97 Reasons Democrats Are Weak On Defense And Can’t Be Trusted To Govern In Wartime:

an editorial in the Investor’s Business Daily, via somewhere.

I don’t know much about it, but here’s The Times report on a video of Mohammed Atta and Ziad Jarrah at a camp presumably in Afghanistan with Osama bin Laden reading their wills and yucking it up in front of the camera.  The film was allegedly filmed on January 8, 2000 which dates the plot pretty far back.

Despite the deadly tasks the men had been assigned, they appear in high spirits, laughing and smiling in front of the camera. Only when Atta, with an AK-47 propped on a wall beside him, reads a document marked in Arabic “the will”, does he become solemn. Both are well groomed, without the haggard appearance of the identity mugshots issued after September 11.

The high quality, unedited film shows Bin Laden addressing his followers at the mud-walled complex near Kandahar. One of the main figures in the September 11 plot, Ramzi Binalshibh, is identifiable in the crowd, as is a bodyguard whose task was to kill Bin Laden with two bullets to the head if he faced capture.

The Times also has a seven page write-up of the full contents of the video.  Here’s what I don’t get.  Why now?  The fifth anniversary of 9/11 has already passed with additional footage we’ve never seen before.  Other anniversaries have gone by without additional footage of the terrorists who murdered nearly 3,000, but why is this one different?  It’s not just that though.  Why is more footage released after the anniversary?  If was sent to The Times to be published on 9/11, why release two videos of unseen footage and not spread it out for propoganda effect?

It just doesn’t make any sense, and that’s not a good feeling.

Mensa Barbie Welcomes You linked with Feeds for a Hungry Media...

Saturday, Saturday, Saturday. There’s an auto dealership commercial in Lubbock, Texas, or at least there was, that ran with that type of opening that’s stuck in my head for some reason. Except, you know, it was Sunday.

Anywho, since I’m enthralled by football and my team plays within the hour, I’ll post four YouTube videos all from a documentary on the Left’s alliance with radical Islam. I’ve had the chance to watch three of them thus far and have started downloading the last, and it’s interesting to say the least.

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Aaronovitch on Channel 5 (Part 1 of 4)

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Hispanics, specifically American Hispanics, are converting to Islam at a rapid pace. Is this of interest to you? Would it be of interest if I told you it is all the Republican’s fault? Well, that’s what the article says.

. . . a growing number of Hispanics across the US who have found common ground in a faith and culture bearing surprising similarities to their own heritage. From professionals to students to homemakers, they are drawn to the Muslim faith through marriage, curiosity and a shared interest in issues such as immigration.The population of Hispanic Muslims has increased 30 percent to some 200,000 since 1999, estimates Ali Khan, national director of the American Muslim Council in Chicago. Many attribute the trend to a growing interest in Islam since the 2001 terrorist attacks and also to a collision between two burgeoning minority groups. They note that Muslims ruled Spain centuries ago, leaving an imprint on Spanish food, music, and language.

“Many Hispanics … who are becoming Muslim, would say they are embracing their heritage, a heritage that was denied to them in a sense,” says Ihsan Bagby, professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Kentucky.

The trend is a sign that Islam is becoming more Americanized and more indigenous to the country, Bagby says. As Republican positions on issues such as immigration push Muslim Hispanics and blacks in a less conservative direction, Islam could move in the same direction…Christian Science Monitor

I found this information over at Sweetness and Light who added this:

By the way, this piece looks suspiciously like a one year old article from the Miami Herald. Which in itself smacked of being a CAIR press release.Apparently it is very important to get this message out over and over again.

And the CSM is only too happy to oblige.

You can go read the entire article. Some highlights: The fastest growth is in New York, Florida, California, and Texas . . . The demand for Spanish Korans is growing . . . It is getting more common to hear Spanish in mosques and have Hispanic imams . . . And here’s the kicker, “Earlier this year Muslims joined Hispanics in marches nationwide protesting immigration-reform proposals they felt were unfair.“

Yes, …there it is,… the Muslims support illegal aliens. How long will it be before Hispanic Muslims will be recruited for jihad???

