Ezra Levant's accuser's taqiyya exposed

Licia Corbella has a great column this morning in the Calgary Herald (Didn't she used to work for the Calgary Sun?) in which she exposes how the man who took Ezra Levant before the Alberta Human Rights Commission, Imam Syed Soharwardy, engaged in taquiyya during an appearance before The Herald's editorial board this week.

On bringing sharia law to Canada.

While preparing for the meeting, a quick search on Canwest's library system showed a Jan. 17, 2004, column written by the cleric.

In it, he wrote: "Sharia cannot be customized for specific countries. These universal, divine laws are for all people of all countries for all times."

In the same column he also boasts: "I am one of the founding members of the Islamic Institute of Civil Justice. The mandate of the institute is to resolve disputes within existing Canadian laws by using the principles of conflict resolution from Islamic Law, or sharia."

His column is clear. He wanted to bring sharia to Canada and even helped found the organization that spearheaded the drive to do so.

But in our meeting, Soharwardy denied his own column. "I never asked to bring sharia in Canada," he now insists.

On using tsunami relief efforts to attack Christians.

Some of Soharwardy's most vile words came after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami that killed more than 280,000 people.

While Christians from around the world were emptying their wallets to help the victims of this natural disaster, Muslim leaders were blaming the disaster on immoral Christian tourists in their countries.

Soharwardy seemingly got swept up in the wave of anti-Christian rhetoric and sent out a news release accusing Christians of kidnapping Muslim orphans in Indonesia. Again, he denied his own written words.

"I don't believe that, I just quoted what was in the newspaper and asked where are the wealthy Muslim governments, why are they not helping."

But here's what his Jan. 23, 2005, news release actually said: "ISCC . . . strongly condemns the exploitation of tsunami victims by the Christian missionaries. There have been several reports that the Christian missionaries are kidnapping Muslim children in Indonesia. . . . It is now proven that the Christian missionaries do not help people on humanitarian grounds. They help people in order to exploit their needs and convert them to Christianity."

On the imam's credibility, she writes.

Soharwardy is a charmer. He convinced me that I must have misread his columns. But relistening to the tape of our meeting and rereading his original texts, one thing is clear: he cannot be believed.

Paging the NYT: Al Qaeda defeated in Baghdad

Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite TV Network doing the work the U.S. media doesn't want to do.

Al Maliki: Iraq Al Qaeda chased in Baghdad

Saturday, February 16, 2008 08:56 GMT

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki said that Al Qaeda has been chased in Baghdad, vowing to eradicate the rest of Al Qaeda related groups in Mosul. Al Maliki called on Iraqi security forces to strike instability pursuers in Iraq with an iron first. He urged them as well to stay alert and vigilant.

In other positive developments.

BAGHDAD, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Attacks by insurgents and rival sectarian militias have fallen up to 80 percent in Baghdad and concrete blast walls that divide the capital could soon be removed, a senior Iraqi military official said on Saturday.

Lieutenant-General Abboud Qanbar said the success of a year-long clampdown named "Operation Imposing Law" had reined in the savage violence between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs dominant under Saddam Hussein.

"In a time when you could hear nothing but explosions, gunfire and the screams of mothers and fathers and sons, and see bodies that were burned and dismembered, the people of Baghdad were awaiting Operation Imposing Law," Qanbar told reporters.

Qanbar pointed to the number of dead bodies turning up on the capital's streets as an indicator of success.

In the six weeks to the end of 2006, an average of 43 bodies were found dumped in the city each day as fierce sectarian fighting threatened to turn into full-scale civil war.

That figure fell to four a day in 2008, in the period up to Feb. 12, said Qanbar, who heads the Baghdad security operation.

And finally, the video I posted earlier this week of Al Qaeda in Iraq apparently burning prisoners alive received its first MSM coverage on Friday.

FoxNews.com posted the video and included a translation of what the Al Qaeada operatives were saying as they doused the prisoners in flammable liquid.

"And now that we have captured these scums who committed this dreadful crime, we will burn them with this fire," the Al Qaeda leader says in Arabic. "The same fire which they committed their crime with.

"And I swear by God almighty that, I swear by God almighty that we will have no mercy on them," he continues. "Allahuakbar, Allahuakbar."

The Jawa Report has an unedited version of another recently discovered terrorist video showing a 12-year-old beheading a prisoner. You can see it here. I was unable to watch the whole thing. It's that gruesome.

Canadian MP discusses his motion to change Canada's hate speech law

Liberal MP Keith Martin, the politician who has put forward a motion to eliminate Section 13(1) of the Canadian Human Rights Act, appeared on a Calgary radio station Friday night to discuss his motion.

The audio can be found here.

If you don't have the time to listen to it here are the highlights.

Shortly after Martin introduced his motion, a spokesperson for his party leader told a Canadian news agency that Martin would be asked to withdraw his motion.

However, Martin said in his interview tonight that was because of some initial confusion in Liberal leader Stephane Dion's office about exactly what the motion was about. The CP reporter's angle for her story on Martin's motion was focused on support from the Stormfront neo-Nazi crowd.

"Mr. Dion has not said to (withdraw the motion)," Martin said tonight. "There were some concerns by a couple of people who are in the leaders' office."

"There was some confusion that some people thought this was about hate crimes and I assured them it was not."

"The vast, vast majority of my colleagues have been very supporitve of it in the Liberal party and in other parties, too."

Martin said that MPs want to examine his motion and see if 13(1) is trampling on rights. The issue was brought to his attention shortly after Christmas by a second-year university student in his riding, who wrote him a two-page letter about what was happening. Martin did his own research and became "appalled" from what he discovered.

Martin's motion is 280th on the list of motions in the House of Commons and he said "It's not going to come up any time soon."

Woman who filed complaint against Levant's Muslim imam accuser has been attacked

A woman who has filed a human rights complaint against the Muslim Imam who recently dropped his complaint against Ezra Levant was attacked in her home this week by a man and a woman wearing a burka.

Shocking!

Calgary police are investigating an assault on one of three women who recently launched a human rights complaint against a local Muslim leader.

Police are looking for two people who pushed their way into the Coral Spring Mews N.E. home of Robina Butt about 3 p.m. Wednesday.

Const. Paban Dhaliwal said a man and a woman knocked on the door of Butt's home, and when questioned, identified themselves as members of the press.

When Butt opened the door, the couple forced their way into the home, pushing Butt against the wall a number of times and producing a weapon.

Dhaliwal said the victim did not recognize the intruders.

He said the woman was fully covered in a dark burka and was wearing black gloves. The male suspect is described as of East Indian descent, about 45 years old with a short moustache, five feet nine with a slim build and wearing blue jeans, a light shirt and black jacket.

Butt's husband, Najeeb, said his wife was badly shaken by the attack, suffering a number of cuts to her hand as well as bumps and bruises.

"There were some neighbourhood kids coming home from school who were talking outside. We think the attackers might have thought they were coming to our house, so they ran off," said Najeeb Butt.

Robina Butt and two other Calgary women filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission in late December against Syed Soharwardy, president of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada.

The complaint alleges they were subjected to abusive language and threats during a Nov. 11 meeting at the Al-Madinah Calgary Islamic Centre, where Soharwardy also serves as imam.

