The Times, they are a changin‘.

The ABC News video talking of the first plane hitting the WTC while the second plane flew in was the view that I watched almost five years ago. As I have written before, I was just about to turn off the television and head into work when the second plane crashed.

While the video developed by Bryan Preston centers around how the New York Times has drastically changed in the course of 15 years with respects to how it reports on radical Islam and radical Islamic terrorism, that one small clip brings back a flood of memories because it reminds me first-hand where I was and all of the uncertainty I felt on that very day.

On the issue of the changing philosophy of the New York Times, Marc Schulman has also written a three-part series on Times editorials and how the newspaper has changed drastically throughout the course of just one decade. If you haven’t read Marc’s series, I encourage all to do so because it is quite shocking how a newspaper has stopped on a dime and changed directions; that dime, apparently, was the 2004 election.

Iran continued its game of about faces with regards to negotiations over the nation’s nuclear program today, this time with a senior cleric calling during Friday prayers that Iran will never negotiate with the United States with respect to the nuclear program.

And today, Mr. Khatami went further, declaring that “with regards to our nuclear case, we have nothing to do with the U.S. and principally, our officials will have no talks with the U.S.,” according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.

“Who is the U.S., that pokes its nose into Iran’s nuclear affairs?” he asked. “Should anybody that has power and bullies get to be present on all scenes?”

“If Europeans really intend to solve the issue, they should recognize our absolute rights,” he said. “Then, one can sit down at the table to negotiate the executive methods, the international treaties as well as controls and supervision.”

The New York Times though gets it very wrong in claiming Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reached out to President Bush to open up dialogue between the two nations.  This reach was the letter Ahmadinejad wrote to Bush that called for Bush to convert to Islam and then all would be well.  But hey, read the full letter for yourself.  Don’t just take Ahmadinejad’s own words that the letter was only an invitation to Islam.

The truth of the matter is that one day Iran claims they want negotiations.  The EU-3, Russia or the United States makes an offer and the next week Iran says they are calling of negotiations.  A couple months pass by and Iran calls for more negotiations.  Proposals are submitted and Iran calls them off.  Rinse, repeat, lather.  Iran has no intention of ever negotiating over their nuclear program and all analysis claiming otherwise is not grounded in reality.

The visit of President Bush and Japan Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to Graceland has become rather humorous after Koizumi sang ‘Love me Tender’ for the cameras.  Koizumi is an Elvis fan and reportedly had always wanted to visit Graceland.  Now he has.

On a bit of a side note, I seem to be good at those, I went to college at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX which is the home of Buddy Holly.  The city of Lubbock built a Buddy Holly Center and a Buddy Holly statue to commemorate the man who is arguably the city’s most famous past resident.  Holly even outshines Natalie Maines, though that’s hardly shocking considering Holly was rock and roll and Maines, at least at this stage in her career, isn’t near any hall of fame centers.

One of my good friends worked for the City of Lubbock and he told me something that I thought was just shocking.  Out of everyone who traveled to Lubbock to visit the Buddy Holly Center, where do you think the majority came from?  According to my friend, most visitors were from Eastern Europe.  Apparently Buddy Holly had, and may still have, quite a bit of fanfare in Eastern European countries such as Ukraine and Romania.

Why is it then that two of this nation’s greatest musicians are followed more outside of the United States than from within?  Or are they?

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Nearly a week after Ayman al-Zawahiri eulogized Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Osama bin Laden turned out a video/audio tape calling Zarqawi “the prince of martyrs,” a “great knight,” “lion of jihad” and a “lion in Islam.” From the reports I have read, it was basic fanfare with tested Al Qaida-linked symbols and statements throughout the tape.

What makes this video/audio tape different is that there was one single still photograph of OBL and revolving pictures of Zarqawi, many taken from Zarqawi’s one and only video that ended up revealing his general location. OBL hasn’t appeared fully in a video since 2004 (timeline HERE).

The more sensational aspects of the video come with OBL trying to secure the body of Zarqawi, or at least those are the parts many media organizations are reporting upon.

