Here they are, those "moderate" Muslims we have been waiting for...all 36 of them

In support of the NYPD and their aggressive tactics against jihadists and those using the Qur'an to justify their actions, the brave 36 took to the streets, disrupting almost nothing and causing little upset.

So much for the voice of the moderate Muslim, but I can't help but support them, as motley a crew as it was, because it is a beginning.  A trickle can become a torrent over time.  I just hope we have enough time.


From The Register-Guard March 5

Islamic groups hold rally in support of NYPD

NEW YORK (AP) — A coalition of Islamic groups is defending the New York City Police Department's monitoring of Muslim groups across the Northeast. They say the department is simply doing everything it can to protect the city.

Dr. Zuhdi Jasser said Monday that he wasn't in New York to criticize the department, but rather to thank them for monitoring extremists — a job that Muslims should be doing. A group of about three dozen supporters cheered and clapped.

The department has been criticized by many other Muslim groups and politicians after The Associated Press reported the NYPD secretly monitored Muslims across the Northeast in the years following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Jasser narrated the documentary "The Third Jihad," which uses dramatic footage to warn against the dangers of radical Islam.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq murder 25, hoist their battle flag in victory

A common tactic when fighting; you take the enemies position, lower his flag and raise your own.  In this case, the flag raised is of our sworn enemy, in a country we believed we had saved from a murderous thug (which we placed there to begin with.)

Nothing says thanks for the memories than the flag of our foe flying high in a country we declared peace in before we left.


From FOXNews March 5

Al Qaeda flag hoisted after 25 police killed in Iraq shooting spree

BAGHDAD –  A gang of gunmen disguised in military-style uniforms and carrying forged arrest warrants killed 25 police Monday, then hoisted the battle flag of Al Qaeda in a carefully planned early morning shooting spree in western Iraq, officials said.

The killings in Haditha highlight Al Qaeda's success in regaining a foothold in an area they once dominated through police executions and murdering city officials.

By going after police, the militants demonstrate to the residents of Haditha, a desert city closer to the Syrian border than to Baghdad, how isolated they are from the central government's protection and intimidate those who want to join the security forces.

The city's proximity to the border, just 65 miles away, means it is vital territory to Al Qaeda if they want to ramp up operations in Syria to help overthrow the government of President Bashar Assad. Already, Sunni militants who revile Assad because he's a member of an offshoot religion of Shiism are crossing from Iraq into Syria.

The killings carried out by Al Qaeda Monday morning demonstrated a high degree of coordination, knowledge of their targets and a boldness that indicated little fear of the local security forces ability to fight back.

The violence began with an attack on a suburban checkpoint around 2 a.m. in Haditha and ended with the gang disappearing into the desert a half hour later.

"We consider this attack as a serious security breach and we believe that Al Qaeda or groups linked to it are behind this," said Mohammed Fathi, spokesman for the governor of Iraq's western Anbar province where Haditha is located.

Iraqi officials described a systematic plot to kill police in Haditha, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad, with attackers disguising themselves in military uniforms and driving cars painted to look like Iraqi interior ministry vehicles.

Fathi said the gang claimed they were military officials with arrest warrants for city police. They were stopped at a checkpoint outside Haditha, where they took away the guards' mobile phones before shooting nine of them, he said.

The gang's convoy, described by one Haditha police lieutenant as stretching 13 cars long, then stopped at the homes of two Haditha police commanders, including the colonel who served as the city's SWAT team leader. Brandishing the fake arrest warrants, the gunmen forced the commanders into the convoy, and shot both less than a quarter-mile away, Fathi said.

Fathi said the gang had false arrest warrants for 15 police officials in Haditha. As their convoy moved through the city, they were stopped at another checkpoint near the city's main market. A fierce gun battle broke out, with the gang raising the black flag of Al Qaeda in a show of defiance.

Six policemen were killed in that skirmish, and another six were killed in shootings as security forces chased the gang through the city, Fathi said.

Most of the gang escaped, fleeing north into a desert area in bordering Ninevah province known as Jazeera, according to a police lieutenant in Haditha. On the way out, Fathi said, another two policemen were killed...

Read it all

Christians in Egypt teach a course on "Anti-Islamization"....wait, what?

If only.  Actually, it is Muslims who are upset at the attempts to convert Muslims to Christianity, thus the new course on how to avoid  being swept up in the Christ movement.  If your religion is so weak that it must teach its adherents how not to be converted, we have a serious credibility problem.


