Auspundits

The Five Faces Of Darkness

Despite the setbacks that God has inflicted upon us, these painful blows will mark the beginning of the wiping out of America and the infidel West after the passing of tens of years, God willing. - Osama bin Laden, 17 December 2001

Defending Mohammed

A lost cause supposedly. A district court in The Hague ruled that the:

[Netherlands Islamic Federation] did not disprove that ideas are prevalent in Islam that are at odds with democratic principles. The group also did not succeed, according to the judge, in refuting Wilders' view of Mohammed being a barbarian.

Oops. More here.

H/T: Moose

Cheney Tangos With Saudi King *BUMPED*

Over the last three months, the two most powerful men in the world, U.S. president George Bush and U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, have visited Riyadh. At both meetings, energy security (read, oil) was discussed. With the price of crude oil persisting over $US100/barrel, this should not be a big surprise. During the first meeting, it was well publicized that U.S. President Bush requested the Saudis loosen their oil spigots and pump more crude on the world market, only to be rejected. Some even called the request groveling. Not so the second meeting Cheney attended. This time, Cheney came armed. No one tells the U.S. where to go.

Identifying the Enemy

I was listening to extracts of U.S. President George Bush's speech to the Veteran of Foreign Wars as selected by Hugh Hewitt. Interestingly enough, he refuses to use terms such as Islamists, Islamofascism or jihadis. I am not sure whether this was deliberate or not. Daniel Pipes has voiced his opinion of this just after 9/11 in a panel interview conducted by Lou Dobbs. Irrespective, it got me to rethink an issue that this blog and its contributors have discussed at length on this site and off-site.

Moderation in Islam - Round Two

Recently, there have been a flurry of essays and blog posts devoted to analysing the cross-section of Islamic society dubbed "The Moderates". These were written hot on the heels of a major poll undertaken by University of Maryland/WorldPublicOpinion.org demonstrating amongst other things that a significant majority of Muslims polled support the restitution of the Caliphate and the "...strict application of Shar'ia..."

Two of my co-bloggers, Moose and Jim, have been in a protracted debate via email based on the following article at StrategyPage.com. I have received permission from both of them to publish edited versions of this exchange here.

Jim responds to Moose's initial foray.

Fighting Fire with Fire

The only two things that I am really worried about in this war are Pakistan and laws restricting our freedom of speech. The former, because Taliban and al Qaeda aligned Islamists are increasingly in control of a state with multiple nuclear warheads and launch capability, and the ability to produce between 30 and 80 warheads a year.

The latter is an even bigger worry, because it prevents us from even discussing, let alone doing anything about Pakistan and other growing threats in our own midst. Luckily, the very laws themselves may present a key to overturn them, and to expose in the process the hatred inherent in Islamic ideology.

Update: The First Amendment is being usurped from the American public by the Orwellianly named "Democrats".