Free Republic

Anyone who believes that NATO’s overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi is a “success” for President Obama’s foreign policy should listen to the speech of Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, the chairman of the National Transitional Council, at the “liberation day” celebrations in Benghazi: “We are an Islamic country,” the de facto president of Libya proclaimed to the crowds shouting “Allahu Akbar.” “We take the Islamic religion as the core of our new government. The constitution will be based on our Islamic religion.”

Hundreds of angry Libyans on Saturday stormed the transitional government's headquarters in the eastern city of Benghazi, carting off computers, chairs, and desks while the country's interim leader was still holed up in the building. Libyans have grown increasingly frustrated with the pace and direction of reforms in the country more than three months after the end of the civil war that ousted longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Those concerns spurred residents in Benghazi, where the uprising against longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi broke out in February, to begin protests nearly two weeks ago to demand transparency and justice from the country's...

In his statement marking the death of Muhammar Gaddafi last week, President Obama inserted a mystifying passage: “[T]he Libyan people now have a great responsibility — to build an inclusive and tolerant and democratic Libya that stands as the ultimate rebuke to Qaddafi’s dictatorship….” “An inclusive and tolerant and democratic Libya.” Can we mull that over with a glass of wine at the faculty club? Obama added this — it would be wrong to call it a demand, more of a request or an imprecation, yoking heterogeneous ideas by violence together, like metaphysical poetry: “And we call on our Libyan...

The head chaplain for New York City jails has been suspended while the city investigates claims he made incendiary statements last year in Tucson, including a comment that the "greatest terrorists in the world occupy the White House." The New York Post reported Thursday that Umar Abdul-Jalil made the remarks at a conference sponsored by the Muslim Students Association in Tucson. It said the Investigative Project, a Washington organization that tracks extremist Islamic groups, recorded the speech, in which he also allegedly said that Muslims jailed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were "tortured" in the Manhattan Correctional Center. Abdul-Jalil,...

An imam under fire for saying that "the greatest terrorists in the world occupy the White House" made a surprising admission yesterday - he campaigned for President Bush in the last election. Imam Umar Abdul-Jalil (right, yesterday), who was suspended Thursday as head chaplain of the city's jails for that and other inflammatory remarks, made the disclosure at a news conference held to defend him. A supporter, the Rev. Lonnie McLeod of the Church of High Hope in East Harlem, said that Abdul-Jalil was "as true an American as you would ever find" and would "lay his life down for...

Muslim Jail Chaplain Won't Lose Job After Fiery 'Zionists' Speech POSTED: 4:20 pm EST March 14, 2006 UPDATED: 4:44 pm EST March 14, 2006 Email This Story | Print This Story NEW YORK -- The city's top jail chaplain who gave a speech containing incendiary language like "Zionists of the media" and "terrorists" in the White House won't be fired from his job, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday. The Republican mayor used the opportunity to make a passionate defense of the First Amendment, saying that the "great dangers that we are facing are not people saying things, it is our...

A GANG of British terror suspects has been charged with plotting to launch a "dirty bomb" or mini nuclear blast on London. The attacks, on targets such as Heathrow and the Parliament, were planned to coincide with similar strikes on major buildings in the US. The leader of the group is believed to be Osama bin Laden's UK general, Dhiren Barot. Born into a respected family of Kenyan expatriates, Barot, 32, was raised a Hindu before being converted to radical Islamism in his 20s and becoming one of al-Qaida's European linchpins. Barot and seven other members of the suspected al-Qaida...