In the news - muslims......

[Soldier4Christ]

During the rally, an activist terrorist from the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Tariq Dar, was seen holding a placard stating ‘United States of Al Qaeda God willing very soon’. Dar told Daily Times that he was hopeful that the US would be converted to an Al Qaeda state soon. He said that anti Muslim elements were wrongly branding it as a terrorist organisation.

Let's call them as they are. The Jamaat-e-Islami are terrorists not activists with the same exact goal as al qaeda ... to place a caliphate with sharia law world wide. This organization is closely affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood which is an organization that started out in the U.S. and is still actively involved within the U.S. through other groups such as CAIR and the Muslim Student Association (MSA) which the latter is in the majority of our colleges and universities.

[Shammu]

Deadly shooting erupts in Darfur

Mon Aug 25, 8:07 AM ET

KHARTOUM (AFP) - Deadly shooting broke out Monday in one of the largest and most volatile camps for displaced people in Darfur after Sudan government forces massed on its outskirts, witnesses and UN officials said.

Kalma is home to up to 100,000 people made homeless by five years of war in Sudan's western region of Darfur. Partisans of multiple rebel groups live in the highly charged camp, which lies outside Darfur's biggest town of Nyala.

"This morning, police came inside the camp and clashes erupted between them and the IDPs (internally displaced persons). The police were shooting. About eight IDPs died and about 30 were wounded," Adam Mohamed, a community leader in Kalma, told AFP by telephone.

Police in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, said a statement would be released later. One local government official confirmed reports of fighting.

"I know from NGOs working inside Kalma that there is fighting inside the camp but they didn't give me details," Saroor Ahmed Abdallah, head of the Humanitarian Aid Commission in Nyala, told AFP by telephone.

One UN official in Darfur said soldiers from the UN-led peacekeeping operation, known as UNAMID, were poised to try and open a safe corridor in order to evacuate unconfirmed numbers of dead and wounded.

"UNAMID military are about to dispatch a patrol to see the situation and maybe make a safe corridor for the casulaties," the official said.

The official said shooting broke out before 9:00 am (0600 GMT) after Sudanese security forces began massing outside the camp at dawn.

Witnesses and aid workers said the shooting had since subsided.

Deadly shooting erupts in Darfur

[Soldier4Christ]

It's Ramadan, and you're fasting!
Islamic rules imposed on non-Muslims

Non-Muslim members of a town's council have been informed by e-mail they need to follow the strict fasting requirements of Islam during Ramadan because their Muslim colleagues are.

"Once again the selfishness of Islam has struck non-Muslims," said a commentary at Islam in Action 08, which reported on the issue. "Muslims continue to show us that they have no respect for the beliefs of non-Muslims nor can they be trusted. They were given trust by being voted into these positions and now they are using the power given to them against non-Muslims."

According to a report in the Daily Mail the orders came from officials at the East London municipality called Tower Hamlets.

The town has established a reputation for being progressive by calling its get-together for staff at Christmas a "festive meal." But now the e-mail instructions say drink and food should be restricted – for all council members no matter their religion – during Ramadan, and other accommodations are being made for Muslims.

Those accommodations include breaks right at sundown during several meetings so Muslims can eat immediately, and a reduction in the number of meetings so they "do not clash" with the Ramadan demands, according to the Daily Mail.

But even the more tolerant members of the Labour-run council now are rebelling, condemning the instructions as favoring one religious group over others.

Stephanie Eaton, leader of the Liberal Democrat faction, said she would be ignoring the restrictions, and continuing to eat food that traditionally has been provided to council members throughout their meetings.

"We fervently believe that the rules of any one religion should not be imposed upon others," she told the paper. "I was rather disconcerted to see that the arrangements put in place for Ramadan, which we support for Muslim colleagues, have been imposed upon on councilors."

"This sends out the wrong message to our community," she told the paper. "Our community consists of a huge number of different religions, all of which should be valued, and no one religion should be accorded more status or influence than others."

During Ramadan, Muslims fast from sunrise to sundown, and this year's holy period runs from the start of September. Council meetings routinely begin at 6:30 p.m. but it will not get dark for at least an hour, so Muslims are being granted a 45-minute break in the middle of the meeting to eat.

It was John Williams, the council's head of democratic services, who sent the instruction. It said. "It is requested that members do not partake of any refreshments until after the Iftar refreshments are served."

On the paper's comment page, one participant said, "I do not care what a person (sic) faith is – just DO NOT impose them on me. … WHAT NEXT I ask!"

