Aug. 20, 2006: #1

German bombs 'mass murder' bid, 18 August 2006
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5263930.stm

German police have ruled out blackmail as the reason why two bombs were left on trains on 31 July - and now believe it was a failed terror attack.

The bombs were in identical black cases on trains in Dortmund and Koblenz.

They had been timed to explode 10 minutes before the trains arrived, said federal crime chief Joerg Ziercke.

"We are now working on the basis that this was the work of a terrorist group... and was an attempt to kill a large number of people," he said.

Police want to trace two men seen on CCTV wheeling cases at Cologne station. [....]

Theodore Dalrymple: When educated idealists -- think bomb plot -- go bad , Print Edition 19/08/06 Page A15
www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story
/LAC.20060819.COPLOT19/TPStory/?query=Dalrymple

Our minds are full of cliches, such as that idealism is admirable, youth is a time of generosity, and that education is an answer to social problems.Recently, the British police arrested a number of youthful, educated idealists. With nothing but the ultimate good of humanity in their hearts, they proposed (at least if the official version is to be believed) to kill at least 3,000 complete strangers as a prelude to further and wider humanitarian action. What further vindication of educated youthful idealism could we need? [....]

Dalrymple is always worth reading.



Pakistanis arrest al Qaeda commander -- or here
today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=
newsOne&storyID=2006-08-19T020905Z_01_N
18422185_RTRUKOC_0_US-SECURITY-
BRITAIN-REPORT.xml&WTmodLoc=Home-C2-TopNews-newsOne-2

www.forumsvibe.com/elwoodpdowd/
viewtopic.php?t=63&mforum=elwoodpdowd

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - ABC News reported on Friday that Pakistani officials have arrested a top al Qaeda commander and that he could provide clues on the whereabouts of Islamic militant cells worldwide and Osama bin Laden.

The television network said Pakistani police arrested Matiur Rehman based on leads in the investigation of a foiled plot to bomb U.S.-bound airplanes from London. [....]

A grand existence among Muslims on-line, Aug. 19, 06, G & M
www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.2006
0819.wterrorahmad0818/BNStory/National/home

At home, Sarfaraz Jamal seems to lead a humble life, but on the Internet, he has founded some of the most controversial Islamic websites in North America [....]

Margaret Wente: The many faces of profiling , Aug. 19, 06, G & M
www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story
/RTGAM.20060818.wxcowent19/BNStory/Front/home



Rex Murphy: Mr. Harper wasn't the rude one , Rex Murphy, G & M, Aug. 19, 06
www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/
RTGAM.20060818.wxcomurphy19/BNStory/National/home


Peter Shoniker Christie Blatchford: One broken man, many friends, Aug. 19, 06, G & M

www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story
/RTGAM.20060818.wxcoblatch19/BNStory/National/home

Blaming alcohol, lawyer admits to theft -- Friends rally around Peter Shoniker in $750,000 laundering scheme, Aug. 19, 06, G & M

www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story
/RTGAM.20060819.wxshoniker19/BNStory/National/home



Why is AIDS so special?, Michael Coren, Aug. 19, 06
http://tinyurl.com/j8798

www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Coren_Michael
/2006/08/19/1764549.html

[....] Movie stars, rock singers, authors and activists demand that we pump billions of dollars into their cause. The irony is that AIDS is one of the few diseases where personal behavior rather than medical research could save millions of lives.

At its most simple, stop fornicating.

There, I've said it. One of the things that can end a career in North American media. Yet it's true. AIDS in the West is still overwhelmingly a threat to male homosexuals and intravenous drug users. [....]

Related: HIV, syphilis soaring -- Sex diseases rise nearly 50% in T.O. , June 15, 04, Rob Granatstein, Toronto Sun -- or here
newsjunkiecanada.blogspot.com/
2004_06_16_newsjunkiecanada_archive.html

www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/TorontoSun/
News/2004/06/15/499882.html

SAFE SEX is a little out of practice in Toronto. Since 1998, the number of sexually transmitted diseases in the city, including HIV, syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhea have soared.

HIV infections are up 49% in Toronto since 1998, hitting 608 cases in 2002, primarily in gay men, and women from countries where the diseases are widespread.

Chlamydia and gonorrhea cases have been on the rise since 1997, increasing more than 50% in the last five years, especially in heterosexual teens and those in their early 20s. [....]

