David Harris in Ottawa Citizen on Khawaja trial. "The enemy within"

When the first trial under Canada's Terrorism Act opened in Ottawa, the other day, we posted on the remarkable ability of the defendant, Momin Khawaja, an IT contractor, to penetrate the resources of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to engage in communications and contact with terrorist 'colleagues' abroad in the UK and Thailand. The lurking fear is two fold. How far did Khawaja invade encrypted counter terrorism and intelligence data bases, including those shared with MI-5 in the U.K. and the FBI, here in the U.S.? Further, as in a John le Carre novels about Soviet-era mole hunter George Smiley, how many other Al Qaeda, Hamas and Hizbullah agents lurk inside the Canadian diplomatic, counter terrorism, and national security agencies? ...

"Jizya by Iraqi Christians paid for the Insurgency:" NY Times alleges

... This New York Times article introduces a topic to most Americans, that is little understood-jizya, the poll tax levied in brutal draconian fashion on kafirs or unbelievers in Arab Muslim lands, Iraq being one example. Jizya is like Mafia 'hush money' with a difference. In the case of the mob, if you paid the hush money you survived. In the case of Islamic Shari'a law, it didn't matter, you could still be killed, as attested to what happened to the Iraqi Chaldean Christians. U.S. military intelligence guesstimated that upwards of $2.0 million might have be paid in the form of jizya to al Qaeda insurgents and funded their attacks. Verifying that will be a daunting task. ...

Radical Sheik Turani 'scuppers' sukuk bond market for Shari'a compliant finance: 'too greedy'

Scupper is a nautical term for a drain. In 'Britspeak' it means to sink a vessel or proposition. Radical Sheik Muhammad Taqi Usmani, who heads the Bahrain-based Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions, basically 'scuppered' the burgeoning sukuk or Shari'a compliant bond market. He thought the 'boom' in sukuk bonds was 'too greed', didn't conform with Quranic standards, so he basically drained the market.

Note what this Financial Times report said: ...

"Saudi King Abdullah seeks stability by reaching out on religion:" wants to be the 'Vatican of Islam'

Nina Shea of the Hudson Institute ... had been instrumental in leading the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) effort on evaluation of the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA) Islamic studies texts that has become, as Jim Lafferty of the Traditional Values Coalition remarked: 'a hot potato'. Shea was in the midst of another project directed at the Saudi Wahhabi hate texts. During the conversation she remarked about what the Saudi King Abdullah was up to holding a high profile gathering of Muslims scholars, both Sunni and Shia, in the holy city of Mecca. This Financial Times article about Abdullah's 'dialogue initiative with the major sects in Islam, as well as, outreach to Christians and Jews, presented an interesting tableau of what occurred last week: ...

First of Folsom Prison Jihadis sentenced to 22 year in L.A. terror case

Levar Harvey Washington was sentenced to 22 years for his involvement in terror plots to hit military facilities, the Israeli consulate and synagogues in the Los Angeles area. Washington and an accomplice were involved in more than a dozen gas station holdups, in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Police investigation of one such holdup in Torrance led to his and the group's arrest. Washington is the first of the Folsom Prison Jihadis, converts to the extremist Muslim group Jam'iyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh (JIS), to stand trial in the Santa Ana , California federal court to be convicted. Note what this Los Angeles Times article says about how long it took for federal authorities to apprehend the 'cell'.

Federal authorities said JIS had been formed in 1997 and the cell in 2004. Law enforcement officials did not stumble upon the group until 2005, while investigating a Torrance gas station robbery. ...

Al-Arian Indicted for Refusal To Testify in Muslim Charities Cases: "a perury trap"

Al-Arian, a former University of South Florida computer science professor had been an active leader in the U.S. for Palestinian Islamic Jihad an officially designated foreign terrorist organization and had raised funds for it here in the US. He was originally sentenced on a guilty plea verdict in a long trial in the Tampa Federal District Court to 57 months and deportation, thereafter after serving his sentence. Al Arian had lost two U.S. Appeals court bids to remain silent on the new investigation that lead to his indictment on Wednesday by the Virginia Federal court.

Note this from the New York Sun report: ...

# "Islamic school on fraud charges:" this time Australia!!

A tip of the hat to "Beowulf" for this one. It's a doozie. And we thought that the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA) in Virginia was a problem with its 'illegal operations'. Here's one of Australia's 'premier' Islamic schools, Australian Islamic College, located in Perth, Western Australia where the administrators engaged in fraud: billing for non-existing students to the regional and federal Australian governments in excess of $3 million A dollars. if that wasn't bad enough the fraudsters paid themselves salaries of over $200,000 each.

Note how they did this nifty trick to fool the kafirs down under from The Australian report. ...

Shahda comments on the Washington Post Al Qaeda media production article on As Sahab ("the clouds")

... The effect of shutting down the terrorist cyberspace is much more devastating on Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups than many experts believe. Taking away their most potent weapon for spreading propaganda, recruiting and training new terrorists online to conduct terrorist acts will have destructive effects on the terrorist groups that very few can imagine their significant magnitude. ...

"Virginia's Islamic Academy on Shaky Legal Ground:" You're telling us!

