In the news - muslims......

[Shammu]

Hamas Admits to Using Women, Children As Human Shields
By Julie Stahl
CNSNews.com Jerusalem Bureau Chief
March 14, 2008

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - A Hamas parliamentarian has openly admitted to developing a "death-seeking" culture that uses women, children and the elderly as human shields against Israeli military attacks.

"[The enemies of Allah] do not know that the Palestinian people have developed [methods] of death and death-seeking," Hamas parliamentarian, Fathi Hammad said in a speech televised on Hamas' Al-Aksa television station two weeks ago. (A transcript was made available by the Middle East Media Research Institute on Thursday.)

"For the Palestinian people, death has become an industry, at which women excel, and so do all the people living on this land. The elderly excel at this, and so do the mujahideen and the children," Hammad said.

"This is why they have formed human shields of the women, the children, the elderly, and the mujahideen, in order to challenge the Zionist [Israel] bombing machine. It is as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: 'We desire death like you desire life,'" he said.

Days after that speech, Israel launched a military operation in the Gaza Strip to halt rocket fire against its civilian population. More than 100 Palestinians were killed during that operation. Israel said 90 percent of them were armed militants, but Palestinians complained that half were civilians, many of them children.

Israel was severely criticized by the international community for the military operation.

"Israel is faced with moral challenges unprecedented in their complexity," the Israeli Foreign Ministry said at the time.

In a statement on its Web site, the Israeli Foreign Ministry accused Hamas of deliberately launching rockets from areas populated with civilians; using civilian homes to shield its arms and explosives manufacturing facilities; and using civilians as human shields at places where air strikes were anticipated.

"In order to avoid civilian casualties, Israel sends warning messages before attacking terrorist targets, advising civilians to leave. Israel prefers to attack empty buildings used to manufacture rockets, even taking into consideration that the terrorists too will be warned and their lives spared," the Foreign Ministry said.

"Hamas, on the other hand, calls on civilians to come and to protect with their bodies the precise locations they expect Israel to attack. Since they know that Israel will usually strike from the air, they send the children to the roofs to prevent the air force from targeting that building."

The human shield tactic is not new.

In November 2006, at least a dozen Palestinian gunmen avoided Israeli capture in Gaza when they took refuge in a mosque and called on women and children to shield them so they could escape.