“I say to Bush, you should deliver the body to his family, and don’t be too happy. Our flag hasn’t fallen. Thanks to God, it has passed from one lion to another lion in Islam,” bin Laden says.

“You have prevented Abu Musab from entering his homeland alive. Don’t stand in his way now.” (source)

It is Islamic law or culture to bury a Muslim within 24 hours of one’s death. That time, obviously, has passed. But OBL doesn’t want Zarqawi’s body to be returned to the Zarqawi family for that reason. He believes the funeral procession will be a show.

“What scares you about Abu Musab after he’s dead?” Mr. bin Laden said, addressing Abdullah. “You know that his funeral, if allowed to happen, would be a huge funeral showing the extent of sympathy with the mujahedeen.” (source)

There is no reason why the funeral of Zarqawi would not draw at minimum a fair number of supporters and would be seen by many as a hero’s funeral. The Jordanian government probably has asked the Bush Administration not to release the body out of security and public relations concerns. Images of a large funeral from Jordan would do much to harm the world’s opinion of Jordan.

Other excerpts from the tape suggest OBL is continuing his previous strategy that he believes worked with the downfall of the Soviet Union. It was the Afghan-Soviet War that OBL has drawn much of his inspiration from even though the role he played in the actual fighting was very minimum.

“We will continue, God willing, to fight you and your allies everywhere,” he said, “in Iraq and Afghanistan and in Somalia and Sudan until we waste all your money and kill your men.” (source)

In many ways Zarqawi trumped the value of OBL in the greater jihad and this video can and I feel should be seen as OBL trying to gain publicity off of the life of Zarqawi. Whether or not that works in his favor won’t be known for some time.

UPDATE: Just as I figured, Jordan refused to receive Zarqawi’s body.

In an e-mail, Mowaffak al Rubaie, Iraq’s national security advisor, said: “Zarqawi’s remains were buried in an unmarked location at an unspecified place in Iraq. The Jordanian government refused to take his body back to Jordan.”

Why wasn’t it just cremated?

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The newest tape by Osama bin Laden is out and available now. In the high-quality 19 minute production, bin Laden praises Zarqawi while at the same time distances himself from Zarqawi’s killing of innocent Iraqis. Osama uses flowery words and poetic verse for Zarqawi but blames American President George W. Bush for the attack on Zarqawi. Jordan’s King Abdullah is also reprimanded by bin Laden for not allowing Zarqawi a proper funeral in his hometown in Jordan. (via former Ambassador Ginsberg on Fox News Channel.)

The banner flashed the message, “Good News Soon,” followed by a picture of a smiling al-Zarqawi and the words, “A tribute to the martyr of the Islamic nation and prince of the martyrdom-seekers, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, God rest his soul, from Sheik Osama bin Laden, God preserve him.” The banner then flashes a picture of bin Laden. source

Bin Laden has issued 16 tapes since September 11, 2001, (list and description of each found here).

In the 19-minute, 32-second tape, the voice, which sounds like bin Laden, praises al Zarqawi highly, calls him “the Knight of Islam” and prays that he is accepted as a martyr.He says al Zarqawi provides a great example of how to rebel against tyrants, and he calls President Bush the “pharaoh of his time” and says he arrogantly invaded Iraq in spite of the objections of the world.

The statement is full of poetry, including a long one he recites at the end, which he says was written by someone called Sheikh Youssef Abu Helala.

The voice identified as bin Laden says that when the U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq, al Zarqawi and a group of 17 men agreed to fight, even though they only had a small number of Kalashnikovs, mines and bazookas. He recalls that al Zarqawi had fought against the Russians in Afghanistan and says he was therefore not afraid of the idea of fighting a major power.

He also defends al Zarqawi against those who claimed he killed innocent people, and he seems to try to justify attacks on Shiites in Iraq by saying that people who agree to fight on the side of “the crusaders” — the coalition troops — have to be fought regardless of their sect.

