halim Sadulaev and the Vice-President Amir Abdullah Shamil Abu Idris (Shamil Basaev), and said he will continue the Holy Jihad in the way of Allah till its final victory. He said to be sure that Almighty Allah gives the victory in Jihad.

As far as the Holy War is concerned, the Chechen Mujahideen have no problems with new recruits. The only problem is lacking weapons to arm them immediately. But this problem is being solved. "Time is working for us", the President said.

The President condemned the double-standard policy of so called Western democracies that stay blind on the Russian-led genocide, atrocities and bloody murders of Chechen civilians in order to keep their energy supplies intact. This shows the real face of the western democratic system, President stressed. He said that the Chechen Mujahideen never hoped on the support of the West but always on Allah only, beginning the Jihad.

The President thanked the Muslims in other countries who help and support the Chechen Mujahideen and expressed solidarity with the Muslim brothers.

At the end of his speech the President called for unity of Chechens abroad to abandon their personal ambitions and to work out a common strategy in foreign policy corresponding to the internal situation in Chechnya and the Islamic ideology the the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.

Laughter is the Best Medicine


In all the turmoil of the Middle East, you have to hand it to the Lebanese that they can keep smiling and laughing. May Allah always keep them smiling in this life and in the aakhirah.


Three Hezbollah fighters run out of Beirut's southern suburbs after Israeli raids, flashing the victory sign. Actually, no. They were really pointing out that there were only two buildings left standing.


Why did rents go up in Ain el-Rummaneh district overlooking the southern suburbs? Because it has a sea view now!


Early one day, a man rushes desperately to the dentist. "Please take out my bridge, or the Israelis will bomb it!"


After Saudi Arabia decided to donate half a billion dollars to rebuild Lebanon, Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, ordered the capture of six Israeli soldiers at the border.


Amid a mass evacuation of foreign nationals from Lebanon, Palestinian refugees who have been stranded in Lebanon for nearly 60 years are ecstatic: The Palestinian Authority has decided to evacuate its nationals as well.


An Israeli recently arrives at London's Heathrow airport. As he fills out a form, the customs officer asks him: "Occupation?"

The Israeli promptly replies: "No, just visiting!"


For more on this story, see here

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Russian Grenades caused Beslan Massacre


It takes time, it takes patience, but ultimately the truth does come out and the barbarity of the kuffar does emerge. Will all those who condemned the entire Muslim ummah and Chechen people for the Beslan massacre now equally condemn all Christians and all Russians, now that it is emerging that it was indeed the Russians who were guilty of triggering the bloodbath?

See the fulkl story of how it was Russian grenades which caused the massacre here

Guilty Even When Proven Innocent

Another case of Guity Even When Proven Innocent

Despite this brother being acquitted in a court if law, he may still find himself subjected to a control order.

"The orders, involving curfews which can amount to virtual house arrest, can last indefinitely and the subject does not have to be accused of any specific crime or be told why he or she is under suspicion."

This isnt the first time a Muslim who has been found innocent in a court of law has nevertheless been punished by the government. Remember the ricin case - 109 Muslims arrested, 8 charged, 0 convicted. Why? Because no ricin ever existed. Nevertheless, following 7-7, these brothers were rounded up and locked up again as they were deemed "not conducive to the public good".

Then last week, in a victory for the government, the special immigration appeals tribunal ruled the Home Office could deport an Algerian known as Y, who had been subject to a control order. The man will be deported despite having been cleared by a jury last year over his alleged part in the so-called "ricin plot".

Another crime Rauf apparantly committed was being affiliated with that extremist cult faction, the Tableeghee Jamaat!!!

Saturday, August 26, 2006

Weapons of Math Instruction

Someone sent me this earlier :)

At New York's Kennedy International Airport today, an individual, later discovered to be a public school teacher, was arrested trying to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a setsquare, a slide rule, and a calculator. Attorney General John Ashcroft believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-gebra movement. He is being charged with carrying weapons of math instruction. "Al-gebra is a very fearsome cult, indeed," Ashcroft said. "They desire average solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on a tangent in a search of absolute value. They consist of quite shadowy figures, with names like "X" and "Y ", and, although they are frequently referred to as "unknowns", we know they really belong to a common denominator and are part of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country. As the great Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, "there are 3 sides to every triangle." When asked to comment on the arrest, President Bush said, "If God had wanted us to have weapons of math instruction, He would have given us more fingers.

Friday, August 25, 2006

Chechnya - the forgotten people

(forwarded by a sister)

Assalamu Alaikum.

There is so much fitnah/injustice going on around the globe, that we sometimes, unintentionally concentrate on more than others and forget such places as the genocide that is Chechnya. The brothers and sisters have been through so much, things we could never imagine.
For those of you who are unaware of the plight of the Chechens'...Chechnya - the facts:
  • - A quarter of the population have been killed since 1994.
  • - 70% of Chechnya has been classified by the Russian Ministry of Health as a 'zone of ecological disaster'.
  • - 80% of children are suffering from psychological trauma.- 1 in 3 children are born with birth defects.- Russian forces conduct an average of 109 extra-judicial executions in Chechnya each month.(Information taken from http://www.savechechnya.org/)

We have to remember that all of this fitnah that goes on is from Allah(swt) as a test for us as an ummah, to see what we do and how we react and as unfortunate as it is, many of us including myself do not do enough. We are in such a fortunate situation and we have to remember that this is due to the blessings Allah(swt) has showered upon us and we have to have shukr and be grateful for everything we have and help those less fortunate than ourselves.

Attached below is a standing order form for the Save Chechnya Campaign, where the funds goes directly to those in need. There is no pressure to give anything but if you do have the funds available, please try to give us little or as much as is possible for yourself. Donations can be as small as £1 and it sounds cliche but every penny really does count.

If you are interested in donating please visit: http://www.savechechnya.org/Jazakallah Khair for your time.

Wasalam.
Nazia (Save Chechnya Campaign Volunteer)

Monday, August 21, 2006

No Muslims on Monarch


In a scene reminiscent of Nazi Germany, 2 Muslim men were forced off a flight from Malaga to Manchester after passengers refused to fly with them due to their "suspicious behaviour" - apparantly they were speaking in Arabic!!

See here for full details

Contact Monarch Airlines who defended their decision to call police to pull the men off the plane even though they had already gone through 2 security checks. I sent the following message to them just now. Put your name and address to show you are serious and forward to all you know.