[HisDaughter]

As sand through an hour glass, so are the days of our lives....
As The World My Stomach Turns.

[Shammu]

Islamic Jihad threatens Israel with 'the fires of hell'
9 hours ago

KHAN YUNES, Gaza Strip (AFP) — The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad on Saturday threatened to unleash "the fires of hell" on Israel, as it staged a military parade in the south of the Islamist-ruled Gaza Strip.

"We will unleash the fires of hell if the Zionist enemy continues its crimes," said the group's military chief Abu Hamzeh after the parade by around 800 Islamic Jihad members, an AFP journalist reported.

"We're getting ready for the next round," he added, saying "the Zionist enemy will have neither peace nor security while it occupies our land."

Abu Hamzeh said his group had "hundreds of rockets" ready to launch at southern Israel.

Khader Habib, a political leader in the group, said Islamic Jihad "will not rest until we have liberated all of Palestine," referring to the movement's aim to create a Palestinian state in Israel's place.

Earlier the militants staged exercises using assault rifles rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns.

The parade took place on the site of the former Jewish settlement of Gush Katif, which was evacuated when Israel withdrew settlers and forces from the Gaza Strip in August 2005.

Since June 19, Islamic Jihad has generally respected an Egyptian-brokered truce between Israel and Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas. The truce applies to Gaza only, and Islamic Jihad said it reserves the right to respond to Israeli attacks in the West Bank.

Islamic Jihad threatens Israel with 'the fires of hell'

[Shammu]

Egypt to Send Army to Jerusalem??
4 Elul 5768, September 4, '08
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

(IsraelNN.com) Hamas has called on Egypt to send its army into Jerusalem "to liberate [the] Al-Aqsa Mosque rather than to send troops to Gaza." Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit on Saturday suggested that its soldiers take over security in Gaza, a proposal that Hamas's rival party Fatah has welcomed.
 
Hamas spokesperson, Ismail Radwan, said that Arab countries should send their armies to the Israeli capital and take control of the city, which the Palestinian Authority (PA) wants as the seat of its proposed new country, which would include the Temple Mount, where Al Aqsa is located.

PA Minister of Prisoners Affairs Ashraf al-Ajrami welcomed the Egyptian proposal as helping "to end the state of split that emerged after Hamas's coup" last summer. "If Hamas [were] interested to reunite [sic] the internal Palestinian position and end the split, it has to accept this idea," he said.

Al-Ajrami said that Hamas's rejection of allowing Egyptian troops in Gaza "proves that it has no decision to give up the authority it gained by force."

Abul-Gheit raised the idea of deploying Arab troops in an interview with a local October magazine on Saturday. "Having Arab troops on the ground could help prevent fighting and confrontations between the Palestinian and Israeli sides," Abul-Gheit stated.

Hamas has bitterly objected to PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas's meetings with the Olmert administration, calling Sunday's talks with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "failed efforts and [an] absurd meeting."

Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said that Hamas is "satisfied for the failing of the negotiations." Abbas walked out of the talks in less than an hour as Prime Minister Olmert exclaimed that they must reach an agreement by the end of this year while Abbas stated there would be no pact without PA sovereignty over all of Judea and Samaria, including the Temple Mount.

Egypt to Send Army to Jerusalem??

[Shammu]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Rejecting the suggestion from Egypt's FM that the Egyptian army should take over security in the Gaza Strip, Hamas has called for what could become a major conflict in the Middle East. The Hamas spokesman has called for the Arab and Moslem world to enter Jerusalem and liberate the al Aqsa Mosque which is located on the Temple Mount, a holy site to both the Moslems and the Jews. Arab and Moslem armies on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem would signal to any student of Bible prophecy that the return of the Messiah, Jesus Christ was very close at hand.

The ancient Jewish prophet Joel said that in the "last days" a mighty militia, the largest army ever formed on earth, would come to Jerusalem to take it from the Jewish people, Joel 2:1-4. There is only one group of people that could form such a military might and that is the Islamic peoples as revealed in Daniel 11, Ezekiel 38 and Psalm 83. However, before the major battle over Jerusalem takes place, Jesus Christ will call for Christians to join Him in the heavens, Revelation 4, I Thessalonians 4:13-18 and I Corinthians 15:51-53.

[Shammu]

Lebanese Islamist Sheikh Omar Bakri: Britain's Problem – 'Its Law Is Not the Law Sent Down by Allah'; Terrorism by Mujahideen is 'Blessed'; 'Within 20 Years, British Society Will Have A Muslim Majority'

Following are excerpts from an interview with Lebanese Islamist sheikh Omar Bakri, which aired on OTV on August 22, 2008.