He says that Bush should give al Zarqawi’s body to his family and says “the flag has not fallen thanks be to God, but it has moved from a lion to a lion from the lion of Islam. We will continue — God willing — to fight you and your allies everywhere in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan until we deplete your resources, kill your men and (force you) to return defeated to your lands as we have defeated you before — God willing — in Somalia.” source

Originally posted at Right Truth 

The fighting between the Palestinians and Israelis has expanded into the internet battle field yesterday, with 700 Israeli web domains being hacked by worms and viruses planted by hackers sympathetic to the Palestinians. The group call themselves “Team-Evil” and claim to be based out of Morocco. They have been spreading their ‘evil’ since 2004.

A range of different Web sites were targeted by the group, including Web sites of banks, medical centers, car manufacturers and pension funds. Well-known companies and organizations, including Bank Hapoalim, the Rambam Medical Center, Bank Otsar Ha-Hayal, BMW Israel, Subaru Israel and Citr en Israel, real estate company Tarbut-Hadiur and the Jump fashion Web site all found their Web sites shut down and replaced by the message: “Hacked by Team-Evil Arab hackers u KILL palestin people we KILL Israel servers”.The group, Team-Evil, has hit Israeli targets before. In April, they took credit for hacking into the Web sites of the Israel Institute for Biological Research and McDonalds Israel. The group, which contains at least six members, claims to be based in Morocco and their signature began appearing in 2004 in attacks focusing on US government Web sites. Even in the anti-American attacks, the messages left by Team-Evil left an anti-Israel message.

Experts said that it was likely that the group gained the ability to hack the Web sites before the IDF’s incursion but was now using the event as an excuse to launch their attack. source

So we have a new battle front in war these days and the attacks are referred to as “hacktivism” and “cyberterrorism”, and “cyberwar”.

Some scholars have adopted the term “hacktivism” to describe the phenomenon and to differentiate it from “cyberterrorism,” in which terror groups or individuals use the Internet to carry out terror attacks such as disrupting power grids, shutting down phone service or taking control of an airplane. “Cyberterror” attacks are food for popular concern, but no successful cyberterror attacks have been documented.Instead, hackers’ tactics have focused on site defacements, system penetrations, disinformation campaigns and have threatened the possible use of Trojan horses. MORE

Originally posted at Right Truth

A new posting on a jihadi message board (”Good News Soon”) claims that Osama bin Laden will soon release a video praising the life of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. “A tribute to the martyr of the Islamic nation and prince of the martyrdom-seekers, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, God rest his soul, from Sheik Osama bin Laden, God preserve him,” reads in part the posting that is accompanied with flashing banners showing some of Al Qaida’s most wanted men.

Does this mean that OBL will show his ugly mug to the world while praising a man who declared war on Shia Muslims and all us disgusting Infidels and in the process murdered thousands? We can only hope we’ll see the face of OBL and his background, perferably with a map pinpointing his location. Be forewarned though, there have been previous postings promising an impending OBL video that just, well, never actually was made or released. It’s a way jihadis stir the pot, so to speak, and get other jihadis all hot and bothered.

As a bit of a side note, does anyone else find it laugh on the floor hilarious that while radical Islamists say materialism is a sin they participate in these unspoken contests to design the most annoying, flashy and cosmetically loud banner images to include in their message board postings? Is that not itself a form of materialism?  The person with the best graphics program would, at least in theory, have the best banner.

If that doesn’t make you laugh, the Hot Air Vent on Jihad rap should. There’s just something very funny about watching Michelle Malkin trying to pass a beat, uh, errrr, whatever the terminology is. Korn is about as close to rap as my music tastes go.

“He was such a nice boy and he never would be involved in terrorism.” We all know that’s the most common statement given after a terrorism suspect is arrested and accused of some heinous crime. It truly is, or could be, form quotes for newsrooms accross the globe to copy and paste each time an arrest occurs. What though happens when the very people that said such things have actually made calls for jihad themselves?

