(UK Telegraph) At least one person was killed and up to 25 others wounded Tuesday when up to four grenades exploded outside the main courthouse in the eastern Belgian city of Liege.

The attack took place around noon on Saint-Lambert square, home to the town’s courthouse and located near a busy Christmas market, Belga news agency said.

A two-year-old child is reportedly fighting for life in hospital.

One of two or more assailants threw stun grenades into the courthouse while another was hurled at a bus shelter, RTL-TV1 said.

Shots were fired across the square by gunmen posted on the rooftop of a bakery shop, with further shots heard later from across town.

Police cordoned off the square and gave chase to the assailants, one of whom was reportedly killed. The gunmen are thought to be hiding in Liege cathedral.

And the possible reason behind this?

The Karachi Post in Pakistan claimed that the attack was linked to a sentence in an honour killing case. It said the parents of Sadia Sheikh were sentenced on Monday when there had been a bomb alert in the court.

Which religion teaches about “honor killings”? Sadia Sheikh was a Muslim. Her parents were hardcores. And she was killed because she was living in Belgium and refused an arranged marriage.

(CNN) Authorities have arrested a man they claim was plotting to detonate pipe bombs in and around New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Sunday night.

The intended targets of Jose Pimentel, 27, were U.S. military personnel who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as U.S. postal facilities and police in New York and Bayonne, New Jersey, according to Bloomberg and New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

The suspect was described by Bloomberg as an “al Qaeda sympathizer,” though he is not believed to have ever worked with or received training from anyone in that terrorist organization.

That’s weird, since the Paper Of Record doesn’t bother mentioning the Islamist connection. I wonder why?

The police commissioner identified the suspect as a follower of Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical American-born cleric who rose to become a top figure in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Pimental allegedly tried to contact al-Awlaki directly, but never got a response. (snip)

“He was a reader of al Qaeda’s slick online magazine Inspire — and inspire him it did,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said. “His stated desire to attack our servicemen and women … could have come from an al Qaeda playbook.”

He’s described as a “lone wolf”, and he probably was. But, he was certainly inspired by the more hardcore elements of the Religion of Peace. One of these days, the so-called moderate Muslims are going to have to choose whether they take their religion back, or continue on the road they are currently traveling.

Suicide bomb and gun attacks have hit central Kabul, with a string of blasts targeting the US embassy and at least one death reported in a suicide attack in the west of the Afghan capital.

Gunmen are holed up in a high-rise building overlooking the city centre, exchanging gunfire with police.

The Taliban say they are behind the attacks. (snip)

Tuesday’s attacks appear to be a complex operation, with a number of suicide bombers targeting Kabul’s upmarket embassy district, while others struck the west of the city, near the parliament. (snip)

Around five attackers are coordinating their operation from the high rise building which is under construction just 300m from the US embassy, correspondents say, with a rocket-propelled grenade apparently overshooting the embassy.

US officials confirmed the attack around the embassy. “There are no casualties at this time among embassy personnel,” said a spokeswoman.

This is the folly of leftists around the world: they think if they are just nice enough, and open a dialogue, they can reason with barbarians. Meanwhile, the barbarians use that time to foment and plan attacks, and have no intention to seek “peace in our time.” These Islamists despise modern culture (though they’re willing to use weapons they couldn’t possibly invent or build), despise Western civilization, and especially despise America for our freedoms and modern lifestyle. They prefer to live like it is 1200 AD, and want to spread their brand of extremist Islam around the world, including notions of women as chattel, stoning women who are involved in adultery, hanging gays, cutting off hands of thieves, and marrying and having sex with children, much as their “prophet” did. Yet, the worldwide left, which always states they are for “civil rights”, gays, women, and such, coddles these same barbarians.

Of course, lefties also refuse to go live in those same areas in order to spread awareness and understanding. Most know they will be treated pretty bad. They’re naive, not complete morons. Well, it could be that they just refuse to give up their fancy dress cocktail parties where they discuss how mean Conservatives are when it comes to these barbarians.

