UN: Islamic countries push (again…) for "Islamophobia" monitoring mechanism

CNSNews thanks to AOW:

The Quran-burning controversy in the United States has prompted the Islamic bloc at the United Nations to revive its call for the U.N. to set up an “international monitoring mechanism” to track incidents of “Islamophobia.”

More here:

Muslim nations must collectively resist growing Islamophobia in the US and Europe, the head of the world’s largest organization of Islamic countries told ministers from the 57 member nations gathered here this week. 

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu urged members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference to work with Western leaders to dispel misconceptions about their faith. They met on the edge of the UN General Assembly. 

… “The Muslim world is going through an unprecedented difficult and trying time,” Ihsanoglu told the ministers during their annual meeting on Friday. “We are facing daunting challenges and severe hardships. Islam and Muslims are under serious attack, and Islamophobia is growing and becoming more rampant and dangerous by the day.”

He said a “pandemic of Islam vilification” is sweeping through some parts of Europe and the United States, increasing misperceptions about Islam and eroding Muslims’ human rights.

Well, now that we are (again) with the Islamophobia, the Jyllands-Posten is again under threat and Mr. Ihsanoglu is (again) making stupid statements, it’s time to remember that, after telling Muslims that “violence weakens us” (that is, it’s not that using violence to try achieving a goal is wrong, but that rather people are looking at us as lunatics…), he said:

… the OIC was seeking an assurance from the EU that such incidents would not be repeated in the future and called upon the West to ensure that the dignity of Islam was respected.

Mr Ihsanoglu expressed regret at the failure of some newspapers and governments to apologise to Muslims and rejected the justification that it was an issue of freedom of expression.

“What we are looking for is that you take our sensitivities in your definition [of freedom of expression]. If you fail to do that… it will be a problem of credibility and a problem of universality of European values.”

Sensitivities are not to be considered when saying the truth and respect is earned by each individual’s actions. Precisely because rights are respected, people don’t like several Islamic mores and attitudes. Why should we just be quiet about those things we don’t like? Imagine how this would suit politicians: “don’t critisize us, it hurts our sensitivities“. 

Is it because we, as non-Muslims, can’t criticize Islam? Probably that’s the reason. But Mr. Ihsanoglu doesn’t say that, because he knows he would be laughed at. He prefers to take another path, much more subtle, that consists in exploiting the already deep culpability complex of Western societies. Victimization always produces excellent results, and there is no reason not to believe that this is not going to be the case, as there are important parts of society, who don’t understand that, if sentiments begin to meddle in rational criticism, freedom of speech and control over those actions we legitimately consider wrong, will just dissappear.

For example, take this comment, someone left at the blog:

I came across ur blog as i was searching on these cartoons and I read u’r comments and I read all the Islam bashing that you do in them. 

It’s interesting to note that I mainly don’t comment the news. I just copy the news that are published on different sources, an important part of which are underreported. So, if telling the truth is “bashing”, then the problem is not mine, it’s of the people that are really doing those things.

I don’t want 2 comment on that, as u have categorically said that u’r blog is about the cartoons on the prophet and as per what i understand u’r point is y dont ppl hv a sense of humour n y dont they see the “funny side” of these cartoons and the freedom of expression bit…

I don’t see either the “funny side” of pornographic photos of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ (those are not the only one example, although in that case they were public funded, something that differs greatly from the Mohammed cartoons’ case) or the insults against Pope Benedict XVIth but I don’t call for the beheading of their authors, for laws against the people who paint/photograph those kind of things, etc. I just don’t buy their products. If they don’t earn money, they are not going to be very anxious to continue doing them. Of course, there would be ever someone who would buy those but, if they continue producing that kind of “art”, it won’t be with my support.

well, my only question 2 u is how would u feel if the person or thing u adore the most in ur life was made fun of in front of the entire world or was ridiculed in public? Now, the prophet is like that for millions of Muslims (sane and insane) across the world. And what sort of freedom of expression are we talking about here, the freedom to insult a religion in public. What the terrorists/extremists do is wrong and condemned by one and all (actually killing innocent ppl is their freedom of expression, but I m sure u wont laugh at this barbaric joke as ur compassion overpowers ur sense of humour), and that is why they are being hunted and killed everywhere, in the same way, these cartoons also hurt millions but then u label it as freedon of expression and a lack of sense of humour in muslims. In a global economy, when every other nation knows what is happening in countries outside their own, events like these should be condemned and not propagated. I am sure the cartoonist can express himself in better ways and show his funny side and creativity. In the end, I wud just like to say that I am a Muslim and I peacefully, without any hard feelings, condemn the views supported by ur blog I hope the next time u think “violent and barbaric = Muslims”, u also think of the millions of peaceful, educated yet devout muslims like me.