Dear Sir/Madam

After hearing in shock about how 2 innocent Muslim men were publicly humiliated and embarrassed aboard a Monarch Airlines flight from Malaga to Manchester in a manner befitting Nazi Germany, I am from today officially refusing to board a Monarch Airlines flight. For I too am a Muslim and I too could be a terrorist. If losing Muslim custom means your flights will be safer than so be it. It will also mean you will gain a reputation for Islamophobia and racism.
I will be persuading all within my influence to adopt a similar stance. Your anti-Muslim racism disgusts me.

Yours Sincerely

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Al-Jazeera

On Zionism

Friday, August 18, 2006

Sufi Muslim Council Exposed


Alhumdulillah, some brothers and sisters have set out to expose the Sufi Muslim Council. May Allah reward them for their research. Pictured above is the spiritual leader of the SMC, Sheikh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani meeting with that charming president of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, known for boiling his political opponents alive.

"We set out to discover who and what the SMC was about. We have uncovered very worrying links between this new council and the neocons in Washington, links to some of the most brutal regimes in the world and allegations of dodgy business dealings and vote rigging."
A MUST READ

http://sufimuslimcouncil.blogspot.com/

http://brotherdotherightthing.blogspot.com/

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Babar Ahmad: Two Years in Captivity

Two Years in Captivity
By Babar Ahmad

The first minute of captivity is the hardest. Then the first hour. Then the first day. Then the first week. Then the first year.

The first minute is when you freeze in shock and disbelief (I cant believe this is really happening). The first hour is spent in anxiety about what lies ahead. The first day is when it begins to sink in that you really are in prison. The first week is occupied in trying to reconcile a mind still thinking about the outside world (family, job, bills, car, etc.) with a body in captivity. By the end of the first month your mind starts to fall closer into line with your body as you begin to accept that you are in prison.

At the end of your first year in captivity, if you have lasted that long, your mind and body should have fully adapted to imprisonment. Such that you will feel as if you have always been in prison and can remain there for years ahead. Memories of life outside then begin to seem like dreams of another faraway existence.

My second year in captivity has flown by much quicker than the first. Years pass like minutes in prison. But sometimes minutes pass like years, especially when you are awaiting an uncertain outcome. Whilst my first year was full of adventure, naivety and novelty, the second one has brought with it enlightenment, understanding and maturity of rapture.

During the first year I analysed people and situations around me with the same clean, well-meaning heart whose bubble I used to reside in before prison. It is only now, at the end of two years imprisonment without trial in perhaps the world’s oldest ‘democracy’, that I have realised how naïve I was and why I had to come to prison to burst my bubble and to taste the reality of the world. The modern world is not a nice place and there are many evil people in it.

It is said that the beauty of things is appreciated from their opposites. You do not value wealth unless you have tasted poverty. You do not savour health until you have experienced illness. You do not appreciate family and liberty until they are taken away from you. In the same way you cannot really comprehend or desire justice, security and equality until you have experienced injustice, persecution and discrimination.

Just like the word ‘democratic’ is an essential adjective in the name of every undemocratic regime (e.g. Democratic Republic of Congo), the word ‘justice’ is an essential noun in the instruments of every unjust system. Criminal Justice Act, Court of Justice, Department of Justice, Lord Justice This, Mr Justice That…When society abuses and degrades humans it champions for ‘human rights.’ When society represses women it calls for women’s rights and international women’s days. When society is replete with racism and discrimination it boasts about multiculturalism and diversity. And when society oppresses and crushes people it does so in the name of justice. “Peace is not the absence of tension but the presence of justice,” observed Martin Luther King.

But I have also learnt this year why it is so dangerous to stereotype people according to preconceived suspicions. Not every tattooed skinhead is a racist brute. Not every black man is a violent criminal. Not every politician is a two-faced liar (thought most are). And not every police officer is a two-horned devil (though most are). People should be judged on their merits- if they have any.

As a believer in Allah, Qadr (divine destiny) is always on your side, not against you. Allah The Exalted is not a bully. He does not derive pleasure or cheap thrills by watching His obedient servants being imprisoned, tortured, humiliated or slaughtered. There is always a good reason, a wise reason, for whatever trials befall the believers.

If you want to obtain the top grade in an exam you have to answer both the easy and the difficult questions- you cannot pick and choose. Similarly, you must always be satisfied with Allah’s Qadr and His choices for you, whether they conform to your liking or not. Allah’s Choice is always better than the choice of His servant. That is iman (faith).
The Prophet (SAS) described the worldly life as a garbage dump. If any parent really cares for his child he will never allow his child to jump into it. When Allah imprisons His slave and deprives him of worldly comforts He is like the parent who protects his child from a garbage dump.

Tawakkul is one of those many Arabic terms that simply have no equivalent in the English language. Tawakkul is a combination of trust and reliance. You may trust that someone wishes for your best interests but you do not rely on them because you don’t believe that they really have the power to benefit you. Or you may rely on someone because you have no choice but you don’t really trust that they wish the best for you. Tawakkul in Allah is a state whereby you both trust that Allah only desires the best for you and you rely upon Him because you know that He really does have the power to benefit you.

Tawakkul is a state of the heart that can only be reached when you are immersed into a deep-end situation requiring tawakkul. No amount of reading, learning or preparing can instil tawakkul into your heart. You must live tawakkul to develop it. Likewise with sabr (patience and constancy), yaqeen (certainty) and rida (satisfaction with Allah’s decree).

Your level of tawakkul during a lengthy trial is directly proportional to your emotions at the gain or loss of any material factors that might benefit you. If you feel content when your advocates, supporters, ‘chances’ and resources are plentiful and you feel anxious when your advocates, supporters ‘chances’ and resources decrease then this is a symptom of weak tawakkul in The All-Powerful Lord. When you feel largely indifferent to these material factors then that is a sign of sound tawakkul.

This is why it is is necessary to pass through a lengthy period of hardship, permeated with repeated setbacks and defeats, in order to truly acquire tawakkul. As the material odds in your favour crumble away one by one you stop worrying about them and instead put your tawakkul in The Omnipotent Lord. That is when His relief arrives.

