(warning: some graphic images)

Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him.

Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid; And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.

Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.

And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!

But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.

And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews. Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.

Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. And again another scripture saith, they shall look on him whom they pierced.

Hat Tip: John. more...

Posted by: Howie at 07:42 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 885 words, total size 9 kb.

Our "friends" the Saudis. Go see the translation and commentary provided by Steve Decatur at Islam Threat. But also watch the video. Yeah, I know it's in Arabic, but the stunning visual of literally hundreds of robed Suadi men--some of them Royals--ecstatically cheering a poet threatening our annhialation speaks volumes. You'll also notice that this is on MBC -- a Saudi owned, UAE headquartered satellite TV station. Perhaps the most popular pan-Arab network in the world. more...

Posted by: Rusty at 12:15 PM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
Post contains 83 words, total size 1 kb.

Remember in Pakistan and under Sharia law, a Muslims testimony carries more weight than the testimony of a Dhimmi or an Infidel. Thus Muslims can make false charges against Christians with little of no evidence.

Asia News:Police in Toba Tek Singh, Pakistan, opened an investigation into blasphemy claims against five local Christians, including an 11-year-old boy. Local activists and priests say the case has been fabricated and Christian families in the area barricaded themselves in their homes during Holy Week celebrations.

The group of five is accused of disrespecting Mohammad and of having desecrated pieces of paper bearing the prophet's name...

...Fr. Mendes explained that the root of the problem is a quarrel between families. He claimed that local Muslims were offended by the behavior of the five Christians during a procession, agreed to report them, then attacked them during a march. The five ran away but Ratan Masih, who is disabled, did not succeed in fleeing and was brutally beaten. He remains in the hospital.

After Salamat Masih's arrest, local Christians began a campaign asking the authorities to intervene. They explained there have been substantial procedural errors made during the course of investigations including that the police have not investigated the accusations made against the Christians and that they simply arrested them on the hearsay of the Muslim's claims.

Posted by: Howie at 11:46 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 260 words, total size 2 kb.

In this article Tawfik Hamid sneds a wake up call to western liberals.

Tawfik Hamid via WSJ: …there is much that is clearly wrong with the Islamic world. Women are stoned to death and undergo clitorectomies. Gays hang from the gallows under the approving eyes of the proponents of Shariah, the legal code of Islam. Sunni and Shia massacre each other daily in Iraq. Palestinian mothers teach 3-year-old boys and girls the ideal of martyrdom. One would expect the orthodox Islamic establishment to evade or dismiss these complaints, but less happily, the non-Muslim priests of enlightenment in the West have come, actively and passively, to the Islamists’ defense.

These “progressives” frequently cite the need to examine “root causes.” In this they are correct: Terrorism is only the manifestation of a disease and not the disease itself. But the root-causes are quite different from what they think. As a former member of Jemaah Islamiya, a group led by al Qaeda’s second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, I know firsthand that the inhumane teaching in Islamist ideology can transform a young, benevolent mind into that of a terrorist. Without confronting the ideological roots of radical Islam it will be impossible to combat it. While there are many ideological “rootlets” of Islamism, the main tap root has a name—Salafism, or Salafi Islam, a violent, ultra-conservative version of the religion.

It is vital to grasp that traditional and even mainstream Islamic teaching accepts and promotes violence. Shariah, for example, allows apostates to be killed, permits beating women to discipline them, seeks to subjugate non-Muslims to Islam as dhimmis and justifies declaring war to do so. It exhorts good Muslims to exterminate the Jews before the “end of days.” The near deafening silence of the Muslim majority against these barbaric practices is evidence enough that there is something fundamentally wrong….

…Worst of all, perhaps, is the anti-Americanism among many Westerners. It is a resentment so strong, so deep-seated, so rooted in personal identity, that it has led many, consciously or unconsciously, to morally support America’s enemies.

Progressives need to realize that radical Islam is based on an antiliberal system. They need to awaken to the inhumane policies and practices of Islamists around the world. They need to realize that Islamism spells the death of liberal values.

Hat Tip: Jeff at Protein Wisdom.

Posted by: Howie at 06:44 PM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
Post contains 474 words, total size 3 kb.

Posted by: Howie at 03:21 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 20 words, total size 1 kb.

Just when you thought al-Qaeda had stooped to the lowest point possible.

Via MNF: CAMP TAJI, Iraq — While on a routine patrol, Iraqi police officers discovered the body of an 11-year-old boy April 2 in Sab Al Bor, Iraq.