To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1848.htm .

"The Problem With Britain Is that Its Law Is Not the Law Sent Down by Allah"

Sheikh Omar Bakri: "This is true Salafism: Pure and complete religious preaching, and we only brandish our weapons against those who fight us. If we are fought and prevented from calling people to join Islam, a right that everybody has... You call this 'freedom of expression,' but I call it a religious duty to preach for the sake of Allah. If I am prevented from performing this duty, I must either defend myself or emigrate. They prevented me from doing this in Britain, so I emigrated to Lebanon."

Interviewer: "What is your problem with the British? We all know that you left before they decided you would not be allowed to return, and revoked your British citizenship, even though your family still has citizenship."

Bakri: "The problem with Britain is that its law is not the law sent down by Allah. This country says that it implements democracy, freedom of expression, personal liberties, and the right to own property, but when I expressed my belief by preaching to Islam - there was an impressive response in the universities, and George and Michael became Omar and Abd Al-Rahman, and Jane became Hadija...

"Within 20 Years, British Society Will Have A Muslim Majority"

"When they saw that Islam was spreading in British universities at an unprecedented rate, and that the non-Muslims - the Hindus, the Christians and the Jews - were accepting Islam at an average rate of 21 people a day, it began to endanger their society. Within 20 years, British society will have a Muslim majority. Of course, this cannot be allowed by this secular regime, which wants to strip society of any religious values connected to Allah.

[...]

"In cases of self-defense, there are victims, who are not intentionally targeted. They are killed by mistake, as collateral damage, not intentionally... When America bombs Sudan, Somalia, and Iraq, and sows destruction, the Muslims have the right to retaliate, and then there might be victims.

[...]

"Why do people say that Islam is being distorted today, when these are jihad operations against an enemy occupying Muslim lands? What's the difference between America in Iraq and Israel in Palestine?"

Interviewer: "There is a difference between fighting an American or Israeli soldier, who is occupying my land..."

Bakri: "When the American soldier takes off his uniform and wears pajamas, it becomes forbidden to fight him?"

"There Are Two Types of Terrorism, Blessed and Deplorable - [The Mujahideen's] Terrorism is Blessed"

Interviewer: "Was there a military base in the Twin Towers, which were destroyed?"

Bakri: "It was not just the Twin Towers, but also the U.S. Department of Defense... The 9/11 operation is a matter subject to personal judgment. Some people were against, and others supported it…"

Interviewer: "When explosives are placed on trains and in coffee shops... If I am under occupation, and I carry out attacks against it, that's one thing..."

Bakri: "You can call such operations terrorist operations par excellence. But today, America represents the camp of Western terrorism, and there is another camp of terrorism within Islam. But there are two types of terrorism: Blessed and deplorable. The same is true with regard to violence. Violence can either take lives or save lives. In both cases, it is violence. America's violence is meant to take lives, and so its terrorism is deplorable, whereas the violence the mujahideen use for defense and retaliation is meant to protect lives and defend honor. Their terrorism is blessed. Not all terrorism is deplorable.

[...]

"The problem with Hizbullah is that it believes in resistance for the sake of the land. We believe that fighting for the sake of land..."

Interviewer: "... is forbidden, because fighting should be for the sake of Allah."

Bakri: "I was created from mud, I fight for the mud of Shaba', and I will be buried in mud - my entire history is muddy... I fight for the sake of God who lives and does not die. I fight to glorify the word of Allah. If in Lebanon, they would fight to glorify the word of Allah, I'd say: Fine, let them fight for Shaba', liberate it, and instate the law of Allah. But if all they want is to liberate the Shaba' Farms, and then instate what is known here as the 'Lebanese law' - I do not accept this."

Interviewer: "You are talking about Lebanon as if you do not belong here."

Though I Was Given British Citizenship, "I Refused to Swear That I Would Obey the Queen or the Laws - I Obey Only Allah and His Messenger"

Bakri: "I belong to Islam. I did not belong to Britain when I lived there. I was a Muslim living in Britain, now I am a Muslim living in Lebanon, and tomorrow I will be a Muslim living in Iraq. God only knows, I may be a Muslim in prison."

Interviewer: "So why did you take British citizenship?"

Bakri: "I didn't take it. They gave it to me."

Interviewer: "So why didn't you reject it?"