Allah The All-Wise alternates the days of success. If His servants were always to have the upper hand there would be no way of distinguishing the true believers from the hypocrites. But if His servants were to always be defeated, disgraced and downtrodden then no one would enter or uphold His deen for fear of suffering a similar fate. That is why some days bring victory and others bring losses.

Moreover, Allah’s Help always arrives when the odds are stacked against you. If you were to be successful whilst all the factors were in your favour then the people would say that you won because of those factors. But when you win in the absence of any favourable factors then the entire world bears witness to the Divine assistance from above the Seven Heavens and the Earth.

This is one of the ways in which Allah establishes His deen on the earth: by subjecting some of His servants to extreme hardships. When people see Allah’s servants victorious despite having no visible means of success then it reaffirms and strengthens their faith in Allah. The sea split for Musa when there was no way out. The whale spat Yunus out into the land when there was no way out. And a spider spun a web for the Prophet (SAS) when there was no way out.

The Deen of Allah is perfect, permanent and eternally protected. The Deen of Allah does not die with the death of one, the torture of a second, the imprisonment of a third or the extradition of a fourth. The Deen of Allah does not and will never die. If it was to die then it would have died the day its scant followers were dragged through the streets of Makkah in chains and crushed beneath weighty rocks in the blazing sun. If it was to die then it would have died the day its Messenger was expelled from Makkah, fleeing for his life with nothing material but a companion and a spider’s web to aid him. If it was to die then it would have died the day when its followers were surrounded “from above and below” on the Day of Ahzab until “the eyes grew wide and the hearts reached the throats.”

But after every crush Allah gave it strength, resurgence and a new vigour of life. As Allama Iqbal the poet said, “Islam zinda hota hai har Karbala ke bad (Islam is brought to life after every Karbala, i.e. after every defeat).” Therefore, every crush brings with it the glad tidings of an imminent revival since victory always comes one step after defeat.

Two years on, the zero hour of decision is getting closer and closer. The lawyers have given their advice: expect the worst. The supporters have given up hope. The entire world’s powers (US/UK) are united against me in their determination to obliterate me. Now only the verdict of The Almighty remains. The answer to “Where is your God now?” is coming. The answer to “Where is your God now?” is on the horizon. Because Moses always defeats Pharaoh. And David always beats Goliath.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Stop Demonising Muslims

The venomous media voices who think no Muslim is worth talking to

As government efforts to 'tackle' extremism flounder, it should beware the advice of armchair warriors and fantasists

Madeleine Bunting
Wednesday August 16, 2006
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1851016,00.html

One could almost feel sorry for them. A minister like Ruth Kelly is wrenched from her bucket-and spade holiday on a rainy British beach with the kids to launch yet another push to "engage" with Muslims and to step up efforts to "tackle" extremism. A ministerial tour of nine cities to meet Muslims is announced.

It's all designed to sound energetic and purposeful. We pay fat cabinet salaries and we want our politicians to sound like they are earning them. But in truth, beneath the rhetoric - an odd verbal combination of rugby tackles and romantic engagement - is a profound confusion in government policy as to what to do about British-grown Islamist terrorism, apart from large amounts of surveillance and frequent use of detention. Beyond that, the hearts-and-minds strategy is running on empty.

I've seen government ministers do "engagement": Paul Murphy, when he had the community-cohesion brief, listened carefully, answered questions patiently and got precisely nowhere. His young, angry Muslim audience heard him out but were profoundly cynical; their views didn't change a jot.

Events of the last few days will have immeasurably increased that cynicism: Muslim MPs and peers have been roundly ticked off by a succession of government ministers as if they were imperial vassals who should know their place. Yet they were simply stating the obvious - that British foreign policy is incubating (we can argue whether it's the root cause another time) Muslim extremism. Given that kind of opening salvo from her colleagues, perhaps Kelly should save herself the trouble and return to the beach for some more sandcastles and rock pools.

While she's there, the best thing she can do is to get a bit of perspective on a worn-out policy. Even more importantly, she would do well to take stock of a pernicious media onslaught in danger of spiralling out of control. The ministerial tours, the meetings with selected Muslims - most of whom are as baffled by Islamic extremism as ministers - were the responses to last summer's London bombings. The danger is that as the government's "community cohesion" policy flounders, there is no shortage of media commentators pouring out a flood of venomous advice on exactly why no Muslim is worth talking to anyway.

If, reader, you're short of time and need the summary, it runs thus: the government can't talk to extremists because they endorse violence and/or are nutty and irrational, and can't talk to "moderates" (warning: the word is on the point of becoming a term of abuse in the Muslim community) because they're not representative. These methods of dismissal are so frequently used by journalists that the only possible conclusion is that there are many people in this country who have no interest in listening to any Muslim unless they can chorus their own loathing and suspicion of Islam - the former Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali is the case par excellence.

Some of this armchair advice to government can be pretty briskly dismissed, such as the paranoid fantasies of the rightwing Daily Mail commentator Melanie Phillips in her book Londonistan or those of the Conservative MP Michael Gove in his book Celsius 7/7. Both authors haven't troubled themselves to get much beyond revived imperial delusions of demented, violent Muslims (check out Britain's history in India, Sudan or Egypt).

More insidious is the comprehensive attack on Whitehall's policy towards the Muslim community over the last decade by the New Statesman's political editor, Martin Bright. He argues that the government should have no truck with any Muslim organisation in the UK that has had any involvement with any person who has ever been influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood, the political Islamist organisation. That rules out the Muslim Council of Britain, the Federation of Student Islamic Societies and other mainstays of the government's "engagement" policy of the last 10 years. It would even include intellectuals such as Professor Tariq Ramadan (grandson, no less, of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood), who was a member of the government taskforce set up to tackle Islamist extremism last year, and a star turn on its travelling roadshow for young Muslims. We are talking sweeping here. In fact, implement Bright's advice and you've got a pretty small tea party for your next round of engagement.

The Muslim Brotherhood is a global phenomenon that has taken many different guises in different places. It has been very successful at the ballot box in a host of countries, particularly Egypt. In some countries it has developed an armed wing, in many others it has not. Many of those in this country influenced by this strand of anti-colonial political Islamism have subsequently developed their thinking in entirely different directions. Almost every thoughtful, educated Muslim in this country has been exposed to - and to varying degrees influenced by - the Muslim Brotherhood, the 20th century's most influential political Islamic movement. The obvious historical analogy to Bright is those US cold war warriors in the 50s who smeared anyone who had ever read Marx.