Soharwardy has denied all allegations in the human rights complaint.

Butt said he's convinced Wednesday's attack was not random.

Butt said the male attacker told his wife, "We come from Al-Madinah; if you ever talk anything about Al-Madinah . . . this is the first instalment."

When contacted by the Herald on Thursday evening, Soharwardy said no one from the Al-Madinah Centre would be involved in such a violent incident.

"We are law-abiding people. We had nothing to do with this. I condemn this attack absolutely, and I urge the police to do everything to find the people who were involved in this and bring them to justice."

Mughniyeh and the 9/11 hijackers.

Yesterday, I told you about how Kenneth Timmerman believes dead Hezbollah operative Imad Mughniyeh was the 9/11 commission's unnamed "senior Hezbollah operative" coincidentally travelling with numerous 9/11 hijackers in and out of Iran.

Today in the Jerusalem Post, Caroline Glick also says Mughniyeh was involved with the hijackers.

As Joscelyn recalls, the 9/11 Commission called for further investigation of Iran's role in the September 11, 2001, attacks on America. Adel, a veteran of Hizbullah camps, was intimately aware of the bombing plans before it took place. Ramzi Binalshibh, the plot's mastermind, travelled in and out of Iran several times in the months before the bombings. Then, too, eight to 10 of the September 11 bombers transited Iran assisted by Hizbullah and Revolutionary Guard officials in late 2000. The Iranians did not stamp their passports. Several of the bombers transited Iran en route to Lebanon. Mughniyeh himself flew to Beirut from Teheran aboard the same flight as September 11 hijacker Ahmad al-Ghamdi.

Also in her column, Glick says Mughniyeh may have been killed because western intelligence believed he was involved in plans for attacks on Europe, including The Vatican.

On January 30, French security services raided a Paris apartment and arrested six Arab men. Three of the men - two Lebanese and one Syrian - were travelling on diplomatic passports. According to the Italian Libero newspaper, the six were members of a Hizbullah cell. Documents seized included tourist maps of Paris, London, Madrid, Berlin and Rome marked up with red highlighter to indicate routes, addresses, parking lots and "truck stopping points." The maps pointed to several routes to Vatican back entrances.

. . .

All of the feared terror attacks against French and European targets have the classic earmarkings of Hizbullah operations chief and Iranian Revolutionary Guards officer Imad Mughniyeh. Mughniyeh was the pioneer of embassy bombings and high-profile kidnappings.

Mark Steyn blasts Human Rights Commission supporter

Warren Kinsella is a well known Liberal strategist in Canada (think James Carville but not as clever and less likeable), who is also among the strongest supporters of the Canadian Human Rights Commission's hate speech laws.

When he's not threatening to sue conservative Canadian bloggers or making trumped up allegations of racism, Kinsella writes a column for the conservative editorial pages of the National Post as the token liberal. That was until Saturday when Kinsella announced on his blog that he quit because he did not agree with the paper's editorial position on aboriginal rights.


But before Kinsella realized he was working for months at a paper that he considers borderline racist, he was engaged in a back and forth on the human rights commission issue with Ezra Levant, who also had a column in The Post. It some times got heated according to Levant.

Wasn't I surprised to see now that Kinsella today has attracted the sharp pen of Mark Steyn -- the person Dennis Miller says he would hire to play the part of Hannity if he got to cast Hannity and Colmes The Movie.

I don't know Warren Kinsella. I've met him once, briefly, but enjoyed the encounter. . . Nonetheless, the difference between "Canada's James Carville" and the real thing is that Mr Carville isn't wasting his time hunting down minor clerks in the Department of Parking Lots who've made the mistake of sending him a dissenting e-mail, or raging about the sex life of the "Wicked Witch of the West" (which, as a put-down, is barely any better than "douchebag" or "fuck you, loser"), or issuing hollow legal threats to every blogger who can't keep a straight face when his name comes up, or hectoring G7 governments for not leaping into action on the basis of his men's room coffee-table pictorials.

. . .

If I were Warren, I'd take down the shingle for a couple of months, go chill in the woods or, if he prefers, sing punk songs in a bar. But, if he wants to get back in the good graces of the Liberal Party, this seems an odd way to go about it.

Steyn v. Kinsella. Not a fair fight.

Did Hamas kill Mughniyeh?

There's been much speculation about the Mossad being involved in the assassination of terrorist mastermind Imad Mughniyeh based largely on how the car bomb attack is similar to previous Mossad operations.

Now there are a couple of holes in that theory.

On Friday what surfaced are reports that Palestinians are being held in connection with the police investigation into the targeted hit and that the car bomb was not similar to previous Mossad operations where a magnet is placed underneath a vehicle.

The source said the investigation by Syria, Iran and Hezbollah showed that Mughniyah was killed by a car bomb parked close to his car. It was detonated remotely as he walked past after leaving a building he had been visiting.

Early reports said the bomb had been placed inside Mughniyah's car.

The suspects arrested in connection to the killing have been mostly Palestinians residing in Syria, the Lebanese source said.

So why would Hamas want Mughniyeh dead?

At the American Thinker, Rick Moran puts forward some theories:

The prime suspect is still Israel's Mossaad whose expertise is unquestioned. But the fact that a car bomb was used to kill Mughniyeh may indicate other hands involved, including the Palestinians who have no great love for Hezb'allah and who have been hired out by the Syrians to detonate car bombs in Lebanon to kill anti-Syrian Lebanese in the past.

This time, they may have been operating for themselves - or still other unknown actors including a Hezb'allah faction who wanted to get rid of Mughniyeh for their own reasons.

Also read about Mughniyeh's connection to Iraqi insurgents.

Al Qaeda in Iraq reorganizes, U.S. media ignores surge

MEMRI reports that 500 Al-Qaeda gunmen were now returning to Diyala province and AFP reports Friday saw a twin suicide bombing.

MOSUL, Iraq - A double attack on Friday by two suicide bombers outside a crowded Shia mosque in the northwestern Iraqi town of Tal Afar killed at least four people and wounded 17, police said.

Tal Afar police chief Brigadier General Ibrahim Al Juburi said security forces shot both bombers but that the men still managed to detonate their suicide vests.

The attacks came during Friday prayers when the Shaikh Jawad Al Sadiq mosque was crowded with worshippers.

Tal Afar is near the Syrian border in the northern province of Nineveh, one of the provinces where Iraqi and US commanders says Al Qaeda in Iraq has regrouped after being chased out of Baghdad and surrounding belts.

Reuters notes.

Attacks are down nationwide by 60 percent since June, thanks to a surge of 30,000 extra U.S. troops, a decision by Sunni tribal sheikhs to turn against al Qaeda, and a ceasefire by Moqtada al-Sadr's Shi'ite militia.

But the country's north remains a massive security headache and stronghold of al Qaeda, who regrouped there after being ousted from strongholds in western Anbar province and from around Baghdad last year.

Meanwhile, NewsBusters has the latest on the lack of U.S. media interest in the first anniverary of the surge.

Friday Recommended Reading

Today, I'll be blogging about the latest from Iraq, the Imad Mughniya assassination and Canada's thought police.

In the interim, enjoy these very interesting stories from around the world.

Canada
> Devout Sikh motorcyclist in court to fight 'discriminatory' helmet law


U.S.
> Michelle Malkin sings!

