Free Republic

The ideology of jihad was formulated by Muslim jurists and scholars, including such luminaries as Averroes and Ibn Khaldun, from the 8th century onward. A recent Harvard commencement speech notwithstanding, these voluminous writings establish unequivocally the notion of jihad as a war of conquest. For example, Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406) stated, "..the holy war is a religious duty, because of the universality of the Muslim mission and the obligation to convert everyone to Islam either by persuasion or by force...". Jihad conquests were brutal, imperialist advances that spurred waves of Arab and Turkish Muslims to expropriate a vast expanse of...

Two men have been arrested. What is unique about their capture is that neither could have been taken into U.S. custody without the help of the government of Pakistan. Their backgrounds couldn't be any more different. José Padilla is a Brooklyn-born Puerto Rican Catholic who moved to Chicago, became a gang-banger, did time in Florida, converted to Islam and joined al-Qaeda. He calls himself Abdullah al Muhajir. Abu Zubaydah is a Saudi-born Palestinian who became al-Qaeda's chief of operations, reportedly took Padilla on as a protégé, and ultimately became a primary informant for American intelligence. Before leaving South Florida in...

I grew up in an Orthodox Jewish enclave in New York and have spent most of my life here. Over the better part of the past decade, however, my work has brought me away from New York and, very often, into the company of devout Christians. If my New York accent didn't mark me as an outsider in the Bible Belt, then my yarmulke certainly did. But the people I've met there — and of whom, quite candidly, my environment had prepared me to be wary — have overwhelmingly been warm, appreciative, and disarmingly respectful of my commitment to my...

SPAIN is to follow Italy’s lead with new curbs on immigration that are expected to include measures for the fast-track expulsion of illegal immigrants and longer jail sentences for people-traffickers. After the announcement of tough new Italian legislation, which includes fingerprinting non-European Union immigrants, Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish Interior Minister, said in Barcelona that the Government would make a “serious study” of how the present law, which has been in force for only 18 months, could be reformed and brought into line with European norms. Although he did not go into specifics, he cited the case of Germany, which restricts...

Islamic terrorists have turned Belgium into a recruiting base and the launch pad for future attacks across Europe, according to a leaked official dossier. The report by the Belgian parliament's intelligence committee, based on the files of the Belgian secret services, found that the Saudi-backed Salafi movement had created a religious "state" within Belgium. Activists operated their own "Islamic police" to enforce Islamic rules and punish drug-dealers, prostitutes, and alcohol sellers. Group members were circulating videos of Osama bin Laden and had carried out paramilitary training and parachute jumps in the Ardennes. There are 350,000 muslims in Belgium and the...

Women are more fluent speakers and better liars than men, according to a study that examined the number of "ums" and "ahs" in the speech of both sexes. The survey found that men are almost twice as likely as women to pause or hesitate while speaking. When telling a lie, the gaps between words often increase, making it easier to decide that a man is lying. Scientists at Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh, who counted the pauses in normal speech, found that women have greater fluency and are less likely to become tongue-tied when lying. Robin Lickley, of the department...

Head teachers will this week call for schools to teach African and Asian languages instead of French and German in a reform designed to reflect the "ethnic mix" of the British population. At its annual conference in Torquay, the National Association of Head Teachers will discuss giving African languages, including Somali and Hausa, the same importance as the main European tongues. The head teachers also suggest that Albanian, Punjabi and Urdu be added to the curriculum. They say that expanding the teaching of such languages will benefit all pupils, but in particular those from the ethnic minorities, and enable them...

DAVID BLUNKETT echoed the “more rational” ideas of the assassinated Dutch far-Right leader Pim Fortuyn last night when he called for immigrants to integrate more into British society. The Home Secretary also compared Muslim forced marriages to those of the medieval aristocracy in England and suggested that eventually Muslims would leave the tradition behind and move on, as Westerners had. Asked by the BBC whether Islam was compatible with modern society, Mr Blunkett said that, like Mr Fortuyn, he believed in diversity through integration. “It was a point Pim Fortuyn in his more rational moments was making in the lead...

Gondoliers blocked the Grand Canal near the Rialto Bridge in Venice yesterday after going on an indefinite strike against illegal immigration. The gondoliers said immigrants were making the city unsafe and their association said all 400 members were on strike and about 200 had taken part in the blockade. It said hundreds of immigrants had settled in Venice and they lived by illegally selling tourist trinkets, copies of fashion accessories and pirate CDs. Immigrants harboured tricksters and fraudsters who took advantage of elderly people and were prepared to assault people who tried to intervene. "We are asking for the authorities...

David Blunkett put himself on a collision course with the French government and the British courts last night when he announced plans to expel more than 30,000 failed asylum seekers back across the Channel every year. The Home Secretary said that "clearly unfounded" asylum claims would be dealt with within days and applicants either returned home or to a "safe third country" through which they had already travelled. Any appeals would have to be pursued outside Britain. Refugee groups condemned the plan as "unjust and unworkable". They will almost certainly challenge the measures in the courts on human rights grounds....

