Mohammed, The Mad Poet Quoted....

Not too long ago I was listening to the radio, Bill O'Reilly on KFMB, as I recall. During his show, Bill was talking about some passages from the Koran that had appeared in print that seemed to contradict much of the CAIR and other Islamic apologist propaganda.

During the program a man, a Muslim, called in to the show to accuse O'Reilly of being unfair and taking things out of context, etc. He then said that you need to have an Imam explain these passages to you so you can understand their meaning. This of course means one of several things.

The first possible meaning is that the average person is too stupid understand the Koran without help. Another is that Mohammed chose not to speak plainly and clearly when relating Allah's word for one reason or another. Or, possibly, that the Imam's tell their followers this so that they may remain in control of the religion, and interpret it as they please without fear of contradiction.

Having read the Koran, cover to cover, and in its various parts, I contend that it's the latter--with the added twist that Mohammed had been out in the hot sun too long and was not thinking all that clearly during most of his sermons. One of the reason's I believe this are the frequent admonishments to the faithful not to listen to others speak about their religions. Fear of contradiction of the Koran as a whole as well of its constituent parts is a consistent theme.

That is not to say that there is no confusion in the Koran that needs clarification. In fact, the Koran goes from being quite clear to downright confusing and back again, repeatedly. Mostly it consists of rambling parables, admonitions repeated ad nauseum, and bad retellings of Old Testament stories (often repeated in fragments). The Koran is also difficult to read because as it lacks any kind of narrative thread and is constantly repeating itself. In fact, my copy, which spans over 400 softcover pages, could easily be condensed to about 50 pages and still thoroughly cover every it has to say. Not true with The Bible.

Other than that, anyone with a high school education and the will power to wade through it can easily understand it (most of it anyway), without help from anything other than a strong cup of coffee--which probably accounts for the Islamic ban on alcoholic beverages. It's guaranteed to bore you into a deep sleep if you try reading it under the influence. And Mohammed probably got upset when people fell asleep during his sermons.

We've heard all the rhetoric about the Koran being a book of peace and enlightenment, but little about the parts of the Koran that give rise and fuel to fanatical hatred and terrorism. The few that have been quoted in the press are pounced on by CAIR and other groups and isolated phrases taken out of context. The follow those charges up by pointing out bad things Christians have done in previous decades and centuries. The difference is that when Christians have persecuted and killed people they were acting against the principles of their faith. When Muslims do it they are acting in accordance with the Koran.

Another point that needs to be made is that all of the things that people point to in the Bible, to make the Koran look less bloody by comparison, are in the Old Testament. And almost all are refuted or moderated by the New Testament. The Koran is all "Old Testament" and makes the fire and brimstone of the first half of the Bible seem mild by comparison.

The following passages are just a sampling of what what I would call the "Dark Side" of the Koran. Or, at the very least, those that are interpreted by certain Imam's to mean that it is O.K. to blow up babies and drive airplanes into skyscrapers. They are presented in the order they appear in the Koran and I have taken care not to quote things out of context (something we infidels are always accused of doing). I will also add my layman's commentary and translations (in bold), as we proceed.

One of the ways to determine whether something is just an "isolated passage" or part of a larger, mainstream theme, it to take a look at how many times the same or similar wording appears. It must be assumed if something is repeated, it must be something that was intended to be remembered. Frequency says a lot. Therefore, in this posting, you will find what appear to be redundant quotes. There are included to show that a particular theme is not "isolated."

BTW, just by writing this little piece I am subject to being the object of a Fatwah. So, if I see any middle-eastern, or Nation of Islam looking types cruising slowly by my house, I will shoot first and ask questions later.... (yes, I profile).

The Quran, Translation: M.H. Shakir. In the citations I have added the Names of the various books (Surah's). They have very little to do with the subject of their particular Surah, so don't read anything into them..

One more thing: Depending on who you talk to, the term Jihad can mean anything from struggling with your zipper to all-out nuclear Holy-war, and several stops in between. You will not find the word in most available English translations, where it has been substituted with the words "fight" and "struggle". Where you see those words in the following passages they may or may not refer to Jihad.

And there are some people who say: We believe in Allah and the last day; and they are not at all believers. They desire to deceive Allah and those who believe, and they deceive only themselves and they do not perceive. There is a disease in their hearts, so Allah added to their disease and they shall have a painful chastisement because they lied. - Koran, Surah II: 8-10, "The Cow."

According to Mohammed, Allah hates hypocrites worse than infidels (or at least as much). This is a common and often repeated theme, but it only applies with regard to hypocrisy concerning belief in Allah, which probably explains Islam's constant use of Hypocrisy in all other instances.

Who break the Covenant of Allah after its confirmation and cut asunder what Allah has ordered to be joined, and make mischief in the land; these it is that are the losers.
How do you deny Allah and you were dead and He gave you life? Again He will cause you die and again bring you to life; then you shall be brought back to Him. - Koran, Surah II: 27 & 28, "The Cow."

There are several passages like this. I believe that this passage and others like it support Islamic laws against converting from Islam, and the subsequent penalties that go along with it--like death. It's an effective way to keep from losing your flock to competing religion. Kill any who convert and the rest will get the message.

And (as to) those who disbelieve in and reject My communications, they are the inmates of the fire, in it they shall abide. - Koran, Surah II: 39, "The Cow."

All infidels go to Hell, even Christians and Jews. This is one of the most repeated themes in the Koran.

And do not mix up the truth with the falsehood, nor hide the truth while you know (it). - Koran, Surah II: 42, "The Cow."

I threw this one in so you can quote it back at those jerks from CAIR the next time they start spinning.

And there are... Illiterates who know not the Book but only lies, and they do but conjecture. Woe, then, to those who write the book with their hands and then say: This is from Allah, so that they may take for it a small price; therefore woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for what they earn. - Koran, Surah II: 78 & 79, "The Cow."

Depending on how you choose to read this and other passages like it, this includes people like me, and that Rushde guy who wrote Satanic Verses, and so upset the Mullahs that they issued a death sentence against him. It also seem to provide for the punishment they decreed.

Those who disbelieve from among the followers of the Book do not like, nor do the polytheists, that the good should be sent to you from your Lord....
Many of the followers of the Book wish that they could turn you back into unbelievers after your faith, out of envy from themselves, (even) after the truth has become manifest to them.... - Koran, Surah II: 105 & 109, "The Cow."

My guess is that this provides for Islamic laws that make it illegal to bring religious texts other than the Koran into some Islamic countries, and make it illegal to even speak to a Muslim about Christianity or Judaism under penalty of death.

And the Jews will not be pleased with you, nor the Christians until you follow their religion. Say: surely Allah's guidance, that is the (true) guidance. And if you follow their desires after the knowledge that has come to you, you shall have no guardian from Allah, nor any helper. - Koran, Surah II: 120, "The Cow."

And whoever disbelieves, I will grant him enjoyment for a short while, then I will drive him to the chastisement of the fire; and it is an evil destination. - Koran, Surah II: 126, "The Cow."

The East and the West belong only to Allah; He guides whom he likes to the right path. - Koran, Surah II: 142, "The Cow."

Two things here. First, the whole world belongs to Allah. Second, he only guides the people he likes to the right path. This not only negates free-will, but leads to the obvious conclusion that if you do not follow the right path it is because Allah does not like you. A little on the petulant side for a loving God and the antithesis of the Old and New Testaments.

And do not speak of those who are slain in Allah's way as dead; nay, (they are) alive, but you do not perceive. - Koran, Surah II: 152, "The Cow."

Surely those who disbelieve and die while they are disbelievers, these it is on whom is the curse of Allah and the angels and men all.... - Koran, Surah II: 161, "The Cow."

And there is life for you in (the law of) retaliation, O men of understanding, that you may guard yourselves. Bequest is prescribed for you when death approaches one of you, if he leaves behind wealth for parents and near relatives.... - Koran, Surah II: 179-180, "The Cow."

The Palis probably know this one by heart. It even talks about those cash rewards to the families of those who blow themselves up.

And kill them wherever you find them [we infidels], and drive them out from whence they drove you out, and persecution is severer than slaughter, and do not fight with them at the Sacred Mosque until they fight with you in it, but if they do fight you, then slay them; such is the recompense of the unbelievers. - Koran, Surah II:191, "The Cow."

And fight with them until there is no persecution, and religion should be only for Allah. - Koran, Surah II:193, "The Cow."

Ask the Israelites how many a clear sign have We given them; and whoever changes the favor of Allah after it has come to him, then surely Allah is severe in requiting (evil). - Koran, Surah II: 211, "The Cow."

In other words, the true word was revealed to them, they rejected it, and now they're going to get theirs from Allah, or Yassir, or Hamas.

Allah does not call you to account for what is vain in your oaths, but He will call you to account for what your hearts have earned, and Allah is Forgiving, Forbearing. - Koran, Surah II: 225, "The Cow."

