Free Republic

A WAR of words of almost biblical proportions has broken out between Australia's most senior Catholic and a Muslim leader. Islamic Information and Services Network president Abu Hamza, of Coburg, wants the Bible banned because it incites violence. He called Archbishop George Pell a "clown" for his comments this year that the Koran was full of "invocations to violence". Mr Hamza told his followers the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, was full of murder and seemed to condone rape. Dr Pell replied from the Vatican this week: "I am not sure how much Mr Hamza's comments improve the situation, but...

SO it wasn't a political stunt. It isn't about Iraq. And the threat of Islamist terror right here is more real than many pretend. How real? If the police are right, they have saved scores of you from being blown up -- as people in Madrid and London were blown up. As NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney put it, the arrest yesterday of 17 Muslim men disrupted "the final stages of a large-scale terrorist attack". He said explosive material had already been collected. Yet only last week, Prime Minister John Howard was pilloried by many for having warned of an...