Posted on 12/01/2005 8:40:27 AM PST by MikeA
MONCEAU-SUR-SAMBRE, Belgium (Dec. 1) - How could a young woman turn from Belgian baker's assistant to Baghdad suicide bomber?
Belgium has been shocked by revelations that Muriel Degauque, an unassuming woman who grew up near the rust belt city of Charleroi, had entered Iraq from Syria and detonated explosives strapped to her body in a failed attack against U.S. troops.
The 38-year-old woman's mother, Liliane Degauque, told local TV networks that her daughter was "so nice'' - but began to change when she married an Algerian man and turned to Islamic fundamentalism.
The case underscored the growing reach of international terrorism.
"It is the first time that we see that a Western woman, a Belgian, marrying a radical Muslim, and is converted up to the point of becoming a jihad fighter,'' federal police director Glenn Audenaert said.
In her younger years, Muriel Degauque lived a conventional life in an industrial belt of southern Belgium. Media reports said she finished high school before taking on several jobs, including selling bread in a bakery. They also said that as an adolescent she had run into problems with drugs and alcohol.
Authorities say Degauque went on to become a member of a terror cell that embraced al-Qaida's ideology. It included her second husband, a man of Moroccan origin who died in a separate terror attack in Iraq.
"This is our Belgian kamikaze killed in Iraq,'' read the headline of Thursday's La Derniere Heure newspaper, over a picture of a smiling young woman looking into the camera.
When Liliane Degauque saw police coming to her doorstep on Wednesday, she immediately knew what it was about. She had heard reports the evening before there had been a terrorist attack on Nov. 9 by a Belgian woman.
"For three weeks already I tried to contact her by telephone but I got the answering machine,'' she told the RTBF network on Thursday.
Authorities on Thursday formally arrested 5 of the 14 suspects detained in dawn raids the day before and charged them with involvement in a terrorist network that sent volunteers to Iraq, including Muriel Degauque.
Nine were released. Those placed under arrest were a Tunisian and four Belgians, three of whom had North African roots.
"This action shows how international terrorism tries to set up networks in western European nations, recruit for terror attacks in conflict areas and look for funds to finance terrorism,'' said Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt.
In France on Wednesday, police in the Paris region arrested a 15th suspect, a 27-year-old Tunisian man thought to have had contacts with the Belgian group.
Authorities said the Belgian network had been planning to send more volunteers to Iraq for attacks.
The raids in Brussels and three other cities across the country involving more than 200 police officers followed media reports of the Belgian woman's suicide.
Nine of the 14 suspects were Belgian citizens. Three were Moroccan and two were Tunisian.
Police carried out raids and detained 11 people in the capital Brussels, and one each in southern Charleroi, northern Antwerp and eastern Riemst.
Belgium has been mentioned as a breeding ground for terrorists in the past and there are currently 13 Belgian and Moroccan nationals on trial for allegedly being members of an Islamic group suspected in recent bomb attacks in Spain and Morocco.
Islamic radical groups linked to al-Qaida terror network are suspected of setting up networks in Belgium and other European nations with large Muslim communities.
For many in Belgium though, Wednesday's arrests were a chilling reminder that no one is immune.
"Belgium is directly involved in the terrorist threat,'' said Justice Minister Laurette Onkelinx.
I think (and hope) you are correct.
She was identified, recruited, brainwashed and used.
And if we don't do something to eliminate the Islamic presence in our midst, there will be others.
She had all the background traits that a
terrorist recruiter would look for. Into
Drugs, failed relationships, etc. Odds
are she wasn't very attractive either.
But I take issue about the banning of Islam
from the west. The basics of Islam are
closely akin to the Judeo-Christian faiths.
Muslim kids first learn about monotheism,
then the great Prophets and Biblical/Torah/
Qu'ran heroes. We shouldn't let ourselves be
prejudiced against those whose religious
roots are so close to our own because of the
violent perversion of Islam by those who seek
power and domination over the world.
from http://www.ezsoftech.com/akram/default.asp
"What do Muslims believe?
Muslims believe in One, Unique, Incomparable God;
in the Angels created by Him; in the prophets
through whom His revelations were brought to
mankind; in the Day of Judgment and individual accountability for actions; in God's complete
authority over human destiny and in life after
death. Muslims believe in a chain of prophets
starting with Adam and including Noah, Abraham,
Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Job, Moses, Aaron,
David, Solomon, Elias, Jonah, John the Baptist,
and Jesus, peace be upon them."
If we recall that Christians broke from the Jewish
faith over the Divine Nature of Jesus, then how can
we resent Muslims extending a similar stance to their
prophet Mohammed?