The Telegraph has live updates on the attacks.

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The White House has issued detailed guidelines to government officials on how to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, with instructions to honor the memory of those who died on American soil but also to recall that Al Qaeda and other extremist groups have since carried out attacks elsewhere in the world, from Mumbai to Manila.

Just to be clear, these guidelines are supposedly for federal agencies, not for state and local governments or private citizens, as the The Politico points out in their story.

The White House in recent days has quietly disseminated two sets of documents. One is framed for overseas allies and their citizens and was sent to American embassies and consulates around the globe. The other includes themes for Americans here and underscores the importance of national service and what the government has done to prevent another major attack in the United States. That single-page document was issued to all federal agencies, officials said.

That’s strange, the NY Times makes it seem as if Team Obama is attempting to set how Americans can celebrate 9.11. The Times’ article, which was the first, never makes it clear if these “guidelines” are simply for federal agencies, or for all Americans.

After weeks of internal debate, White House officials adopted the communications documents to shape public events and official statements, and they sought to strike a delicate balance between messages designed for these two very important but very different audiences on a day when the world’s attention will be focused on President Obama, his leadership team and his nation.

Weeks of debate, eh? If only he’d take the same time to deal with the economy. But, really, you know it will be President George W. Bush who will steal the show during the ceremonies. Obama’s the guy who expressed empathy with the Islamist animals who pulled off 9.11.

Some senior Obama administration leaders had advocated a lengthy program of speeches and events to mark the anniversary, but the final decisionwas for lower-key appearances by Mr. Obama and other senior leaders only on the days leading up to the anniversary and on Sept. 11 itself.

Obviously, we can’t let the 10th anniversary get in the way of golf and fund raising.

At the same time, Obama administration officials caution that public commemorations here should not cast the United States as the sole victim of terrorism, an argument underscored by killings and maimings from extremist attacks overseas.

Who the hell do they think was attacked on September 11th? Yes, there were citizens of other countries killed in the Twin Towers, but the attack was on America. Talk about tone deaf!

The domestic guidelines, entitled “9/11 Anniversary Planning,” are shorter and less prescriptive than the talking points created for overseas audiences. For example, they note that the ceremonies will honor Americans killed in the Sept. 11 attacks but also “all victims of terrorism, including those who had been targeted by Al Qaeda and other groups around the globe.”

That’s strange, I don’t remember any Pearl Harbor day ceremonies honoring “all victims of Japanese imperialism around the world.”

Anyhow, let’s wrap this up by returning to something from earlier

The other includes themes for Americans here and underscores the importance of national service and what the government has done to prevent another major attack in the United States.

I wonder if they will highlight things like enhanced interrogation, including water boarding, which has wrung lots of intelligence out of actual terrorists. Isn’t it funny how the waterboarding issue completely disappeared once Obama took office? Enhanced interrogation worked. It kept America safer. Deal with it, Liberals!

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A huge explosion rocked the main United Nations building in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, on Friday, sending billows of smoke over the area and spreading panic among citizens.

News agency reports quoted witnesses as saying the blast had been the result of a suicide car-bomber’s attack, but there was no immediate claim of responsibility and the police declined to confirm those reports.

The Associated Press quoted witnesses as saying a sedan drove through one of the United Nations’ compound’s gates and headed toward to the four-story building.

Nigeria, a major African oil-producer, faces terrorism challenges from several groups including militants from the Niger Delta and from a radical Muslim sect called Boko Haram, which advocates the introduction of Sharia law in the largely Muslim north of the country and took responsibility for bombing the national police headquarters in June.

American officials have said recently they fear Boko Haram has sought to link up with regional affiliates of Al Qaeda.

Obviously, it is Islamaphobia to even speculate that people from the Religion of Peace were involved. USA Today adds

Update at 7:54 a.m. ET: Reuters quotes medical officials as saying 10 people were killed in an explosion at the U.N. offices in Abuja, Nigeria.

