Guillermo Farinas Hernandez: On Hunger Strike Since 1/31/06 for internet access Cut Off By thugmeister fidel castro: This blog-burst is for You

Guillermo Fariñas Hernandez, Cuban dissident has gone w/o eating for 57 days to protest his loss of freedom and internet access by thugster fidel castro. Fausta Wertz of Fausta's blog proposed a blog burst show of support for Guillermo. If you have access to a blog please post today using technorati tags: Guillermo or Internet.

Via Babalublog:Guillermo Fariñas Hernandez isnt a baseball player for the Cuban National Team. That's why you havent heard anything about him. He doesnt play for fidel castro. That's why the MSM is oblivious to his one predominant statistic: He has gone without food or water for 57 days.

Fifty-seven days. Almost two whole months.

Guillermo Fariñas Hernandez deserves more attention than any team, any game, any tournament. He's not in it for the props or bragging rights. It isnt about propaganda and what system of government is better at producing anything. He is in it for one reason and one reason alone: freedom. All Guillermo Fariñas Hernandez wants is access to this very same internet through which you are reading this right now. He is starving himself for access to what you have at the click of a button.

Guillermo Fariñas Hernandez is a Psychologist. Guillermo Fariñas Hernandez is a journalist. Guillermo Fariñas Hernandez is a Cuban. Guillermo Fariñas Hernandez is, for all intents and purposes, the David to fidel castro's Goliath.

And Guillermo Fariñas Hernandez will most certainly die because fidel castro's government can only stay in power one way: by keeping the Cuban people deaf, blind and dumb. Allowing Guillermo Fariñas Hernandez access to the internet is allowing him access to the truth and for a regime built on lies and deception, the truth is a cancer.

Babalu Blog: Let me be buried on this spot! (Updated continuously)

Navy's new riverine boat group based Virginia Beach

This is from the Department of HUH?- Don'taskmeIdon'tknowIjustgothere. Gist of the Times Dispatch story is that the NAVY is also getting into the riverboat business. The NAVY is "to relieve a Marine boat force guarding (Haditha Dam) .... generates hydroelectric power for Baghdad..... The first Navy riverine squadron will simply take the wheels of the boats the Marines have been using." Doesn't make sense. Where is the memo?

"The Navy's new riverine boat group is still unpacking at its new headquarters at Little Creek Amphibious Base in Virginia Beach. It does not yet have any boats. But its first squadron is due to leave for Iraq early next year.

And within a few years, the Navy plans to assemble three squadrons of 12 riverine boats apiece and deploy them on rotation to the world's trouble spots.

The Navy is still considering the design of the boats, said Capt. Michael L. Jordan, commanding officer of the riverine group.

But in general they will be 30 to 40 feet long, able to jet through the water at 45 mph, lightly armored against small-arms fire and equipped with machine guns and grenade launchers.

Jordan said the boats are ideal for tactical patrols, stopping suspicious vessels in search of insurgents, weapons or other contraband.

Each 12-boat squadron could carry 200 Marines for quick assaults.

The boats will be faster versions of the swift boats the Navy used to battle Viet Cong guerillas 40 years ago in the Mekong Delta.

Military analysts say the Navy riverine boats would be useful in many parts of the world, including the Philippines, Indonesia and the coast of Africa.

The riverine squadrons will assemble a total of 224 personnel, 150 of whom will operate the boats. That type of duty attracts sailors who crave action.

"I wanted to be the tip of the spear," said Lt. John D. John, 32, the operations officer of the first riverine squadron.

His squadron is scheduled to deploy to Iraq next spring, to relieve a Marine boat force guarding a huge dam that impounds a lake and generates hydroelectric power for Baghdad. Haditha Dam, on the Euphrates River in al Anbar province 130 miles northwest of Baghdad, has been under the Marines' protection for two years.

The boats, which were flown into Iraq and trucked to the dam, patrol the lake on one side of the dam and the river on the other. No insurgents have attacked the dam so far, Jordan said.

The first Navy riverine squadron will simply take the wheels of the boats the Marines have been using. The Navy will gradually substitute its own boats as they are built." BILL GEROUX

TimesDispatch.com | River gunboat force gears up

Mohammed Taheri-Azar's letter to police

This is a transcript of the letter Mohammed Taheri-Azar left in his apartment for police to find after he drove into nine people with an SUV in The Pit at University of North Carolina March 3, 2006:

In the name of Allah, the merciful, the compassionate.

To whom it may concern:

I am writing this letter to inform you of my reasons for premeditating and attempting to murder citizens and residents of the United States of America on Friday, March 3, 2006 in the city of Chapel Hill, North Carolina by running them over with my automobile and stabbing them with a knife if the opportunities are presented to me by Allah.

I did intend to use a handgun to murder the citizens and residents of Chapel Hill, North Carolina but the process of receiving a permit for a handgun in this city is highly restricted and out of my reach at the present, most likely due to my foreign nationality.

I am a servant of Allah. I am 22 years of age and I was born in Tehran, Iran. My father, mother and older sister immigrated to the United States in 1985 when I was two years of age and I've lived in the United States ever since.

I attended elementary, middle and high school in North Carolina and I was accepted into the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I began my college career in August 2001 and graduated in December 2005 with a bachelor's degree in psychology and philosophy with Allah's help.

I do not wish to pursue my career as a student any further because I have no desire to amass the impermanent and temporary fame and material wealth this world has to offer. However I made the decision to continue my studies and to graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill so that the world will know that Allah's servants are very intelligent.

Due to the killing of believing men and women under the direction of the United States government, I have decided to take advantage of my presence on United States soil on Friday, March 3, 2006 to take the lives of as many Americans and American sympathizers as I can in order to punish the United States for their immoral actions around the world.

In the Qur'an, Allah states that the believing men and women have permission to murder anyone responsible for the killing of other believing men and women. I know that the Qur'an is a legitimate and authoritative holy scripture since it is completely validated by modern science and also mathematically encoded with the number 19 beyond human ability. After extensive contemplation and reflection, I have made the decision to exercise the right of violent retaliation that Allah has given me to the fullest extent to which I am capable at present.

I have chosen the particular location on the University campus as my target since I know there is a high likelihood that I will kill several people before being killed myself or jailed and sent to prison if Allah wills. Allah's commandments are never to be questioned and all of Allah's commandments must be obeyed. Those who violate Allah's commandments and purposefully follow human fabrication and falsehood as their religion will burn in fire for eternity in accordance with Allah's will.

Sincerely yours,

Mohammed Reza Taheri-Azar

Heraldsun.com: Mohammed Taheri-Azar's letter to police

Haditha Dam Now Running on all Six Turbines--660 Mega-Watts

Haditha Dam is finally operating at full capacity of 660 Mega-Watts. For the first time in sixteen years, all six turbines are in operation producing electricity for Iraq. This welcome news will improve the quality of life for Iraqi's by increasing available electricity.

