Pamela Geller's Blog, page 979
November 4, 2010
Righteous!
Watch the Iranian pig on the left. He refuses to shake the Israeli's hand.
Love that the Israeli champion took first first place. Watch the Iranian's head and face when the Israeli flag is raised above the Iranian flag and the Israeli national anthem is played... deeeeelish. The hatred of the good for being the good.
Sergio Britva in World Masters Weightlifting Poland 2010 Medal Ceremony cat. 105, men's 35-39
I, too, cannot hear Hatikah without bringing brought to tears.
I love the winner. Baruch Hashem! vid hat tip Stuart
Obama's Department of [In]Justice and Sharia Prosecutes Infidels for "Hate" Speech Crimes
And so it begins. This is an outrage. An infidel was prosecuted by Obama's Department of Justice and sent to jail for a year for saying in an email, he would "do WHATEVER it takes to eradicate Islam." So what? A year in prison? A $3,000 fine?
We witnessed a traitorous Department of Justice refuse to prosecute the Black Panther party for voter harassment and intimidation with weapons on Election day. Senior DoJ lawyers resigned in protest.
"Obama has Violated His Oath of Office" in Racist Dept of Justice Decision to Drop New Black Panther Party Voter Intimidation Case and Mandate DOJ Policy: "No Voter Intimidation Cases Will Brought Against Black Defendent Where the Victim is White" (read it at Atlas Shrugs)
The Department of Justice sponsored a booth at the Muslim Brotherhood front ISNA (Islamic Society of North America) convention underswritten by among others, Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas linked CAIR convention.
Obama's Department of Justice sued a New Jersey county alleging it refused to accommodate a Muslim employee's khimar, a religious head covering.The suit seeks monetary damages and also to require Essex County to adopt a policy that accommodates the religious observances and practices of employees.
Further, Obama's Department of Justice dropped the "charges" against the Muslims that blew up the USS Cole.
Obama's Department of Justice is still trying to bring the 911 mastermind to New York City for a civilian trial. And these examples are just the tip of the iceberg. The prosecution of Sobolevskiy is by far the worst and Judge David G. Bernthal, referring to the defendant's crime as "an act of terror," is in need of immediate removal. Nuts.
I do not advocate for violence or ugly email missives but a year in jail. But this is something altogether different. The Department of Justice is enforcing sharia and abandoning rule of law.
Washington - Maryland Man Sentenced To 1 Year For Sending Threatening Email to Illinois Mosque Vosizneias.com (hat tip Nik)
Washington - Ilya Sobolevskiy, a 25-year-old resident of Maryland, was sentenced today to serve 12 months in prison and to pay a $3,000 fine for violating the civil rights of members of an Urbana, Ill., mosque, announced the Justice Department.
During a guilty plea hearing in August 2010, Sobolevskiy admitted that he sent an email to a member of the Central Illinois Mosque and Islamic Center (CIMIC), in which he threatened, among other things, that he would "do WHATEVER it takes to eradicate Islam." Officials at CIMIC reported the threat to the FBI, which referred the case to the department's Civil Rights Division.
"One of our most basic rights is the freedom to practice one's faith in peace," said Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez of the Civil Rights Division.
I agree. Tell that to the Coptics, Sikhs, Hindus, Hews Christians, living under Islamic law.
Actually our most basic human right is free speech.
"We have no tolerance for threats of violence fueled by bigotry, and we will aggressively prosecute such actions."
"It is a top priority of the FBI to protect the civil rights of the American people. We encourage members of the community to report all allegations of civil rights violations. The FBI will aggressively investigate these matters to ensure that our society remains free," said Stuart R. McArthur, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Springfield Office.
CAIR must be laughing in jihadic glee.
Federal Magistrate Judge David G. Bernthal, referring to the defendant's crime as "an act of terror," gave the defendant the maximum sentence permitted by law.
This case was investigated by the Springfield, Ill., division of the FBI, and was prosecuted by department Trial Attorney Patricia Sumner.
So I guess I should turn over my hundreds of "hate" emails. Something tells me those emailers won't be serving time any time soon.
Washington Post has it here.
UPDATE: The last name is Sobolevsky. The offense is "Obstruction Of The Free Exercise Of Religious Beliefs" (U.S.C Sec. 247(a)(2)). The case number is 2:10-cr-20062-DGB.
Not only was Sobolevsky sentenced to a year in prison, but also a year of supervised release.
Islamic Bomb 17 Minutes Away from Detonating
Twenty-six other bombs are out there ........ the sophistication of the bombs set to go off has not been reported. Here's an update to Terror Friday: Jihad Attack Dry Run: Target America
Explosives Found on Inbound US Plane
The bombs hidden in the cartridges of computer printers were wired to cell phones. The sim cards had been removed and the phones could not receive calls, meaning the attackers intended the phones in-built alarms... (ABC News)
PETN, the explosive the Islamic supremacists used in their bombs, is undetectable:
French Minister Says Yemen Bomb Detected 17 Minutes Before Exploding VOA
A French official says one of two mail bombs sent from Yemen last week to addresses in the United States was defused just 17 minutes before it was set to explode.
Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux, speaking Thursday on French television, provided no further details, nor did he say where he got the information about the timing.
But investigators who pulled Chicago-bound packages off cargo planes in Britain and the United Arab Emirates on Friday found bombs that were wired to cell phones, with the communication cards removed.
Separately Thursday, police in the Greek capital conducted a controlled explosion of a parcel bomb addressed to the French embassy. No injuries were reported.
Stop Muslim Persecution and Wholesale Slaughter of Christians in Iraq
On October 21, Muslims seized a church in Iraq, and kidnapped and slaughtered scores of righteous souls. We are witnessing the same annihilation of Coptic Christians in Egypt by Muslims as well.
Amir wrote me,
Pamela, Take a look at what the Muslims doing to the Christian in Iraq everyday. Over 80 people were beheaded in a single day during a Sunday mass. The youngest one were a 4 months old baby that was beheaded front of her parents and throw the head at her mom. Can you please please please help us? We need a strong voice like yours. God bless.
I urge Canadian Atlas readers to march against Islamic supremacism and murder of non-Muslims. Stand up and fight back.
Christians to hold peaceful demonstration in Toronto against persecution of Christians in Iraq
Please join this peaceful Christian demonstration in Downtown Toronto on this Saturday.
November 6th, 2010 at 1:00pm
Where: meeting place….. - Corner of Yonge & Front
Directions: From Yonge |Street and Front TO House of Parliament-City Hall
Canada Condemns Attack in Baghdad Church(No. 349 - November 1, 2010 - 4:15 p.m. ET)
The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the following statement condemning the October 31 terrorist attack in Baghdad:"Canada condemns Sunday's terrorist attack on worshippers at Baghdad's Church of Our Lady of Salvation. On behalf of all Canadians, I offer my deepest sympathy to the families and friends of those killed, and wish a full and rapid recovery to the injured.
"We condemn in the strongest terms those who would conduct such a cowardly, vicious and senseless attack on innocent civilians in a place of worship"
St. Louis Muslim Cab Driver Accused Of Funneling Money To Islamic Terrorist Organization UPDATE: San Diego religious leader among those charged with aiding Muslim terrorists
UPDATE: San Diego religious leader among those charged with aiding Somali terrorists - SignOnSanDiego.com (hat tip Mike)
SAN DIEGO — The arrest of the leader of a City Heights mosque, a man described as a revered figure who was known for advocating nonviolence and tolerance, has stunned the close-knit Somali community in City Heights, where many refugees of the war-torn country live, work and pray.
Mohamed Mohamed Mohamud, 38, appeared in federal court Wednesday to answer to charges that he was involved in a conspiracy to provide money and other aid to al-Shabaab in Somalia, which U.S. authorities have designated a foreign terrorist organization.
Mohamud and co-defendant Issa Doreh, 54, pleaded not guilty. A third defendant, Basaaly Saeed Moalin, 33, pleaded not guilty to similar charges Tuesday.
Mohamud has been the imam — the religious leader — of Masjid Al-Ansar on Winona Avenue for 10 years, said Bashir Hassan, secretary of the small mosque that primarily serves Somali refugees. Doreh and Moalin both attended the mosque, Hassan said.
Mohamud is married and has several children, Hassan said Wednesday.
"He is the center of the community here," Hassan said. "Everyone likes him. When anyone needs help, he is the first person to help. His arrest was very shocking. He is a godfather person to the community."
One man's terror funding is another Muslim's zakat.
St. Louis Man Accused Of Funneling Money To Somali Terrorist Organization (KTVI-FOX2Now.com) —A St. Louis cab driver is accused of supporting an overseas terrorist group. the Somali refugee was arrested Monday after a two year federal investigation. Federal investigators tracked the money trail that originated in St. Louis to Somalia. Authorities say Mohamud Yusuf sent five thousand dollars to a known terror group in his homeland.
Five grand may not seem like a lot unless you live in an African country in the middle of a violent civil war.30 year old Mohamud Yusuf is accused of gathering and helping transfer money to a terror group called al-Shabab.
U.S. Attorney Richard Callahan said, "al-Shabaab was put on the Attorney General terror list in february of 2008. it is largely a somali organization involved in a civil war with the federal government."
Callahan says Yusuf sent money to al-Shabaab for more than a year beginning in February 2008.
"Our indictment only covers about $5,000 and while that doesn't go far in the U.S. it would go very far in Somalia," said Callahan.
Callahan say Yusuf sent the money overseas in small increments. al-Shabaab has ties to Al-Qaida.
