Suicide bomber is an insult to Islam

Hamas' Suicide Bmobers during a demonstration in Gaza.

PREPARATION OF A SUICIDE BOMBER
Contrary to popular opinion claiming that for suicide terrorist act just one terrorist is enough, there are several people involved in the process of preparing the human bomb for explosion. Usually, they make up a team for serial production of living bombs.

First of all, there is a Recruiter that finds and selects suitable candidates for journey to "paradise".
In the nineties, when religious terrorist organizations, such as the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, were the primary sources for suicide bombers, the main pool of future suicide-bombers was a mosque, and a recruiter was a person that was connected to that mosque in one way or another. Now, when the secular terrorist organizations, such as Arafat's FATAH/Tanzim or People's Front for Liberation of Palestine, employ suicide bombers too, the recruitment can take place anywhere, from hospitals or restaurants to schools and even kindergartens - the youngest suicide bomber arrested by Israeli security services is just 13 years old, the youngest who blew up was 16. Also, palestinian militants often use small children to ferry weapons and explosives, for example in Jenin a 6 year old boy stopped by IDF soldiers had several grenades, AK magazines and other ammunition in his backpack.

Further on down the chain, there is an Agent, who has to select the target of a terrorist act and to collect information about it. Again, contrary to popular opinion, terrorist's choice of their objective is far from random. The Agent is usually a Palestinian Arab with a work permit in Israel, or less often an Israeli Arab. The Agent often works or had worked in the target location - such as a restaurant, a hotel or a banquet hall.
The Engineer prepares the bomb and its separate components.

The Mule,who brings the terrorist closer to his target is sometimes an Israeli Arab, more often a Palestinian with work permit. Usually he is not a member of a terrorist organization, but an experienced car-thief, well familiar with the Israeli society. A car with an Israeli number makes all movements in the country much easier. Such thief also knows all the roads very well and is experienced in escaping from the police.

The Planner, who commands the operation is the leader of the group, an active member of a terrorist organization (Hamas, Fatah etc.) who is the "field captain" of the terrorists. In addition to him, there is often another person who deals with the finances of the operation.

Of course, it is not a hard and fast structure. Often a single person performs several tasks, for example, recruitment and command, or, vice versa several terrorists work on the same task. The bomb is usually constructed by two or three people - the head "engineer" and his assistants.

"Trigger" of a suicide bomber, that was discovered by IDF soldiers in a secret laboratory in Shchem (Nablus)
Palestinians use two main types of explosive: "home-made" TATP (triacetone triperoxide) and TNT (trinitrotoluene) which is taken out of old mines and shells or brought in illegally from abroad.

Acetone peroxide is an explosive most widely available and the simplest in preparation. Its components can be easily bought in any household store without provoking suspicion - hydrogen peroxide is used for bleaching hair, acetone is used for nail polish, as a solvent or (in a solution with sulfur acid) as electrolyte. But preparation of acetone peroxide is rather dangerous, besides it must be compressed for better detonation, which can cause an explosion by itself. The plastification of acetone peroxide ("cooking" the explosive to form it as needed when it becomes cold) is a very dangerous process, too. That's why there are always burns on Palestinian "engineers'" bodies, and sometimes body parts - fingers, hands - are missing.

But with all the disadvantages of a dangerous (for the terrorist) preparation, acetone peroxide has one definite advantage over other types of explosives - it cannot be discovered by dogs. Specially trained dogs (including dogs that were recently bought by Israel in USA) can discover explosives such as ammonal, plastic explosives, hexogen - but not acetone peroxide.

Sometimes Palestinian terrorists use acetone peroxide as an initiating explosive, and ammonal, which is simpler and less dangerous in preparation as the main explosive. "Homemade" ammonal is actually ammonia nitrate mixed with coal and aluminum powder. The ammonal, compressed and mixed in proper quantities, is a simple explosive that can be detonated by acetone peroxide. That way, less of the hazardous acetone peroxide is required, or the same quantity can be used for several bombs.