Silver Star---LCpl. Ben Gonzales

Ben Gonzales threw himself ontop a fellow Marine who did not see an incoming thug grenade. The blast wounded Gonzales in the legs but protected his friend.

“It’s part of what we do. I know he would have done the same for me,” he said of the Marine he protected, who didn’t see the grenade coming. “We watch each others’ backs 24/7 while we’re out there.”
And Gonzalez credits the group’s team leader for cleaning his wounds, keeping the Marines calm, setting up a lookout and calling in the Medevac helicopter.
Three of the four Marines manning the post were wounded in the attack and received Purple Hearts, he said.

Bronze Star---GySgt David L. Sutherland

“A lot of credit goes to my Marines, but there is one person who I thought of when I was receiving this award – Staff Sgt. Kendall H. Ivy II,” Sutherland said. “He was killed in Iraq last May and he sat me down before I deployed and gave me this piece of advice, ‘Being nervous is a good thing because you want to go out there and do a good job, I know you are going to be okay, so calm down.’ Finding someone who has experience can help you prepare for what’s out there.”
Marine Corps News -> Gunnery sergeant earns Bronze Star, honors fallen comrade:

Raiders of the Lost Social Security Surplus Fund

Yesterday, Senators DeMint and Mike Crapo exposed 53 gutless bastions of democracy as senators who refuse to stop using the Social Security Fund as a secret PORK fund.
Senator DeMint comment on their actions:

“Sadly, fifty-three senators turned their backs on America’s seniors,” Senator DeMint said. “There is simply no way to save Social Security if we don’t have the courage stop using the surplus as a secret slush fund. I’m thankful there were forty-six senators who stood with America’s seniors to end the raid. We will not be deterred by cynics who offer no solutions.”

“Those who voted against this amendment voted to raid Social Security,” said Senator DeMint. “Now, every senator will be on record whether they oppose or support the raid. This said absolutely nothing about personal accounts, it was about whether you believe Social Security should be saved or allowed to wither on the vine.”

NAYs ---53
Akaka (D-HI) Baucus (D-MT) Bayh (D-IN) Biden (D-DE) Bingaman (D-NM) Boxer (D-CA) Burns (R-MT) Byrd (D-WV) Cantwell (D-WA) Carper (D-DE) Chafee (R-RI) Clinton (D-NY) Collins (R-ME) Conrad (D-ND) Dayton (D-MN) Dodd (D-CT) Domenici (R-NM) Dorgan (D-ND)	Durbin (D-IL) Feingold (D-WI) Feinstein (D-CA) Harkin (D-IA) Inouye (D-HI) Jeffords (I-VT) Johnson (D-SD) Kennedy (D-MA) Kerry (D-MA) Kohl (D-WI) Landrieu (D-LA) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Leahy (D-VT) Levin (D-MI) Lieberman (D-CT) Lincoln (D-AR) Lugar (R-IN) Menendez (D-NJ)	Mikulski (D-MD) Murray (D-WA) Nelson (D-FL) Nelson (D-NE) Obama (D-IL) Pryor (D-AR) Reed (D-RI) Reid (D-NV) Rockefeller (D-WV) Salazar (D-CO) Sarbanes (D-MD) Schumer (D-NY) Smith (R-OR) Snowe (R-ME) Stabenow (D-MI) Talent (R-MO) Wyden (D-OR)

Not Voting - 1
Voinovich (R-OH)

Including Voinovich, for fence sitting, all the above senators need to be given a new forwarding address as soon as the next election. Senator's highlighted in red are so called Republicans who know better. The Democrats can't help themselves. Since 1985, congressional raiders have stolen 1.7 trillion from Social Security "surplus fund". The current "surplus" consists of a box full of IOU's that can only be paid by raising your taxes or cutting spending.

Townhall.com :: 53 Senators vote to raid the Social Security trust fund

Support Your Local Blogger 'Read Blogs' via Expose the Left

I'm telling you this, why, to help spread the word. Yes. So that the truth is not a wee orphan searching for a home in the MSM. The President describes an end run on the Antique Dealers of the MSM. Expose the Left has video:

"....there’s blogs, there’s internet, there’s all kinds of way to communicate which is literally changing the way people get their information and so if you’re concerned I would suggest that you reach out to some of the groups that are supporting the troops, that got internet sites and just keep the word moving."

Expose the Left � Woman Asks Where People Can See Good Things In Iraq, Bush: Blogs (VIDEO)

Rigged to Blow : the Taking of Hadithah Dam by Rangers April 2003

This morning's net catch included this story of a "hood" operation to take the Hadithah Dam by US Army Rangers. The "hood" OP meaning the Rangers "planned on the hood of a vehicle in the desert" the mission to take the Hadithah Dam. Since TET the antique dealers of the MSM see no value in reporting heroic stories like this:

"The Hadithah Dam was, and still is, a vital line of communication from Western Iraq leading into Baghdad," he said. "The importance of this site was that, if destroyed, the waters would flood the Euphrates River basin all the way into Baghdad and either destroy or limit the maneuverability of coalition forces moving up into this critical area."

Lt. Col. John G. Castles, commander, 3rd Bn., 75th Ranger Regt. "It was very dangerous, against a numerically superior enemy, deep into the heart of the country behind enemy lines, with expectations of heavy enemy resistance and the dam itself thought to be rigged to blow.

Originally tasked to be there for 24 hours, the force was required to remain at this critical position for several days. "Despite continued contact with the enemy, the force held firm, continuing to take the fight to and destroy the enemy, resulting in coalition forces continued movement north into Iraq," said Castles.

Maj. David S. Doyle, who commanded the Rangers during the mission, recalled the operation from beginning to end. "We infiltrated into the western desert with one plan, and then the circumstances changed during our movement. We received the Hadithah Dam mission and had less than 12 hours to plan and get moving.

We planned on the hood of a vehicle in the desert and went through our troop leading procedures just like we were at Ranger School," said Doyle. "Of course this time, we received the order from a digital transmission, there were no Ranger instructors looking over our shoulders and the enemy was waiting for us."

They prepared for the mission, issued the orders and as the sun set they knew that there was an amazing operation ahead. "As the battle progressed, Rangers showed why they are specially selected and that they are well trained," said Doyle.

"The pace of the combat was surprising. The days seemed to pass very quickly. We really gauged the passing of time by the consumption of our ammunition. "

The battle damage assessment for the entire battle included 230 enemy killed, and destroyed 29 tanks, nine S-60 anti-aircraft artillery, 14 anti-aircraft artillery pieces, 28 155mm artillery, 22 82mm mortars, six 60mm mortars, eight ammunition caches, 18 buildings, three heavy cargo trucks, two motorcycles, 10 boats and one kayak.

"Rangers overcame the heat, enemy fire and unfamiliar terrain and held their ground without complaint," Doyle said. "Rangers learned that they could survive under constant enemy direct and indirect fire if they used their training and listened to their leaders."