"That's the greatest evil of this financial support being sent back to Somalia to aid in a overthrowing the government, a government that is being supported by the United States," said Callahan.
Callahan say Yusuf didn't act alone.
While one co-conspirator is still at large, another Somali refugee who owned a wire transfer business was arrested in Minnesota this week.
"Abi Hussein from Minneapolis is also charged with helping them funnel the money under fictitious names," said Callahan.
Mohamud Yusuf worked as an airport cab driver. He's been in St. Louis for at least six years and has had at least one previous run in with the law.
'We know he was charged in November of 2008 with falsifying naturalization papers," said Callahan.
He has a detention hearing scheduled in federal court on Thursday afternoon.
Ain't Love Grand?
The sharia (Islamic law.) This is what Hamas-linked, Islamic supremacist CAIR is suing Oklahoma for. Lock up your daughters and your toddlers!
80-year-old man marries 14-year-old hat tip PV
A Saudi old man aged above 80 years has married a 14-year-old girl and is refusing to divorce her unless she pays him back his wedding money, the Saudi Ajel Arabic language online paper reported on Wednesday.
The bride's father, Showan Ateen, said his daughter had been forced to marry that man from the southwestern town of Sabya but that she has not moved in with him yet. He did not say who forced her to marry him.
"The father and the bride now want a divorce but the husband is refusing to divorce her before they pay him back his SR-17,000 dowry," Ajel said.
"Her father said he does not have the money and is appealing for all benevolent people to help him so he will regain his daughter…the old man has threatened that they either pay him or he will take her by force."
The report comes amidst furor in the Gulf Kingdom over widespread teen age marriage and calls for enacting laws to curb such practices.
Hamas-Linked CAIR Suing Oklahoma, Wants to Impose Sharia LawWho is funding our Destruction?
Just as the Ground Zero mosque revealed the true face of Islamic Supremacists to the American people and unmosqued their real goals, so too will the lawsuit being brought by the Hamas-linked, Muslim Brotherhood front CAIR against the good people of Oklahoma.
By their fruits we shall know them, and so once again, we know Islamic supremacist CAIR.
Who is funding this lawsuit? We are talking millions here. Who is funding our destruction from within? While the slaves at Politico et al are feverishly tracking down my $18, $25 donations, they remain silent, complicit in the massive subversive funding of the supremacist groups whose stated goal is "eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within." These lawsuits are a bloody fortune. The ten million dollar lawsuit filed against me by Rifqa Bary's parents lawyers has already racked up $25,000, and it has only just begun. Thanks to David Yerushalmi and Robert Muise of the Thomas Moore Law Center for their hard work and diligence in this frivolous but dangerous lawsuit to silence anyone who speaks against Islam. That too is the sharia.
Hamas-linked Muslim Brotherhood CAIR is suing Ohio to install the sharia. Why isn't CAIR fighting against the jihadists with such hate and determination? Why aren't they fighting the devout violent Muslims with such venom?
We have seen sharia law in New Jersey. Back in July, a Muslim husband raped his wife and the judge saw no sexual assault because Islam forbids wives to refuse sex. Luckily, the appellate court overturned this decision, and a Sharia ruling by an American court has not been allowed to stand. This time. (More on that here and here.)
Imposing mandatory prayer times in union contracts on non-Muslim workers is the sharia. It must be stopped. Drip drip drip...... Sharia deceptions.
There is no place for the sharia in America. This case must be fought by the best Western minds, and won, and used as the template for all 50 states.
And Hamas-linked CAIR makes a stunning admission in its press release. Hamas-linked CAIR admits that the brutal, oppressive and radical sharia is Islam. Why call the amendment "anti-Islam"? It is anti-sharia.
CAIR to Announce Suit Challenging Oklahoma Anti-Islam Amendment PR Newswire
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla., Nov. 3, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Thursday, November 4, the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-OK) will hold a news conference with religious and civil rights leaders in the State Capitol Building to announce the filing of a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of an anti-Islam ballot measure (State Question 755) passed in yesterday's election. The measure amends the state constitution to forbid judges from considering Islamic law or international law when making a ruling.
WHAT: CAIR-OK News Conference to Announce Legal Challenge to Anti-Islam Ballot Measure
WHEN: Thursday November 4, 2010, 2 p.m.
WHERE: State Capitol Building, 2nd Floor in the Press Room
CONTACT: CAIR-Oklahoma Executive Director Muneer Awad, 405-248-5853, E-Mail: mawad@cair.com
Law Professor: Ban on Sharia Law 'a Mess' (CNN)
And of course an unhealthy dose of the subversive propaganda that the left is only too willing to provide from the Puff Ho and the Beast.