Bakri: "I did not carry their ID. I did not have a British passport. I used a Lebanese passport to get back here."

Male guest: "They took it away from him."

Interviewer: "Why didn't he reject it beforehand?"

Bakri: "They took away my right to become a citizen. They didn't give me a passport because I refused to pledge allegiance to the queen. My wife and children got passports because they were born there. I refused to swear that I would obey the queen or the laws. I obey only Allah and His Messenger."

Lebanese Islamist Sheikh Omar Bakri: Britain's Problem – 'Its Law Is Not the Law Sent Down by Allah'; Terrorism by Mujahideen is 'Blessed'; 'Within 20 Years, British Society Will Have A Muslim Majority'

[Shammu]

'Have more babies and Muslims can take over the UK' hate fanatic says, as warning comes that 'next 9/11 will be in UK'

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 6:55 PM on 13th September 2008

Muslim hate fanatics plan to take over Britain by having more babies and forcing a population explosion, it has been revealed.

The swollen Muslim population would be enough to conquer Britain from inside, they claim.

Fanatics told a meeting of young Muslims on the anniversary of the 9/11 atrocity, that it would then be easy to impose Sharia law on the population, the Sun newspaper reported.

Speaking at a meeting in London, Anjem Choudary, right-hand man of exiled preacher Omar Bakri Mohammed, said: "It may be by pure conversion that Britain will become an Islamic state. We may never need to conquer it from the outside."

Preachers: Ajum Choudhary (left) chairs the meeting with banned Muslim cleric Omar Backri's webcast on the wall behind

He added: "We do not integrate into Christianity. We will ensure that one day you will integrate into the Sharia Islamic law."

His comments were made as voice of hate Bakri warned that the next 9/11 would take place in the UK.

Speaking via video link the exiled cleric said Osama bin Laden had taught the Americans a ‘lesson’ seven years ago, but the ‘crusaders’ had not learned.

Anjem Choudary: Have more babies and conquer from the inside

Muslim cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed: The next 9/11 will be in the UK

He said the next ‘9/11 will take place in Britain, the next 7/7 [London bombings] could take place locally’.

Bakri told a 100-strong audience of supporters in Walthamstow, east London this week that he believed the British government was trying to assassinate him and claimed to have foiled a bomb plot.

Technical difficulties meant much of his speech was inaudible, but his appearance was greeted by cheers of ‘faith’ and ‘god is great’ at the community centre.

Bakri’s right-hand man, Anjem Choudary, led the proceedings in person, under the auspices of a group called Association for Islamic Research.

The most incendiary speech was delivered by Saiful Islam, who lauded Bin Laden and al Qaeda for their ‘courage’ in retaliating against the ‘dictatorship and oppression’ of the West.

9/11 World Trade Centre

Horror: Al Muhajiroun warned the UK would be next for a 9/11-magnitude attack

He said: ‘The blame of 9/11 belongs to no one but the American government. They are the terrorists.

'Sheikh Osama warned America numerous times, it was because of their own arrogance, because they thought they are a superpower and nobody could match them, that Sheikh Osama taught them a lesson - a lesson they still haven’t learned.’

Mr Islam, who is linked to an organisation called Salafi Youth for Islamic Propagation, warned that unless British and American troops were withdrawn from ‘Muslim lands’ they would be to blame for the consequences, saying the West would ‘never achieve security until our own [Muslim] lands achieve security’.

‘Wake up. Withdraw. Listen to the warnings. Muslims will stand side to side, not just al Qaeda. The actions of the British and Americans have given prominence to al Qaeda.

'All of us have a part to play in stopping the violence or the next 9/11 will take place in Britain, the next 7/7 could take place locally,’ he added.

Mr Choudary was the last speaker and was more guarded in his address to the young Muslim men that made up most of the audience.

'Lesson': The wreckage of a London bus after a bomb attack on July 7, 2005

But he criticised the Government for persecuting ‘innocent Muslims’, naming Bakri, Abu Hamza, Abu Qatada and Omar Brooks along with the defendants in the airliner bomb plot trial.

He said: ‘They [the Government] say they are civilised. But they don’t act very civilised. They jailed Sheikh Abu Qatada in Belmarsh prison. Is that the way you treat your guests?’

Mr Choudary then referred to Bakri’s notorious aim of flying the ‘flag of Sharia’ over Downing Street, claiming that this would happen by 2020 as 500 people a day were converting to Islam and laughing that Muslim families in places like Whitechapel and Bethnal Green in east London were having ‘10 or 12 children each’.