Palestinians use simple light bulbs as detonators - it is enough to break the glass and coat the wire with any easily flammable material. When the light bulb is turned on, the wire is instantly heated and the bomb detonates. It was recently mentioned in the media that a certain English doctor who worked in Jenin discovered Palestinian bombs with detonators made out of light bulbs. From this he concluded that the Palestinians were trained by IRA fighters. In fact, a light bulb is the simplest and the most widely available type of detonator and there is no need to be an IRA fighter to prepare it.

TNT or other industrially manufactured explosive comes to Palestinians in several ways, mostly by smuggling: from Jordan by land, from Lebanon to Gaza by sea, or via underground tunnels from Egypt to Rafah. Other sources of explosives are old mines, shells and bombs that are found on firing ranges and old Israeli mine fields. Finally, there are stolen explosives from Israeli stocks, though they are much harder to get then for example small arms.

Though TNT is stronger than acetone peroxide, it has a serious disadvantage - it cannot be plastified in home conditions, which is why it is much less convenient for the suicide-bomber. Often, when using tolite, terrorists don't wear belts, but take a sack or a suitcase. With TNT real detonators must be used.
Sometimes terrorists get a hold of even stronger explosives, such as C4 or other plastic explosives. C4 is significantly stronger than acetone peroxide and some 20% stronger than TNT. By its consistency C4 resembles Play Dough, so it is easy to make a bomb of any form out of it, and to hide it under the clothes. Luckily, plastic explosives are more difficult to obtain than others of the abovementioned types, which is why terrorists seldom have the opportunity to use it.

A primitive bomb usually consists of several cylinders, often cut parts of metallic water pipes, filled with explosives and fragments , that are connected by a wire to a trigger, the "red button", that is usually located in the suicide bomber's pocket, or on his chest. The cylinders are hung or packed in an inner lining of a jacket, that is worn under the clothes. It is a very simple and effective device.
A more sophisticated kind is made out of plastified explosive, and consists of "plates" of explosive, that are packed into a jacket or into a lining of a coat. The "fragmentation jacket" consists of steel balls, screws, nuts and pieces of thick wire.

The shrapnel elements, which were discovered by IDF forces in a secret laboratory in Shchem (Nablus)
The main killing power of any bomb is not the explosion itself (the shock wave is rather small because of small quantity of explosives used) but the fragments of its jacket, which are launched in all directions by the explosion. In air force bombs and in many types of artillery shells the pieces are formed out of the steel casing, which is split into small pieces in an explosion.

In anti-personnel tank shells and in some kinds of artillery shells part of the internal payload is dedicated to shrapnel- such a shell is filled with several thousand of needles ("flechettes"). Sometimes these flechettes are made of plastic, which do not show up on x-rays. Palestinian terrorists realized this principle long ago and use it widely. More than 90% of the victims injured are hit by the bomb shrapnel.

The most widely used and the most dangerous shrapnel consists of ball bearings 3-7 millimeters in diameter. In the most severe terrorist acts - in the Delfinarium, Sbarro, in the banquet hall in Netania - the bombs of the suicide-bombers were filled with steel balls.

In an explosion, the balls are launched with such speed, that their power is close to a bullet's. You could say that in an explosion the suicide-bomber shoots several hundred bullets in a single moment.

Aside from steel balls, nails, screws and so on, nuts and washers are also used. Nuts are easily glued together to form tiny plates that can be pressed in, or even tied by a tape to the plates of the explosive to hide it better. Likewise, nuts are also stringed on a thread or on a piece of wire, as shown on the photographs.
X-ray picture of a 17-old girl, who was killed by a suicide-bomb's nail penetrating her skull.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.waronline.org/terror/suicide/fake_bomb.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.waronline.org/en/terror/suicide.htm&h=470&w=400&sz=39&hl=fr&start=5&sig2=dwfgtgh8UZG752wzg5Nb2w&um=1&tbnid=xsGpE571MDvCHM:&tbnh=129&tbnw=110&ei=yKYzRtX8BILGhATA6YmmAw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dterrorism%2Bbelt%2Bbomb%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Dfr%26lr%3D

Poster!

Feel free to deliver the message! This poster is free of charge, without copyright. Print it and post it everywhere.