Being a vainglorious blowhard is O.K. as long as you are a believer at heart. So much for humility. This passage probably explains all those grandiose boasts by Saddam and Bin Laden.

And fight in the way of Allah, and know that Allah is Hearing, Knowing. - Koran, Surah II: 244, "The Cow."

Allah is the guardian of those who believe. He brings them out of the darkness into the light; and (as to) those who disbelieve, their guardians are Shaitans who take them out of the light into the darkness; they are the inmates of the fire, in it they shall abide. - Koran, Surah II: 257, "The Cow."

Ever hear of night-vision? Allah may be your guardian in the light, but we own the night. Sorry. Couldn't resist.

Say to those who disbelieve: You shall be vanquished, and driven together to hell; and evil is in the resting place. - Koran, Surah III: 12, "The Family of Imran."

O you who believe! Do not take for intimate friends among others than your own people; they [unbelievers] do not fall short of inflicting loss upon you; they love what distresses you; vehement hatred has already appeared from out of their mouths, and what their breasts conceal is greater still.... - Koran, Surah III: 118, "The Family of Imran."

This one is quoted in the Hamas Charter. Basically, were not good enough to be their friends and we cannot be trusted. BTW you'll see this one again.

Yea! If you remain patient and are on your guard, and they come upon you in a headlong, your Lord will assist you with five thousand of the havoc-making angles. - Koran, Surah III: 125, "The Family of Imran."

I wonder, is this is what Saddam was counting on? Just make sure they aren't those crappy Soviet-made havoc angels....

And certainly you desired death before you met it; so indeed you have seen it and you look (at it). - Koran, Surah III: 143, "The Family of Imran."

And a soul will not die but with the permission of Allah; the term is fixed; and whoever desires the reward of this world, I shall give him of it, and whoever desires the reward of the hereafter I shall give him of it; and I will reward the grateful. - Koran, Surah III: 145, "The Family of Imran."

You might as well blow yourself up because you have no free-will and you'll die when Allah wants you to, and if you die blowing yourself up, it must be because Allah wants you to, so why feel guilty about it?

Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping places and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High, Great. - Koran, Surah IV: 34, "The Women."

O you who believe! Take your precaution, then go forth in detachments or go forth in a body. - Koran, Surah IV: 71, "The Women."

Therefore let those fight in the way of Allah, who sell this world's life for the hereafter; and whoever fights in the way of Allah, then be he slain or be he victorious, We shall grant him a mighty reward. - Koran, Surah IV:74, "The Women."

I would imagine that this passage is used to bolster the proposition that suicide bombers really are allowed by the Koran.

They desire that you should disbelieve as they have disbelieved, so that you might be (all) alike; therefore take not from among them friends until they fly (their homes) in Allah's way; but if they turn back, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them, and take not from among them a friend or a helper. - Koran, Surah IV:89, "The Women."

You will find others who desire that they should be safe from you and secure from their own people; as often as they are sent back to the mischief they get thrown into it headlong; therefore if they do not withdraw from you, and (do not) offer you peace and restrain their hands, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them; and against these We have given you a clear authority. - Koran, Surah IV:91, "The Women."

Somewhat unclear as to the exact nature of the provocation, but quite clear that you can pursue and kill whoever does whatever this passage refers to (it does not really help the clarity to add the passages immediately preceding or following). The Mullahs probably make great use of this passage.

And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his punishment is hell; he shall abide in it, and Allah will send His wrath on him and curse him and prepare for him a painful chastisement. - Koran, Surah IV:93, "The Women."

Definitely falls under the preceding set of punishments. Kill a Muslim, whatever your reason and you better be Muslim yourself.

The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His apostle and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement. - Koran, Surah V: 33, "The Food."

Of course, waging "war against Allah and His apostle" can be interpreted in many ways.... everything from speaking out against Islam to dropping a JDAM on Bin Laden. Whatever suits the propaganda needs of the clerics.

And (as for) the man who steals and the woman who steals, cut off their hands as a punishment for what they have earned, and exemplary punishment from Allah; and Allah is Mighty, Wise. - Koran, Surah V: 38, "The Food."

O you who believe! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes for them a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people. - Koran, Surah V: 51, "The Food."

So much for tolerance and that middle-east peace plan. Remember this one when the hypocrites at CAIR talk about Jews and Christians being "people of the book" who should not worry about devout Muslims. I challenge them to find an equivalent statement anywhere in the Bible.

O you who believe! take care of your souls; he who errs cannot hurt you when you are on the right way; to Allah is your return, of all (of you), so He will inform you of what you did. - Koran, Surah V: 105, "The Food."

This one is kind of interesting. If the enemy wins it is because you were not faithful enough.

Do they not consider how many a generation We have destroyed before them, whom We had established in the earth as we have not established you, and We sent clouds pouring rain on them in abundance, and We made rivers to flow beneath them, then We destroyed them on account of their faults and raised up after them another generation. - Koran, Surah VI: 6, "The Cattle."

Sometimes variations on this passage are in reference to the story of Noah, Lot, Exodus and others. This one is not used in particular reference to any Old Testament destruction. It's just letting the unbelievers know that Allah has wiped them out wholesale in the past and will probably do it again.

And who is more unjust than he who forges a lie against Allah or (he who) gives the lie to His communications; surely the unjust will not be successful. - Koran, Surah VI: 21, "The Cattle."

Anyone who says anything bad about Allah/Mohammed is unjust. I guess that would be a reference to me or anyone else who points out the Koran's little inconsistencies.

And this world's life is naught but a play and an idle sport; and certainly the abode of the hereafter is better for those who guard (against evil); do you not then understand? - Koran, Surah VI: 32, "The Cattle."

I wonder if blowing up women and children, or gassing whole populations, is considered "idle sport."

And certainly We sent (apostles) to nations before you, then We seized them with distress and affliction in order that they might humble themselves. - Koran, Surah VI: 42, "The Cattle."

Sounds like the Wahabbi infiltration plan to convert the world to radical Islam.

And when you see those who enter into false discourses about Our communications, withdraw from them until they enter into some other discourse,.... - Koran, Surah VI: 68, "The Cattle."

Muslims are so secure in their faith that they are instructed to stick their fingers in their ears and run away when others start talking about their religions. If that doesn't work and they convert to another religion, kill them. Mohammed must have known how weak his arguments were.

They are lost indeed who kill their children foolishly without knowledge, and forbid what Allah has given to them, forging a lie against Allah; they have indeed gone astray, and they are not the followers of the right course. - Koran, Surah VI: 140, "The Cattle."

Mama's... don;t let your babies grow up to be suicide-bombers. (sung to the tune of "Mama's don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys".) A passage conveniently forgotten by the PLO, Hamas, etc. Then again, it's all in the interpretation.

Whoever brings a good deed, he shall have ten like it, and whoever brings an evil deed, he shall be recompensed only with the like of it, and they shall not be dealt with unjustly. - Koran, Surah VI: 160, "The Cattle."

Too many Muslims seem to be overly selective in their application of this rule.

And for every nation there is a doom, so when their doom is come they shall not remain behind the least while, nor shall they go before. - Koran, Surah VII: 34, "The Elevated Places."

Sooner or later Allah is going to get us. Then we'll be sorry. (This is another frequently repeated theme).

Evil is the likeness of the people who reject Our communications and are unjust to their own souls. - Koran, Surah VII: 177, "The Elevated Places."

If you don't accept Islam you are unjust--period. Can't you feel the love? ...the tolerance?

And (as to) those who reject our communication, We draw them near (to destruction) by degrees from whence they know not. - Koran, Surah VII: 182, "The Elevated Places."

I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them. - Koran, Surah VIII: 12, "The Spoils of War."

Surely the vilest of animals, in Allah's sight, are the deaf, the dumb, who do not understand. And if Allah had known any good in them He would have made them hear.... - Koran, Surah VIII: 22, "The Spoils of War."

Various versions of this passage appear throughout the Koran. Some are metaphors regarding those who refuse to listen, some are literal, like this one. The deaf are the way they are because Allah made them that way, and he made them that way because he knew they were bad and would never accept Islam. Pretty twisted logic working here. I wonder what Muslims think about hearing aids....

And fight with them until there is no more persecution and religion should be only for Allah. - Koran, Surah VIII: 39, "The Spoils of War."

And if you fear treachery on the part of a people, then throw back to them on terms of equality; surely Allah does not love the treacherous. - Koran, Surah VIII: 58, "The Spoils of War."

So, if you think the other guy (non-believer) might betray you, it's o.k. to betray him first. That's the same logic an old girlfriend of mine once used. Where's Dr. Phil when you need him?

"So, Mohammed, how's that working out for you in the relationship department? Have you heard about my fried pork rind diet?"

O prophet! Urge the believers to war; if there are twenty patient ones of you they shall overcome two hundred, and if there are a hundred of you they shall overcome a thousand of those who disbelieve, because they are a people who do not understand. - Koran, Surah VIII: 58, "The Spoils of War."