Khadr alleges abuse from all sides -- Abdullah claims CSIS, RCMP facilitated his torture in Pakistan , Adrian Humphreys, National Post, August 18, 2006

www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/editorialsletters/
story.html?id=fb6808f2-b788-45c2-a072-97593bd21664&k=78062

[....] TORONTO - Abdullah Khadr, a Canadian man accused by the United States of being an al-Qaeda weapons supplier, says he faced a revolving door of abuse from police and security agents from three countries -- including Canada -- during 14 months of imprisonment in Pakistan.

In a sworn affidavit filed in a Toronto court, Mr. Khadr claims his Pakistani jailers raped him with a stick and beat him; American "spies" slapped him and threatened him and his sister; CSIS agents steered him away from seeking legal advice; an RCMP officer threatened him and screamed abuse; and Canadian diplomatic officials virtually ignored his plight. [....]

Why am I not bursting with outrage and sympathy ... perhaps because he may be lying? He doesn't want to be extradited to the US ... reason enough, says the tabby cat. Turf the whole blinkin' family. Remember Papa Khadr's "charity"?



Charity watchdog looks into Pakistan aid group , Beth Gardiner, Aug. 19, 06

cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2006/08/19/1765394-ap.html

[....] All the High Wycombe suspects had been involved with Crescent Relief's earthquake aid efforts last year, the newspaper reported. [....]

The British Broadcasting Corp., citing an unofficial police source, said several videos of the type that suicide bombers sometimes leave had been found as part of the investigation. [....]

The real story without the spin, Israel News Wire, posted by AnnieO
www.israelnewswire.com/

HERE IS WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT - THE BIG ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM IS : TERROR IS WINNING !!! . [....]

Trans-national "libel chill", By Gary Reid, August 18, 2006
www.canadafreepress.com/2006/reid081806.htm

This column is probably more interesting for CFP's American readers than its Canadian ones, yet it affects us all equally, at least in one regard; the war against Islamic jihadists.

It concerns an Israeli-born, American citizen, Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, who is the director of the [....]

For the complete rundown, go to this website, American Center for Democracy , and you will see why her work is important to our understanding of the enemy. [....]

Saudi Money Attacking Free Speech in America, July 13, 2006

www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/012228.php

Robert Locke was educated at Columbia University and lives in New York City. His archive is at robertlockearchive.com. This article is a Jihad Watch exclusive:

The laws of Saudi Arabia, based upon the sharia law mandated by the Koran, do not recognize the rights and freedoms guaranteed Americans by the Constitution. The Saudi government makes no secret of its ambition to export Islamic tyranny worldwide, as the Koran commands. What most Americans don’t realize, is that American courts are helping it in a number of ways. For example, they are collaborating with Saudi attempts to squash the free-speech rights of Americans with abusive libel lawsuits. [....]

But why tolerate scrutiny, when you have the money to abuse the legal system into silencing your critics? Bin Mahfouz has sued Dr. Ehrenfeld in a British court – despite the fact that her book was not published there, nor are he or Dr. Ehrenfeld British – solely in order to take advantage of the fact that Britain has different standards on libel than the US. [....]

This is a must read article -- to the end.




Tax collector accused of rigging hefty refunds , Peter Brieger, National Post, August 18, 2006

www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/toronto
/story.html?id=ef63b47b-f1e8-4e2c-9279-e271b10c1733

A former Canada Revenue Agency employee has been charged with fraud after she allegedly masterminded a scheme to make off with $270,000 in fake income tax refunds, police said yesterday.

The RCMP laid 15 charges -- including fraud over $5,000 and breach of trust -- against Diane Speranza, who worked for the federal tax collector between 1998 and 2005. [....]

Arab Nationalism Run Rampant at Middlebury , Franck Salameh, August 18, 2006 -- or here
www.campus-watch.org/article/id/2704

www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/
2006/08/arab_nationalism_run_rampant_a.html

At Middlebury College's Arabic Summer School, where I recently taught Arabic, students were exposed to more than intensive language instruction. Inside the classroom and across campus, administrators and language teachers adhered to a restrictive Arab-nationalist view of what is generically referred to as the "Arab world." In practice, this meant that the Middle East was presented as a mono-cultural, exclusively Arab region. The time-honored presence and deep-rooted histories of tens of millions of Kurds, Assyrians, Copts, Jews, Maronites, and Armenians--all of whom are indigenous Middle Easterners who object to an imputed "supra-Arab" identity--were dismissed in favor of a reductionist, ahistorical Arabist narrative. [....]

And while other language groups partied with alcoholic drinks, not the Arabic class. A barbeque with tea or with a beer? How many students will want to live under Islamic restrictions at another summer school? I'll bet the class won't be oversubscribed next summer.