The rest of the comment is based on the assumption that I will ask for other people’s freedom to be diminished so my religion is not “insulted“. I wonder what this guy would think of Anjem Choudary and friends?

In the end, this is only a question about lacking self-criticism. If you consider that you’re always right, you’re not going to accept that other people find your ideas, mores or behaviours as absolutely wrong or sufficient to laugh at or mock about. Every human being has the right to laugh about others’ point of views, even if the latter don’t accept criticism.

Lastly, I can’t even consider that drawing a cartoon is the same as killing someone. With the first thing, the people you supposedly hurt can continue their lives and don’t have much more pain that knowing that there is someone very far away, that laughs about their ideas. With the second example, a person is deprived of the one right without which no other right can be exercised: life. So, it’s not a question about “lacking sense of humour“, it’s a question of priorities. Priorities: I guess they are a little changed when Islam enters the scene…

PS: Yes, we all know that there are “peaceful Muslims“. The problem is that those Muslims are not speaking out loud, and, if they do, they just protest about “being insulted” (like this reader) and not about confronting those who, apparently, have “hijacked” Islam.

Anyway, it’s conforting to see a Muslim who is not calling for my beheading for publishing the Mohammed cartoons, that I can add, it’s the exception. Normally I receive comments (as every other anti-jihadist blogger) as the one I posted the other day.

PS2: I have changed the blog’s background to suit this piece of news. I think it’s important to fight for the freedom to critizise the world we are living in, whover gets angry or mad or falls ill after watching its criticism.

European Union: Nigel Farage on "The state of the Union"

Found at A Arte da Fuga:

http://www.youtube.com/v/7HB_L1cnCqs&hl=pt_PT&feature=player_embedded&version=3

Somalia: Expansion of AU Force studied at Madrid meeting

We’ll see what results this meeting has. Expatica:

Representatives of 45 nations and international bodies met in Madrid Monday to consider plans to strengthen an African Union peacekeeping force in war-torn Somalia.

The AU force, known as AMISOM, comprises about 7,200 troops, and the meeting of the UN-backed International Contact Group on Somalia, which is to conclude on Tuesday, will “look into a possible reinforcement,” Spain’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Stepping up the fight against maritime piracy in waters off the coast of Somalia and finding ways to boost support for the country’s transitional government will be among the other topics discussed, it added.

Delegates from 45 nations and international organisations, including the United States and the European Union, are taking part in the meeting which was closed to the press.

Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and the top United Nations envoy to the country, Augustine Mahiga, are among the participants.

Ahmed warned in a speech before the UN General Assembly on Saturday that Somalia is “a weak link” in the fight against international terrorism and urged nations to continue to assist in training its forces and supporting the AU peacekeeping contingent.

Egypt: Woman strangled with headscarf, thrown into sewer system to clean family honor

Her brothers and uncle did that in front of her 3-year-old child:

The Amereya police deportment in Alexandria arrested three men from the same family and accused them of murdering two of the mens’ sister and dumping the body in the sewage after hearing rumors about her.

The two brothers and the girl’s uncle dragged her in a car along with her three-year-old child and drove to an isolated area where they strangled her with her head scarf in front of her baby, media and police reports stated.

Police said that they stabbed her in the chest and the stomach with a knife to make sure she was dead. Later that night, they dumped the body in the sewer system where it was found and taken to the corner’s office.

The deceased, Karima Metawe, 20, was married to a butcher who works in Libya and her brother and uncle allegedly had heard rumors about her leaving the house and going out, leaving her child behind, so they decided to take her life to ‘restore’ their family’s honor.

Syria: Press freedom threatened by fear and intimidation

NYT:

“We have a little bit of freedom,” said Khaled al-Ekhetyar, a 29-year-old journalist for a Web site whose business card shows a face with hands covering up the eyes and mouth. “We can say things that can’t be said in print.”

But that slim margin is threatened by an ever present fog of fear and intimidation, and some journalists fear that it could soon be snuffed out. A draft law regulating online media would clamp down on Syrian bloggers and other journalists, forcing them to register as syndicate members and submit their writing for review. Other Arab countries regularly jail journalists who express dissident views, but Syria may be the most restrictive of all.