Oh, don't worry, we get it.... We're a little slow sometimes, but we definitely get it.

Announce painful punishment to those who disbelieve. - Koran, Surah IX: 3, "Repentance."

So when the sacred months have passed away; then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them; surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. - Koran, Surah IX: 5, "Repentance."

What! Will you not fight a people who broke their oaths and aimed at the expulsion of the Apostle...? - Koran, Surah IX: 13, "Repentance."

Fight them, Allah will punish them [idolaters] by your hands and bring them to disgrace, and assist you against them and heal the hearts of a believing people. - Koran, Surah IX: 14, "Repentance."

This passage is significant. It clearly states that Allah intends to have unbelievers killed by the hands of the faithful. Vengeance is not reserved for Judgment Day or for Allah alone. In fact, the only real admonition against killing refers to one Muslim killing another on purpose. Compare this to the Bible.

And the Jews say: Uzair is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away! - Koran, Surah IX:30, "Repentance."

Wait a minute! I thought we peoples of the book were supposed to be tolerated?

He it is Who sent His Apostle with guidance and the religion of truth, that He might cause it to prevail over all religions.... - Koran, Surah IX:33, "Repentance."

One world, one religion. When the Wahabbi's infiltrate countries by building mosques and acting nice, this is what they are aiming for.

Allah has promised the hypocritical men and the Hypocritical women and the unbelievers the fire of hell to abide therein; it is enough for them; and Allah has cursed them and they shall have lasting punishment. - Koran, Surah IX: 68, "Repentance."

O you who believe! fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness. - Koran, Surah IX: 123, "Repentance."

What was that CAIR said about a few isolated and mis-characterized passages from the Koran?

And (as for) those who have earned evil, the punishment of an evil is the like of it, and abasement shall come upon them--they shall have none to protect them from Allah--as if their faces had been covered with slices of the dense darkness of night; these are the inmates of the fire; in it they shall abide. - Koran, Surah X: 27, "Yunus."

For his sake there are angels following one another, before him and behind him, who guard him by Allah's commandment; surely Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change their own condition; and when Allah intends evil to a people, their is no averting it, and besides Him they have no protector. - Koran, Surah XIII: 41, "The Thunder."

I call this one the catch-22 passage. I suppose Mohammed meant to say that God helps those who helps themselves, but remembered it wrong. Instead you have a recipe for fatalism.

Do they not see that We are bringing destruction upon the land by curtailing it of its sides? And Allah pronounces a doom--there is no repeller of His decree, and He is swift to take account. - Koran, Surah XIII: 41, "The Thunder."

And those before them did indeed make plans, but all planning is Allah's; He knows what every soul earns.... - Koran, Surah XIII: 42, "The Thunder."

Hell is before him and he shall be given to drink of festering water:
He will drink it little by little and will not be able to swallow it agreeably, and death will come to him from every quarter, but he shall not die; and there shall be vehement chastisement before him.
The parable of those who disbelieve in their Lord: their actions are like ashes on which the wind blows hard on a stormy day; they shall not have power over any thing out of what they have earned; this is the great error. - Koran, Surah XIV: 4,5, "Ibrahim [Abraham]."

More fire and brimstone for the unbelievers whose actions, whatever they may be, will always be for naught. The Koran has lots of descriptions of heaven and hell.

Allah causes the unjust [unbelievers] to go astray, and Allah does what He pleases. - Koran, Surah XIV: 4,5, "Ibrahim [Abraham]."

More catch-22 from Allah. No free-will to choose to believe or not believe because Allah decides who will or will not, and then punishes you for what is essentially his decision.

And never did we destroy a town but it had a term made known. No people can hasten their doom nor can they postpone (it). - Koran, Surah XV: 4,5, "The Rock."

Only they forge the lie who do not believe in Allah's communications, and these are liars. - Koran, Surah XVI: 105, "The Bee."

No specific lie here other than to believe in Allah or not. This might also be interpreted as all unbelievers are liars.

He who disbelieves in Allah after his having believed, not he who is compelled while his heart is at rest on account of faith, but he who opens his breast to disbelief--on these is the wrath of Allah, and they shall have a grievous chastisement. - Koran, Surah XVI: 106, "The Bee."

He who converts from Islam to another religion will suffer the wrath of Allah. In this case death, by the hand of a believer.

And We had made known to the children of Israel in the Book: Most certainly you will make mischief in the land twice, and most certainly you will behave insolently with great insolence. - Koran, Surah XVII: 4, "The Israelites."

Read your book; your own self is sufficient as a reckoner against you this day. - Koran, Surah XVII: 14, "The Israelites."

And this one is for the nitwit that called into O'Reilly and said that you need an Imam to tell you what the Koran means. Seems to me if your smart enough to figure it out for yourself on Judgment Day, you can probably handle the task when the sky isn't falling.

And when We wish to destroy a town, We send Our commandments to the people of it who lead easy lives, but they transgress therein; thus the word proves true against it, so We destroy it with utter destruction. And how many of the generations did We destroy after Nuh [Noah]! - Koran, Surah XVII: 16-17, "The Israelites."

Here's one of those passages that randomly makes reference to the Old Testament story of Noah. In the Old Testament their are numerous stories of destruction by God's wrath, but each of them is specific to a time and place with the stories of Noah and Lott being the most significant. In the Koran, passages like that above are numerous and do not always reference anything specific.

The overall impression is that Allah goes around destroying towns and cities after giving them a chance to convert first. Historically, this is what happened during the spread of Islam. When one looks at the expansion of Islam as it spread through the middle-east, Africa and into Europe during it's salad days, it is easy to see where they got the idea. Islam was spread primarily by the sword. For those who like to point out the Christian Crusades, they should be reminded that those were in response the Muslim Crusade that nearly succeeded in subjugating Europe by the end of the 7th century A.D.

And do not kill any one whom Allah has forbidden, except for a just cause, and whoever is slain unjustly, We have indeed given to his heir authority, so let him not exceed the just limits in slaying; surely he is aided. - Koran, Surah XVII: 33, "The Israelites."

So far the only ones that cannot be slain are Muslims by other Muslims on purpose. Everyone else is fair game for one reason or another.

And we will drive the guilty [unbelievers] to hell thirsty. - Koran, Surah XIX: 86, "Marium."

Surely you and what you worship besides Allah are the firewood of hell; to it you shall come. - Koran, Surah XXI: 98, "The Prophets."

These are two adversaries who dispute about their Lord; then (as to) those who disbelieve, for them are cut out garments of fire; boiling water shall be poured on their heads. With it shall be melted what is in their bellies and (their) skins as well. And for them are whips of iron. Whenever they will desire to go forth from it, and taste the chastisement of burning.
Surely Allah will make those who believe and do good deeds enter the garden beneath which rivers flow; they shall be adorned therein with bracelets of gold and (with) pearls, and their garments therein shall be of silk. - Koran, Surah XXII: 19-23, "The Pilgrimage."

Mohammed really had a thing about describing all the punishments of Hell and the pleasures of Heaven. Not much to do with spiritual growth--just avoid the pain and get to the pleasure.

Surely Allah will defend those who believe; surely Allah does not love any who is unfaithful, ungrateful. - Koran, Surah XXII: 19-23, "The Pilgrimage."

So, if an American Army full of unbelievers beats a Muslim Army, what does that mean? I'd like to hear an Imam explain this one. Good thing they don't allow tap shoes in mosques.

Permission (to fight) is given to those whom war is made because they are oppressed, and most surely Allah is well able to assist them.... - Koran, Surah XXII: 39-40, "The Pilgrimage."

And (as for) those who strive to oppose Our communications, they shall be the inmates of the flaming fire. - Koran, Surah XXII: 51, "The Pilgrimage."

We're not neccesarily talking about "Judgment Day" or Hell. It could be that guy wearing the bulky over-coat in August.

That (shall be so); and he who retaliates with the like of that which he has been afflicted and he has been oppressed, Allah will most certainly aid him; most surely Allah is Pardoning, Forgiving. - Koran, Surah XXII: 60, "The Pilgrimage."

Repel evil by what is best; We know best what they describe. - Koran, Surah XXIII: 96, "The Believers."

The fire shall scorch their faces, and they therein [Hell] shall be in severe affliction. - Koran, Surah XXIII: 104, "The Believers."

Getting tired of these descriptions yet. Nearly every Surah in the Koran has one or more like it. I'd call that a pattern, not just a few out-of-context quotes.

Allah has promised to those of you who believe and do good that He will most certainly make them rulers in the earth as He made rulers before them, and he will most certainly establish for them their religion which He has chosen for them.... - Koran, Surah XXIV: 55, "The Light."

Call not this [judgment] day for one destruction, but call for destructions many. - Koran, Surah XXV: 14, "The Criterion."

The parable of those who take guardians besides Allah is as the parable of the spider that makes for itself a house; and most surely the frailest of houses is the spiders house--did they but know. - Koran, Surah XXIX: 41, "The Spider."