More posters in English and Arabic available soon.

T-shirts

Here are the 3 other models.

You will look great in those wonderful T-Shirts.

I will post soon how you can get those amazing items.

Thanks for your patience.

T-Shirt Preview!

Here is the first of four types of t-shirts.

They will be available very soon.

You can already see this model online. Enjoy!

Un-Islamic Islam

This article is a wonderful testimony from a Canadian Imam. He should be a light fo all of us.
Here is the core of his message: Radicals exist everywhere and the fact that they exist in the Muslim community should not be a surprise to anyone. Did we Muslims fail to show that we are peacemakers and peace-lovers? It is time for us Muslims to stop denying our ills or blaming them on others.
Muslims must immediately stop behaving as if everything is normal. Perhaps before we Muslims make statements condemning extremism, we should first condemn those within us that are actively promoting it.

Un-Islamic Islam
http://canadiancoalition.com/forum/messages/17602.shtml
By Imam Dr. Yahya FadlallaThe Hamilton Spectator(Jul 10, 2006)

In the aftermath of the 17 Toronto-area people charged with planning terrorist acts, we have to remember they are innocent until prosecuted fairly and transparently and proven guilty in a court of law -- not by the public, the media or our Prime Minister who already judged them: "They hate us because of our way of life."

We also have to remember that these are only 17 from about 750,000 Muslims in the greater Toronto area, most of whom are highly educated and a community with an extremely low crime rate.

In my opinion, Canada will likely face major terrorist acts in the future if certain things do not change. There are three aspects to this: government, media and the Muslim community. If all three are dealt with, I believe the problem can be confronted successfully.

No doubt the vast majority of Islamic establishments, such as mosques, work hard to better and benefit their communities. But some of them are tangled in many problems. It seems to me that the way some so-called imams or leaders run their mosques or organizations is akin to the way the countries they came from are run: by the iron fist of a dictator who seems not to look after anyone except himself, his goals or his ideology.

This is un-Islamic.

Where is our government while some of these organizations collect monies and/or receive funds from foreign lands with ties to terrorists, but are not audited?

Where was the government (and police) when wise Canadian Muslims brought to their attention violations of the law that occur in some mosques and the radical behaviours of some so-called imams and leaders?

As a matter of fact, government and police seem to put wind under the wings of these so-called imams or leaders by meeting and accepting them as liaisons to the Muslim community. In some cases some government officials seem to intentionally get close to the so-called leader or Imam in order to be invited by him to solicit votes from the community, indirectly and unconsciously helping him and his perilous ideology to prosper. This needs to change.

As for the media: They seem not to realize that they are pumping up people who are not only unqualified to give Islamic opinions as they do, but also do not represent the Muslim community. The media, to the insult of many Muslims, call these people community leaders or spokesmen.

The media seem to choose far-leftist Muslims who say the hijab (Muslim women's head-covering) is old-fashioned and must be abolished or state that there are horrifying "problems with Islam." The other faction the media appears to propagate is made up of extremists who classify any beardless Muslim man as an idiot sinner and view Jews and Christians with narrow-mindedness, declaring them kafirs -- infidels who deserve kidnapping and beheading. (This is contrary to the Koran that calls them with respect Ahl-ul-Ketab --people of the scriptures revealed upon Moses and Jesus).

It is true that there are a few informed Muslim thinkers sporadically interviewed by the media, but much better can be done to depict a true picture of Islam and of Muslim Canadians. Why does the media use terms like "Muslim terrorists", "Muslim radicals" and "Muslim extremists"? Not only does the media seem to insist on using these terms but in publishing the views of some of those extremists, they help spread their radical ideologies.

It is a fact that there are extremists among Muslims, but why are they referred to by their religion? This taints Islam in the eyes of the public and consequently affect Muslims in their job searches and relationships with non-Muslim friends, neighbours, colleagues and, in some cases, family members.

This, in turn, creates and stirs anger in the Muslim community on top of the ongoing frustration caused by what their Muslim brothers and sisters are facing in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and other parts of the world. This anger usually appears to be directed towards the West, including Canada, while it creates sympathy toward Al-Qaeda and Taliban.