Most of the Syrian media is still owned by the state. Privately owned media outlets became legal in 2001, as the socialist economy slowly began to liberalize following the accession of President Bashar al-Assad. But much of the sector is owned by members of the Syrian “oligarchy” — relatives of Mr. Assad and other top government officials. All of it is subject to intimidation and heavy-handed control.

“The first level is censorship,” said Ayman Abdel Nour, the founder of All4Syria.info, the independent Web site where Mr. Ekhetyar works. “The second level is when they send you statements and force you to publish them.” Like many other journalists and dissidents, Mr. Abdel Nour has left the country and now lives abroad.

Nothing surprising here, if we consider that Syria is a dictatorship (in which the power is inherited) and one of Iran’s best freinds.

Petraeus: "Taliban are ready to reconcile with Afghan Govt"

Sydney Morning Herald:

Top Taliban leaders have made overtures to reconcile with the Afghan government, the top commander in Afghanistan said Monday.

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has long said that he will talk to insurgents if they renounce violence, sever ties to terrorists and embrace the Afghan constitution.

Publicly, the Taliban have said they won’t negotiate until foreign troops leave Afghanistan, yet there are many indications that backdoor discussions have occurred.

Who are ready to reconcile with Afghan Govt? The ones planning Mumbai-style attacks on Europe? Or the ones stoning women? Or those warning Bangladesh against sending more troops to help ISAF? Or those sexually abusing and hanging 65-year-old man and his wife for “working for foreign invaders” (the man has worked for NGO Afghan Relief)? Or those…???

Spain: Hackers crack website with striking set of images on heroin addicts in Kabul

Ataque inform�tico contra unas fotos de heroin�manos de KabulU – Noticias Nuevas tecnolog�as – e-not�cies (Translation: T&P)

A group self-called Islamic Ghosts Team (Islamic Ghosts) has cracked the website of the Sixth Biennial of Photography Miserachs Xavier de Palafrugell, leaving the all-black page with a single entry: the name of this group of crackers.

The biennial, which opened Sept. 11 and closes tomorrow, has eight exhibition halls spread over different municipality, including the photographer Alfonso del Moral (Valladolid, 1977), which presents a striking set of images on heroin addicts in Kabul.

Perhaps these photographs led the Islamic Ghosts Team to attack the web of the biennial, which at the time of this writing, is still hacked. A search on Google can see that the same group has carried out similar actions against other sites, including the ones of the Granollers Institute and the presidency of the Republic of Guyana.

US: A "religious facility" called Zaytuna college

‘Zaytuna College’ and Its Continuing Media Circus – Campus Watch:

Everything in Zaytuna’s publicity history indicates that it is intended as a religious facility to train preachers and clerics in Hanson’s fundamentalist brand of Islam rather than, as it is portrayed on NPR, as an ‘Islamic liberal arts college.’ Hanson had a long and ugly career as one of the most radical Muslim speakers in the U.S., which he abandoned after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Yet he still advertises his attachment to the Saudi-based cleric Sheikh Abdallah bin Bayyah, who was born in Mauritania in 1935 and is a member of the European Council for Fatwas and Research, headed by the notorious Egyptian-born and Qatar-based fundamentalist cleric Yusuf Al-Qaradawi. Al-Qaradawi, for his part, is distinguished by his fatwas in support of wife-beating and female genital mutilation, as well as Islamist radical positions in general.

Al-Qaradawi has praised bin Bayyah, Hamza Yusuf Hanson’s mentor, and the legal authority to whom Hanson and students at Zaytuna will turn in their teaching of Islamic jurisprudence, as “between Salafism and Sufism.” “Salafism” is a term appropriated from a group of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Muslim reformers who were pro-European and non-jihadist. The term is currently used as a cover for the Wahhabi sect in Saudi Arabia, the most violent, exclusionary, and fundamentalist phenomenon in the history of Sunni Islam, and the inspirer of al-Qaeda. Al-Qaradawi, soon after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, praised Osama bin Laden as “a symbol of the world uprising against American hegemony.”

Zaytuna’s “academic” apparatus, as catalogued on its September 2010 website, details no more than Hanson and his cohort had offered students in the past through his “Zaytuna Institute.” As a college, Zaytuna includes only four faculty members: Hanson; Shakir; UC Berkeley adjunct professor Hatem Bazian, who bears the title of chair for Zaytuna’s “Academic Affairs Committee”; and Abdullah bin Hamid Ali. An American-born Muslim, Abdullah bin Hamid Ali was formerly “assistant head chaplain for 5 years at the Chester State Correctional Institution” in Pennsylvania and claims to be “the only Western graduate of the Shariah Faculty of the University of al-Qarawiyin located in Fes, Morocco.” Bazian, unlike Hamza Yusuf Hanson, remains an unapologetically radical exponent, perhaps best-known for his 2004 summons to an “intifada” in the United States.”

