July 23, 2006: Quick takes

It has taken so long to post each item individually (no idea why) that I have put a group together. NJC


Jeffrey Simpson: Can Islam co-exist with itself? Globe and Mail, July 22, 2006
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/
RTGAM.20060722.wcosimp0722/BNStory/Front/home

The much-discussed clash of civilizations assists less in understanding the world than the clash within a civilization. Islam and other religions can co-exist; more troubling is whether Islam can co-exist with itself.

Just now, world attention focuses on another spasm of intense violence in the almost six-decade-long quarrel between Israel and some or all of its neighbours. [....]

Christie Blatchford: The dogs of war Globe and Mail, Saturday, July 22, 2006
www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/
RTGAM.20060722.coblatch22/BNStory/Front/home

The oh, so human Blatch ... captures what it is like to be in Afghanistan with the brave sons and daughters of Canada, our military.

TARIN KOT, AFGHANISTAN — My late father, a navigator with the Royal Canadian Air Force, never talked about his experiences in the Second World War — he sang about them, in verses from The North Atlantic Squadron and other ditties whose titles are too raw to repeat here. [....]

Peter MacKay has responded -- Negative comments emphasized by CTV.ca. Where were the positive comments
news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/National/ContentPost
ing.aspx?feedname=CTV-NATIONAL_V2&newsitemid=CTV
News%2f20060721%2fMIDEAST_mackay_060721&showbyline=True

.... Israel's Ambassador to Canada, told The Canadians Press one vessel was delayed after an apparent argument between two Turkish sailors ....

Diversion

BP Kongsberg Underwater Image Competition 2006 -- images of great clarity



Israel Has a War to Win by Daniel Pipes, Los Angeles Times, July 20, 2006
www.danielpipes.org/article/3765

A leading Israeli philosopher some years back referred to his countrymen as "an exhausted people, confused and without direction." Before he became prime minister, Ehud Olmert publicly declared these extraordinary words: "We are tired of fighting, we are tired of being courageous, we are tired of winning, we are tired of defeating our enemies." In that demoralized spirit, the state of Israel retreated twice in five years under fire, from Lebanon and from Gaza — and now, as a consequence, is fighting wars in precisely those places. [....]

Many Middle Easterners, not just Israelis, fear Iranian ambitions. [....]

Search: exchanges , rockets from Iran , nearly 12,000 Katyushas , Fatah organization , estimated 3,000 American rifles and a million rounds of ammunition , the West Bank , Hashemite , Jordan.

Pipes makes some suggestions worth reading.




Get a daily Video News update from Israel in English here.
www.jerusalemonline.co.il/



Was the word retaliation here or omitted? ... If you were attacked, what would you do?

Israel continues ground offensive into Lebanon -- "Israeli troops seized control of a Lebanese village Saturday, and hundreds of troops moved back and forth across the border as Israel continued its 11-day-old campaign."
news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/TopStories/ContentPosting.aspx?news
itemid=CTVNews%2f20060721%2fmideast_crisis_main_060721&feed
name=CTV-TOPSTORIES_V2&showbyline=True

http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/TopStories/ContentPosting.aspx?newsitemid=CTVNews%2f20060721%2fmideast_crisis_main_060721&feedname=CTV-TOPSTORIES_V2&showbyline=True

Israeli air strikes also targeted communications and television broadcasting towers ....

... Maroun al-Ras ...

... bombed a Hezbollah outpost [....]

Israeli troops confiscated anti-tank missiles, a rocket launcher, as well as other weapons in a cross border raid into the border town of Marwahin. [....]

Under Attack in Lebanon .. by the CBC John Gormley, CJME Regina, July 20 2006
www.cbcwatch.ca/?q=comment/reply/2002#comment


Memory Lane: CBC's Nazim Baksh on Abdurahman Khadr

Abdurahman Khadr: mischief or terror? from Nazim Baksh, producer, CBC Radio Dispatches, December 4, 2003
www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_baksh/20031204.html

CBC Radio producer Nazim Baksh has been a producer with the program Dispatches from its inception in Jan. 2000. He has been a journalist for 13 years, working for a variety of CBC TV and Radio news and current affairs shows. He has worked extensively on issues of national security and has travelled to Afghanistan and Pakistan twice. He holds a master's degree in Journalism from the University of Western Ontario.

Videos of hate flout curbs on Islamists Steven Swinford, Jul. 16, 06
www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2272263,00.html

A DISCIPLE of one of Britain’s most notorious preachers of hate has embarked on a series of video broadcasts, praising Osama Bin Laden and calling for all “sinners” to be killed.

Abu Muwahhid, a London-based cleric, mocks the victims of September 11 and calls for the foundation of a Muslim state in Britain with a “black flag” over 10 Downing Street.