America's Sharia Hysteria (Daily Beast)
What Is Shariah and Why Does It Matter? (Huffington Post)
Speakers at the news conference will include:
* Muneer Awad -- Executive Director, CAIR-OK
* Chuck Thornton -- Deputy Director, ACLU-Oklahoma
* Imad Enchassi -- Imam, Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City (ISGOC)
* Nathaniel Batchelder -- Director, Central Oklahoma Human Rights Association (COHRA)
November 3, 2010
Now What?
The source of the government's authority is "the consent of the governed." This means that the government is not the ruler, but the servant or agent of the citizens; it means that the government as such has no rights except the rights delegated to it by the citizens for a specific purpose.
Ayn Rand, "The Nature of Government," The Virtue of Selfishness, 110.
The Republican win on Tuesday was far larger than the historic takeback in the stunning rebuke of then-President Clinton in 1994 that subsequently forced a chastised Clinton to enact welfare reform (pig flying moment). On tsunami Tuesday, the Republicans won more seats in the House than at any time since 1948 – 65 seats, the biggest swing by either party in the 62 years since then, and another six seats in the Senate. We changed the world at the state level, completely flipping 18 state legislatures, including North Carolina, which hasn't seen a Republican majority since 1870. The Republicans gained over 500 legislative seats. Republicans picked up at least 10 governorships, giving them more than 30. Think about that.
Even the sparse wins the subversive left managed to pull out on Tuesday were riddled with chicanery, cheating, union payoffs, and the buying of votes with "free lunches." Reid's systemic corruption garnered a win funded by millions of dollars from public-sector unions. It was all in the ground game. Same for California -- a state from which decent, hardworking Americans (aka Republicans) have been fleeing, a state destroyed by union chokehold.
Given that a couple of million Californians have left the state in the past 20 years, most of them Republicans, it's surprising that Democrats didn't do better. [....]If 2 million Republicans still were in the state, instead of elsewhere, the Republicans would be triumphing here much as they are throughout the country. Brown's victory will continue to drive mostly Republicans from the state. Perhaps Meg Whitman would have, too, if she had become governor. The state's anti-business climate is just too severe for serious jobs creation — except in a few industries in the high-tech sector, such as Silicon Valley (although Apple just located its new server farm in North Carolina); or in the "clean" industries favored by [the left anti-capitalists] AB32 and other environmental laws and regulations. (Cal Watchdog -- Departed Californians Swing Election)
The stakes could not have been higher or more serious in the triumph of the rational on Tuesday. But despite the voter fraud, the SEIU/ACORN thugocracy, and the illegimate tactics, the people spoke, and the people won. Now what? We are done with big government. We are done with recklessly stealing huge private sector wealth. We are done being taxed half to death, our future leveraged and our competitive edge destroyed.
There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism—by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide. "Foreign Policy Drains U.S. of Main Weapon,"
Ayn Rand Los Angeles Times, Sept. 9, 1962, G2
Higher taxes imposed on the rich (and the semi-rich) come out of their investment capital (i.e., their savings). These taxes mean less investment, i.e., less production, fewer jobs, higher prices, etc. By the time the "rich" lower their standard of living, those who work in their companies or subcontract with them will be gone, along with their savings and their spouses' jobs — and no power in the world (no economic power) will be able to revive the dead industries (there will be no such power left). This is paraphrasing Rand decades ago, in "The Inverted Moral Priorities."
We are done with lies. We are done with "it's Bush's fault." We are done with "Obama inherited the second Great Depression." No. Obama's policies led to a great coming depression. Obama talks about Bush spending? The utter gall. Bush was Jack Benny to Obama's prolifigate mack daddy warbucks. The left can spin it any way they like -- the economic emergency of 2008 was a direct result of Democrat entitlement/financial policy: Carter's Community Investment Act (CIA), Clinton's sub-prime push and the ensuing Barney Frank Freddie Mac/Fanny Mae plunder. I do not fault Bush war expenditures. We are at war with a ruthless, bloodthirsty savage ideology that has no humanity. No expense can be spared in defeating jihad. Obama's sniveling like a little girl falls on deaf ears when you consider the trillions he stole from us for no reason but to pad the pockets of his shadow government.
Obama still doesn't get it. Obama's tone at his press conference on Wednesday was still contemptuous of the American people and shocking in simple math. He had the audacity to say this:
We should be able to agree now that it makes no sense for China to have better rail systems than us, and Singapore having better airports than us," he said.
"And we just learned that China now has the fastest supercomputer on Earth. That used to be us. They're making investments, because they know those investments will pay off over the long term," he added.
Singapore and China are free market economies -- laissez faire capitalism (though China is politically repressed, which is why they will ultimately fail). So here we have Obama whining about more successful countries, successful because of capitalism, while driving America to the failed European model of socialism, marxism, and serfdom.
Obama's big government America quickly deteriorates the conditions in which free men produce, invent, and prosper, because of government taxation and regulation. The price of force. Big government has been encroaching on our lives for decades now, and with Obama, the bottom falls out.