Apparently, USA Today doesn’t want to admit that their link is actually Al Jazeera quoting Reuters.

Oh, and speaking of Sharia, which the Boki Haram wants in Nigeria

Thousands of people have disappeared into the black hole of Saudi prisons without charge or any indication of when they could be released, Saudi and international rights groups say.

The government says it is an Islamic state ruling via Islamic Sharia law, according religious scholars wide powers in society and an advisory role to the Saudi royal family, which accords itself a benevolent paternal role.

Activists say the result is that security forces can act with impunity, and defendants are subject to an individual judge’s interpretation of Sharia law and in many cases are not allowed access to their lawyers.

Without a penal code, there is even confusion over definitions, including what “detentions” and “political prisoners” are.

Wait, I thought leftists told us that we shouldn’t be concerned with Sharia law, and how it was no big deal?

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An AWOL Muslim soldier who refused to be deployed to Afghanistan because of his religious beliefs admitted to an alleged “terror plot” to attack Ft Hood, Texas, the US Army said in a memo overnight.

Pfc. Nasser Jason Abdo was arrested Wednesday afternoon by the Killeen Police Department near the Texas base, which was the site of a November 2009 massacre, allegedly committed by another Muslim serviceman.

The alert, obtained by FOX News Channel and sent to all Army units, said the 21-year-old suspect was found with a large quantity of ammunition, weapons and a bomb inside a backpack, adding that he admitted to planning the attack during police interviews.

Chief Dennis Baldwin of the Killeen Police Department confirmed that, based on statements Abdo made during questioning, “military personnel were a target of this suspect” and said he would characterise the absentee soldier’s plans as a “terror plot.”

Abdo was being held by the Killeen Police Department pending federal charges, Mr Baldwin said, describing him as “a very dangerous individual” and adding that, “as far as we know, he acted alone.”

Abdo, a Texas native, entered the service in March 2009 but applied for conscientious objector status in June 2010, on the eve of his first deployment to Afghanistan, citing his religious beliefs as a Muslim. Just days after his application was approved, Abdo was hit with 34 counts of possession of child pornography and his military discharge was put on hold.

Abdo adamantly denied that he put child porn on his government computer and claimed the charges were the military’s way of retaliating against him. He told WSMV-TV last month, “I think that all sounds pretty fishy.”

The soldier then went AWOL on July 4.

SOURCE

Murderous Muslims again

You dare not disagree with them about religion

An Indonesian court has sent a “chilling message” by giving Muslim extremists light sentences for a vicious mob attack in which three sect members died, rights activists say. Twelve people stood trial but none faced murder charges in what human rights campaigners say is a travesty of justice in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country.

The sentences range between three and six months’ jail – less than prosecutors had sought and well below the maximum penalty of 12 years.

Dani bin Misra, a 17-year-old who repeatedly smashed a victim’s skull with a stone, was sentenced on Thursday to three months in jail for manslaughter. Idris bin Mahdani, who led the 1500-strong mob in the February attack, was convicted of illegal possession of a machete and received five months and 15 days in jail.

Most of the convicted men are likely to walk free within weeks, observers said. “The Cikeusik trial sends the chilling message that attacks on minorities like the Ahmadiyah will be treated lightly by the legal system,” Human Rights Watch deputy chief for Asia Phil Robertson said. “This is a sad day for justice in Indonesia.”

In rare criticism of its Southeast Asian ally, the United States said it was “disappointed by the disproportionately light sentences”, which came within days of a visit to Indonesia by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

“The United States encourages Indonesia to defend its tradition of tolerance for all religions, a tradition praised by President [Barack] Obama in his November 2010 visit to Jakarta,” a US embassy statement said.

The Obama administration resumed military ties with Indonesia’s notorious special forces unit last year, citing improvements in the human rights situation in the country.

The European Union delegation in Jakarta expressed “strong concerns” over the light sentences.

