When Sarcastic Headlines Become Reality

When we jokingly referred to Palestinian terrorists as activists the other day we had no idea we'd be setting the standard for the lamestream media. It wasn't intended to make light of the horrific acts perpetrated by the Islamic monsters, rather than highlight how these bottom-feeding scum are viewed by the media.

So this morning I heard a CBS Radio News report where the words "Hamas activists" were used and nearly drove off the road. Yet it appears to be in widespread use.

On cue, here are some headlines this morning:

Palestinian forces arrest dozens of Hamas activists

Video: News Update: Palestinian security forces arrest more than 100 Hamas activists

In a story from Bloomberg News (surely King Mikey has issued a style mandate, no?):

Palestinian security services arrested about 150 Hamas activists in the West Bank after the settler killings, Hamas said in an e-mailed statement today.

Depressing. Check how many hits show up when you search for Hamas activists.

Just a refresher: Hamas is a designated as a terrorist group by our own State Department. Ironically, that same state department is paying for the Ground Zero Mosque imam to travel the world on our dime, the same guy who refuses to condemn Hamas.

Of course when it comes to mischaraterizing mainstream conservative group, the media wastes no time calling them extremists.

Rep Harman From Homeland (In)Security Committee

This morning Jane Harman (D-CA) and member of the Homeland Security Committee appeared on Fox and Friends and was interviewed by Gretchen Carlson. Rep Harman has crossed paths with Nancy Pelosi on a couple of occasions, but never forget she a Democrat and liberal through and through.

While listening to this interview the first thing that jumped out at me was how she repeated the assertions that Gitmo was being used as a recruiting tool by Al-Queda. Yeah and before that it was Abu Grabass and after Gitmo is a distant memory it will be the prison at Bagram. What they fail to answer is what is it that Al-Queda used as a recruitment tool prior to any of those places being in existence.

When questioned about plans to have a prison opened in Illinois to transfer the Gitmo guests to and the fact that the people of IL weren't real thrilled with the idea, her response was to say that the move to IL was welcomed by the government officials.

Yup, thats right. People be damned, some government official has given his stamp of approval and gosh darn it that is the end of that.

She wraps it up by talking about 200 terrorists or wannabe terrorists are currently in our federal prison system while only 3 have had their cases finalized through the military tribunal system. That is because so many people from her side of the aisle were sympathetic to their cause that they managed to delay and block the prosecution of these prisoners, who were all captured on foreign soil, which is another big distinction to make.

None of the current terrorists in federal prison were captured in foreign lands, they were all caught here and only after they had either carried out an attack or had that attack fail allowing for their capture.

Oh yeah, she takes the obligatory swipe at former president Bush.

A president who responds quicker to a child being hurt while on his vacation then he does a failed terrorist attack on Christmas Day aboard an airliner, who gives shout outs to folks in the audience before addressing the terrorist attack at Ft Hood, the head of our terrorism unit who couldn't be pulled away from the ski slopes to respond to this most recent attack, the head of DHS who proclaimed that the system worked, and all of the Democrat sympathizers in Congress who only want to give these guys three hots and a cot while not hurting their feelings certainly forebodes some dark times ahead for Americans.

Jane is worried about "winning the argument against these terrorists". To people like her this whole thing is nothing more then some sort of high stakes debate. I suggest that if she wants to debate these guys, our guys in Afghanistan can arrange a meeting so that she can put forth her arguments. I am sure her reasoned and well thought out talking points will win them over in no time.

If they can understand her through the head to toe bag they put her in.

Islamist Converts Busted in NY Terror Plot

It should take the ACLU about two minutes to claim they were set up and the left to portray them as innocent dupes.

Problem is they were caught in the act.

The FBI busted a homegrown terror cell late Wednesday night as the men sneaked around a Jewish temple in Riverdale planting what they thought were packages of C-4 explosives, sources told the Daily News.

The four men also allegedly had what they believed was a working Stinger missile in their car: officials said they wanted to shoot down a plane near Stewart Air National Guard Base.

Sources said the four men were arrested after a year long investigation that began when an informant connected to a mosque in Newburg said some militants wanted to buy eplosives.

FBI agents posing as militants sold them what they thought were C-4 and a plane-downing Stinger missile.

The weaponry was all phony.

The men were arrested as they planted fake bombs in front of the Riverdale Temple in the Bronx and under cars parked in front of the synagogue.

They also allegedly planned to blow up a nearby Jewish Community Center.

Witnesses said an NYPD vehicle blocked a black SUV outside the temple and then officers broke in the windows and handcuffed the four men inside the car.

All four men were US-born.

Arrested was alleged ringleader James Cromitie of Newburgh, the son of an Afghan immigrant and his wife.

Cromitie served a long stretch in prison in the past.

Alleged henchment David Williams, Onta Williams and Leguerre Payen were busted with him.

Sources said the three were jailhouse converts to Islam.

More here.

Four men are in federal custody following their arrests on charges that they conspired to use weapons of mass destruction in the United States, specifically to blow up a synagogue in the Bronx and military planes at the Air National Guard Base at Stewart Airport.

The plot was hatched in a house in Newburgh, authorities said Wednesday night. The men are all current residents of Newburgh.

Authorities arrested James Cromitie, also known as Abdul Rahman; Onta Williams, also known as Hamza; David Williams, also known as Daoud; and Laguerre Payen, also known as Amin on charges arising from a plot to detonate explosives near a synagogue in the Riverdale section of the Bronx and to shoot military planes at the Air Guard Base at Stewart Airport with Stinger surface-to-air guided missiles.