Hamas Admits to Using Women, Children As Human Shields
~~~~~~~~

And yet, the world condemns Israel!!

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 Islamic summit draft communique accuses Israel of 'war crimes'
By News Agencies
Tags: Islam, Islamophobia

The world's largest Muslim body will accuse Israel of committing war crimes against Palestinian civilians, according to a draft of the final communique of an Islamic summit in Senegal seen by Reuters on Friday.

"The conference denounces the current and increasing Israeli military campaign against the Palestinian people and the serious violation of human rights and war crimes including the killing and injuring of Palestinian civilians," the draft said.

It called Israel's "collective punishment of civilians" in Gaza a violation of international human rights law and said "the occupying forces must be held responsible for these war crimes".

The communique is due to be approved at the end of a two-day meeting in Dakar, Senegal, of the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the second largest inter-governmental bloc after the United Nations.

At the conference, Muslim nations also mulled taking legal measures for slights against Islam.

Concerned about what they see as a rise in the defamation of Islam, Muslim leaders at the summit are considering legal action against those who slight their religion or its sacred symbols.

The plan represents an attempt to demand redress from nations like Denmark, which allowed the publication of cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad, an incident that infuriated the Muslim world.

Though the type of legal action it could take is not fully spelled out, the threat pits the Muslim world against the principles of freedom of speech enshrined in the constitutions of numerous western governments.

"I don't think freedom of expression should mean freedom from blasphemy," said Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade, the chairman of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference on Friday. "There can be no freedom without limits."

At the summit, delegates were given a voluminous report recording anti-Islamic speech and action around the world. It cites the publication of the Danish cartoons, as well as the op-ed articles of a Somali-born Muslim woman who said women do not have rights under Islam. The report concludes that Islam is under attack and that a defense must be mounted.

"Muslims are being targeted by a campaign of defamation, denigration, stereotyping, intolerance and discrimination," said Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the secretary general of the group.

To protect the faith, Muslim nations have already created an 'observatory' that meets regularly to monitor "Islamophobia." It examines lectures and workshops taking place around the world and prints a monthly record of offensive content.

The report presented Friday urges the creation of a legal instrument to crack down on defamation of Islam, but it is unclear what kind of legal action could be taken. Some delegates point to laws in Europe criminalizing the denial of the Holocaust and other anti-Semitic rhetoric. They also point to articles within various UN charters that condemn discrimination based on religion and argue that these should be made stronger.

"In our relation with the western world, we are going through a difficult time," Ihsanoglu told the summit's general assembly. "Islamophobia cannot be dealt with only through cultural activities but [through] a robust political engagement," he said.

In reaction, the International Humanist and Ethical Union in Geneva issued a statement accusing the Islamic states of attempting to limit freedom of expression and of attempting to misuse the UN.

Islamic summit draft communique accuses Israel of 'war crimes'

[Shammu]

The world's largest Muslim body will accuse Israel of committing war crimes against Palestinian civilians, according to a draft of the final communique of an Islamic summit in Senegal seen by Reuters on Friday.

"The conference denounces the current and increasing Israeli military campaign against the Palestinian people and the serious violation of human rights and war crimes including the killing and injuring of Palestinian civilians," the draft said.

It called Israel's "collective punishment of civilians" in Gaza a violation of international human rights law and said "the occupying forces must be held responsible for these war crimes".

And what about there own "war crimes" against civilians??

Concerned about what they see as a rise in the defamation of Islam, Muslim leaders at the summit are considering legal action against those who slight their religion or its sacred symbols.

Yet the muslims have no problem destroying sacred symbols, of other religion. I think it's time for another koran burning.

"In our relation with the western world, we are going through a difficult time," Ihsanoglu told the summit's general assembly.

Because the western world won't put up with there baloney.

[Shammu]

Dozens killed near Iraqi shrine
17 March 2008, 18:16 GMT

 A female suicide bomber has killed at least 42 people and injured 58 in the Shia Iraqi holy city of Karbala, Iraqi health officials say.

The bomb went off near the Imam Hussein shrine, reportedly inside a cafe, and eyewitnesses described seeing bodies scattered across the street.

Seven Iranians are believed to be among the dead, health officials say.

The city has seen deadly bomb attacks in the past, with about 100 people killed in two blasts last April.

Officials suspect al-Qaeda insurgents were behind the bombing in the city 80km (50 miles) south of Baghdad, but no group has claimed responsibility.

In the Iraqi capital Baghdad, a mortar attack by unidentified insurgents killed five people and wounded seven on a football pitch.

Earlier in the day, bombs in and around the city killed at least two Iraqi civilians and two US soldiers.

The attacks came during an official visit to Iraq by the US Vice-President, Dick Cheney.

'Smoke and bodies'

The bomb went off in a cafe for day labourers, Reuters news agency reports.



"I was talking with a friend and eating bread a few metres away from the cafe and I suddenly heard a huge explosion and I was thrown to the floor," Mohammed Kadhem, 39, was quoted as saying.

"I saw smoke and bodies."

Hassan Khazim, 36, who was wounded in the face, told the Associated Press he had seen "bodies flying in the air".

"All the tight security measures designed to protect us were in vain," he said.

As a city holy to Shia Muslims, Karbala attracts pilgrims from neighbouring Shia-majority Iran, as well as the mainly Shia south of Iraq.

Aqeel Khazali, governor of Karbala province, confirmed the bomber had been a woman but gave few other details.

Provocation

On 28 April of last year, a car bomb killed at least 55 people and injured about 70 in Karbala, two weeks after a suicide bomber killed at least 42 people in the city.

Monday's attack would seem to be an act calculated to provoke Iraqi Shia Muslims at a time when one of the country's largest Shia militias, the Mehdi army, has declared a ceasefire and reigned in its fighters, the BBC's Adam Brookes reports.

But it would seem to continue an increase in violence noticeable in the last few weeks, our correspondent says.

Mr Cheney was paying a flying visit to Baghdad.

He met senior Shia leaders and said that Iraq's people had the unwavering support of the US as they consolidated their democracy.

Dozens killed near Iraqi shrine

[Shammu]