For a story to really work you have to have good guys as well as bad, so the critics conjure up another absurdity - the "silent Sufi majority" of British Muslims. These are the gentle, peace-loving Muslims at the grassroots who have been betrayed, so the argument runs, by those who claim to represent them, such as the Muslim Council of Britain. One can argue for hours about how to define a Sufi in this country; and, leaving that aside, the characterisation of Sufism is wide of the mark: some of the most violent anti-colonial struggles have been led by Sufis, for example Chechnya and Algeria, even the Mahdi who did for General Gordon in Khartoum. Furthermore, some argue that Sufi-inclined traditions such as the Kashmiri Barelwi have failed to travel well to urban Britain and that it is precisely their youngsters who are most disorientated and likely to fail prey to extremism - as was the case of the July 7 bombers from Leeds.

The main target for Bright is the Muslim Council of Britain; he loathes it with a contempt that is hard to explain. Given that the MCB is in effect a small volunteer parish council scrabbling to represent a hugely diverse - both ethnically and theologically - community, it's not surprising that it has scored own goals in its time. It's a young, underconfident institution and falls short in many ways, but the fact remains that of all the Muslim organisations to emerge in recent decades it has proved the most successful in winning affiliates. There is no comparable substitute waiting in the wings. The Sufi Muslim Council of Britain has been in existence all of a month; I wish it well, but unlike the MCB it cannot claim to represent anything like the 40% of British mosques affiliated to the MCB.

Kelly has an urgent task ahead to assuage anxiety as the possibility looms of a second-class status for Muslims in this country - profiled, suspected, searched, endlessly quizzed and found wanting. As for the armchair warriors so keen to proffer advice, one has to question the motives of those intent on undermining the meagre organisational capacity the Muslim community has managed to weld together to combat just such a threat.

· Madeleine Bunting will become director of the thinktank Demos next month

comment@guardian.co.uk

Tablighi Jamaat or Terrorist Jihaadis

I cannot figure out where this threat is coming from. Sometimes they say it is the Muslim Brotherhood in the guise of MAB, sometimes they say it is charitable institutions such as Interpal, and now they are again blaming "extremist websites". However, the most hilarious line I saw today was the following in today's Guardian

"Tablighi Jamaat, whose headquarters in Britain is in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, denies any links to terrorism, but US intelligence officers believe the organisation is a recruiting ground for al-Qaida."

Yes, now they are going after the group which is more like the Jehovas Witness than God's Army. This is the group from whom I used to hide up trees when I was younger, praying to God while I was up there that they wouldn't come back in the evening because I would have trouble sneaking out after dark. This is the group which kicked some of my friends out of the jamaat for consistently raising issues about politics and jihad. Seasoned travelers who instil a sense of humility in you, no doubt. Ruthless terrorists, you must be desparate.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Profiling or Polarising


Interesting how despite everyone knowing who is being targeted by these new proposals, they will still try to remain pc and call it "passenger profiling". It's just so sneaky, so sly, so British.

The ex-commissioner of the police John Stevens, who now writes for the News of the World (a fall from grace if ever there was one), was more open about his racism and prejudices. He said Muslims were the problem and we shouldnt waste time searching other people.

So what does a Muslim look like Mr Stevens? Black? white? brown? orange? The fact is Muslims come in all shapes and sizes, all colours of the rainbow and all ethnicities from the Chinese to the Arabs to the Africans to the White Anglo-Saxon. Just who are you going to profile? And assume you do get mainly Muslims and just a few other ethnic minorities (who I am sure will be delighted to be thrown into the 'bad citizen' category), what makes you think that terrorists won't change their image to appear less 'Muslim'? Amazing how you didnt let your prejudices show during your time as police commissioner and insisted that terrorism laws were not being used to target the Muslim community.

You see profiling is unworkable - it was tried with the Irish Catholic community during the Troubles and with the black community over many years. It did not defeat terrorism and crime back then. The only thing it succeeded in doing was alienating communities even further and polarising society. The Americans tried it after Pearl Harbour interning all the Japanese-Americans they could find and almost 50 years later President Bush Snr issued an official apology to those thousands of Japanese-American citizens who were criminalised as an enemy within. Do we have to wait 50 years before a future British PM apologises to my grandchildren? How on earth can civilization make the same mistakes time after time after time?

Of course, Stevens main justification for adopting this policy is that the Israelis use it. The last time the MET police took advice from the Israelis on security, it resulted in the ruthless execution of an innocent Brazilian electrician on his way to work. Taking security tips from a country which routinely violates international humanitarian law and which practices apartheid is hardly the way forward in the war on terror.

Spot the Difference

1) Briton answers israel's call for assistance

2)Briton answers Hamas' call for assistance


Answer:

1) Hero
2) Terrorist

Monday, August 14, 2006

British Values under Threat

British Values under Threat
Fahad Ansari

12 August 2006

Almost every day now we are all compelled to engage in a debate about the compatibility of Islamic and British values, whether it is possible for the two to co-exist or whether loyalty to one set must signal the death knell of the other. There are some values which cross the Islam-West divide, a crossing which signifies their importance in terms of human values. One of these common values is the presumption of innocence; that no individual shall be considered guilty until convicted in a court of law. So fundamental is this right to the administration of criminal law that it has been explicitly stated in almost every legal code and constitution around the world from as far back as Ancient Greece, as well as being laid down in the Shari’ah and the Old Testament.

Despite its foundational value to a fair and honourable criminal justice system, the presumption of innocence has been suspended throughout the course of the ‘War on Terror’, and most recently in the current coverage of the alleged transatlantic bomb plot. Even now, not one of the 24 individuals arrested on suspicion of involvement in the plot has been charged with any offence whatsoever. In fact, one man has been released without charge. Only time will tell whether there is any substantial evidence to charge, try and convict the remaining 23.

Yet this has not stopped the press plastering pictures of the suspects and their homes across the front pages. This has not prevented the Bank of England from publishing the names of 19 of the men, thereby destroying their reputations forever. From now on, these names and faces will forever be inextricably associated with terrorism irrespective of whether they are found to be guilty. Their families will continue to face verbal and physical abuse for the crime of being related to a “terror suspect”. They will be ostracized from not only the wider British society but also from many in the Muslim community who will shun them for fear that the next raids will be in their own homes.