I threw this one in because, except for "The Women", "The Spider" is the only Surah in which the title matches anything in the subject matter.

...none deny Our communications except the unjust. - Koran, Surah XXIX: 49, "The Spider."

Since we're all unjust, I guess that means it's all right to blow us up, hijack airplanes, and be generally unpleasant.

And who is more unjust than one who forges a lie against Allah, or gives the lie to the truth when it has come to him? Will not in hell be the abode of the unbelievers? - Koran, Surah XXIX: 68, "The Spider."

Nay! Those who are unjust follow their low desires without any knowledge; so who can guide him whom Allah makes err? - Koran, Surah XXX: 29, "The Romans."

There's that catch-22 again. Allah makes us err, and then sends us to hell because we did. That's I'd call unjust.

Surely they used to behave proudly when it was said to them: there is no god but Allah; And to say: What! Shall we indeed give up our gods for the sake of the mad poet? - Koran, Surah XXXVII: 35, 36, "The Rangers."

This is a reminder; and most surely there is an excellent resort for those who guard (against evil), The gardens of perpetuity, the doors are opened for them. Reclining therein, calling therein for many fruits and drink. And with them shall be those restraining their eyes, equals in age. - Koran, Surah XXXVIII: 49-52, "The Suad."

Now I have searched for specific references to those 72 virgins we keep hearing so much about, and this is the closest I can come to it. I have found one or two other passages that make reference to "those restraining their eyes" awaiting the faithful, but no references to either their number or their chastity. It is possible, however, that I missed it during the many times my eyes glazed over during the search.... One should not drink adult beverages while reading the Koran. Conversely, one should not try to operate heavy machinery or a motor vehicle while reading it. The end result is the same.

Surely Allah does not guide him all right who is a liar, ungrateful. - Koran, Surah XXXIX: 3, "The Companies."

He is Allah, the One, the subduer (of all). - Koran, Surah XXXIX: 4, "The Companies."

Those who dispute concerning the communications of Allah without any authority that He has given them; greatly hated is it by Allah and those who believe. Thus does Allah set a seal over the heart of every proud, haughty one. - Koran, Surah XL: 41, "The Believer."

And whoever defends himself after his being oppressed, these it is against whom there is no way (to blame). - Koran, Surah XLII: 41, "The Counsel."

Absolution for the Palestinians. We all know how oppressed they are. All except for Yassir, that is.

So when you meet in battle those who disbelieve, then smite the necks until when you overcome them, then make (them) prisoners,... and as for those who are slain in the way of Allah, He will by no means allow their deeds to perish. - Koran, Surah XLVII: 4, "Muhammad."

No translation needed here; but they might want to read Clausewitz or Sun Tzu before they take us on again.

And (as for) those who disbelieve, for them is destruction, and He has made their deed ineffective. - Koran, Surah XLVII: 8, "Muhammad."

A parable of the garden which those guarding (against evil) are promised: Therein are rivers of water that does not alter, and rivers of milk the taste thereof does not change, and rivers of drink delicious to those who drink, and rivers of honey clarified; and for them therein are all fruits and protection from their Lord. - Koran, Surah XLVII: 15, "Muhammad."

Get to heaven and you are safe from your own God. Makes life sound like a shooting gallery where Allah takes pot shots at you till you make it to home base.

And be not slack so as to cry for peace and you have the upper hand, and Allah is with you, and He will not bring your deeds to naught. - Koran, Surah XLVII: 35, "Muhammad."

In other words, when you have them on the run, keep them on the run--no mercy.

The life of this world is only idle sport and play, and if you believe and guard (against evil) He will give you your rewards, and will not ask of you your possessions. - Koran, Surah XLVII: 36, "Muhammad."

Hmmm... don't take life seriously, and, if you're faithful, Allah let's you take it with you? Deep. Very Deep.

Say to those of the dwellers of the desert who were left behind: You shall soon be invited (to fight) against a people possessing mighty prowess; you will fight against them until they submit; then if you obey, Allah will grant you a good reward; and if you turn back as you turned back before, He will punish you with a painful punishment. - Koran, Surah XLVIII: 16, "The Victory."

What do you want to bet that Bin Laden reads this one a lot? And how do you think it will be interpreted by the Muslim world if we turn tail in Iraq and Afghanistan before finishing our business over their?

He it is Who sent His Apostle with the guidance and the true religion that He may make it prevail over all the religions, and Allah is enough for a witness. - Koran, Surah XLVIII: 16, "The Victory."

Can you say "Wahabbi Fifth-Columnist?" Is it really a good idea to let them recruit in our prisons or to commission them as Army Chaplains?

O you who believe! do not take My enemy and your enemy for friends: would you offer them love while they deny what has come to you of the truth.... If you go forth struggling hard in My path and seeking My pleasure, would you manifest love to them? And I know what you conceal and what you manifest; and whoever of you does this, he indeed has gone astray from the straight path.
If they find you, they will be your enemies, and will stretch forth towards you their hands and their tongues with evil, and ardently desire that you may disbelieve. - Koran, Surah LX: 1&2, "The Examined One."

That's number three. So I guess it's not such an isolated, out-of-context passage after all. And this one takes it a step further than the others. Remember--frequency and pattern...

O you who believe! why do you say that which you do not do? It is most hateful to Allah that you should say that which you do not do. - Koran, Surah LXI: 2&3, "The Ranks."

Surely Allah loves those who fight in His way in ranks as if they were a firm and compact wall. - Koran, Surah LXI: 4, "The Ranks."

Further Quotes on The Subject...

"We are terrorists, and terror is an obligation in the book of Allah. Let the west and east know that we are terrorists and we strike fear: 'Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power. Including steeds of war to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies of Allah and your enemies...' (8:60), So Terror is an obligation in the creed of Allah SWT" - Sheikh Abdullah Azzam.

"Our new world rests on order. The danger is disorder. And in today's world, it can now spread like contagion. The terrorists and the states that support them don't have large armies or precision weapons; they don't need them. Their weapon is chaos." - Prime Minister Tony Blair, speech to the U.S. Congress Accepting the Congressional Gold Medal, July 17, 2003.

"I know [the war on terrorism is] hard on America, and in some small corner of this vast country, out in Nevada or Idaho or these places I've never been to, but always wanted to go. I know out there there's a guy getting on with his life, perfectly happily, minding his own business, saying to you, the political leaders of this country, 'Why me? And why us? And why America?'
And the only answer is, 'Because destiny put you in this place in history, in this moment in time, and the task is yours to do" - Prime Minister Tony Blair, speech to the U.S. Congress Accepting the Congressional Gold Medal, July 17, 2003.

"We expect nations to speak the truth about terror. They shouldn't encourage malicious lies and outrageous conspiracy theories concerning the attacks of September the 11th. No government should promote the propaganda of terrorists." - President George W. Bush, Radio Address to the Nation, from The Oval Office, November 10, 2001.

"The only alternative to victory is a future of terror. So we will fight for victory." - President George W. Bush, Radio Address to the Nation, from The Oval Office, November 10, 2001.

"Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent. Since when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on notice before they strike? If this threat is permitted to fully and suddenly emerge, all actions, all words, and all recriminations would come too late. Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein is not a strategy, and it is not an option." - President George W. Bush, State of the Union Address, Tuesday, January 28, 2003.

"One hundred percent of the successful terrorist attacks on commercial airlines for 20 years have been committed by Arabs. When there is a 100 percent chance, it ceases to be a profile. It's called a 'description of the suspect...." - Ann Coulter.

"No matter how long this war takes, this issue is the issue of an entire nation which has refused a life of humiliation under American arrogance and Israeli violence. Secondly, the organization of al-Qaida announces that Bush the father, and Bush the son, and in between them, Clinton, Blair and Sharon are at the head of the criminals, the Zionists and the crusaders, who have committed the worst practices and greatest atrocities against the Muslim nation, before and now." - Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, Osama bin Laden spokesman, statement on al-Jazeera satellite channel, October 14, 2001.

"[Peace] initiatives, the so-called peaceful solutions, and the international conferences to resolve the Palestinian problem, are all contrary to the beliefs of the Islamic Resistance Movement" - Hamas Charter, Article 13.

"The Muslim women have a no lesser role than that of men in the war of liberation; they manufacture men.... raising the children upon the moral concepts and values which derive from Islam; and of educating their sons to observe the religious injunctions in preparation for the duty of Jihad awaiting them." - Hamas Charter, Articles 17&18.

"This, for the purpose of calling upon the Arab and Islamic peoples as well as their governments, popular and official associations, to fear Allah in their attitude towards and dealings with Hamas, and to be, in accordance with Allah's will, its supporters and partisans who extend assistance to it and provide it with reinforcement after reinforcement, until the Decree of Allah is fulfilled, the ranks are over-swollen, Jihad fighters join other Jihad fighters, and all this accumulation sets out from everywhere in the Islamic world, obeying the call of duty, and intoning "Come on, join Jihad!" Hamas will only be of help to all associations and organizations which act against the Zionist enemy and those who revolve in its orbit." - Hamas Charter, Article 33.