He ranted against mainstream bodies like the Muslim Council of Britain, who condemned 9/11 and 7/7, accusing them of ‘selling their souls to the devil’.

'Have more babies and Muslims can take over the UK' hate fanatic says, as warning comes that 'next 9/11 will be in UK'

[Shammu]

Saudi Judge: OK to Kill Broadcasters of Immoral Programs
September 13th, 2008

The most senior judge in Saudi Arabia has said it is permissible to kill the owners of satellite TV channels which broadcast immoral programmes.

Sheikh Salih Ibn al-Luhaydan said some "evil" entertainment programmes aired by the channels promoted debauchery.

Dozens of satellite television channels broadcast across the Middle East, where they are watched by millions of Arabs every day.

The judge made the comments on a state radio programme.

He was speaking in response to a listener who asked his opinion on the airing of programmes featuring scantily-dressed women during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

"There is no doubt that these programmes are a great evil, and the owners of these channels are as guilty as those who watch them," said the sheikh.

"It is legitimate to kill those who call for corruption if their evil can not be stopped by other penalties."

Royal dilemma

Given his position as the country's most senior judge, the sheikh's views can not be easily dismissed, says BBC Arab affairs analyst, Magdi Abdelhadi.

Clerics like Sheikh al-Luhaydan represent a huge dilemma for the Saudi royal family, our correspondent adds.

On the one hand, Saudi rulers need their support to claim that they rule in the name of Islam.

But on the other hand, fighting militant Islam can be difficult when the country's top judge calls for the beheading of those he views as immoral broadcasters.

