Category: War on Terror

Jews don’t like him and neither do I

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ILLUSTRATOR Michael Leunig has been accused of playing the martyr in expressing outrage over his work being included in a distasteful Iranian cartoon competition because the images were anti-Semitic.
Leunig, whose cartoons appear in the Fairfax newspapers, was the subject of a bizarre hoax when someone fraudulently entered one of his works in an Iranian newspaper competition for the world’s most offensive Holocaust cartoons.
For more details see Tim Blairs expose
The entry was initially taken seriously and was picked up around the world by media including Australian Associated Press, The Sydney Morning Herald, Le Monde and Islamonline. But the cartoon was withdrawn from Hamshahri’s website after Leunig demanded it be removed.
The entry was taken seriously because it is believable. Leunig is anti-Semetic and anti-everything else I stand for and there is a fair chance his cartoon could’ve picked up a prize in the Iranian news competition for the most offensive cartoon that redicules the West or the Jews In the Age Leunig seeks sympathy from the Australia public, long used to his offensive cartoons with the header;
Amid the pain, God puts his hand on my shoulder.
But not on everybodies shoulder apparently;
Elsewhere in the world, families stricken with anger and sadness grieve for loved ones killed in the madness of war. Homes lie in rubble.
Wars started, I might add, by those who Leunig supports with his cartoons What an offensive tosser
War on Terror

Abu Hamza guilty…looking at life

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Good news from London. Abu Hamza, the Muslim cleric whose fiery rhetoric has become synonymous with Islamist extremism in Britain, today faced life imprisonment after being found guilty of inciting his followers to murder.Egyptian-born Hamza, 47, was convicted of 11 of 15 charges of using his position as spiritual leader of the Muslim community in North London to become, in the words of the prosecution, a recruiting sergeant for terrorism. His counsel argued that Hamza’s speeches may appear deeply offensive at times but offensiveness did not make them a crime. Yeah…right. And when he’s finished in Britain, the Yanks want a piece of him for trying to set up a “terrorist training camp” in the state of Oregan. UPDATE: Abu gets seven years
The judge said that in handing down a seven-year sentence he was aware that upon release Abu Hamza was likely to be rearrested and extradited to the United States where he faces serious terrorist charges, including conspiracy to take hostages. 
That should see him out of the picture for a while.
War on Terror