Doyle echoed that the entire Ranger battalion earned this award. "Rangers fighting at the dam displayed valor, Rangers from our staging base pushed critical ammunition and supplies to our location and received our casualties, and our leaders passed on the additional assets that we needed to stay on the target."

Previously, four Rangers received the Silver Star, 11 received the Bronze Star Medal for Valor, five received the Purple Heart, 20 received Army Commendation Medals for Valor, 15 received the Bronze Star Medal and 71 received the Army Commendation Medal for this mission."
ArmyRanger.com :: 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Reg received Valorous Merit Award

Reader Comment @|| RedState On Bill Roggio v. CNN thug=enablers

Roggio was on CNN, twice, and I still managed to missed both but I caught up with transcript and readers comments on his parley with Barbara Starr (? relation to Brenda Starr? ) that was actually a discussion of parallel universes. Pithy comment by RBMN is the reason coffee sipping at the computer is forbidden.

"Ms. Starr was discussing the administration and "strategic communications, information operations, spin, spin, spin," as well as the difficulties reporters encounter in Iraq. I was discussing how the media has failed to provide the proper context for the war, specifically in military operations, and how their reporting plays into the hands of al-Qaeda. Bill Roggio

|| RedState: "If some of these MSM military reporters knew as much about baseball as they know about the military, they'd report a sacrifice fly as a 'clearly traitorous' act."RBMN

On Our Third Anniversary Of the Thug Wars and The Cry Babies of Democracy

The Third Anniversary of the War On Thugs is upon us as Marines Saddle Up and out head out to the sand box. As you leave, the cry babies of democracy and the MSM thug enabler media hurriedly press upon you the idea that your contribution is wasted. They whine your life and our tax dollars are better used at home. What rot! Nothing could be further from the truth. You leave careers on standby and will maintain relationships by overstuffed packages, email, snailmail, rushed static filled phone calls and at this moment begin your seemingly endless litany of all things tedious that-must-be-done before you are allowed to disengage your life here to begin your extremely valuable contribution to the birth of a new society. Marines are now tasked w/midwife duties to the birth of a new society in Iraq obiedient to the rule of law-not the cult of dictator personalty. A down payment on the road to a thousand years of peace. But read what Mohammed at Iraq the Model has to say on your contribution. He lives there, in the sand box, in Iraq, in the struggling new democracy that is to be brought forth by the sweat of your brow, your sacrifice, your civilian career on standby, and your absence from your family:

IRAQ THE MODEL: .....…the truth is that virtually no one wants Saddam back.... ignore the weepers, whiners, teenagers and half educated naïve people and their silly rallies as I don't want to waste time on people who can do nothing but blindly oppose everything without thinking.

I will ignore them and focus on the more important goals we want to reach here…

.....The democracy we're practicing today in Iraq is the exact opposite of what we had for decades and until three years ago. This democracy carries the essence of life, the differences, the dynamics and yes, the failures but also the seed of a better future.

Before the liberation we were suffering and we had no hope, now we are also suffering but we have hope and I see this hope even in the words of those that are cynical about the outcome of the political process; who say they hope things will be better in four years or eight years…

When Saddam was here we didn't have any hope and we could expect nothing good from a dead regime that cared only about its absolute existence.

Yes. We are facing enormous and dangerous challenges and this is not unexpected because the old will not easily step down and accept the loss; the old will fight back fiercely and the old here is not only Saddam and the Ba'ath, the old can be found among many of our current leaders and the mentality they carry that belong to the same generation that bred Saddam but I believe they will melt away as well because no one can go against the direction of time and the clock cannot be forced backwards.

The green bud looks weak and is buried in the dirt and surrounded by a tough shell but it will break through this covering, pierce the dirt and stand on its feet to announce a new era.
We will not be defeated and orphans of the dark past will get what they deserve and our sacrifices and the sacrifices of those who stand with us shall not go in vain, our sacrifices will pave an easier road for those want to follow us when they decide it's time for them to change.

And yes…Iraq will be the model."

HADITHA DAM, Iraq – Staff Sgt. Matthew J. Lockwood, a Galveston, Texas native and section leader for the Dam Security Unit, looks through the binoculars as the boat’s coxswain points to a suspicious area on shore during a patrol Dec. 9. The unit, currently attached to 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, keeps the waters around the dam safe for the thousands of Iraqi people who depend on the dam for their power. Photo by: Cpl. Adam C. Schnell

Good bye Keflavik Naval Air Station Iceland Base

The four F15's and one chopper squardron that form the yankee govts main defense effort for Iceland is moving out and heading somewhere closer to thug infestation areas. Iceland officials are not amused at the loss of 600 Icelandic civilian jobs and a U.S. base with an annual operating budget of $260 million. On the bright side, however, Iceland will no longer have to worry about how many of the 1200 U.S. military and 100 DOD empolyees are black. Valur Ingimundarson explains the Icelandic goverment's position in his article:

"The 1951 U.S.-Icelandic Defense Agreement paved the way for a permanent U.S. military presence at the Keflavik base in Iceland, an outpost that played a crucial role in U.S. strategy during the Cold War. The article explores two gender-related aspects of the U.S.-Icelandic Cold War relationship: the restrictions on off-base movements of U.S. soldiers, and the secret ban imposed by the Icelandic government on the stationing of black U.S. troops in Iceland. These practices were meant to "protect" Icelandic women and to preserve a homogeneous "national body." Although U.S. officials repeatedly tried to have the restrictions lifted, the Icelandic government refused to modify them until the racial ban was publicly disclosed in late 1959. Even after the practice came to light, it took another several years before the ban was gradually eliminated. Misguided though the Icelandic restrictions may have been, they did, paradoxically, help to defuse domestic opposition to Iceland's pro-American foreign policy course and thus preserved the country's role in the Western alliance.

HDSU in Operation Brand Iron w/ 3/1

With security from the lake provided by the Haditha Dam Security Unit, Operation Brand Iron consisted of searching for weapons caches and intell along the 100 kilometers of shoreline and remote villages of Lake Qadisiyah.

"We did some area reconnaissance, which is getting a census on the people in the area," said Sgt. Alexander M. Murray, Portland, Ore., VC, 3rd Platoon. with Mobile Assault Company, 3/1. "We were also hoping to find some bad guys in the process."

Metal detector-toting combat engineers helped search areas surrounding the tiny communities of a few tents or buildings spread out over the barren desert landscape.

"The people here live very primitive at best," commented Murray.

As Marines swept through the area, they gathered information about each family and community. Having intell on each area will help other Marines in future keep terrorist influence out of these small, vulnerable communities.

"We might find a cache here and there, but the biggest thing is just being out here," said Lance Cpl. Enrique Mendoza, Chico, Calif., vehicle security member for the company. "It shows them that we are willing to come all the way out here to look for bad guys."