Saudi Judge: OK to Kill Broadcasters of Immoral Programs
~~~~~~~~~~~

I guess, there is nothing immoral about murder for muslims!!!!!!!!!

[Soldier4Christ]

Sharia courts operating in Britain
Government has quietly decided rulings now enforceable

Five sharia courts have been set up in London, Birmingham, Bradford and Manchester and Nuneaton, Warwickshire. The government has quietly sanctioned that their rulings are enforceable with the full power of the judicial system, through the county courts or High Court. Previously, the rulings were not binding and depended on voluntary compliance among Muslims.

Lawyers have issued grave warnings about the dangers of a dual legal system and the disclosure drew criticism from Opposition leaders.

Dominic Grieve, the shadow home secretary, said: "If it is true that these tribunals are passing binding decisions in the areas of family and criminal law, I would like to know which courts are enforcing them because I would consider such action unlawful. British law is absolute and must remain so."

Douglas Murray, the director of the Centre for Social Cohesion, added: "I think it's appalling. I don't think arbitration that is done by sharia should ever be endorsed or enforced by the British state."

Muslim tribunal courts started passing sharia judgments in August 2007. They have dealt with more than 100 cases that range from Muslim divorce and inheritance to nuisance neighbours.

It has also emerged that tribunal courts have settled six cases of domestic violence between married couples, working in tandem with the police investigations.

Sheikh Faiz-ul-Aqtab Siddiqi, whose Muslim Arbitration Tribunal runs the courts, said that sharia courts are classified as arbitration tribunals under a clause in the Arbitration Act 1996.

The rulings of arbitration tribunals are binding in law, provided that both parties in the dispute agree to give it the power to rule on their case.

The disclosures come after Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, sparked a national debate and calls for his resignation for saying that the establishment of sharia in the future "seems unavoidable" in Britain.

In July, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, the Lord Chief Justice agreed that Muslims in Britain should be able to live according to Islamic law to decide financial and marital disputes.

Mr Siddiqi said he expected the courts to handle a greater number of "smaller" criminal cases in coming years as more Muslim clients approach them. Two more courts are being planned for Glasgow and Edinburgh.

"All we are doing is regulating community affairs in these cases," said Mr Siddiqi, chairman of the governing council of the tribunal.

There are concerns for women suffering under the Islamic laws, which favours men.

Mr Siddiqi said that in a recent inheritance dispute handled by the court in Nuneaton, the estate of a Midlands man was divided between three daughters and two sons.

The judges on the panel gave the sons twice as much as the daughters, in accordance with sharia. Had the family gone to a normal British court, the daughters would have got equal amounts.

In the six cases of domestic violence, Mr Siddiqi said the judges ordered the husbands to take anger management classes and mentoring from community elders. There was no further punishment.

In each case, the women subsequently withdrew the complaints they had lodged with the police and the police stopped their investigations.

Mr Siddiqi said that in the domestic violence cases, the advantage was that marriages were saved and couples given a second chance.

[Soldier4Christ]

'Pirates of Penzance'

Soon after winning independence from England, the United States faced another war. Muslim pirates operating off North Africa's Barbary Coast were seizing U.S., as well as European, ships sailing in international waters, holding them for tribute payment or plunder.

In 1786, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, meeting in London with Tripoli's Muslim ambassador to Britain, inquired as to the reason for such Arab hostility. Acknowledging their attacks were unprovoked, the Tripoli ambassador explained it was their right and duty under the Koran as faithful Muslim followers to plunder and enslave the unfaithful - with those Muslims dying in the process going to paradise. To stop the attacks, the United States initially agreed to pay the Barbary pirates tribute, equal to about 20 percent of government revenues. Only later did an indignant United States launch two wars against them, ending in victory in 1815 and no further payments. European nations, acting individually and collectively, suppressed pirate activity as well, with the French conquest of Algiers in 1830 providing the last nail in the Barbary Pirates' coffin.

Today, Muslim pirates again sail the seas off Africa's coast. Mostly Somalis, these pirates have already attacked more than 60 ships this year in the vicinity of the Gulf of Aden - almost 5 times more than occurred all last year. Pirates gain confidence as owners prove willing to pay ransoms for the safe return of ships and crews, much like the United States first did with the Barbary Pirates.

This does little to end the piracy, however, as these criminals invest their ill-gotten gains in even more sophisticated weaponry and faster boats with which to intercept their prey. At least in the days of Barbary tribute payments, a nation won free passage for all its ships. But today's ransom payments only encourage repeated attacks, including re-seizure of ships earlier released following payment should they ever sail back into the pirates' den.

The United States, England and several other nations have joined together to form the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), situated in Bahrain, which has successfully disrupted illegal contraband transit in the region and confronted some pirates. But increasing numbers of pirate attacks show much more needs to be done. Piracy today drives up operating costs for ship owners. Major losses come not just from ransom payouts but also lost revenues, costs generated by inactive ships/crews, lost cargo and ships, etc.

Some governments have taken individual steps to give notice not to mess with ships under their flag.

On April 4, 2008, Somali pirates seized a commercially operated French luxury yacht, at the time sans passengers but with a 30-man crew, in the Gulf of Aden. Eight days later, the crew was released after the owner paid a ransom. But the French then tracked the 12 pirates by air, dispatching commandos who captured six and recovered part of the ransom. These six pirates now face trial in Paris.

