In the news - muslims......

[Soldier4Christ]

American al-Qaida to Bush: 'We will be waiting for you' 
Native Californian Adam Gadahn makes threats against president's Mideast visit

Al Qaeda's American spokesman called on the terror network's fighters to greet President Bush with "bombs and booby-trapped vehicles" when he visits the Middle East later this week, according to a video posted Sunday.

The rhetoric-packed video also featured the California-born Adam Gadahn tearing up his U.S. passport as part of a "symbolic" protest against Washington and marked the terror network's first message of 2008.

"Now we direct an urgent call to our militant brothers in Muslim Palestine and the Arab peninsula ... to be ready to receive the Crusader slayer Bush in his visit to Muslim Palestine and the Arab peninsula in the beginning of January and to receive him not with flowers or clapping but with bombs and booby-trapped vehicles," Gadahn said in Arabic, though he spoke mostly in English during the video.

Bush is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Wednesday for a weeklong regional trip that will also bring him to the West Bank, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Most of the 50-minute long video, titled "An Invitation to Reflection and Repentance," appeared to be aimed at ordinary Americans, with Gadahn saying Al Qaeda felt the need to release the statement after Washington's "defeat" in Iraq and Afghanistan and failed attempts by Bush and other diplomats to bring peace to the Middle East.

"We felt it necessary to address the American people and explain to them some of the facts about these critical and fast-moving events," said the California-born Gadahn, who wore a white and red headscarf.

"The first questions Americans might ask is has America really been defeated? The answer is yes and on all fronts," he said while sitting behind a desk with a coffee cup and laptop computer nearby.

The video could not immediately be independently verified, but it appeared on a Web site often used by Islamic militants and carried the logo of Al Qaeda's media wing, al-Sahab. At the beginning of the video, the date December 2007 was displayed, and Gadahn mentioned Robert Hawkins, who killed eight people at a mall in Omaha, Neb. on Dec. 5, suggesting the tape was made sometime after then.

Gadahn, also known as Azzam al-Amriki, was charged with treason in the U.S. in 2006 and has been wanted since 2004 by the FBI, which is offering a $1 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction.

He has appeared in several Al Qaeda videos including most recently in August when he threatened new attacks on foreign embassies. In May, Al Qaeda released another video featuring Gadahn, who warned Bush to end U.S. involvement in Muslim lands or face an attack worse than the Sept. 11, 2001, strikes.

In his latest video statement, Gadahn lashed out repeatedly at the United States for its wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and close ties to Israel and the leaders of some Muslim countries, including Egypt and Pakistan, which he described as some of the "worst dictators and tyrants."

Gadahn also criticized Christianity, which he called "baseless and doubt-filled," and urged Americans — including soldiers who fought in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan — to convert to Islam.

"Listen to me, and listen to me carefully, before you lose your mind to flashbacks, and drugs and drink-induced dementia and before your demons drive you to self-destruction and suicide, in these verses (in the Quran), God calls out to each and every one of you saying God forgives all sins ... if you simply stop and repent," he said.

At one point in the video, Gadahn took out his U.S. passport, showed it to the camera and tore it into several pieces.

"In symbolic rejection of the American citizenship that honorable and decent and compassionate people are ashamed to carry, I will now proceed to destroy my American passport," he said.

"But don't get too excited, I don't need it to travel anyway," he added with a smile after tearing it apart.

Gadahn is the first American to be charged with treason in more than 50 years and could face the death penalty if convicted. He also was indicted on a charge of providing material support to terrorists.

Earlier this month, FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said the agency would review the latest tape for intelligence value and vowed never to give up the hunt for Gadahn.

[Soldier4Christ]

Honor Killing in Dallas     

Irving, Texas police are hunting for Muslim cabdriver Yaser Abdel Said after his teenage daughters Sarah and Amina were found murdered New Year’s Day in a taxi abandoned outside the Omni Mandalay Hotel in the Dallas suburb of Las Colinas.

A SWAT team surrounded Said’s Lewisville, Texas home January 2.  After breaking down the door, they found the house empty.  A capital murder warrant has been issued for the Egyptian-born Said who remains on the loose.  The hunt for Said was featured January 5 on America’s Most Wanted.  According to police, Said should be considered armed and dangerous.  His wife and surviving son have reportedly gone into hiding.  Las Colinas is a short distance from the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.

In addition to AMW, ABC News and the Washington Times reported the news January 3.  Other than that, the national media have given this case scant coverage.

The Dallas Morning News reports January 6:

Gail Gartrell, the sisters' great-aunt, said Saturday that Mr. Said had physically abused the two girls for years. Around Christmas, the girls' mother – Ms. Gartrell's niece – had fled because of Mr. Said's threats to kill the girls after he learned they had boyfriends, she said.

"She ran with them because she knew he would carry out the threat," Ms. Gartrell said. "This was an honor killing."

She said her niece returned after Mr. Said told her that he would move out so they could reconcile. Within a few days, she said, the girls were dead.

Dallas station KDFW-TV reported:

“A Dallas-area father may have shot his two teenage daughters to death because their Westernized clothes and behavior brought him shame….Sarah and Amina dressed in Western clothes and listened to pop music. They described Said as angry with his daughters for not acting like proper Muslim girls.”

The  Star Telegram reports:

The girls were well-liked and made good grades at Lewisville High School. Their father was strict and rarely let them spend time with friends. When Sarah, 17, recently met a boy at her job, she told a friend that her father would kill her if he found out.

One of their boyfriends was so concerned that he reportedly followed the girls after they got in their fathers cab the night of the murder.  He called them on their cell phone and they told him that he should leave because everything was OK.  They were found dead hours later.

Students at Lewisville High January 3 wore pink — the Said girls' favorite color — and organized a 6 p.m. candlelight vigil in their memory.  Memorials poured into their MySpace page.

The Dallas murders come just three weeks after the murder of 16-year-old Mississauga, Ontario, Canada girl Aqsa Parvez.  Allegedly Aqsa was strangled and beaten to death by her father, 57-year-old Muhammad Parvez because she refused to wear the hijab while at school.  Muhammad has been arraigned for murder in a Brampton, Ontario court.  His son Waqas Parvez, 26 stands charged with obstructing justice.       

The Toronto Star December 12 reports:

Vivacious and outgoing, Parvez wanted to dress like a Western woman in tight-fitting clothes and show off her long, dark hair by removing her hijab.

