Terror Trends Bulletin
Britons join the jihadist ranks to fight in Somalia
Fears grow that al-Qaida is constructing a safe haven in east Africa with UK groups’ help
A growing number of Britons are answering the call to jihad in Somalia and joining the ranks of militants linked to al-Qaida…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/02/britons-somalia-al-qaida-insurgency
On 12 June, the British and American soccer teams are scheduled to face off in South Africa as part of what is surely one of the world’s largest sporting events, the World Cup.
Al Qaeda has decided to interject itself into the mix as well, threatening to attack that game, as has been widely reported in British media:
These are surely threats that should be taken seriously.
First of all, the wing of Al Qaeda which made the threat, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AGIM), has a very violent history and is one of the most active wings of the terrorist organization. It doesn’t get much coverage in the USA, but it is a serious problem in Africa.
Secondly, Islam has been on the rise in South Africa for some years now, particularly Salafi Islam, thanks to the Saudis. This is of course the sect of Sunni Islam which gave birth to Al Qaeda in the first place. Similar to Mumbai, any Al Qaeda attackers can probably depend upon a local support structure for intelligence, reconnaissance and logistics.
Third, South Africa is a country that has been wracked by a great deal of violence in the past decade. Crime, particularly murder, is a huge problem there and the authorities already have their hands full.
Here’s hoping that the South Africans bring in outside help for security at this event. Specific threats from Jihadists are not to be taken lightly. They lose their credibility if they do not follow through.
Muslim Aid was supposed to be one of the “good” Muslim charities. Prince Charles and Prime Minister Gordon Brown had heaped praise on them for the good work they had done, as the good folks at Jihad Watch and Weaselzippers point out:
Why do so many Muslim charities fund Jihadist terrorists?
Because it is their religious duty to do so.
There are 8 approved destinations for “zakat” (a form of tithing in Islam). Number 7 is those fighting in the way of allah. This is spelled out clearly in Islamic law texts, such as “Reliance of the Traveler.”
Over the years, Islamic jihadist terrorists claiming to act in the name of Islam have targeted mass transit systems around the world.
This occurred in 1995 in the Paris Metro rail system when the Algerian Armed Islamic Group (GIA) detonated a series of bombs which killed 8 innocent victims and wounded 122:
Then, on 6 February 2004, Chechen Jihadist terrorists set off an Islamikaze attack in the Moscow Metro rail system which killed 41 innocent victims:
On 11 March 2004, Islamic jihadist terrorists thought to be affiliated with, or inspired by, Al Qaeda set off a series of bombs in the Madrid rail system, killing 191 and wounding over 1,800 innocent victims:
On 7 July 2005, Islamic jihadist terrorists affiliated with, or inspired by, Al Qaeda, bombed transit targets in London, killing 56 and wounding 700 innocent victims.
No doubt because of this history, security authorities in Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada are taking appropriate measures to guard against such an attack, especially during the upcoming Olympic Games to be held there.
The transit police in Vancouver are planning on using specially-trained bomb-sniffing dogs to detect explosive devices in the Vancouver transit system. Dogs are extremely effective at this type of duty because they have a keen sense of smell and seem never to tire or suffer from lapses which severely effect their job performance. Dogs have successfully detected explosive devices in security situations for decades around the world.
So what does a local Muslim leader in Vancouver, Shawket Hassan, have to say about all this?
He is “worried” about bomb sniffing dogs because dogs are considered unclean in Islam and Muslims might get touched by such dogs while on their way to pray.
Note that Mr. Hassan has expressed no “worry” about the threat of terrorism to the transit system. He has only express worry about the possibility of getting dog saliva on his person.
It’s difficult not to think of the victims in Paris, Moscow, Madrid and London when you read Mr. Hassan’s comments. Those people were killed by terrorists who openly stated that they believed that they were acting in the name of Islam. Someone might want to remind Mr. Hassan that dogs don’t discriminate according to religion. The bomb-sniffing dogs will be protecting innocent Muslims who ride the Vancouver transit system as well as everyone else.
Mr. Hassan should be thanking Allah that such animals exist on earth to protect us all from evil.
We have now been greeted with the disgusting news that Great Britain has decided to reach out to Hezbollah in an effort to enter into a dialogue with the group to convince them to abandon terrorism.
This incredibly naive approach to a Jihadist terrorist organization likely stems from the British approach to the Irish Republican Army. This notion of using the IRA model with a Jihadist organization is not new. The rock star Bono has suggested the same moronic idea with Al Qaeda.
We could write volumes about how bad an idea this whole approach is, but it is probably much better to simply use Hezbollah’s own words to illustrate the futility of negotiating with them:
‘We are not fighting so that you will offer us something. We are fighting to eliminate you.’
These words were uttered by Hussein Massawi, the Hezbollah leader at the time of the Islamikaze attacks on the US Marine Barracks in Beirut.
We can only hope that the Obama administration does not follow the British policy, though we can’t help but suspect that Obama will do something just along those lines, since he is already doing so with Hezbollah’s sponsor, Iran.
The Obama and Brown administrations simply cannot get over with fast enough.
The intrepid Melanie Phillips has an excellent story on this subject:
Terror Trends Bulletin 