From BikyaMasr March 3 by Manar Ammar

“Anti-Christianization” course in Egypt aims to combat conversion

   
Coptic Church in Cairo; Muslims beware!

CAIRO: A recent course in Egypt’s southern city of Aswan has raised a few eyebrows after it was announced that the course would be an “anti-Christianization course” aiming to educate youth about Islam and how to respond to attempts of converting by Christians in the country.

The course, which started on Saturday and will continue until Wednesday, is run independently, according to coordinator, Ibrahim al-Etmany, a student at the engineering faculty in Aswan.

“Reoccurring attempts at the university in Aswan to convert Muslims to Christianity or provoke them with misleading information was the drive behind the course,” Etmany told Bikyamasr.com via telephone on Saturday.

“We want to avoid confrontations and provocative talk and focus on civil and enlightened dialogue between the two religions,” he continued.

“You know young people could get upset or angry, but with knowing your faith, you could respond politely and respectfully to the other side’s claims.”

No official numbers shed light on the number of Muslims converting to Christianity, but evidence shows it is still well behind the conversion of Coptic Christians to Islam in the country.

A number of Muslims who converted to Christianity appeared heavily in the media during 2009 and 2010, affirming their rights to choose their faith, yet they were met with public anger, as their press interviews showed hostility towards Muslims.

“Confrontation is out of the question,” argued Ibrahim. “We are here to learn more about our religion and take violent responses out of the equation.”

Ibrahim spoke to Bikyamasr.com as he was expecting the three lecturers to arrive at the train station, with the course to start after the sunset prayer.

He added that many people have expressed their interest in the course and scores are traveling from neighboring cities such as Meniya and Qena, who were hit recently with sectarian clashes, to attend the course.

“We are expecting a hundred or more people to show up,” Etmany said.

Read it all

Prostitution still legal in Iran

It's called Siqeh, also known as a "temporary marriage" and used by those who wish a little adult fun without the stigma of offending strict Islamic sex laws.  Since it is men who cannot control their desires, they need some way to "let off steam' if you get my drift, and Siqeh satisfies that need.

This is Islam.


From BikyaMasr March 5 by Farshid Motahari

Iran rejects obligation to register temporary marriages

Tehran (dpa) – The Iranian parliament rejected a draft bill Monday which would have obliged men to register temporary marriages, Fars news agency reported.

The bill was aimed at increasing the rights of women who become the second or third wives of polygamous men, in a practice used to get around a religious ban on sex outside marriage.

Unregistered temporary marriages are those made by clerics – de facto only making the couple religiously legitimate – but without any written contract which could at least give some rights to the women.

The bill was rejected by a majority of deputies.

Temporary marriage – or Siqeh – is a highly controversial issue in Iran.

The supporters, mainly among clergy circles and religious people, say that it is a legitimate way to counter social immoralities.

But opponents term Siqeh as a legalized form of prostitution and a humiliation for women.

Sexual relations between unmarried couples are strictly prohibited in Islamic Iran and can lead to arrest and heavy cash fines.

Islamic law allows men to have four wives at the same time, while women are only allowed one husband.

Read it all

“I went to office hours to talk about Arabic, and I got lectures about how I should quit my job and move back to Egypt....I was told to join Muslim Student Association, go to Friday prayers, basically ‘be a better Muslim’

Professor Haider Bhuiyan seemed to care more about Muslim behavior than teaching Arabic, thus his resignation from the University of Georgia.  Whether he was a competent teacher or not is a question unanswered at this time, but his approach to a female student about her "Muslimness" speaks volumes about his beliefs and practices, all antithetical to the values and ethics of the country where he resides.  


He is one to be watched carefully/.




From RedAndBlack March 5 by Briana Gerdeman 

Former professor sparks debate (w/ Documents)

An Arabic lecturer who resigned from the University made students uncomfortable with unwanted advice about religion and had difficulty teaching the language, according to students and an adviser.

Haider Bhuiyan was a lecturer of Arabic and Islam at the University from 2007 until he resigned after fall 

In December 2010, the Equal Opportunity Office investigated Bhuiyan on allegations that he made inappropriate comments about religion and sexual orientation to students, according to documents obtained by the Red & Black and published in a Feb. 2 article. The EOO found no evidence of discrimination, wrote E. Janyce Dawkins, associate director of equal opportunity, in a letter to Bhuiyan.