> Keith Olbermann loses it ... again.

> Michael Reagan says Ronald Reagan would support McCain.

World
> Hamas bombs the YMCA.

> Suicide Bomber DVD for children discovered in Britain

> Six sharia convicts await stoning death in Nigeria

Liberal MP says support to end thought crimes "huge"

The latest on the Canadian thought police law.

A couple of weeks ago, Liberal MP Keith Martin (a former member of a conservative party, who made an opportunistic move four years ago to hop aboard the Paul Martin -- aka Canada's Gordon Brown -- Liberal juggernaut that never was ... but that's another story) announced he planned to introduce a private member's motion to restrict the powers of Canada's Human Right Act's Section 13, which deals with hate speech and has been used against Ezra Levant and Mark Steyn.

The announcement created some enthusiasm, but that quickly evaporated after a Canadian Press story reported that Martin's boss (Liberal Leader Stephane Dion -- think Al Gore without a personality) would ask him to withdraw the motion.

Well tonight, Ezra Levant is linking to a blog by Deborah Gyapong, who is also a Press Gallery reporter -- one of the few of a conservative persuasion.

Gyapong spoke to Keith Martin this week and she reports the following:

I interviewed Keith Martin again today. He said support within the Liberal caucus for his motion is "huge."

Stephane Dion has not talked to him about it, or asked him to withdraw it. Only a couple of Liberal members raised concerns, but no one has asked him to remove the motion.

"There is enormous support within caucus and across party lines," he said.

Ezra says Gyapong's scoop is important because it contradicts the spin coming from the motion's opponents and the CP story.

Levant focuses on the line in the CP story that said Dion's office suggested it would withdraw support from the motion and found it strange and even questioned its accuracy because it wasn't in quotes.

Well, Ezra, not everything has to be in quotes. If everything had to be in quotes news stories would just be transcripts and that would bite.

And, given everything else from Dion's spokesman that was in quotes, what was not in quotes doesn't really contradict the general impression she sent out -- Dion doesn't want to amend the Human Rights Act.

Now let's look at what Martin told Gyapong.

1.) "He said support within his caucus for the motion was huge."
Well that doesn't matter if Dion and the leadership don't sign on.

2.) "Stephane Dion has not talked to him about it, or asked him to withdraw it."
Yet! My understanding is Martin's motion doesn't come to the floor until some time after the Mayan calendar expires. So why would Dion rock the boat with an MP who is likely to lose his largely military riding in the next election with Capt. anti-war in charge of the the Good Ship Liberal?

3.) "There is enormous support within caucus and across party lines," he said..
I think this may be stretching the truth. Who in the socialist Bloc Quebecois is going to back this motion? Why has the NDP allowed MP Wayne Marston to not only go on record against Martin's motion but to ask questions of Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney in question period?

So here's what we have.

There are four parties in Parliament.

I'm writing the Bloc off as a lost cause.

The NDP is trying to paint the government in the corner on an opposition private member's bill. That's somethng I've never seen before and it doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement of Martin's motion which he says is supported across party lines.

The Liberal leader's spokesperson has said they do not want to touch the law. Even though the suggestion that Martin withdraw the motion is not in quotes, it doesn't change the fact they don't want to do what Martin's motion asks them to do to the law.

And finally, the government has ordered its MPs not to take a position on Martin's motion and when Kenney was asked about it in question period he never said he supported the motion and just spoke some Obamamese vagueness about free speech.

Again, Ezra, it does not look good, no matter what Keith Martin says he's been told privately.

Also, I, and a lot of your supporters, would prefer if you would not spin on television, like you did today, for a government that won't stand up for free speech. Just sayin'.

Excerpt: A real-life James Bond sheds light on the death of Imad Mugniyeh

From The National Post

Last year, Michael Ross and I wrote a book called "The Volunteer: A Canadian's Secret Life in the Mossad." It told Michael's story — that of a Canadian backpacker from Victoria, B.C., who wound up in the Israeli Mossad and had a number of interesting missions. One of his successful missions — described in Chapter 9 — involved placing a bomb under the car of a Hezbollah agent, who later was blown up by remote control. It was a mission with very close and obvious parallels with the death of Imad Mughniyeh, a top Hezbollah leader and known terrorist killed by a car bomb this week. — Jonathan Kay

Read the whole thing. Well worth it.

"We don't know why they're rioting. I think it's because they're bored."

Wake up and smell the Jihad. It's the Danish Intifada: Night 5

Six youths were arrested in Copenhagen for setting cars and dumpsters ablaze and throwing stones at police in a fifth night of riots in a predominantly immigrant area of the Danish capital.

"We've had six arrests so far. They've been charged with throwing stones at police and setting fires to cars and waste containers," Chief Inspector Henrik Olesen of the Copenhagen police said.

At least 11 cars were torched in various neighbourhoods of Copenhagen, and 10 others in the nearby town of Kokkedal.

On Thursday, 17 youths were arrested for rioting the previous night.

"We don't know why they're rioting. I think it's because they're bored. Some people say it's because of the cartoons but that's not my opinion," Olesen said.

He was referring to the reprinting of a controversial cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed in 17 Danish newspapers on Wednesday.

The drawing, published in Denmark for the first time in 2005, sparked several months of angry protests in the Muslim world in 2006. It depicted the prophet with a turban resembling a bomb with a lit fuse.

Protests have flared up again in several Muslim countries including Kuwait and Pakistan following the reprinting. The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas also condemned the publication.

Maybe Hamas didn't like the cartoons because they didn't eat Jews.

Pastorious has more, including a handy Google Map showing how the violence is spreading.

"You said you would slaughter him like a lamb. Do you mean that?"

"Yes. Yes."

At about the 1:45 minute mark of this clip you will discover that in Europe if you make death threats to cartoonists you get a small fine and the ability to continue to make death threats on CNN.

U.S. military: Al Qaeda in Iraq seeks female patients as bombers

CNN has more information on the investigation into the suicide bombing attack in Baghdad involving two women who had Down syndrome. The military believes there is a mole on staff at two psychiatric hospitals working for Al-Qaeda.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Al Qaeda in Iraq is recruiting female patients at Baghdad's two psychiatric hospitals for suicide missions -- with the help of hospital staff -- according to the U.S. military.

The U.S. military believes al Qaeda in Iraq has operatives within the hospitals' staffs who are passing on patients' files and contact information to the militant group, a senior U.S. military official said, requesting anonymity.

The apparent recruiting effort came to light this month when Iraqi officials said that two female bombers in deadly pet market attacks in Baghdad that left nearly 100 dead were mentally challenged.

One of the female bombers had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and depression at Baghdad's Ibn Rushd psychiatric hospital, where she received electric shock treatments, the hospital's director said in an exclusive interview.

As part of the investigation into the February 1 attack, U.S. and Iraqi forces detained the acting director of Baghdad's main psychiatric facility, Rashad Hospital, on Sunday.

He faces questions about whether he provided patient files and contact information to al Qaeda in Iraq, a U.S. military spokesman, Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, said Wednesday.

The U.S. military is looking into whether there is a direct link between the two hospitals, which are treating an overabundance of Iraqis suffering from psychiatric disorders brought on by the war.