Much like other recent operations for the company, Marines bared the cold winter temperatures for days, getting whatever heat they could inside their vehicles. At night the Marines either slept inside their vehicles or on the desert floor, using their sleeping bags as cocoons.

"Besides getting a vehicle stuck, keeping warm is one of the biggest battles out here," commented the 33-year-old vehicle commander.

In remote areas makes it difficult to receive fuel when traveling more than 500 kilometers during the operation. To make sure the vehicles did not run dry, two helicopters carrying fuel landed in the open desert and topped off vehicle fuel tanks to finish the mission.

"Being refueled by the helos is a very unique experience," said Murray. "Especially when they refueled us at night and we saw them come in through our (night vision goggles)."

Before the end of the operation, the Marines conducted a vehicle checkpoints on the main road. Marines searched vehicles and passengers keeping pressure on insurgents.----Cpl. Adam C. Schnell

Telegraph | 404 Error: file not found AKA Do Not criticize, Analysis, or Speculate about Islam--Censorship at the Telegraph UK

Telegraph | 404 Error: file not found
After publishing "Alasdair Palmer's England:The day is Coming when British Muslims form a state within a state" the spineless gray beards at Telegraph UK realized the greivious error they had committed in actually informing their readers against the perils of Islam and instantly moved to correct that same error by deleting the story... the leaving the 404 note to be found in its stead. Sighs of relief, concrackerwackerpackers all round, Bobs your uncle, the dirty deed done dirt cheap was done. HEH! Fortunately for bloggers and readers throughout the world all was not lost. Unknown to the stewards of the Don't Be Stupid, Be a Smarty- Don't-Piss-Them-Off-and Surrender Now Group , Virtue Online had already saved a copy, so did Hyscience and I found my copy at American Future where Marc Schulman says:"You owe it to yourself to read all of it. Please help to disseminate it throughout the blogosphere."

ENGLAND: The day is coming when British Muslims form a state within a state

By Alasdair Palmer
The Telegraph Group
February 19, 2006

For the past two weeks, Patrick Sookhdeo has been canvassing the opinions of Muslim clerics in Britain on the row over the cartoons featuring images of Mohammed that were first published in Denmark and then reprinted in several other European countries.

"They think they have won the debate," he says with a sigh. "They believe that the British Government has capitulated to them, because it feared the consequences if it did not.

"The cartoons, you see, have not been published in this country, and the Government has been very critical of those countries in which they were published. To many of the Islamic clerics, that's a clear victory.

"It's confirmation of what they believe to be a familiar pattern: if spokesmen for British Muslims threaten what they call 'adverse consequences' - violence to the rest of us - then the British Government will cave in. I think it is a very dangerous precedent."

Dr Sookhdeo adds that he believes that "in a decade, you will see parts of English cities which are controlled by Muslim clerics and which follow, not the common law, but aspects of Muslim sharia law.

"It is already starting to happen - and unless the Government changes the way it treats the so-called leaders of the Islamic community, it will continue."

For someone with such strong and uncompromising views, Dr Sookhdeo is a surprisingly gentle and easy-going man. He speaks with authority on Islam, as it was his first faith: he was brought up as a Muslim in Guyana, the only English colony in South America, and attended a madrassa there.

"But Islamic instruction was very different in the 1950s, when I was at school," he says. "There was no talk of suicide bombing or indeed of violence of any kind. Islam was very peaceful."

Dr Sookhdeo's family emigrated to England when he was 10. In his early twenties, when he was at university, he converted to Christianity. "I had simply seen it as the white man's religion, the religion of the colonialists and the oppressors - in a very similar way, in fact, to the way that many Muslims see Christianity today.

" Leaving Islam was not easy. According to the literal interpretation of the Koran, the punishment for apostasy is death - and it actually is punished by death in some Middle Eastern states. "It wasn't quite like that here," he says, "although it was traumatic in some ways."

Dr Sookhdeo continued to study Islam, doing a PhD at London University on the religion. He is currently director of the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity. He also advises the Army on security issues related to Islam.

Several years ago, Dr Sookhdeo insisted that the next wave of radical Islam in Britain would involve suicide bombings in this country. His prediction was depressingly confirmed on 7/7 last year.

So his claim that, in the next decade, the Muslim community in Britain will not be integrated into mainstream British society, but will isolate itself to a much greater extent, carries weight behind it. Dr Sookhdeo has proved his prescience.

"The Government, and Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, are fundamentally deluded about the nature of Islam," he insists. "Tony Blair unintentionally revealed his ignorance when he said, in an effort to conciliate Muslims, that he had 'read through the Koran twice' and that he kept it by his bedside.

"He thought he was saying something which showed how seriously he took Islam. But most Muslims thought it was a joke, if not an insult. Because, of course, every Muslim knows that you cannot read the Koran through from cover to cover and understand it.

The chapters are not written to be read in that way. Indeed, after the first chapter, the chapters of the Koran are ordered according to their length, not according to their content or chronology: the longest chapters are first, the shorter ones are at the end.

"You need to know which passage was revealed at what period and in what time in order to be able to understand it - you cannot simply read it from beginning to end and expect to learn anything at all.

"That is one reason why it takes so long to be able to read and understand the Koran: the meaning of any part of it depends on a knowledge of its context - a context that is not in the Koran itself."

The Prime Minister's ignorance of Islam, Dr Sookhdeo contends, is of a piece with his unsuccessful attempts to conciliate it. And it does indeed seem as if the Government's policy towards radical Islam is based on the hope that if it makes concessions to its leaders, they will reciprocate and relations between fundamentalist Muslims and Tony Blair's Government will then turn into something resembling an ecumenical prayer meeting.

Dr Sookhdeo nods in vigorous agreement with that. "Yes - and it is a very big mistake. Look at what happened in the 1990s. The security services knew about Abu Hamza and the preachers like him. They knew that London was becoming the centre for Islamic terrorists. The police knew. The Government knew. Yet nothing was done.

"The whole approach towards Muslim militants was based on appeasement. 7/7 proved that that approach does not work - yet it is still being followed. For example, there is a book, The Noble Koran: a New Rendering of its Meaning in English, which is openly available in Muslim bookshops.

"It calls for the killing of Jews and Christians, and it sets out a strategy for killing the infidels and for warfare against them. The Government has done nothing whatever to interfere with the sale of that book.

"Why not? Government ministers have promised to punish religious hatred, to criminalise the glorification of terrorism, yet they do nothing about this book, which blatantly does both."

Perhaps the explanation is just that they do not take it seriously. "I fear that is exactly the problem," says Dr Sookhdeo. "The trouble is that Tony Blair and other ministers see Islam through the prism of their own secular outlook.

They simply do not realise how seriously Muslims take their religion. Islamic clerics regard themselves as locked in mortal combat with secularism.

"For example, one of the fundamental notions of a secular society is the moral importance of freedom, of individual choice. But in Islam, choice is not allowable: there cannot be free choice about whether to choose or reject any of the fundamental aspects of the religion, because they are all divinely ordained. God has laid down the law, and man must obey.