In a second investigation, the EOO looked into charges by Bhuiyan that two other religion professors, Alan Godlas and Kenneth Honerkamp, had discriminated against him when he was not rehired as a lecturer in Arabic. According to a letter from Dawkins to Bhuiyan, the EOO found no evidence of discrimination against Bhuiyan, but found that he had discriminated against students earlier.

A student, who wished to remain anonymous, took the University’s first four Arabic classes with Bhuiyan in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 academic years.

She said he made her and other students uncomfortable with “a lot of unwanted advice” about religion.

“Aside from his ability to teach Arabic, which was completely subpar, I was told by him on several occasions that being an Arabic girl in Georgia by myself was not a good idea,” she said.

She said Bhuiyan told her that as a Muslim woman, she shouldn’t live alone without male family members and shouldn’t be working so hard at her job.

“I went to office hours to talk about Arabic, and I got lectures about how I should quit my job and move back to Egypt,” she said. “I was told to join Muslim Student Association, go to Friday prayers, basically ‘be a better Muslim.’ All that made it really hard to interact with him as a teacher.”

The student grew up in Egypt and was raised Muslim, but she said she made it clear to Bhuiyan that she hadn’t practiced Islam since the age of 4.

Wanda Wilcox, an adviser for the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, said another student complained to her about Bhuiyan’s inappropriate remarks about religion.

She said a male student in Bhuiyan’s summer Islam class told her Bhuiyan had said “very aggressive and very dismissive” things to a female student in the class who practiced a different denomination of Islam than Bhuiyan.

“As just a guy who was in there, he felt very badly for the girl that she was being attacked,” Wilcox said. When she learned the EOO was investigating Bhuiyan, she gave the male student’s name to the EOO.

The anonymous student also said Bhuiyan’s comments, rather than distinguishing between Muslims and non-Muslims, distinguished between “good” and “bad” Muslims.

“Our class was basically full of people who were just stunned by the things he said to us,” she said.

In addition to the allegations of discrimination, some students also said Bhuiyan was not a qualified teacher.

Read it all

Nosejob jihad

Against himself, no less.  I just cannot make this stuff up.


From The National March 6

Egypt Salafi MP resigns after carjacking injuries turn out to be from a nose job

Cairo // An Egyptian Salafi MP was forced to resign from parliament and from his party after claiming that he was injured in a carjacking, when he had in fact had a nose job, his party said yesterday.

A bruised and bandaged Anwar Al Bilkimy appeared on television last week saying how gunmen beat him and stole 100,000 Egyptian pounds (Dh61,000).

But doctors and medical staff at a hospital in the Cairo suburb of Sheikh Zayed came forward and said that the MP, who belongs to the ultra-conservative party Al Nour, had in fact been undergoing rhinoplasty at the time.

Read it all

Has Iran tested a nuke?

If this article is true, then the answer is yes.  With all the help North Korea has already given Iran in the nuclear arena in providing power nuclear research computers and ballistic missile technology, this small scale test fits right in with the Iran/North Korea axis.

The irony here is that if not for the fact that Iran needs technology and North Korea needs money, these two are mortal enemies.


From YNet March 5

Report: Iran held nuclear test in N. Korea
 Germany's Die Welt newspaper reported Sunday that Iran held at least one nuclear weapons test in North Korea in 2010.

The paper's report is based on "Western intelligence agencies sources," and says that the test, in fact, refutes US intelligence assessments suggesting there is no "hard evidence" that Iran is building nuclear weapons.

  

The International Atomic Energy Agency has recently declared that its nuclear negotiations with Iran have failed.

The statement followed Tehran's decision the bar IAEA inspectors from what is believed to be key military sites in the Islamic Republic.

Iran vehemently claims that its nuclear program is meant to serve civil, peaceful purposes only.

The Die Welt noted that evidence of the 2010 nuclear tests in North Korea was published in early February in Nature Magazine.

According to the report, Swedish nuclear physicist Lars-Erik de Geer analyzed data "showing the presence of radioisotopes that betrayed a uranium bomb explosion."

"After a year of work, (de Geer) concluded that North Korea carried out two small nuclear tests in April and May 2010 that caused explosions in the range of 50–200 tons of TNT equivalent.

"The types and ratios of isotopes detected… suggest that North Korea was testing materials and techniques intended to boost the yield of its weapons," the report said.