In the meantime, it is worth recalling that since 9-11, almost 1000 people have been arrested under the Terrorism Act, of whom only about 150 have been charged. Of these, just under 30 people have been found guilty of minor charges related to terrorism, things as insignificant as wearing a symbol of a proscribed organization. Even more noteworthy is the fact that only one person accused in any of the major bomb plot allegations over the last five years has been found guilty of terrorism in a British court of law. That person was Sajid Badat who withdrew from the plot because of his belief that such acts were prohibited in Islam. For all the hype and hysteria of other major plots to attack Britain such as that to blow up Old Trafford in 2004 or the Brazilian Bomber in 2005 or more recently, the “chemical vest” of Forest Gate , there has never been any evidence of wrongdoing. Former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray summed it up when he stated, “There are two things you need to know about the ‘ricin plot’. One, there was no ricin. Two, there was no plot.” Yet, this lie was fed to the British public and the world for two years and used as a justification to go to war in Iraq, while 8 innocent men languished behind bars for possessing a substance which did not exist. In total, 109 men were arrested during the investigation. Not one was convicted of terrorism. ‘British intelligence’ has become an oxymoron which has destroyed the lives, reputations and livelihoods of hundreds of innocent people. The sad reality is that the only explosives which it has been proven are being transported through British airports are the American bombs being sent to Israel to be used to terrorise innocent men, women and children in Lebanon.

But these statistics are irrelevant. Any Muslim arrested under suspicion of involvement in terrorism is automatically convicted by the mass media, all too eager to act as judge, jury and executioner. But the judgment doesn’t end with those arrested. Each and every one of the 1.6 million Muslims in Britain is convicted of conspiracy with the terrorists. Questions are repeatedly fired at community leaders as to whether they are doing enough to root out the terrorists in their community. The implication is that Muslims in general are aware of individuals within the community plotting to blow up civilians and that they are deliberately refusing to report such individuals to the authorities. Terrorism by its very nature is something organized in secret, privately, away from the public. Nobody should know about the plot except the individuals involved. So if there are indeed individuals within the Muslim community plotting acts of terror, like the terrorists in other communities, only those involved will be aware of it. It is a racist and Islamophobic assumption that Muslims, unlike ordinary law-abiding citizens, would hesitate to report such criminals to the authorities. It is a vicious attempt to dehumanize and criminalize the entire Muslim community as a fifth element within British society.

Yes, there may be individuals within the Muslim community who may consider violence against civilians as legitimate to further the causes of the oppressed Palestinians, Iraqis or Chechens. The vast majority of Muslims support these causes although not this type of methodology. But such elements exist within all communities. Many Catholics are opposed to abortion; a minority of them believes that the bombing of abortion clinics is thereby justified. Many from the Jewish community in Britain believe Israel is justified in invading Lebanon; a minority within it believe this legitimizes their traveling to the Middle East to join the Israeli army and to drop bombs on women and children in Lebanon. A large section of British society is critical of immigration and the presence of ‘foreigners’ in Britain; a minority of these will join the BNP and engage in acts of violence against innocent people. Blowing up abortion clinics, bombing civilians from a warplane or brutally attacking people because of the colour of their skin are all undoubtedly acts of terror. Yet, the question never arises as to what the Catholic, Jewish and White Anglo-Saxon communities are doing to counter the ‘extremists’ and ‘terrorists’ within their own communities. The reason is simple – the majority of these communities are not responsible for the actions of a few and it would be racist to suggest that they are or that they would fail to report such individuals to the authorities.

However, to simply assume that there are some Muslims in Britain plotting to carry out acts of terrorism does not correspond with the statistics to date. To accuse the entire Muslim community of silent complicity echoes the Nazi demonisation of the entire Jewish community in the 1930s as an ‘enemy within’ colluding against the entire society and of no benefit to it whatsoever. For it, there was no presumption of innocence. For Muslims today, the presumption of innocence is equally meaningless, a Utopian ideal codified in law, ignored in practice. For the 24 Muslims arrested this week, British values will have completely lost their meaning.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

How I Found Myself with the Islamic Fascists


Excellent article below.

"But my Arab friends and High Wycombe's Pakistanis have longer memories. Their attention span lasts longer than a single atrocity. They understand that those numbers -- 151 killed in Gaza, and in a single incident 33 blown up in a market in Najaf, Iraq, and at least 28 crushed by rubble from an Israeli attack on Qana in Lebanon -- are people, flesh and blood just like them. They can make out, in all the pain and death currently being inflicted on Arabs and Muslims, the echoes of events stretching back years and decades. They see patterns, they make connections, and maybe discern a plan. Unlike us, they do not sigh, they burn with fury."

How I Found Myself With The Islamic Fascists

By Jonathan Cook

11 August, 2006

http://countercurrents.org/leb-cook110806.htm

It occurred to me as I watched the story unfolding on my TV of a suspected plot by a group of at least 20 British Muslims to blow up planes between the UK and America that the course of my life and that of the alleged "terrorists" may have run in parallel in more ways than one.

Like a number of them, I am originally from High Wycombe, one of the non-descript commuter towns that ring London. As aerial shots wheeled above the tiled roof of a semi-detached house there, I briefly thought I was looking at my mother's home.

But doubtless my and their lives have diverged in numerous ways. According to news reports, the suspects are probably Pakistani, a large "immigrant" community that has settled in many corners of Britain, including High Wycombe and Birmingham, a grey metropolis in the country's centre where at least some of the arrested men are believed to have been born.

Britain's complacent satisfaction with its multi-culturalism and tolerance ignores the facts that Pakistanis and other ethnic minorities mostly live in their own segregated spaces on the margins of British life. "Native" Britons like me -- the white ones -- generally assume that is out of choice: "They stick to their own kind". Many of us rarely come into contact with a Pakistani unless he is serving us what we call "Indian food" or selling us a packet of cigarettes in a corner shop.

So, even though we may have been neighbours of a sort in High Wycombe, my life and theirs probably had few points of contact.