She wanted to be "free" and independent of her family's devout Muslim beliefs.

But that was a problem.

This culture clash, her friends said yesterday, led to abuse. While she didn't often come to school with bruises, she said she had been hit on the arms and across the face, her friends said, and that her parents kept her under strict guard.

"She told me many times that her dad had threatened her," her friend, Dominiqua Holmes-Thompson, 16, said yesterday. "She was serious."

In a chilling echo of the Dallas case The Star adds:

When Parvez's home life turned violent this fall, she fled to a shelter, returning home only after receiving a letter from her family. It described how her parents couldn't eat or sleep while she was away and allegedly noted she didn't have to wear her hijab any more if she didn't want to.

The Dallas murders would not be the first “honor killings” in the US.  A December 30, 2007 fire killing in Oak Forest, IL is believed to be an honor killing of a pregnant Hindu woman, her husband and a small child who married “beneath” her caste.   Her Hindu father is being held by police.  Local media have no difficulty calling this an honor killing.  Just because other religions have this practice doesn’t mean that Islamic attempts to impose Islamic law should not be resisted.

In 2004 Ismael Peltek of Scottsdale, NY murdered his wife and attempted to kill his daughters after a molestation case involving Peltek’s brother.  The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle April 24, 2004 reported:

Ismail Peltek, who was indicted Friday on charges of second-degree murder in the April 15 slaying of his wife, Hatice Peltek, claimed he attacked his wife and daughters after learning that his brother had molested his wife and his 22-year-old daughter, according to court documents.

Peltek, 41, said he attacked his 4-year-old daughter because she had been “sullied” by a gynecological exam.

“I was concerned that my family’s honor was taken,” he allegedly told investigators. ...

His 39-year-old wife died after being stabbed repeatedly and bludgeoned on the head with a hammer.

His daughters suffered fractured skulls from hammer blows.

“If you had the opportunity to kill the family again, would you?” he was asked by Rochester police Officer Emre Arican, who was brought in to help investigators because he speaks Turkish.

“My female family, yes. My male family, no,” Peltek allegedly replied. ...

In March, 2007, a Dearborn Heights, Michigan case resembles an honor killing: Ali Hourany allegedly murdered his non-Muslim girlfriend Daniella Erica Munoz and fled to Beirut, Lebanon.  In other Dearborn cases, where young Muslim women have been murdered, the local media seem not to know a motive.

Canada also has seen several other “honor killings”.  The Gazette of Montreal reports:

* A 14-year-old female rape victim is strangled to death in March 2004 by her father and brother because she has supposedly tarnished the family name.

*In April 2004, a man brutally kills his wife and daughter after finding out his brother had molested them.

* A teenage girl with a Turkish background has her throat cut by her father after he learns she has a Christian boyfriend.

In a 2004 case, a Toronto Muslim and his second wife beat to death his 5-year-old daughter by his first wife and then dismembered the girl in a bathtub allegedly believing that she was fathered by another man.

A Windsor, Ontario cab driver was ritually murdered in 2005 over a land dispute involving a Mosque.

In 2006, the Canadian Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal of a Canadian Muslim who murdered his wife in Ottawa in 1999 believing she was having an affair.  According to the National Post, Lawyers for Adi Abdul Humaid argued Muslim cultural and religious beliefs in ''family honour'' should be taken into account as justification for receiving a lighter sentence for killing an unfaithful wife.  An appeals court had earlier rejected this argument.

Many Muslims, and leftist apologists for Islam, claim that “honor killings” are not part of Islam. But the evidence suggests the opposite. According to the National Post, for instance:

An American scholar, Mahmoud Mustafa Ayoub, testified at Humaid's trial that many Islamic societies permit men to punish wives suspected of adultery and sometimes even kill them. Under Islamic law, punishment for adultery is usually flogging or stoning, Ayoub said. In some Muslim cultures and rural areas, unfaithful women can be killed.

cont'd

[Soldier4Christ]

Ayoub is hardly the only apologist for “honor killings”. Professor Rabab Abdulhadi, head of Arab-American Studies at the University of Michigan at Dearborn, stated at the July, 2006 ""Al Awda" conference in San Francisco: “What you call honor killings would be just called crimes of passion in the West.”

Daily Kos diarist “Amad” condemns the recent Canadian killings, calls them “un-Islamic” and then launches on something “even sadder”.

Writes Amad:

“But you know what’s even sadder?  My condemnation is not purely sorrowful. It is tinged - more than tinged, it is stained - with anger at those who demand such a condemnation from me. Why, why, WHY is it that whenever someone who is Muslim, or has a Muslim-sounding name, does something... it’s automatically blamed on Islam?”

Why? Because in spite of the deceptions which the Islamic doctrine of al-Taqiyyah requires Amad to present to the infidels, “honor killings” are, as scholar Robert Spencer has demonstrated, at the core of the Islamic value system.  Now Muslims are attempting to force Western societies to accept this practice.  They will use any debates or court proceedings stemming from this case to further that end.

“Amad” saves his worst invective for Tarek Fatah who called the murder by Aqsa Parvez “the deadly face of Muslim extremism” in a column in the National Post co-authored with Farzana Hassan.

“Tarek Fatah, renowned fool and know-nothing who spews rubbish every time he opens his mouth, has caused even more damage in this article published in the National Post. It can be summarized as ignorant, muck-stirring, rabble-rousing, fear-mongering LIES that will only make the situation worse for Muslims.”

What is it that has Amad so stirred up?  Fatah and Hassan point out:

Radical Muslim men consider themselves ultimately responsible for the conduct of the womenfolk. This outlook is rooted in a medieval ethos that treats women as nonpersons, unable to decide for themselves what they should wear, where they must go and what they must accomplish in life. If their conduct is seen as contravening this austere religious outlook, they are invariably subjected to abuse.

The Dallas Morning News, meanwhile, reports on Sarah and Amina Said's Christian and Muslim funeral services. Note the choice of emphasis at the Muslim service:

Dr. Yusuf Kavacki, head of the Richardson mosque, alternating between English and Arabic, told mourners that all living things are destined to die. Another imam talked about families being the most important thing in Islam and the need for parents to work to keep their families strong.

According to police, Yaser Abdel Said, age 50, is about 6-foot-2, weighs about 180 pounds and has black hair and brown eyes. Said was last seen wearing a black turtleneck shirt/sweater, a brown coat and tan pants.  He is believed to be armed with a handgun.