The violence against the Ahmadiyah sect members in Cikeusik, western Java, was one of the most horrific in a long line of attacks on the minority group in Indonesia in recent years. Ahmadiyah, unlike mainstream Muslims, do not believe Mohammed was the last prophet and are regarded as heretics and blasphemers by conservatives in countries such as Indonesia and Pakistan.

A secretly filmed video of the Cikeusik rampage sparked international concern when it appeared online within days of the attack. The reaction in Indonesia, however, was muted. The footage shows police fleeing the scene as the enraged mob – armed with machetes and knives and shouting abuse at the “infidels” – launched an unprovoked attack on a house owned by an Ahmadiyah follower.

A handful of Ahmadiyah men tried to defend the property with stones and slingshots but they were quickly overwhelmed. Then the killing began. The mob clubbed and stoned their defenceless victims to death in front of police, then stood around and joked over their shattered bodies. Several Ahmadiyah tried to flee but were hunted down and badly beaten.

Robertson said the appalling “savagery” demanded a strong response from a country which has ratified international covenants on freedom of religion and claims to have a pluralistic religious tradition. “But instead of charging the defendants with murder and other serious crimes, prosecutors came up with an almost laughable list of ’slap-on-the wrist’ charges,” he said.

Prosecutors managed to convince the court that the video justified a reduced sentence for the killers.

Meanwhile Ahmadiyah member Deden Sujana is facing up to four years in jail on charges of incitement, disobeying police orders and maltreatment because he ignored police orders to evacuate the house.

Ahmadiyah spokesman Zafrullah Ahmad Pontoh was cautious in his response to the sentences. “Let the legal power handle the case. It’s only a worldly punishment,” he said. “We’ll forgive those who ask us for forgiveness, but so far we haven’t heard them asking us for forgiveness.”

The graphic footage, which is available on the video-sharing website YouTube, was filmed by an Ahmadiyah follower who mingled with the attackers and watched his friends being murdered. The man is now in hiding under police protection, fearing for his life.

SOURCE

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.). For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. To keep up with attacks on free speech see TONGUE-TIED. Also, don’t forget your daily roundup of pro-environment but anti-Greenie news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH . Email me here

Dozens of federal agents appeared at the early morning prayer Saturday to arrest Hafiz Muhammad Sher Ali Khan, the frail 76-year-old imam, and two of his sons — including one who led the Masjid Jamaat Al-Mumineen Mosque in Margate — on charges of funneling money to the Pakistani Taliban to buy weapons and support militant training. Hafiz Khan and son Izhar Khan, 24, made their first appearance in federal court in Miami on Monday. Irfan Khan was scheduled to appear in federal court in Los Angeles late Monday afternoon. (snip)

But in at least small ways, the South Florida arrests also signaled a subtle positive shift in dealings between federal law enforcement agencies and the Muslim-American community it has monitored closely since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The raids were conducted under new national rules of engagement intended to show more sensitivity toward religious practices and tamp down the flames of haters after a series of outreach meetings in South Florida this year among federal law enforcers and Muslim leaders.

These new rules include “outreach programs”, talking points stressing that no one else in the mosque is a bad person, that they’re “as American as apple pie,” along with special training “aimed at enhancing law enforcement officers’ cultural competence and sensitivity on issues involving the Arab, Muslim and Sikh American communities.” Anyone else get the feeling that the Islamists are getting a really good laugh over these rules?

After the heavily armed agents flooded the grounds of the Flagler Mosque, a small converted house in a modest neighborhood west of Milam Dairy Road and north of Flagler Drive, they waited for morning prayer to finish before arresting Khan outside.

“Instead of barging in with 25 agents and trampling all over the place, one agent took off his shoes and went in,” he said. “”They respected the congregation that was there.”

OK, waiting for the morning prayers to end is simply standard common courtesy. Anyone thing they would be forced to have sensitivity if it was a Christian, Jewish, or Mormon church?