 Libyan leader opens mosque in Uganda in bid to spread Islam through Africa

The Associated Press
Wednesday, March 19, 2008

KAMPALA, Uganda: In his drive to spread Libyan and Islamic influence in Africa, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi inaugurated a huge new mosque in this predominantly Christian country Wednesday, with several African heads of states attending and scores of Arab journalists flown in for the occasion.

Packed in Kampala's soccer stadium, a crowd estimated at 10,000 to 15,000 chanted "long live Brother Gadhafi" before the Libyan leader delivered an hour-long lecture on the meaning of Islam.

Gadhafi, who celebrates the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad a day earlier than most Sunni Muslims, had chosen the religious holiday to inaugurate the huge new Gadhafi National Mosque, which is touted by Libyan officials as Africa's second-largest.

"Muhammad is everybody's prophet. He was sent to all mankind, unlike the other prophets before him," Gadhafi told the rally, which included brass-bands and neatly uniformed schoolchildren, who waived Gadhafi posters along with organizers of the "World Islamic Call Society" — all wearing T-shirts of the Libyan leader.

A half dozen African heads of state, including Kenya's Mwai Kibaki, Gabon's Omar Bongo and Rwanda's Paul Kagame, joined Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to greet the Libyan leader, who was the driving force behind creation of the African Union and wields considerable influence both with African governments and rebel movements.

"He who doesn't accept Islam in the end will be a loser," Gadhafi said in Arabic in a speech simultaneously translated into English, while Museveni, a born-again Protestant Christian, sat frowning by his side.

Fewer than 20 percent of Uganda's 30 million population are Muslim. Kalfan M'barak, a medical doctor in the crowd, said his ancestors had converted "generations ago" through contact with Arab and Muslim merchants. "There is absolutely no friction here. You can find two religions inside one family."

Ugandan religious tolerance was on display as heads of state and guests, regardless of their creed, crammed into the new mosque to celebrate.

"I congratulate you for the birthday of Muhammad. I didn't realize" ... that Muslims celebrate the equivalent of Christmas," Museveni said during a brief ceremony inside the mosque.

The complex, which is Uganda's biggest building, can accommodate more than 30,000 people and took more than 30 years to complete, religious officials say. Gadhafi began funding construction in 2001, but officials would not say how much he paid.

"It was the president of Uganda who asked us to build the mosque, and schools for Muslims," said Ahmed Gadhaf al-Dam, Gadhafi's cousin and close aide. "Helping Ugandans is part of the leader's continued efforts for inter-African solidarity."

But some in the crowd found the Libyan presence overbearing, complaining that Gadhafi's large security detail controlled the whole event. At one point, Libyan security guards scuffled with their Ugandan counterparts and bodyguards of the Rwandan president, until senior officials intervened.

Dozens of sheiks, tribal and religious leaders were brought here for the event from as far away as Pakistan and Malaysia.

"We came here on the invitation of the 'guide of the revolution,' he sent one of his special planes to fetch us," said Gibrila Yayah, the king of the Sonrai, an important nomad tribe on Mali's border with Algeria.

Sheik Imad Essawi, a leader of a Bedouin tribe from Iraq, said it was his first time in Africa.

"It's not as hot as southern Iraq in summer," he said. Like most of Gadhafi's guests, he was wearing his traditional tribal costume. Organizers also handed out baseball caps with the Libyan leader's image to the 80 Arab journalists flown-in from Cairo on a special plane.

Islam is on the rise throughout sub-Saharan Africa, and some of the chiefs lauded Gadhafi's efforts to promote their religion with Black Africans.

"It's great, there's lots of people here to celebrate," said Sherif Abidine Kouta, who said he'd been invited because his nomadic Arab tribe had helped introduce Islam into West Africa. "For them, it is the beginning of their learning."

Nearby, 8-year-old Dragilio Nangera and 13-year-old Mark Santong were performing a traditional African skit dance while chants of "Allahu Akbar," or God is Great, blasted through the microphones at the stadium.

"I'm not Muslim, but this is great fun," Santong said.

Libyan leader opens mosque in Uganda in bid to spread Islam through Africa

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Benny-boy Laden slams EU over prophet cartoons

By PAUL SCHEMM, Associated Press Writer Wed Mar 19, 7:58 PM ET

CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden criticized the publication of drawings insulting to the Prophet Muhammad in a new audio message posted late Wednesday and warned Europeans of a strong reaction to come.

The message, which appeared on a militant Web site that has carried al-Qaida statements in the past and bore the logo of the extremist group's media wing al-Sahab, showed a still image of bin Laden aiming with an AK-47.

The five-minute message issued a warning to Europeans but made no mention of the fifth anniversary Wednesday of the U.S.-led invasion in Iraq.

"The response will be what you see and not what you hear and let our mothers bereave us if we do not make victorious our messenger of God," said a voice believed to be bin Laden's, without specifying what action would be taken.

The tape came as the Muslim world marks the Prophet Muhammad's birthday on Thursday and amid the reigniting of a two-year-old controversy over some Danish cartoons deemed by Muslims to be insulting. Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet, even favorable, for fear it could lead to idolatry.

On Feb. 13, Danish newspapers republished a cartoon showing Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban to show their commitment to freedom of speech after police said they had uncovered a plot to kill the artist.

Danish intelligence service said the reprinting of the cartoon had brought "negative attention" to Denmark and may have increased the risk to Danes at home and abroad.

The original 12 cartoons first published in a Danish newspaper triggered major protests in Muslim countries in 2006. There have been renewed protests in the last month.

Adam Raisman, senior analyst at the SITE Institute, a Washington-based group that monitors terror messages, said that the tape's release coincides with an increased buzz in online jihadi forums calling for revenge on Europe over the cartoons.

But Raisman noted that bin Laden's message did not specifically mention the republishing of the cartoons, only the publishing, and it did not give any other time landmarks to prove it had been recorded since then.

Raisman also noted bin Laden's silence on Wednesday's fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

"The tape doesn't give any specific evidence that would allow us to determine when it was recorded," Raisman said.

In the message, Bin Laden described the cartoons as taking place in the framework of a "new Crusade" against Islam, in which the Pope has played a "large and lengthy role."

"You went overboard in your unbelief and freed yourselves of the etiquettes of dispute and fighting and went to the extent of publishing these insulting drawings," said the voice believed to be Bin Laden's. "This is the greatest misfortune and the most dangerous and the judgment for it will be stronger."