'Islamic clerics do not believe in a society in which Islam is one religion among others in a society ruled by basically non-religious laws. They believe it must be the dominant religion - and it is their aim to achieve this.

"That is why they do not believe in integration. In 1980, the Islamic Council of Europe laid out their strategy for the future - and the fundamental rule was never dilute your presence. That is to say, do not integrate.

"Rather, concentrate Muslim presence in a particular area until you are a majority in that area, so that the institutions of the local community come to reflect Islamic structures. The education system will be Islamic, the shops will serve only halal food, there will be no advertisements showing naked or semi-naked women, and so on."

That plan, says Dr Sookhdeo, is being followed in Britain. "That is why you are seeing areas which are now almost totally Muslim. The next step will be pushing the Government to recognise sharia law for Muslim communities - which will be backed up by the claim that it is "racist" or "Islamophobic" or "violating the rights of Muslims" to deny them sharia law.

"There's already a Sharia Law Council for the UK. The Government has already started making concessions: it has changed the law so that there are sharia-compliant mortgages and sharia pensions.

"Some Muslims are now pressing to be allowed four wives: they say it is part of their religion. They claim that not being allowed four wives is a denial of their religious liberty. There are Muslim men in Britain who marry and divorce three women, then marry a fourth time - and stay married, in sharia law, to all four.

"The more fundamentalist clerics think that it is only a matter of time before they will persuade the Government to concede on the issue of sharia law. Given the Government's record of capitulating, you can see why they believe that."

Dr Sookhdeo's vision of a relentless battle between secular and Islamic Britain seems hard to reconcile with the co-operation that seems to mark the vast majority of the interactions between the two communities.

"Well, it isn't me who says Islam is at war with secularisation," he says. "That's how Islamic clerics describe the situation."

But isn't it true that most Muslims who live in theocratic states want to get out of them as quickly as possible and live in a secular country such as Britain or America? And that most Muslims who come to Britain adopt the values of a liberal, democratic, tolerant society, rather than insisting on the inflexible rules of their religion?

"You have to distinguish between ordinary Muslims and their self-appointed leaders," explains Dr Sookhdeo. "I agree that the best hope for our collective future is that the majority of Muslims who have grown up here have accepted the secular nature of the British state and society, the division between religion and politics, and the importance of allowing people to choose freely how they will live.

"But that is not how most of the clerics talk. And, more significantly, it is not how the 'community leaders' whom the Government has decided represent the Muslim community think either.

"Take, for example, Tariq Ramadan, whom the Government has appointed as an adviser because ministers think he is a 'community leader'. Ramadan sounds, in public, very moderate. But in reality, he has some very extreme views. He attacks liberal Muslims as 'Muslims without Islam'. He is affiliated to the violent and uncompromising Muslim Brotherhood.

"He calls the education in the state schools of the West 'aggression against the Islamic personality of the child'. He has said that 'the Muslim respects the laws of the country only if they do not contradict any Islamic principle'. He has added that 'compromising on principles is a sign of fear and weakness'."

So what's the answer? What should the Government be doing? "First, it should try to engage with the real Muslim majority, not with the self-appointed 'community leaders' who don't actually represent anyone: they have not been elected, and the vast majority of ordinary Muslims have nothing to do with them.

"Second, the Government should say no to faith-based schools, because they are a block to integration. There should be no compromise over education, or over English as the language of education. The policy of political multiculturalism should be reversed.

"The hope was that it would to ensure separate communities would soften at the edges and integrate. But the opposite has in fact happened: Islamic communities have hardened. There is much less integration than there was for the generation that arrived when I did. There will be much less in the future if the present trend continues.

"Finally, the Government should make it absolutely clear: we welcome diversity, we welcome different religions - but all of them have to accept the secular basis of British law and society. That is a non-negotiable condition of being here.

"If the Government does not do all of those things then I fear for the future, because Islamic communities within Britain will form a state within a state. Religion will occupy an ever-larger place in our collective political life. And, speaking as a religious man myself, I fear that outcome."

http://www.opinion.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/02/19/nsharia219.xml Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2006.

"Porn for Moderate Muslims--Dr. Wafa Sultan viaThe Religious Policeman

If you are not familiar with the blog The Religious Policeman you are missing an excellent read.
"The diary of a Saudi man, currently living in the United Kingdom, where the Religious Police no longer trouble him for the moment." blog totally explains the long over due case of Whoopass Dr.Wafa Sultan has administred to Muslim clerics:

"I probably mentioned before that I like "strong women". Mrs A is strong. Mrs A (Senior) is formidable. The so-called "second sex" have an equal share of the planet with the males, and bear an unequal share of its pain. They have every right, therefore, to tell us exactly what they think of us, and what we are doing wrong. We men need it.

For this reason, I especially enjoyed these clips (here, they are numbers #783 and #1050). Islamic terrorism is an almost exclusively male activity, and Wafa Sultan, an Arab-American psychologist, now living in LA, has been tearing into a couple of male Islamist apologists on the subject of terrorism. In the first clip, she is up against a professor of Religious Politics from Algeria. She lets forth with this:

When you recite to a child still in his early years the verse: "They will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off," regardless of this verse's interpretation, and regardless of the reasons it was conveyed or its time – you have made the first step towards creating a great terrorist...

In other words, the education system (and Saudi Arabia's is a prime example) that teaches unquestioning acceptance, rather than proper interpretation, of Quranic passages, is the first step in the formation of a terrorist.

The Algerian professor has a bit of a problem with this. Not only is she not covering her head, but she is an extremely forthright, educated, and well-spoken woman, and she's giving him a real verbal lashing. Unable to counter what she is saying, he decides to change the subject. He's basically got three choices:

1) You're talking to the wrong person.
2) You're talking about the wrong thing.
3) Who are you anyway? What is your family, tribe, sect? Are you a true Believer?

He decides on option 2. I have edited to relieve the tedium, you'll get the picture.

The guest from America asked how a young man could blow up a bus. If only she had asked how a president could blow up a peaceful nation in Iraq. ....occupied Palestine?.... Hitler, who murdered 50 million innocent people. ....two atom bombs on Japan ......three million innocent Vietnamese? ....the Indians?....the Spanish civil war,....Who has over 15,000 nuclear warheads ....Where was Bush educated?

Thankfully, Wafa comes straight back to the point before we reach Napoleon, Genghis Khan, the Vikings, or of course Joshua.

Murder is terrorism regardless of time or place, but when it is committed as a decree from Allah, this is another matter...

It's not really a discussion, more of a shouting match. But whereas Wafa is continually bang on target, the professor continually blusters and blethers. For someone like me who is heartily sick of Islamist apologists, it was wonderful to watch.

The second clip has her up against a Dr. Ibrahim Al-Khouli. She comes out with a number of home truths, that will be familiar to any reader of this blog.