In June 2008, an informant working with the FBI met with Cromitie in Newburgh. He told the informant that has parents had lived in Afghanistan and that he was upset about the war there and that many Muslim people were being killed in Afghanistan and Pakistan by the military forces.

Cromitie expressed interest in returning to Afghanistan and spoke to the informant about how, if he were to die a martyr, he would go to “paradise.”

Beginning in October 2008, the informant began meeting with Cromitie at a house in Newburgh that the FBI had equipped with concealed video and audio equipment. During those meetings is when the four suspects discussed their desire to attack certain targets in New York.

I guess they weren't down with Hopenchange.

Obama Surrenders

Judge grants Obama request to suspend Gitmo trial

A judge on Wednesday quickly granted President Barack Obama's request to suspend the war crimes trial of a young Canadian in what may be the beginning of the end for the Bush administration's system of trying alleged terrorists.

The judge, Army Col. Patrick Parrish, issued a one-sentence written order for the 120-day continuance, without even holding a hearing on the question. Another judge was expected to rule later Wednesday on a similar motion to suspend the trial of five men charged in the Sept. 11 attacks.

Prosecutors submitted the motions just hours after Obama's inauguration at the direction of the president and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

U.S. military prosecutor Clay Trivett said all pending cases should be suspended because a review of the military commissions system may result in significant changes. Obama has said he will close Guantanamo and many expect he will scrap the special war crimes court and direct that cases be prosecuted in the U.S.

The 120-day suspension "has the practical effect of stopping the process, probably forever," said Navy Lt. Cmdr. William Kuebler, Omar Khadr's defense lawyer.

Khadr, a Toronto native, faces charges that include supporting terrorism and murder for allegedly killing U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer of Albuquerque, New Mexico, with a grenade during a 2002 battle in Afghanistan when he was 15.

Khadr, the son of an alleged al-Qaida militant who was slain by Pakistani forces in 2003, has faced up to life in prison if convicted by the military commission. His lawyer says he should now be prosecuted, if at all, in a civilian court, though he would prefer that be repatriated to Canada.

"He is anxious. He doesn't know what's going to happen, none of us knows what's going to happen," Kuebler said after discussing the delay with the 22-year-old prisoner. "But we are all hopeful and somewhat optimistic that this ruling now creates a space for the two governments to do something constructive to solve this case."

War crimes charges are pending against 21 men being held at Guantanamo, including the five charged with murder and other crimes in the Sept. 11 case. Before Obama became president, the U.S. had said it planned to try dozens of detainees in a system created by former President George W. Bush and Congress in 2006.

Relatives of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, who were at the base this week to observe pretrial hearings, told reporters they oppose any delay. But human rights groups and others welcomed the development.

Jamil Dakwar, director of the human rights program at the American Civil Liberties Union, said it was a positive step but "the president's order leaves open the option of this discredited system remaining in existence."

The decision was also welcomed by the European Union, which repeatedly criticized the Bush administration over alleged human rights abuses at Guantanamo as well as for the military commissions.

The European Commission "has been very pleased that one of the first actions of Mr. Obama has been to turn the page on this sad episode of Guantanamo," said Michele Cercone, spokesman for the EU Justice and Home Affairs Commission.

Pathetic.

Via MyWay/AP

India IDs 'Suspected Militants'

Suspected militants, also known as dead terrorists. In a stunning development, Indian authorities reveal they're all Muslims from Pakistan. But remember, Islam is a peaceful religion.

Police in India said Tuesday they had identified the nine suspected Islamic militants killed during the three-day siege of Mumbai and uncovered new details about them — including their hometowns in Pakistan.

The new information, which included three gruesome photos of maimed faces, appeared to bolster India's claims that all the attackers were from Pakistan.

The chief police investigator into the attacks also showed photos of eight of the men — some from identity cards, while others were gruesome shots of the dead attackers. The body of the ninth, he said, was too badly burned.

Aww, so sad.

At Tuesday's briefing, Mumbai's chief police investigator Rakesh Maria gave the names and the aliases used by the attackers. He also showed photographs of eight of the men and gave details of what he said were their hometowns in Pakistan. He did not say how police had tracked down their hometowns, although they have been interrogating the lone surviving gunman.

Maria said the leader of the group was Ismail Khan, 25, from Dera Ismail Khan, a city in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, who he called veteran of other Lashkar attacks. He did not provide details.

Khan led the assault on Mumbai's busy railway station.

Pakistan has intensified its crackdown on Lashkar-e-Taiba by arresting 20 more people but said Tuesday it will not hand any of its citizens over to India.
...
The United States also is pressing Pakistan to help catch those behind the attack, and avert a crisis between the nuclear-armed neighbors that would harm efforts against the Taliban and al-Qaida.

However, for some of the gunmen police only had first names and aliases. Maria said the men had been introduced to each other by their aliases, but during the operation had told each other there [sic] real names.

Terrorists? What Terrorists?

Charles Lipson at the American Thinker does a brilliant dissection of the painfully biased media coverage of the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

Calling these terrorists "suspects" in the midst of the carnage they so obviously perpetrated is worse than the usual banality of mainstream journalism. It is craven. Faced with the visible image of terrorists at work, these newspapers responded with the insipid posture of professional neutrality.