The media needs to correct certain practices when it comes to reporting on Muslims and Islam.
Muslim community involvement is important. It starts at home. The only fear parents seem have of the children and the Internet is pornography. But there are thousands of websites that give shocking details of how to, among other things, plan an attack, a hijack or kidnapping, and even tell what to do if you are apprehended.
It is possible for anyone to sit in a room with a computer and get the same information as if he or she were in a training camp in, for example, Afghanistan.

We Muslims also need to be aware of the mosque youths go to and the ideology of its imam and the people they associate with.

It is easier to recruit a 20-year-old who is in a crisis of identity and in search of his place in the community than it is to recruit someone who is in his 40s, married, with a job, career and life experience.
Many of our youths seem to have an identity crisis. A youth thinks he will be like a rock star in his community if he belongs to a group that has a good cause in his inexperienced, innocent and often coached views. However, seen pragmatically, some of these good causes are nothing but terrorism under fancy names such as jihad.
This is an un-Islamic jihad and is un-Islamic Islam.

Denial or marginalization of the problems exists in the Muslim community and the government. About the first week of June, our ambassador to the U.S., appearing before a senate committee in that country, downplayed the existence of terrorism in Canada -- while at the time the U.S. intelligence community (which surely cooperates with its Canadian counterpart) cited about 52 terrorist organizations in Canada.

Some so-called leaders and imams keep denying terrorism exists in the Muslim community.

Some others seem to wrongfully think that it is against Islamic teachings to describe a Muslim as an extremist; more grievously, they seem not to see themselves as such. On the contrary, they appear to consider themselves righteous.

Some others exaggerate and declare that the vast majority of mosques are penetrated by extremists.
These so-called leaders and imam do not realize (or perhaps they do) that they created communities amongst the one Muslim community (Wahhabis, Salafis, Tablighi Jamaat, Sufis, Shi'as, etc.) with their un-Islamic and self-serving ideologies.

Islam strongly teaches unity and abhors disunity and those who cause it (see Koran 3:104-105 and 6:159).
Another possible role of the Muslim community is to make sure what goes in the mosques and organizations is to best serve the interest and betterment of the community, and not serving the so-called imams or leaders who seem to seek meetings with the police and/or government officials to declare they do not condone terrorism and that they call and pray for peace within Canada.

If they sincerely do not condone terrorism, then why did not we see them organize demonstrations and rallies condemning terrorism as they did with controversial cartoons of Prophet Muhammad?
Away from the cameras, some of them seem to encourage hatred, declaring the Jews and Christians who are our neighbours and colleagues as infidels. They exalt their heroes of 9/11 as martyrs and take the devastation wrought by them as intrepidness.

Some so-called imams pray at the end of sermons on Fridays -- in front of gatherings that include energetic yet inexperienced youths -- for the destruction of Jews and Christians.

Upon hearing such prayers, a youth may very possibly start to hate his or her non-Muslim friends and neighbours and think it is his or her duty to pray for their destruction.

Such prayers, I would say, fall under a classification of a hate crime.

When the prayers are not answered, violence is seen as a solution. But, if non-Muslim Canadians were kafirs, why then did these so-called imams and leaders leave their Muslim countries and come to live and stay in a land of infidels? The Koran says: "... why do you say what you do not, it is grievously hateful in the sight of God that you say what you do not." (Koran 28:3-4.)

Even with regards to unbelievers and infidels, the Koran tells Muslims: "God forbids you not with regards to those who fight you not for (your) faith nor drive you out of your homes, from dealing kindly and justly with them, for God Loves those who are just." (Koran 60:8.)

It is a fact on the tongues of Muslims that they have more rights, religious and otherwise, and freedom in Canada than they had in their Muslim countries.

Imams in general seem to forget that the congregations, especially youth, need to see sermons in actions and not only in words. Sermons can include and encourage respecting the law of the land (Canada), loving and protecting it.

Radicals exist everywhere and the fact that they exist in the Muslim community should not be a surprise to anyone. Did we Muslims fail to show that we are peacemakers and peace-lovers? It is time for us Muslims to stop denying our ills or blaming them on others.