He is a member of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah (ASWJ), a splinter of Al-Muhajiroun, formerly led by Omar Bakri, who fled to Lebanon a year ago.

[....] Other preachers who have come to the fore in the past year include Omar Brooks, a former electrician from London, who praised last year’s suicide bombers in the capital at a meeting ahead of the anniversary of the July 7 attacks.

Muwahhid ... called for those who do not believe in the monotheistic tenets of Islam to be killed.

[....] He also criticised moderate Muslims, particularly those who became police officers, who he said were being paid to be a “kaffir (non-believer)”. [....]

... Attributes of the Hypocrites, he calls for the establishment of a Muslim state.

Search: these pigs, in aeroplanes





Ambassador John R. Bolton

USUN PRESS RELEASE # 178 (06) -- Remarks by Ambassador John R. Bolton, U.S. Representative to the United Nations, on the situation in the Middle East, Iran, and other matters, at the Security Council Stakeout, July 20, 2006 July 20, 2006
www.un.int/usa/06_178.htm

Ambassador Bolton: I just wanted to make one comment and then maybe just answer a few questions. I was very struck by the Secretary General’s answer to a question that had been raised by a number of delegations in the private consultations about why the team was vetoed by Syria from going to Damascus. It’s quite clear that that’s what happened. Secretary General made a very strong statement that he has to decide who will represent him, and it’s not for the government of Syria or anyone else to veto that representation. But it raises a question, not just the process question of why the team couldn’t visit Damascus under acceptable conditions, but when Syria is finally going to get serious about its responsibilities under resolution 1559, and stop it’s support for Hezbollah and other armed militias in Lebanon. I don’t think there’s any question, but that Syria along with Iran is a principle supporter of Hezbollah. It has rejected many critical elements of resolution 1559, and now we find that it has not indicated even a willingness to speak with the Secretary General’s mission. [....]

Reporter: What tools does the UN have and what tools do you think it should use to exercise pressure on Syria regarding this crisis?

Ambassador Bolton: Well, I think and we’ve said this repeatedly at all levels of the U.S. government that we hope one positive outcome from this crisis will be the full implementation of 1559. [....]

Search: protecting the fragile democracy in Lebanon



Memory Lane: Tying up FBI agents?

'Blunt' calls to Muslims prompt FBI visit -- American protested Canada's treatment of man convicted of hate crimes December 17, 2002, Art Moore
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news
/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=30020

A Tennessee man's "heated" phone calls with Canadian Muslim leaders prompted a visit to his home by an FBI agent.

[....] Organizations such as CAIR, the Canadian Islamic Congress, the Islamic Society of North America and others, are "using the FBI to tie up their agents and their resources by chasing down questionable claims," he insists.

"They would prefer to see the FBI investigate and monitor Christians who defend their persecuted brothers," Meeks said, "rather than hunt for Islamic terrorists, [which many of] these Islamic organizations are probably harboring and aiding in various ways."

Search: "Are you a member of al-Qaida?" , Canadian Islamic Congress President Mohamed Elmasry and Mohammad Ashraf , I'm not saying it justifies violence , Ali Hindy , Elmasry , Harding , have to undergo Islamic indoctrination as part of the sentence , Islamic Society of North America in Mississauga , Rev. Jerry Falwell's assertion


Was Meeks wrong in his assertion?



Rex Murphy: Well, so much for the ‘hidden Harper agenda' Globe and Mail, July 22, 2006
www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story
/RTGAM.20060722.wmurphy0722/BNStory/Front/home

Say what one wishes about Stephen Harper, he doesn't duck. [....]

Build a Fence, Stop Crime

Build a Fence, Stop Crime July 21, 06
www.humaneventsonline.com
/article.php?print=yes&id=16159

[....] One of the benefits of a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border that supporters have long touted is that it can reduce the crime that comes with illegal immigration.

The proponents have been proved right.

In a Capitol Hill hearing yesterday, reported by the Washington Times and ignored by the Washington Post and New York Times, T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, confirmed that “building fences along high-traffic areas of the U.S. border with Mexico dramatically reduces crime.” [....]

'Wardrobe malfunction' stopped Layton from filling 8 vials with blood July 22, 06
www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/
story.html?id=852f4775-a683-4728-866e-e0b59440fb19

[....] Environmental Defence challenged politicians to have their blood tested on the cusp of Parliament's review of the Canadian Environment Protection Act, the country's national pollution law.

The most popular skunks at the garden party.

Even someone from Iran visited ... I wonder what would be of interest.

July 9, 2006: Updated: The bribe? ... preferential access to markets
frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/2006/07
/july-9-2006-updated-bribe-preferential.html

July 22, 2006: William Watson on CBC Radio
frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/2006/07
/july-22-2006-william-watson-on-cbc.html