Nor can these photo captions be excused as one person's mistake. They passed through too many hands for that. They ran in prominent locations in several British papers and must have survived multiple editors. They remained posted, captions unchanged, long after the mass slaughter became known.

What do these captions tell us about British news organizations, beyond their misguided sense of professionalism? First, they show that the papers see terrorism primarily as a legal issue. That's why terrorists are called suspects, even when they are caught in the act. With the zany pretentiousness of a Monty Python character, they take the honored Western legal presumption of "innocent until proven guilty in a court of law" and apply it, willy nilly, to acts of war and terror.

In doing so, they recapitulate the fundamental flaw of the Clinton Administration's anti-terror strategy. Under Clinton, the Justice Department and FBI treated potential terrorism the same way they did any other criminal activity. For them, the central goal of law enforcement agencies was not to prevent terror or catch potential terrorists before they could act but to apprehend them after the fact and produce evidence of their crimes that would be admissible in court.

Read the entire piece.

I'm willing to go out on a limb and suggest if these were Israeli gunmen, they wouldn't be identified as "suspected" gunmen.

It's a sad day, indeed, when we can't plainly describe what the entire world sees in front of us.

Related items here and here.

RoP Across The Pond: Terrorist Says He Was 'Simply Taking Part In A Protest'

Terror trial: NHS doctors planned terrorist 'spectacular'

Two NHS doctors planned a campaign of "indiscriminate and wholesale murder" with a series of car bomb attacks across Britain which culminated in a failed suicide attack on Glasgow Airport, a jury has been told.

Islamic extremists Bilal Abdulla, 29, and Mohammed Asha, 27, plotted the "spectaculars" as "punishment" for Britain's foreign policy in Iraq and Israel, it is alleged.

Iraqi national Abdulla and a third man, Kafeel Ahmed, tried and failed to blow up cars packed with gas canisters, nails and petrol outside a nightclub in London's West End in June 2007.

When those devices failed to detonate, Abdulla and Ahmed launched the alleged suicide attack on Glasgow Airport the following day. Ahmed, 28, later died from burns he sustained after setting off petrol bombs which failed to blow up their Jeep.

Saudi-born Asha, a senior house officer in the neurology department of University Hospital of North Staffordshire, was not directly involved in either attack but supplied money to buy the cars and bomb components, was in touch with the other two men at crucial stages of the plot and may have offered "spiritual and ideological guidance", the prosecution allege.

Three other cars had been purchased by the gang and other possible targets including the Old Bailey and the City of London had been filmed by the plotters, Woolwich Crown Court in south east London was told.

Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting, said: "In addition to the killing of the innocent the objective was to seize public attention, both here and internationally. By the carrying out of a series of explosions, with no warning as to where the next strike would occur, the terrorists knew the public would be gripped by fear."

He added that the attacks failed through sheer "good fortune" on the part of the public.

"Apart from the shocking nature of the activity these two defendants were engaged in, the extraordinary thing is that both men are doctors," said Mr Laidlaw. "They turned their attention away from the treating of illness to the planning of murder."

Mr Laidlaw said the plot had not been picked up by the security services, but "who would have suspected two doctors to have been involved in such planning?"

Both men deny conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions.

The jury was told that the plot, which had taken six months to plan, was put into action when Ahmed and Abdulla drove two Mercedes cars packed with gas canisters and nails from their rented house in Glasgow to London, where they parked outside the Tiger Tiger nightclub in the Haymarket, which was packed with more than 500 people.

The second of the cars, a blue, L-registered Mercedes, was parked near a bus stop in Cockspur Street, just south of the night club, possibly as a secondary device "deliberately placed there so it would be in the path of those evacuated."

The two men, who had stopped at London's Gateway services to fill the cars with "as much fuel as possible" on the way, opened the valves on the gas cylinders and retreated to "a safe distance".

At around 1.30am on June 29, 2007, the two men allegedly tried to detonate the car bombs by calling mobile phones inside the cars which had been rigged up to home-made detonators.

"Had it been executed in the way intended [it] would have resulted in the loss of many lives particularly among the young seeking entertainment in the area or on their way home after a night out," the prosecutor said.

But a miscalculation meant the car bombs failed to detonate, and the two men decided on a drastic change of plan.

Because the cars had not been destroyed, the men knew that the police would quickly piece together their identities from the car registrations, the mobile phones and CCTV images, said Mr Laidlaw.

"The change in approach was that the next attack was to be a suicide attack," said Mr Laidlaw. "The bombers, even though the attack was likely to result in their own deaths, were absolutely determined that the next vehicle would explode. There was to be no repeat of the failure of the devices in London."

The next day, on Saturday June 30, the busiest day of the year at Glasgow airport, a Jeep packed with gas canisters was driven into the main doors of the terminal building with Ahmed at the wheel and Abdulla in the passenger seat. The men threw down petrol bombs in an effort to ensure the vehicle exploded.

"Again fortune intervened to save those inside the terminal," Mr Laidlaw said. "The Jeep became trapped in the terminal doors and despite the best efforts of the bombers and although there was a fierce fire, the jeep did not explode."

The jury was told that the men had first met in 2004 and 2005, whilst staying at an Islamic centre in Cambridge, where Asha was working at Addenbrooke's Hospital.