Muslims must immediately stop behaving as if everything is normal. Perhaps before we Muslims make statements condemning extremism, we should first condemn those within us that are actively promoting it.

Yahya Fadlalla is an imam based in Hamilton. In addition to his Islamic education, he has expertise in terrorism with a doctorate in computer science --specializing in cyber-terrorism, cryptography and information warfare.

Islam is under threat!

Islam is threatened. Mulims should unite and denounced terrorists and "Muslims" that want to impose a Dhimmi status on non-Muslim in Muslim countries.
Otherwise, a clash of civilization might occur. Otherwise, Islam will not appear anymore as a religion of Peace.

Some Western scholars are denouncing Islam and no more the terrorists and extremists. We should unite and prove them that they are wrong. We must constantly denounce "Muslims" that are not respectful of other people.

Here is a link to the Western scholars video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7524727529706125858&q=islam+what+the+west+needs+to+know&hl=en

Major Conferences

"The Muslim Brothers Disclosed" will organize major conferences in Cairo, Alexandria, Istambul, Paris, London, Damascus, Beirut, and Amman from September to December 2007.
Some universities in those cities have already accepted to provide "the Muslim Brothers Disclosed" a conference room and their experts to debate.

You will be advise on those major events in the coming month.

Proud to be a Muslim, Proud to be against the MB

Dear readers,

Thank you for your growing supports.
Responding to your numerous demands, I manage to produce t-shirts, badges, and flags "The Muslim Brothers Disclosed" and "Proud to be a Muslim, Proud to be against the MB." Everything will be available very soon.

The version of this blog and its promotionnal items would be available in Arabic at the end of the year.
Inch Allah.

Hatred must stop

This article is an extract of an article available on the Muslim Brothers website. The Muslim Brothers shamefully publish authors that have put hatred and nonsense at the forefront of their message.
Khalid Amayreh, Ikhwanweb

In an article titled “why I hate America” which I wrote a few weeks after 9/11, I pointed out that there were three main reasons for Muslim hatred of the US government.

These included America’s embrace of Zio-Nazism (Israel is a Nazi state because when Jews behave like Nazis, they become Nazis), America’s embrace and support of Arab and Muslim tyrannies from Morocco to Pakistan, and this evangelical Nazi-like hostility to Islam and its estimated 1.5 billion adherents which has assumed cynical proportions such as claiming that Muslims don’t worship the true creator.

As a Palestinian, who by the way received his college education in the United States (I received my BA in journalism from the University of Oklahoma and MA in the same field from the University of Southern Illinois at Carbondale), I can’t possibly like a government that slaughtered a million Iraqi children in order to punish one man, Saddam Hussein. Nor can I view with indifference America’s Gestapo-like policies and practices toward my people.

People don’t like their tormentors, and America is par excellence the tormentor of the Palestinian people. America is the author of 39 years of death, bereavement, savagery, home demolition, roadblocks , persecution and repression of my people. America is to us what the Third Reich was to the Jews. America and Israel are the Nazis of our time.

http://www.ikhwanweb.com/Home.asp?zPage=Systems&System=PressR&Press=Show&Lang=E&ID=5005

the MB Propaganda is well alive

Dr. Mustapha Al-Shak'ah, Ikhwanweb - Cairo, Egypt

Therefore, Islam did not spread by sword but with its strong faith and tolerance, how can we interpret the great number of people who embraced Islam in India, China, Malaya, Java, part of eastern India and Middle Africa? How can we explain the phenomenon that millions in Russia, Poland, and Lithuania in north Europe embraced Islam? How can we explain the same in Guinea?? Did the swords of Muslims expanded to reach these regions on Earth?? No lunatic or rational have said that!!

Islam knew its way in these regions thanks to Muslim preachers who were unarmed, but they were armed by faith and tolerance. Many people embraced Islam as a result of this but at the same time Muslims were being massacred in Spain and they faced all kinds of unprecedented persecution in history. At this period of time, any one dares saying, "There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is a messenger of Allah" was massacred until Islam and Muslims vanished from Spain.