Anyone with information is asked to call Irving police at 972-721-2518.

[Soldier4Christ]

Islamist Payola in the City of Brotherly Love     
By Joe Kaufman
FrontPageMagazine.com | Thursday, January 03, 2008

The history of the United States runs through Philadelphia. It is there that the American Revolution was born. However, a new revolution threatens to take hold of Philly, a Muslim one. It is led by one of Philadelphia’s favorite sons, singer/songwriter/producer Kenny Gamble (a.k.a. Luqman Abdul Haqq), who has a master plan to renovate a once great part of the city using taxpayers’ money. While on face value his intentions appear to be worthy, Gamble’s revitalization plan for Philadelphia has sinister implications, leading to the question: Will Philadelphia remain “the City of Brotherly Love” or will it become a city of Muslim Brotherly hate?

The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) or Ikhwan in America exists, in large part, within two immigrant populations. One is the Arab Muslim community, falling under the aegis of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and to a smaller extent the Muslim American Society (MAS). The other is the South Asian Muslim community, positioned under the umbrella of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), a subsidiary of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) in Pakistan. These groups form the core of MB America.

Still, there is a third U.S. Muslim population of much less acclaim/notoriety. It is the African American Muslim community, and it consists mainly of converts who fall within a number of categories, many of which overlap, including black power advocates, racial separatists, ex-felons, anti-Semites and hate America firsters. There are two organizations that encompass all of the above: the Nation of Islam (NOI), a black supremacist group that is built upon the hatred of whites and Jews, and the Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA), the African American version of ISNA and ICNA.

MANA was founded in May of 2000, in response to the arrest of cop killer H. Rap Brown, a.k.a. Jamil Al-Amin. According to the group, it was officially formed on January 27, 2001. Today, MANA coordinates a vast network of mosques and Islamic organizations.

While MANA is almost entirely an African-American-based entity, the group has aligned itself most closely with Arab and South Asian “Brotherhood” organizations. In fact, MANA’s Amir (President), Siraj Wahhaj, is the former Vice President of ISNA U.S., and MANA’s General Secretary, Ihsan Bagby, is a national board member of both ISNA and the Hamas-related Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

One of the functions of MANA is to hold yearly conferences. The group’s most recent event took place this past November in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, entitled ‘The State of the Black American Muslim Community.’ At the affair, certain outside organizations, such as CAIR, were permitted to set up shop to showcase their materials. One of the groups, the Philadelphia-based International Islamic Information Network (IIIN), propagates lectures given by Saleh as-Suhaimi, who stated during one of his speeches that a wife needs to practice “obedience” to her husband and cannot go “outside the house without his permission,” and if “it comes to a point where he has to hit her, that it does not break the skin or does not break a bone or does not leave a mark or a bruise...”

Most of those attending the conference were people unknown to the non-Muslim world. But one in particular has been in the public eye for decades.

Kenneth Gamble is an icon within the music business, in part responsible for over 170 platinum and gold albums and songs, including “If You Don’t Know Me By Now,” “Love Train,” and “Me and Mrs. Jones.” As stated by John A. Jackson, in his A House on Fire: The Rise and Fall of Philadelphia Soul, by the end of 1974, Gamble along with his partners Leon Huff and Thom Bell “were the top three soul producers in the pop music industry.”

According to Jackson, though, things started to unravel for Gamble, when, in 1975, the record company he helped create, Philadelphia International, became embroiled in a payola scandal. That, the demanding workload placed upon him, his heavily mortgaged business headquarters, and his failing marriage, all led up to a nervous breakdown. It was around this time that Gamble began to turn to Islam.

The first group that had an impact on his newfound religion was the Nation of Islam, a black supremacist movement that was founded in the ‘30s. About NOI, Gamble stated during an interview on Saudi TV Channel 2, “[T]he Nation of Islam... was a tremendous brotherhood that promoted self-help and ‘do for self.’ And being a conscious person, I looked at our communities and I looked at us as a people, and I thought that that was something that the African American community really needed to think about and to get involved in...” [Currently, Gamble is involved in the NOI-associated “10,000 Men.”]

But Gamble – now, Luqman Abdul Haqq – was not to reach the true Brotherhood, until April 21, 2001, when he was chosen to be on the first Executive Committee (Diwan) of MANA. The following day, almost a year after its founding, the establishment of MANA was announced. The event took place at the Philadelphia Masjid, which was at the time headed by Shamsud-din Ali (a.k.a. Clarence Fowler), who is rumored to be a friend of Gamble. Ali, an ex-leader of the notorious Black Mafia, had previously been incarcerated for murder and is presently serving out an 87 month jail sentence for charges that include racketeering.

Today, Gamble sits on MANA’s Majlis Ash Shura, the ruling body which sets the policy and agenda for the group. Others sitting on the Majlis with him include:

    * Johari Abdul Malik, imam of the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church, Virginia, labeled by investigative journalist Paul Sperry as “The Most Dangerous Mosque in America.” Malik, in November of 2004, stated that it was better to be a Muslim under poor conditions than to be a “kaffir under any conditions” and warned that Islam, one day, would overtake Christianity as the “first religion in America.”
    * Talib Abdur-Rashid, imam of the Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood (MIB) and member of the Advisory Board of the Khalil Gibran International Academy (KGIA), a controversial Arabic language school in New York City. Abdur-Rashid, in January of 2007, on a Tampa, Florida radio program stated that many black churches are controlled by white churches and that “usually when you’ll find an African American pastor speaking in that negative kind of way, there’s a hidden devil, so to speak, somewhere in the background egging him on.”
    * Altaf Husain, former President of the Muslim Students Association (MSA). Husain is the U.S. Correspondent for Islam Online, a site that issues religious rulings (Fatwas) in support of: Palestinian suicide bombings, terrorist attacks against American troops, and the death penalty for homosexuals, including the throwing of homosexuals from tall buildings (“Death Falls”).

Gamble’s interaction with MANA goes far beyond the organization and well into his community. Within the “ACTIVISM” section of MANA’s website, MANA discusses Universal Companies (UC), its recovery plan for a part of Philadelphia that has been ravaged by drugs and violence. The effort, which is being led by Gamble, consists of children’s schools, a social services department, an entertainment foundation, and real estate holdings, which include low-income residential properties.