A U.S. military official said information from a source led them to Rashad Hospital's acting director. The U.S. military also said it believes that al Qaeda in Iraq is trying to use other women released from Rashad Hospital to carry out future suicide bombings.

The detained hospital chief took over the position after Rashad's director was fatally gunned down in December reportedly for refusing to cooperate with al Qaeda in Iraq.

Al Qaeda in Iraq urges attacks on Israel

From MERMI

In an audiocassette posted February 14 on Islamist websites, Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi, Emir of the Islamic State of Iraq, which is affiliated with Al-Qaeda, offers his views on "winning the struggle against the Jews."

In the cassette, Al-Baghdadi said, "Israel is a malignant germ in the body of the [Islamic] ummah that must be removed," and added that the obligation to liberate Al-Aqsa Mosque applied to all Muslims.

Al-Baghdadi accused Hamas of treason for entering the political process, and said that it had abandoned jihad fighters worldwide. He called on the Palestinians to adopt the path of jihad without distinguishing between Jews and infidels, and Palestinians who betray Islam; to establish a Salafi organization "that will educate the Children of the Stones for the supreme goals of jihad"; and to destroy the Shi'a that had begun to spread in Palestine in the guise of "resistance."

Al-Baghdadi further called on all Muslims to open new jihad fronts in order to ease the Jewish and U.S. pressure on the Palestinians and to strengthen the existing jihad fronts, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He also offered help to the Palestinians in the form of funds and training, including in preparing bombs and manufacturing rockets.

Hezbollah to seek revenge on Israel overseas

Now that Hezbollah has declared "open war" against Israel believing that the Mossad was behind the assassination of deputy commander Imad Mughniyah, defence sources tell WorldNetDaily that they don't expect the attacks to come in Israel.

Defense sources speaking to WND said it was estimated Hezbollah would try to target Israel overseas instead of engaging in border clashes with the Jewish state. They said Hezbollah has active cells in Europe, Africa and Asia capable of attacking Jewish or Israeli targets. To that effect, Israel's Defense and Foreign ministries placed all Israeli embassies worldwide on high alert for possible terrorist attacks.

Video: How Al Qaeda deals with its prisoners

Yesterday, I posted a video from MEMRI that shows what is said to be Al Qaeda in Iraq burning alive three prisoners.

The video, which is a month old, is now making its way around the counterjihad blogosphere.

A sharp commenter at The Jawa Report found the source of that short video, which is a 15-minute Arabic video that appears to be from an anti-Al Qaeda group.

This longer video has more Al-Qaeda atrocities, including an execution of two prisoners in a parking lot, the beheading of a prisoner and a child beheading another prisoner.

While the U.S. Senate votes to ban waterboarding, it's important to keep in mind what the Western world is up against.

WARNING EXTREMELY GRAPHIC, NOT FOR THE SQUEEMISH OR CHILDREN.

Danish Cartoon Outrage 2.0

Here's the latest on the international outrage to the decision in Denmark to reprint the Danish Mohammed cartoons.

Anger and car torching in Denmark.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Bands of youths set fire to cars and trash bins overnight in a fourth consecutive night of vandalism mostly in immigrant neighborhoods of the Danish capital, police said.

Seventeen people were arrested, Copenhagen Police spokesman Flemming Steen Munch said, adding police were not sure what sparked the violence.

Some observers said immigrant youths were protesting against perceived police harassment and suggested the reprinting of a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad in Danish newspapers Wednesday, may have aggravated the situation.

"They feel provocations and discrimination by the police that stop then now and then to check them," Copenhagen social worker Khalid Al-Subeihi said. "It doesn't make it easier when the cartoons come back again."

The youths set dozens of fires in several districts of Copenhagen, torching cars and trash bins and in some cases hurling rocks at police.

And flag burning in Pakistan.

KARACHI (Thomson Financial) - Protesters burned a Danish flag in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi today in a show of anger over the reprinting of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed, witnesses said.

Around 50 members of a hardline Islamic student group took to the streets after several Danish newspapers published the drawing that caused bloody riots in the Muslim world two years ago.

Seventeen Danish dailies printed the drawing on Wednesday, vowing to defend freedom of expression a day after police in Denmark foiled a plot to murder the cartoonist.

"We will not shy from sacrificing our lives to protect the sanctity of our Prophet," a participant in the rally in the port city, who did not give his name, told AFP.

No deaths to report . . . yet.

The CBC shows its solidarity with Danish cartoonists

Maybe they didn't get Michelle Malkin's memo.

From Ezra Levant.

CBC's The National finally did a news item on the human rights complaint. It was a good enough news report, though I couldn't help but wonder if the CBC would have waited so long to do a story, and given it such perfunctory coverage, if it had been one of their own producers who had been summoned before a government investigator. But it was fair enough, and the quote from Alan Borovoy of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association was excellent.

What stuck in my mind, though, and still makes me shake my head, is that the CBC "pixellated" an image of one of the cartoons when they flashed a shot of a Danish newspaper. In a story about freedom of speech -- pegged not just to my own human rights interrogation, but to death threats against a Danish cartoonist -- the CBC opted for self-censorship.

Imad Mugniyah, Iran and 9/11

From the 9/11 Commission's report.

Assistance from Hezbollah and Iran to al Qaeda

As we mentioned in chapter 2, while in Sudan, senior managers in al Qaeda maintained contacts with Iran and the Iranian-supported worldwide terrorist organization Hezbollah, which is based mainly in southern Lebanon and Beirut. Al Qaeda members received advice and training from Hezbollah.

. . .

Our knowledge of the international travels of the al Qaeda operatives selected for the 9/11 operation remains fragmentary. But we now have evidence suggesting that 8 to 10 of the 14 Saudi "muscle" operatives traveled into or out of Iran between October 2000 and February 2001.121

In October 2000, a senior operative of Hezbollah visited Saudi Arabia to coordinate activities there. He also planned to assist individuals in Saudi Arabia in traveling to Iran during November. A top Hezbollah commander and Saudi Hezbollah contacts were involved.122

Also in October 2000, two future muscle hijackers, Mohand al Shehri and Hamza al Ghamdi, flew from Iran to Kuwait. In November, Ahmed al Ghamdi apparently flew to Beirut, traveling-perhaps by coincidence-on the same flight as a senior Hezbollah operative. Also in November, Salem al Hazmi apparently flew from Saudi Arabia to Beirut.123

In mid-November, we believe, three of the future muscle hijackers, Wail al Shehri, Waleed al Shehri, and Ahmed al Nami, all of whom had obtained their U.S. visas in late October, traveled in a group from Saudi Arabia to Beirut and then onward to Iran. An associate of a senior Hezbollah operative was on the same flight that took the future hijackers to Iran. Hezbollah officials in Beirut and Iran were expecting the arrival of a group during the same time period. The travel of this group was important enough to merit the attention of senior figures in Hezbollah.124

Later in November, two future muscle hijackers, Satam al Suqami and Majed Moqed, flew into Iran from Bahrain. In February 2001, Khalid al Mihdhar may have taken a flight from Syria to Iran, and then traveled further within Iran to a point near the Afghan border.125

KSM and Binalshibh have confirmed that several of the 9/11 hijackers (at least eight, according to Binalshibh) transited Iran on their way to or from Afghanistan, taking advantage of the Iranian practice of not stamping Saudi passports. They deny any other reason for the hijackers' travel to Iran. They also deny any relationship between the hijackers and Hezbollah.126

So who is this "senior Hezbollah operative" who was coincidentally travelling with numerous 9/11 hijackers in and out of Iran?