Islam spread in Africa as if light spread among darkness ...

We have elucidated how Islam spread in the four corners of earth without force but by the strong creed, tolerance and its teachings that meets the needs of human soul.

Islam does not obligate people to embrace it by force or sword.


Repeating a lie does not make it a truth....

The moderate myth is still alive

O Brotherhood, What Art Thou? http://news.yahoo.com/s/weeklystandard/20070418/cm_weeklystandard/obrotherhoodwhatartthou_1
Washington (The Weekly Standard) Vol. 012, Issue 30 - 4/23/2007 -
Even though Congress was in recess the first week of April, a number of lawmakers kept busy. A bipartisan delegation led by House majority leader Steny Hoyer paid a visit to Cairo, meeting with several Egyptian members of parliament, including members of the Muslim Brotherhood, a controversial Islamist group officially banned in Egypt. Hoyer's contacts with the Brotherhood have added new intensity to the debate over whether or not the U.S. government should "engage" with the group as an ally in the war on terror.

Making the case for such engagement, Robert Leiken and Steven Brooke wrote an article in the March/April issue of Foreign Affairs entitled "The Moderate Muslim Brotherhood." They conclude that the Brotherhood consists of "moderate Muslims with active community support" and that engaging with its members "makes strong strategic sense."

Yet this could not be further from the truth. The argument for a strategy of engagement flows from the incorrect belief that if Islamist groups that denounce violence are strengthened, they will then confront their more violent brethren and rob them of their support base. Although various Islamist groups do quarrel over tactics and often bear considerable animosity towards one another, a "divide and conquer" strategy will only push them closer together. This is illustrated perfectly by the response to Prime Minister Tony Blair's decision to ban the revolutionary Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) after the July 7, 2005, bombings in London.

HT reached out to various British Islamist organizations, including the Muslim Brotherhood (despite their intense historical rivalry), and urged them all to stand united or "be the next in line to be proscribed." Sadly, HT's effort was successful and Blair was forced to withdraw his proposal.Allies in this war cannot be chosen on the basis of their tactics--that is, whether or not they eschew violent methods. Instead, the deciding factor must be ideology: Is the group Islamist or not? In essence, this means that a nonviolent, British-born Islamist should not be considered an ally. Yet a devout, conservative Muslim immigrant to Europe--one who does not even speak any Western languages but rejects Islamist ideology--could be.

Moderate, non-Islamist Muslims have long tried to explain the inherent incompatibility of Islamism with a Western society that extols pluralism and equality. Islamists seek the total imposition of Islamic law upon society at large. To the Brotherhood and groups like it, the Koran and Islam are not a source of law but the only source of law. As the Muslim Brotherhood declares in its motto, "Allah is our objective, the Prophet is our leader, the Koran is our law, jihad is our way, dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope."Moreover, engaging with Islamist organizations such as the Brotherhood lends legitimacy to an ideology that does not, in fact, represent the views of the majority of Muslims. Thus, American policymakers who advocate pursuing such a strategy are actually facilitating Islamism by endorsing it as a mainstream ideolog.

Some have already endorsed organizations that were founded by Brotherhood members and maintain a close ideological affiliation with the group, such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). Whether at home or abroad, such a policy is leading to disaster, as liberal, non-Islamist Muslims--having already been denounced by Islamists as apostates--are now being told by Western governments that they do not represent "real" Islam.Empowering Islamists at the expense of non-Islamists hardly seems a wise strategy for the United States to pursue if it wants to win the war of ideas. After all, non-Islamists are already tremendously disadvantaged in terms of organization and funding. The Muslim Brotherhood has well-established networks of institutions, educational centers, and think tanks, as well as millions of dollars in donations from the Middle East. At the same time, many moderates are deterred from speaking out because of the ire doing so would provoke from Islamist groups. In the West, not only do critics have to worry about a fatwa calling for their death, but they are also faced with the prospect of getting sued for millions of dollars.Indeed, Islamist organizations have flourished in the tolerant environment of the West, taking advantage of the freedom of speech to spread their hate-filled, anti-Semitic ideas without fear of reprisal.