The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions, or a clash of civilizations. It is a clash between two opposites, between two eras.
It is a clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages and another mentality that belongs to the 21st century. "
It is a clash between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality.
It is a clash between freedom and oppression, between democracy and dictatorship.
It is a clash between human rights, on the one hand, and the violation of these rights, on other hand.
It is a clash between those who treat women like beasts, and those who treat them like human beings.

She then berates the Doctor for being an offensive bigot.

My colleague has said that he never offends other people's beliefs. What civilization on the face of this earth allows him to call other people by names that they did not choose for themselves? Once, he calls them Ahl Al-Dhimma, another time he calls them the "People of the Book," and yet another time he compares them to apes and pigs, or he calls the Christians "those who incur Allah's wrath." .... What gives you the right to call them "those who incur Allah's wrath," or "those who have gone astray," and then come here and say that your religion commands you to refrain from offending the beliefs of others?

Dr Ibrahim can't figure out what's going on here. She's turning his own words back on him, and then some. Why isn't this woman locked up at home? Why doesn't her husband tell her to shut up? Time to change the subject again. He's going for option 3.

Are you a heretic?.... If you are a heretic, there is no point in rebuking you, since you have blasphemed against Islam, the Prophet, and the Koran...

Big mistake, Doc, you're not even in her league. She's not having any of that.

These are personal matters that do not concern you.....Brother, you can believe in stones, as long as you don't throw them at me. You are free to worship whoever you want, but other people's beliefs are not your concern.

Wonderful stuff. I'm sure the reference to "stones" sailed right over his head, because it's a reference to the stone in the Qa'aba in Makkah, as well as the ones that are used to kill adultresses. But he's been insulted by a woman, and he's reaching over to throttle her inside that box that she's speaking from.

I could watch this over and over. It's like porn for moderate Muslims.

Meet Wafa Sultan, my new best friend."

Meet Dr. Wafa Sultan, Arab American Psychologist Hands Out Cases of Whoopass To Muslim Clerics Now Whining She Did More Damage than Danish Cartoons

Not since Joan of Arc stepped up to the plate has a woman so decisively altered the shape of the battlefield for the future of the world. When the history books are written about the Thug Wars Dr. Wafa Sultan will occupy a pivot point in the chapters as even now Muslim clerics are worried about her message that the religion of peace is actually the religion of barbarism and backwardness. Dr. Wafa Sultan, was shocked into finding a different way to think for herself in Syria when members of the Muslim Brotherhood burst into her class and murdered her professor firing hundreds of bullets into his body chanting "God is Great".

Dr. Sultan recent encounter with Muslim Clerics on Al Jzeera is priceless and can be viewed at MEMRI

Following are excerpts from an interview with Arab-American psychologist Wafa Sultan. The interview was aired on Al-Jazeera TV on February 21, 2006

.

Wafa Sultan: The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions, or a clash of civilizations. It is a clash between two opposites, between two eras. It is a clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages and another mentality that belongs to the 21st century. It is a clash between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality. It is a clash between freedom and oppression, between democracy and dictatorship. It is a clash between human rights, on the one hand, and the violation of these rights, on other hand. It is a clash between those who treat women like beasts, and those who treat them like human beings. What we see today is not a clash of civilizations. Civilizations do not clash, but compete.

[...]

Host: I understand from your words that what is happening today is a clash between the culture of the West, and the backwardness and ignorance of the Muslims?

Wafa Sultan: Yes, that is what I mean.

[...]

Host: Who came up with the concept of a clash of civilizations? Was it not Samuel Huntington? It was not Bin Laden. I would like to discuss this issue, if you don't mind...

Wafa Sultan: The Muslims are the ones who began using this expression. The Muslims are the ones who began the clash of civilizations. The Prophet of Islam said: "I was ordered to fight the people until they believe in Allah and His Messenger." When the Muslims divided the people into Muslims and non-Muslims, and called to fight the others until they believe in what they themselves believe, they started this clash, and began this war. In order to start this war, they must reexamine their Islamic books and curricula, which are full of calls for takfir and fighting the infidels.

My colleague has said that he never offends other people's beliefs. What civilization on the face of this earth allows him to call other people by names that they did not choose for themselves? Once, he calls them Ahl Al-Dhimma, another time he calls them the "People of the Book," and yet another time he compares them to apes and pigs, or he calls the Christians "those who incur Allah's wrath." Who told you that they are "People of the Book"? They are not the People of the Book, they are people of many books. All the useful scientific books that you have today are theirs, the fruit of their free and creative thinking. What gives you the right to call them "those who incur Allah's wrath," or "those who have gone astray," and then come here and say that your religion commands you to refrain from offending the beliefs of others?

I am not a Christian, a Muslim, or a Jew. I am a secular human being. I do not believe in the supernatural, but I respect others' right to believe in it.

Dr. Ibrahim Al-Khouli: Are you a heretic?

Wafa Sultan: You can say whatever you like. I am a secular human being who does not believe in the supernatural...

Dr. Ibrahim Al-Khouli: If you are a heretic, there is no point in rebuking you, since you have blasphemed against Islam, the Prophet, and the Koran...

Wafa Sultan: These are personal matters that do not concern you.

[...]

Wafa Sultan: Brother, you can believe in stones, as long as you don't throw them at me. You are free to worship whoever you want, but other people's beliefs are not your concern, whether they believe that the Messiah is God, son of Mary, or that Satan is God, son of Mary. Let people have their beliefs.

[...]

Wafa Sultan: The Jews have come from the tragedy (of the Holocaust), and forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge, not with their terror, with their work, not their crying and yelling. Humanity owes most of the discoveries and science of the 19th and 20th centuries to Jewish scientists. 15 million people, scattered throughout the world, united and won their rights through work and knowledge. We have not seen a single Jew blow himself up in a German restaurant. We have not seen a single Jew destroy a church. We have not seen a single Jew protest by killing people. The Muslims have turned three Buddha statues into rubble. We have not seen a single Buddhist burn down a Mosque, kill a Muslim, or burn down an embassy. Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing people, and destroying embassies. This path will not yield any results. The Muslims must ask themselves what they can do for humankind, before they demand that humankind respect them.

MotoMail--Snail Mail at the Speed of Email Gets There Inside of 24 hours

Photo by: Sgt. Enrique S. Diaz

Lance Cpl. Adrian E. Fuentes, a 21-year-old administration clerk, reads a MotoMail letter his wife, Dianira, sent from Laredo, Texas, using MotoMail website . Fuentes is assigned to the 1st Marine Logistics Group, at Camp Taqaddum, Iraq. The mail is service designed to get mail to our junior ranks Cpls and below fighting in the nooks and crannies of Iraq where access to computers is limited or can not fit inside fox holes. The idea is not new but I had not heard about it until this release and the best part is the website is user friendly and free:

The system is a free service to all servicemembers, specifically their family members and friends who are interested in writing a letter to their Marine in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait, said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Don McCarty, postal officer for 1st Marine Logistics Group and 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.