The five-minute message, which featured English subtitles, is bin Laden's first for 2008 and follows up an hour-long, audio missive from Dec. 29 in which he warned Iraq's Sunni Arabs against fighting Al-Qaida in Iraq and vowed new attacks on Israel.

In the tape posted late Wednesday, Bin Laden also attacked his long-time nemesis, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, whom he described as the "crownless king in Riyadh" and said he could have ended the entire dispute over the cartoons if he had wanted because of his influence with European governments.

Bin Laden, who hails from a powerful Saudi family, was stripped of his citizenship in 1994 after criticizing Saudi Arabia for allowing U.S. troops on its soil.

Bin Laden slams EU over prophet cartoons

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Benny-boy Laden message: Iraq is 'perfect base'
updated 3 hours, 21 minutes ago

(CNN) -- Al-Jazeera broadcast on Thursday an audiotape on which a voice identified as Osama bin Laden declares "Iraq is the perfect base to set up the jihad to liberate Palestine."

The voice calls for the people of neighboring countries "to do their best in supporting their mujahedeen brothers in Iraq."

"My speech to you is about the siege of Gaza and the way to liberate it," he said.

"The Gaza siege is a direct result of Annapolis," he adds, apparently referring to the site of November's summit in Annapolis, Maryland, where Israeli and Palestinian leadership agreed to work toward a two-state solution.

The voice also calls on "Muslims in the neighboring countries" to support the "mujahedeen in Iraq."

The broadcast comes a day after another statement attributed to the al Qaeda leader condemned European countries for siding with the United States in Afghanistan and for allowing the publication of cartoons considered insulting to Islam's prophet, Mohammed.

"This is the greater and more serious tragedy, and the reckoning for it will be more severe," the speaker in the five-minute audio recording says.

The speaker said Muslims have not responded by mocking Jesus, whom they consider a prophet as well.

"The laws of men which clash with the legislation of Allah the Most High are null and void, aren't sacred and don't matter to us," he said.

The speaker dismissed claims of free speech in his statement, citing European countries' laws against denying the existence of the Holocaust.

Bin Laden also said in his earlier message that "the crownless king in Riyadh" -- Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah -- could have prevented the publication of the cartoons "if it mattered to him."

"If there is no check on the freedom of your words, then let your hearts be open to the freedom of our actions," he said.

Though the voice sounds like bin Laden, CNN has not been able to confirm that it is him. However, a radical Islamist Web site reported earlier Wednesday that a statement from bin Laden was coming soon.

The notice appeared on Al-Ekhlaas, known for carrying statements and videos from al Qaeda and its allies.

Analysis of previous statements has indicated that bin Laden was the speaker, and a U.S. intelligence official said there was no reason to think the recorded voice was not bin Laden's.

Bin Laden, who was behind the terrorist network's September 11 attacks, has been in hiding since the U.S. assault on Afghanistan that followed those strikes.

His last public statement was an audio message issued in December, when he urged his followers in Iraq to continue battling U.S. troops there.

Wednesday marked the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

The latest statement included no date reference beyond the cartoon controversy, which began in late 2005 when a Danish newspaper published a dozen cartoons about Islam, including one that depicted Mohammed wearing a turban resembling a bomb.

Violent protests erupted in early 2006 after other European newspapers reprinted the images as a matter of free speech.

Some Muslims believe it is forbidden by the Quran to show an image of the prophet at all, and others were offended that the cartoon by artist Kurt Westergaard appeared to depict Mohammed as a terrorist.

Westergaard said he wanted his cartoon to say that some people exploited the prophet to legitimize terror.

Several newspapers in Denmark reprinted the controversial cartoons in February after Danish authorities arrested several people who were said to be plotting a "terror-related assassination" of the cartoonist.

That sparked violent protests in three Afghan cities this month, with Muslim students burning flags and chanting anti-Western statements.

The message said the publication of the drawings in question "came in the framework of a new crusade in which the Pope of the Vatican has played a large, lengthy role."

Pope Benedict is scheduled to visit the United States next month, with scheduled stops at the White House, the United Nations and Ground Zero, where the Twin Towers stood until al Qaeda's attack.

Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne of the New York City Police Department said the department "has been working closely with the United States Secret Service to provide the highest level of protection possible" during the Pope's visit to New York.

Purported bin Laden message: Iraq is 'perfect base'

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'Mohammed Cartoons Worse Than Killing of Women and Children'
By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com International Editor
March 20, 2008

(CNSNews.com) - The publication of cartoons satirizing Mohammed was a "greater and more serious tragedy" than the killing of Arab women and children by Western military forces, and the "reckoning for it will be more severe," said a message released Wednesday, purportedly featuring the voice of Osama bin (Benny-boy) Laden.

Released on an extremist Web site, the message also accused the pope of playing a key role in "a new crusade" against Muslims; described President Bush as "oppressive," and referred derisively to Saudi King Abdullah as "the crownless king in Riyadh."

The message evidently was recorded within the past five weeks, since it refers to the reappearance of one of the dozen newspaper cartoon interpretations of the Muslim prophet that first roiled the Islamic world in early 2006. Danish papers republished the sketch on Feb. 13, in a show of solidarity after the uncovering of a plot to kill the cartoonist.

The released videoclip featured a still graphic of the fugitive Saudi terrorist holding an assault rifle, a voiceover in Arabic, and an English translation text. At the top of the screen were the words, "May our mothers be bereaved of us if we fail to help our prophet (peace be upon him)." The logo of As-Sahab, al-Qaeda's so-called media wing allegedly run by American Muslim convert Adam Gadahn, also appeared.

Although the message was released on the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, it made no mention of the date and said little about the war itself, instead dealing largely with the cartoon issue.

Addressing the "intelligent ones" of the European Union, it accuses them of neglecting to take the necessary steps to prevent the reappearance of the "insulting drawings."

The message attributed to bin Laden rejected the free speech argument supporting publication of the cartoons, ridiculing what he called "the sacredness you accord freedom of expression and the sacredness of your laws."