But paradoxically, that changed, I think, five years ago when I left Britain. I moved to Nazareth in Israel, an Arab -- Muslim and Christian -- community on the very margins of the self-declared Jewish state. In the ghetto of Nazareth, I rarely meet Israeli Jews unless I venture out for work or I find myself sitting next to them in a local restaurant as they order hummus from an Arab waiter, just as I once asked for a madras curry in High Wycombe. When Israeli Jews briefly visit the ghetto, I suddenly realise how much, by living here, I have become an Arab by default.

Living on the margins of any society is an alienating experience that few who are rooted in the heartland of the consensus can ever hope to understand. Such alienation can easily deepen into something less passive, far more destructive, when you find yourself not only marginalised but your loyalty, rationality, even your sanity, called into question.

As we approach the fifth official anniversary of the "war on terror", the foiled UK "terror plot" has neatly provided George W Bush, the "leader of the free world", with a chance to remind us of our fight against the "Islamic fascists". But what if the war on terror is not really about separating the good guys from the bad guys, but about deciding what a good guy can be allowed to say and think?

What if the "Islamic fascism" President Bush warns us of is not just the terrorism associated with Osama bin Laden and his elusive al-Qaeda network but a set of views that many Arabs, Muslims and Pakistanis -- even the odd humanist -- consider normal, even enlightened? What if the war on "Islamic fascism" is less about fighting terrorism and more about silencing those who dissent from the West's endless wars against the Middle East?

At some point, I suspect, I joined the Islamic fascists without my even noticing. Were my name different, my skin colour different, my religion different, I might feel a lot more threatened by that realisation.

How would Homeland Security judge me if I stepped off a plane in the US tomorrow and told officials not only that I am appalled by the humanitarian crises in Lebanon and Gaza but also that I do not believe the war on terror should be directed against either the Lebanese or the Palestinians? How would they respond if, further, I described as nonsense the idea that Hizbullah or the political leaders of Hamas are "terrorists"?

I have my reasons, good ones I think, but would anyone take them seriously? What would the officials make of my argument that, before Israel's war on Lebanon, no one could point to a single terrorist incident Hizbullah had been responsible for in at least a decade? Would the authorities appreciate my comment that a terrorist organisation that doesn't do terrorism is a chimera, a figment of the President's imagination?

Equally, what would they make of my belief that Hizbullah does not want to wipe Israel off the map? Would they find me convincing if I told them that Israel, not Hizbulalh, is the aggressor in the conflict: that following Israel's supposed withdrawal from south Lebanon in 2000, Lebanon experienced barely a day of peace from the terrifying sonic booms of Israeli war planes violating the country's airspace?

Would they understand as I explained that Hizbullah had acted with restraint for those six years, stockpiling its weapons for the day it knew was coming when Israel would no longer be satisfied with overflights and its appetite for conquest and subjugation would return? Would the officials doubt their own assumptions as I told them that during this war Hizbullah's rockets have been a response to Israeli provocations, that they are fired in return for Israel's devastating and indiscriminate bombardment of Lebanon?

And what would they say if I claimed that this war is not really about Lebanon, or even Hizbullah, but part of a wider US and Israeli campaign to isolate and pre-emptively attack Iran?

Thank God, my skin is fair, my name is unmistakenly English, and I know how to spell the word "atheist". Chances are when Homeland Security comes looking for suspects, no one will search for me or be interested -- not yet, at least -- in my views on Hassan Nasrallah or the democratic election of a Hamas government for the Palestinians.

My friends in Nazareth, and those Pakistani neighbours I never knew in High Wycombe, are less fortunate. They must keep their views hidden and swallow their anger as they see (because their media, unlike ours, show the reality) what US-made weapons fired by American and Israeli soldiers can do to the fragile human body, how quickly skin burns in an explosion, how easily a child's skull is crushed under rubble, how fast the body drains of blood from a severed limb.

Sitting in London or New York, the news that Gaza lost 151 souls, most of them civilians, last month to Israeli bombs and bullets passes us by. It is after all just a number, even if a high one. At best, a number like that from a place we don't know, suffered by a people whose names we can't pronounce, makes us pause, even sigh with regret. But it cannot move us to anger.

And anyway, our news bulletins are too busy to concentrate on more than one atrocity at a time. This month it is Lebanon. Next month it will probably be Iran. Then maybe it will be back to Baghdad or the Palestinians. The horror stories sound so much less significant, the need for action so less pressing, when each is unrelated to the next. Were we to watch the Arab channels, where all the blood and suffering blends into a single terrible Middle Eastern epic, we might start to make connections, and maybe suspect that none of this happens by accident.

But my Arab friends and High Wycombe's Pakistanis have longer memories. Their attention span lasts longer than a single atrocity. They understand that those numbers -- 151 killed in Gaza, and in a single incident 33 blown up in a market in Najaf, Iraq, and at least 28 crushed by rubble from an Israeli attack on Qana in Lebanon -- are people, flesh and blood just like them. They can make out, in all the pain and death currently being inflicted on Arabs and Muslims, the echoes of events stretching back years and decades. They see patterns, they make connections, and maybe discern a plan. Unlike us, they do not sigh, they burn with fury.

This is something President Bush and his obedient serf in Britain, Tony Blair, need to learn. But of course, they do not want to understand because they, and their predecessors, are responsible for creating those patterns and for writing that epic tale in blood. Bush and Blair and their advisers know that the plan is far more important than the rage, the "red" alert levels at airports, or even planes crashing into buildings and plunging out of the sky.

And to protect that plan -- to preserve the Middle East as a giant oil pump, cheaply feeding our industries and our privileged lifestyles -- those who care about the suffering, the deaths and the wars must be silenced. Their voices must not be heard, their loyalty must be questioned, their reason must be put in doubt. They must be dismissed as "Islamic fascists".

One does not need to be a psychologist to understand that those with no legitimate way to vent their rage, even to have it recognised as valid, become consumed by it instead. They seek explanations and purifying ideologies. They need heroes and strategies. And in the end they crave revenge. If their voice is not heard, they will speak without words.

So I find myself standing with Bush's "Islamic fascists" in the hope that -- just possibly -- my solidarity and that of others may dissipate the rage, may give it meaning and offer it another, better route to victory.

Jonathan Cook is a journalist and writer based in Nazareth, Israel. His book, Blood and Religion: the Unmasking of the Jewish and Democratic State, is published by Pluto Press. His website is www.jkcook.net

A Declaration of an Already Declared War

A friend sent me this article recently regarding Blair's speech on "reactionary Islam"

In his Los Angeles speech Blair defines what "moderate Islam" is and hopes for a "battle within Islam". He believes the British and Arab public opinion are misguided in not believing him that a Israel or Western policies were not the cause of the problem, but actually "reactionary Islam".