In an interview with FrontPage Magazine, Kenneth Timmerman says it's recently killed terrorist Imad Mugniyah.

I saw a report just yesterday suggesting that the Rev. Guards lured Mugniyeh into a trap into Damascus, to make sure that he never revealed the extent of his involvement with al Qaeda in the 9//11 plot. This was a secret the Iranians would have liked to ensure that Mugniyeh carried to his grave.

I’ve got news for them, though: the word is out. Just take a look at pages 240-241 of the 9/11 commission report, which describes in elusive terms the travel of eight to ten of the “muscle” hijackers in and out of Iran in the company of a “senior Hezbollah operative.” That operative was none other than Imad Mugniyeh.

FP: In other words, you are saying that Mugniyeh was involved with the 9/11 terror attack and so was Iran ˆ and the Iranians might have very well killed him so that the full extent of their own involvement would not become known.

Timmerman: There is absolutely no doubt that Mugniyeh and his masters in Iran were directly and materially involved in the 9/11 plot.

Mossad behind assassination of Hezbollah terrorist: experts

The mysterious car bomb that killed Hezbollah's Imad Mugniyah in Damascus Tuesday looks like a Mossad operation, according to terrorism and intelligence experts.

Former CIA official Bruce Riedel told Ynetnews all signs seem to indicate the Mossad was behind the killing.

Riedel, who spent over 30 years with the CIA before serving as a senior advisor on South Asian and Middle East affairs under three US presidents, said Israel has already carried out similar operations in Syria.

Currently a senior fellow with the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institute, he says Mugniyah's assassination proves Israel has successfully infiltrated Hizbullah and that even Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah knows he may also be in the crosshairs.

As Bill Roggio notes, the similar operation in Syria was another hit credited to the Mossad in 2004 that took out Hamas terrorist Izz El-Deen Sheikh Khalil.

Because of this link to Israel, some Israeli columnists are expecting Hezbollah to seek revenge.

It is reasonable to assume that Iran’s and Hizbullah’s top priority at this time, in the wake of the assassination, would be the desire to restore their deterrent power through international terror attacks. It is also reasonable to assume that they will attempt to do this through large-scale grandiose attacks against Israeli, Jewish, and American institutions and interests. It won’t happen immediately, as Iranian-Hizbullah terror networks have been dormant in recent years. It will take some time to bring them back into action and lull possible targets.

However, we can assume with near certainty that Hizbullah will settle the score – even if only to boost the confidence of its activists in Lebanon, Syria, and elsewhere in the world. This confidence will likely be undermined in the wake of the assassination of such a senior, compartmentalized, and heavily secured figure.

As we don’t know when the act of revenge will take place, the Israeli government and US Administration must boost security arrangements at all official and economic missions identified with them in the next few days. The intelligence coverage should also be enhanced. Israelis abroad, and particularly backpackers and businesspeople in South America and Africa, must be aware of the possibility that they may become a target for attack or abduction.

Long before Osama bin Laden, there was Imad Mughniyah

The Washington Post has a good article on the death of Imad Mughniyah, who was considered a pioneer in Islamic terrorism.

"Long before Osama bin Laden, there was Imad Mughniyah," said Bilal Saab, a Hezbollah expert at the Brookings Institution's Saban Center. "He introduced catastrophic suicide terrorism and many other tactics now used widely by many groups throughout the region."

The United States issued a sealed indictment against Mughniyah in 1985 -- three years before bin Laden formed al-Qaeda.

With Marines planning to mark this year's 25th anniversary of the barracks attack, the Marine commander at the time, Col. Tim Geraghty, reflected yesterday on Mughniyah's death in Syria. "It's very fitting that it was a car bomb. It was long overdue," he said from his home in Phoenix. "The fact that he was still active with a $5 million bounty on his head showed his genius for maintaining and running terrorism operations all this time."

Mughniyah died in a car bombing in Damascus on Tuesday, but New York Times reports who targeted him is still a mystery.

On Wednesday, Syrian and Iranian officials sought to blame Israel for the strike on Mr. Mugniyah, but Israel denied any involvement.

A State Department spokesman said he did not know who was responsible for his death.

The Israeli press, however, is writing under the assumption that the Mossad was the one behind the killing.

A nasty surprise awaited Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, who was scheduled to arrive in Damascus on Wednesday to discuss the Lebanese crisis with Bashar Assad. Syria, the Iranian minister found out, is no longer a secure state, its intelligence is penetrable, and Iran's emissaries and friends - whether the leaders of Islamic Jihad or Hamas - are now, with Imad Mughniyah's assassination, in the first line of fire. Mottaki could have surmised that in Damascus, he too could be an easy target.

If Mottaki got a surprise, Assad was hit with the full blow that under his own nose, and not in fragmented Lebanon "full of traitors," as Hezbollah says, such a complex operation could have been cooked up and carried out.

But certainly the greatest shake-up will be felt by Hezbollah, whose intelligence structure, security capabilities, and assault architecture were built by Mughniyah himself.
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This, therefore, is a strategic assassination, because of its potential repercussions beyond the removal of Hezbollah's supreme planner and operative.

Ann Coulter and Dennis Miller: Quotes of the Day

Ann Coulter on John McCain and water boarding.

McCain is hysterical about pouring water down terrorists' noses and campaigns to shut down Guantanamo.

He demands that no terrorist interrogation be "degrading" -- perhaps recalling how not degrading it was for people in the upper floors of the Twin Towers to have to leap to their deaths rather than be burned alive on Sept. 11.

Dennis Miller on Mark Steyn:

"America Alone should be the western world's Koran."

Video: Al Qaeda in Iraq burns prisoners alive

And you thought water boarding was bad.

WARNING: EXTREMELY GRAPHIC

Hürriyet Video'larını izlemet için Flash 7 veya daha yüksek eklenti yüklenmeniz gerekmektedir. Yüklemek için tıklayınız!!!

Hat Tip MEMRI

Climate change suspected in Loch Ness monster's death

You can't make this up. A man who has been hunting the Loch Ness monster for decades has given up and is blaming global warming.
(Hat tip Mark Steyn)

Despite having hundreds of sonar contacts over the years, the trail has since gone cold and Rines believes that Nessie may be dead, a victim of global warming.

Limbaugh endorses Obama

. . . Because He Is Anything You Want Him to Be

Therefore, I would like today to announce a tentative decision, I'm stilling thinking about it, to endorse Barack Obama, since everybody is asking who am I going to endorse, and here's why. Barack Obama is pro-life. Barack Obama is a Constitutionalist. Barack Obama believes in limited government. Barack Obama is in favor of health care savings plans. Barack Obama loves free markets and wants to protect them. Barack Obama is strong on national defense. Barack Obama is a tax cutter extraordinaire. Barack Obama makes my leg tingle when I hear him speak. Barack Obama will end the designated hitter rule. Barack Obama will establish a college football playoff once and for all so we will genuinely have a champion. Barack Obama will get to the bottom of Spygate. Barack Obama will offer free beer Fridays. Whatever you want Obama to be, folks, he's a blank slate, he's an empty canvas, and this is the nature of his appeal. Whatever people fantasize about, whatever they want, they are confident Obama supports it, too.