According to MANA, Universal Companies is “one of the best-kept secrets in Muslim America.” While this may or may not be so, the fact that UC is a Muslim institution is no secret at all, and this has some concerned that the effort is being done for the sole purpose of creating an all Muslim enclave within the heart of Philadelphia.

cont'd

[Soldier4Christ]

Gamble, providing a reason for this unease, stated the following to Saudi television: “One of the intentions that we had from the beginning was to create a model, so that, in the coming years, Muslims would be able to live close to each other, that they would live closer to the masjid (mosque), that they would eventually be able to open up businesses so that they would be able to employ each other and develop community life.”

The UC “masjid” that Gamble is referring to is the United Muslim Masjid, whose website’s homepage currently features pictures from MANA’s November conference. The address of UMM is 810 South 15th Street, which places it on the same block as Universal Companies, located at 800 South 15th Street, and Salaam Enterprises, a social services organization run by Gamble’s wife, Faatimah, at 814 South 15th Street.

Of interest is another group, the United Muslim Movement (UMM), found at the same address as UC. According to UC’s website, it (UC) has been in operation since 1993, yet it was incorporated only in June of 2002. On the other hand, UMM was incorporated in June of 1994. In addition, the website for UC began in May of 2001, while UMM’s site was shut down just after, in July of 2001.

As well, the missions of the two groups are nearly identical. As stated by Gamble, along with having Muslims “living closer to the masjid,” “Universal Companies goal and objective is to be involved in the political, the social, the economic, educational activities that go on that make up all those systems that make up a community.” According to the former website of UMM, “Our goal is to build both a central Masjid in the City of Philadelphia and a strong organization responding to social, economical, political, educational, and religious needs facing our communities.”

Question: When Universal Companies states that it started in 1993, does it really mean that the United Muslim Movement started then? And if the answer is yes, does that then mean that the two groups are really one and the same? This leads to concern number two, that not only is Universal Companies in existence to form an all Muslim Philly enclave, but that it is being done with the blessings and money of the city and the state of Pennsylvania.

On the ex-UMM site, one could read that it was part of the group’s mission to “establish the religion of Islam with the clear representation of the Quran and the Sunnah...” If the group wished to receive funds from the government, surely it would not be able to do so with this type of rhetoric, not to mention the religious significance of the group’s name. As well, the UMM site listed its member organizations as including ICNA, ISNA and the American Muslim Council (AMC), three groups tied to terror. Therefore, a name change was in order, and what could be more innocuous sounding than “Universal Companies”?

There are two further corporations that share the address of UC and UMM. They are Universal Community Homes (UCH) and the Universal Institute Charter School (UICS). Both of these entities play a large role within Universal Companies; the President of the Board of Trustees of the school is UC’s President and CEO, Abdur-Raheem Islam. As well, both UCH and UICS are financed via the taxpayers of Pennsylvania.

About the role the city and state play, with respect to UC, Gamble stated: “The city of Philadelphia has been an intrical part of what we’ve been doing, and they have participated in economic growth, as far as our real estate ventures. We’ve gotten tremendous recognition from them – as much as they can do – and I think you couldn’t do a project like this without having a public/private partnership. You need not only the city of Philadelphia, but we also have a great relationship with the state of Pennsylvania. And that is the way business is done here in America...”

In fact, the participation and recognition from the city and state towards Gamble’s organization has been worth millions of dollars. In April of 2003, the city of Philadelphia issued a press release announcing a $100 million revitalization plan, whereby Universal Companies would build or renovate nearly 400 homes in South Philadelphia, through the local government’s Neighborhood Transformation Initiative (NTI).

Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street is quoted in the release as saying, “NTI has provided us with a unique opportunity to rethink our neighborhoods and develop well thought out solutions to 50 years of decay and neglect; it was intended to be a catalyst, to help foster change, to spur development, to forge much needed partnerships with great organizations such as Universal Companies. Kenny and I have been talking about this Philadelphia renaissance for more than two decades.”

In February of 2003, a report came out discussing how Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell was providing $250,000 towards Gamble’s plan to move New York City’s R & B Foundation to Philadelphia, to become part of Universal Companies’ “Entertainment and Economic Development Strategy.” Gamble now sits on the board of the foundation.

One can say that Mayor Street and Governor Rendell have been kind to Gamble because of what they believe he offers to his community. However, one cannot overlook the kindness that Gamble has provided both of them. According to the Pennsylvania Department of State, between June of 2001 and April of 2006, Kenneth Gamble has contributed $44,000 and $27,000, respectively, to Street’s and Rendell’s campaigns for Mayor and Governor.

In June of 1975, Gamble and 18 others were indicted in a payola scandal, in which the Justice Department accused Gamble’s record label of offering bribes in return for airplay. In the end, he was fined $2500. Today, while he is still tied to the music business – he will be inducted into the 2008 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame – Gamble has sought out new avenues to deal in. Unlike before, though, his present ventures are tied to a radical form of religion, one that puts a Muslim Brotherhood organization, MANA; a black supremacist group, NOI; and his own Islamic organization, the United Muslim Movement (Universal Companies), on center stage.

Why would the local and state government get so involved in something that could prove potentially dangerous for its citizens? Is it blind ambition or is it money for money? Has Kenny Gamble learned from the past or is this 1975 all over again? Regardless of the answers, if things continue as they are going, very soon the city of Philadelphia will be experiencing its first taste of Sharia law – a sad note indeed for America’s birthplace.

[Soldier4Christ]

Top terrorists go free under Musharraf's care 
U.S., U.K. quietly protest released Pak prisoners

While Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf claims to be cracking down on terrorists as America's "front-line ally" in the war, he has released from custody – or his police have let escape – top al-Qaida and other terrorists, WND has learned.

Pakistani authorities late last month allowed a major al-Qaida terrorist wanted by British police in connection with the transatlantic skyterror plot to conveniently escape just weeks before he was scheduled to be extradited to Britain for questioning and prosecution in the conspiracy to blow up 10 airliners over U.S. cities.

Western officials believe Rashid Rauf, who slipped out the back door of a mosque he'd been allowed to pray in, is tied to Pakistan's notorious intelligence service, the ISI. Even the lawyer for the fugitive, who remains at large, called it a government "organized disappearance."

Rauf was arrested August 2006 in Pakistan only after a tip-off from British intelligence investigating the airplane conspiracy.