Electronically sent letters keep morale high for Marines in Iraq

Yemen Editor faces death sentence for publishing Danish Cartoons ---American Editors still in hiding, cowering

Muhammad al-Asadi is in the slammer after he was arrested for printing the Danish cartoons in his paper the Yemen Observer. In sharp constrast, American weaseled out of doing the same by insisting they were standing on principle (really didn't want to piss off the head choppers) and might offend those with sensitive noses. Lawyers for the prosecution of Muhammad al-Asadi cite legal precedent from Muslim history when the prophet was insulted by a woman and then praised her killer. If it's ok for the you-know-who to chop heads then it's a case of don't worry be happy. Justice is be done. American editors have retreated behind their principles and refused to come out and join the fray. Dead Press walking only attacks easy targets under the guise of reporting as Rumsfeld pointed out yesterday.

"

"Interestingly, all of the exaggerations seem to be on one side. It isn't as though there simply have been a series of random errors on both sides of issues. On the contrary, the steady stream of errors all seem to be of a nature to inflame the situation and to give heart to the terrorists and to discourage those who hope for success in Iraq."

Instant outrage was expressed by a member of the Dead Press Walking with this 'you calling us thug enablers -thug enablers?'

Are you saying that this poll and that what you call the rush toward declaring civil war in Iraq, is that the result of intentional misreporting of the situation there? .... Well, do you believe that the media's been duped by the situation or doesn't understand it or what?

Rumsfeld is classic Monty Python ...nugh, nugh, wink, wink....heh, heh. Perfect

SEC. RUMSFELD: All I'm doing is reporting. I'm just reporting the facts. (Laughter.) The facts are as I've stated them.

Army Sgt. Rickey Jones, Kokomo, Ind; KIA/IED House Egged---- Parents get Hate Calls----Milblog Starts Letter campaign

A Soldiers Perspective MilBlog has put out a red alert call for a show of support for the parents of Sgt Rickey Jones whose house was egged by by low life scum sucking godless thug toads. The war against Islamic Totalitarianism begins at home. Take a moment to write a note of appreciation and support for the parents of Rickey Jones who gave his all to keep the barbarians from taking over.

"If you own a blog, please post this effort on your respective blogs and ask your readers to post it on their blogs. If you are as disgusted as I am and would like to write a letter to have delivered to this family, please email Lauren (MyWay716@aol.com) for more information. The good people over at Operation Military Pride are helping facilitate the delivery of these letters."

From the Associated Press:
The home of Sgt. Rickey Jones was egged Saturday, three days after Jones’ family learned the 21-year-old and three other soldiers had been killed by a roadside bomb north of Baghdad. His family also received phone calls in which the caller said: “I’m glad your son is dead.”

The actions drew the attention of their congressman, Rep. Steve Buyer, a Republican who also chairs the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
“It is outrageous, appalling and indecent for an American citizen to commit crimes and perversions against a family grieving at the loss of their son,” Buyer said.
On Thursday, he spoke on the House floor asking his fellow lawmakers to stand and observe a moment of silence “to condemn these despicable acts.”
“A great virtue of the American character is our compassion. It is how we care for each other in good times and in difficult times,” he said. “It is our compassion and human decency that represents the very best of our nation.”
Jones’ relatives and police are bracing for the possibility that a Topeka, Kan.-based group will protest at his funeral Monday.
Members of the Westboro Baptist Church have protested at military funerals across the nation, including shouting insults at soldiers’ surviving relatives and holding signs that read “God Made IEDs” — a reference to roadside bombs. The group claims American soldiers are dying in Iraq due to divine intervention because the United States harbors homosexuals." AP

A Soldier's Perspective

Lt. Col. Robert Kosid, and First LAR Holding Rutbah w/a Ten Mile Berm

Its a pain in the tuckas for thugs and hard cheese for citizens of Rutbah but the 10 mile long 7 foot tall berm with three choke points makes pulling security a lot safer for First LAR Marines. Local thug toads have decided the percentages of getting caught planting their roadside bombs is not worth the effort as IED's went from 29 per month to 5. In addition rain has made the country side into a muddy, impossible to pass mess.

"The sand wall is only "an intermediate solution," said Marine Lt. Col. Robert Kosid, whose 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion is responsible for Rutbah and several thousand square miles of desert around it. I think the long-term success of Rutbah involves a permanent presence in the city," said Kosid, who was also based here on his previous tour in Iraq."

"It's a more methodical way to use (checkpoints) to clear towns instead of going right in to sweep it," Sgt. Spencer Biegel of Albany, Ore., said as he helped inspect cars at a checkpoint.

More than a dozen wanted suspects have been caught at Rutbah's checkpoints, he said.

"In the long term it cuts down on Marine and civilian casualties," Biegel said.

About 500 vehicles pass through the busiest checkpoint each day, and Marines cut traffic from two lanes to one whenever there is a roadside bombing.

"As insurgent activity rises, we have to put on stringent controls," said Capt. Phil Laing of Seligman, Ariz., who commands the Marines manning the checkpoints. "The intent is not to punish Rutbah."

AP Wire | 03/05/2006 | U.S. Marines wall in Iraqi city with sand

Chester Lowery fills the gap between 3/1 and Iraqi Engineers at Haditha Dam

Chester Lowery, right, with Hasan Yahya Hasan, facility Plant Manager stand in front of Iraq's second largest hydro electric facility, Haditha Dam. (photo/story
Norris Jones U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.)


"Chester Lowery, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineer (USACE) employee for 27 years, volunteered in September to fill the billet as Power Project Manager at Haditha Dam, in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. He’s the only USACE representative there.

“We funded this position to bring in someone who could interface between our security force at the dam and the Iraqi engineers operating the facility,” said Marine Capt. James Haynie, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines. “The Iraqis would seek access to certain parts of the facility, would suggest certain actions, and we had no idea whether it made any sense or not.

He also brought a depth of experience and has helped the Iraqis institute a preventive maintenance program, Haynie said. “He worked with them in writing a 90-page maintenance manual that calls for certain daily, weekly, monthly and annual inspections covering every aspect of the plant. Prior to this the Iraqis’ main focus was fixing problems as they occurred.”

“Lowery was instrumental in getting the Iraqi staff increased from 20 employees to 165 workers,” said Hasan Yahya Hasan, the facility’s Plant Manager. “It’s great to talk to somebody who understands what we’re trying to do.”

Lowery says he gets great satisfaction in seeing the smiles on Iraqi faces as they solve problems together and work as a team. In addition, he doesn’t spend much time at his desk, preferring instead to roll up his sleeves and help with jobs like replacing broken valves and snapped pipes.

Lowery said the biggest challenge when he started was the language barrier.