The changes are imperceptible on a daily basis, but for those of us who are over forty, it is not hard to recall the differences. Particularly the small differences. Eastern Airlines (long defunct) was the most familiar carrier New York to Florida -- and it was an experience. To the privileged came the champagne and the ice cream sundae cart. That lovely little cart would make its way down the aisle, and you'd choose from the sprinkles or the whipped cream or the hot sauce atop your fave flav. Silly, I know, but like most things, this lagniappe went the way of the horse and buggy, as did the hot meals. And how could it not? The government taxed everything from soup to nuts. From the fuel surcharges to security fees, it always comes out of the consumer. Air travel went from being an experience to dreaded harassment and flying in a packed sardine can.
The Concorde was going to be the future of air travel, in which we'd bop from place to place in half the time. Now the Concorde is defunct. Kaput. Much like the environment for producers and businessmen, who are the "villains" of Democrats, statists, collectivists, moochers and looters.
Everything is worse, less, and more expensive. When you went on vacation, the valet took your car. Now it's $19.95 to park your rental car at the hotel. Are these industries gouging the customer? No. They are trying to stay in business.
This is the price of force. This is the price of coercion. This is the price of statism. This is the price of big government. The very idea of America has been subsumed by an enslavement mentality.
Every dollar the government robs from business, from the individual people, is a dollar that won't be invested in the private sector. Weath won't be created, jobs won't be created, entrepreneurs and businessmen will be deprived of capital, etc. The United States was founded on the principle of individual rights -- government was designed to be small. The objective of the government was defense -- protection of indiviudal rights.
The essential characteristic of socialism is the denial of individual property rights; under socialism, the right to property (which is the right of use and disposal) is vested in "society as a whole," i.e., in the collective, with production and distribution controlled by the state, i.e., by the government.
Socialism may be established by force, as in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics—or by vote, as in Nazi (National Socialist) Germany. The degree of socialization may be total, as in Russia—or partial, as in England. Theoretically, the differences are superficial; practically, they are only a matter of time. The basic principle, in all cases, is the same.
The alleged goals of socialism were: the abolition of poverty, the achievement of general prosperity, progress, peace and human brotherhood. The results have been a terrifying failure—terrifying, that is, if one's motive is men's welfare.
Instead of prosperity, socialism has brought economic paralysis and/or collapse to every country that tried it. The degree of socialization has been the degree of disaster. The consequences have varied accordingly.
"The Monument Builders," The Virtue of Selfishness,
There is no difference between the principles, policies and practical results of socialism—and those of any historical or prehistorical tyranny. Socialism is merely democratic absolute monarchy—that is, a system of absolutism without a fixed head, open to seizure of power by all corners, by any ruthless climber, opportunist, adventurer, demagogue or thug.
When you consider socialism, do not fool yourself about its nature. Remember that there is no such dichotomy as "human rights" versus "property rights." No human rights can exist without property rights. Since material goods are produced by the mind and effort of individual men, and are needed to sustain their lives, if the producer does not own the result of his effort, he does not own his life. To deny property rights means to turn men into property owned by the state. Whoever claims the "right" to "redistribute" the wealth produced by others is claiming the "right" to treat human beings as chattel.
"The Monument Builders," The Virtue of Selfishness, 91
What has the government done with the untold wealth they looted from the American people other than sucking much needed capital out of our free society to pay off their thugs, crooks, and corrupt organizations, and get-out-the-vote community organizations?
Government is not the answer -- it destroys everything it touches. We must take back the culture, becuase politics is merely a reflection of the culture. The left has the culture in a chokehold. They demonize the successful and hardworking and exalt failures, moochers and looters -- an inverted moral priority.
Our victory is the beginning of the 40 years war -- who is with me?
We will repeal national socialist Obamacare.
We will destroy all old propaganda media. New media is steamrolling over the deadmen walking.
We will repeal the financial reform bill that scapegoated business for the abject failures of the fed.
We will take back the college campuses.
We will get on our childrens' school boards and, just like in Texas, change the whitewashed history books and review the syllabi.
Get government out of our lives. Dismantle big government. Piece by piece.
Deregulate business. Piece by piece. Sector by sector. Unshackle the motor of the country. Free the producer.
We will volunteer in homeschooling networks. We will donate and offer our services in our respective areas of expertise.
Unshackle America. Repeal "hate crime" legislation. All crime is hate. This is an attack on free speech. Islamic supremacists will invoke "hate speech" to kill free speech.
We will expose and prosecute the subversives like CAIR, ISNA, ICNA, ISNA and all Muslim Brotherhood fronts whose stated aim is "eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within."
We will call our mortal enemy by its rightful name: Islamic jihad.
We will turn the Muslim Brotherhood into the Muslims Little Girlyhood.
