Jihad spokesman says Canadians were mean to Khadrs”

According to a translation of an article written by Abu Ayman al-Hilali, a senior al-Qaeda leader and ideologist, the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Germany, and Australia are “enemies” and attacks against their civilians are justified. Since Western governments are engaged in a war against Islam, he argued, the civilian voters who elect those governments cannot be considered non-combatants and are legitimate targets for terrorists.
In an interview in Islamabad yesterday, Mr. Khawaja, who fought with bin Laden in Afghanistan and openly admits he supports jihad activities, provided a rare explanation of why terrorists wish to bring violence to Canada.
Suicide bombers are simply fighting back against the Western assault on their faith and Canadians should just learn to “take it,” he said.
“Today you have the power in your hand. The other day the suicide bomber also has power. So you use your cruise missiles and atom bombs and all that, so he uses his power. So why do you cry at that time? When you say we are fighting a war against you, so better take it then.
“They are also fighting a war against you. They are fighting their way, you are fighting your way. So let’s be happy. But only thing is, your faces are pulled down, you are scared, sitting in America and Canada. You are scared of a man sitting in the cave.”
“We are not scared of you.”

Indeed. With a military that has been emasculated through decades of neglect, a populace polluted with moral relativism, political correctness and anti-Americanism, a government that just defeated an opposition motion to deny Islamic hate monger Sheikh Al-Sudayyis entry into the country to spew his anti-semitic rhetoric, why should they be?
Hell, he’s probably in Martin’s appointment calendar under “photo-op”.

(Update) Yesterday, Canada’s latest victim of terrorism Islamic fascism died. Tom Washburn was shot in the neck in an attack in Saudi Arabia 2 weeks ago, where he was working for an oil company. He was 40.

More at the Shotgun

As reported by Hezbollah’s European Bureau :
Hizbollah Slams Beheading of American as Un-Islamic

“Hizbollah condemns this horrible act that has done very great harm to Islam and Muslims by this group that claims affiliation to the religion of mercy, compassion and humane principles,” the Shi’ite Muslim group said in a statement.
…
“The timing of this act that overshadowed the scandal over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners in occupation forces prisons is suspect timing that aims to serve the American administration
and occupation forces in Iraq and present excuses and pretexts for their inhumane practices against Iraqi detainees.”
The Syrian-backed group which the United States deems “terrorist” said the executors’ behavior was closer to “the Pentagon school — the school of killing and occupation and crimes and torture and immoral practices that were exposed by the great scandal in occupation prisons.”

Those headline jokers at Reuters – had you going for a second, didn’t they?

Last week George Bush apologized for what had been done at Abu Ghairb in the name of the United States Of America. Donald Rumsfeld apologized for what had been done in the name of the US military.
Today, as we witness the double standard of our major media in all its blazing glory, endlessly repeating the photographs from Abu Ghairb while “protecting” us from the “upsetting” scenes of a screaming Nick Berg having his head sawed off… we wait.
We wait for the clamour in the press.
We wait for the outraged editorials.
We wait for prominant politicians’ and pundits’ calls for resignations.
We wait for the pledge to help hunt down the perpetrators and set right past wrongs.
But most of all, we wait for the apology.
From the leaders of Islam, the religion of peace.
For what has been done in their name.

Victor Davis Hanson;

Imagine a different Nov. 4, 1979, in Tehran. Shortly after Iranian terrorists storm the American Embassy and take some 90 American hostages, President Carter announces that Islamic fundamentalism is not a legitimate response to the excess of the shah but a new and dangerous fascism that threatens all that liberal society holds dear. And then he issues an ultimatum to Tehran’s leaders: Release the captives or face a devastating military response.
When that demand is not met, instead of freezing Iran’s assets, stopping the importation of its oil, or seeking support at the U.N., Mr. Carter orders an immediate blockade of the country, followed by promises to bomb, first, all of its major military assets, and then its main government buildings and residences of its ruling mullocracy. The Ayatollah Khomeini might well have called his bluff; we may well have tragically lost the hostages (151 fewer American lives than the Iranian-backed Hezbollah would take four years later in a single day in Lebanon). And there might well have been the sort of chaos in Tehran that we now witness in Baghdad. But we would have seen it all in 1979- -and not in 2001, after almost a quarter-century of continuous Middle East terrorism, culminating in the mass murder of 3,000 Americans and the leveling of the World Trade Center.

Required reading.

Sandi Rinaldo on a CTV National News promo just now, in reference to the bombing in Grozny;

“Political assassination in a war with no end in sight.”

Stop.
Stop. Stop. Stop.
Stop talking about this war as though the primary objective is to “end” it. We can end it today – through surrender, withdrawel, appeasement.
The ultimate goal is the defeat of Islamic fascism and the terrorism it spawns around the world. The only objective must be to defeat ideologies and regimes that oppress and suppress freedom and plurality and equality of peoples.
It’s a mistake to hope for an end just yet. There is too much to do, there are too many tentacles to cut. This is a cancer that has grown over decades and it will not be cured in a year or two. As difficult as it is to face the truth, as much as we wish it were otherwise, we must stop hoping for it to “end”, or we will fail.
First, victory – however long it takes.
Then, the end will come on its own.

While the media has moved into full-bore news recycling [note to editors – new pictures of the same scandal does not a “broadening” story make];
Chechen president assassinated

The Kremlin-backed president of Chechnya was killed Sunday when an explosion ripped through a packed stadium during Victory Day observances in Grozny.
The head of Chechnya’s state council, the region’s finance minister and a journalist working for the Reuters news agency were also among the dead.
Several dignitaries were in the crowd for ceremonies to mark the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in 1945.
The top Russian commander in the region, Col.-Gen. Valery Baranov, was badly wounded. It’s reported he lost one of his legs in the explosion.