“None of the Iraqi engineers would speak English,” said Lowery. ”However, after we worked together and they built up their confidence in me, I discovered 90 percent of them understood what I was saying. Communication is no longer an issue.”

Haditha is Iraq’s second-largest hydroelectric facility, and is located on the Euphrates River. It has a reservoir capacity of 8.2 billion cubic meters (compared to Mosul Dam on the Tigris River that has a 12.5 billion cubic meter capacity).

Haditha Dam is capable of producing 660 megawatts of power from its six units. Because of low water, the facility is currently producing about 150 megawatts daily.

SURC--Small Unit Riverine Craft --USMC

SAFE Boats International - Patented Foam Collar Boats:
Built by SAFE Boats International for the USMC SURC aka Small Unit Riverine Craftis equipped with a drop bow for easy beach unloading. The river pig can handle heavy loads and runs on marine diesel or aviation fuels, both JP 5 and JP 8. Kicks A's doesn't bother with names.

Low Life Thug-Predator Rips Off Marine Widow-Tips Call 1-888-580

Marcos Talamante,age 37, five feet 11, 300 pound toad on the run from cops after ripping off the death benefit of a Marine widow. Crime Stoppers has offered a $1,000 reward for anyone with information leading to Talamante's arrest. Tipsters can call (888) 580-TIPS.
NBCSandiego.com - News - Photo Released Of Man Accused Of Ripping Off Marine Widow

Manifesto Slam Against Islamic Totalitarianism--

MANIFESTO: Together facing the new totalitarianism

After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new totalitarian global threat: Islamism.

We, writers, journalists, intellectuals, call for resistance to religious totalitarianism and for the promotion of freedom, equal opportunity and secular values for all.

The recent events, which occurred after the publication of drawings of Muhammed in European newspapers, have revealed the necessity of the struggle for these universal values. This struggle will not be won by arms, but in the ideological field. It is not a clash of civilisations nor an antagonism of West and East that we are witnessing, but a global struggle that confronts democrats and theocrats.

Like all totalitarianisms, Islamism is nurtured by fears and frustrations. The hate preachers bet on these feelings in order to form battalions destined to impose a liberticidal and unegalitarian world. But we clearly and firmly state: nothing, not even despair, justifies the choice of obscurantism, totalitarianism and hatred. Islamism is a reactionary ideology which kills equality, freedom and secularism wherever it is present. Its success can only lead to a world of domination: man's domination of woman, the Islamists' domination of all the others. To counter this, we must assure universal rights to oppressed or discriminated people.

We reject « cultural relativism », which consists in accepting that men and women of Muslim culture should be deprived of the right to equality, freedom and secular values in the name of respect for cultures and traditions. We refuse to renounce our critical spirit out of fear of being accused of "Islamophobia", an unfortunate concept which confuses criticism of Islam as a religion with stigmatisation of its believers.

We plead for the universality of freedom of expression, so that a critical spirit may be exercised on all continents, against all abuses and all dogmas.

We appeal to democrats and free spirits of all countries that our century should be one of Enlightenment, not of obscurantism.

12 signatures

Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Chahla Chafiq
Caroline Fourest
Bernard-Henri Lévy
Irshad Manji
Mehdi Mozaffari
Maryam Namazie
Taslima Nasreen
Salman Rushdie
Antoine Sfeir
Philippe Val
Ibn Warraq

Presentations:

Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, from somilian origin, is member of Dutch parliement, member of the liberal party VVD. Writter of the film Submission which caused the assasination of Theo Van Gogh by an islamist in november 2004, she lives under police protection.

Chahla Chafiq
Chahla Chafiq, writer from iranian origin, exiled in France is a novelist and an essayist. She's the author of "Le nouvel homme islamiste , la prison politique en Iran " (2002). She also wrote novels such as "Chemins et brouillard" (2005).

Caroline Fourest
Essayist, editor in chief of Prochoix (a review who defend liberties against dogmatic and integrist ideologies), author of several reference books on « laicité » and fanatism : Tirs Croisés : la laïcité à l'épreuve des intégrismes juif, chrétien et musulman (with Fiammetta Venner), Frère Tariq : discours, stratégie et méthode de Tariq Ramadan, et la Tentation obscurantiste (Grasset, 2005). She receieved the National prize of laicité in 2005.

Bernard-Henri Lévy
French philosoph, born in Algeria, engaged against all the XXth century « ism » (Fascism, antisemitism, totalitarism, terrorism), he is the author of La Barbarie à visage humain, L'Idéologie française, La Pureté dangereuse, and more recently American Vertigo.

Irshad Manji
Irshad Manji is a Fellow at Yale University and the internationally best-selling author of "The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim's Call for Reform in Her Faith" (en francais: "Musulmane Mais Libre"). She speaks out for free expression based on the Koran itself. Née en Ouganda, elle a fui ce pays avec sa famille musulmane d'origine indienne à l'âge de quatre ans et vit maintenant au Canada, où ses émissions et ses livres connaissent un énorme succès.

Mehdi Mozaffari
Mehdi Mozaffari, professor from iranian origin and exiled in Denmark, is the author of several articles and books on islam and islamism such as : Authority in Islam: From Muhammad to Khomeini, Fatwa: Violence and Discourtesy and Glaobalization and Civilizations.

Maryam Namazie
Writer, TV International English producer; Director of the Worker-communist Party of Iran's International Relations; and 2005 winner of the National Secular Society's Secularist of the Year award.

Taslima Nasreen
Taslima Nasreen is born in Bangladesh. Doctor, her positions defending women and minorities brought her in trouble with a comittee of integrist called « Destroy Taslima » and to be persecuted as « apostate »

Salman Rushdie
Salman Rushdie is the author of nine novels, including Midnight's Children, The Satanic Verses and, most recently, Shalimar the Clown. He has received many literary awards, including the Booker Prize, the Whitbread Prize for Best Novel, Germany's Author of the Year Award, the European Union's Aristeion Prize, the Budapest Grand Prize for Literature, the Premio Mantova, and the Austrian State Prize for European Literature. He is a Commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et Lettres, an Honorary Professor in the Humanities at M.I.T., and the president of PEN American Center. His books have been translated into over 40 languages.

Philippe Val
Director of publication of Charlie Hebdo (Leftwing french newspaper who have republished the cartoons on the prophet Muhammad by solidarity with the danish citizens targeted by islamists).

Ibn Warraq
Ibn Warraq , author notably of Why I am Not a Muslim ; Leaving Islam : Apostates Speak Out ; and The Origins of the Koran , is at present Research Fellow at a New York Institute conducting philological and historical research into the Origins of Islam and its Holy Book.

Antoine Sfeir :
Born in Lebanon, christian, Antoine Sfeir choosed french nationality to live in an universalist and « laïc » (real secular) country. He is the director of Les cahiers de l'Orient and has published several reference books on islamism such as Les réseaux d'Allah (2001) et Liberté, égalité, Islam : la République face au communautarisme (2005).

Indland Jyllands-Posten