The geographical area CMF covers is extensive. Thus, the shipping industry must take action on its own to make these pirates think twice about attacking. The industry needs to invest in surveillance, detection and defensive assets and technologies. Small, hand-launched Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) equipped with cameras could be deployed by ships transiting pirate-infested waters to provide early warning. Specially mounted radars could be positioned to cover blind spots on a ship's stern - approaches often exploited by pirate boats to gain surprise. Quickly deployable counterboarding devices can be attached to various parts of the ship to make boarding at sea much more difficult. Private, highly mobile, ship-hopping, maritime security quick-reaction teams could "ride shotgun" on ships transiting these areas, moving among various vessels.

As this article is read, more than a dozen ships of various nationalities and their crews are held hostage by pirates awaiting ransom demands for millions of dollars - two just seized during the last days of September. Ransom demands are increasing too - hitting $35 million last week for the recently hijacked Ukrainian vessel. Unlike the tenets of Islam espoused by Tripoli's ambassador to Britain 222 years ago, greed is the primary motivation for today's pirates. And, while knowing their interests in winning ransoms are best served by ensuring kidnapped crew members and/or passengers return alive, that does not always happen. Unfortunately, some attackers - high on stimulants - lack the necessary discipline to preserve life.

In the 1879 comic opera "Pirates of Penzance," the story begins as its hero, celebrating his 21st year and so ending his apprenticeship as a young pirate, learns from his hard-of-hearing nursemaid that long ago she had made a mistake: His father's final wish to her had not been to apprentice him as a "pirate" but as a ship's "pilot." The necessary apprenticeship suggested in the "Pirates of Penzance" is unnecessary for today's pirates who, motivated by poverty and lacking job skills other than criminal ones, easily make the transition overnight - aided by a shot of courage-inducing drugs.

Like the comedic "Pirates of Penzance," the recent seizure by pirates of the Ukrainian vessel has been a bit of a comedy. Their initial demand of $35 million was quickly reduced after assessing the ship's arms cargo. Determining the weapons were secondhand and the 33 T-72 tanks would necessitate docking the ship, the pirates realized the cargo offered them little resale value. Not so funny for the pirates, however, is the fact U.S. warships now have them surrounded.

As it did centuries earlier in defeating the Barbary Pirates, discouraging piracy today demands individual as well as collective efforts of those adversely affected who, indignant about paying ransom, finally become determined to do something about it.

[Soldier4Christ]

Pirates of the high seas

Armed raiders targeting merchant shipping are netting $50m a year off Somalia - and now access to the Suez Canal is under threat

They are armed to the teeth, ruthless and desperate, but claim to adhere to their own code of conduct. They have grown so powerful that they threaten to cut a vital trade route, and fearful merchants are crying out for naval escorts. In the seas off Somalia, it seems as if the so-called heyday of piracy at the turn of the 18th century has returned, with an estimated 1,000 pirates organised into five main fleets stalking a latter-day Barbary Coast.

High-speed plastic skiffs, AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades have replaced the galleons, flintlocks and cannons of old, and their targets are no longer ships full of Spanish gold, but oil tankers and human hostages to be ransomed for millions of American dollars.

However, the deadly intent is the same and the threat to shipping is becoming as serious, with merchant marine organisations warning vessels may be forced to stop using the Suez Canal and make the long detour round the Cape of Good Hope. It seems almost unthinkable, but a route taken by tankers carrying a third of the world's oil could be closed because of piracy, a crime many in Britain will associate only with semi-legendary tales of Blackbeard and Johnny Depp's comic turn as Captain Jack Sparrow in the film Pirates of the Caribbean.

In recent years once-notorious areas, such as the Malacca Straits between Indonesia and Malaysia, have been relatively quiet. But a surge in attacks on shipping in the Gulf of Aden and off the Somalian coast, coupled with a dramatic rise in the ransoms, has led to fears that newly adopted, lucrative tactics will be copied elsewhere. Somalian pirates have invested in "mother ships" to carry the small speedboats used in their attacks further out to sea, extending the danger zone from 50 to 200 nautical miles off the coast. And they are seemingly unafraid to take on the most formidable of targets, as shown by the continuing stand-off between the captors of a Ukrainian ship, carrying Russian tanks, and six US warships.

With a frigate on the way from Russia and clearance from the Somalian government to attack, the pirates might be expected to flee. Instead, they are calmly demanding nothing less than their stated ransom of $20m (£11m) and promising to fight if attacked. Excluding this sum, Somalian pirates are expected to take $50m this year.

In 2004, there were just five attacks and attempts on ships in the seas off Somalia, but so far this year there have been more than 60, accounting for nearly a third of the 198 incidents globally. Insurance premiums for cargo ships passing through the area have gone from $900 to $9,000 in a year.

Asked if the world was seeing the beginnings of a new age of piracy, Giles Noakes, chief maritime security officer at Bimco – the largest of the international shipping associations – says: "That's not a question I'd like to answer. It's not a question I like to hear. People start thinking about Pirates of the Caribbean and all that rubbish. This is 21st-century criminal activity using violent means."

Mr Noakes rates the threat to Suez as very serious, warning that shipping companies are considering avoiding the area, and says such dangers could spread elsewhere in the world.

"It would be naive to think this isn't being watched by other people carrying out acts of piracy at the moment. It is not an isolated thing," he says. "The armed robberies in the coastal waters of Nigeria are getting almost as extreme. The violence being displayed is as extreme and the number of attacks is almost as numerous, but it is little publicised."