Velvet Hammer has more information on this college.

Chechnya: Govt. Coerces Women on Dress, Activists Say

The Female Factor – Chechnya Coerces Women on Dress, Activists Say – NYTimes.com:

“Activists in Chechnya, where Russia has waged two wars against separatists in the past 16 years, said intimidation reached a peak during the fasting month of Ramadan. There was also a crackdown on violations of Islamic law such as the sale of food before sundown and any sale of alcohol, they said.

The activists who spoke from Chechnya insisted on anonymity because they said they feared reprisals.

Threats tapered off, they said, as Ramadan ended in mid-September. Men in Islamic clothes had been approaching women whom they deemed unsuitably dressed to pull them by the arm, an offense according to Chechen custom.

A woman activist said that incidents she recorded in August included a woman being taken away by men in a jeep for wearing a skirt they regarded as see-through and no head scarf in Grozny, the Chechen capital. Other men handed out leaflets to women advising them how to dress, she said.

According to Chechen tradition, women should not wear sleeveless clothes; they usually wear a strip of headscarf more like a hairband than a hijab. Until recently, it was considered the prerogative of male family members to decide their style of dress, but Islamic activists, with support from Mr. Kadyrov, are calling for much fuller cover.

….The New York-based Human Rights Watch said in August that women’s rights were being violated by efforts to impose an Islamic dress code. It said women without headscarves or in immodest dress had been attacked with paintball guns in Grozny.

Last week, Russia’s human rights ombudsman, Vladimir Lukin, asked the federal prosecutor general’s office to investigate the paintball incidents.

Tanya Lokshina, a researcher in Human Rights Watch’s Moscow office who travels regularly to Chechnya, said the situation of women had deteriorated under Mr. Kadyrov, 33, who succeeded his father, Akhmad Kadyrov, a former rebel leader and mufti who became a fervent Kremlin supporter before he was killed by an assassin’s bomb in 2004.

“Instructions were given that girls can’t go to school without scarves, or young women to university, and that it’s impossible to work without a scarf,” Ms. Lokshina said. “Pressure grew, through television programs and declarations, to control the morals of women.””

Flag: Wikipedia.

History: Islamic slave trade

Spain: Alleged AQIM terrorist arrested in Esplugues del Llobregat

Debhi Mohammed Omar

El Mundo:

National Police agents have arrested a person for his alleged links to international terrorism. The arrest took place yesterday at 12 noon at the Street Ronda in Canigó Esplugues de Llobregat (Barcelona), when Debhi Mohamed Omar, the suspected terrorist, left his home. He is a 43-year-old of Algerian origins and US nationality.

Investigations have linked him to crimes of terrorist funding in the Sahel for Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and crimes of fraud to the Spanish Public Finance and Social Security, and forgery.

The arrest comes after an investigation conducted by the General Information Office and coordinated by the Central Court of Instruction No. 1 of the National Court.

According to police investigations, Debhi Mohamed Omar sent significant amounts of money, either by bank transfer or by human couriers, to an Algerian citizen living in his country, named Toufik Mizi, who is fleeing the Spanish judiciary since 2006 for allegedly belonging to a terrorist organization.

The two suspected terrorists had ties since 2003 and Debhi Omar’s activity consisted mainly in bleaching and sending part of the money obtained to Algerian AQIM cells, hiding under the cover of fictious trade.

The money, in quantities that exceeded €60,000, was sent to Toufik Mizi, allowing its subsequent delivery to AQIM cells to optimize the purchase of material used in their terrorist activities.

In the house where the searches were performed, police have seized three laptop computers, hard drives, invoices and companies’ constitution documents and numerous banking documents and other related research. It has also involved a luxury car and a pleasure boat, which he had anchored in Badalona’s port.

Money, boat, luxury car… This Allah’s warriors are not what they used to… Must be a change in their attitudes after the update in the number of paradise virgins…

More from Hazte Oír:

The detainee lives in a residential community of 180 townhouses in the highlands of this dormitory town next to Barcelona. The development has communal areas such as gardens, swimming pool and gym, which the detainee and his family never used.