The IPs found the body, a suspected murder victim, on Sudani Street. The child’s throat had been slit.

Troop B, 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment Soldiers received the initial report from the Iraqi police and assisted in gathering information. A police report of the incident indicated that a local Al Qaeda cell is suspected in the murder which was “perpetrated to instill fear in the villagers of Sab Al Bor.”

Iraqi security forces have launched an investigation to find those responsible for the murder.

Well, how safe does it feel when, if you have the slightest disagreement with al-Qaeda, they chop your kid's head off? How safe does it feel when al-Qeada commits mass murder in an attempt to incite violence and murder against the Sunnis by the Shia?

If that is the type of "protection" they provide, I bet most Iraqi's would rather do without.

Posted by: Howie at 12:53 PM | Comments (19) | Add Comment
Post contains 208 words, total size 1 kb.

Our friends, the Saudis.

King Abdullah: “In the beloved Iraq, the bloodshed is continuing under an illegal foreign occupation and detestable sectarianism.”

Posted by: Rusty at 01:44 PM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
Post contains 27 words, total size 1 kb.

On Saturday Rusty reported some difficulty we are having with Google Video rejecting our videos. I had uploaded the video because I wanted to report on the break-down of support for al-Qaeda and their front group, the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI). In the video that was rejected, al-Libi begs for unity and acceptance of the ISI’s leadership by Sunni jihadis.

The ISI is a group founded by al-Qaeda’s dead emir, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, as a way to unite the various Salafi jihad groups under one leadership(al-Qaeda's). Although the ISI often states it is 'not al-Qaeda', the leader of ISI has pronounced that its goals and al-Qeada’s are the same: an Islamic Caliphate extending from Asia to Spain.

We had hoped the reason our videos were rejected was because Google was finally cracking down on jihadist propaganda on Google Video, Youtube, and blogspot. I even went so far as to check the Islamic Army in Iraq propaganda outlets at juba-online.blogspot.com and juba-thebaghdadsniper.blogspot.com to see if they were still online..... and yes, they were.

As it turns out Google actually thought it was protecting the al Qaeda owned and operated as-Sahab Media's copyright. Here is the letter I received from "The Google Video Team" answering my qeustion as to why the al Qaeda propaganda video was rejected:

Hi, Thanks for your email. Please note your videos were rejected for copyright reasons. Copyright law and the Google Video Terms of Service prohibit distributing copyrighted works, unless you have the legal right to do so. If you're unsure whether you have the right to use any of the content you wish to submit to Google Video, including any music in the video, please do not upload it to our program.

I’ve pointed that out to Google and asked for a specific reason they rejected the video. No reply yet.

Anyway, as-Sahab has released another video from al-Liby in which he scolds the Jihadis in Somalia for losing the faith in Jihad after their defeat this winter.

He also admits that al-Qaeda is powerless to retake Somalia calling the resistance, “The few and the weak.” And he also accuses them of being impotent. Sounds like a personal problem to me.

Fight a guerilla war, for it is the most durable of battles and the least in losses, most crushing and most appropriate for the weak and the few.

So rejoice, O guardians of Tawheed, and be hopeful, and shed the feelings of despair, blow away the clouds of despondency and repel the illnesses of impotence.

The part I find the most interesting is that al-Libi appears to have taken al-Zawahiri’s role as the primary spokesman for al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This may be because Zawahiri’s last few messages have had little effect. If so, then al-Libi's speeches are a failure as well as they have not been widely reported outside of Islamist circles.

The funniest part is that al-Libi sings in the video. Several times he sings verses from the Koran. He sings them terribly, at best. Do I detect a castrato?

I have some related links and the complete text of the message below with some frame grabs. I’ll try and upload the video as well so you can hear the idiot sing. It will probably be rejected, but it’s worth a shot.

As this is al-Liby's second message in less than a week, Rusty now calls him al-Qaeda’s new media whore, "who puts Paris Hilton to shame", so I’ll be accepting suggestion for a funny new nickname for him in comments.

UPDATE by Rusty: I am suddenly reminded of House Resolution 224, sponsored by Congressman Bill Shuster, which is a first attempt at discouraging the use of american corporations and servers in the dissemination of jihadi propaganda. It might be worthwhile to e-mail your House Representative and voice your support for the bill.

Update II: Google replied, same answer. Video added, below the fold, hurry it may not last long.

Update III: Allahpundit has more at Hot Air on al-Qaeda and it's sympathizers knocking off important members of 1920's Revolution Brigades.