If freedom of expression was sacred, the voice asked, "on what basis do you suppress those who cast doubt on the statistics of an historical event?" - an apparent reference to laws in some European countries outlawing Holocaust denial.

"The laws of men which clash with the legislations of Allah the Most High are null and void, aren't sacred, and don't matter to us," he said, warning, "if there is no check on the freedom of your words, then let your hearts be open to the freedom of our actions."

The last message attributed to bin Laden that directly addressed Europeans, released last November, focused on the "unjust war" in Afghanistan. A late December message warned Iraqis not to oppose al-Qaeda and to oppose the U.S.-backed government in Baghdad.

Bin Laden, whose al-Qaeda terrorist network carried out the 9/11 attacks and has a $50 million reward on his head, is presumed to be somewhere in the mountainous Pakistan-Afghanistan border region.

Gadahn, a California native, has been charged with treason and other serious crimes, and carries a reward of up to $1 million.

Many Muslims consider images of Mohammed and biblical figures whom they regard as Islamic prophets to be blasphemous.

Denmark's largest circulation daily paper in September 2005 published 12 artists' cartoon depictions of Mohammed in what it said was a desire to test the limits of free speech.

Among the more controversial of the sketches was one showing a man wearing a turban shaped like a bomb, with its fuse lit. Another showed "Mohammed" with blacked-out eyes, armed with a dagger and flanked by burqa-clad women. In another cartoon, the points of a crescent moon half-hidden behind the man's head suggested a pair of horns.

Initial reaction was muted, but after Danish Muslim clerics toured the Middle East to drum up support, protests - some violent - erupted in several Islamic countries in early 2006 and a boycott of Danish goods ensued. Meanwhile, newspapers and magazines in many other countries also ran the cartoons.

The furor fuelled a campaign by Islamic nations against the "defamation" of Islam and its prophets, and some of their governments reacted angrily last month after Danish newspapers reprinted the turban-bomb cartoon last month.

'Mohammed Cartoons Worse Than Killing of Women and Children'

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Benny-boy Laden urges jihad for Palestinians

By MAAMOUN YOUSSEF and KATARINA KRATOVAC, Associated Press Writers 35 minutes ago

CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden lashed out Thursday at Palestinian peace negotiations with Israel and called for a holy war to liberate the Palestinian lands.

A day after a bin Laden audio on a militant Web site threatened Europeans, Al-Jazeera TV broadcast audio excerpts attributed to the al-Qaida leader that urge Palestinians to ignore political parties "mired in trickery of the blasphemous democracy" and to rely on armed might.

"Palestine cannot be retaken by negotiations and dialogue, but with fire and iron," he said.

It was the first time bin Laden spoke of the Palestinian question at length since the deteriorating situation in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military has been fighting with militants who fire rockets into southern Israel.

Bin Laden added that Palestinians who are unable to fight in the "land of Al-Quds" — a Muslim reference to Jerusalem — should join the al-Qaida fight in Iraq.

"The nearest field of jihad today to support our people in Palestine is the Iraqi field," he said.

He also called on the people of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to "help in support of their mujahedeen brothers in Iraq, which is the greatest opportunity and the biggest task."

Al-Jazeera did not say how it obtained the recording, which was broadcast with an old photograph of bin Laden in a white headscarf and traditional Arab dress.

There was no indication how recently the recording was made, or if it was an unreleased part of the audio posted late Wednesday on an extremist Web site that has carried al-Qaida statements in the past. The two messages were bin Laden's first this year.

In the first recording, bin Laden accused Pope Benedict XVI of helping in a "new Crusade" against Muslims and warned of a "severe" reaction for Europeans' publication of cartoons seen by Muslims as insulting Islam's prophet.

In the audio on Al-Jazeera, bin Laden said the sufferings of Palestinians in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip began when Arab leaders supported the U.S.-hosted Mideast peace conference in Annapolis, Md., and the "Zionist entity," the militant name for Israel

The mention of the Annapolis summit in November was the only time reference given in the audio.

"By their support, they are considered partners to this horrible crime," bin Laden said of Arab leaders who are backing the Mideast peace talks.

He appeared to be seeking to merge the Palestinian cause into the wider al-Qaida struggle. There have been concerns al-Qaida would try to increase its influence in Palestinian territories, with supporters of the terror network calling for such action on Web sites.

Israel has been battling Hamas in Gaza since the Islamic militant group took control of the strip last June from followers of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Israeli air raids are common in Gaza and militants fire rockets into Israeli towns near the strip.

"Palestine will not return to us with the negotiations by the submissive rulers, their conferences, nor by demonstrations and elections," bin Laden said. "Palestine will come back to us if we awaken from our ignorance and adhere to our religion and sacrifice our lives and means to it."

Although al-Qaida has previously released two messages in as many days — most recently by bin Laden's top deputy Ayman al-Zawahri in December — the latest two appeared to be the closest by bin Laden, said Ben Venzke, head of IntelCenter, a U.S. group that monitors militant messages.

"Al-Qaida has been making a concerted effort to be responsive to developments in news cycle and to respond to current events with their perspective on it," Venzke said. "The situation in Gaza and the reprinting of cartoons was something bin Laden felt was important to address."

A militant Web site that frequently carries al-Qaida postings, said later Thursday that it expected bin Laden's new audio on "The Way to Salvage Palestine" soon.

In Israel, Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel told The Associated Press that Israel does not comment on bin Laden's statements.

Saeb Erekat, a negotiator for Abbas' Palestinian administration, said it was up to all parties in the talks to show that bin Laden's path isn't the way.

"We and the international community must prove him wrong, because we have been pursuing peace through negotiations, and I believe the parties involved must make every effort to make the year 2008 a year of peace," Erekat said.

The audio released Wednesday raised concerns al-Qaida was plotting attacks in Europe. Some experts said bin Laden, believed to be hiding along the Afghan-Pakistan area, might be unable to organize attacks himself and was trying to fan anger over the cartoons to inspire violence by supporters.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the contents of bin Laden's message "are filled with hate and encouraging people to murder innocents in the name of a perverted and depraved cause."

A Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Thursday that bin Laden's accusation about the pope was baseless. He said Benedict repeatedly criticized the Muhammad cartoons, first published in some European newspapers in 2006 and republished by Danish papers in February.