At some point the men, who all adhered to "extreme Islamic beliefs", decided to launch "revengeful" attacks on Britain, said Mr Laidlaw, because of what they saw as the country's "persecution" of Muslims in the Middle East.

They spent six months planning the attacks, it is alleged, with e-mails between Ahmed and Abdulla talking about "experiments" in February 2007.

In April Abdulla rented a house in a quiet residential street near Paisley, Renfrewshire, 14 miles from Glasgow, where they could prepare and arm the vehicles, the court was told.

Ahmed flew back to Britain in May after eight months in India, and within days he and Abdulla, a junior house officer in general surgery at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, had carried out reconnaissance in London, Mr Laidlaw said.

Among the areas they visited were Aldgate in the City, Leicester Square, Charing Cross, Ludgate Hill, near the Old Bailey, and Upper St Martin's Lane, near the Haymarket.

They were in frequent contact with Asha during the visit to London, Mr Laidlaw said.

"It is as if Abdulla was reporting back, taking instructions from or seeking the approval of (Asha)," said Mr Laidlaw.

Having bought three Mercedes cars, a BMW 525 and a Jeep through Autotrader magazine, the men bought gas canisters and large quantities of nails from B&Q and petrol cans from Halfords and duvets and pillows from Tesco and Asda to cover up the gas cylinders.

Abdulla claims he never intended to kill or injure anyone, but was simply taking part in a protest, a defence dismissed as "ludicrous" by the prosecution.

The trial continues.

William Ayers and wife & fellow former Weather Underground fugitive Bernardine "Dig it! First they killed those pigs and then they put a fork in their bellies. Wild!" Dohrn were unavailable for comment.


Via The Telegraph

Time to Hit the Road

Well, it's about time.

THE Indonesian Supreme Court has rejected the Bali bombers' last legal challenge, clearing the way for imminent executions.

At the same time, Australian survivors of the Bali bombers have been notified by the Australian Federal Police that the three bombers may soon face a firing squad.

Tracy Ball and her sister, Melinda Kent, were terribly burned by the 2002 bombings on the Kuta strip in Bali. "The AFP rang my sister to say that the last-ditch appeal had been thrown out, and their executions were imminent," Ms Ball said yesterday. "I believe it, if AFP says it, but I'll believe they're executed when they're executed."

An AFP spokeswoman yesterday said any comment about the Indonesian Supreme Court's decision to reject the Bali bombers' application for an unprecedented third judicial review had to come from Indonesia.

"The AFP has been providing ongoing support to the families of the victims of the Bali bombings," she said.

"As part of this ongoing support, the AFP has recently contacted some of the families."

However, she declined to reveal the content of the conversations.

Islamic militants Amrozi, his brother Mukhlas and Imam Samudra were sentenced to death for their roles in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

Denpasar District Court judge Nyoman Gede Wirya yesterday confirmed that he had received a letter from the Supreme Court rejecting the bombers' bid for a third review.

"It said there could be no second or third review, which is what I had said already," he said.

What's more ludicrous, the fact these monsters got to live this long or the fact these brutal killers are still called militants?

Terror Plotter a George Galloway Fan

It appears one of these Islamist terror maggots in the UK may have been planning to go jihad with his baby, who he had filed a passport application for.

A terror cell leader plotting suicide attacks on passenger jets wanted to obtain a passport for his son, a court heard today.

Application papers signed by Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 27, on behalf of his baby boy were found at his Walthamstow home, a jury was told.

Mohammed Said Ali was nine-months-old when his father was arrested on suspicion of terrorist offences in August 2006.

Sick stuff.

Disturbing enough he's a fan of Osama bin Laden, but it seems he's also got a thing for the odious British hack George Galloway.

The jury also heard further evidence of extremist literature and other documents found at Ali's home. Several books advocating jihad and martyrdom were found in a child's cot in Ali's bedroom.

Among them were The Lofty Mountain by Sheikh Abdullah Azzam and Milestone by Sayyid Qutb.

Mr Wright said the first book inspired Osama bin Laden while the author of the second was executed for terrorist offences in Egypt.

Other items included books about the experiences of mujahideen in Afghanistan, an audio recording of a George Galloway speech and a piece of paper with internet site usernames and passwords.

Isn't that special.

Speaking of Galloway, he got bonked in the head by a stress ball while campaigning the other day. Hopefully it knocked a little sense into him, but I'm not holding my breath.

The London office worker who struck George Galloway on the temple with a rubber stress ball has been cautioned by police.

The unnamed 32-year-old man flung the toy at the Respect MP who was touring central London on the upper deck of his open top battle bus.

“It was a direct hit,” conceded a spokesman for Mr Galloway. The permatanned politician was knocked off his feet by the rubbery missile, which was thrown from the first floor window of an office block.

Mr Galloway, who has already bounced back from the twin humiliations of expulsion from the Labour Party and the Big Brother house, returned to campaigning almost immediately.

Brookings VP: Let's Not Call Islamic Terrorists Islamic Terrorists, We Might Hurt Their Feelings

We need mutual respect and understanding.

And, of course, more dialogue.

It's not helpful that we identify Islamist terrorists as Islamic terrorists, you see.

We might hurt their feelings.

Good grief. It's mush-headed thinking like this that weakens us and makes us look like a bunch of wimps.

The fifth US-Islamic World Forum concluded here yesterday on a positive note with the delegates expressing their determination to take the dialogue to wider areas and try to narrow down differences.