A dual citizen of Britain and Pakistan, he is married to a relative of Maulana Masood Azhar, the founder and head of Jaish-e-Mohammed – a Pakistani-based terrorist group linked to al-Qaida. ISI, whose main goal is to end Indian rule in Kashmir, has been known to work with J-e-M and al-Qaida to train and finance Kashmiri fighters.

Azhar's closest confederate happens to be the murderer of American journalist Danny Pearl – British-born Omar Saeed Sheikh. Both terrorists allegedly are protected by the ISI and Musharraf's regime.

J-e-M remains active in Pakistan, despite promises by Musharraf to crack down on the terror group. Pearl, a Wall Street Journal correspondent, was investigating its financial operations at the time he was kidnapped and beheaded, finding troubling links to the ISI and the Pakistani government. Pearl reported that J-e-M leaders "drove expensive double-cabin Hilux pickup trucks, some with government license plates."

Azhar reportedly is no longer under house arrest, and is editing a militant newspaper, Al Qalam (The Pen), in Karachi, Pakistan, where Pearl was butchered. And Omar Sheikh, as he's known, still has not been punished for Pearl's 2002 murder, while Musharraf continues to block U.S. investigators from interviewing him.

Like their British counterparts who sought the extradition of Rauf, U.S. authorities had asked Musharraf to extradite Omar Sheikh. But he is virtually untouchable inside Pakistan.

In fact, Musharraf appeared to exonerate him in his memoir, claiming that Pearl was really killed by 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, already in U.S. custody, despite earlier evidence Omar Sheikh had masterminded the entire kidnapping and murder operation.

He also made the bizarre claim that far from working for Pakistani intelligence, Omar Sheikh worked for British intelligence. Then he suggested Pearl worked for Israeli intelligence.

In the same book, Musharraf fails to mention that Omar Sheikh was at the home of Musharraf's ISI friend Brigadier Ijaz Shah a full week before his "arrest" was announced by the police. It was in Rawalpindi, where ISI is headquartered, that Omar Sheikh originally met Pearl and set the trap for him. ISI had been closely monitoring the reporting of Pearl, along with other foreign reporters after 9/11.

So between Feb. 5, 2001, and Feb. 12, 2001, the ISI was protecting Pearl's killer – and protecting his sources.

Meanwhile, Musharraf was visiting in Washington, telling authorities there he was still looking for Pearl's killer. Then, during a Feb. 12, 2001, meeting with President Bush to discuss U.S. aid to Pakistan, he announced the arrest of Omar Sheikh. The next day, Bush offered Musharraf an additional $200 million in aid.

While in Washington, the Pakistani strongman also held out hope that Pearl was still alive – when Pakistani authorities knew he had been dead since at least Jan. 31, 2001.

Frustrated with the Pakistani system of justice, Pearl's widow recently sued Omar Sheikh over her husband's killing in U.S. district court in New York.

"I don't have a husband, but Omar Sheikh – he has a wife, he has a son," Mariane Pearl said. "He is in exactly the same position" now as he was before he was arrested.

Omar Sheikh, Azhar and Rauf aren't the only terrorists Musharraf has let off the hook, officials complain.

Other terrorists freed

U.S. officials angrily protested Musharraf's recent release of Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan, a top al-Qaida operative whom the U.S. persuaded Musharraf to arrest in connection with a plot to target U.S. financial buildings.

"We're not exactly happy about that," said Vice Admiral John Scott Redd, head of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center in Washington.

And earlier this month, Pakistani authorities in Rawalpindi freed from prison four Palestinian terrorists convicted in the hijacking of a Pan Am jet that left 22 passengers and crew dead. They had demanded that Israel release 1,500 Palestinian prisoners.

The terrorists, who were supposed to serve life sentences, got out after just 14 years.

Musharraf further shocked U.S. officials when he said last week that he was "not particularly looking for" Osama bin Laden, who has gained sanctuary inside Pakistan.

Then in an interview this week, he threatened the U.S., warning that U.S. troops would be regarded as invaders if they cross into Pakistan's border region with Afghanistan to hunt for bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders.

"If they come without our permission, that's against the sovereignty of Pakistan. I challenge anybody coming into our mountains," Musharraf said from Rawalpindi. "They would regret that day."

[Soldier4Christ]

Islamist plot to blow up Eiffel Tower uncovered
Portuguese air traffic controllers hear scrambled short-wave radio conversation about plan

A plot by Islamic terrorists to blow up the Eiffel Tower has been uncovered.

A scrambled short-wave radio conversation exposing the planned attack on the world's most visited monument was picked up by Portuguese air traffic controllers and passed on to French spy chiefs.

The 1,060ft high tower has more than six million visitors a year - an average of more than 16,000 a day.

A successful strike on the 7,500 ton iron tower, which was looked down on Paris since 1889, would be a French 9/11 and could cost thousands of lives.

The threat was uncovered in a "vague and muffled" radio conversation picked up by air traffic controllers in Lisbon on Thursday.

It comes after a spate of other threats made in recent days on the websites linked to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terror network, calling for the "brothers of Islam to strike Paris".

A police source close to France's DST intelligance agency said last night: "It was a muffled conversation in Arabic that was passed on to us as a matter of course, but our analysts clearly identified the threat.

"The sheer number of visitors going up the tower every day means a bomb blowing up there could cause the most massive loss of life. We've been at our red security alert for several months."

The source added: "Security at the tower was already tight, but is now being stepped up."

Paris's socialist mayor, Bertrand Delanoe, has been given extra security protection after an Islamist website used by Al Qaeda members listed him as a target.

Mr Delanoe - one of France's few openly gay politicians - was stabbed in an anti-gay attack in 2002.

In January 2005, French intelligence officers arrested three French-born Algerians suspected of plotting to blow up the Eiffel Tower.

[Shammu]

Hundreds Flee Kenya Violence as President Vows to Keep Power

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

NAIROBI, Kenya —
Hundreds of Kenyans fearing new political violence fled the country's west Wednesday, but the president urged refugees not to abandon their homes and insisted he would hold onto power despite allegations he stole an election.

Diplomats worked to end a conflict that has killed more than 500 people since the Dec. 27 presidential vote. President Mwai Kibaki assured the visiting African Union chairman Wednesday that he was ready for dialogue, although he has resisted outside mediation and the opposition insists it will not negotiate without it.