Oh, BTW, these new rules didn’t work: the Muslim community is still pissed off at the FBI about the raid and arrests….hey, why aren’t they pissed at the 3 who are charged with material support to the Taliban, a repressive, fundamentalist Islamic group which is linked to terrorism, treats women harshly, and practices a harsh form of Sharia law?

An Irish Muslim convert was arrested in Dublin Thursday over his reported death threats against President Barack Obama, police said.

Khalid Kelly, a 44-year-old dubbed “Taliban Terry” by Dubliners, was arrested at his Dublin residence on suspicion of threatening to kill the U.S. leader, officers said. He could be held for up to three days before being charged or released.

He is Ireland’s most outspoken supporter of al-Qaida and its slain founder, Osama bin Laden.

The moron actually told The Dublin Times in a recent interview that he wants Obama dead, and that he would “do something” if he could disguise himself. But, then, how much brain power does it take to go from discussing Allah as “the most beneficent most merciful” to killing kids while yelling “Allahu Akbar”?

Speaking of killing, we also have this story about the RoP in Pakistan

A pair of suicide bombers attacked recruits leaving a paramilitary training center in Pakistan on Friday, killing 80 people in a strike that the Pakistani Taliban claimed it carried out to avenge the killing of Osama bin Laden.

The blasts in the northwest were a reminder of the savagery of al-Qaida-linked militants in Pakistan. They occurred even as the country faces international suspicion that elements within its security forces may have been harboring bin Laden, who was killed in a raid in Abbottabad, about a three hours’ drive from the scene of the bombing.

“We have done this to avenge the Abbottabad incident,” Ahsanullah Ahsan, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, told The Associated Press in a phone call.

Interesting that many are saying that the Taliban is no threat, that we should negotiate with these fundamentalist Islamists, who have used violence many times (granted, they aren’t exporting their violence and attacking Americans throughout the Mideast or here in the USA.) Also interesting in that you have Allah on Allah violence, ie, one group of Muslims killing another group of Muslims because another Muslim* Obama ordered the killing of Osama Bin Crab Food.

The Pakistani Taliban, close allies of al-Qaida, are fighting to bring down the nuclear-armed state and impose their vision of Islamist rule. They launched their war in earnest in 2007, after security forces cleared militant gunmen from a radical mosque in the capital, killing about 100 people.

So, which are they? Meaningless in terms of the War On Terror, meaning we should now leave Afghanistan and let them run wild, or partners with AQ, a violent international Islamist terrorist organization?

*that was simply a joke, don’t freak

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.

In another example of a sort of cultural suicide where western media types assume that all Muslims are blameless while all Americans are at fault in this clash of civilizations between Islamism and the West we have a recent episode of MSNBC’s Hardball with one-time Democratic operative Chuck Todd standing-in for host Chris Matthews.

Todd was discussing the riots in Afghanistan sparked by Islamist ire over the burning of a Koran by a Florida pastor. During the interview Todd and a guest stated that the Christian Bible was just a book written by men while the Koran was the “direct word of God.” The two implied that this excuses Muslims from murdering people over the book burning.

In the segment Time Magazine’s World Editor Bobby Ghosh told Chuck Todd that the riots and murders perpetrated by Muslims in Afghanistan were obviously understandable because the Koran is apparently more holy than the Christian Bible. Ghosh averred that it’s important to “keep in mind” that the Koran is “not the same as the Bible to Christians.” Why, you might ask? Why it’s because the Koran is “directly the word of God.” On the other hand, the Bible is just a book “written by men.”

Of course, Ghosh is wholly incorrect that Christians see the Bible as just some storybook “written by men.” After all, the Bible is thought of as “the word of God” by millions of Christians across the world as it has been throughout time. Ghosh’s claim that everyone just accepts the Bible as something “written by men” and easily dismissible or somehow less sacred to Christians on that basis is simply erroneous. It is also extremely offensive.

Naturally, Chuck Todd heartily agreed with Ghosh’s misstatement.