What we have here, in all likelihood, is the terrorism equivalent of one mafia family whacking the leader of another for cooperating with the police.

Posted by: Howie at 03:07 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 5002 words, total size 31 kb.

Sam Adam was at a pro-democracy demonstration last night when the Egyptian SS turned out in force and began arresting people. His main concern seems to be that no one is covering the story. The sad thing? The largest pro-democracy faction in Egypt seems to be the Islamist Egyptian Brotherhood--the al Qaeda fellow travellers. Needless to say, Sam Adam and most of the Egyptian bloggers are not in that camp.

Read the whole story, but here is what moved me. Sandmonkey:

Maybe the government is right: Maybe we don't deserve Democracy. Maybe we don't deserve our rights. Maybe we deserve everything that happens to us. We, as people, seem to lack the sense of self-respect and dignity that makes the human being demand his/her right, so how do we expect the government to respect us or give us those rights? We clearly don't deserve them. We clearly deserve to have our rights stolen, our friends imprisoned, and our women assaulted. Cause, otherwise, how would you explain how accepting we are of those things?

Maybe we don't deserve any better.

Posted by: Rusty at 08:09 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 193 words, total size 1 kb.

Meet the new tool of Sunni "insurgents" in Iraq--the Down Syndrome bomb! Anyway, for my money, the realretards dee-dee-dees are the ones running al Qaeda in Iraq, the Army of Ansar al Sunna, Jaish al Mujahidin, and the 1920s Revolutionary Brigades. The biggest retard dee-dee-dee of them all being Abu Omar al-Baghdadi.

"Isn't that a little politically incorrect to use retards dee-dee-dees, kids, and puppies to blow up the apostates, the Zionist crusaders, and the infidels?" you ask.

Yeah, maybe, but hell, no one's gonna tell al Qaeda in Iraq who they can and can't work with.

Those goofy bastards are about the best thing they've got going.

Washington Times:

Al Qaeda in Iraq is using kidnapped children to pick up weapons dropped in battle zones, get past checkpoints and die in car bombs, according to U.S. officials and Iraqis in Baghdad.

"Men traveling with children in the back of their cars rarely get searched because they look like a family," said Hassan, a middle-aged Shi'ite living in one of the capital's older mixed neighborhoods.

"Then they leave the car and blow it up by remote control with the children in it," he said. Hassan, who did not want his full name used out of fear of retaliation, said at one point last year children with Down syndrome had been used to carry bombs.

As usual, Allah scoops us on this and has more commentary about the baby killers in the Sunni insurgency.

UPDATE: Every time I use the word 'retard' I offend somebody. Here's a hint: Sometimes 'Rusty' is Eric Cartman, and sometimes he's Kyle. Today is an Eric Cartman day.

But anyway, since many of you readers seem to have some sand in your vaginas, I've went ahead and edited the post to be 70% more politically correct.

Bonus audio: Timmy and the Lord's of the Underworld!

Posted by: Rusty at 07:52 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 345 words, total size 3 kb.

Help me I'm being oppressed alert! If it wasn't for the fact that Palestinian Authority controlled land was so thoroughly ethnically cleansed and is now completely Jew-free, then I might just blame this on the Zionist oppressors.

Not that I'm against Arabs living in mansions--I'm all for anybody living in as large a house as they can afford, restricted only by their conscience--but I do think this is a glaring example of both the media and Palestinian agitator hypocrisy. When was the last time you saw any images of Palestinians which weren't of "refugee camps" or of kids being "oppressed by Israel"? The only thing more satisfying would be to learn that these mansions had Hamas officials living in them since one of their major sources of support seems to have been from the destitute masses which perceived Fatah officials as systematcally corrupt. Heh, even Hamas gets things correct from time to time.

Shiloh Musings has more pics here and here. Thanks to Dust My Broom for the tip.

UPDATE: More pics of Palestinians being "oppressed".

Posted by: Rusty at 08:55 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 178 words, total size 1 kb.

Thanks to Ronny Gordon for the editorial cartoon. No matter how expensive the suit, the terrorist lies just beneath the surface.

Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz on P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas (aka, Abu Mazen) at ynet:

The president of the Palestinian Authority is the person we should talk to for peace. I call upon Abu Mazen (Abbas): Fulfill your commitment and release Gilad Shalit. That would provide the required breakthrough for the political process.

"We will not compromise on the war against terrorism. Those who refuse to recognize the State of Israel reject the possibility for peace," he stated.

Posted by: Rusty at 02:06 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 104 words, total size 1 kb.