We will stop funding Ground Zero Mosque Imam Rauf's fund raising junkets to the Middle East.
We will stop importing whole Muslim communities from Somalia under the "UN's Resettlement Program."
We will ridicule, polarize, and render irrelevant the dogmatic, evil leftists.
We will crush them with our logic and reason and concrete facts.
We will demand reasoned discourse and laugh at their ad hominen attacks.
RINOs will not be tolerated. Leave the party, join the traitors. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, take note.
Drill baby, drill.
We will raise the voting age to 21. Military excluded. If "children" are still on their parents health-care at 26, maybe 21 is too low.
We will mandate trips for key liberals in leadership to Iran, Somalia, Darfur, et al, to watch clitorectomies, stonings, and gender apartheid.
We will arrange for youth summer camps in Somalia and Darfur for Obama's youth corps, and tell them it's the peace corps for the lefties.
We will demand accountability from the United Nations, or withdraw from it.
We will save Israel from Islamic anti-semitism.
We will disqualify the Organization of the Islamic Conference at the UN until there is an Organization of the Christian Conference and Organization of the Jewish Conference.
This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. -- Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
The Good Muslim: Police Extracts
Back in May, I reported on a little-noted story of a woman who stabbed MP Steven Timms in the UK. Nothing was reported of jihad, her pious devotion to Islam or her religious motivation. Read the transcript: she is yet another among the millions of misunderstanders of Islam.
Read it all.
Roshonara Choudhry: Police interview extracts Guardian
Conducted on 14 May 2010, about four hours after her arrest for stabbing Stephen Timms, in Forest Gate police station
Wednesday 3 November 2010 22.49 GMT
This interview was conducted four hours after Choudhry's arrest for stabbing Stephen Timms. Choudhry was interviewed by Simon Dobinson, a detective sergeant from Newham police, with detective constable Syed Hussain. Choudhry says she was studying English and Communications at King's College London, but dropped out on 27 April 2010, in her third year.
• Simon Dobinson So what made you drop out of that?
• Choudhry 'Cos ... because King's College is involved in things where they work against Muslims.
• Q OK. What sort of things?
• A Last year, or the year before, they gave an award to Shimon Peres [Israeli politician] and they also have a department for tackling radicalisation … So I just didn't wanna go there anymore ... 'cos it would be against my religion.
• Q OK, and when did you sort of make that decision?
• A About a month ago.
• Q OK. It seems quite a long time to be there and almost to the end of that course, you know, the end and just to let it go. Is there any ... did you have any problems understanding the course?
• A I was the top student.
• Q Was you? OK and what did they say when you pulled out?
• A They didn't want me to pull out.
• Choudhry says after leaving her course, she worked at a tuition centre called KnowledgeBox teaching maths, English and science. She says she won't be working there any more.
• Q Why's that then?
• A Because of what I just did today.
• Q Well, tell me about that then. Tell me what happened today.
• A I stabbed Stephen Timms.
• Q You stabbed Stephen Timms.
• A Yep.
• Choudhry gives details of the attack, as heard in her trial. She says she made an appointment to see him at his constituency surgery.
• Q Why did you make that appointment?
• A So I can do what I did.
• Q So tell me what thought process you went through before you made that phone call?
• A I thought that it's not right that he voted for the declaration of war in Iraq.
• Q When did you start thinking about that?
• A Over the last few months.
• Q What's led you to start thinking about that?
• A I've been learning more about Islam.
• Q Where have you been learning that?
• A Internet.
• Q What websites you been looking at?
• A I've been listening to lectures by Anwar al-Awlaki.
• Q Anwar?
• A Al-Awlaki.
• Q Who's he?
• A He's an Islamic scholar. He lives in Yemen.
• Q And where have you been listening to these lectures?
• A I down loaded it off of the internet … Explaining stories from the Qur'an and explaining about jihad.
• Q And has that contributed to your decision to leave King's?
• A Yes.
• Q And where was the link there then?
• A I thought that I should have loyalty to my Muslim brothers and sisters in Palestine and so I should leave King's and that would show my loyalty to them.
• Q Who have you been watching these lectures with?
• A I listen to them on my own.
• Q So when did you decide: 'From what I've learnt, I'm now gonna go and stab Stephen Timms?'
• A A couple of weeks ago. It's three weeks ago, four weeks ago.
• Q So it's quite recent?
• A Yep.
• Q Before you finished college? After?
• A Before.
• Q And that was 27 April, if I remember rightly, was it?
• A Yep.
• Dobinson How do you feel now about what you've done today?
• Choudhry I feel like I did what I'd planned to do.
• Q OK, do you want to tell me more? Tell me what you're thinking now? Tell me what your thoughts about what you've done today are.
• A I feel like I've ruined the rest of my life. I feel like it's worth it because millions of Iraqis are suffering and I should do what I can to help them and not just be inactive and do nothing while they suffer.
