Obsession: The Movie

Go here to read the details.

I just ordered the DVD, delivery guaranteed by September 11, 2006.

Watch the movie HERE.

A man capturing video at at rally in Boston was assaulted and threatened. So how is an event in Boston relevant to Northern Virginiastan?

A man capturing video at at rally in Boston was assaulted and threatened. So how is an event in Boston relevant to Northern Virginiastan?

The event, called the "Justice for Palestine and Lebanon Protest," but actually a pro-Hizbollah rally, was sponsored by the Muslim American Society, which is based in Falls Church (which should be renamed Falls Mosque). The Muslim American Society is the U.S. front for the Muslim Brotherhood, the ideological forebearers of Al-Qaeda (Ayman al-Zawarhiri was a "brother").

Media hog (and yes, my choice of words is deliberate) Mahdi Bray claims that MAS rallies are always peaceful. The Muslim Link newspaper covered a smaller demonstration of 15-20 people including Mahdi Braying Ass protesting Israel's entry into Gaza outside the Embassy of Israel:


Mahdi Braying Ass protesting outside the Embassy of Israel

These events show the collusions between Islamicists and leftists.

Soldiers

Shamelessly borrowed from GM's Corner, who borrowed it from somewhere else.

Look what I got in the mail today!

I was amused to receive a solicitation for membership from the ACLU. I'm sending back the card (with no monetary contribution) with this message:

The ACLU ... making the US safe for UBL, Al-Qaeda, Islamic terrorism, and Sharia.

Two NoVa mosques plan expansions

The Axis of Islam in Northern Virginia is defined by Dar Al Hijrah mosque (AKA the 9/11 Mosque) in Falls Church and the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) Center mosque in Sterling (it takes two distinct points to define a line or axis, doesn't it?).


The inscription of the Dar Al Hijrah mosque reads "IN THE NAME OF GOD: Say: O people of the Book! come to common terms as between us and you: that we worship none but Allah; that we associate no partners with Him; that we erect not from among ourselves Lords and patrons other than Allah. If then they turn back say: Bear witness that we at least are Muslims bowing to Allah's will." - from SperryFiles.com.

The Muslim Link newspaper reports that Dar Al Hijrah has purchased the fourth house on Row Street with the intent to rent to a member family for revenue.

There is an agreement between the Muslim property owners and the Masjid administration that whenever there is the need to start the construction of the expansion, the owners will sell their properties and donate the money for the expansion project.

Tagzania: Items by northernvirginiastan

The Muslim Link newspaper also reports that ADAMS Center is planning to construct a satellite center in Ashburn to serve 200 Muslim families in that part of Loudon County. The article notes that "ADAMS serves over 5000 families and has 7 branches in Sterling, Herndon, Tyson’s Corner, Fairfax, Reston, Leesburg, Ashburn, and South Riding in Northern Virginia."

Go See This Movie!

Right now, through July 13, Islam: What the West Needs to Know is playing in Atlanta, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. This web site gives more details.

The film opens with cries of "Allahu Akhbar!" and, after showing various world leaders proclaiming "Islam is a religion of peace," then proceeds to segments with Robert Spencer, Serge Trifkovic, Walid Shoebat, Bat Ye'or, and Abdullah Al-Araby, as each of these individuals addressed various aspects of the Islamic threat which the West today faces.

But the film does not consist merely of talking heads. Maps are included to show that the 1400-year history of Islam has been one of militant expansion, as is film footage of Muslim demonstrations in London and of a particularly strident imam in Baghdad; the latter ends his "sermon" by drawing a sword and calling for jihad against all infidels. For many in the audience, the most disturbing footage was that of children, one only twelve years old, expressing the desire to be martyrs for the cause.

Many quotations from the Koran and the Hadith are incorporated as appropriate to the specific topic under discussion in each of the six portions of the ninety-three minute film. Those interviewed explain that the Medinan verses, the most recent "revelation" of Allah, nullify the earlier, peaceful Meccan verses — a fact which Western leaders don't appear to recognize, perhaps because the Koran itself is not ordered chronologically but rather by length of chapter. In fact, the most recent "revelation" of Allah, "dictated" directly to Muhammad the Prophet by the angel Gabriel, is Sura 9 and is the one chapter of the Koran which doesn't begin with "Allah the Merciful." The instructions in Sura 9 are the most militant and the most violent in the Koran!