ITALY’S Centre Right Government hardened its policy on asylum and illegal immigration yesterday when it approved a measure making fingerprinting compulsory for non-EU immigrants. The law was one of the key campaign pledges made by Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister, a year ago. It is likely to become law next month. The law obliges non-EU immigrants to obtain a work permit before a residence permit, and restricts the number of relatives who may join a legal immigrant. It also strengthens the powers of border police to expel illegal immigrants and authorises the courts to imprison any illegal immigrant trying to...

The list evokes a litany of embarrassments and bad press for the FBI: Richard Jewell, Timothy McVeigh, Wen Ho Lee, Robert Hanssen and now Coleen Rowley. Details surrounding these cases lend support to the idea that this is an organization that needs to be seriously scrutinized, then restructured and transformed. Leading Democrats say they want to get to the heart of the FBI's intelligence failures. They contend that the best approach to uncover the truth is to have an independent commission delve into the matter. Leading Republicans maintain that the ongoing congressional investigations are sufficient enough to carve a path...

DENMARK is about to vote in one of Europe’s toughest asylum laws today, while shrugging off charges that it is creating a racist society. The law cuts benefits, restricts the right to marry and discourages the arrival of any refugee over the age of 60. It is expected to come into effect on July 1, the day Denmark on which takes over the six-month presidency of the European Union, which is committed to putting immigration at the top of the agenda. The measures have already sent tremors across the Continent. Mona Sahlin, Sweden’s Immigration Minister, has written a joint letter...

Like hotdogs and watered-down beer, they're together again. The Dems and the left-leaning press, that is. Folks are hardly surprised to see the disinformation duo seize an opportunity to line up against a Republican White House. But during wartime? For days the public has been forced to endure Watergate sloganeering that resembles bird droppings on a windshield. In synchronized fashion, scores of media outlets have belted out, "What did he know and when did he know it?" The implications created via tone and headline are that somehow President Bush knew in advance of a homicide hijack-bombing plot. And what did...

As the ache of winter recedes, the three-headed beast makes its way toward daylight. Clad in a protective covering of peace, it leaves in its wake an excess of hatred and propaganda. Its heads nod in synchronized motion. On one side sits the European left. On the other, the campus mobs. And dead center is the U.N. and all its affiliates. Each is draped in the Palestinian flag. And each has turned its face from Israel. The anti-Israeli themes that the beast has embraced are uncomfortably familiar. They are a by-product of a long, deep and dedicated campaign, reminiscent of...

If you can't say something nice, say it in Yiddish. If it tastes good, it's probably not kosher. No one leaves a Jewish wedding hungry; but then again, no one leaves with a hangover. After the sixth day, G~d created Loehmann's. Why spoil a good meal with a big tip? Twenty percent off is a bargain; fifty percent off is a mitzvah. Israel is the land of milk and honey; Florida is the land of milk of magnesia. The High Holidays have absolutely nothing to do with marijuana. Always whisper the names of diseases. If you don't eat, it will...

CARTOON Network, the children's television giant, is under fire from the powerful Hispanic-American lobby after removing Speedy Gonzalez from its regular programming, amid fears that the cartoon mouse fostered negative images of Mexicans. Instead of approving its sensitivity to ethnic slurs, Hispanic American groups and media have accused the station of misunderstanding Speedy. They say the fastest mouse in Mexico is a positive role model, famed for outwitting his North American nemesis, "Gringo" cat. Laurie Goldberg, a Cartoon Network spokesman, denied yesterday that Speedy was banned, but said the station "thinks twice" before putting the cartoons on, partly because they...

ON first impressions the ideal of "multi-culturalism" was thriving in central Copenhagen this week. At the Norre Alle ethnic minority community centre a small group of middle-aged, fair-skinned Danish ladies linked arms with immigrant friends and danced to a rusty recording of Greek folk music. In the rapidly-filling hall men born in Somalia, Gambia, Jordan, Algeria and Turkey chatted over cups of subsidised coffee. This, after all, is Denmark, Europe's shining light of liberal values, as famous for its "open door" policy towards asylum seekers and refugees as it is for being first to legalise gay marriages and hard-core pornography....

U.S. policy must be coherent: Suicide bombings in Israel are terrorism. U.S. policy has always been not to negotiate with terrorists. Terrorists must be defeated through decisive action. Any other course only encourages more terrorism. If our own war on terror is to be morally and politically coherent, the U.S. cannot have one policy for terrorists around the world and another for terrorists who target Israel. Land for peace does not work: In July 2000, attempts to broker a peace agreement showed that the best offer Israel could ever make is one that Arafat would never take. Arafat is either...

It's a case that has made Hollywood screenwriters green-eyed. The defendants: two odd San Francisco attorneys with an adopted prison-inmate son. The victim: an attractive female college lacrosse coach with a lesbian lover. The mode of death: a rare breed of attack dog housed in a densely populated urban setting. The defense lawyer: a trained actress, theatrical to the point of distraction, who crawled across the courtroom floor, kicked the jury box and screamed her way though the trial. The prosecutors: one former lingerie model, now wife of a county supervisor, and one former seminarian who left the priesthood to...