EU risks Muslim anger over veil bans

Moves by France and Belgium to ban Muslim full face veils predictably angered some Islamic clerics, but other European states facing the same question are following the delicate debate carefully.

France announced on Wednesday it would seek a law to ban Muslim residents and visitors from wearing a burqa or a niqab in public, while Belgium was poised to pass a similar ban until its ruling coalition collapsed on Thursday.

World governments have in the main been slow to react to the French and Belgian decisions, but Iran was quick to add the proposed laws to its charge sheet against the Western nations pressuring it on its nuclear program.

"French officials dare to make declarations about the internal affairs of other nations, while at the same time they don't respect the rights of their own citizens," declared foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast.

Iran accused France of ignoring "the rights of Muslims, who are not allowed to respect religious rules, notably in terms of wearing the veil."

The French law will apply to full face veils, such as the niqab worn in Saudi Arabia or the Afghan burqa, but this did not deter clerics from Iran and Indonesia, where veils cover only the hair and neck, from weighing in.

"We're clearly against the proposed ban," Amidhan, chairman of Indonesia's council of ulema or Islamic scholars, told AFP.

"If it becomes law, it will mean Belgium and France are restricting the rights of Muslim women to fulfill their religious obligations," he said.

"Interpretation of the Koran is different in different countries. Indonesian Muslim women don't have to cover their faces with veils, unlike Muslim women in some countries in the Middle East, but we have to respect their beliefs."

In Pakistan, political and religious leaders also pointed to what they see as the hypocrisy of France and Belgium.

"They should respect the fundamental and religious rights of Muslims," said Siddiqul Farooq, a spokesman for the main opposition party, the Pakistan Muslim League-N, led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

"These countries also abide by the United Nations charter. There is democracy and constitutions in these countries which give rights to everyone."

France and Belgium will have expected opposition to the bans from political and religious figures in mainly-Muslim countries, but reaction from Western states with their own Muslim minorities is less predictable.

Already in June last year, US President Barack Obama fiercely criticised European moves to ban the veil in a major speech to the Muslim world in Cairo.

"It is important for Western countries to avoid impeding Muslim citizens from practising religion as they see fit - for instance, by dictating what clothes a Muslim woman should wear," he declared, to applause.

"We can't disguise hostility towards any religion behind the pretence of liberalism," he added, in a thinly veiled dig at France's claim to be taking the measure in order to protect the dignity of women.

But in Europe, where many voters feel large Muslim immigrant populations are not integrating well and that Islam poses a threat to women's rights, many see France and Belgium as leading the way on this issue.

Swiss voters have already voted in a referendum to ban the construction of new mosque minarets, and in Austria the minister for families Christine Marek said she was in favour of banning the full face veil in some circumstances.

"When I see these (fully veiled) women, I say to myself: They're being treated as second class human beings," she told the news agency APA, suggesting that Austria study Belgium's example.

gang rape
"honor" killings
suicide bombers
"thighing"
subjugation of women
"youth" riots
patently unjust Sharia legal system
participants in 82% (18 of 22) of the current global conflicts (despite only ~18% of world's population... the old "80-20 Rule" is in place!)*

* the list of current global violent conflicts where Muslims are a major party:
Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan, Nigeria, Balochistan, Israel, Phillipine insurgency, Papua, Turk-Kurd, Ogaden, Maghreb, Chad, Eritrea, Yemen, Caucasus, and Thailand...

and those where Islam is NOT a siginificat player:
Mexico's drug war, Naxalite-Maoist conflict (India), Burma, and Peru.

Or, in much simpler terms: Never trust any culture that eschews bacon!!

FBI’s Belated Warning

Homeland Security: Now that the uptrend in homegrown terror is obvious, the FBI warns that American jihadists pose as big a threat as al-Qaida terrorists. And these bad guys may be living next door.

In a major switch from past rhetoric, authorities see an alarming rise in jihadist activity across the country. Radicalization is not confined to Europe, and it’s far more prevalent here than officials have been willing to admit.

Four years ago, FBI headquarters pooh-poohed concerns expressed by this paper that we had an internal security problem tantamount to Britain, which has far fewer Muslims. Following a PC script, the agency argued that our Muslim population is better assimilated and less extreme. That only lulled the American public deeper into a false sense of security about the homegrown threat.

“I don’t think al-Qaida is largely represented in the United States, or people that espouse violent extremism,” FBI Director Robert Mueller assured the public in 2006.

Now the nation’s top cop is singing a different tune.

Not only does al-Qaida still aim to strike inside the U.S., but “homegrown and lone-wolf extremists pose an equally serious threat,” Mueller warned lawmakers last week, citing the Fort Hood shootings. Many U.S.-born jihadists, such as Bombay attack planner David Headley of Chicago, are plotting terror overseas.

Mueller also pointed to the plot to bomb New York subways, hatched by three high school buddies from Queens. In the most serious terror plot in America since 9/11, the Muslim men planned to strap on explosives and hit the Grand Central and Times Square stations during rush hour.

From New York to the Denver suburbs, Americans have been shocked to find their own neighbors plotting or committing violence against them. In 2009 alone, 41 Muslim-Americans were involved in terror, accounting for almost a third of all the homegrown terror suspects since 9/11 (excluding terror-finance cases).

Even Muslim clergy are increasingly dangerous. U.S.-born imam Anwar Awlaki — who ministered to the 9/11 hijackers, inspired the Fort Hood terrorist and allegedly directed the Christmas crotch bomber — recently claimed jihad is “becoming as American as apple pie.” He has 4,800 Facebook friends, many in the U.S.

Another popular American-Muslim cleric — Detroit imam Luqman Abdullah — preached violent overthrow of the government before dying last fall in a shootout with FBI agents. He called cops “kaffir dogs” and exhorted his flock to shoot them in the head.

“America must fall,” he said, and be replaced by Saudi-style theo-cracy. “The worst Muslim is better than the best kaffir,” or infidel. Hardly fringe, Abdullah was embraced by the Muslim community.

Abdullah-type hatred is reflected in a new poll by Gallup showing 26% of young Muslim-Americans report “feeling anger” on a daily basis — far more than any other group.

This is a powder keg ready to explode. Yet this administration remains focused on “right wing” militia groups and “anti-government extremists” as the top threats. It has even banned agencies from talking about “jihad” or “Islamic extremism,” as if that will defuse it. Let’s hope it’s not playing politics with homeland security.

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