"Safety and security can only prevail under the shadow of Islam.... The members of other religions must desist from struggling against Islam." - Hamas Charter, Article 31.

"Jihad becomes a duty binding on all Muslims.... We must spread the spirit of Jihad among the [Islamic] Umma, clash with the enemies and join the ranks of the Jihad fighters.... I indeed wish to go to war for the sake of Allah! I will assault and kill, assault and kill, assault and kill." - Hamas Charter, Article 15.

"Allah is its goal, the Prophet its model, the Qur'an its Constitution, Jihad its path and death for the case of Allah its most sublime belief." - Hamas Charter, official slogan, Article 8.

"Make no mistake: Unless we give this Millennial Generation a clear, cause-and-effect understanding of what freedom is, how it works and what it takes to protect it, then that uniquely American birthright could be lost to history forever.
"Whatever you do, don't shrug it off. The world has been relatively free now for several decades of the tyranny and terror that faced the great "G.I. Generation" of World War II. But sleeping giants inevitably awaken, and the cycle of history never strays far from its orbit. Make sure the next generation is prepared. Its children and grandchildren will thank God you did." - Charton Heston, "Next Generation Is Our Hope but Must Understand Freedom", June, 2001.

"I wonder is the possibility of being killed through ignorance of a threat somehow secondary to surviving at the expense of offending someone's ethnicity? Have we all gone nuts? (Somebody better turn up the burner on America's melting pot there are still a few lumps in the broth.)
"The media, and most politicians, are reluctant to identify a terrorist as a terrorist, preferring the term 'militant' all the while assuring America that 'most of Islam is moderate and not all militants are terrorists.' Even a quick reading of my book, The Everlasting Hatred, the Roots of Jihad, would dispel that fantasy." - Hal Lindsey, "Survival Speak", January 2, 2003.

"An international fraternity of terrorists, with the Soviet Union as the chairman of the rush committee, has enabled the Russians to engage, as Senator Henry Jackson has put it, in "warfare by remote control" all over the world. Other members of the international club include North Korea, Cuba, South Yemen, East Germany, Libya, and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Malcontents from all over the world are trained by them in the arts of kidnapping, assassination, sabotage, bomb making, and insurrection, and then sent off to ply their trade. Their tutors are careful to keep them well supplied with weapons and to provide sanctuary when they need it." - Richard Nixon, The Real War, 1980.

"We must force America to fight on a hundred fronts all over the Earth. We must force it to fight in Lebanon, to fight in Chad, to fight in Sudan, and to fight in El Salvador." - Colonel Qadhafi, Dictator of Libya, 1985.

"We must take a stand against terrorism in the world and combat it with firmness, for it is a most cowardly and savage violation of peace. We must remember our heritage, who we are and what we are, and how this nation, this island of freedom, came into being." - Ronald Reagan, campaign speech in Chicago, August 1980.

"The American people are not--I repeat--not going to tolerate intimidation, terror, and outright acts of war against this nation and its people. And we're especially not going to tolerate these attacks from outlaw states run by the strangest collection of misfits, loony tunes, and squalid criminals since the advent of the Third Reich." - President Ronald Reagan, Remarks at the Annual Convention of the American Bar Association, July 8, 1985.

"When a boy becomes a martyr, thousands of people attend his funeral. Poor families become celebrities. 'Everyone treats them with more respect after they lose a son,' a martyr's father said. 'And when there is a martyr in the village, it encourages more children to join the Jihad. It raises the spirit of the entire village,' he continued." - Jessica Stern, Foreign Relations.

"You are not an enemy combatant, you are a terrorist. We hunt terrorists down and bring them to justice." Federal District Court Judge William G. Young, statement upon sentencing al-Queda "shoe-bomb" terrorist Richard Reid, January 31, 2003.

Further Reading:

Jews Rule The World (Do They?)
USA TODAY ^ | Updated 10/16/2003 10:41 AM | USA TODAY

Posted on 10/18/2003 10:34 AM EDT by GirlyGirl2003

| |

Malaysian PM urges Muslims to unite against 'Jewish domination'

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Thursday told a summit of Islamic leaders that "Jews rule the world by proxy" and the world's 1.3 billion Muslims should unite, using nonviolent means for a "final victory."

His speech at the Organization of the Islamic Conference summit, which he was hosting, drew criticism from Jewish leaders, who warned it could spark more violence against Jews.

Mahathir ; known for his outspoken, anti-Western rhetoric ; criticized what he described as Jewish domination of the world and Muslim nations' inability to adequately respond to it.

Excerpts from speech

Excerpts from Malaysian prime minister's speech at Islamic leaders' summit:

"Our only reaction is to become more and more angry. Angry people cannot think properly. And so we find some of our people acting irrationally. They launch their own attacks, killing just about everybody including fellow Muslims to vent their anger and frustration."

"There is a feeling of hopelessness among the Muslim countries and their people. They feel they can do nothing right. They believe that things can only get worse."

"But is it true that we should do and can do nothing for ourselves? Is it true that 1.3 billion people can exert no power to save themselves from the humiliation and oppression inflicted on them by a much smaller enemy? Is there no other way than to ask our young people to blow themselves up and kill people and invite the massacre of more of our own people?"

"We are actually very strong. 1.3 billion people cannot be simply wiped out. The Europeans killed 6 million Jews out of 12 million, but today the Jews rule the world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them."

"The Europeans killed 6 million Jews out of 12 million, but today the Jews rule the world by proxy," Mahathir said, opening the meeting of Islamic leaders from 57 nations. "They get others to fight and die for them."

Malaysia, a democratic nation which has a large non-Muslim population and does not enforce strict Islamic law, has long been a critic of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and of U.S. policy in the Middle East, including the war in Iraq and Washington's strong backing of the Jewish state.

Mahathir, 77, who is retiring on Oct. 31, has used almost every international podium to lambaste the West for two decades, winning a reputation as an outspoken champion of Third World causes.

"For well over half a century we have fought over Palestine. What have we achieved? Nothing. We are worse off than before," he said. "If we had paused to think, then we could have devised a plan, a strategy that can win us final victory."

The prime minister, who has turned his country into the world's 17th-ranked trading nation during his 22 years in power, said Jews "invented socialism, communism, human rights and democracy" to avoid persecution and gain control of the most powerful countries.

Mahathir added that "1.3 billion Muslims cannot be defeated by a few million Jews," but he suggested using political and economic tactics instead of violence.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Jonathan Peled expressed disappointment in the remarks but said he wasn't surprised.

"It is not new that in such forums there is always an attempt to reach the lowest common denominator, which is Israel bashing," he said in Jerusalem. "But obviously we'd like to see more moderate and responsible kind of declarations coming out of such summits."

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, said Mahathir has used anti-Israel statements in the past to prove he's tough on the West. But, he said, Thursday's speech was still worrisome.

"What is profoundly shocking and worrying is the venue of the speech, the audience and coming in the time we're living in," Cooper said during a visit to Jerusalem. "Mahathir's speech today is an absolute invitation for more hate crimes and terrorism against Jews. That's serious."

U.S. Ambassador to Malaysia Marie Huhtala declined to comment on Mahathir's speech. Washington was angered over a speech he made in February, as host of the Non-Aligned Movement of 117 countries, in which he described the looming war against Iraq as racist.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he supported Mahathir's analysis, which also included steps for how Muslim nations can develop economically and socially.

"It is great to hear Prime Minister Mahathir speak so eloquently on the problems of the ummah (Muslim world) and ways to remedy them," Karzai said. "His speech was an eye-opener to a lot of us and that is what the Islamic world should do."

The summit is the first since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks reshaped global politics and comes at a time when many Muslims ; even U.S. allies ; feel the war on terrorism has become a war against them.

"It is well known that the Islamic community is being targeted today more than at any other time before in its creed, culture and social and political orientation," said Qatar's ruler, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who hosted the U.S. headquarters in the Iraq war.

The status of Iraq also proved a divisive issue. Malaysia resisted inviting the U.S.-picked Iraqi Governing Council, describing it as a puppet of American occupation. But Arab countries that have recognized the interim body prevailed and council representatives were attending the summit.

Leaders attending the summit included Jordan's King Abullah, Syrian President Bashar Assad, Morocco's King Mohammed VI, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo are attending as special observers because of their large Muslim minorities.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1003511/posts

At War With EVIL (FReeper GaryMontana)
Free Republic | 10-14-2002 | GaryMontana

Posted on 10/14/2002 2:09 AM EDT by blam

At War With EVIL

What did we (in America) learn from September 11, 2001 and the deaths of 3,000 people. I am tempted to admit: Absolutely nothing.

