Free Republic

SPANISH police yesterday arrested another suspected al-Qaida member who is believed to be a key figure in the financing of the terrorist organisation's operations in various countries. Interior Minister Mariano Rajoy said Syrian-born Spaniard Ghasoub al- Abrash al-Ghalyoun was seized yesterday morning. He gave no more details. Only a day earlier, police in Madrid arrested another Syrian- born Spaniard, who was described as a key figure in financing terrorist operations of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network in various countries including the United States. Rajoy said the man held yesterday, together with another person arrested some time ago in Spain, "made...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has lifted a U.S. ban on a planned visit by a leading European Muslim critic of the Iraq war, in a move rights groups hailed as a victory for civil liberties. Clinton signed orders which ended the ban on Professor Tariq Ramadan of Oxford University, who was barred due to alleged terrorism ties which he denies, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said on Wednesday.

Brother Tariq: The Doublespeak of Tariq Ramadan, by Caroline Fourest; foreword by Denis MacShane (Encounter Books, 262 pp., $23.95) In the 1990s, Western liberals, alarmed at the presence of Islamic fundamentalists in their midst, turned in desperation to Muslims whom they dubbed “reformers” or “modernizers.” They hoped that these figures would have a moderating influence on disaffected Muslim youths who refused to integrate into Western society. One such “reformer” is Tariq Ramadan, a Swiss-born academic. Ramadan has won the confidence of many in the West, including the British government, which asked him to serve on its task force for...