• DC Hussain Sorry, just before we finish, I've just a couple of questions that I've got to ask you. When did this interest of yours for Islam develop?
• A I've always been quite religious and I started to listen to Anwar al-Awlaki lectures last year and then I started to get really into it and I listened to everything that … like all of his recorded lectures that he made and that would have been like since November. I've been listening to him since November.
• Hussain How did you get introduced to Anwar al-Awlaki?
• A He's quite famous and I've started to listen to his stuff.
• Hussain How did you come across him?
• A On the internet.
• Hussain Was that from your own research or did someone recommend him?
• A From my own research but everybody listens to him and likes him anyway.
• Q Do you go to a regular mosque?
• A No ... I just pray at home.
• Q Who do you discuss your Islam with?
• A In general I just talk about it to my brothers and sisters but I don't mention everything to them.
• Q If you've got a question that you want to ask or you want answered, who do you ask?
• A I don't ask anyone I just listen to his lectures. There's no one to ask.
• Hussain I just want to go over a little bit how your thought has gone from getting to religion to all of a sudden wanting some form of vengeance.
• A Because as Muslims we're all brothers and sisters and we should all look out for each other and we shouldn't sit back and do nothing while others suffer. We shouldn't allow the people who oppress us to get away with it and to think that they can do whatever they want to us and we're just gonna lie down and take it.
• Q Where did you learn that from?
• A From listening to his lectures.
• Q And that's caused you to do what you've done today?
• A Yeah.
• Q OK. Just a couple of other things. You bought the knives, you say, two to three weeks ago ... Where did you keep 'em?
• A Underneath the bed in a shoebox.
• Q How did you feel about what you was about to do?
• A I was a bit nervous about what I was gonna do but I felt like it had to be done and it's the right thing to do.
• Q Having done it, how do you feel now?
• A I feel like I did my best to fulfil my duty to the other Muslims.
• Dobinson ... What did you think was gonna happen once you'd carried out your intentions?
• Choudhry I thought that I would either get arrested or maybe I would like get killed or something.
• Q How would you get killed?
• A Like, if the police came and they had guns.
• Q [Inaudible] take me through your thought process about that then?
• A Oh no, I was just thinking about the possibilities and I thought it's either getting arrested or being killed. But either way I knew I wasn't coming back home again.
• Q What, what did you think about getting killed then?
• A I wanted to die.
• Q Why?
• A I wanted to be a martyr.
• Q Why's that then?
• A 'Cos, erm, that's the best way to die.
• Q Who told you that?
• A It's an Islamic teaching.
• Q Where did you learn that?
• A It's … it's in the Koran and I learnt it from listening to lectures as well.
• Q OK, what lectures are that?
• A By Anwar al-Awlaki.
• Q al-Awlaki?
• A Yeah.
• Q OK, well, how did you find out about him?
• A On the internet ... if you go on YouTube there's a lot of his videos there and if you do a search they just come up ... I wasn't searching for him, I just came across him ... I used to watch videos that people used to put up about like how they became Muslim.
• Q OK, why did you watch those videos?
• A 'Cos I thought ... their life stories were interesting ... And as you watch videos that like a whole other list of related videos comes up and I was just looking through those and I came across it.
• Q Anwar al-Awlaki?
• A Yeah.
• Q OK. So who put you, who guided down this path to, to look for, you know, the videos of people and how they become Muslim?
• A No one, I just found them really interesting ... I became interested in Anwar al-Awlaki's lectures because he explains things really comprehensively and in an interesting way so I thought I could learn a lot from him and I was also surprised at how little I knew about my religion so that motivated me to learn more...
• Q What happened in November then?
• A I downloaded the full set of Anwar al-Awlaki's lectures.
• Q Yeah, what do you reckon the full set of his lectures are?
• A More than a hundred hours.
• Q And have you watched all those lectures?
• A Yeah.
• Q When did you finish watching them?
• A The first week of May.
• Q How often were you going onto the internet ...
• A First I was listening to like two a day but then for a while I stopped because I had coursework to do and then I started back up again because I thought I need to finish listening to these.
• Q Yeah. Apart from the lectures, what else were you looking at online?
• A I was looking at YouTube videos about the resistance in Afghanistan and Iraq.
• Q What other sites, remember any particular internet sites you looked at?
• A When I was doing research about MPs, I looked at one called theyworkforyou.co.uk [theyworkforyou.com] and I think another one was called publicwhips [the publicwhip.org.uk].
• Q Yeah, anything else?
• A There's a website called revolutionmuslim.
• Q OK. Forgive me, I find it, I just find it a little bit strange that you're doing all this on your own and not speaking to anyone else about or ...
• A Because nobody would understand. And anyway I didn't wanna tell anyone because I know that if anybody else knew, they'd get in trouble 'cos then they would be like implicated in whatever I do, so I kept it a secret.