Among the many unlearned lessons of Day-Which-Will-Live-In-Infamy-II-- the necessity to control our borders, the need for a patriotic renewal and the importance of combating multiculturalism -- the most significant is the nature of Islam. You will note that I do not say militant Islam, or radical Islam, or Islamic extremism or other such weasel words – but Islam, period.

Every one of the hijackers who flew airliners into the World Trade Center and Pentagon were professing and practicing Moslems, as is Osama bin Laden. The Al Qaeda terrorist network, is based in Moslem countries and supported financially by the so called pious Moslem leadership of Saudi Arabia.

The overwhelming majority of Moslem religious authorities who have spoken out on the subject, including those at the main mosque in Mecca and Egypt’s prestigious Al Azar University, either endorse or rationalize acts of terrorism. On a day when Americans were incinerated or buried under tons of rubble, Muslims from Nigeria to Indonesia, celebrated in the streets.

Sept. 11 was one chapter in a 1400-year jihad. Every day, the World Trade Center massacre is reenacted on a smaller scale somewhere in the world. Jewish women and children are burned alive in a bus in Israel. A missionary is beheaded in the Philippines, gunmen shoot up a church in Pakistan (deliberately firing into the prostrate bodies of women trying to shield their children). Ancient monasteries and convents are destroyed in Kosovo. Women are sentenced to death for adultery in Nigeria, Hindus are murdered in the Kashmir. In Denmark, the Muslim community there has put a $30,000 bounty on the heads of Jews and those who support Israel. Nuns are beheaded in Baghdad, Christians in Sudan are forced into slavery, and in Britain, Islam openly states it is going to take over not only the UK, but the whole world -- and the beat goes on.

Genocide in the Sudan, ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, religious persecution in Saudi Arabia, calls for another holocaust in mosques from Mecca to Gaza, the imposition of Islamic law in Nigeria, forced conversions in Indonesia, synagogues burned in France, Jews attacked across Europe – these are everyday events, as Third World and much of the First slowly turns Islamic green.

Sadly our leaders, from President Bush on down, insist on peddling the absurdity that Islam is a religion of peace – a creed of kindness and benevolence tragically and inexplicably corrupted by fanatics.

Why is the leadership of the West reluctant to confront manifest reality? The reason lies partly with our absurd foreign policy. We have declared certain Moslem nations to be our loyal allies – including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan. We would not want to offend these dear friends by saying something unflattering about their bloody, butcherly, dark ages faith.

Americans are naturally benevolent. Most of us are taught from childhood that is religion is good (and it does not matter which religion). As long as little Johnny believes in God and goodness, it’s inconsequential whether he lights candles, wears a skull cap to services or prays in the direction of Mecca.

This works with every religion except Islam.

Consider the following: Of the three major western religions: one was started by a lawgiver who helped to free slaves; one by a man of peace; the last one by a man who loved war and having sex with children. Mohammed not only led men into battle, he enjoyed marrying girls as young as six years old (it is in the Koran). The essence of his message is sick and disgusting. A holy war where you slaughter your enemies, while at the same time encouraging followers to have sex with the children they capture (as he did) for the glory of Allah. He even advised his followers to negotiate false peace treaties in order to lull their enemies.

For almost 1,400 years, that has been the reality of Islam. Within a century after the death of Mohammed, Islam spread throughout the Middle East and across North Africa. It overran the Iberian peninsula and was finally stopped in southern France. It spread eastward as far as the southern Philippines. It was not propagated by fresh-faced young men knocking on doors and announcing: “Hello. I’m from your local mosque. Have you considered the Koran?” It was and is spread by force – conversion by the sword or death. This is still in practice today.

Some will respond that all religions go through periods of violence, usually in their infancy. Christianity had its crusades and Inquisition, its forced conversions and expulsions. The evil committed in the name of Christ happened centuries ago. The evil committed in the name of the Prophet is going on now, as you read these words. Of 22 conflicts in the Third World, 20 involve Moslems versus someone else. Coincidence? In his brilliant book, “Clash of Cultures and the Remaking of World Order,” Samuel Huntington speaks of Islam’s “bloody borders.”

There is no Methodist Jihad, no Jewish Hasidic holy warriors, no Buddhist monk wanting to have 72 virgins waiting for him after a suicide bombing, no Hindu Holy men plotting to blow up people, no Southern Baptist suicide bombers, no Mormon elders preaching the annihilation of members of other faiths.

Islam is a warrior religion – the perfect vessel for fanatics, the violence-prone, the envious and haters of all stripes. This is one reason why Islam is making so many converts among the peaceable denizens of our prison system.

Still, much of the West is addicted to a fairy-tale version of Islam. Christian and Jewish clergy fall all over themselves to have interfaith services with imams. Representatives of Moslem groups are invited to the White House. The president signs a Ramadan declaration. In California, public schools ask children to role-play at being Moslems. Our universities take carefully selected verses from the Koran and present them as the essence of the faith. All that’s needed is a Moslem character on “Sesame Street.” Look – it’s the Jihad Monster!

This perspective engenders a fatally false sense of security. Imagine, in 1940, Winston Churchill taking to the airwaves to announce “Nazism is an ideology of peace which, regrettably, has been perverted by a few fanatics like Hitler and Goebbels. But most storm troopers and SS men are fine follows – your friends and neighbors.”

For the first thousand years of its history – from the death of Mohammad to the 17th. century decline of the Ottoman empire, Islam was an expansionist force. For the next 300 years, as the West rose to preeminence, Islam receded. For the past four decades – fueled by Arab oil wealth, a surplus population in the Middle East, the waning of the West and the rise of more virulent strains of the faith (Shiism, Wahhabism, Sunni fundamentalism) – Islam is expanding once more.

Due to Moslem immigration and aggressive proselytizing, Islam is being exported to the West. Moslem populations are burgeoning throughout Western Europe. (In southern France, there are more mosques than churches.) In Judeo-Christian America, Islam is the fastest growing religion. It is also spreading down the coast of West Africa, through the Balkans (after Serbia, Macedonia is the next target) and up from Mindanao in the Philippines.

Wherever it comes, Islam brings its delightful customs – child marriages, female circumcisions, rabid hatred toward Christians, Hindus, Jews, Buddhists and every other non-muslim, terrorism and support for terrorism and a virulent intolerance of other faiths.

Am I suggesting we declare war on over 1 billion million Moslems? The question is moot – Islam has declared war on the rest of the human race. When one side knows it’s at war and the other thinks peace and brotherhood prevail, guess who wins?

Ultimately, it is not about Jews in Israel, or Orthodox Serbs in Kosovo, or Hindus in Kashmir, Buddhists in Thailand, or Maronite Catholics in Lebanon, Taoists in China, or Christians in Sudan and Nigeria, but all of us. As Ben Franklin would have it – Either we will hang together, or surely we shall all hang separately.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/768679/posts

U.S. commander killed in Iraq firefight
cnn ^ | 10-18-03

Posted on 10/18/2003 1:48 PM EDT by wheelgunguru

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Four U.S. military police, including a commanding officer, and two Iraqi policemen, were killed in two separate incidents Friday.

The latest deaths bring the number of U.S. troops killed in hostile fire since President Bush declared an end to major combat to 101.

Among those killed in a 12-hour gunfight in the holy city of Karbala was the 43-year-old commanding officer of the 716th Military Police Battalion, 101st Airborne Division.

Two other U.S. military police officers and two Iraqi policemen died in the firefight after attempting to negotiate with armed men congregated near a mosque after curfew. Twelve members of the joint patrol -- seven Americans and five Iraqis -- were wounded. (Gallery: Clash in Karbala)

Tensions have been high in Karbala where there is a power struggle among rival Shiite factions.

Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr last week announced he was forming an Islamic state in Iraq, calling for "peaceful demonstrations" by those who agree. After little showing of support, he later withdrew his proposal.

On Friday, speaking in Al Kufa, near Najaf, Sadr accused the United States of stirring dissent in Karbala.

"America seeks to apply the feature of terrorism on me in particular, especially after the declaration of the new state, to mar the reputation of this line in general and to be able to arrest me legally," he said. "Therefore it sowed dissent in Karbala and some other cities."

U.S. Maj. Ralph Manos said Friday that between 20 and 30 Iraqis attacked the Iraq-U.S. joint force when they tried to disarm an unknown, armed faction that had established itself near a mosque in the holy Shiite city.

He said the force was on routine patrol in Karbala, about 55 miles (88 kilometers) south of the Iraqi capital, when the gunfight broke out.

The other solider killed, from the U.S. Army's 220th Military Police Brigade, was caught by the blast of an improvised explosive device, which wounded two more soldiers. U.S. Central Command said the device detonated at 7:50 a.m. (12:50 a.m. EDT) Friday.

Since the Iraq war began in March, 336 U.S. troops have been killed, including 216 in hostile fire. Since Bush's declaration of the end of major combat May 1, 197 U.S. troops have died -- 101 in hostile fire.