"There was a general feeling that ignorance and paranoia are keeping the two sides divided. Mutual respect has emerged as the key word for fostering better relations and understanding," said Carlos Pascual, Vice-President and Director of Foreign Policy Studies at Brookings, the US, while giving the concluding remarks at the conference yesterday.

Use of words was one the major issues raised in the discussions.

"There was an agreement among the participants not to use terms like Islamic terrorism. Terrorism is unIslamic and Muslims are among the victims of terrorism," said Pascual.

He said it was proposed to use "violent extremism" while referring to terrorism.

Most participants expressed concern over the growing military budget in the US and called for a shift in focus. They felt the need to develop partnerships instead of unilateralism, and end conflicts that widen the chasm between the US and the Islamic world.

The delegates urged to pursue the two-state formula to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian issue and called for a viable political solution to the Iraqi crisis.

Democracy was another hotly debated issue in the conference. The discussions focused on the forms of democracy, ownership of democracy, dialectics between faith and state and tolerance and choice. The need to provide more space for non-state organizations in the Islamic world was underlined, said Pascual.

The alleged human rights violations in Guantanamo Bay raised concern among the delegates, with many of them calling for closing down this detention camp.

What a bunch of feel-good nonsense.

This is what happens to your brain after all those years at the State Department.

The Archbishop's New Best Friends

Two children die as Iraqi poison plot recalls Saddam's assassination method of choice

• Cakes laced with thallium left at popular sports club
  
• Britain sends antidote to Basra base and hospitals
  

Iraqi authorities are investigating a case of poisoning at a Baghdad sports club popular with the army in which two children have died and nine people have been taken to hospital. All were reported to have eaten cakes laced with thallium, the toxin that was often used by Saddam's secret police to kill political opponents.

Security officials said it was the first known incident of deliberate thallium poisoning since the fall of the regime.

Police said they had traced the two cakes to a bakery in Baghdad's Adhamiya district. This Sunni Arab stronghold was a bastion for supporters of the late dictator, and more recently a major locus of activity for Sunni extremists.

"This is a disturbing incident," said Mohammed Abbas, a police official. "The use of thallium in this way appears to show that someone in Adhamiya is reviving the techniques of the mukhabarat [the Saddam-era secret police].

"What happens if al-Qaida gets the know-how? We are urgently trying to discover how much thallium is out there and who would know how to utilise it."

Interior ministry officials said they believed the cakes were intended to kill senior members of the club. No treatment for thallium poisoning is available in Iraq and doctors say they are desperately trying to get the antidote. World Health Organisation officials in neighbouring Jordan, where some of the most serious cases are being treated, have requested help from Britain, which has flown medicines and other supplies to Basra.

Mohammed al Askari, a defence ministry spokesman, said the incident occurred at the capital's Airforce club about 10 days ago, when a former employee, a combat sports coach, turned up with two cakes as gifts for officials at the club. He had reportedly been fired several months earlier and had fled to Syria.

The Airforce club is owned by the defence ministry and runs one of Iraq's best-known football teams. Its manager, Samir Khadim, was a star of the Iraqi team throughout the 90s.

Khadim said the former employee, who he declined to name, "came to the club saying he wanted to have a reconciliation with a number of the officers and administrators here. He brought with him two handsome-looking cakes as a kind of peace offering."

But Khadim, who was not at the gathering, said the cakes went uneaten and were taken home by two officers to share among their families. Hours later the six-year-old daughter of one began to show signs of illness. The family took her to a hospital in Baghdad, where doctors pumped her stomach, but she died shortly afterwards.

Hours later the officer began to feel ill, as did three other members of his family. Again doctors pumped their stomachs. Blood tests were taken, and four days later they tested positive for thallium.

The other officer also soon fell ill; he too lost a daughter, and five close relatives were also affected. The two officers remain on the critical list.

Thallium was a favoured method for dispatching enemies of Saddam Hussein. It causes a slow, painful death. In the 80s a number of leading Kurdish rebels, including the present speaker of the Kurdish regional parliament, survived assassination attempts using thallium.

Antidotes and other supplies are understood to have arrived at the British base in Basra and arrangements are being made to take them to hospitals in Baghdad and Amman. The British department of health said: "The World Health Organisation has asked for assistance from the UK government in responding to a health incident in Iraq involving a small number of Iraqi citizens. We are cooperating fully in providing assistance."

Police said one man had been arrested in the investigation.

Khadim said: "These poor children were poisoned by mistake. For sure I and the other officers were the real target. I hope this is not the start of a trend and they find out who has these poisons. Iraq has enough on its plate already."

Religion of Peace™


Via The Guardian

Express Train to Dhimmitude

Just surrender your country now and be done with it.

Such pathetic pandering must have these guys howling with laughter as they plot your demise.

'Don't mention Islamic extremists': Government phrasebook tries to avoid upsetting Muslims

The Government has drawn up a controversial phrasebook on the language of terrorism and is insisting civil servants no longer blame fanatical extremism on Islam, for fear of upsetting the Muslim community.

The new counter-terrorism guidelines suggest that phrases such as "Islamic terrorist" and "jihadi fundamentalism" are too inflammatory and imply that all Muslims explicitly are responsible for extremism.

Instead the leaked Home Office document advises Whitehall bosses that they refer to violent extremism and criminal murderers or thugs to avoid any link between Islam and terrorism.

