The Terrorism Calendar - Yours, Mine and Theirs

How much time should we devote to pondering Islamic radicalism? What will you contribute in the effort to contain, if not defeat the fanatical terrorists of this world? Anything? ... Nothing?

Our family has never shied from the subject before 9/11 or since. Now, as our daughter is about to deploy to Afghanistan with the Canadian Forces, we accept the fact that our interest will be moving to a higher level of concern. The news on Friday that we lost another soldier in A-Stan to a roadside I.E.D. discourages me from my usual topics for Blog articles. Today I feel compelled to pay humble tribute to a few non-combatants who have sacrificed far more than most in the struggle to contain Islamic Fascism, or those who generously work to make life better for the unfortunate.

Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser is a brave man and a Hero. The doctor has shown great courage and generosity of spirit by setting aside time from his lucrative medical practice in order to disseminate the simple truth: Islamic Fascism is relentless and it will never call a halt to the evil campaign to destroy our way of life.

Doctor M. Zuhdi Jasser is an extremely brave man. I read his profile in the current issue of the Jewish Tribune and was persuaded to look him up. Jasser is a Muslim American who disagrees with the Middle East policies of America's first Muslim President, Barack Hussein Obama. Jasser, though an orthodox Sunni, is a fierce and vocal opponent of radical Islamic militants, men he terms "Fascists" and accuses of wrapping their bloody expansionist political agenda with the green cloak of Islam. Jasser decided to distribute his potent warning in the form of a video entitled THE THIRD JIHAD. I encourage you to at least view the free 30 minute preview which on Google Video here.

Dr. Jasser has been vilified by professional apologists for the Jihadist agenda - no surprise there. Frequently their attempts at rebuttal begin by dismissing his message and his research as "a joke" or "humorous" but in every case that is the precursor to a bitter and personal attack. Jasser, though he looks mild in the photo, has great courage. He openly publishes contact information, including where he works, and shares photos of his family online. Compare that with the cowards at MACLEAN'S magazine who worked to suppress the Jyllands Posten editorial cartoons, or AIR CANADA which refused to carry any magazine which did publish them.

The Hapless Victim Card
If your search for meaningful information is confined to the local newspaper or just listening to an "anchor" reading a teleprompter, you're harming your personal interests. The interests of Big Media does not coincide with your right to unfiltered streams of source information and it never will. For example, why in June did ALL of the Canadian news editors allocate acres of podium space for the "Stranded Canadian" story? Why the sickening determination to shape another "victim" story a la Maher Arar travesty? Well now that Abousfian Abdelrazik has parleyed his passport and his media card into celebrity, the untouchable operative is back in Montreal after cooling his heels for six years in Sudan. What are his views on Al-Qaeda today? Ask him some questions... he'll tell you some lies.

GITMO and the braying donkeys of discontent
For several years we Canadians have endured frequent denunciations of the conditions at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, and the alleged “unlawful” confinement of Islamic militants. Spokesmen for the Islamic resurgence, including publicity addicted parliamentarians and big city politicians brayed like donkeys, demanding that the evil Bush government close GITMO and free the “innocent” detainees. Canadians were fed on little more than recycled ACLU press releases. For a dose of reality, invest five minutes to read this N.Y. Post article published on June 7. It accuses the military, with justification, of allowing GITMO to become "more madrassa than prison camp".

Meanwhile Senator Obama promised voters that he would decommission GITMO if elected President. Well in mid-May we learned (from a leaked document) that many of the released detainees have rejoined the Jihad and are plotting new attacks. The leak made the White House very nervous indeed, and it took the Pentagon several days to confirm what the intelligence breach revealed - “that at least 74 former Guantanamo detainees have resumed terrorist activities after claiming they weren't terrorists.” Why the nervousness? Don’t these ex-detainees confirm by their actions that they are “lying” as well as “murderous” Jihadists? Well yes and no. It turns out that the White House has poured millions of American taxpayer dollars into building a half-way house in Saudi Arabia, where ex-GITMO prisoners might be groomed for release back into the general Saudi population. That high priority program has proven to be an abysmal failure, and as a result a similar facility for Yemen is now on hold. The Obama White House seems no different than its predecessor when it comes to toadying up to the feudal potentates who rule Saudi Arabia. The Saudis will never be held accountable for the mishandling of GITMO detainees released into their custody.

If you can believe it, the critics of counter terror operations are not concerned that tigers have been set loose. They quibble over the news that "only 74" GITMO prisoners seem to have returned to terror cells. "Some argue the alleged 14 percent rate is inflated, as it is based on a definition of "militant activity" so broad as to include merely associating with terrorists." [That's why the Toronto/Montreal media issued Abousfian Abdelrazik a free pass. The suggestion is he merely "associated" with terrorists. He didn't personally blow anyone's legs off.] "Others say the figure compares favorably with the 68 percent recidivism rate for US criminals." Now there's perspective for you!

Which brings me to Said Ali Al Shihri, who was freed from Guantanamo in 2007. This fellow, who denied his crimes and who was provided with an American lawyer, pro-bono, was one of those released into Saudi custody. He and his cohorts then easily slipped away. Al Shihri crossed into Yemen in 2007 to take the post of Deputy Leader of Al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula. He has already participated in fresh terror operations. To make the point, he posed for a staff photo with other regional commanders, which was released to rub Washington's nose in its failure to dissaude him from committing his life to Jihad. Most recently Al Shihri was implicated in the murder of a group of German Christians and a Korean who were abducted in Yemen in mid-June. (They were all members of a Dutch international medical charity.) The bodies of three nurses were found almost immediately and the German intelligence services announced that they believe the others, including children have been murdered.