There is no reliable source for Iraqi civilian or combatant casualty figures, either during the period of major combat or after May 1. The Associated Press reported an estimated 3,240 civilian Iraqi deaths between March 20 and April 20, but the AP reported that the figure was based on records of only half of Iraq's hospitals and the actual number was thought to be significantly higher.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1003578/posts

Thanks for the links. I pulled a few quotes from Osama to add to the mix.

"Praise be to Allah, who revealed the Book, controls the clouds, defeats factionalism, and says in His Book: "But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them, seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war)"; and peace be upon our Prophet, Muhammad Bin-'Abdallah, who said: I have been sent with the sword between my hands to ensure that no one but Allah is worshipped, Allah who put my livelihood under the shadow of my spear and who inflicts humiliation and scorn on those who disobey my orders." - Shaykh Usamah Bin-Muhammad Bin-Ladin, “Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders,” World Islamic Front Statement, 23 February 1998.

"[D]espite the great devastation inflicted on the Iraqi people by the crusader-Zionist alliance, and despite the huge number of those killed, which has exceeded 1 million... despite all this, the Americans are once against trying to repeat the horrific massacres, as though they are not content with the protracted blockade imposed after the ferocious war or the fragmentation and devastation." - Shaykh Usamah Bin-Muhammad Bin-Ladin, “Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders,” World Islamic Front Statement, 23 February 1998. The interesting thing about this one is that it seems to establish a linkage between Osama and Saddam.

"The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies--civilians and military--is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy mosque [Mecca] from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim. This is in accordance with the words of Almighty Allah, 'and fight the pagans all together as they fight you all together,' and 'fight them until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah.'" - Shaykh Usamah Bin-Muhammad Bin-Ladin, “Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders,” World Islamic Front Statement, 23 February 1998.

"We--with Allah's help--call on every Muslim who believes in Allah and wishes to be rewarded to comply with Allah's order to kill the Americans and plunder their money wherever and whenever they find it. We also call on Muslim ulema, leaders, youths, and soldiers to launch the raid on Satan's U.S. troops and the devil's supporters allying with them, and to displace those who are behind them so that they may learn a lesson." - Shaykh Usamah Bin-Muhammad Bin-Ladin, “Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders,” World Islamic Front Statement, 23 February 1998.

Excerpts from the 1968 PLO Charter

"Armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine. This is the overall strategy, not merely a tactical phase. The Palestinian Arab people assert their absolute determination and firm resolution to continue their armed struggle and to work for an armed popular revolution for the liberation of their country and their return to it." - PLO Charter, Article 9, 1968.

"The liberation of Palestine, from an Arab viewpoint, is a national (qawmi) duty and it attempts to repel the Zionist and imperialist aggression against the Arab homeland, and aims at the elimination of Zionism in Palestine. Absolute responsibility for this falls upon the Arab nation- peoples and governments--with the Arab people of Palestine in the vanguard. Accordingly, the Arab nation must mobilize all its military, human, moral, and spiritual capabilities to participate actively with the Palestinian people in the liberation of Palestine. It must, particularly, in the phase of the armed Palestinian revolution, offer and furnish the Palestinian people with all possible help, and material and human support, and make available to them the means and opportunities that will enable them to continue to carry out their leading role in the armed revolution, until they liberate their homeland." - PLO Charter, Article 15, 1968.

"The Balfour Declaration, the Palestine Mandate, and everything that has been based on them, are deemed null and void. Claims of historical or religious ties of Jews with Palestine are incompatible with the facts of history and the conception of what constitutes statehood. Judaism, being a religion, is not an independent nationality. Nor do Jews constitute a single nation with an identity of their own; they are citizens of the states to which they belong." - PLO Charter, Article 20, 1968.

"The Arab Palestinian people, expressing themselves by armed Palestinian revolution, reject all solutions which are substitutes for the total liberation of Palestine and reject all proposals aimed at the liquidation of the Palestinian cause, or at its internationalization." - PLO Charter, Article 21, 1968.

"Zionism is a political movement organically associated with international imperialism and antagonistic to all action for liberation and to progressive movements in the world. It is racist and fanatic in its nature, aggressive, expansionist and colonial in its aims, and fascist in its methods. Israel is the instrument of the Zionist movement, and the geographical base for world imperialism placed strategically in the midst of the Arab homeland to combat the hopes of the Arab nation for liberation, unity, and progress. Israel is a constant source of threat vis-à-vis peace in the Middle East and the whole world. Since liberation of Palestine will destroy the Zionist and imperialist presence and will contribute to the establishment of peace in the Middle East. That is why the Palestinian people look to the progressive and peaceful forces and urge them all, irrespective of their affiliations and beliefs, to offer the Palestinian people all aid and support in their just struggle for the liberation of their homeland." - PLO Charter, Article 22, 1968.

PLO Charter, 1968 Version

Excerpts from the 1964 PLO Charter

*Remember the '67 War, the one that ended with isreal in control of the West Bank? Supposedly, the PLO was formed in response to that "occupation." And yet, they have a charter in place a full three years before that. Something to keep in mind.

"We, the Palestinian Arab people, who faced the forces of evil, injustice and aggression, against whom the forces of international Zionism and colonialism conspire and worked to displace it, dispossess it from its homeland and property, abused what is holy in it and who in spite of all this refused to weaken or submit." - PLO Charter, Introduction, 1964.

"Palestine, with its boundaries at the time of the British Mandate, is a indivisible territorial unit." - PLO Charter, Article 2, 1964.

"The Palestinians are those Arab citizens who were living normally in Palestine up to 1947, whether they remained or were expelled. Every child who was born to a Palestinian Arab father after this date, whether in Palestine or outside, is a Palestinian.
"Jews of Palestinian origin are considered Palestinians if they are willing to live peacefully and loyally in Palestine." - PLO Charter, Article 6 & 7, 1964.

"Bringing up Palestinian youth in an Arab and nationalist manner is a fundamental national duty. All means of guidance, education and enlightenment should be utilized to introduce the youth to its homeland in a deep spiritual way that will constantly and firmly bind them together." - PLO Charter, Article 8, 1964.

"Arab unity and the liberation of Palestine are two complementary goals; each prepares for the attainment of the other. Arab unity leads to the liberation of Palestine, and the liberation of Palestine leads to Arab unity. Working for both must go side by side." - PLO Charter, Article 12, 1964.

"The partitioning of Palestine, which took place in 1947, and the establishment of Israel are illegal and null and void, regardless of the loss of time, because they were contrary to the will of the Palestinian people and its natural right to its homeland, and were in violation of the basic principles embodied in the Charter of the United Nations, foremost among which is the right to self-determination." - PLO Charter, Article 17, 1964.

"The Balfour Declaration, the Palestine Mandate System, and all that has been based on them are considered null and void. The claims of historic and spiritual ties between Jews and Palestine are not in agreement with the facts of history or with the true basis of sound statehood. Judaism, because it is a divine religion, is not a nationality with independent existence." - PLO Charter, Article 18, 1964.

"Zionism is a colonialist movement in its inception, aggressive and expansionist in its goal, racist in its configurations, and fascist in its means and aims. Israel, in its capacity as the spearhead of this destructive movement and as the pillar of colonialism, is a permanent source of tension and turmoil in the Middle East, in particular, and to the international community in general. Because of this, the people of Palestine are worthy of the support and sustenance of the community of nations." - PLO Charter, Article 19, 1964.

"The Palestinian people believe in peaceful co-existence on the basis of legal existence, for there can be no coexistence with aggression, nor can there be peace with occupation and colonialism." - PLO Charter, Article 22, 1964.

"This Organization does not exercise any territorial sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, on the Gaza Strip or in the Himmah Area. Its activities will be on the national popular level in the liberational, organizational, political and financial fields." - PLO Charter, Article 24, 1964.

PLO Charter, 1964 Version

1983 Beirut blast began new era of terror

By Scott Dodd
Knight Ridder News Service

    A truck bomb ripped through the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut 20 years ago this week, marking the first major assault in a two-decade terrorist war of embassy bombings and plane hijackings that culminated on Sept. 11, 2001.
    The shocking attack killed 241 U.S. servicemen in a single strike -- more than died on the deadliest day of fighting in Vietnam, this year's invasion of Iraq or the entire 1991 Persian Gulf War.
    And it gave terrorists a major victory. The bombing drove the military from its peacekeeping mission in Lebanon and provided a blueprint for attacking Americans. The retreat of U.S. forces inspired Osama bin Laden and sent an unintended message to the Arab world that enough body bags would prompt Western withdrawal, not retaliation.
    "There's no question it was a major cause of 9-11," said John Lehman, the then-secretary of the Navy, who today is a member of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks. "We told the world that terrorism succeeds."
    About 2,000 Beirut veterans and family members will gather Thursday at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, where most were stationed in 1983. They will mourn fallen comrades and remember a doomed mission.
    At best, they believe, the world has forgotten their sacrifices. At worst, they fear they will always be considered a failure -- and the painful lessons of their tragedy will be ignored.
    "It was such a useless, fruitless thing," says Brian Kirkpatrick, a Beirut survivor who crawled his way out of the rubble. "We gained nothing. We lost everybody."
    But in the Pentagon and the State Department, Beirut has not been forgotten, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told The Charlotte Observer. Many of the leaders from 20 years ago -- who now serve President Bush -- work to avoid a repeat of the disaster as they plan the military missions of today.
    Bush reminded Americans of the tragedy in a prime-time speech last month. He urged the country to prepare for a long and costly effort to rebuild Iraq and not to repeat the mistake of leaving before the job was done.
    "What would happen if we left this business unfinished," Armitage said, "is an Iraq that would become more of a threat -- sort of an Iraq unchained."
    The Beirut bombing taught the United States more about protecting troops and picking battles. Using the military for peacekeeping, leaders learned, can be just as hazardous as fighting a well-defined enemy.
    But as the U.S. death toll in Iraq rises, critics of the Bush administration question whether those lessons are being heeded, or if the United States has been set up for another failure at the cost of American lives.