However, the war on terror handbook has provoked an unfavourable response from people claiming the Government are bowing under the pressure of political correctness.

Well, apparently there are a few people left that won't bow down, but they're clearly outnumbered.

Just get a load of this Orwellian gobbledygook.

A Home Office spokeswoman confirmed that the document had been distributed to "key delivery partners" including chief constables, local authorities and Government offices a few weeks ago.

She added: "The pack is the first of a series of communications intended to brief partners about recent work to develop the 'prevent' strand of the Government's counter-terrorism strategy and help them to identify further contributions they can make to this agenda.

"The 'prevent' strand relies on all sectors - public, private, voluntary and community - working with central government in its aim of stopping people becoming or supporting violent extremists.

"Coherent and effective cross-government communications are important in relation to countering terrorism. Language is part of this work.

"To engage effectively with local communities, we need consistent, clear and appropriate communications. If our messages are ambiguous or untargeted they will not reach or be understood by those who need to hear them and we risk having a negative impact on our audiences.

"The communications guidance is based on in-depth, qualitative research, but is not intended to be prescriptive."

Huh? How about saying we do not tolerate religious fanatics intent on destroying us?

But Tory MP and security expert Patrick Mercer said to the Daily Express: "It is no help to strike out words like Islamist. What else do we call these people?"

"I understand the sensitivities of parts of our communities. But a vast majority of Muslims, who are law abiding, understand what the problem is."

The guidelines make up part of a £45 million plan to tackle violent extremism in local communities and win the "hearts and minds" of Muslims.

Good luck with that.

Terror Suspects Nabbed in Germany

Three members of the Religion of Peace were busted in Germany today for plotting massive attacks at Ramstein Air Force Base.

The timing will be questioned shortly.

3 terror suspects arrested in Germany

BERLIN - Three suspected Islamic militants were arrested for allegedly plotting "imminent" and "massive" attacks on the Ramstein Air Base, a major U.S. and NATO military hub, and Frankfurt's busy international airport, German authorities said Wednesday.

German federal prosecutor Monika Harms said the three — two of whom were German converts to Islam — had trained at terror camps in Pakistan and procured some 1,500 pounds of hydrogen peroxide for making explosives. And a top legislator said the group could have struck "in a few days," noting a "sensitive period" that includes the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

"We were able to succeed in recognizing and preventing the most serious and massive bombings," Harms told reporters.

Officials said the hydrogen peroxide, stored in a hideout, could have been mixed with other additives to produce a bomb with the explosive power of 1,200 pounds of TNT.

"This would have enabled them to make bombs with more explosive power than the ones used in the London and Madrid (transit) bombings," Joerg Ziercke, the head of Germany's Federal Crime Office, said at a joint press conference with Harms.

The three suspects — two Germans, aged 22 and 28, and a 29-year-old Turk — first came to the attention of authorities because they had been observing a U.S. military facility at the end of 2006, officials said. All three had undergone training at camps in Pakistan run by the Islamic Jihad Union, and had formed a German cell of the group.

The Islamic Jihad Union was described as a Sunni Muslim group based in Central Asia that was an offshoot of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, an extremist group with origins in that country.

"There was an imminent threat," German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung told ARD broadcaster.

The three had no steady work and were drawing unemployment benefits while their main occupation was the plot, officials said. "This group distinguishes itself through its profound hatred of U.S. citizens," Ziercke said.

Ziercke said members of Germany's elite GSG-9 anti-terrorist unit arrested two of the suspects at a holiday home in central Germany on Tuesday. A third managed to escape through a bathroom window, but was apprehended about 300 yards later by federal police who had roped off the area.

The three suspects were brought before judges in a closed proceeding at Germany's Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe after being flown in by helicopter, court officials said.

Keith Olbermann was unavailable for special comment.

More at Captain's Quarters, Jihad Watch, Confederate Yankee, Pajamas Media, Hot Air, Riehl World View.

UPDATE: Spiegel online account notes two were homegrown Germans.

According to information obtained by SPIEGEL ONLINE, the three men were Daniel S. from the state of Saarland and Fritz G. from Neu-Ulm in Bavaria, both of whom are German converts to Islam, as well as Adem Y., who is believed to be from Turkey. The three, who had apparently founded a terrorist cell, have been under intensive investigation for several months. All three men were considered radical Islamists and had contact with Islamist groups in Germany and Pakistan.

Those crickets you hear chirping emanate from an oddly silent leftwing blogosphere still orgasming over Larry Craig.

Friends of Hamas Accuse Bush of 'Islamophobia'

When you're an unindicted co-conspirator with a terrorist organization and your membership is dwindling rapidly, you do anything for attention.

Bush office is anti-Muslim, group says

A Muslim civil rights group today blamed Bush administration policies for promoting "Islamophobia" and said the "war on terror" won't stop terrorists.

"The new perception is that the United States has entered a war with Islam itself," said Parvez Ahmed, chairman of the national board of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

"Terrorism is a tactic. You cannot eradicate it by declaring a war against it. The war on terror is causing us infinitely more harm than the terrorists could have ever imagined."

Mr. Ahmed, who spoke at CAIR symposium at the National Press Club, said the war against terrorists is driven by an "irrational" fear that the Bush administration has inculcated in the American public. The chance of being killed in a terrorist attack, he said, is 1 in 80,000 over a lifetime.