Bin Laden urges jihad for Palestinians

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Parliament dissolved in Kuwait amid wrangling

By Andrew England in Cairo
March 20 2008 03:03

The ruler of oil-rich Kuwait on Wednesday dissolved parliament following months of wrangling between the government and parliament, disputes which Kuwaitis say have impeded the state’s development as it enjoys huge inflows of petrodollars.

Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, the emir, took the decision after the entire cabinet resigned on Monday complaining of a lack of co-operation from parliamentarians. New elections were expected to be scheduled for May, and many Kuwaitis will be hoping that the polls will usher in a more efficient government and parliament.

Business leaders argue that the national assembly focuses on petty issues, while also complaining that the government lacks the strong leadership required to drive through economic reforms. As its Gulf neighbours announce swathes of new mega-projects, concerns are being raised that Kuwait is lagging behind.

One area where the impact has been conspicuous is in the oil sector, with plans first raised more than a decade ago to give international oil companies (IOCs) more involvement in the industry still on hold because of parliamentary objections and the constant cycle of changes in the oil ministry. The post of oil minister has been vacant since November.

Officials with the state Kuwait Petroleum Corporation told the Financial Times that, without greater input from foreign companies, the Opec oil cartel member would struggle to meet targets to increase oil and gas production significantly.

KPC has set goals to increase domestic oil production from around 2.6m barrels per day to 3m by 2010 and 4m-bpd by 2020, and plans to invest 5.7bn dinar ($21.3bn, €13.6bn, £10.7bn) in domestic upstream development over the next five years as part of an overall $53.2bn programme of spending on both international and internal projects.

It also hopes to begin production of non-associated gas for the first time this year with an early production facility intended to produce 175m standard cubic feet per day, with the goal of production rising to 600m cu ft during 2011 and 1bn cu ft per day by 2015.

However, gas production is new to Kuwait, and in order to meet its medium- and long-term oil targets it will have to exploit heavy oil for the first time, as well as more technically challenging fields – areas that will require skills and resources that Kuwait lacks.

To achieve its aims, KPC is seeking to revitalise a plan launched in the mid-1990s known as “Project Kuwait” which would have enabled IOCs to be awarded 20-year “operating services contracts”. The contracts would prevent them having equity in a project or “booking reserves”, but would enable them to be the operator, giving them performance incentives and allowing them 50 per cent recovery of operating costs and capital expenditure, officials say.

Since the state nationalised its oil industry in the 1970s, foreign companies have been restricted to service contracts. Kuwait is the world’s 11th-largest oil producer and holds around 8 per cent of the world’s proven reserves.

In a bid to get Project Kuwait back on track, the Oil Development Company – a KPC subsidiary responsible for the scheme – is conducting a new study to review the economics and viability of the plan, which is due to be completed by the end of this quarter, says Hashim El-Rifaai, managing director of the ODC.

It is the first such move since 2004, and Mr Rifaai says preliminary studies indicate it is still viable, but adds that, if the project does not get off the ground this year, its future will be doubtful.

The dissolution of parliament could either help or hinder the process, depending on whether a new government and parliament are able to show greater co-operation.

“This is the year we will either make or break [Project Kuwait] because we cannot tolerate delays in decision-making any longer and we will have to rethink our upstream strategy, the 3m target, the 4m target,” Mr Rifaai says.

In 2003, three consortiums – led by BP, Exxon Mobil and Chevron – pre-qualified and if the plan moved forward the contract would be awarded to one of them. But Mr Rifaai says, given the delays, as well as the pressure on oil and service companies suffering from shortages of equipment and human resources, the IOCs are becoming “very impatient”.

“All of us are under tremendous stress and until we have a political solution we may miss the opportunity,” he says.

Parliament dissolved in Kuwait amid wrangling

[Shammu]

    If Europe Adopts Shari'a, It Will Revert to Pre-Enlightenment Era

In a February 26, 2008 article in the Arab liberal e-journal Elaph, Libyan-European liberal thinker and entrepreneur Muhammad 'Abd Al-Muttalib Al-Houni wrote that the recent statements by Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams on implementing shari'a law in Britain constituted dangerous encouragement to fundamentalists in their war against the Enlightenment. He added that such statements could have very grave repercussions for the struggle for freedom in Muslim countries as well.

The following are excerpts from Al-Houni's article:

Would Europe Have Islamic Courts, or Would We Send European Judges to the Taliban to Learn Shari'a?

"I recently read a statement by the head of the Anglican Church [Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams], the upshot of which was that there was nothing wrong with the British legal system adopting some laws from Islamic shari'a and their implementing them for British citizens of the Islamic faith.

"There has already been a great clamor [and argument] between supporters and opponents of these statements, so I thought that I, as a Muslim citizen of Europe, would take up this thorny subject and attempt to understand this statement and its implications. [I do this] in order to shed light on what would happen in Europe if its countries were to adopt the kinds of measures that the English archbishop is demanding.

"I do not think that this demand that some laws from Islamic shari'a be adopted into European law is [meant] to include shari'a criminal law - that is, punishments such as killing the apostate (a Muslim who converts to another religion), amputating a thief's hand, cutting off a brigand's opposing hand and foot... stoning the adulterer to death, publicly flogging wine drinkers, killing homosexuals by throwing them from a high place, or allowing a relative of a [murder] victim to deal with the murderer, instead of the state.

"I imagine that the archbishop is referring [only] to Islamic shari'a laws regarding personal status. So let us imagine these laws being implemented in European courts.

"First of all, on the procedural side, there would need to be Islamic courts in European countries to adjudicate in all disputes involving European Muslim citizens - or else a large number of European judges would have to be sent to the Taliban to learn shari'a thoroughly enough to implement its laws.

"Also, European countries seeking to implement shari'a would need to submit their reservations regarding any international conventions they may have signed. This is because they will have to:

"1) Permit polygamy for European Muslim citizens, and not punish them for it - [even though] this is considered criminal under European law;