Why Al-Qaeda? Why German civilians? Because the Germans have deployed troops to fight militant Islam and are committed to standing with the U.S. and Canadian Forces in Afghanistan. The Taliban has no ability to mount acts of terror in Germany or other NATO countries, but they rely on Al-Qaeda to hit us where we are vulnerable - such as targetting the thousands of Christian lay workers who serve in Muslim territories.

German nurses Rita Stumpp, left, and Anita Gruenwald were kidnapped while returning from an outing to a farm in Yemen. As a warning to Christians who believe they have the right to run projects in Muslim countries, they along with their Korean friend Eom Young-san (above) were executed in a field near the Yemeni capital. Each young woman was shot twice in the head. The photo of the Korean woman is taken from the Blog she kept until the week of her murder. I found it rather troubling to view the happy photos of an obviously giving person, who was oblivious of the fact that evil men were planning to take her life.
Terrorist cell in Yeman pose for a staff photo, 2008. Center-left is Abu Hareth Muhammad al Awfi; far right and marked with an (X) is Said Ali al Shihri, one of the released Guantanamo P.O.W.s. (Photo source - Nick Grace) The Yemeni newspaper reports I've read attempt to disassociate Al-Qaeda from the abduction and murder of the nine volunteer charity workers. However the two tribesmen offered as scapegoats do not convince. This was not a kidnapping for ransom. It was murder orchestrated to terrorize foreign charities, and it has worked.

WHY IS MAHER ARAR TORTURING US?

Before dawn today I checked my three favorite news aggregate sites. Bourque.com knows how to provoke we bleary-eyed morning readers. "Jackpot Day For Arar" was a taunt. I used the hot link to jump to the story. I dreaded this day, but now it's come. Today we learn that the feds are going to give Maher Arar $12.5 million bucks! This is the fellow who was initially demanding $437 million from the Canadian taxpayers because CSIS provided U.S. anti-terror agencies with their Arar investigation file;
this lead to his "rendition" (a form of legal extradition) to his place of birth - Syria. Recall that an American federal court dismissed Arar's suit against the U.S. government last February. We're made of softer stuff, aren't we?
I lost what little sympathy I had for Arar and his family, when his wife used their massive publicity for political gain. She joined the NDP and tried to win a Parliamentary seat in the 2004 National election. They were playing our generosity and our system against us, and have no intention of ever stopping.
I have never believed Arar's story about being "tortured" for ten months. He isn't missing any teeth or fingernails. He doesn't stutter. He doesn't claim to have been buggered. Whatever the trauma, it left no evidence. I'm no expert on torture mind you, but I've read up on it. You can get someone
to "talk" in two minutes flat if they have information that is vital to you. For example, take the old Soviet Spetsnaz method. You want to get a Mujihadin to gush? Just pull a rat tail metal file out of your boot and run it once across the top of his teeth, exposing all the nerves. Resistance as they say, is futile.
Arar deserted his homeland at age 17, to avoid compulsory military service.
If the Syrian's had a grudge about that, it's not Canada's fault. I have never before expressed my opinion on this case, but I did attempt to once. That was on September 23, 2006 when I sent a letter to the Toronto SUN. It was my response to a piece written by one of their columnists, which challenged Arar's assertions about being tortured in his native Syria. The U.S. believes Arar is at minimum, a terrorist sympathizer, and keeps him on the Watch List. My letter was never published in the SUN. I guess the Orwellian power of editorial filtering is one reasion that Blogging has been made available to us. My short letter read in full:

"Thanks to Peter Worthington we have a dissenting view on Arar... at last!
"Why would Syria Torture Arar?" Exactly. And before the anointed begin to shovel our cash into the "victims" prize bag, let us as force him to answer just one skill testing question, on camera. (He likes cameras. Great teeth.) But force in some tricky Canadian way. For gawd sake don't hurt him! Mr. Arar, Sir, answer only "Yes it does" or "No it does not" to the question "Do Israel and the Israeli people have the right to exist?" If he answers "No it does not," put him back on the list. Immediately."

I haven't changed my mind. I don't think becoming a millionaire is going to shut this guy up, and as a taxpayer I resent it. Hell, for $10 million you can cut my balls off. I already have kids, and I don't need my nuts to type with. Just supposing for a minute Arar was tortured. Does that give him the right to turn around and put the boots to us? He thinks so. See, he's smiling!
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Update: February 24, 2007 - Yesterday there was a meeting in Ottawa of the Prosperity and Security Partnership, a tri-lateral commission which fosters cooperation between Canada, Mexico and the U.S.A. Peter Mackay, M.P. said that Canada has "exonerated" Maher Arar. The response of Condolezza Rice, the U.S. Secretary of State was that Arar stays on the U.S. security Watch List. "The United States, of course, makes decisions based on information that we have and based on our own assessment of the situation." The Mexican Foreign Minister concurred. Mackay has nothing to fear from the Canadian public. If we cannot put the Sikh terror bombers behind bars, what does one pipsqueak anti-Semite matter?