Via Centcom:

SOUTHWEST ASIA — Recent news reports stated that the Islamic State of Iraq terrorist organization is releasing a video on Maj. Troy Gilbert’s death.

Major Gilbert was killed Nov. 27, 2006, when his F-16C crashed while he was supporting Coalition ground combat operations approximately 20 miles northwest of Baghdad.

He was positively identified and classified as killed in action through DNA analysis by the Armed Forces Medical Examiner. The identification was made from human remains recovered from the crash site. His body was removed from the crash site by anti-Coalition personnel before U.S. forces could arrive to secure the area.

“We are aware of the attempts by anti-Coalition forces to exploit Major Gilbert’s death. It is appalling and cowardly that they did not treat his remains with the respect deserved of an honorable warrior,” said Lt. Gen. Gary North, commander, United States Central Command Air Forces.

Major Gilbert was assigned to the 309th Fighter Squadron at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., and was deployed to the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing at Balad Air Base, Iraq, at the time of his death.

We were worried that when Troy's body was taken that the enemy would use it for propaganda purposes. This sounds similar to previous videos that the terrorist have released of american soldier's bodies being abused and descrated. This is a war crime under the Geneva Convention and the terrorists should be held to account.

We pray that Troy's remains are recovered and those who disrespected his remains are brought to justice. more...

Posted by: Howie at 10:10 AM | Comments (41) | Add Comment
Post contains 313 words, total size 3 kb.

This video at Memri will leave you speechless. At least it did me. It's an interview with two kidergarteners about how mama blew herself up to kill the jooos.

Jesus wept.

Via Allahpundit.

Posted by: Howie at 01:29 PM | Comments (31) | Add Comment
Post contains 39 words, total size 1 kb.

I only have one question about this story at the NYT. WTF is that funny white line on the right side of the floating man in the pic?

A Palestinian youth threw stones at Israeli soldiers in Ramallah, West Bank, last week. Parents fear that the atmosphere of despair has destroyed their children's sense of hope.

Posted by: Howie at 02:31 PM | Comments (23) | Add Comment
Post contains 85 words, total size 1 kb.

Un. Effing. Believable.

Via IHT: CHICAGO: A federal judge in Illinois on Thursday approved a request for a trip to Disney World by a man who the government had once accused of aiding Palestinian militants, brushing aside prosecutors' claims that he may instead flee.

"I'm confident that he will come back," U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve said in giving former Chicago grocer Muhammad Salah permission to make the trip to the Florida vacation spot....

..."I get to take it off," a smiling Salah told reporters after court, pointing to a bulge under his left sock where the government has placed an electronic monitoring bracelet to make sure he stays under house arrest.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph M. Ferguson opposed allowing Salah to take off the monitoring bracelet or make the trip.

"His word has been found worthless by a jury," Ferguson said.

Posted by: Howie at 11:18 AM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
Post contains 151 words, total size 1 kb.

Via their website boston.com

Brad Delp, the lead singer for the band Boston, was found dead Friday in his home in southern New Hampshire. He was 55. Atkinson police responded to a call for help at 1:20 p.m. and found Delp dead

Posted by: Howie at 06:43 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 44 words, total size 1 kb.

According to Zee News:

New Delhi, March 07: Two top nuclear scientists of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) are currently in Taliban custody. The two were working at PAEC’s facility in North West Frontier Province. Zee News investigations reveal that the two scientists were kidnapped about six months ago. To avoid international embarrassment Pakistan Government has kept this information under wraps.

According to information available with Zee News, nuclear scientists have been kidnapped by Taliban at the behest of Al-Qaeda. Further investigations reveal that Al-Qaeda may be using the expertise of the scientists to produce nuclear bombs. The two scientists are reportedly being held somewhere in Waziristan, near Afghanistan border...

... In January this year Pakistan security agencies had foiled another attempt by Taliban militia to kidnap nuclear scientists. Earlier, incidents of Taliban militia stealing uranium in NWFP have already been reported. PAEC also has a uranium mining facility in NWFP.

Posted by: Howie at 10:06 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 164 words, total size 1 kb.

Phyllis Chesler Via Times of London:

Once I was held captive in Kabul. I was the bride of a charming, seductive and Westernised Afghan Muslim whom I met at an American college. The purdah I experienced was relatively posh but the sequestered all-female life was not my cup of chai — nor was the male hostility to veiled, partly veiled and unveiled women in public.