Debhi Omar Mohamed, a U.S. national of Algerian origins, aged 43, is married with six sons and daughters, some children still and some others teenagers. Some of them reside in the United States. The rest follow his studies at the American school near the estate. The wife, young-looking and “very beautiful“, didn’t walk much around the neighborhood because “she didn’t leave the house just leave the house often”.
The detainee led an “apparently normal” life, although he didn’t engage at all with neighbors, according to inhabitants of the estate.
Neighbors describe the family of “rare”, so his detention has not shocked anyone. Dehbi hadn’t “strange” visiors at home, and he made no suspicious activity.
Debhi Omar and his companion drive expensive cars like a Cadillac Escalade and Cadillac TS, in addition to owning a boat that is moored in Badalona. However, they assure that their home is “austere” and “very simple.”

Spain: Moroccan man kills sister, tries to hide it by calling emergencies

An honour killing case? Police have found clues that lead to a domestic violence case, though it’s too early to know it. We’ll wait and see: El Mundo:

A 37-year-old Moroccan man has been arrested on suspicion of killing his 47-year-old sister, at his home in the village of Llano de Brujas (Murcia). She was hit repeatedly with a frying pan in the head during a fight for unknown reasons, informed a spokesman of this body.

The detainee, who is now at Civil Guard HQs at Santomera whose agents are investigating this case, called the emergency phone at 0:50 a.m., apparently worried because his sister didn’t open her house’s door.

Local police rushed to the scene and, upon entering the house, agents found the woman dead, lying on the ground beside a large pool of blood and a hole in the head. The death has been certified by the physician of the medicalized Emergency Unit.

Apparently, agents have arrested the brother after hearing theneighbour’s testimony. Witnesses have said that there was a fight between brothers and the agents have discovered clues that point to a domestic violence case.

UK: Libyan imam jailed after exposing himself twice

Abrahim Ghait had been invited to UK to celebrate the Ramadan. Last August he exposed himself twice: firstly, to a 28-year-old woman who was going home after the gym and secondly, to a 12-year-old, who was informed that his genitalia was named “Lexie“. From the Daily Mail:

Ghait is famous in the Muslim world for memorising the Koran by the age of 17.

Yesterday he pleaded guilty to two charges under the Sexual Offences Act of exposing his genitals with the intention that someone would see them and be caused alarm or distress.

Magistrates jailed him for six weeks on each charge, to serve side-by-side, and placed him on the Sex Offenders’ Register for seven years.

Ghait was one of 21 Libyan imams invited to Britain by the UK Arabic Society to preach at mosques during Ramadan.

He was staying at a flat in Easton, Bristol, when the offences happened in August.

I would like to hear his “sermons” in the UK…

US: Europe can be attacked "Mumbai-style"

CNN:
http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_416x234_embed.swf?context=embed&videoId=world/2010/09/29/lok.pakistan.terror.plot.mov.cnn

A German citizen of Afghan descent was the source of much of the information on a potential “Mumbai-style” terror plot in Europe, a German counterterrorism official said Wednesday.

The man, Ahmed Sidiqi, was detained in Kabul in July and transferred to U.S. custody where he has “revealed details about the terror plot,” said the official, who did not want to be named because he is not authorized to talk to the media.

The man and several other Germans traveled from Hamburg to the Afghan-Pakistan border area in 2009, where he joined the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, an extremist group allied with al Qaeda, German intelligence officials said.

Sidiqi, once captured, “started to talk a lot,” and detailed a “Mumbai-style” attack in Europe, the German official said.

…The intelligence indicates there is interest in using people with Western passports in an attack, that official said. This source says the potential operatives may be a mix of Europeans and others possibly including North Africans, Pakistanis, Turks, Uzbeks, and Tajiks.

There is concern about an “active shooter” scenario that would create as many casualties and as much chaos as possible in a short period of time.

The Mumbai attacks showed how effective this kind of an attack can be in drawing attention.

According to this source, economic targets in Europe could be possible targets, including institutions such as banks and stock exchanges.

A separate law enforcement source said “the belief is” that Osama bin Laden signed off on a European attack plan, and that source confirmed the intelligence related to a Mumbai-style attack.

The German government is increasingly concerned about the number of Germans becoming jihadists. According to a senior German counterterrorism source, some 200 individuals have traveled to train with Jihadist groups in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region since the 9/11 attacks.

Venezuela: "We are carrying studies to start a nuclear energy program", Chávez says

FOXNews.com – Chavez: Venezuela Studying Nuclear Program:

“Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Monday that his government is carrying out initial studies into starting a nuclear energy program.

Chavez brought up the issue during a news conference, saying the South American country needs an atomic energy program.

‘We’re taking on the project of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, and they aren’t going to stop us,’ Chavez said. ‘We need it and we’re carrying out the first studies.’