Shocker! Afghan investigation concludes that we burned the Qur'an on purpose

Uh huh.  What other conclusion could they come up with that would preclude more riots and mayhem other than being a victim.  This should have been seen coming a mile away, but as clueless as we are about Islamic doctrine it really isn't a surprise.

Now the question; what do we do to continue to appease the alligator so it will stop biting?


From BikyaMasr March 5 by Subel Bhandari

US Qur’an burning was intentional, Afghan investigator says

Kabul (dpa) – The burning of the Qur’an at a US military base in Afghanistan was intentional, a member of the investigating team told dpa Monday.

“We believe it is intentional,” said Maulavi Khaliqdad, a member of the panel established by President Hamid Karzai.

“If they burnt one or two copies, then we could have said it could have been a mistake. But they took hundreds of such books to burn. Everyone knew those were religious books.”

News that US soldiers in Bagram airbase north of Kabul had burnt copies of religious books including Qur’an last month caused violent protests nationwide.

International military officials apologized and said it was “unintentional.” US President Barack Obama also sent a written apology to Karzai.

But despite apologies and calling for calm by Karzai, more than 30 protesters were killed in the ensuing violence.

Now a total of over 40, including 5 Americans.

Six US soldiers were also killed in apparent revenge attacks by their Afghan allies, including two US military advisers who were murdered inside the fortified Interior Ministry building.

Khaliqdad said the team’s finding that the burning was intentional has been presented to Karzai and parliament.

“It is impossible if you collect that many books from library … Someone is responsible for this,” he said. “We cannot accept that they say it was a mistake.”

A statement which in no uncertain terms says there is no way at all there will ever be calm or peace.  We will continue to believe the opposite despite all the evidence to the contrary.  And that mindset will get us killed.

“A mistake is when someone does something without any knowledge or when someone is unaware,” said Khaliqdad, who is also a member of religious Ulema Council of Islamic scholars and mullahs.

Nigerian Update; March 4

No direct attacks in the last two days, but the memo just released says attacks are imminent.

More innocents are going to die, all in the name of Islam.

Madness.


From BikyaMasr March 4 by David Ito

Nigeria’s Boko Haram calls for “war” on Christians

LAGOS: A Nigerian spokesman for the Islamic militant group Boko Haram told Bikyamasr.com on Sunday that they are planning a “war” on Christians in the next few weeks.

According to the spokesman, speaking via telephone from northern Nigeria, the group “will launch a number of attacks, coordinated and part of the plan to eradicate Christians from certain parts of the country.”

Boko Haram have taken responsibility for a number of bomb attacks on Christian churches across the country since a Christmas Day bombing left dozens of people killed.

The government has promised to crackdown on the group and has deployed military units across the country in an attempt to curtail the Islamic group’s activities, arresting and killing a number of members in recent weeks.

But the spokesman said the government “cannot be prepared for what is to come.”

He said, without giving specific details, “we will create so much effort to end the Christian presence in our push to have a proper Islamic state that the Christians won’t be able to stay.”

 Read it all

"Islamic Winter" now blowing a foul wind for Christians in Syria

For almost a year now I have been warning about the "Arab Spring" turning and biting those who started it.  There are many articles on Christian persecution from which to get a full picture of the gradual genocide happening across Arab countries who are participating in the "Arab Spring."  It is useless to say I told you so, but the lesson is there to see.

As we progress through this year, we will see continued murder and mayhem against those non-Muslims living in Muslim lands, and the new governments supported by the West and the U.S. unwilling and unable to stop the cleansing of Christians from Islamic lands.

We are the Nero to the worlds burning.


From AlArabiya March 4 by Michael Stott and Samia Nakhoul

Violence turning Arab Spring into winter

Violence and bloodshed is turning the “Arab Spring” into winter, the head of Lebanon’s Maronite Church said, threatening Christians and Muslims alike across the Middle East.

Patriarch Beshara al-Rai, whose Maronite Church also has a strong presence in Syria, said change could not be brought to the Arab world by force and that Christians feared the turmoil was helping extremist Muslim groups.

“We are with the Arab Spring but we are not with this spring of violence, war, destruction and killing. This is turning to winter,” Rai told Reuters in Bkirki, seat of the Maronite church in hills overlooking the Mediterranean Sea north of Beirut.

The upheaval sweeping through the Arab world, toppling four veteran leaders, gave voice to millions of people who suffered decades of repression. But it also brought conflict in Libya and has tipped Syria towards civil war.