Can we negotiate with the Taliban?

Yes, according to Ali A Jalali, the former interior minister in Afghan President's Hamid Karzai government.

What is the difference between the Taliban and Al Qaeda?

Only 20 percent of insurgents who form the core of Taliban are fighting the ideological war. The rest are aggrieved tribes who have been mistreated by some government officials or drug trafficker or some foreign intelligence operators or by the transnational Al Qaeda terrorists. It also consists of unemployed youth and criminal groups. All these are alliance of convenience. They are fighting for different reasons.

Al Qaeda is a transnational organisation. They are not even interested in Afghanistan or Pakistan. They are waging a global war. Taliban is in Afghanistan and Pakistan and Al Qaeda is also based in the tribal areas of Pakistan. There are elements in the Taliban that are not ideologically motivated. They are not that dangerous. There are ways to bring them back. They can be motivated to return. Those who will not settle for less than overthrowing of the regime, I don't think there will be any way for them to reconcile.

Danish Cartoon update

Here are some links updating the latest developments in the Danish cartoon controversy.

Mark Steyn and Charles Johnson both hail the move by the Danish papers to reprint the Mohammed cartoons as a sign of solidarity.

Steyn observes:

Good for them. The minute it became clear that violence and intimidation were the response the western press should have said: Okay, you want to kill one of us, you'll have to kill us all. The Danes have now taken an important stand against Islamic encroachments on freedom of expression.

In Canada, by contrast, the state hauled the only publisher of the cartoons, my old boss Ezra Levant, into one of its thought-crime courts at the behest of a raving incoherent imam. And all the jelly-spined squish of a Minister of Justice has done is issue lamely evasive talking points. Nonetheless, the imam has now folded, and is calling (insofar as I can follow him) for the matter to be settled according to Gene Autry's Cowboy Code or some Islamic understanding thereof. Ezra is going on the offensive.

On a darker note, an American Muslim blogger has this not so nice warning to one of the cartoonists.

Keep fearing for your life you white trash.

Anyone who wages war against Allah and His Messenger defiantly and arrogantly, will inevitably face the banner of Laa Ilaaha Illallaah: they will face those who will show them no mercy. “Humble with the believers, harsh against the Disbelievers.”

We wish we were able to express our extreme anger… and Walahi, our blood is boiling and our veins are shaking and our muscles are tightening…

All we can say to the cartoonists is: you fools seem to forget the end of Theo Van Gogh (may Allah’s curse be upon him) and forget to realize that even many of the Danish citizens who are Muslims will not tolerate it because they know the story of Ka’b bin Al-Ashraf and what the Companions of Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alayhi wassallam) did to him and they know that their Religion allows such a thing.

(Hat Tip: Jawa Report)

Liberals hoping the economy tanks

Some Liberal MPs are rubbing their hands and praying to God that Canada's economy goes in the tank.

Reuters reports.

Some in his party are itching for an election, despite polls that show the most likely result would be another minority Conservative government.

"I haven't changed my view. I think the government needs to be brought down as soon as possible," said Liberal legislator Garth Turner.

"There are some of my colleagues who would rather have their kidneys harvested without anesthetic than go to an election, but that's kind of normal I think. In any caucus you're going to find hawks and doves," Turner told reporters.

Others are more cautious, noting that Canada is set to be hit by U.S. woes and that there might be more to be gained by waiting to see how the government handles a domestic slowdown.

"What would we go on?" asked one senior Liberal legislator, saying there would have to be "something egregious" in the budget not to support it.

Yes, what will you go on? It seems the Liberals are so lacking in ideas that their best hope for winning back power is a recession.

Harper's "(Stop) Talking Points" memo

Kathie Shaidle has a really good column in today's National Post on this week's discovery of the Harper government's meek and evasive talking points on the human rights commission controversy.

The federal Justice Minister's Irony Detector must be in the shop for a tune-up. How else to explain the memo issued by Rob Nicholson's office to every Conservative MP last week?

According to Al Siebring at NoApologies.ca, who leaked the confidential memo entitled Talking Points re: CHRA & CHRC, "it basically instructs MPs to keep a very low profile on any discussion surrounding Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act."

I suppose those bloggers who've been running netroots "free speech" campaigns since late last year can look at it this way: That "Talking Points" memo shows that the government has indeed been getting all our calls, faxes and e-mails.

Too bad the PMO's response to citizens' concerns about the erosion of their free speech rights is to issue a (secret) document, telling our elected representatives to keep quiet or change the subject.

Sounds more like a "(Stop) Talking Points" memo. Let's review:

Western Standard publisher Ezra Levant, along with Maclean's magazine and columnist Mark Steyn, are being hauled before various Canadian human rights commissions (CHRCs): the former for publishing the controversial "Muhammad" cartoons, the latter for excerpting Steyn's bestselling book America Alone.

Self-styled representatives of the Muslim community accuse Levant and Maclean's of violating the Canadian Human Rights Act, because what they published is allegedly, in the words of Section 13.1, "likely to expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt."

Note that magic word "likely." No need to prove that these publications inspired actual hate crimes, like arson or assault. Rather, appointed CHRC bureaucrats need merely deem it "likely" that the Western Standard or Maclean's magazine might inspire persons unknown to commit offenses of some sort or other between now and the end of the world.

It's "thought crime" meets "future crime," but without the cool flying cars you'd at least get in a dystopian sci-fi flick.

As word of this Orwellian state of affairs spread beyond Canadian bloggers into the mainstream media, it was a Liberal MP, Dr. Keith Martin, who introduced private members motion M-446, which reads: "That, in the opinion of the House, subsection 13(1) of the Canadian Human Rights Act should be deleted from the Act."

In fact, as Ezra Levant himself observed on his website yesterday, Liberals like Martin, not to mention the Alberta Liberal party, have displayed more vocal, principled opposition to CHRC abuses than their Conservative counterparts.

Sure enough, the Justice Minister's "Talking Points" memo consists mostly of empty calorie cliches.

If asked about the Levant and Steyn cases by journalists or constituents, Conservative MPs are instructed to stress that the Harper government "is committed to the protection and promotion of human rights," and add that "Canada's record on human rights is second to none."

Then, if "asked about the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) and its processes," the memo advises, "refer [the] letter writer to the CHRC's website."

Sounds like that twist ending to many a horror film, when the lone survivor is finally "rescued" -- and driven right back to the zombie compound.

Finally, MPs are told to steer the subject away from Keith Martin's call to amend Section 13, and to focus instead on the "government's ongoing efforts" -- which many "free speech" frontliners are hearing about for the first time-- "to repeal Section 67 of the Act." This is the provision that, as the memo explains, exempts First Nations "from receiving the same legal protection against discrimination that is afforded to all other Canadians."

A worthy goal, but please: One normally has to attend a high school talent show to witness such amateur sleight of hand.