Globe win for suicide bomber film

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Palestinian film-maker Hany Abu-Assad was perhaps the most surprised man at the Golden Globes on Monday as his drama of suicide bombers crossing into Israel, “Paradise Now,” was named the year’s best foreign language film. Not surprisingly, no one expects any bookings for the film in Israel I googled for reviews and considering I am not heavy into alternative movies the first one I looked at will suffice. IMDb provide a generally positive review on the film but I think the reviewers rose coloured spectacles has some sympathy for the Palestinian cause. I guess if you review films for a living or hobby and seldom touch the real world, like actors, you will have some bias. On the face of it, one might have some sympathy for the Palestinians. I don’t.
The general subject is one which has become a focus of world attention in the last few years, particularly since 9/11: young Muslims suicide bombers who destroy themselves and others around them based on their warped interpretation of passages in the Koran which guarantee entry to paradise for martyrs who die in the defense of Islam. While many viewers may wonder whether a religion that involves terror, murder, misogyny and repression deserves to be defended, for Palestians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip the issues have a more secular basis. They see Isreal as the occupier of their land and an oppressor which treats them unjustly. Reasons for the sense of injustice are both given in the dialogue as well as shown: third world conditions in the Palestian area where even water needs filtering contrasts with the glitzy tall buildings in Tel Aviv where beautiful girls in bikinis walk along the beachfront promenade. However, the viewer isn’t preached to, the issues get presented and contemplated thoroughly. The two recruits in the film are equipped with plastic explosives around their waists under suits and get to cross the Isreali border but things don’t go as planned. They both grapple with the ethical, moral and religious implications of what they are doing and change their minds more than once. Finally one of the two seems to have decided that even if, as his female friend tells him, there is no paradise, he is dead anyway and may as well extract revenge on the Isrealis. There is plenty of tension from the start to the finish and the script, directing, acting and cinematography are all superb. I rarely give scores of 10/10 but there is nothing I can fault about this.
One attempt at rationalization of their suicide;
….third world conditions in the Palestian area where even water needs filtering contrasts with the glitzy tall buildings in Tel Aviv where beautiful girls in bikinis walk along the beachfront promenade.
And for that we blow ourselves up. Could I suggest a better path to paradise; ignore the local Hamas and Mulah advocates, seek some education, get rid of your victim mentality and do something with your life. Maybe, after you became acceptable to civilized society, you might be able to go over and chat up the Israeli bikini clad girls. I note they see Israel as the occupier of their land and an oppressor that treats them unjustly. Given that if the Palestinians, Syrians, Iranians and a few other were disarmed the Middle East would be a little more peaceful. Unfortunately it is also a given that if Israel alone was disarmed she would cease to exist. One says oppressed, the other; defending my right to exist. I wonder if this viewpoint was presented in the film. If you listen to the Arabs; from Palestine east to Iran, it’s all about Israel and/or the US support of Israel. In VIEW OF THE ARAB WORLD BY AN ARAB by Haim Harari, he says;
Yes, there is a 100 year-old Israeli-Arab conflict, but it is not where the main show is.■ The millions who died in the Iran-Iraq war had nothing to do with Israel. ■ The mass murder happening right now in Sudan, where the Arab Moslem regime is massacring its black Christian citizens, has nothing to do with Israel. ■ The frequent reports from Algeria about the murders of hundreds of civilian in one village or another by other Algerians have nothing to do with Israel. ■ Saddam Hussein did not invade Kuwait, endangered Saudi Arabia and butchered his own people because of Israel. ■ Egypt did not use poison gas against Yemen in the 60’s because of Israel. ■ Assad the Father did not kill tens of thousands of his own citizens in one week in El Hamma in Syria because of Israel. ■ The Taliban control of Afghanistan and the civil war there had nothing to do with Israel. ■ The Libyan blowing up of the Pan-Am flight had nothing to do with Israel, and I could go on and on and on. The root of the trouble is that this entire Moslem region is totally dysfunctional, by any standard of the word, and would have been so even if Israel had joined the Arab league and an independent Palestine had existed for 100 years. The 22 member countries of the Arab league, from Mauritania to the Gulf States, have a total population of 300 millions, larger than the US and almost as large as the EU before its expansion. They have a land area larger than either the US or all of Europe. These 22 countries, with all their oil and natural resources, have a combined GDP smaller than that of Netherlands plus Belgium and equal to half of the GDP of California alone. Within this meager GDP, the gaps between rich and poor are beyond belief and too many of the rich made their money not by succeeding in business, but by being corrupt rulers.
We don’t need to ‘understand’ the suicide bomber anymore than we need to understand any other weapon of war. We need to understand the societies that produces them…and we do. They are, simply put, disfunctional and Israel is only a part of their problem. I wont go and see the movie should it be released in Australia. It will not teach me anything I don’t know already and, I suspect, will only reinforce my opinion that Hollywood has lost some balance.
War on Terror

Hungry accused go on hunger strike

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TEN men accused of being part of a terrorist organisation have gone on a hunger strike over prayer time in prison.
The men, who began the strike on Monday, want to be able to pray together on Friday afternoons and on special religious occasions. They have also complained they had not been getting enough food.
So a hunger strike fixes that? Win-win for all. Think how much money we will save on food.
War on Terror

You can leave your hat on

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Cairo: An Egyptian cleric’s controversial fatwa claiming that nudity during sexual intercourse invalidates a marriage has uncovered a rift among Islamic scholars.
According to the religious edict issued by Rashad Hassan Khalil, a former dean of Al-Azhar University’s faculty of Sharia, “being completely naked during the act of coitus annuls the marriage”.
But wait, all is not lost for the Egyptian Lothario.
Al-Azhar’s fatwa committee chairman Abdullah Megawar argued that married couples could see each other naked but should not look at each other’s genitalia and suggested they cover up with a blanket during sex.
Raises the old arguement I had on this site as to whether the Muslims are stuck in the 7th century or the 12th. Via reader HRT
War on Terror