"But God's final message to man, a reconfirmation
of the eternal message and a summing-up of all that
has gone before was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad
(PBUH) through Angel Gabriel."
Don't get me wrong. I'm a Christian. But my
college studies honed in on History, Ancient
Civilizations, Religion, and PolySci. In my
declining years, I have come to realize that
each of us must find our own way Home to Him.
The same way it's possible that Christianity's heart of benevolence can be corrupted by bastards like Fred Phelps.
She was identified, recruited, brainwashed and duped.
If we don't do something to rid ourselves of the Islamic presence in oour midst, there will be others.
I am very happy she didn't succeed. I am very disturbed that westerners are being recruited by these evil cultists and empoloyed for their own nefarious pruposes.
Islam is a very dangerous, seductive cult. It employs guile and violence and makes the Moonies and Heaven's Gate look like Boyscouts.
"are a mixture of the worst of the French and the worst of the Germans in their behavior."
They must be very conflicted in a war, between surrendering or murdering civilians...
They murder the defenseless, like they did in the Congo.
That's easy -- murder the civilians, and then surrender.
"This once again underscores the incompatibility of Islam with western civlization, and the incredible stupidity of equating the followers of this vicious cult with any other religion.
"Islam should be banned from the west and restricted to those areas where it is currently the predominant religion, or these people will enforce Dhimmitude on all of us."
I agree.
hey. don't you think you're being a bit too kind in your analysis?
come on, let it all out -- tell us how you really feel.
I thought like you once.
I revisted my assessment of Islam - after 9-11.
By their fruits ye shall know them.
Despite a superficial similarity with Christianity and Judaism and a claimed common origin, Islam is quite different from both of those Biblical belief systems.
Islam spread itself by the sword and threatened its neighbors with violence and conquest since its very inception.
Once upon a time, all of the Middle East was either Zoroastrian (a monotheistic religion) or Christian, with Jewish enclaves.
Once Islam began moving that all changed.
Muslims attacked Christians in the Middle East, Egypt, North Africa, Iberia, southern and Central France, southern Italy and Sicily long before there was any "Crusade". And the purpose was not merely loot - it was conversion and spreading its belief system throuigh violence.
But you say, they were violent times back then. Perhaps, but the aggression of Islam has hardly changed, and even by the standards of the time, they stood out in their aggression. Today they continue to persecute Zoroastrians in Iran, they have wiped out Bahais there, they attack Chaldean and Assyrian Christians in Iraq, Jews anywhere they find them, they are attacking Christians and animists in Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia, Egypt, the Phillipines, and Indonesia. They continue violent acts against Buddhists and Hindus in Asia.
They have sent out settlers into western Europe and the United States who are challenging and defying our customs and traditions and demanding that we make alterations in our behavior to suit their own beliefs and social norms.
Norms that have createsd such enlightened societies as the Taliban, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.
You take some Islamic quotes and present them here.
I suggest you check the University of Michigan's Library on Line. You can call up a copy of the Quran and plug in any word and they pull out every passage that contains that word. Plug in "Christian" "Jew" and "unbeliever".
From the way they treat their women - like animals - to the way they treat their animals - like inanimate objects -Muslims demonstrate that they, as a group, are a group apart. (Like that dog at your feet? To Muslims it is an "unclean" animal - because of some event that allegedly happened to a successor of Mohammad.)
Not every Muslim is a bomb throwing, western hating fanatic - but far too many of them are - and the rest are apparently unable to control them.
We are making a serious mistake if we convince ourselves that these people are just another version of Christians or Jews.
"But I take issue about the banning of Islam
from the west. The basics of Islam are
closely akin to the Judeo-Christian faiths. "
I am not a religious scholar, but Christ said there would be false prophets. I believe Mo fits that description. I also believe religion is something one must come to freely, not at the point of a sword. For me, Islam does not qualify as a legitimate religion.
"This poor woman was seduced, brainwashed and recruited by a follower of this evil cult."
This poor woman????? Pardon me while I vomit.
An example of the deadly contagion of Islam...and people worry about bird flu?
Come on, stop with the PC mealy-mouth soft-peddaling. Tell us what you REALLY think!
Islam is an insane murder cult. Period.
"When are we going to get realistic and stop harassing normal people at the airports...like this medium brown haired, blue eyed woman."
An excellent sardonic observation.
P.S. Don't forget. Starting tomorrow, scissors will be allowed on flights. Can't wait for the OK on cell phones too.
"May God forgive her."
I don't see the need to make such a request. My understanding is that God has already completed what you've requested, and for every human on this planet. Regardless of the size of the transgression in need of forgiveness.
(Unfortunately for humans,) It is in the human's hands whether or not such forgiveness is accepted or not.
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