“We say that we cannot implement reforms by force and arms. No one can guess the scale of the great losses and damage which could result,” said Rai, speaking this week in an ornately decorated reception room in the patriarchate in Bkirki.

Unlike the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 which overthrew Saddam Hussein, the Arab uprisings started as largely grassroot protests against entrenched leaderships.

But Rai, who attended a memorial service in Iraq last year for Christians killed in an attack on a Baghdad church, drew a parallel between Iraq and the rest of the Arab world, saying Christians could bear a disproportionate share of the suffering.

“How can it be an Arab Spring when people are being killed every day?” he said. “They speak of Iraq and democracy, and one million Christians out of an original 1.5 million have fled Iraq.”

The patriarch said all communities in the Middle East were threatened by “war and violence, economic and security crises”, but Christians were particularly vulnerable because of their relatively small and dwindling numbers.

Maronites, who have a presence in Lebanon, Syria and Cyprus, follow an Eastern rite of the Roman Catholic church and number about 900,000 in Lebanon, around a quarter of the population.

Christians not at ease

Lebanon’s Maronite leaders have had tense relations with Syria and led calls for an end to its military presence in Lebanon in 2005.

But since protests erupted against President Bashar al-Assad many Christians have been uneasy about supporting the increasingly militarized and mainly Sunni Muslim uprising against his secular Baath Party, which ensured freedom of belief for minority faiths.

The 72-year-old Rai, elected patriarch on the same day in March last year that serious protest first broke out in Damascus against Assad, said Maronites were neither supporting nor opposing the Syrian authorities.

“Syria, like other countries, needs reforms which the people are demanding,” he said. “It’s true that the Syrian Baath regime is an extreme and dictatorial regime but there are many others like it in the Arab world.”

“All regimes in the Arab world have Islam as a state religion, except for Syria. It stands out for not saying it is an Islamic state ... The closest thing to democracy (in the Arab world) is Syria.”

“We are not defending it. But we regret that Syria, which wants to take a step forward ... is undergoing this violence and destruction and (use of) power and weapons.”

The United Nations says more than 7,500 people have been killed in the uprising and puts the blame for the bloodshed mainly on Assad’s government, saying it has reports of summary executions, imprisonment and torture by authorities.

Syrian government forces have bombarded opposition districts of the city of Homs for weeks, killing and wounding civilians cowering in its ruined buildings.

Assad’s government said in December more than 2,000 police and soldiers had been killed by what it describes as “terrorist armed groups,” backed by foreign powers, which it says are trying to stir up violence in Syria.

Rai has expressed fears the Arab uprisings could replace autocratic leaders with radical Islamic groups, and said extremist groups were getting foreign support.

“It’s not the people who want them. There are countries behind them, supporting them financially and militarily and politically,” he said. “Moderate people do not want them.”

Indonesia: Jihadist cleric says America must be destroyed

Because of our freedoms?  Our democracy?  Our pluralism and fair play ethics?  No, he blames us for his lengthy jail sentence, courtesy of his belief that Muslims must kill the kuffir at any cost.

Someone explain to him that he has Islam all wrong.   Never mind, i'll send the memo...


From The Bangkok Post Feb 29

Jailed Indonesia cleric says US must be destroyed

Abu Bakar Bashir checking wind direction

Islamist militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir blamed the United States for increasing his jail term, two days after Indonesia's top court reinstated his 15-year sentence for terrorism.

Bashir is regarded as a spiritual leader of militant Islam in Indonesia -- the world's most populous Muslim country -- and is an outspoken supporter of Al-Qaeda-style jihad, but he has always denied being a terrorist.

Appearing in public to undergo his second cataract surgery at an eye hospital in Jakarta, the 73-year-old defiantly called on his followers to fight the US "until it is destroyed".

"America is the enemy of Islam so, the verdict must be America's order," he told reporters, as he was escorted into a police vehicle by armed paramilitary and anti-terror police.

"We must continue to fight America until it is destroyed."

A lower court last June sentenced him to 15 years in jail for deliberately inciting terrorism and funding a terror cell in Aceh province which was allegedly planning deadly attacks on Westerners and politicians.

Upon appeal the High Court slashed it to nine, citing lack of evidence and old age but the country's Supreme Court on Monday reinstated the 15-year sentence.