Disqualified in the first 20 seconds.

Of course Hizbullah is to be blamed for the crisis due to its “provocation” that “provoked retaliation by Israel”. Even better Blair thinks that Hizbullah calculated that its “provocation” “would lead to Arab and Muslim opinion being inflamed”. As if the Arabs and Muslims have no mind for themselves and as if the Israeli brutality in the last 50 years did not contribute to the very existence of Hizbullah.

In the first few moments of his speech Blair managed to insult ones intelligence and earn the biscuits of the Zionist machinery. Yet he speaks of “a better long-term prospect for the cause of moderation in the Middle East”. For the first time the term “moderation” now has been brought to the point: giving up resistance to Israel.

His next definition of “moderate Islam” becomes clear when he labels Chechnya’s resistance “terrorism”, elected Hamas government and the resistance Hizbullah “reactionary”. For him all Islamist or Islamic elements in governance or genuine Jihad are not part of “moderate Islam”, whether elected or not.

New Cold War

With Blair’s term in office is close to run out, he now reinvents himself as the announcer of a new Cold War. His speech reads just as John Kennan’s long-telegram of 1947, which became the blue print for the US foreign policy of ‘containment’ and view of the Soviet threat.

Blair uses the same language and idea. In 1947 there was a camp of “freedom” and a camp of “socialism, control”. Today Blair says a world between “those of tolerance, freedom, respect for difference and diversity” and “those of reaction, division and hatred”. For him“the divide today is between open and closed”. Bold to be partisan and to push for Cold War he takes a position: “without hesitation, I am on the open side”.

In the 1940s Kennan outlined the concept of “containment”, Blair outlines the concept of “modern Realpolitik”, which is nothing more than old colonial policies of divide and buy up your enemy recast afresh. For him the enemy is “radical” or “reactionary” Islam. Blair sums up: “My argument to you today is this: we will not win the battle against this global extremism unless we win it at the level of values as much as force, unless we show we are even-handed, fair and just in our application of those values to the world. It is in part a struggle between what I will call reactionary Islam and moderate, mainstream Islam.” This new cold war is a battle of values.

And even better, he feels it necessary to fight the battle of others: that of between Muslims. However, Muslims never felt that there was a battle going on between them. Yet he wishes there were and he wants to be part of it. Or rather he wants Muslims, the moderate ones, to be part of him. The Quran always warned the Muslims to be wary of the non-Muslims in power, who want Muslims to become like them.The weakness of Blair’s camp of people who pray for a new Cold War is that he has to artificially portray ‘the other’ and even portray ‘them’ wrongly.

The ordinary Palestinian does not resist Israel out of hate for freedom but out of love to freedom. Hurndall and Corie, two Westerners, died in Palestine for freedom and not for hate.

Just like the Kennan portrayed the Soviet ‘bloc’ as the enemy, Blair now sees an “‘arc’ of extremism”. Blair bought in to the neo-cons and Texas School of thought. He might leave office soon, but his speech nevertheless reflects the new FCO and MoD thinking and Gordon Brown won’t be able to escape this. Before leaving office Blair managed to ruin his outstanding career with Iraq and now a New Cold War speech, slapping the face of all the Muslim voters. Muslim voters perhaps can learn a lesson that neither Tory nor Labour are an alternative and with that, that there is perhaps no alternative at all in the mainstream.

Islam is this animalistic creature: “Sometimes political strategy comes deliberatively, sometimes by instinct. For this movement, it was probably by instinct. It has an ideology, a world-view, it has deep convictions and the determination of the fanatic. It resembles in many ways early revolutionary Communism. It doesn't always need structures and command centres or even explicit communication. It knows what it thinks. In my view, we realised that you can't defeat a fanatical ideology just by imprisoning or killing its leaders; you have to defeat its ideas.”

Democracy

However, even better Blair makes an embarrassing plea for democracy in the Middle East and trumpets himself as the advocate of the “majority of Muslims who want democracy” but at the same time tellingly omits his policy towards Hamas elections or Musharraf’s dictatorship as well as British policy towards the FIS or Erbakan elections. Even better in Bosnia the Muslims are tied under the Dayton Agreement to accept the Bosnia High Commissioner to have the right to enact any law on financial matters superseding the elected Bosnian parliament.

While the first 20 seconds of his speech were an insult to intelligence, the middle of the speech would not have earned an undergraduate any marks whatsoever.Blair admits that “the banner was not actually "regime change", it was "values change" in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. In clarity this means they want “moderate Muslims” to rule. Iraq was not really a Muslim state was it. In short: Blair’s “value change” means pro-Israeli cronies. Let us be clear about it. Both in Afghanistan and Iraq ex CIA employees were put in power first: Mr Karzai and Mr Chalabi. The remainder of Arab kingdoms and tyrannies are dependent or were maintained by the UK and the USA.

Current Battle

The future battle of Blair will be one of propaganda, spin and lies with which he so successfully kept himself in power with. He believes “that the stronger and more appealing our world-view is, the more it is seen as based not just on power but on justice”. Blair continues that it would then be “easier for us to shape the future in which Europe and the US will no longer, economically or politically, be transcendent.”.

However to maintain Western hegemony it is vital that “long before then, we want moderate, mainstream Islam to triumph over reactionary Islam.”. Thus he sees the survival of Western civilisation hinges on Islam. He wants to coopt it. Thus Islam is more of a potent threat to the West than is India or China as he thinks they all want “benign relationships with the West”. It becomes like self-fulfilling prophecy to create unjustice and then to imagine an overpoweful enemy which needs to be crushed.

Is the West so much in need of an enemy? The goal of this propaganda campaign is to divide Muslims and to coopt them into the British hegemony. Blair continously repeated the term “moderate Islam” vs “reactionary Islam” or the”battle within Islam”. It is so false then to go on TV and shed crocodile tears over the Shia-Sunni split in Iraq.He complains that the Ummah despite all ailments exist as “the read-across, for example, from the region to the Muslim communities in Europe is almost instant”. Muslims feel with eachother, this perhaps the very basic benefit of demonstrations in the West.