When bloggers first heard of the accusations against Steyn and Levant, and began mounting campaigns to "stop the CHRCs" from further stifling freedom of speech, many were encouraged by a rediscovered, then widely circulated, quotation from future Prime Minister Stephen Harper, circa 1999:

"Human Rights Commissions, as they are evolving, are an attack on our fundamental freedoms and the basic existence of a democratic society … It is in fact totalitarianism. I find this is very scary stuff."

Looks like Stephen Harper lost a few things during his move to 24 Sussex Drive. Namely, a principle or two. - Kathy Shaidle blogs at FiveFeetOfFury.com.

The Canadian thought police at it again

This time it's not Muslims, but gays targeting Christians -- the more common human rights commission controversy. Their crime? Quoting Pope Benedict.

TORONTO, FEB. 12, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Catholic Insight, a Canadian magazine known for its fidelity to Church teachings, has been targeted by the Canadian Human Rights Commission for publishing articles deemed offensive to homosexuals.

The commission has been investigating the Toronto-based publication since homosexual activist Rob Wells, a member of the Gay, Lesbian and Transgendered Pride Center of Edmonton, filed a nine-point complaint last February with the government agency in which he accuses the magazine of promoting "extreme hatred and contempt" against homosexuals.

Father Alphonse de Valk, the founder and editor of Catholic Insight, disagrees with the accusations. "Wells took three pages of quotes out of context," he told ZENIT.

The Basilian priest added that Catholic Insight "bases itself on the Church's teaching and applies it to various circumstances in our time." He noted that some of the statements that allegedly promoted hatred and contempt against homosexuals were taken from recent Vatican pronouncements.

Other types of statements published by Catholic Insight on the topic of homosexuality include political statements, medical studies, news reports and other studies. Many of the articles concerned addressed the campaign in Canada to legalize same-sex marriage, which Catholic Insight openly opposed.

"The basic view of the Church is that homosexual acts are a sin, but we love the sinner," said Father de Valk, adding that opposing same-sex marriage is not the same as rejecting homosexuals as persons.

The priest said that homosexual activists are broadly defining homophobia as hatred of all homosexuals: "They maintain that the whole Catholic Church is homophobic."

Allegations

The complaint against Father de Valk is just one of several complaints against Christians that Canada's human rights commissions have investigated in recent years. Despite assurance from politicians that Canadian faith communities would not be affected when the government legalized same-sex marriage, the number of complaints against Christians have only increased since 2005, say several concerned Christians.

Canada's human rights commissions are empowered by Canadian law to investigate allegations of offensive speech. There are 10 commissions in the country -- the national commission, known as the Canadian Human Rights Commission, and a provincial commission for each of Canada's 10 provinces, except British Columbia.

Once any one of the commissions has completed its investigation, it may then pass the case along to its respective human rights tribunal for adjudication. In British Columbia, individuals bring their complaints directly to the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal.

The process favours the complainant over the accused, claim Father de Valk and other Christian critics of the commissions and tribunals. There is no cost to the one who files a complaint, and the commission provides legal support to the complainant. In contrast, the accused must pay his legal costs.

Additionally, contrary to the English legal tradition, there is a reverse onus requiring the accused to prove his or her innocence. "There's a presumption of guilt," said Bishop Fred Henry of Calgary, who himself was subject to two complaints before the Alberta Human Rights Commission in 2005 after publishing a pastoral letter defending the traditional definition of marriage earlier that same year.

"I really feel that we are into a crisis situation here where we are experiencing a trumping of religious freedom," said Bishop Henry.

The prelate describes Father de Valk as "an orthodox, very straight-forward individual."

He said that Catholic Insight's studies have been in-depth and in keeping with Catholic teaching, but given Canada's current culture, the bishop anticipated Father de Valk would eventually be subject to a human rights complaint. "He's a public target," Bishop Henry said. "His magazine is rather public."

Bishop Henry feels that Canada's commissions and tribunals are targeting Catholics in the name of promoting human rights. "Catholicism seems to be under attack for a variety of different reasons," he said. "I think one of the things is that we're not trendy; we don't easily kind of compromise on anything we consider to be essential.

"So when you have very clear definitive teaching with respect to marriage and what marriage is all about, and with homosexuality as intrinsically disordered and contrary to natural law, closing sexual relations to the gift of life, I don't see where Catholics can say anything else that what our traditional teaching is."

"That is not a very popular, politically correct expression of views in our society," the bishop said. "If you can knock down that and kind of bring the Catholic Church to its knees, I would think the opponents would be very pleased to do so."

Bishop Henry lays part of the blame with an activist judiciary that has read "sexual orientation" into the section of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that protects against discrimination. "And further, they're reading in 'sexual practices,'" said the bishop.

Precedents

Christian groups have a losing record before Canada's human rights tribunals for alleged discrimination. In November 2005, the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal ordered a Knights of Columbus council to pay two lesbians $1,000 each in damages, plus legal costs, after the council declined to rent their hall to the couple for a same-sex marriage ceremony.

In 2000, the Ontario Human Rights Commission fined Scott Brockie, a Protestant print-shop owner, $5,000 for declining to print, on moral grounds, homosexual-themed stationary.

The same tribunal fined London, Ontario, $10,000, plus interest, in 1997 when Mayor Diane Haskett declined to proclaim a gay pride day for the city.

Carmen Grigoire, an official spokeswoman for the Canadian Human Rights Commission, would not discuss the complaint against Father de Valk when contacted by ZENIT. The commission is investigating a similar case against the Christian Heritage Party, a political party co-founded by pro-life Catholics and Protestants. The complaint against the party was also initiated by Rob Wells.

Both Bishop Henry and Father de Valk point out that while Catholics have limited their criticism to homosexual acts, many homosexual activists have made statements openly promoting hatred toward Catholics without being investigated by Canada's human rights commissions. "There is a distinct lack of reciprocity in how Catholics react," Bishop Henry said.

In the end, Bishop Henry feels that Canada's human rights tribunals are censoring the expression of traditional Christian teaching: "The social climate right now is that we're into a new form of censorship and thought control, and the commissions are being used as thought police."

Good news from Canada: Complaint against Levant dropped

Ezra Levant fought the good fight and it seems he has won. But Ezra sees this more as a hudna than a surrender and he plans on counter suing. And this does not end the controversy over hate speech laws in Canada.

CALGARY -- Calgary Muslim leader Syed Soharwardy says he is withdrawing his Alberta Human Rights Commission complaint against former Western Standard publisher Ezra Levant.

The complaint was launched in February 2006, after the Western Standard and the Jewish Free Press reprinted cartoons from a Danish newspaper that many in the Muslim world felt insulted the prophet Muhammad. The cartoons sparked violent protests in a number of countries.

"Over the two years that we have gone through the process, I understand that most Canadians see this as an issue of freedom of speech, that that principle is sacred and holy in our society," said Soharwardy, president of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada.

"I believe Canadian society is mature enough not to absorb the messages that the cartoons sent. Only a very small fraction of Canadian media decided to publish those cartoons."

Mr. Levant said he isn't buying Mr. Soharwardy's promise, calling it a "temporary, tactical truce."

"I don't believe him. He thought this would be easy to do, just sic the human rights commission on me and it would be done. But I decided to fight back," said Mr. Levant.

"He's hurting right now. . . . What he's now saying he is going to do is not a true reflection of his feelings."