I found the portions in which Walid Shoebat spoke especially riveting because he himself was once a terrorist. He explained how, as a teenager, he yearned to be a martyr for Allah and indeed carried out missions. One reason that he was so eager to give his life is that, according to the teachings of Islam, dying while waging the ultimate jihad guarantees the one sure way to eternal life. Mr. Shoebat spoke about how he felt after his first bombing mission in Jerusalem and emotionally related how his conscience troubled him; toward the end of that particular portion, he mentioned that his cousins had died for the cause. "What a waste of life!" he said. Mr. Shoebat managed to hold back the tears. The audience was absolutely still and, I think, stunned.

This film was advertised as a documentary and fulfilled the requirements of that genre. The use of black and white in the poster for the film conveyed the obvious symbolism regarding good and evil, but the word evil was never mentioned during the film. Adding to the effect of the contrast between Westernism and Islamism was the director's use of black and white throughout the film, even though this movie is filmed in color. For example, each on-camera speaker sat in a black leather chair, and as the lighting played upon the back of the chair and upon the interviewees' clothing and, in some cases, eyeglasses, the symbolism could not have been clearer.

Islam: What the West Needs to Know doesn't demonize Islam, but it does uncover the whitewash which political correctness has foisted upon the West. Furthermore, the film explains why recognizing the dangers of Islam itself is of supreme importance for the survival of Western civilization. This film presents the explanation in simple and well-documented terms so that both the uninformed and the informed leave the theater in a somber mood.

When this film is released on DVD, I'll be buying my own copy.

One Year Ago

(All emphases by Always On Watch)

Today is the one-year anniversay of the London Bombings. Despite evidence to the contrary, many government officials and some terrorism experts have indicated that the attacks on London were not the work of Al Qaeda.

In "Al-Qaeda, Still in Business," a commentary in the July 2, 2006 edition of the Washington Post, Peter Bergen presents a different analysis. The following is Mr. Bergen's commentary, in its entirety:

Over the past four years, key members of the Bush administration have claimed that al-Qaeda is "on the run" (Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice), "disrupted" (George Tenet) or "decimated" (President Bush). At the same time, however, significant terrorist attacks around the world have dramatically increased since Sept. 11, 2001, most of them conducted by militant Islamists. How does one reconcile this apparent contradiction?

A new narrative that purports to answer that question has emerged: Yes, al-Qaeda as an organization is severely impaired, but it has been replaced by a broader ideological movement made up of self-starting, homegrown terrorists who have few formal links to al-Qaeda but are motivated by a doctrine that can be called "Binladenism." Recent examples would include the militants in Madrid who bombed commuter trains in March 2004 and killed 191 people, or the seven terrorist wannabes recently arrested in Miami in connection with an alleged plot to blow up federal buildings. They had embraced al-Qaeda's doctrine of destruction, yet had no ties to the terrorist group.

However, according to five veteran U.S. counterterrorism officials I've spoken with recently, al-Qaeda the organization remains a real threat. One longtime government terrorism analyst points to the four suicide attacks in London last July 7 that killed 52 people as evidence of the organization's resilience. "At a minimum, this was an al-Qaeda-supported operation," the analyst told me. And al-Qaeda's leaders don't seem to be feeling the heat of the "war on terror." On Thursday, Osama bin Laden released his third audiotape in three months, while his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has appeared on an unprecedented number of videotapes since the second week of June -- averaging one a week.

So while the rapid spread of al-Qaeda's ideology in the past two years -- partly fueled by the Iraq war -- should be of considerable concern, it would be quite wrong to conclude that al-Qaeda the organization is down for the count. Indeed, if the bombings in London are any indication, it may be staging a comeback.

The London attacks of one year ago have generally been portrayed as the work of four young British men of Pakistani and Jamaican descent from the north of England -- distinguished only by their utter ordinariness -- who embraced radical Islamist ideology and managed to carry out the deadliest terrorist attack on British soil in history without outside help. The Sunday Times of London even opined that "the new breed of unaffiliated terrorist is potentially far more dangerous than the IRA or even al Qaeda because he is almost impossible to identify."

But the more you delve into the London bombings, the more they look like a classic al-Qaeda plot. The British government's official account of the attacks -- issued by the Home Office two months ago -- provides a revealing picture. It explains that the presumed ringleader, Mohammed Sidique Khan, visited Pakistan in 2003 and 2004, spending several months there. On one of those trips, he aimed "to cross the border and fight in Afghanistan," the report stated. (Presumably, Khan did not plan to fight alongside U.S. troops in Afghanistan, but rather to join the Taliban or al-Qaeda to kill Americans.)

The report goes on to note that Khan "had some contact with al Qaida figures" in Pakistan, and is "believed to have had some relevant training in a remote part of Pakistan, close to the Afghan border" during his two-week visit in 2003. The British government did not specify what sort of training he received, but given that the London bombs were made of highly efficient explosives that can't be readily made from recipes on the Internet, it is probable that the training was in the manufacturing of bombs. According to the report, Khan was also in "suspicious" contact with individuals in Pakistan in the four months immediately before the London attacks. Taken together, Khan's travels and contacts in Pakistan strongly suggest an al-Qaeda role in the operation.