Chavez is a close ally of Iran and has defended the Iranian nuclear program, saying he is sure Iran is not making atomic weapons in spite of U.S. and European suspicions.”

Just after the legislative elections in which he lost his “supermajority”. Wasn’t Venezuela one of the most important oil producers in the world? So, why do they need nuclear energy? Just the same Iran needs it?

If I were Colombian, I would be really worried.

Syria: Eight House Churches Shut Down

Eight House Churches Shut Down in Northern Syria: 

“The Syrian government ordered the closure of numerous ‘house churches’ for meeting in places the government deems inappropriate for worship. Many congregations in Syria cannot afford to buy a plot of land and build a church, so instead they purchase an apartment and turn it into a place of worship. However, during the past few months, the government has enforced a law stating that congregations must only gather in buildings that resemble a church.

Many Syrian Christians, however, believe that the government’s ‘legal’ excuse for closing churches is merely a cover-up for a wider government crackdown against evangelical Christian activity in Syria. ‘Syrian Christians that are active in their faith know that they are watched very closely and the government is waiting for an excuse to crack down on them,’ a Syrian Christian told ICC. ‘The government is targeting all religious activities which are considered ‘extreme’ — from Muslim extremists all the way to Christians… It is generally believed that the government is getting reports from Orthodox and certain denominations as well as secret police and certain Islamic congregations.’”

Flag: Wikipedia.

Afghanistan: Don’t send troops, Taliban warns Bangladesh

Don’t send troops to Afghanistan, Taliban warns Bangladesh. Or else….:

“The Taliban has warned Bangladesh against sending its troops to Afghanistan after the US asked Dhaka to send its forces to the war-ravaged country.

The Taliban Monday told Bangladesh to refuse the US request to send combat troops to Afghanistan, a media report said.

The US monitoring service SITE intelligence group published a report Monday with the headline ‘Afghan Taliban reacts to US requesting troops from Bangladesh’, said Star Online, website of The Daily Star newspaper.

US Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke last week made the plea to send troops to Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni at a meeting in New York.”

Well, nothing strange here. Note simply that Bangladesh is also a Muslim-majority country:

The main religion practiced in Bangladesh is Islam (89.7%), but a significant minority adheres to Hinduism (9.2%).[77] The majority of Muslims are Sunni. There is a small Shia and an even smaller Ahmadiyya community. Ethnic Biharis are predominantly Shia Muslims. Sufi influences in the region go back many centuries.[78] Other religious groups include Buddhists (0.7%, mostly Theravada), Christians (0.3%, mostly of the Roman Catholic denomination), and Animists (0.1%). Bangladesh has the fourth largest Muslim population after Indonesia, Pakistan, and India, with over 130 million. 

Was Spain an AQ target before 9/11?

By Manuel Molares do Val:

Everyone shoud take notice of three facts: the “Cordoba” mosque they want to set up at Ground Zero in New York, the requirement that the Spanish city and the entire Al Andalus are Muslim, and its relation to the Madrid bombings of March 11, 2004, planned before September 11th 2001.

The nearly 200 dead in Madrid massacres are not related to the Spanish participation in Afghanistan or Iraq, as noted in “El País” one of the most authoritative voices on global jihadism, Fernando Reinares, Dean of the University Rey Juan Carlos, and advisor to the Interior and the intelligence agencies of different countries.

Reinares just written with Ignacio Cembrero, a specialist in North Africa, that in early summer 2001, two months before the attack on the Twin Towers, Amer Azizi, a member of Al Qaeda training in Afghanistan turned to commit massive attacks in Spain, where he had residence, calling for an Islamic reconquest of Al Andalus.

Immediately after the police broke up the 11/S cell, but he fled first to Iran and then to Afghanistan. He was killed in 2005 by a U.S. missile.

The article surprisingly, as if it was from another context, misses the May 2002 bombing at the House of Spain in Casablanca, which resulted in 41 deaths, and the conflict of “the Perejil Island”, two months later. Both cases occurred a year before sending Spanish troops to Iraq in summer 2003.

After the massacres of March 11, 2004, the victory of Zapatero and the erroneous attribution of the attack on the Spanish presence in Iraq took place.

Yes, pay attention: there is a growing Muslim dream related to Al Andalus. That dream is now supercharged by the installation in the triumph for Islamist imaginary, Ground Zero, of the Cordoba mosque.

And Cordoba, the Spanish city, is a false multiculturalist myth, terrible for the unfaithful in times of Islam. Much more bloody and brutal than any current Saudi city, whatever is said now by the actual Moorish and the current U.S. ambassador to Madrid, driven by the ignorance of Obama‘s Cairo speech fifteen months ago.