He is shocked that the problem has not previously drawn more international attention, as 14 ships and more than 300 sailors are currently being held to ransom worldwide.

Some in the industry resort to what Mr Noakes describes as "unfair and unreasonable navy-bashing", but he says the lack of an effective deterrent stems from a lack of political will. "That's the fault of governments whose strategic, commercial interests are being threatened. I don't think they have sat up and smelt the coffee on that yet," he says.

The payment of ransoms is a delicate issue, but Mr Noakes says that in reality companies often have little option if they want to save the lives of the crew. "We never think a ransom should be paid, but we have no choice other than to advise our owners to do that," he says. "A lot of them are trying to negotiate the price down, and a lot of them do so quite successfully."

Despite these efforts, there has been rapid inflation in the price of ransom and this, according to Roger Middleton, a Chatham House researcher specialising in the Horn of Africa, is one of the main reasons for the rising number of attacks.

"A few years ago they might have been as little as $10,000," he says. " We are now seeing these ransom payments regularly topping $1m." A more organised approach is being taken, with the use of mother ships, GPS devices and even the adoption of an employees' code of conduct.

"It is a serious business going on here. People are making a lot of money and they are investing in equipment, in boats, in men and in weapons," says Mr Middleton. "They live in the poorest part of the poorest country in Africa and it is easy to understand why they would resort to crime, but that makes them no less scary for people who are captured and threatened."

Captain Colin Darch, 71, of Westward Ho!, Devon, knows this all too well. Earlier this year, he was 70 miles off Somalia in a tugboat en route from St Petersburg to Singapore when armed pirates attacked. Shouting and firing into the air, the pirates came on board and so began 47 days of captivity for Captain Darch, his Irish chief engineer, Fred Parle, and Russian crew of four. They tried to escape but were forced to give themselves up.

Captain Darch recalls: "I really was a bit worried they [the pirates] might punish us for giving them so much trouble. The young guns were shouting abuse at us and shooting their guns. Then Omar, their leader, appeared. He grinned and held out his hand. It was like we'd just had a good game of squash and I'd lost."

They were freed after the ransom was paid and the pirates transferred to another boat. He says they were generally well treated. Other Somalian pirates have spoken of a written manual, laying down rules on the treatment of hostages, including a ban on sexually abusing female hostages and shouting loudly at captives, as well as requirements to provide food and drink and allow their prisoners to sleep and use the toilet.

But Giles Noakes says no one should believe this is a sign the pirates have a genuine concern for their hostages. "These guys who say they have a 'pirates' code' – it's a bit of a euphemism for saying: 'We are acutely aware the money is in the hostages, not the ship.' They are not stupid."

[Shammu]

Arab World Celebrates Anniversary of 1973 "Victory"
 
by Ze'ev Ben-Yechiel

(IsraelNN.com) With Arab countries throughout the Middle East marking the 35th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak called on his countrymen to embrace the “spirit of October,” while a Syrian newspaper called for unity among Arab nations.

Speaking on Sunday in Cairo, Mubarak called on the people of Egypt to strengthen their nation by demonstrating the victorious spirit that supposedly prevailed in Cairo during their last war with Israel. An Egyptian media outlet also called on the government to release documents about the war that have been classified up to now, in order to underscore the “great Arab victory” in 1973.

Meanwhile, the Syrian newspaper Tishrin called on the Arab nations to unite “just as they did 35 years ago.” The newspaper also pointed to the ongoing negotiations with Israel over the Golan Heights, and reminded readers that “even the prime minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert, said that there would not be peace with Damscus unless all of the land was returned.” Syria has been in an official state of war with Israel since 1973, as it continues to refuse to sign any kind of armistice deal with its neighbor.

Arab nations are known to regard the Yom Kippur War as a victory against the Zionist aggressor. According to some historians, Egypt, which started the war by attacking Israeli fortifications along the Suez canal, knew that it would not be able to completely destroy the Jewish state. Rather, Egyptian and Syrian leaders hoped to use the war to awaken Israel to the reality of a much stronger Arab military and to force Israel to negotiate away some of the land it won in the previous 1967 war. 

Within a decade of the 1973 war, Israel indeed gave away the entire Sinai peninsula, and is currently considering the return of the Golan Heights to Syria. Therefore, according to certain analysts, the Arab nations can indeed claim victory.

 According to Army Radio, another Egyptian media source used the opportunity to urge the Egyptian government to release classified documents about the war. Declassifying the documents, the news agency said, would help maintain the "heritage of the great Arab victory."

Arab World Celebrates Anniversary of 1973 "Victory"

[Shammu]

The arabs mentality is such that if they haven't been destroyed, they must have won! Its all or nothing with them. They cannot be negotiated with, only destroyed. This was also true of the Nazi's and Japan.

If the Yom Kippur war was a victory for the arabs, it is based on an arab humiliating defeat. So do they really have alot to be so proud of?? Some how I don't think so. Since when does getting your butt kicked make a arab victory?? Oh yes when you are on drugs.........

The entire thought process which leaves these people believing that they were the victors. That is reason enough to convince everyone that NOT ONE SINGLE ARAB COUNTRY should have any type of nuclear project. This is to include nuclear energy. You should only imagine that countries and people who think like this can not be a deterred by MAD (mutually assured destruction).

Do not be fooled these people are dangerous beyond belief!! There is no end to these people, wishing to cleanse the world of western thought.