"2) Permit European Muslim citizens to beat their wives to discipline them, as the Koran urges;

"3) Allow men to unilaterally decide to divorce without requiring any court proceedings, as this is a right guaranteed [to men] by shari'a;

"4) Give daughters [only] half the inheritance rights that sons have, while widows receive only an eighth of the inheritance;

"5) [Not] consider women's testimony the equal of men's in shari'a courts;

"6) Deprive a divorced woman of custody of her children if she remarries;

"7) Allow European Muslim citizens to marry in traditional marriages without the need to officially register these marriages;

" Eliminate adoption, since it is contrary to shari'a;

"9) Force a woman whose Muslim husband converts to another religion to divorce him, because he is an apostate;

"10) Prevent European Muslim women from marrying non-Muslims…"

Adopting Shari'a Would Undermine the Concept of Citizenship

"If [Archbishop Rowan's] intention is to introduce some or all of these laws from Islamic shari'a into Europe's legal systems, it would mean the following:

"1) The concept of citizenship in Europe will change. There will be [different] classes of citizenship and of citizens, with some citizens being exempt from having the general law applied to them because they belong to a particular religion or belief. There will be a Muslim [class of] citizen, a Christian [class of] citizen, a Buddhist [class of] citizen, a Confucian [class of] citizen, and so on. Each will apply his own laws... Thus, faith will not be an individual freedom or belief; it will [come to] have extremely serious public ramifications.

"2) If some or all of these laws were implemented and recognized by European legislative bodies, it would not only seriously damage human rights legislation - it would spell the end [of this legislation]. This is because everything I mentioned above is a negation of human rights principles.

"3) Recognizing all, or [even] some, of these laws would take European societies back to the age before the Enlightenment and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As a result, the West would revert to barbarism."

Is the Anglican Church a Partner in Fundamentalism?

"While I maintain that the European countries will never accede to these catastrophic demands - for reasons more practical than humanist - the fact that they were proposed by the British archbishop sends the wrong message to the Islamic world. The gist of this message is that there is no contradiction between Islamic shari'a and Western civilization if [shari'a] applies [only] for Muslim citizens.

"What is the Anglican Church trying to achieve, and what interest does it have in such cartoonish proclamations? I believe that it wants achieve the following goals:

"To absolve itself of responsibility in the eyes of fundamentalist Muslims, who will be persuaded [by the Church's statements] that the clash is not between Christians and their Church [on the one hand] and Muslims [on the other] but a clash between Muslims and secular states. This will create greater hostility among Muslim citizens of European countries to their [host] countries, and will lead to increased violence and terrorism in the future…

"These statements [by the Archbishop of Canterbury] also mean that the Church - or at least part of it - still does not believe in human rights legislation, and takes every opportunity to cast doubt on the universality and comprehensiveness of the humanist principles [underlying] it.

"Lastly, it this means that the mosques that are controlled by extremist Muslims in Europe do not have a monopoly on fundamentalism and on preventing [Muslim] citizens from assimilating into public life. Rather, the Church itself has, through these statements, become a charter member in this dangerous game."

How Can Muslim Secularists Oppose Shari'a When the Anglican Church Supports It?

"Although the demands announced by the bishop are far from implementation in a Europe that long ago distanced itself from medieval values and thought, the reverberations of these demands will have a grave [impact] on the Islamic world.

"The Islamic world has been suffering from fundamentalist attacks on what is left of secular society in their countries. These fundamentalists want to implement a shari'a law that contravenes human rights, taking as their model and inspiration the seventh-century state [established by] the Prophet Muhammad in Medina.

"At present, these [fundamentalists] are picking fights with the secularists in Islamic countries, and their attitude is: 'How can you oppose shari'a law in your own countries when we see that the Anglican Church is seeking its implementation in Europe?

"This message is wrong, and it is detrimental to all pleas for modernism and secularism in the Islamic world. Such [pleas] are weak enough as it is, overpowered as they are by the tsunami of Islamist extremists who accuse [those who voice] them of subordination [to the West], treason, and heresy. Such statements by some Anglican clerics are nothing less than support for the ideas of Islamist extremists, and are also an attempt to make fundamentalist religious thought triumph over secular thought in the Islamic countries.

"I believe that monotheistic religious fundamentalists, whether Christian, Muslim, or Jewish, can, despite the deep-seated historical hostility among them, ally with each other and join efforts to wage war on Enlightenment thought… The[ir ideologies all] contain the same germ - the claim to absolute truth that applies to all times and all places."

If Europe Adopts Shari'a, It Will Revert to Pre-Enlightenment Era

[Shammu]

 Dutch protest against Islam film
At least 1,000 people have taken part in a demonstration in Amsterdam against the planned release of a film expected to be highly critical of Islam.

Protesters objected to the planned internet release of the film by Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders.

Mr Wilders says the 15-minute film deals with Islamic ideology which he describes as "the enemy of freedom".

The planned release, expected before the end of this month, has sparked angry responses in the Muslim world.

Some protesters in central Amsterdam carried signs that said "Stop the witch hunt against Muslims".

"We can no longer remain silent. There is a climate of hate and fear in the Netherlands," said Rene Danen, a spokesman from anti-racism organisation Nederland Bekent Kleur (The Netherlands Shows its Colours), which organised the protest.

The Dutch government has disassociated itself from Mr Wilders' views, but there are fears the film will spark protests similar to those that followed the publication in Denmark two years ago of cartoons seen as offensive to Muslims.

The film has already been condemned by several Muslim countries, including Iran and Pakistan.

'Fight for freedom'

Mr Wilders' film is entitled Fitna, an Arabic word used to describe strife or discord, usually religious.

Mr Wilders wrote a commentary in a Dutch newspaper on Saturday.

"The film is not so much about Muslims as about the Koran and Islam. The Islamic ideology has as its utmost goal the destruction of what is most dear to us, our freedom," he wrote in De Volkskrant.

"Fitna is the last warning for the West. The fight for freedom has only just begun," he said.

Mr Wilders says he plans to release his film on the internet before the end of the month.

He has had police protection since Dutch director Theo van Gogh was killed by a radical Islamist in 2004.

Dutch protest against Islam film
~~~~~~~