Bush bugging beatup

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Mark Steyn hits the nail on the head.
….unmoored from reality, wafting happily into fantasy land safe in the hermetically sealed Democrat-media bubble, Sen. Barbara Boxer and her colleagues are apparently considering impeaching the president for eavesdropping on al Qaida calls made to U.S. phone numbers.
 It’s the same as taking Churchill or Roosevelt to court over their complicity in breaking Enigma and the Japanese codes and then conducting the mortal sin of listening in to the enemies communications. More from Steyn.
Consider Iyman Faris, a naturalized American citizen also known as Mohammad Rauf and nailed by U.S. intelligence through the interception of foreign-U.S. communications. He was convicted in 2003 for doing the legwork on an al Qaida scheme to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge Do you want Iyman Faris in jail? Or do you think he should have the run of the planet until he’s actually destroyed the bridge and killed hundreds of people? Say, the Golden Gate Bridge just as you’re driving across after voting for Barbara Boxer and congratulating yourself on your moral superiority.
 If you do want him, and others like him off the streets then you need to accept that one of the quickest avenues of doing so is communications interception. You can’t have it both ways. I recommend you read the full article. The link is in the RH bar
US Politics, War on Terror

Extra SAS and ‘Chooks’ sent to fight the Taliban

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Another SASR Squadron off to join the fray in Afghanistan. AUSTRALIA will boost its military presence in Afghanistan to more than 500 troops to counter an increase in violence from a resurgent Taliban. Two Chinook helicopters and 110 special forces soldiers will be deployed to the troubled country, seen as a front line in the war against terror. The Chinooks, commonly called ‘Chooks’ have had a chequered history in Australa with crashes and 12 squadron disbanding and ‘rebanding’ over the 33 years they have been in the ADF inventory. In May 1989, the Defence Minister, Kim Beazley announced the withdrawal of the Tactical Transport Group Chinook fleet on cost grounds, and that Army Black Hawks would perform the essential roles of the Chinook. This is a bit like saying a Land Rover can do the job of a Mac truck and the fact that this is a false hope didn’t take long to become apparent, even to the ALP. True, the Chinook is most probably the most expensive rotary wing aircraft to maintain in any countries inventory but it is also almost indispensable to the countries infrastructure. Its heavy lift capacity makes it ideal for civilian applications as well as defence deployment. Besides ADF deployments, other tasks for the Chinooks have been lifting Wessex helicopters for the RAN, and wrecks of wartime Boston bombers from the jungles in Papua New Guinea. Also lifted was an extremely large statue of Australian aviation pioneer Sir Lawrence Hargrave onto Mt Keira at Wollongong, typical of many tasks undertaken for the civil community. The first time I flew in one was in Vietnam. The US Chook picked up us 20 odd soldiers then flew over and picked up a bulldozer. I was sitting over the hatch that had a round beam from which hung the dozer. It looked all too lightweight to me but off we flew with the dozer oscilating and me hyperventilating. Great piece of kit and it’s good to see it is supporting the new soldiers as they battle the new terrorists. UPDATE: Too date, 61% of Age readers who have participated in a poll on sending troops to Afghanistan have voted for the continuation of the Taliban regime with all it’s brutality. Age Poll It could only happen at the Age.
Defence, War on Terror

Gee, Saddam was involved in training terrorists after all

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THE FORMER IRAQI REGIME OF Saddam Hussein trained thousands of radical Islamic terrorists from the region at camps in Iraq over the four years immediately preceding the U.S. invasion, according to documents and photographs recovered by the U.S. military in postwar Iraq. The existence and character of these documents has been confirmed to THE WEEKLY STANDARD by eleven U.S. government officials. As Michelle Malkin says; This is important news. It ought to be on the front pages. It won’t be. So spread the word.
War on Terror
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