"It is important to bear in mind that terrorists cannot destroy America," he said as a member of a panel discussing the symposium theme, "Attacking Islam: Implications for Social Cohesion and U.S. Relations with the Muslim World." The U.S., he said, is too powerful and too resourceful for terrorists to destroy.

I guess we have an irrational fear of his friends flying planes into buildings.

Or was that just my imagination?

Get Ready For Sunday

This will surely be dismissed by the Koslings as propaganda dictated by Dick Cheney to further facilitate the world takeover by evil forces working at the behest of Halliburton, which is wholly owned and operated by the Bushchimphitler-Pajamashadeen-Joooish Conspiracy.

Intel Report: al-Qaida Aiming at US

Al-Qaida is stepping up its efforts to sneak terror operatives into the United States and has acquired most of the capabilities it needs to strike here, according to a new U.S. intelligence assessment, The Associated Press has learned.

And just what is it that George W. Bush, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Harriet Reid, Trent Lott, the Fat Drunk and others trying to do about illegal immigration undocumented migrant workers? In the real world, the concern is border security.

The draft National Intelligence Estimate is expected to paint an ever-more-worrisome portrait of al-Qaida's ability to use its base along the Pakistan-Afghan border to launch and inspire attacks, even as Bush administration officials say the U.S. is safer nearly six years into the war on terror.

Among the key findings of the classified estimate, which is still in draft form and must be approved by all 16 U.S. spy agencies:

- Al-Qaida is probably still pursuing chemical, biological or nuclear weapons and would use them if its operatives developed sufficient capability.

- The terror group has been able to restore three of the four key tools it would need to launch an attack on U.S. soil: a safe haven in Pakistan's tribal areas, operational lieutenants and senior leaders. It could not immediately be learned what the missing fourth element is.

Uhh, perhaps Jihad Warriors to carry out the attacks?

- The group will bolster its efforts to position operatives inside U.S. borders. In public statements, U.S. officials have expressed concern about the ease with which people can enter the United States through Europe because of a program that allows most Europeans to enter without visas.

The document also discusses increasing concern about individuals already inside the United States who are adopting an extremist brand of Islam.

Adopting??? WTF??? How about importing???

National Intelligence Estimates are the most authoritative written judgments that reflect the consensus long-term thinking of senior intelligence analysts.

Government officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the report has not been finalized, described it as an expansive look at potential threats within the United States and said it required the cooperation of a number of national security agencies, including the CIA, FBI, Homeland Security Department and National Counterterrorism Center.

National security officials met at the White House on Thursday about the intelligence estimate and related counterterrorism issues. The tentative plan is to release a declassified version of the report and brief Congress on Tuesday, one government official said.

Ross Feinstein, spokesman for National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell, declined to discuss the document's specific contents. But he said it would be consistent with statements made by senior government officials at congressional hearings and elsewhere.

The estimate echoes the findings of another analysis prepared by the National Counterterrorism Center earlier this year and disclosed publicly on Wednesday. That report - titled "Al-Qaida better positioned to strike the West" - found the terrorist group is "considerably operationally stronger than a year ago" and has "regrouped to an extent not seen since 2001," a counterterrorism official familiar with the reports findings told The Associated Press.

On Thursday, news of the counterterrorism center's threat assessment renewed the political debate about the nature of the al-Qaida threat and whether U.S. actions - in Iraq in particular - have made the U.S. safer from terrorism.

At a news conference Thursday, President Bush acknowledged al-Qaida's continuing threat to the United States and used the new report as evidence his administration's policies are on the right course.

"The same folks that are bombing innocent people in Iraq were the ones who attacked us in America on Sept. 11," he said. "That's why what happens in Iraq matters to security here at home."

Yet Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said Iraq has distracted the United States. He said the U.S. should have finished off al-Qaida in 2002 and 2003 along the Afghan-Pakistan border.

I'd love to hear this asshat pontificate about when in 1940, the French should have finished off the Wehrmacht.

Instead, "President Bush chose to invade Iraq, thereby diverting our military and intelligence resources away from the real war on terrorism," Rockefeller said. "Threats to the United States homeland are not emanating from Iraq. They are coming from al-Qaida leadership."

There is no al-Qaida in Iraq. Heard that one before.

He called for the U.S. to end its involvement in what he called the Iraqi civil war.

Read it all.

The Progressives in Congress are busy preparing for the Sunday morning interview shows.

With Trufer flipcharts and PowerPoint presentations at hand, no doubt.

Headchoppers Strike in Philippines

The Religion of Peace strikes again, spreading the love and message of Islam around the globe.

Rebels behead Philippine troops

Islamic militants in the southern Philippines have killed 14 marines, beheading 10 of them, a military spokesman has said.

Nine other marines were wounded and at least four rebels were killed during the incident on Basilan island.

The clash took place as the marines were searching for an Italian priest.

The priest was seized in June by kidnappers believed to be from either Abu Sayyaf or the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Both groups are seeking an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines.

The priest, named as Giancarlo Bossi, was seized by armed men near the coastal village of Bulawan near Zamboanga on 10 June.

Marine spokesman Lt Col Ariel Caculitan said the marines ran into a group of some 300 armed men during their search for him, triggering the clash.

Lt Col Caculitan said that 14 marines had been killed. The number of rebels who died is unconfirmed, but reports vary from four to at least 20.

Who knew MILF's could be so dangerous?

Israel to Release 250 Pali Terrorists

No doubt they'll all return to their Pali hellhole and become fine, upstanding citizens.