Khan also appeared on a videotape that aired on al-Jazeera two months after the suicide attacks -- an important fact to which the British report did not give sufficient weight. "I'm going to talk to you in a language that you understand," Khan said on the tape, speaking in the broad brogue of his native Yorkshire. "Our words are dead until we give them life with our blood." He goes on to describe bin Laden and Zawahiri as "today's heroes." Appearing on the same videotape, Zawahiri trumpeted al-Qaeda's responsibility for the London bombings. As a veteran U.S. counterterrorism official told me, "Zawahiri does not take credit for things that he hasn't done."

On the videotape, Zawahiri referenced a prior al-Qaeda threat to explain the targeting of London, saying "Didn't . . . Sheik Osama bin Laden offer you a truce?" -- a reference to the al-Qaeda leader's April 2004 proposal of a peace agreement with those European countries willing to pull out of Iraq. Britain is the most prominent member of that coalition. Bin Laden offered a three-month grace period before the truce expired in July 2004. A year later, the four bombers blew themselves up in London.

But the key piece of evidence overlooked in the British government report is that both Khan and Zawahiri's statements were made on a videotape bearing the distinctive logo of al-Sahab ("the clouds"), which is al-Qaeda's television production arm. Al-Sahab's first tape, a two-hour al-Qaeda infomercial, debuted on the Internet in the summer of 2001, signaling that a major anti-American attack was in the works. Since then, al-Sahab has continued to release key statements from al-Qaeda leaders. Khan's appearance on the videotape strongly suggests that he met up with members of al-Qaeda's media team based on the Afghan-Pakistan border, probably in the tribal area of Waziristan. There is much we still don't know about Khan's activities in Pakistan, but additional information is likely to point toward further contact with members of al-Qaeda in Pakistan.

The rapidly deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan over the past year is also, in part, the responsibility of al-Qaeda. The use of suicide attacks and makeshift bombs and the beheadings of hostages -- all techniques that al-Qaeda perfected in Iraq -- are methods that the Taliban has increasingly adopted in Afghanistan, making much of the south of the country a no-go area.

Hekmat Karzai, an Afghan terrorism researcher at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies in Singapore, points out that suicide bombings were rare in Afghanistan until 2005, when 21 such attacks took place. This year has already seen at least 16. In addition, Karzai reports that two of al-Qaeda's "most able" commanders -- Khalid Habib, a Moroccan, and Abd al Hadi, an Iraqi -- have been appointed to run its operations in southeastern and southwestern Afghanistan. These developments suggest that al-Qaeda is regrouping and strengthening along the Afghan-Pakistan border.

And, of course, bin Laden and Zawahiri remain at large in that border region, issuing a stream of tapes aimed at inflaming their supporters around the world. Zawahiri, for example, released a video last week urging further attacks on U.S. and other coalition forces in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, bin Laden's ongoing influence over al-Qaeda's affiliates was confirmed after the death last month of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq. Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, al-Qaeda's new leader in Iraq, quickly released a statement on a jihadist Web site pledging allegiance to bin Laden: "We are at your disposal, ready for your command." Muhajer has longstanding ties to Zawahiri; they have both been members of Egypt's ultra-violent Jihad Group for more than two decades. A U.S. intelligence official told me that the intelligence community's recognition of bin Laden and Zawahiri's continued importance to Islamist terrorists worldwide has led to a renewed push in the past two months to locate them.

Almost five years after the attacks on Washington and New York, al-Qaeda not only remains in business in its traditional stronghold on the Afghan-Pakistan border, but continues to project its ideology and terrorism abroad. So now we face a world of ideologically driven homegrown terrorists -- free radicals unattached to any formal organization -- in addition to formal networks such as al-Qaeda that have managed to survive despite the tremendous pressure brought to bear against them since 9/11. And even more grim, they now feed off and strengthen one another.

Peter Bergen is a Schwartz senior fellow at the New America Foundation and author of "The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda's Leader" (Free Press).

In the long run, it doesn't much matter if what the 7/7 terrorists did to London a year ago was specifically the work of Al Qaeda, although Mr. Bergen makes the case for those attacks having been the proxy work of Bin Laden. "Free radicals" plot and act upon the same ideology. Furthermore, the hordes of "moderate" Muslims have not rushed forward to "take back" their faith. Why is that? This graphic might provide a clue.

The Roots Of Islamic Terrorism

A little find from Democracy Frontline, one of my favorite news-sites.