Tribune: Fernando Reinares and Ignacio Cembrero: Was Spain an AQ target before Sept. 11?

In early summer 2001, when Amer Azizi (left) returned to Spain from Afghanistan, the decision to attack our country had been taken. So, was really the participation in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq the trigger for the attack?

11/09/2010 – It’s no wonder that the Spanish people, as Europeans generally, link the threat that international terrorism poses to Western society with the involvement of their governments in military interventions in countries whose populations are predominantly Muslim. But their countries maintain troops in these countries carrying on work of various kinds.

When assessing the inherent threat posed that global Islamist-inspired violence, the circumstances must be weighed. They are mixed national politics, with foreign affairs side, with typical dimensions of security and defense. But not necessarily those constitute the decisive factor -perhaps not even the most important one- of those which should be taken into account. There are other relevant factors, such as the underlying ideology to the phenomenon of terrorism or other certain issues which are best understood considering the domestic policy.

People continue to take for granted that what really put Spain in sight of Al Qaeda were two factors. First, the highly visible alignment of La Moncloa (NOTE: the Government) with the White House and Downing Street in the decision to invade Iraq, which is reflected graphically in the well known photo of the Azores. Second, the deployment of Spanish soldiers in Iraq from August 2003, just five months after U.S. and British troops begin military actions that concluded, provisionally, with the capture of Baghdad.

The Spanish mission lasted until shortly after the attacks of March 11, 2004 in Madrid and the subsequent change of party in government after the general elections held three days after that infamous date. In fact, March 11 bombings have been and continue to be interpreted primarily as a result of pre-positioning of the Popular Party Executive on the issue of Iraq and the military involvement in this protracted conflict.

However, it is also reasonable to think that Spain was already the target of the wrath of Osama Bin Laden and his followers prior to the invasion of Iraq and the dispatch of Spanish troops there. Maybe we were AQ’s target since 2002, when a contingent of our army began its participation in the peacekeeping mission carried out by NATO in Afghanistan within the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

In some of his communications, the March 11th terrorists themselves alluded to it and justified the decision attacking again when they saw that a withdrawal from Afghanistan was not contemplated. Police foiled the plan to locate the apartment rented by the jihadist cell in Leganes in which seven of its members blew themselves up on 3 April 2004, trying to cause maximum damage.

Nearly four years later, a Pakistani Taliban organization associated with al Qaeda named Therik-e-Taliban (NOTE: among other leaders, we can name Baitullah Mehsud, killed by a US drone last year, and Hakimullah Mehsud, who was also reported killed thanks to another US drone. It seems its leader now is Malik Noor Jamal, alias Maulana Toofan) acknowledged being behind the failed suicide attack on the subway in Barcelona in January 2008 after preparing a number of individuals convicted by the High Court. The Pakistani Taliban then referred to Spain’s role in Afghanistan.

There are, however, reasons to believe that Spain became a prime target for al Qaeda before 2002, when our troops were deployed in Afghanistan. More specifically, it is possible that the desire to perpetrate a major attack on Spanish territory goes back no less than the fall of 2001. It was then that an Al Qaeda cell had been established in Spain since the mid-nineties, cell which was dismantled by the police. Most of its members, including the then leader of it, known by his nickname Abu Dahdah (photo), was jailed.

It is no coincidence that among the individuals who played key roles in the terrorist network of March 11th bombings, there were some who were closely related to that core jihadist, but for one reason or another were not arrested in the operation which disrupted the said cell. That operation was precipitated by the links the Spanish cell maintained with Hamburg, ie with the Sept 11′s terrorists. Abu Dahdah and his followers had already long been the subject of police and judicial investigations by Spanish authorities as well as by those of other European countries and worldwide.

But now there are new reasons to suspect that Al Qaeda put Spain in sight and not before the invasion of Iraq occurred in 2003 or by sending Spanish troops to Afghanistan in 2002, but before cell that had formed in our country are substantially dismantled by police in the fall of 2001, two months after the attacks on New York and Washington. Moreover, even before the same Sept 11.

This information comes from a revealing document prepared by the Fajr Center for News Production, document which was reported during the last quarter of last year by Tauhid Press through various Jihadist Internet portals. The document, written in Arabic language by a reporter allowed Al Qaeda using his nickname Abu Ubayd al Maqdisi, is part of a series on the “Maghreb martyrs in the distant land of the Hindu Kush”, referring to the prominent al-Qaeda militants from Morocco who have died in Afghanistan or Pakistan.