Read it all

Islamophobia in action at the BBC; head honcho says Islam is not fair game to mock but Christianity is

The reason?  Exactly what you think it is; Muslims will kill you when you poke fun at them, no other religious followers will.  That is a clear admittance that Islam is not the religion of peace it is claimed to be.  How dare the BBC say that Islam is not peaceful and tolerant; what are they, a bunch of Islamophobes?

This dhimmi attitude makes me Islamonauseaous.


From The Christian Institute Feb 29

We’ll mock Jesus but not Mohammed, says BBC boss

The head of the BBC, Mark Thompson, has admitted that the broadcaster would never mock Mohammed like it mocks Jesus.

He justified the astonishing admission of religious bias by suggesting that mocking Mohammed might have the “emotional force” of “grotesque child pornography”.

So now, the making fun of something Islamic is the same as producing child porno.  A disgusting comparison, and an unfair one that muddies the ability to understand the ethos involved.  

But Jesus is fair game because, he said, Christianity has broad shoulders and fewer ties to ethnicity.

Bias

Mr Thompson says the BBC would never have broadcast Jerry Springer The Opera – a controversial musical that mocked Jesus – if its target had been Mohammed.

He made the remarks in an interview for a research project at the University of Oxford.

Mr Thompson said: “The point is that for a Muslim, a depiction, particularly a comic or demeaning depiction, of the Prophet Mohammed might have the emotional force of a piece of grotesque child pornography.”

Insults

A BBC spokesman was unavailable for comment.

Last year former BBC news anchor Peter Sissons said Christians are “fair game” for insults at the corporation, whilst Muslims must not be offended.

Mr Sissons, whose memoirs were serialised in the Daily Mail, said: “Islam must not be offended at any price, although Christians are fair game because they do nothing about it if they are offended.”

The former presenter also said that staff damage their careers if they don’t follow the BBC’s mindset.

"The Americans disrespected our religion, our holy Koran. This evil act is unforgivable and Jihad is a must for every Muslim right now...Anybody who ignores Jihad is not a Muslim...

He said it, but I'm the Islamophobe for pointing it out.


From Reuters/Yahoo March 4 by Michael Georgy

For some Afghans, suicide bombs best answer to Koran burnings

KABUL (Reuters) - Matihullah, 24, had always dreamed of becoming a lawyer. Then news spread that Western soldiers had burned many copies of the Muslim holy book at a NATO base inAfghanistan.

He gave up his studies and embarked on a new mission in life -- to become a suicide homicide bomber.

"Since the desecration and burnings of holy books of the Koran, I have been burning with the desire of revenge. It is running in my blood," said Matihullah, wearing the traditional white skull cap worn by many Afghans.

"I have two other brothers to take care of our family and I feel very proud to get my revenge."

The desecration of the Korans, which the United described as unintentional, triggered widespread protests in which 30 people were killed. Afghan security forces turned their weapons on American soldiers.

Two senior U.S. officers were shot dead at their desks in the heart of the Interior Ministry by what Afghan security officials said was a police intelligence officer, stunning NATO and the Kabul government.

The incident also raised the possibility that Afghanistan could see more suicide bombings -- one of the Taliban's most effective weapons -- by those who have concluded that is the only way justice can be served.

"I couldn't do any harm to the Americans by protesting and throwing stones," said Matihullah. "I want to put on the suicide vest and blow them apart."

Suicide bombings have become more widespread across the country in recent months, with assailants taking to innovative tactics such as concealing bombs in turbans and using children.

U.S. President Barack Obama apologized for the burnings of the Koran at Bagram air base. But the anger has not subsided.

U.S. officials have said that the Korans were confiscated from prisoners on the base and mistakenly discarded in an incinerator. Afghan laborers found charred remains.

Western insensitivity to Afghanistan's culture and religion may undermine U.S.-led efforts to stabilize one of the world's most turbulent countries before foreign combat troops withdraw at the end of 2014.

No, it is not our responsibility to understand and condone, because of multiculturalism and tolerance, a religion and society which enshrines death over the sanctity of life.  It is the responsibility of Muslims to temper their anger with a sense of self based in an inner respect for themselves as part of the greater human culture, rather than a exclusive club of which those on the outside are seen as targets.  