If the school was a separate corporation as State Department officials have repeatedly claimed, it would have to have an active corporate charter (which it doesn't appear to have since December 2004), and it would either have to file IRS Form 990s if it were operating as a tax exempt organization, or file tax returns if it were operating for-profit. That has not happened in either case according to our investigation. Rather, all evidence indicates that the Saudi Embassy is in full corporate control of the school, and it is operating entirely under its agency, which makes the school subject to the Foreign Missions Act and under the authority of the State Department. If it isn't part of the Saudi Embassy, it seems that the academy is operating illegally. This new evidence doesn't give much leeway to the State Department to shirk the matter. However, it is understandable why State Department officials are eager to take a pass on this diplomatic and public relations conundrum. But there is no indication that the controversy surrounding the Islamic Saudi Academy is going to subside anytime soon. ...

Scientists find 'law of war' that predicts attacks

Scientists believe they may have glimpsed a "law of war" that can be used to predict the likelihood of attacks in modern conflicts, from conventional battles to global terrorism. ... "We can use the power-law distribution to accurately predict the likelihood of different sized attacks occurring on any given day. This is useful for military planning and allocating resources to hospitals. ...

Zodiac copycat boasts pregnant soldier murder

... Police immediately confiscated the letter and asked the paper not to release its contents, telling executive editor Brian Tolley that news of the note would interfere with their investigation and unnecessarily frighten the public.

"Not printing the letter goes against nearly everything I, and this paper, stand for," wrote Tolley in an Observer article. "Our job is to gather and report information, not to keep it in the dark."

But yesterday, according to Tolley, the newspaper confirmed that the symbol on the letter was also found written in lipstick on a mirror at the crime scene. ...

Iran says Gulf oil route at risk if attacked

...TEHRAN (Reuters) - The Revolutionary Guards said Iran would impose controls on shipping in the vital Gulf oil route if Iran was attacked and warned regional states of reprisals if they took part, a newspaper reported on Saturday. ...

... Analysts say Iran may not match the firepower of U.S. forces but could still cause havoc in the region using unconventional tactics, such as deploying small craft to attack ships, or using allies in the area to strike at U.S. or Israeli interests.

"Regarding the main route for exiting energy, Iran will definitely act to impose control on the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz," Jafari said of the Gulf waterway through which about two-fifths of all globally traded oil passes. ...

Cheney aide Addington says he didn't write memos

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney's top adviser on Thursday refused to claim any responsibility for the adoption of harsh interrogation methods following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks during a combative exchange with congressional Democrats....

Navy challenges sonar restrictions

HONOLULU (AP) | The Navy is challenging Hawaii's authority to protect whales by restricting the use of sonar during training exercises, environmentalists and military representatives say...

IRAN: CONVERT COUPLE ARRESTED, TORTURED, THREATENED

LOS ANGELES, June 25 (Compass Direct News) – Security police officials in Tehran this month tortured a newly converted couple and threatened to put their 4-year-old daughter in an institution after arresting them for holding Bible studies and attending a house church.

A Christian source in Iran said that 28-year-old Tina Rad was charged with “activities against the holy religion of Islam” for reading the Bible with Muslims in her home in east Tehran and trying to convert them. Officials charged her husband, 31-year-old Makan Arya, with “activities against national security” after seizing the couple from their home on June 3, forcing them to leave their 4-year-old daughter ill and unattended.

Authorities kept them in an unknown jail for four days, which left them badly bruised from beatings, with Rad “very ill” and unable to walk, said the source. Rad was released on bail of US$30,000 bail, and her husband was freed on payment of US$20,000.

“The next time there may also be an apostasy charge, if you don’t stop with your Jesus,” a female security police officer told Rad during interrogation, according to the source. Under Iran’s strict Islamic laws, Muslims who convert from Islam to another religion can be executed. ...

Thousands Cheer as Pakistani Militants Decapitate, Shoot Afghans Accused of Spying for U.S

At least 5,000 people gathered by a stream in the Bajur region to watch the executions, which highlighted the power of local Taliban forces in the lawless tribal areas near the Afghan border....

Neighbors ignore rape victim's screams for hours

..."She got in the hallway, slammed her door shut and screamed. I didn't pay any attention to it. I thought she fell over something, and that was it. I went to bed." ...

Cars Slow to Watch as Teens Beat Homeless Man to Death

CLEVELAND — A group of teenagers beat a homeless man to death as passers-by slowed to watch the attack, some of which was caught on videotape, police said.

Gangs traffic some 500,000 foreigners a year across Mexico

Mexico City - An estimated 500,000 illegal immigrants from South America, the Caribbean and Central America pay Mexican gangs to help them transit Mexico and cross into the United States every year, Mexico's National Human Rights Commission said Wednesday.

This illegal trade brings 'extraordinary earnings' since each person pays 4,000 to 15,000 dollars. In total, this would mean some 2 to 7.5 billion dollars a year, the commission said.

The commission, which also said Mexican officials deport an estimated 200,000 illegal immigrants every year, released the report just two weeks after a high profile illegal transit case made headlines. ...

RFK assassination was 'Palestinian terrorism'

An editorial in The Jewish Week is charging that the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy by Sirhan Sirhan was the beginning of Palestinian terrorism for Americans.

The report by Associate Editor Jonathan Mark, prompted by the 40th anniversary of the assassination this month, decries the absence of media publicity over the fact that Sirhan was a "West Bank immigrant" who wanted "fair play" for Palestinians and was infuriated over Kennedy's cozying up to the Jewish community during the election campaign campaign. ...