Kadyrov had been part of the separatist war against Russia in the 1990’s before recognizing his cause was being taken over by Islamists. He was being credited for helping erode public support for the movement.
While the abuses at Abu Ghraib are a public relations win for Islamism, this is a strategic and military one.
I predict it will be treated like any of the other news “blips” out there this morning. A day or two will pass, and we’ll hear nothing more until another blast goes off in another remote part of somewhere we know nothing about. A body count, some background history and then, back to analysis of naked detainee photos.

In what is beginning to seem like a weekly occurance, another Jewish cemetery is desecrated.

Police do not believe the overnight vandalism is linked to the recent fire-bombing of a Montreal- area Jewish elementary school.

Well, that may help explain why these crimes remain unsolved.

Richard Clarke has a piece in the New York Times for those who would like further insight into why he was demoted by the Bush Administration. He offers that Islamic terrorism is a battle “chiefly of ideas”, while admitting “I do not pretend to know the formula for winning that ideological war.” Two decades in counter-terrorism, and 21/2 years after 9-11, and that’s the best he can offer? Not that it holds him back from criticizing the formula now under trial. After dismissing a liberal western style media and democracy “at the end of an American bayonnet” , he regrets the fall of the shah of Iran.

We must also be careful, while advocating democracy in the region, that we do not undermine the existing regimes without having a game plan for what should follow them and how to get there. The lesson of President Jimmy Carter’s abandonment of the shah of Iran in 1979 should be a warning.

In practical terms – an American invasion of Iran and dictatorship at the end of an American bayonnet.

Other parts of the war of ideas include making real progress on the Israel-Palestinian issue, while safe-guarding Israeli security, and finding ideological and religious counter-weights to Osama bin Laden and the radical imams. Fashioning a comprehensive strategy to win the battle of ideas should be given as much attention as any other aspect of the war on terrorists, or else we will fight this war for the foreseeable future.

Strange that no one’s noticed that Israeli-Palestinian thing before now. This is what they paid him the big bucks for.

The second major lesson of the last month of controversy is that the organizations entrusted with law enforcement and intelligence in the United States had not fully accepted the gravity of the threat prior to 9/11. Because this is now so clear, there will be a tendency to overemphasize organizational fixes.

His next six paragraphs are devoted to organizational fixes.
And Richard Clarke’s ultimate solution for militant Islam? Public discourse.

We all want to defeat the jihadists. To do that, we need to encourage an active, critical and analytical debate in America about how that will best be done. And if there is another major terrorist attack in this country, we must not panic or stifle debate as we did for too long after 9/11.

There you have it. While the enemy straps on their suicide belts, hijacks airplanes and calls for the destruction of Israel, we must all gather round and debate one another.
(Oh, in a non-partisan way. He was careful to mention that.)
Cross posted at The Shotgun

Condi Rice’s opening statement is here.
(CTV is running their usual morning show, talking movie reviews at the moment. CBC has cartoons on. CKOM talkradio is interviewing someone about the Masters.)
Michelle at the Command Post is blogging the Q&A session live.
If there has been any doubt about the partisanship involved in the 911 commission, note this comment from Michelle about Bob Kerrey’s [D] questioning… about the Cole bombing.

“I’m trying very hard not to interject opinion into this, but Kerrey has some pair to try to blame the Bush admin for not responding to the Cole bombing. Like this guy, I notice that Condi did not retort by brining up the obvious that THE COLE BOMBING HAPPENED DURING THE CLINTON ADMIN!”

“This guy” is Powerline Blog – also following the action. (Actually, more comprehensively)
Update – The Command Post now has actual transcripts
In contrast to some of the angst at Powerline, John Gormley, a conservative local Canadian talk show host just mentioned he’s been watching the testimony and thinks she’s handling the questioning extremely well. Not an unbiased oberserver, but a little more detached than her nervous supporters in the US.

Anne Mclellan – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness – was interviewed on CBC Radio this morning. She was invited to respond to the criticisms of the Auditor General on glaring failures and gaps in homeland security, and the continuing problems with lack of integration between security and intelligence agencies.

“Appreciate the question … challenges … new committee … my department … same in Britain … as we saw in the US … challenges… lessons learned … bring cultures together …. challenging problems … God forbid … another 911 … challenging … accountable … my department …. as we saw in Madrid … challenges … lessons learned … “

We’re all going to die.

The suspect arrested Monday in Ottawa is now reported to be linked to the British bombing plot.

Mohammad Momin Khawaja, a Canadian government computer specialist, was held in Ottawa on Monday.
He was later accused of involvement in terrorist activity around the London area.
Early on Tuesday morning 700 British police raided 24 addresses in the South East of England, arrested eight young men and recovered half a ton of ammonium nitrate fertiliser – favoured by terrorists for manufacturing bombs.
Late last night police were granted another three days to question the suspects, meaning they can be detained under the Terrorism Act until Saturday afternoon.
It was also disclosed that a number of the eight – all British citizens mainly of Pakistani descent – had attended al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan.
Canadian suspect Khawaja, 29, was arrested at the Foreign Ministry offices where he worked.

Yesterday his father, Mahboob Khawaja, a university prof living in Saudi Arabia, called the raids in Canada and London “a hoax to create embarrassment”. Today the Saudis detained him, too..