This is the fifth installment of the aforementioned series, devoted entirely to Amer Azizi, a Moroccan who was a prominent member of al-Qaeda cell in Spain, the one who had Abu Dahdah as lieutenant. This guy dodged the police operation that dismantled the cell in November 2001 and fled to Afghanistan after passing through Iran.

El País exclusively published on December, 17, 2009, that Amer Azizi died on the morning of December 1, 2005, as a result of a missile from an unmanned U.S. aircraft against an enclave near the administrative capital of Waziristan North (right. He noted also that he was then serving as number two of Hamza Rabia, responsible for the actions of Al Qaeda in Europe and North America, who was killed in the attack which was the main objective. However, this document, whose existence El País has also published on May 8, 2010, not only confirmed that Amer Azizi was Hamza Rabia’s deputy when March 11th bombings took place. It also tells us that this former member of the al-Qaeda’s cell in Spain did and wanted to do before Sept 11.

Although this information is now among other documents in the preliminary proceedings by the High Court due to the dismantling of that cell, the text signed by Abu Ubayd al Maqdisi confirms that before the Sept 11, Amer Azizi was in training camps in Afghanistan. But what those documents don’t tell but appears among the Jihadist writings, is that after a few months “with those who were in charge of training camps where he stayed”, he returned to Spain “with the hope of carrying out a jihadist action in the usurped the land”, referring to al-Andalus, the islamized Spain.

Moreover, “once in the Crusader Spain, he began preparing, along with other companions of jihad, targets of the Crusaders to hit”. But, as related in the document, “Spanish intelligence services soon arrested most members of the jihadist cell, which coincided with the blessed (¡!) attacks in New York and Washington”. It is clear, then, that Spain was the target of Al Qaeda before Sept 11th. In early summer 2001, when Amer Azizi returned to Spain from Afghanistan, the decision to prepare an attack on Spanish soil had been taken.

Fernando Reinares is Professor of Political Science at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos and Ignacio Cembrero is a reporter for El País.

Found at Islamización de Europa – Eurabia.

France: "We are ready to negociate with AQIM", says Interior Minister

Bloomberg:

France is ready to negotiate with the al-Qaeda-linked group that holds seven hostages in the Sahara desert, Defense Minister Herve Morin said.

“We are waiting for the demands of al-Qaeda in order to discuss” the matter, Morin said in an interview today with Canal-Plus television.

The hostages, five workers from Vinci SA’s Satom subsidiary and one Areva SA employee and his wife, were kidnapped Sept. 16 in Arlit, near a uranium mine in northern Niger, the companies have said. French officials say they think they’ve been moved to somewhere in Mali. Five of the hostages are French, one is Togolese, and one Madagascan.

Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, a terror group that operates in the southern Sahara desert, has issued two statements claiming the kidnapping.

France has sent two reconnaissance aircraft to Niger to help locate the hostages.

“As in all hostage cases, negotiations are complex, they are difficult, they are uncertain,” Morin said. “I am not more optimistic than yesterday, but I’m not more pessimistic either.”

Agence France-Presse reported over the weekend that an unnamed Malian said he’d seen the hostages, and that they are alive.

Related:

Key figures of AQ North African Branch.

Background:

7 foreigners kidnapped near uranium mining site.

AQ behind Niger attack.

AQ warns GOVT against rescuing French kidnapped nationals.

India: plot to kidnap or target British athletes, fans in CWG averted

Sify.com:

A plot to target or kidnap British athletes and fans coming to India for the 2010 Commonwealth Games has emerged over their country’s support to the war in Afghanistan.

Security sources have warned of “specific intelligence” about a threat by an unnamed Al Qaeda-linked group to take hostages in front of a global television audience.

Reports emerging from Australia suggest a number of countries are worried but will not upgrade travel warnings for fear of angering India.

They said citizens of Australia, the UK, Canada and New Zealand could be targets of a snatch attempt because their countries supported the war in Afghanistan.

Australia has asked fans not to wear national colours and in Britain it has emerged that security forces will work with counterparts from Canada, Australia and New Zealand to protect athletes at every venue.

“It is a serious situation. There is specific intelligence about an attempted hostage snatch. People travelling to India, and particularly Delhi, need to be aware of the risks,” The Daily Express quoted a source, as saying.

There are also concerns about Pakistani group Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) getting into the act, after Michael Leiter, director of the US National Counter-Terrorism Centre, told the US Senate the games would make “an appealing target“.

Background: Jihadis appear near CWG.