Kibaki made his first trip to a trouble spot, addressing more than 1,000 refugees in western Kenya, many of whom had fled blazing homes, pursued by rock-throwing mobs wielding machetes and bows and arrows.

"Do not be afraid. The government will protect you. Nobody is going to be chased from where they live," Kibaki said at a school transformed into a camp for the displaced in the corn-farming community of Burnt Forest. "Those who have been inciting people and brought this mayhem will be brought to justice."

He indicated he would not consider demands for a new election or vote recount.

The election "is finished and anybody who thinks they can turn it around should know that it's not possible and it will never be possible," he said.

Hundreds of Kenyans fled the western town of Kisumu, fearing more strife after Kibaki named half of a new Cabinet, a lineup packed with his allies.

With suitcases on their heads and frightened children grabbing at their skirts, ethnic Kamba women searched for transportation out of Kisumu after one of their tribe was named vice president. Seven buses and two dozen cars overloaded with people who waited on a police escort to try to reach Nairobi.

On the road to the capital, dozens of angry youths brandishing sticks burned tires to block the route. "If elections fail, violence prevails!" they shouted.

Thousands of people from Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe have already been chased or burned out of their homes in Kisumu in a week of riots and ethnic clashes following the disputed elections.

"Our lives are in danger. Now those things that happened to the Kikuyu will happen to the Kamba," businessman Isaac Notuva said at the Kisumu bus station, where fares doubled overnight.

Salim Lone, a spokesman for Odinga's party, said Kibaki's Cabinet announcement was "a slap in the face" and was intended to undermine the AU-mediated talks on the crisis.

The Cabinet members announced by Kibaki included no portfolios for members of Odinga's party. Most posts went to members of Kibaki's party, although Kalonzo Musyoka, a minor presidential candidate who won just 9 percent of votes, was named vice president and another member of Kalonzo's party was named information minister.

In a statement, Kibaki indicated there still was room for the main opposition party in his full Cabinet. "It is envisioned that this government will be established as a result of a constructive and inclusive dialogue. Nothing is ruled out in this process," he said.

The United States said the Cabinet choices were disappointing but praised Kibaki's clarification that they were not meant to antagonize the opposition.

"Absolutely we were disappointed. He's now come out and clarified where he stands on this, and that's very positive," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "What's really important is that they actually get to talking and not have this be an obstacle."

Kibaki assured AU chairman John Kufuor, the president of Ghana, that he had already initiated a process of dialogue with other Kenyan leaders," according to a government statement.

But on Tuesday, Odinga rejected Kibaki's invitation to talks as a "public relations gimmickry" intended to deflect attention from international mediation.

Odinga met Wednesday with Kufuor and four former African heads of state. He said he told the statesmen "we want peace to return to our country ... There cannot be lasting peace without justice."

According to a Kenyan government Web site, Kibaki won 47 percent of the ballots cast, against Odinga's 44 percent.

However, even the chairman of the country's electoral commission has said he is not sure Kibaki won. The top American envoy to Africa, Jendayi Frazer, said this week that the vote count at the heart of the dispute was tampered with and both sides could have been involved.

Kenya is an ally in the United States' war on terrorism and has turned over dozens of people to the U.S. and Ethiopia as suspected terrorists. The country allows American forces to operate from Kenyan bases and conducts joint exercises with U.S. troops in the region.

The U.S. also is a major donor to Kenya, long seen as a stable democracy in a region that includes war-ravaged Somalia and Sudan. Aid amounts to roughly $1 billion a year, said U.S. Embassy spokesman T.J. Dowling.

Hundreds Flee Kenya Violence as President Vows to Keep Power

[Shammu]

Iraq to reinstate Saddam party followers

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer 54 minutes ago

BAGHDAD - Iraq's parliament passed a benchmark law Saturday allowing lower-ranking former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party to reclaim government jobs, the first major piece of U.S.-backed legislation it has adopted.

Traveling in Manama, Bahrain, President Bush hailed the law as "an important step toward reconciliation."

"It's an important sign that the leaders of that country understand that they must work together to meet the aspirations of the Iraqi people," he said.

The seismic piece of legislation had been demanded by the United States since November 2006 and represented the first legislative payoff for Bush's decision to deploy 30,000 additional troops to the country to quell violence.

In announcing the troop buildup more than a year ago, Bush said it would provide the Iraqi government "breathing space" to begin tackling legislation designed to reconcile Iraq's Shiite and Sunni Arabs as well as Kurds.

Other benchmarks languish, though, including legislation to divvy up the country's vast oil wealth, constitutional amendments demanded by the Sunni Arabs and a bill spelling out rules for local elections.

It was not immediately clear how many former Baathists would benefit from the new legislation, titled the Accountability and Justice law. But the move was seen as a key step in the reconciliation process.

Before the party was outlawed — the first official act of L. Paul Bremer's Coalition Provisional Authority — its membership was estimated at between 2 million and 6 million.

The strict implementation of so-called de-Baathification rules meant that many senior bureaucrats who knew how to run ministries, university departments and state companies were fired after 35 years of Baath party rule.

Bremer's Coalition Provisional Authority order No. 1 of May 16, 2003, had effectively stripped key government ministries, the military and top economic institutions of centuries of cumulative experience.

The order also was blamed for fueling the Sunni-dominated insurgency that took root in the late summer of 2003, under the leadership of ousted Sunni Baathists who sought vengeance against what they saw as their American tormentors.

The leadership cadres drew primarily from the Sunni Muslim community, reflecting Saddam's sectarian base — a minority in Iraq. Because advancement in government and professional circles during the Saddam era depended on Baath Party membership, majority Shiites also made up a large portion of the party rank-and-file.

The bill was approved by an unanimous show of hands on each of its 30 clauses. The measure seeks to relax restrictions on the rights of former party members to fill government posts. It also would allow reinstatement of thousands of lower-ranking Baathists dismissed from government jobs on Bremer's order in the first month after Baghdad fell to invading American forces.

Ali al-Lami, a senior official who has worked on the new legislation, said 3,500 former high-ranking Baathists would be offered retirement and pensions. He said 13,000 lower-ranking Baathists would be offered reinstatement. Also, 7,000 people now holding government jobs but who had been members of Saddam's security service would be retired and given pensions.