    On dangerous ground: In 1983, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger didn't want the Marines in Beirut.
    They had gone in the year before to calm fears that Lebanon's civil war could spark a battle engulfing the entire Middle East. The Marines' role was to evacuate Palestinian fighters and prevent an invasion from neighboring Israel.
    U.S. diplomats promised the safety of Palestinian families who remained. But after the Marines finished their job and withdrew in 1982, thousands of Palestinians -- largely women, children and the elderly -- were massacred by Israeli-backed Lebanese militia.
    "It was three days of absolute butchery," said Robert Dillon, then-U.S. ambassador to Lebanon. The slaughter jeopardized a high-profile initiative by President Reagan to end the Arab-Israeli conflict.
    An embarrassed State Department persuaded Reagan to send the Marines back, hoping their mere presence in Lebanon would prevent further bloodshed and salvage the peace plan. Weinberger fought the decision.
    "We didn't have any objective," Weinberger told The Observer. "The argument was that to simply have Americans on the ground would maintain the peace."
    The Marines were handicapped, former National Security Adviser Robert "Bud" McFarlane said, by infighting in the Reagan Cabinet. McFarlane and Secretary of State George Shultz wanted a more aggressive mission in Lebanon to root out foreign support of the warring factions. Weinberger and the Joint Chiefs of Staff were opposed.
    "Behind the scenes was a very, very pitched battle," McFarlane said. "Reagan didn't want to take sides between his Cabinet officers, and the Marines were hostage to this paralysis."
    To signal they were neutral in the civil war, the Marines were stationed between warring factions. They made their base at Beirut International Airport -- the tactically unwise low ground.
    They carried weapons, but the rules of engagement mostly forbade them from keeping a round in the chamber. They had orders not to shoot unless they were direct targets and knew for sure who had fired first. The on-base drinking hole became known as the "Can't Shoot Back Saloon."
    But by trying to keep order in Beirut, the Marines and U.S. diplomats were seen as allies of Lebanon's unpopular government and became targets of snipers, shellings and car bombings.
    In April 1983, terrorists smashed a stolen GMC pickup loaded with explosives into the U.S. Embassy, killing 63 people, including 17 Americans.
    Six months later, the truck bomb at the Marine barracks killed 241 U.S. troops.

    Beirut as a guide: After the barracks bombing, Reagan had a choice: Commit more forces to Lebanon only nine years after Vietnam, when public support for a long military conflict was low, or retreat.
    "It's a hard thing to say, it's a hard thing to accept, but we had lost," said Ryan Crocker, the political officer in the Beirut embassy, who later became deputy secretary of state for Near East Affairs. "The situation would not have gotten any better. We would have had more dead Marines."
    To political and military leaders in the United States, the pullout made sense. With a crippled Marine battalion and no clear military target, some thought withdrawal was the only option.
    "You can't police the world," said P.X. Kelley, the then-Marine commandant. "Sometimes the best option is to do nothing."
    But to terrorists and their backers, it was a sign of weakness, confirming their belief that the Americans had no staying power. The Syrian prime minister had told Morris Draper, a special presidential emissary, just months before: "You Americans can't hold your breath."
    The U.S. response to the barracks bombing was limited. Despite indications that it was carried out by the radical Islamic group Hezbollah and backed by Iran, a planned U.S. military mission to bomb terrorist training camps was never carried out.
    Top Reagan officials disagree on why. Weinberger says a conclusive link to Iran and Hezbollah was never proven. McFarlane said Weinberger was too concerned about the political risks of failure and losing support from U.S. allies in the Arab states.
    Either way, critics say the lack of retaliation cemented America's weak image in the Arab world.
    "If we had struck back and pulled out," said Bill Cowan, part of a top secret intelligence team sent to investigate the bombings, "we wouldn't have been leaving with our tail between our legs."
    Two decades of Arab-backed terrorism have followed the bombings of the Marine barracks and the embassy in Beirut.
    American soldiers are "paper tigers," Osama bin Laden told ABC News in 1998. "The Marines fled after two explosions."
    Using the Beirut bombings as a guide, terrorists:
    * attacked American embassies in Kuwait two months later, and Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, killing 307 Americans and others.
    * hijacked TWA Flight 847 for 17 days in 1985, taking hostages and killing a Navy diver.
    * exploded Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, killing 270.
    * bombed the World Trade Center in 1993, killing six and wounding about 1,000.
    * killed 19 Americans in the 1996 bombing of Khobar Towers, a U.S. military base in Saudi Arabia. The attack also wounded more than 370 Americans and Saudis.
    * struck the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000, killing 17 sailors and injuring 39 others.
    * flew hijacked planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, killing nearly 3,000 people.
    In those cases and dozens more, terrorists exploited unconventional methods and Western openness. And in almost every case until Sept. 11, the U.S. military response was minimal.
    For bin Laden and other terrorist leaders, Beirut showed how to attack a larger force and inflict the maximum damage -- physical and psychological. Terrorism experts say manuals found in al-Qaida's Afghanistan training camps were filled with references to Beirut.
    "The fact is, today, the people who ran that operation are heroes" among terrorist groups, "and nothing has ever been done against them," said Lehman, the former Navy secretary. "Not retaliating was a terrible blunder."

    Key changes: While terrorists took their lessons from Beirut, the Pentagon learned more about when to send troops and how to protect them.
    "Culturally, it changed the military," said Phil Anderson, a former Marine and terrorism expert.
    Weinberger summed up the lessons in a 1984 speech. The main points of what became known as the "Weinberger Doctrine" were restated after the first Gulf War by Colin Powell, then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: The United States should commit troops only when vital national interests are at stake, only as a last resort, and with overwhelming force.
    "It has to be for a sufficiently important cause," Weinberger told The Observer.
    The doctrine has been modified -- and sometimes ignored -- over the years, but the Beirut lessons still had a major impact:
    Commanders insisted on more clearly defined missions with sufficient force to carry them out and a way to determine when troops could go home.
    "You don't halfstep it," said Jay Farrar, a former Marine captain who served in Beirut and is now a military expert for the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "You deal swiftly and with a tremendous amount of force."
    Policy-makers realized that "presence" is not a mission, and commanders became increasingly reluctant to commit troops to peacekeeping efforts unless they were welcomed by all sides. Armitage cited the recent example of the U.S. role in Liberia, when both sides in a civil war requested U.S. troops.
    The concept of "force protection" came of age after the barracks attack. Rules of engagement are less limiting, and security around U.S. forces is tighter.
    "We go in heavy," said P.J. Crowley, a retired Air Force colonel and former special assistant for national security affairs to President Clinton. "We have a plan for protecting our forces."
    Crowley and other critics of the Bush administration say that is where planning for the occupation of Iraq has failed. War planners didn't send enough U.S. troops and failed to win enough support from other countries.
    "We did the war without completely understanding how to do the peace," he said. "We're ad hocing the peace."
    More U.S. servicemen and women have died in Iraq since the end of major combat operations was declared May 1 than during the six-week invasion. Terrorist car bombings have ripped through the United Nations' Baghdad headquarters and other civilian targets.
    A recent survey by the military newspaper Stars and Stripes found many troops in Iraq expressing sentiments similar to their Beirut counterparts. Roughly a third said their morale was low and their mission ill-defined. They characterized the war in Iraq as having little value.
    But Armitage said there are key differences between the mistakes in Lebanon and Iraq today.
    "In Lebanon, we didn't have a clear mission. We didn't understand the complexities."
    In Iraq, he said, the troops have that clear mission -- creating stability. Two-thirds of servicemen and women polled agreed. And other policy-makers argue that troops need to stay until that mission is accomplished.
    "There would be lingering perceptions of Beirut today if we pulled out of Iraq prematurely," said Dennis Ross, a Middle East envoy under two presidents. "The perception would be the U.S. intervenes, but it does not stay."

SUNDAY October 19, 2003
Salt Lake Tribune
http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Oct/10192003/nation_w/103305.asp

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