Mr Wilders says the 15-minute film deals with Islamic ideology which he describes as "the enemy of freedom"

I'd say Mr. Wilders is 100% correct!!

[Shammu]

Dutch anti-Koran film's Web site shut down
March 23, 2008

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -- The Web site where Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders was promoting his not-yet-released anti-Koran film has been suspended by its U.S. hosting service.

The site formerly showed the film's title, "Fitna" -- "Coming Soon" -- and an image of a gilded Koran. Now it shows a note that the company -- Network Solutions -- is investigating whether the site violates its terms of service.

"Network Solutions has received a number of complaints regarding this site that are under investigation," the note said.

While the exact contents of the 15-minute movie, due to be released by March 31, are unknown, Wilders has said it will underscore his view that Islam's holy book is "fascist."

Dutch officials fear the movie could spark violent protests in Muslim countries, similar to those two years ago after the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper.

Wilders has said he will release his movie on the Internet after television stations refused to air it.

Wilders, who lives under police protection due to death threats, could not immediately be reached for comment Easter Sunday.

"How many ways are there left for me to be worked against?" he was quoted saying Saturday night by Dutch press agency ANP.

"If necessary, I'll go hand out DVDs personally on the Dam," he said, referring to Amsterdam's central square.

Thousands demonstrated on the Dam against Wilders' film Saturday in a protest intended to show that he does not represent the whole country.

Wilders heads a reactionary party with nine seats in the 150-member Dutch parliament, elected on an anti-immigration platform.

Network Solutions could not immediately be reached for comment. Its terms of service contains a sweeping prohibition against "objectionable material of any kind or nature."

A Dutch court will hear a complaint lodged by Muslim groups seeking to bar Wilders from releasing the film March 28, but there is no legal barrier preventing Wilders from releasing his film before then.

It was not clear whether YouTube or other video sharing sites would be willing to host the movie.

Last month, YouTube was inaccessible globally for several hours after the government of Pakistan blocked it, citing what it said were offensive clips in which Wilders made denigrating remarks about Islam.

Dutch anti-Koran film's Web site shut down

[Shammu]

Bashir urges attacks on 'infidel' Australians

Natasha Robinson | March 24, 2008

ISLAMIC cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has returned to his hardline rhetoric with a call for followers to "beat up" Western tourists and for young Muslims to die as martyrs.

In the sermon, organised by an Islamic youth organisation and delivered a few kilometres from the home village of convicted Bali bombers Amrozi and Mukhlas, Bashir likened tourists in Bali to "worms, snakes, maggots", and specifically referred to the immorality of Australian infidels.

The address was caught on video by an Australian university student.

"The youth movement here must aspire to a martyrdom death," said the cleric, who was convicted of conspiracy over the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, but was later cleared and released from prison.

"The young must be first at the front line - don't hide at the back. You must be at the front, die as martyrs and all your sins will be forgiven. This is how to achieve forgiveness."

Observers said the sermon's content was a clear indication of what many terrorism academics have noted - that the accused spiritual head of Jemaah Islamiah has been emboldened by his release from prison last year after serving 26 months for conspiracy in relation to the Bali blasts.

"Immediately after Abu Bakar Bashir was released from incarceration he was very cautious in spreading hatred," said Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University. "The remarks show that Abu Bakar Bashir has gone back to the pre-incarceration period where he was in a very similar way urging JI members, encouraging JI members to move in the direction of violence, especially violence including terrorism."

The sermon was organised by the youth group Persatuan Pemuda Islam Pantura (Java North Coast Islamic Youth Group) and delivered on October 22 last year.

It was captured on videotape by Darwin-based political science PhD student Nathan Franklin, who was conducting research at Islamic boarding schools in east Java.

Bashir's address was observed by the village's police chief and a horde of plain-clothes Indonesian police officers. It was also attended by relatives of Amrozi, who travelled to the sermon from the Bali bomber's former Islamic boarding school on the village's outskirts.

The cleric has warned of retribution should the Bali bombers be executed by firing squad.

During the sermon, Bashir talked of a previous visit to Australia, claiming that he had wanted to see the "beauty of the ocean" but was told by a friend there was "one condition" of a visit to the beach.

"He said if you enter that area you must be completely naked," Bashir told the crowd of about 300 hearing his sermon.

Bashir likened non-Muslims to crawling animals. "Worms, snakes, maggots - those are animals that crawl. Take a look at Bali ... those infidel tourists. They are naked."

He called for signs to be erected across Indonesia warning tourists they were entering a Muslim area, and directing they cover up appropriately. But in east Java, he urged the Islamist youth to "beat up" foreigners.

"God willing, there are none here," Bashir said. "If there were infidels here, just beat them up. Do not tolerate them."

Bashir has never sought to hide his support for the Mujahideen, or holy warriors, who seek to wage jihad and die as martyrs in defence of Islam. However, he has in the past been careful to distance himself from the Bali bombings, praising the bombers' intention but not their method.

Mr Franklin, who is completing a doctorate in political science specialising in Indonesian politics, agreed that Bashir's radical address proved the cleric had been emboldened by his early release from prison and was seemingly intent on attracting greater publicity for his cause. "Going to jail, serving a very light sentence, and becoming a media icon - it's the best thing that's happened to him," Mr Franklin said.

He said Bashir sensed his opportunity for greater power and influence as Indonesia increasingly moved away from secularism towards Islamic law.

The PhD student will screen extracts of the Bashir video, which has been sub-titled, at Charles Darwin University in Darwin on Friday as part of an academic talk on how the sermons give inspiration to the radical Islamist cause to create a Caliphate, or greater Islamic state.

Dr Gunaratna said the radical nature of Bashir's current sermons showed that Indonesia's legal system was still not equipped to police terrorism.

"The very fact that Abu Bakar Bashir is spreading hatred and ideological extremism is testimony to the fact that Australia has failed in engagement with Indonesia to build a robust Indonesian counter-terrorism legislation," Dr Gunaratna said.

Bashir's address contained many direct challenges to Indonesian secularism. The cleric urged his supporters to reject the laws of the nation's parliament and said following state laws that contradicted Islamic Shariah law was an act of "blasphemy".

"Don't be scared if you are called a hardliner Muslim," Bashir said. "It must be like that. We can't follow human law that is in conflict with Allah's law."

Bashir urges attacks on 'infidel' Australians

[Shammu]

That's because the Aussie's are on the side of United States and Israel.