And I'm 12 feet tall and made out of cheddar cheese.

Israeli Cabinet OKs prisoner release

JERUSALEM - The Israeli Cabinet on Sunday approved the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners, officials said, in the government's latest gesture of support for moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in his struggle against the Hamas militant group.

However, the officials said Israel had still not finalized the list of prisoners to be freed or the timing of the release. Palestinian officials said they were disappointed Israel was not coordinating the release with them.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to the prisoner release at a June 25 summit with Abbas as part of Israel's strategy of bolstering the Palestinian leader following Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip last month.

Israel also has transferred more than $100 million in frozen tax funds to Abbas, and pledged to ease travel restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank.

Doctors of Death

A must read from Barry Rubin in the NY Post.

July 5, 2007 -- THE arrest of seven doctors in the attempted British terror bombings has shocked many people. Sadly, it shouldn't.

All seven are Muslims working at government-financed hospitals, their salaries paid by the British taxpayer. Dr. Muhammad Hanif practiced at Halton Hospital in Runcorn, Cheshire; Dr. Muhammad Asha, at the North Staffordshire NHS Trust's University Hospital.

So can doctors be terrorists? Can people who are financially well-off be terrorists? Absolutely. It is ideology, after all, that turns people into terrorists - not suffering.

Indeed, the No. 2 leader of al Qaeda is Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri - who was previously a stalwart of the Muslim Brotherhood in his native Egypt. Zawahiri made the connections that led to his role in al Qaeda when he went to Afghanistan in 1980 to provide medical care for jihadists fighting the Soviets. Later, he was a key architect of the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed hundreds of innocents, and of the 9/11 attacks.

Other Islamist MDs include two recent leaders of the Palestinian terror group Hamas. Abdel Aziz Rantisi graduated first in his class from an Egyptian university in pediatrics; he succeeded slain cleric Ahmad Yassin as Hamas' chief in March 2004 - only to perish himself a month later. After him came Mahmoud al-Zahar (who had helped found Hamas in 1987), an Egyptian-trained surgeon who today is the most powerful man in the Gaza Strip.

Read it all.

Two UK Terror Suspects are Doctors

So much for the notion these savages are the usual disaffected "youths" striking back at society.

Two Terror Suspects Are Hospital Doctors

Two of the five terror suspects being held in the wake of the failed car bombings in London and Glasgow are hospital doctors working in the UK.

The majority of the five terror suspects being held in police custody in connection with bomb attacks in London and Glasgow are not British and at least one is still at large, according to Sky sources.

Sky sources believe one of the men arrested at Glasgow airport and a 26-year-old man arrested on the M6 with a 27-year-old woman in Cheshire are both doctors.

Sky Crime Reporter Martin Brunt said: "This is very far removed from the picture we normally have. These are professional people with highly paid jobs who are intent on killing people."

Two men were arrested after ramming a Jeep into Glasgow Airport on Saturday and two people were arrested on the M6. A fifth terror related arrest was made in Liverpool after a car was stopped in the Lime Street area of the city.

Meanwhile a suspect car has been blown up by police in the grounds of the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley where one of the suspects from the Glasgow airport attack is in a critical condition and being held under armed guard.

Let's keep hearing about how this is an isolated incident from some bumbling, ragtag bunch. Feel free to also warn the public that "backlashes" against the "Muslim community" will not be tolerated.

Allahpundit has massive amounts of updated info.

Daily Mail photos.

UPDATE: Arrest total now stands at seven.

More Arrests in Scotland

We'll assume there's a reason the perps have yet to be identified. Probably don't want to offend the Muslims, as we know how delicate their feelings are. Yes, that must be it.

U.K. police make 5th terror arrest

Police searched several houses near Glasgow International Airport on Sunday in connection with a fiery attack on its main terminal and a foiled car bomb plot in London, and police arrested a fifth suspect in the case.

Britain's new prime minister, Gordon Brown, said the country was dealing with terrorists associated with al-Qaida. And Lord Stevens, Brown's new terrorism adviser, said the two attacks in Britain indicate that "al-Qaida has imported the tactics of Baghdad and Bali to the streets of the UK."

Four suspects were in police custody Sunday — and a fifth man was under guard in hospital — after a flaming Jeep crashed into a Scottish airport on Saturday and two car bomb plots were foiled in central London on Friday.

On the upside, it appears some folks in the UK are beginning to get it.

n a column in Sunday's News of the World newspaper, Lord Stevens, London's former police chief and Brown's new terrorism adviser, said: "This weekend's bomb attacks signal a major escalation in the war being waged on us by Islamic terrorists."

He said, "This week's terrorists used the same technology, the same bomb-making techniques, the same operating methods as their brothers-in-arms in both Baghdad and Bali," Indonesia.

In central London, police foiled a car bomb plot early Friday, discovering explosives packed into a Mercedes outside a nightclub near Picadilly Circus and in another car parked nearby.

Glasgow police chief Willie Rae announced the attempted attacks were connected and said a suspect device had been found on a man wrestled to the ground by officers at Glasgow airport and hospitalized in critical condition with severe burns. John Smeaton, who saw the airport attack, said the man shouted "Allah, Allah" as he was detained.

Still, the idiot "Red Ken" Livingstone apparently has a death wish. Such breathtaking stupidity.

Michelle Malkin has a further roundup.