Now, certainly Christians agree that the Bible was “written by men” but there is no assumption that it is somehow less for it. After all Christians feel that these mere men were inspired directly by God. Just as the Koran is assumed to be the direct word of the Muslim’s god, Christians also believe that the Bible is the Word of God.

In fact, it is easier to make the historical case that the Bible was written by people who knew Jesus while the claim that the Koran was written by anyone that knew the Prophet Mohammad is nearly impossible to substantiate. Parts of the Bible have been determined as having been written within the life times of people that would have known Jesus personally. On the other hand, there is no proof that the Koran was written any time closer than 100 years after Mohammad’s death, long after anyone that might have known him would have been dead.

Regardless of the suppositions of historians, though, there is no legitimate way to claim that the Christian Bible is any less sacred or awe inspiring for Christians than the Koran is for Muslims. The difference is not in the writers of the books or their provenance. The difference is in their cultures. Christian reforms have brought tolerance and peace between factions of Christianity as well as between Christians and people of other beliefs while there has been no such tolerance infused into Islam.

As to the burning of the Koran by Florida Pastor Terry Jones, his entire attempt to grab an additional 15 minutes of publicity initially failed to spark any interest. After all, he perpetrated his somewhat childish book burning stunt two weeks ago (March 20) and no one noticed until some politically motivated people in Afghanistan used the incident as an excuse to riot.

Do not make the mistake that this really isn’t about religion, though. It most certainly is. This incident cannot be divorced from Islam as some sort of aberrant behavior. Unfortunately, it is just one small incident of thousands of similar outrages perpetrated in the name of Islam. This sort of crime is not separate from Islam. It is an integral part of the ideology. Too many such incidents have occurred to blow them all off as incidental.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Transcript courtesy of Mediaite

GHOSH: The thing to keep in mind that’s very important here is that the Koran to Muslims, it is not, it is not the same as the Bible to Christians.

The Bible is a book written by men. It is acknowledged by Christians that it is written by men. It’s the story of Jesus.

TODD: Yes.

GHOSH: But the Koran, if you are a believer, if you’re a Muslim, the Koran is directly the word of God, not written by man. It is transcribed, is directly the word of God.

That makes it sacred in a way that it’s hard to understand if you’re not Muslim. So the act of burning a Koran is much more, potentially much, much more inflammatory than…

TODD: Directly attacking… directly attacking God.

GHOSH:…than if you were to burn a, burn a Bible.

TODD: … Directly attacking God.

Violent protests over the burning of a Koran in Florida flared for a second straight day, with young men rampaging through the streets of this southern capital, flying Taliban flags and wielding sticks.

Eight people were killed and 61 injured in the disturbances, according to Zalmai Ayoubi, spokesman for the provincial governor. Kandahar has long been the heartland of the Taliban insurgency but has been relatively quiet in recent months since a surge of additional American troops arrived here.

In Kandahar, several thousand young men, shouting slogans calling for death to Americans and to the Karzai government, were still rampaging after several hours on Saturday, setting tires aflame throughout the city, burning cars and attacking journalists trying to cover the disorder. Shops and businesses were closed and most people stayed off the street. Many of the protesters were waving the white flag of the Taliban.

Mr. Ayoubi said the crowd attacked the Zarghona Ana High School for Girls, burning some classrooms and a school bus. The school is supported by the United States Agency for International Development. The Taliban have opposed girls’ education.

And in Pakistan

An armed group of seven people attacked the Catholic Church of St. Thomas in the military district of Wah, about 45 km from Islamabad. The attack took place at 6.30 pm yesterday, while the security guard was absent. The extremists hurled stones, damaged the building and tried to set fire to it, but they did not shoot. Yesterday’s was the third attack against a church in Pakistan less than a week. The escalation of violence is a result of the mad act – repeatedly condemned by Christians in Pakistan and India – of pastor Wayne Sapp, who last March 20, in Florida burned a copy of the Koran under the supervision of the evangelical preacher Terry Jones.

Why, yes, the MSM did ignore this story line, do to the attacks being against Christian churches. Now, if mosques had been burned…..

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