Originally posted at Right Truth 

Lebanese reporter Brigette Gabriel on why American Muslims are not speaking up against radical Islamic terrorism:

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Brigitte Gabriel Speaks on Radical Islam

HT Say Anything

As promised, Ayman al-Zawahiri released a video tape of where he condemns the Pope, and of course President Bush. On the Pope:

“This charlatan accused Islam of being incompatible with rationality while forgetting that his own Christianity is unacceptable to a sensible mind,” the militant leader said.

Right, because Christianity has been so perversed throughout time. It has to be in order for Zawahiri to believe what he does. It’s a mainstay of Islamists.  Also, and I certainly would hate to correct Zawahiri, but the Pope said spreading Islam by the sword was not rational, not Islam itself.  That is, if Zawahiri does not believe Islam should spread by the sword.  He doesn’t; he believes it should spread by threats and bombs.

On Bush:

“Why don’t you tell them how many million citizens of America and its allies you intend to kill in search of the imaginary victory and in breathless pursuit of the mirage towards which you are driving your people’s sons in order increase your profits?” al-Zawahri said.

I think I’ve heard that statement before, but not from any Al Qaida figure. Someone, anyone, help me out here.

SITE offers more:

To U.S. President George W. Bush, Zawahiri brands him a “deceitful charlatan” and liar, and questions: “why don’t you tell them how many million citizens of America and it’s allies you intend to kill in search of the imaginary victory and in breathless pursuit of the mirage towards which you are driving your people’s sons in order to increase your profits?” He questions his motives for initating the War in Iraq, ridiculing the false prexets under which it was conducted. To this end he cites the purported links of Saddam Hussein to al-Qaeda, and the presence of weapons of mass destruction. He also addresses the capture of Khalid Shaikh Muhammad and questions that if it helped in the “war on terror” then “why are your troops retreating in secrete from the south and east of Afghanistan?… Bush…be aware that the liberation of our captives is a debt on our shoulders which we must fulfill”. Other individuals who have been captured, such as Ramzi Yusef, Omar Abdul Rahman (the “Blind Sheikh”) and Abu al-Faraj al-Libi are also cited.

In the Arabic portion, Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri discusses the issue of the Pope Benedict XVI’s slanderous comments to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad, by prefacing such attacks as beginning with the Satanic Verses of Salmon Rushdie, followed by desecration of the Qur’an at Guantanamo Bay, and banning of the hijab in French schools. He states that the current pope is reminiscent of Pope Urban II, who “provoked the people of Europe to fight the Muslims” in the Crusades. Zawahiri disregards Christianity due to its “supersitions” and alleged irrationality, but avers that Muslims are not enemies of Jesus as Pope Urban II claimed. On the pope’s comments directly, Zawahiri adds: “if Benedict attacked us, we will respond to his insults with good things. We will call upon him, and all of the Christians to become Muslims who do not recognize the Trinity or the crucifixion, and say that Allah united with the human.”

What does Rushdie have anything to do with this? That is, unless Zawahiri did or plans on issuing a fatwa for the Pope’s life too for supposedly saying Islam is violent.

The Trinity is the key reason in which Islamists believe Christianity is faulted. I’ve outlined this belief before (look in the comments) and won’t rehash it all again, but it’s the misunderstanding of what the Trinity that causes such confusion for the petty minds of Islamists.

UPDATE: The Jawa Report has more and includes the context to the “millions” comment running through the press wire.

The murderer and spiller of Muslim Blood , Bush, has stated that he has secret prisons in which he holds dangerous leaders of the group Qaida al-Jihad. Including the Mujahid brother Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad (may allah free him). (and) He has stated tjhat during the three years after Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad’s arrest the interrogators have been able to get from Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad valuable information which helped the Crusaders to kill and arrest a number of leaders of al-Qaida.

But I ask this lying Failure who are the leaders of al-Qaida who’s killing or capture was facilitated by the information extracted from Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad? And I say to him you are a lying failure. What is the extent of your losses? After the capture of Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad(may Allah free him).

If I didn’t know any better, I might think this was Howard Dean in the video. And it’s always interesting when any AQ figure decries the spilling of Muslim blood while the group goes out an kills Muslim blood. They look at it differently than everyone else though. We see it as very sad that any innocent person dies and we try to prevent it. They want to kill ‘innocent’ people regardless of religious affiliation. If they kill a Muslim, they are just accelerating their trip to Allah. It’s really a win-win situation for Al Qaida.