Iraq's military already had worked through the Baath Party problem, declaring that anyone who had served above the rank of major in Saddam's time would be automatically retired and put on pension. Those who held the rank of major or below were allowed to return to the military if qualified.

The Bush administration initially had promoted de-Baathification as a worthy and necessary goal, but later claimed that Iraqi authorities went beyond even what the Americans had contemplated to keep Saddam's supporters out of important jobs.

With the Sunni insurgency raging and political leaders making little progress in reconciliation, the Americans switched positions and urged the dismantling of de-Baathification laws.

Later, enacting and implementing legislation reinstating the fired Baath supporters became one of 18 so-called benchmark issues the U.S. sought as measures for progress in national reconciliation.

The legislation can become law only when approved by Iraq's presidential council. The council, comprised of Iraq's president and two vice presidents, is expected to ratify the measure.

Iraq to reinstate Saddam party followers

[Soldier4Christ]

 Oxford bishop backs Islamic call to prayer


The Bishop of Oxford has supported plans to broadcast the Islamic call to prayer over part of the historic city.

Welcoming proposals from Oxford's Central Mosque to sound the call three times a day over East Oxford, the Rt Rev John Pritchard said those opposed to the plan should "relax" and "enjoy community diversity".

The bishop also rejected claims by the Anglican Church's only Asian bishop that sounding the call in Britain represented an attempt to "impose an Islamic character" on some areas.

Writing in The Sunday Telegraph the Rt Rev Dr Michael Nazir-Ali of Rochester sparked fierce debate when he criticised the amplified prayer call and suggested that some parts of the country were now too dangerous for non-Muslims to enter. Bishop Pritchard said: "I want to distance myself from what the Bishop of Rochester has said.

"There are no no-go areas in this country that we are aware of and in all parts of the country there are good interfaith relationships developing."

Dozens of East Oxford residents have urged the council to reject the plan by mosque leaders to issue the two-minute call to prayer up to three times a day.

They fear that it will turn the area into a "Muslim ghetto". However, Bishop Pritchard said he was "very happy" with the move.

"I believe we have good relationships with the Muslim community here in Oxford and I am personally very happy for the mosque to call the faithful to prayer in East Oxford," he said.

But he admitted there were practical issues that needed to be resolved, such as the number of times the call went out and its volume.

[Soldier4Christ]

Saddam's 'Allah Akbar' to be Dropped from Iraqi Flag...

Saddam Hussein's handwritten praise to God will be dropped from the Iraqi flag and the symbolism behind its three green stars will be changed, according to a bill presented to parliament on Saturday.

The Iraqi flag still bears the ousted dictator's handwritten Allahu Akhbar" (God is Greater) while the three stars officially symbolise unity, freedom and socialism -- the slogan of Saddam's Baath party.

Under the new flag law, given its first reading by parliament on Saturday, the praise to God will be printed -- in yellow -- in the Kufi form of Arabic script while the stars will now represent peace, tolerance and justice.

"The Iraqi parliament read the Iraqi flag law for the first time in its session on Saturday," said Naseer al-Isawi, a Sadrist lawmaker.

"The law will be applied following the second reading in four days' time," he added.

The new law would apply for a year, after which it would be looked at again, he added.

Saddam was toppled by the US-led invasion of 2003. He was executed on December 30 2006 for crimes against humanity.

[Shammu]

Non muslim Brits being recruited for attacks by al Qaeda
12 January 2008

By Richard Elias
HUNDREDS of British non-Muslims have been recruited by al-Qaeda to wage war against the West, senior security sources warned last night.

As many as 1,500 white Britons are believed to have converted to Islam for the purpose of funding, planning and carrying out surprise terror attacks inside the UK, according to one MI5 source.

Lord Carlile, the Government's independent reviewer of anti-terrorism legislation, said many of the converts had been targeted by radical Muslims while serving prison terms.

Security experts say the growing secret army of white terrorists poses a particularly serious threat as they are far less likely to be detected than members of the Asian community.

Since the 7/7 and 21/7 London bombings, police and intelligence services have had considerable success in identifying, disrupting and stopping extremist plots. As a result, groups such as al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen have been forced to change tack. Converting white non-Muslims has been one response.

The trend is well established in the United States. American-born Adam Gadahn is one of the FBI's top 10 most-wanted terrorists after converting to Islam and rising through al-Qaeda's ranks to become a prominent spokesman.

One British security source last night told Scotland on Sunday: "There could be anything up to 1,500 converts to the fundamentalist cause across Britain. They pose a real potential danger to our domestic security because, obviously, these people blend in and do not raise any flags.

"The exact figure of those who have converted to Islam and turned to terror is not precisely known. Not everyone who converts becomes radicalised and it may be that just two-fifths go down that path, but it remains a significant and dangerous problem."

Carlile said he was not aware of specific numbers, but confirmed to Scotland on Sunday that Whitehall was aware of the new threat and was actively tackling it. He said: "These people are an issue and are potentially very dangerous. There have been cases of non-Muslims converting before, and of these, Richard Reid, the so-called Shoebomber, is the most obvious example.

"They are more difficult to detect and the security services are right to place some focus on this issue."

Carlile said the majority of converts were targeted when they were in prison: "These (converts] are outside the standard type of profile which most police forces would have of a terrorist, which is male, young, and of Middle Eastern or Asian appearance. That is why they are so potentially dangerous."

Carlile added: "The Home Office has a lot of money, millions of pounds, which is being put forward for communities and fighting radicalisation. There is no question how tackling this issue is best achieved: it is achieved at a community level."

Security experts say radical Muslims in prison have become adept at identifying potential new recruits to their cause. Those in custody for the first time, the young and the lonely are particularly susceptible.

Initially, the approach is made to comfort, console and support, with very little reference, if any, to religion.

However, after several 'chats', the conversation will be turned towards the subject and, gradually, over a period of weeks or months, it is possible to complete the conversion.

Robert Leiken, director of the Immigration and National Security Programme and a specialist on European Muslims based at the Nixon Centre in Washington DC, said: "To me, the figure of 1,500 seems reasonable as many, perhaps less than a third, will actually go on to become radicals.

"New religious recruits always tend to be more zealous than those who have grown up with that specific religion."

Edwin Bakker, a Dutch-based security specialist, has studied at length the issue of radical conversions. He said: "The question is rele
vant and timely. Newcomers to Islam are extra-sensitive to perceived discrimination of Muslims and Islam-bashing.