Read it all  

Pastor Terry Jones threatens to burn a Qur'an in protest of the imminent execution of Iranian Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani

If you thought Muslims couldn't get any angrier over their poor, abused Qur'an, wait until they get a whiff of Pastor Jones and his threat to take a match to their Holy Book.  Last year, Pastor Jones created a firestorm when he threatened to burn a Qur'an, even as he decided not to set one on fire.  Now if he does ignite one this time, watch for the hate to explode across the Muslim world, and watch for Obama to demand an apology from Pastor Jones.

Jones may be an idiot for burning any book, but his freedom to do so must be upheld.  Free speech rules are for speech we disagree with, not speech we all agree with.


From Maghreb Christians Feb 28

Terry Jones to Protest Youcef Nadarkhani’s Execution by Burning Qurans

The organization Stand Up America Now, led and founded by Dr. Terry Jones, revealed on Feb. 22 that it will burn Qurans and images of the prophet Muhammad in protest of the Islamic religion, should Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani be executed for his Christian faith.

The American Center for Law and Justice announced on Tuesday, Feb 21 that the Iranian courts may have issued an execution order for Nadarkhani. Nadarkhani, who has been a pastor at a number of house churches in Iran for the past 10 years, has been imprisoned since October 2009, originally for protesting, but those changes were later controversially changed to apostasy and attempting to evangelize Muslims.

According to the Stand Up America Now website, the organization focuses on many social issues, with a special emphasis on standing up for Christian minorities persecuted in Islamic dominated countries.

On Feb. 23, 2012, Stand Up America Now, based in Gainesville, Fla., protested Islamic Awareness Month at the University of Florida, also located in Gainesville.

The organization’s president and founder, Dr. Terry Jones, describes the planned burning of the Quran as a form of protest which would “obviously get Islam’s attention,” saying that Christians “cannot just stand by and do nothing.”

“We have very little that we can do as a Christian community to protest the inhumane activities of Islam,” Jones told The Christian Post.

“It’s a type of protest to let the government know we are totally disgusted with their type of Shariah, with their activities. In fact, with the activities of Islam over the past 1,400 years,” he added.

Jones, who is also the pastor of Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, has previously sparked controversy over the Quran. In July 2010, Jones threatened to burn 200 Qurans on the 2010 anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centers in New York City, New York. He deemed this controversial event “International Burn a Koran [sic] Day.”

Although he did not end up burning the Qurans, his threat sparked international controversy, causing riots in the Middle East and Asia.

Jones sparked controversy a second time when he held the “trial of the Quran” on March 20, 2011 at his Gainesville Church. Jones burnt a Quran while inside his Church, sparking massive riots in the Northern Afghanistan city of Mazar-i-Shairf. Protesters attacked the United Nations Assistance Mission, killing ten U.N. officials, according to ABC News.

Read it all

"We call the dogs who lose Americans. We are furious about the Korans...We want the Afghan government to bring the people who did this to us. We will kill them ourselves"

Venting their irrational rage with the brutal spectacle of a dogfight.  Islam is a sick ideology, and as usual the victims are innocent.

Disgusting.


From Reuters March 2 by Michael Georgy

Anti-U.S. emotions run high at Afghan dogfighting ring

Barbarians in the snow                         Credit: Reuters/Omar Sobhani

(Reuters) - Protests over the burning of Korans at a NATO base may have faded but some Afghans are still venting their rage over the incident -- at a bloody Kabul dogfighting ring.

If emotions here are any indication, desecration of copies of the Muslim holy book did lasting damage to the image of the United States, which is struggling to pacify the country before NATO combat troops leave at the end of 2014.

"We call the dogs who lose Americans. We are furious about the Korans," said Mirwais Haji, 28, as a defeated canine limped off the snow-covered dirt ring on the edge of the capital.

"We want the Afghan government to bring the people who did this to us. We will kill them ourselves."

The burning of the Korans last month triggered widespread protests and a string of fatal attacks by Afghan security forces on NATO soldiers.

The killing of two U.S. officers by an Afghan policeman in the Interior Ministry stunned NATO and cast doubt on its strategy of replacing large combat units with advisers as the alliance tries to wind down the war, now in its eleventh year.

An apology by U.S. President Barack Obama has failed to ease the anger over an incident that has hurt a U.S. campaign to win hearts and minds to gain an edge over the Taliban and force them to negotiate peace.

The Koran burning incident underscored how U.S.-led NATO troops still fail to grasp Afghanistan's religious and cultural sensitivities despite their long presence in the country.

That insensitivity could have far-reaching consequences for U.S. policy.

A understatement of epic proportions.

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