Found in the bombed out safehouse where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi met the end of his life, thanks to sound intelligence and two wonderful bombs, was a letter written by an unknown Al Qaida member to Zarqawi.  CENTCOM only describes the author as “the identity of the letter’s author, “`Atiyah,” is unknown, but based on the contents of the letter he seems to be a highly placed al-Qa`ida leader who fought in Algeria in the early 1990s.”

The contents of the letter are quite interesting and shows desperation on the part of Al Qaida.  How much more desperation is there now that Zarqawi is dead?  Perhaps it is a good thing for AQ Zarqawi is no longer though, as inside the letter it is shown the group did not exactly appreciate Zarqawi’s methods.

Policy must be dominant over militarism. This is one of the pillars of war that is agreed upon by all nations, whether they are Muslims or unbelievers. That is to say, that military action is a servant to policy. We as people of Islam are people of policy, wisdom, reason, and are good at applying its fundamentals of justice, mercy, good deeds, et cetera.

Zarqawi never saw it that way though, nor frankly, does the larger Al Qaida network.  Quite ironic that a supposed AQ higher-up would argue for policy over militarism when Al Qaida is responsible for thousands of deaths while they wage their jihad.

My brother, what use is it for us to delight in some operations and successful strikes when the immediate repercussion is a defeat for us of our call, and a loss of the justice of our cause and its logic in the minds of the masses who make up the people of the Muslim nation, who are ignorant and simple, and upon whom the afflictions of stultification, misguidance and corruption pile, and increased domination by the enemies, more oppression, more humiliation visited upon us, and more ills, troubles, loss in capabilities, and wasted opportunities?! We must take heed of this and adopt all of the shari’a opinions and push ourselves to do this, for “the mujahid is he who strives with his life for the cause of God,” as our Prophet said, peace be upon him. Indeed, we will persevere in the jihad and the struggle against the enemies of God until the last spark of life, and last drop of blood, God willing; whether we are successful in Iraq, or not, or if we reach something, or not. However, it is shameful for us to waste the opportunities that God has granted through our own negligence and carelessness and our not adopting the [shari’a] opinions.

For, in terms of abiding by the [shari’a] opinions that the shari’a has advised to be considered, and which experience and perception has shown to be a cause of attaining what is desired, I say that dereliction and negligence in this is not permissible if the aim, the desired goal, is a duty!! Therefore, our command here is the sum of two things: A legal regulation from shari’a and monotheism, which means taking [shari’a] opinions and reliance on God.

Calling the Muslim populace “ignorant and simple.”  Very nice.  It seems they took a page from Michael Moore’s playbook.

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Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s top Shite cleric, expresses solidarity with the Pope.  That’s a pleasant surprise.

The folks at MEMRI have already brought us the words of an Iranian professor proclaim the cartoon ‘Tom and Jerry’ was Zionist, Jewish propoganda designed to make mice look good.  The rationale is that Jews in Germany were called mice.  I have no clue if that’s factual or not, nor franky do I care.  The mere mention of this conspiracy theory though shone a spotlight upon what an Iranian intellectual on state-sponsored television believes, and it’s doesn’t say too highly upon what it takes to get a doctorate in Iran.

Now we’re told on Iranian television that all of Disney is evil, therefore ‘Pirates of the Carribean’ must be too.

“In any event, Zionism is not restricted to the capitalistic weapons companies, such as Lockheed and the banks that support it. Cinema is considered another, subtle, weapon in the hands of those who support this corrupt ideology. In Hollywood, Disney is the manufacturer of this weapon, and Pirates of the Caribbean is its newest ammunition.

Who watches these shows in Iran, seriously?

“Think about it. How many times in your life are you going to see it rain mud?” – Texas Tech University football coach Mike Leach

This video is great for all Tech fans, anyone who knows who Mike Leach is or anyone who has ever been to West Texas.

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Mike Leach Does the Weather

“For those of you who don’t have your calendars at home, Sunday will be the first day of May, so you might circle that.”

“Now on Monday, it says bad stuff; a serious storm.  Well, you’re going to be dead in 100 years anyways.  Live dangerously.”