"They feel they have to defend Islam – one of the essential concepts of Jihad – and they feel they have to prove themselves as newcomers."

But one of Scotland's leading Muslims disputed the claims of radicalisation, saying Islam's strict moral code made it unattractive to many westerners.

Bashir Maan added: "I do not know of any Islamist terror group in Scotland and, considering as a Muslim a person must pray five times daily, abstain from drinking (and] sex outside marriage, adhere to strict dietary and many other rules, it is impossible to convert to Islam a young person brought up in this very liberal society.

"I agree that the security services must be vigilant and keep their eye on everybody, but I think in this case they seem to be over-reacting."

Non muslim Brits being recruited for attacks by al Qaeda

[Shammu]

Hizbullah leader attacks US president, says it's honor to be his enemy

Published:    01.13.08, 21:58 / Israel News

The leader of the Lebanese Hizbullah group criticized US President George W. Bush Sunday for accusing Iran of supporting militant groups in the region and calling them "terrorist," saying he is honored to be an enemy "of the Great Satan."

Sheik Hassan Nasrallah's comments came in a speech he made Sunday night in Beirut that was broadcast on a giant screen in front of thousands of supporters and followed remarks critical of Iran and Hizbullah made by Bush during his visit to the United Arab Emirates.

Hizbullah leader attacks US president, says it's honor to be his enemy

[Shammu]

  Video Threat After Austrian Politician's Anti-Islam Comments

VIENNA (AFP)--A video containing an unspecified threat to Austria was posted on the video-sharing Web site YouTube on Tuesday following anti-Islamic remarks by a hitherto unknown far-right Austrian politician.

Police said they were still evaluating the video, but had offered the Graz- based activist, Susanne Winter, personal protection after she denounced Islam's prophet and Muslim men in general as "child molesters".

Winter had accepted the added protection following her remarks at the weekend, said a spokesman for the interior ministry, Rudolph Gollia.

He said the government's anti-terrorism office was "still in the process of evaluating" the video. Nevertheless, there appeared no reason to increase security in Austria for the time being, Gollia added.

The video, lasting four minutes and 48 seconds, contained coverage of a speech Winter made at the traditional New Year's congress of the populist far-right FPOe party on Sunday.

Winter is the FPOe's candidate for the upcoming municipal elections in the southern city of Graz.

The video then showed pictures of the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001, and warned: "Look, Susanne, something like this could happen to your country and you are responsible."

"It was a mistake for you to take on ... Allah's warriors," the video said in German.

"We, the Muslims, are those warriors with whom you now have a problem."

And it continued: "This video is not only for Susanne Winter but for all infidels who have no respect for Allah and for Islam. The day will come when you will be punished."

The video ended with the words "Made by Bilal and Jasko."

Winter, hitherto little-known outside Graz, made national headlines for her comments which provoked outrage among politicians, Muslims and church leaders nationwide.

In her remarks on Sunday, Winter had described Mohammed as a "child molester" who wrote the Koran "during epileptic fits".

In a separate interview with the tabloid daily Oesterreich on Monday, Winter continued her tirade, speaking of a "tsunami of Muslim immigration" that threatened to engulf Western Europe.

And she alleged that "child abuse by Islamic men is widespread."

The comments, which were quickly slammed by Austria's mainstream political parties and religious leaders, are currently being investigated by public prosecutors to ascertain whether they constitute incitement to racial hatred.

Incitement to racial hatred is a crime punishable with up to two years' imprisonment in Austria.

Video Threat After Austrian Politician's Anti-Islam Comments 

[Shammu]

Women's Deaths Spark New Debate About 'Honor' Killings
By Penny Starr
January 15, 2008

(CNSNews) - The New Year ended just hours after it began for Sarah and Amina Yaser Said, who were found shot to death Jan.1 in Lewisville, Tex., in a taxi owned by their father, Yaser Abdel Said. Said is suspected of the double murder of his 17- and 18-year-old daughters and is still at large.

In December, 16-year-old Aqsa Parvez, a Pakistani Canadian living in Mississauga, Ontario, was allegedly strangled by her father, Muhammed Parvez. He also has apparently confessed to police, according to Canadian Broadcasting Corporation News and other Canadian media.

But were these young women just the latest victims of domestic violence or were they killed to defend the honor of their families -- "honor killings"?

Sarah and Amina's great aunt, Gail Gartrell, told reporters, "This was an honor killing." Friends of the young women said their father didn't approve of them dating.

In Aqsa Parvez's case, her refusal to cover her head with a hijab apparently led to her death, according to the National Post.

Islamic scholars and activists argue that there is no "honor" in these killings and to label them as such is just another attempt by Americans and others to vilify Islam.

"The practice of honor killings has absolutely no sanction in the Quran, the Prophetic practice or in the evolved systems of Islamic law," Imam Zaid Shakir, a scholar-in-residence at the Zaytuna Institute in Hayward, Calif., wrote in an essay posted on the New Islamic Directions Web site in July 2007. The essay was posted again on a number of Web sites a few days after the deaths of the Said sisters.

In response to Parvez's death, Sheila Musaji, an Islamic activist and founder and editor of The American Muslim journal, argues in a recent essay on several Islamic Web sites that honor killings "are not a Muslim problem because it crosses all religious lines, but it is a Muslim problem because it also exists in our community."

Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch and author of several books, including "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)," agrees that honor killing, as such, is not justified by the Quran, but continues to take place for other reasons.

"It's not religious, but that's not the end of the story," Spencer told Cybercast News Service. "It is widely encouraged and approved in a religious context," particularly in Muslim cultures in the Middle East.

Spencer said that the importance of purity in the Islamic faith also plays a role, with cleansing an intricate part of maintaining that purity - including in cases where a young woman -- or man -- is perceived to have dishonored the family with "inappropriate" behavior.

In his essay, Shakir wrote that anyone involved in a so-called honor killing should be declared "a cold-blooded murderer." And that he encouraged judicial authorities to "enact the harshest penalties possible for anyone accused of such killings."

Spencer said that has not been the case in the Middle East where many accused of the crime get light sentences. But he hopes in the case of the American and Canadian women, justice will be served.

"Unless we completely give in to multi-culturalism and hold our line on our own culture and not accept it," Spencer said.

Women's Deaths Spark New Debate About 'Honor' Killings