• Q OK. When did the Iraq war start?
• A 2003.
• Q So how old would you have been then, 14?... did you have any strong view feelings at that time when the war started?
• A No, I was just against in general like everyone else but not strong feelings.
• Q And what changed ... what made you get those strong feelings that you've obviously got now?
• A When I realised that I have an obligation to defend the people of Iraq and to fight on their side, that's when it changed my mind and also just like the death tolls and the civilian, like casualties and the pictures from the prisons.
• Q OK, can you pinpoint the time when that changed or was it a gradual ... was there one particular incident?
• A Like, erm, after like listening to the lectures, I realised by obligation but I didn't wanna like fight myself and just thought other people should fight, like men, but then I found out that even women are supposed to fight as well so I thought I should join in.
• Q Where did you find that out from?
• A A YouTube video by Sheikh Abdullah Azzam.
• Q And what was he saying?
• A He was saying that when a Muslim land is attacked it becomes obligatory on every man, woman and child and even slave to go out and fight and defend the land and the Muslims and if they can't handle like the forces they are facing, then it becomes obligatory on the people who live in ... closest to that country and if those people refuse to fulfil their duty then it, then it becomes to the next closest people and the next closest until it goes all the way round the whole world and it's obligatory on everyone to defend that land.
• Q OK, and when did you watch that YouTube video?
• A That probably would have been a couple of weeks ago like some point in April.
• Q Was that before you bought the knives or after you bought the knives?
• A That would have been before I think ...
• Q ... how soon after watching that video did you decide to put things into action? Or to make plans?
• A It would probably would have been like a few days or something.
• Choudhry says she was planning to leave the UK and live in Bangladesh. But she changed her mind.
• Q Why didn't you go?
• A 'Cos I thought if this is more important then I shouldn't just be running away.
• Q You say 'this is more important'. What is more important?
• A Fighting.
• Q You at some stage since then decided that 'I'm gonna kill Stephen Timms, the local MP'?
• A Yeah
• Q OK, so explain to me again why, why him? Lots of people voted for the war in Iraq, lots of MPs.
• A Yeah, erm, it's because ... well, even the doctor asked me that: so like are you ... were you gonna kill everyone? And I told him that I'm just one person and I did what I could.
• Q I was asking you why Stephen Timms was picked on... Why did you pick an MP to carry out this attack?
• A Because he was directly involved with the declaration of war, so he'd directly committed a crime.
• Q How did you know that?
• A Because years ago back, maybe 2007 or 2006, I went on a school trip to Westminster and to meet him and we sat ... there was a group of us like maybe about 10, and we sat with him for … like an hour maybe and spoke to him and one of my friends there she ... we, we were all just asking general questions about what's it like to be an MP and what kind of work do you do and what are you doing at the moment, just general things like that. But there was this one girl there and almost the whole time we were there, she was having a go at him for ... because he voted for the war in Iraq. She was questioning him about that.
• Q OK, and what did you think about that at the time?
• A At the time I was thinking that she should be quiet and that she's embarrassing herself and I didn't say anything to support her, I just sat there feeling embarrassed.
• Q Embarrassed, what for her or yourself or what, anyone else?
• A I guess I respected her for having the guts to just say all these things to his face but like I wasn't brave enough to say anything, I just sat quietly.
• Q Did you want to say something to him then?
• A Not really.
• Q So, have you carried out any research to ... about Stephen Timms.
• A Yeah, on ... I looked up, I found, I Googled him, I found out he had a website, I found a page about him on theyworkforyou.com ... if you follow that link it shows information about how he voted on different things related to the Iraq war and the build up towards it. I found out that ... he very strongly agreed with the invasion of Iraq and they said very strongly because they worked out all his votes for everything related to that and it came up to something like 99.9% support or something like that.
• Q How does that make you feel?
• A That made me feel angry because the whole Iraq war is just based on lies and he just voted strongly for everything as though he had no mercy. As though he felt no doubts that what he was doing was right, even though it was such an arrogant thing to do and I just felt like if he could treat the Iraqi people so mercilessly, then why should I show him any mercy?
• Q What, what makes you think that it's your place to go and stab him?
• A Because I'm a Muslim and all Muslims are brothers and sisters. So if he attacked them, then he's likely to attack me too.
• Q So where in the Qur'an does it say that you should go and kill someone?
• A Erm, the main chapters about it are chapter ... chapter eight and chapter nine, I think.
• Q What does that say, can you remember?
• A Erm, it says to ... it says to fight until there is no more oppression in the land. Because it's better to fight than to be persecuted.
• Q What do you think about what you've done to Stephen Timms and all that?
• A I think I've fulfilled my obligation, my Islamic duty to stand up for the people of lraq and to punish someone who wanted to make war with them.
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