The wives of four of the Toronto 17 have written statements on the Internet supporting jihad in the past, one of whom even said that if her husband didn’t participate in jihad she would divorce him. Does he know that in Sharia Law he could slap her sideways and back and forth for making such a blasphemous statement? Stupid jihadis.

Other statements call for the death of homosexuals and, naturally, all Jews. It always goes back to the Jews with these jihadis. But what is perhaps more important is that the four women were found to have written numerous Internet postings, a reported 6,000, that called for all Muslims to implement Sharia Law. Yes, these are women who are calling for a legal system that would put their citizenship on the back burner just barely above the homosexuals and Jews they wish to kill. This is not exactly shocking, but it’s a stark reminder jihadis come in all sizes, sexes and degress of levels of intelligence.

More below the fold . . .

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Now I am no lawyer or legal expert, but I must confess the Supreme Court ruling neither shocks me nor concerns much at all. I have though gotten a kick out of some of the reporting of the case. A good example of a rather slanted coverage comes from the Washington Post.

“The Supreme Court today delivered a stunning rebuke to the Bush administration over its plans to try Guantanamo detainees before military commissions, ruling that the commissions violate U.S. law and the Geneva Conventions governing the treatment of war prisoners.”

Why is this a “stunning rebuke?” The Supreme Court, in essense, ruled there are no laws on the books that dictate how these detainees can be tried. Well, no kidding. That was part of the problem in the first place. The Court wrote in the majority opinion that Congress can, and in my mind should, draft laws on how to handle the detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. Again, no kidding.

That’s not exactly a rebuke as the vast majority of media outlets portray it as. Nothing, at present, will change. Guantanamo isn’t closing down nor are all the detainees being released. A new law will likely be written and new procedures will be executed. It just so happens that is what everyone wanted to happen with Guantanamo; get something done so we don’t have to pick up our local newspapers and read about how some lawyer for a detainee cries abuse (shocking that a lawyer would say something like that I know).

But what is clear about the ruling, and to be honest there isn’t much that is clear, is that even while the majority of the court ruled in favor of Hamdan, the five jurists couldn’t agree on any of the reasons why they backed Hamdan. The dissenters couldn’t agree on why they backed the govenrment. Justice Thomas wrote the majority opinion, and it is his opinion that will be widely reported upon, but other justices dissented from his opinion even though they sided with him on the majority opinion. So the ruling isn’t as clear cut as is being reported in several outlets and despite what some are saying, the court did not find that the Bush Administration broke U.S. law because there was no U.S. law on the books that addressed these specific people. That was, as they say, part of the entire problem.

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So often I am wrong and too often I hate admitting the error of my ways.  This post serves as a way to do that.

Commenter Jimmy the Dhimmi asked what happend to The Jawa Report.  I had been told the only issue with the site being down was that it was just switching servers.  Apparently that was partially wrong because the site also was taken down by Turkish hackers before switching servers.

Nonetheless, The Jawa Report is back up and operational and I must admit that I was wrong to say the site was just down because it was switching servers.

The so-called Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) has announced they murdered a kidnapped Israel hostage who was taken captive after the IDF started their search for the captive Israeli soldier.

The Popular Resistance Committees said early Thursday that it executed 18-year-old Eliyahu Asheri, an Israeli settler kidnapped earlier in the week in the West Bank.

The group, which has links to the ruling Hamas, had threatened to execute the Israeli if Israel did not halt its invasion of Gaza.

Earlier Wednesday, Israel’s fears came true Wednesday when a spokesman for the PRC in the Gaza Strip revealed an authentic copy of missing teenager Asheri’s identity card to the press, confirming claims that he had been kidnapped. n an effort to garner information about Asheri’s whereabouts, the police’s elite counterterrorist squad raided a home in Ramallah in the afternoon and arrested a fugitive. Publication of his identity was barred.

A spokesman for the group told Al-Jazeera that Asheri, 18, would be “butchered in front of TV cameras” if the IDF operation in Gaza did not stop. “Our patience is running out,” he said.

And the patience, I assume, of Israel is running out while Palestinian terrorist groups continue to target and murder innocent Israeli citizens.

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