When we landed in Kabul, an airport official smoothly confiscated my US passport. “Don’t worry, it’s just a formality,” my husband assured me. I never saw that passport again. I later learnt that this was routinely done to foreign wives — perhaps to make it impossible for them to leave. Overnight, my husband became a stranger.

Long before the rise of the Taleban, I learnt not to romanticise Third World countries or to confuse their hideous tyrants with liberators. I also learnt that sexual and religious apartheid in Muslim countries is indigenous and not the result of Western crimes — and that such “colourful tribal customs” are absolutely, not relatively, evil…

….Nevertheless, Western intellectual-ideologues, including feminists, have demonised me as a reactionary and racist “Islamophobe” for arguing that Islam, not Israel, is the largest practitioner of both sexual and religious apartheid in the world and that if Westerners do not stand up to this apartheid, morally, economically and militarily, we will not only have the blood of innocents on our hands; we will also be overrun by Sharia in the West.

More here from Dr. Sanity.

Posted by: Howie at 01:56 PM | Comments (32) | Add Comment
Post contains 309 words, total size 2 kb.

The link to this Google Video was left in comments. It's from the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines, 2nd Marine Division.

Hat Tip: Ruben. more...

Posted by: Howie at 11:30 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 75 words, total size 1 kb.

There is a reason the Taliban likes burqas. When they are running in fear from real soldiers, they like the way it feels silky against their bodies.

Reuters: KABUL- Afghan soldiers have captured a Taliban leader who tried to flee a security operation in the south dressed in a burqa, NATO said on Wednesday.

Tuesday's capture in Kandahar province came as NATO launched a major offensive in neighboring Helmand to secure a key hydroelectric dam and combat the opium trade.

The man was named as Mullah Mahmood and described as an expert bomb-maker. U.S.-led coalition forces also detained five more suspected militants in eastern Khost this week.

Posted by: Howie at 10:28 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
Post contains 141 words, total size 1 kb.

If they ever get bin Laden, and he really is in Pakistan, don't worry: that will be some mighty fine crow, well worth the eating.

Bin Laden Hunt Heating Up more...

Posted by: Rusty at 11:46 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 87 words, total size 1 kb.

You can run, you can even try to hide. But we'll get ya.

Posted by: Howie at 11:27 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 20 words, total size 1 kb.

David Hicks is charged with providing material support for terrorism.

ABCNEWS: WASHINGTON Mar 1, 2007 (AP)— The Bush administration has filed charges against David Hicks, an Australian citizen suspected of aiding the Taliban in Afghanistan and the first terrorism-war era detainee to be charged by the Pentagon under new rules for military commissions.

The decision was made even though officials of Australia already had asked the United States not to bring such charges. Australia has been a steadfast ally to the Bush administration in its war on terrorism.

Hicks is a former kangaroo skinner captured in Afghanistan in December 2001. He has been held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for more than five years without trial.

According to government officials and documents, the Defense Department will announce that Hicks is being charged with "providing material support for terrorism."...

...According to a Pentagon official, who asked not to be identified because the announcement had not been made, the military is expected to file charges soon against another nine detainees.

Once formal charges are filed, a timetable requires preliminary hearings within 30 days and the start of a jury trial within 120 days at Guantanamo Bay, where nearly 400 men are held on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.

David Hicks’ Wiki entry here. I was struck by the claims of abuse. Remember rule #1 of the al-Qaeda/Taliban playbook is to claim abuse even if it did not happen. Real cases of abuse should be punished, but accusations of abuse are part of the enemy’s strategy so they must be investigated carefully.

Remember what the Taliban does to people they consider enemy’s of Islam. No trial, no holding them, just murder.

See here and here and here and here too. Another graphic reminder below the fold. more...

Posted by: Howie at 01:29 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 715 words, total size 5 kb.

Yes there is quite the buzz about Hamas’ meeting in Russia. The MSM is reporing it was all sunshine and lollipops. Not so visible is the threats and open attempt to extort money from the US.

IOL: Moscow - Hamas politburo leader Khaled Mashaal called Tuesday for "fundamental change" in the Quartet of Mideast peace brokers and warned of "open battle" with Israel and Islamic hatred toward the United States unless Washington resumes aid funding.

"The Arab and Islamic world need a fundamental change in the politics of the Quartet," Mashaal said of the group of Russia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations, in remarks made during a Moscow visit and quoted by Interfax.

IHT: Mash'al, currently in Moscow where he has held talks with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, told reporters he also planned to visit Tehran as part of his international tour.

Posted by: Howie at 02:33 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 154 words, total size 1 kb.