Mr. Levant said he plans to launch a civil lawsuit against Mr. Soharwardy to recover the tens of thousands of dollars he said he has spent battling the complaint.

"I put in at least 100 hours fighting this guy. He may want to run away from this issue, but I'm not going to. His values are out of sync with Canadian society."

Mr. Soharwardy said he had received a number of "hateful" e-mails after the cartoons were published locally.

He said he knows some of his supporters will see his decision as backing away from a fight.

"But I hope people see this as a positive action, that it will create better feelings between Muslims and all Canadians," Mr. Soharwardy said.

"I'm not giving up working in the front lines. But I feel at this time withdrawing the complaint is the right thing to do."

After the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada filed the complaints against the two publications in 2006, Mr. Soharwardy and Jewish Free Press publisher Richard Bronstein met with a human rights commission mediator in March 2007. They settled their dispute with a handshake and Mr. Soharwardy withdrew his complaint. Mr. Bronstein later spoke to Muslims at a meeting at the mosque where Mr. Soharwardy serves as imam.

"I think Syed got something out of this process, too," said Mr. Bronstein. "I think this kind of complaint harmed his interests more than it helped.

"There's a widespread belief in the public that people don't want to hear offensive speech all the time. But to some degree, we have to permit it in our society if we're going to have freedom of speech."

Canada's Conservative government tries to avoid free speech debate

It seems Canada's Conservative government doesn't have the stomach to deal with Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act that deals with hate speech and has led to Mark Steyn and Ezra Levant being the subject of complaints before human rights commissions.

Two weeks ago, a Liberal MP, Keith Martin, announced he would table a motion to have section 13 removed. His motion was met with derision from a Canadian Press story that focused on white supremacist support for the motion.

Martin's motion has raised questions with grassroots conservatives about whether the minority Conservative government in Ottawa would back Martin's motion when it comes up for debate. Now a Canadian blogger has obtained the government's talking points and it appears the Tories are whimping out.

It appears the Harper government doesn't have the political stomach right now to engage in any kind of major defense of free speech rights in Canada. NoApologies.ca has obtained a copy of a document circulated to all Conservative MP's from Justice Minister Rob Nicholson's office late last week.

The document is entitled "Talking points re: CHRA & CHRC", and it basically instructs MP's to keep a very low profile on any discussion surrounding Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act.

. . .

As for the specifics of Martin's motion, the MP's are instructed to say that the motion was "just recently tabled and will not be up for debate in the near future," and that they should assure their constituents that if and when the issue "comes before the house for debate, (they) will follow it closely and.. arrive at a position at that time."

The document also instructs MP's to essentially shift the focus away from the Section 13 discussion by talking about the government's ongoing efforts to repeal Section 67 of the Act. That section essentially exempts First Nations from any and all provisions or enforcement of the Act in cases where discrimination happens on native land. Nicholson's document says that Section of the Act essentially prevents First Nations people "from receiving the same legal protection against discrimination that is afforded to all other Canadians," and that MP's should use the line "My Canada includes First Nations" when discussing the Section 67 issue.

Ezra Levant, who worked for one of Conservative legacy parties in Ottawa once, is not happy with his party's talking points.

I say again I don't know who wrote these empty talking points, or when. But when every medium in the country, from the Globe and Mail to the Toronto Star to the National Post, are united in calling for an amendment of section 13, surely a little bit of political courage can be expected from a government calling itself Conservative.

I've had enough contact with various MPs and staff in Ottawa to know that these talking points do not reflect the whole picture of the government's thinking. At least I hope they don't. I have one talking point of my own that I'd send over:


"Human rights commissions, as they are evolving, are an attack o­n our fundamental freedoms and the basic existence of a democratic society…It is in fact totalitarianism. I find this is very scary stuff." -- Stephen Harper, B.C. Report Newsmagazine, January 11, 1999

Don't want to say I told you so, Ezra, but I told you so.

Hesham Islam on his way out of the Pentagon

The high-ranking Pentagon official accused of running an "influence operation" on behalf of U.S. Muslim groups fronting for the radical Muslim Brotherhood will not have his contract renewed.

In a stunning turn of events, a high-level Muslim military aide blamed for costing an intelligence contractor his job will step down from his own Pentagon post, WND has learned.

Meanwhile, his rival, Maj. Stephen Coughlin, a leading authority on Islamic war doctrine, may stay in the Pentagon, moving from the office of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the office of the secretary of defense. However, sources say a former U.S. ambassador to Turkey is trying to block his new contract.

The top Pentagon aide, Egyptian-born Hesham H. Islam, came under a cloud of suspicion after reports raised doubt about his resume and contacts he had made with radical Muslims. He is expected to leave the government next month, officials say.

Islam and Coughlin recently quarreled over intelligence briefings Coughlin presented showing a close connection between the religion of Islam and terrorism. Coughlin's contract with the Joint Chiefs, which ends in March, was not renewed.

But as a result of the ensuing firestorm that played out in the conservative press – led by Washington Times Pentagon reporter Bill Gertz – Islam was put under a microscope, and questions were raised regarding his background.

For example, Claudia Rosett of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies wrote a column challenging key claims in Islam's official biography. Within days, a Defense Department profile of Islam was removed from the department's website.

A Pentagon spokesman said it was "taken down in an attempt to reduce the rhetoric and the emotion surrounding this issue while we try to determine the facts."

A senior U.S. official says the life story Islam presented now appears sketchy.

"His resume didn't add up, and he knows it," the official said. "He's voluntarily leaving the government in March."

At the same time, a report by terror expert Steven Emerson revealed that Islam, as special assistant to the deputy secretary of defense, has scheduled at least two meetings in the Pentagon with Syrian-tied radicals – including a leading member of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood – in direct violation of U.S. policy.

As WND previously reported, FBI officials believe Islam is involved with the U.S. branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and is helping its front groups run "influence operations" against the U.S. government.

"He's a Muslim brother," an FBI official told WND. "He's a bad actor, and he's made other unreported nefarious contacts."

Islam has worked closely in the Pentagon with Muslim chaplain Abuhena M. Saifulislam, who as WND also previously reported, received his trained at a radical Islamic school in Northern Virginia that was raided by federal authorities after 9/11.

Islam, whose son is active in the military, obtained one of the highest security clearances for classified information. Sources confirm he has sat in on Pentagon meetings in which intelligence clearance was restricted at the Top Secret/SCI (Sensitive Compartmented Information) level.

The Pentagon had no comment. And Islam, who has not been accused of any crimes, has refused interviews.

Emerson says Islam prescribed a steady diet of Muslim Brotherhood-connected outreach for his unwitting boss, deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England.

For example, England spoke at the Islamic Society of North America's 2006 convention and last year even hosted a luncheon with ISNA officials in the Pentagon. At the time, federal prosecutors had linked ISNA to the Muslim Brotherhood conspiracy in the U.S. and named the group as an unindicted co-conspirator in a major terrorism-financing case.

In one intelligence briefing, Coughlin argued that the Pentagon should end its outreach programs with ISNA, which also put him at odds with Islam.

Pentagon insiders say Eric S. Edelman, undersecretary of defense for policy, has sought to stop the awarding of a new contract to Coughlin. Edelman served as ambassador to Turkey from 2003 to 2005.