Failure

Yet if the people do not believe Mr Blair he thinks they need to be convinced. Blair wants to “Convince our own opinion of the nature of the battle” which he finds is “hard enough”. This declaration of defeat is compounded him admitting that in the “short-term, we can't say we are winning” . He is saddened and “it is almost incredible to me that so much of Western opinion appears to buy the idea that the emergence of this global terrorism is somehow our fault”. He just wants to shove it up the peoples faces to believe Islam is evil. The Muslim community should be thankful for this speech, since at least this is a self-revelation of the government policies of the past years. Yet many Muslims are keen on joining the military or the intelligence, the heart of the machinery in creating a war for no reason to continue Israeli oppression or puppet governments of British chosing.

In sum Blair’s speech is a declaration of an already declared war as well as a declaration of his own defeat. He hopes to busy the world with a new enemy instead of offering answers to his and Western own short comings.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Terror Tourist


This has got to be one of the most ridiculous stories I have seen in a long time. I knew the terror laws were broad and interpreted very loosely but this is taking the Michael.

A foreigner goes around filming sites such as Big Ben, London Eye and the Houses of Parliament. He is a benefit to this country supporting our economy and the tourism industry so badly affected by 7-7.

An Iraqi Muslim goes around filming sites such as Big Ben, London Eye and the Houses of Parliament. He is a terror suspect as "the recordings could be of use to someone "angered" by the West's action in his homeland".

I think I should return the digital camera I just bought from Currys. Hmmm ... could Curry's face prosecution for supporting terrorism or distribution of articles which may be useful for terrorism??

3 Israelis Evicted from Paradise


3 Israelis evicted from Paradise

Three Israelis told by Fijian immigration officer that they cannot enter country for mistreating Palestinians during military service

Itamar Eichner

Three Israeli backpackers were evicted from Fiji after a Muslim immigration officer ruled that they had humiliated Palestinians during their military service in the territories.

The three – Amit Ronen, Eldar Avracohen, and Nimrod Lahav – left Israel in February for a tour in Australia.

In July they decided to spend a week in Fiji. On July 13 they arrived at Fiji airport where a surprise awaited them.

"We gave our passports to the officer, and when she saw we are Israelis she asked for ID cards. We told her we don't understand why we need ID cards and she responded shouting: 'You know very well how to ask Palestinians for IDs and humiliate them for three years."
That's what Avracohen wrote in a complaint letter he sent to Israel's Ambassador to Australia Nati Tamir.

The three were held at Fiji airport for six hours and officials rebuked their pleas to be allowed to make a phone call.

Armed policemen took them to a cell at the airport where they spent the night before being sent back to Australia.

"I don't look like a terrorist and there is no reason to point a gun at me," Nimrod Lahav wrote in a letter to ambassador Tamir.

Avracohen wrote that the incident was the most humiliating experience he had ever gone through.

The Foreign Ministry said the matter is being dealt with.

Jewish Law: No Such Thing as "Innocents" of the Enemy


With Jewish fatwas like the one below, is it really any wonder that the death toll in Lebanon is almost at 1000 (over one third being children).

From Israel's largest newspaper,Yediot Aharonot, July 30:

Yesha Rabbinical Council: During time of war, enemy has no innocents

The Yesha Rabbinical Council announced in response to an IDF attack in Kfar Qanna that "according to Jewish law, during a time of battle and war, there is no such term as 'innocents' of the enemy."

All of the discussions on Christian morality are weakening the spirit of the army and the nation and are costing us in the blood of our soldiers and civilians," the statement said. (Efrat Weiss)

(07.30.06, 17:37)

"Yesha" is the Hebrew acronym for "Judea, Samaria and Gaza" -- the occupied West Bank, and Gaza Strip

See here for more on Jewish fatwas to ignore Christian morals

A similar statement was made in 2004 regarding the slaughter of Palestinians.

I did have a chat with an old friend of mine from the Neturei Kerta who is a Rabbi opposed to Zionism and he told me that these guys, the Yesha Rabbinical Council, are worst then Zionists because they try to justufy their actions with the Torah which he insisted is opposed to such things.

Nevertheless, we get Omar Bakri getting primetime TV and round the clock coverage for making similar statements; yet when a Jewish Rabbinical Council, which represents the settlers in Occupied Palestine says everything goes, complete silence.

Just more hypocracy and double standards.

A Girl called Terrorism



A Girl called Terrorism


Little girl covered in dust
pulled from the rubble,
as limp and lifeless
as the doll you played with yesterday,
now mangled and bleeding,
you do not know who killed you
or why you were killed.
And even though I know
that you died shahid
and that your spirit
is in the Garden,
where one day you will be reunited
with the ones you loved,
with the ones who loved you,
dwelling there in peace for ever,
in the mean time I pray:
may Allah curse the ones
who helped to kill you
– the ones
who financed the bomb,
who made the bomb,
who transported the bomb,
who loaded the bomb,
who fired the bomb,
that killed you
and especially the cowards
who say that they were only
making war on terrorism.
– and may Allah give victory to the muminun.

Hajj Ahmad Thomson

Monday, August 07, 2006

Galloway On Hizbullah


A short video of an interview with Galloway on Sky News. Very good.

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Propaganda

Sent to all Haaretz subscribers:

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Blair Declares War on Islam



Tony Blair has officially declared war on Islam

"The point is this. This is war, but of a completely unconventional kind."

"It is in part a struggle between what I will call reactionary Islam and moderate, mainstream Islam. But its implications go far wider. We are fighting a war, but not just against terrorism but about how the world should govern itself in the early 21st century, about global values."

"In fact, these acts of terrorism were not isolated incidents. They were part of a growing movement. A movement that believed Muslims had departed from their proper faith, were being taken over by Western culture, were being governed treacherously by Muslims complicit in this takeover, whereas the true way to recover not just the true faith, but Muslim confidence and self esteem, was to take on the West and all its works."

"We committed ourselves to supporting moderate, mainstream Islam. In almost pristine form, the battles in Iraq or Afghanistan became battles between the majority of Muslims in either country who wanted democracy and the minority who realise that this rings the death-knell of their ideology."

"But we then have to empower moderate, mainstream Islam to defeat reactionary Islam."

"Long before then, we want moderate, mainstream Islam to triumph over reactionary Islam."


Read the entire Declaration of War