In the process, they actively and openly create a fifth column of activists who work to undermine the very systems under which Western societies operate. They are creating self-segregated societies in a process that has been called "voluntary apartheid." This tactic has been enthusiastically supported by the Muslim Brotherhood, whose unofficial spiritual leader Yusuf al-Qaradawi has repeatedly advised European Muslims to create their own "Muslim ghettos" to avoid cultural assimilation.Islamist groups are engaged in a long-term social engineering project, by which they hope to lead Muslims to reject Western norms of pluralism, individual rights, and the rule of law. At the core of Islamist terrorism is the ideological machinery that works to promote sedition and hatred. That the tactics of the Muslim Brotherhood are nonviolent (or at least less violent) does not make the ideology behind those tactics any less antagonistic to the United States.

It may be that, when compared with al Qaeda or Hezbollah, the Muslim Brotherhood is the lesser evil. Yet engagement is worse than no engagement if it legitimizes Islamist ideology and alienates non-Islamists. Recognizing and responding to the threat posed by the Islamist ideology is an important part of the war on terror. Any American or Western engagement with Islamists should be critical in nature. Under no circumstances should we do them the favor of extolling Islamist ideologues as "moderates."

Zeyno Baran is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.

MB blogs appear on the web

'Brotherhood' Blogs In Egypt Offer ViewOf Young Islamists
By MARIAM FAMApril 20, 2007;
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB117703590678076464-pG4g8MR_rdqBHPDF9YFB3MftpTI_20070520.html?mod=blogs

Like many young bloggers, Shaza Essam uses her personal Web site to list her favorite Hollywood movies, talk about a popular song and complain about her studies.

But some of the postings by the 21-year-old dentistry student in Cairo are far less typical. In an entry about her childhood ambitions, among becoming a doctor, a photographer or an actress, she adds, "I dreamed that I was one of the mujahideen in Chechnya or Palestine, and that I was blowing myself up among as many enemies as possible so that I could be like the martyrs."

Ms. Essam is one of a growing number of young members and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, a fundamentalist Islamic group in Egypt, who have joined the blogosphere in recent months. The Brotherhood, which officially renounced violence in the 1970s -- though group leaders endorse "armed resistance" in lands they consider occupied -- says it wants an Islamic state through peaceful means that respects the rights of minorities. The Brotherhood has branches outside Egypt and spawned the militant Palestinian group Hamas. In Egypt, it is a growing force and constitutes the largest political opposition group. But some of its views and activities remain highly controversial.

Banned by the Egyptian government, the group has long used Web sites that promote its ideology and provide its leaders with a platform. But, until recently, online windows into the personal lives of individual members have been rare. The new blogs by young Brotherhood members often mix political views and diary-like reveries, capturing the attempts of some to reconcile free expression and adherence to strict doctrine, and the tensions that can result.

Ms. Essam, a conservative Muslim who wears a veil, started her Arabic-language blog, molotoofy.blogspot.com, in February. She says she picked the name, which roughly translates as "My tongue is a Molotov [cocktail]," because "my words are the only thing I can use to resist any injustice and express my opinion. Also, I am usually blunt without meaning to be; my words may come out like bombs when I am talking to a friend." Topics range from her political views -- she admires Ahmed Yassin, the late spiritual leader of Hamas -- to her entertainment picks -- the Will Smith movie "Men in Black," for instance.

Unlike many Brotherhood members, she keeps her affiliation a secret at her university, for fear of harassment by authorities. But she has gradually begun giving the blog address to trusted colleagues. "When these people get to read about my likes and dislikes, they will know that I am an ordinary person just like them," she says.
Across the Middle East, Islamic groups with varying backgrounds -- including al-Qaeda -- have used the Internet to advance their causes. Political blogs have also become a tool for activists challenging their governments and clamoring for democracy.

Muslim Brotherhood members are increasingly starting blogs as the Egyptian government has stepped up its efforts against the group, arresting many members and freezing the assets of some. The crackdown further intensified after a December protest in which around 50 students who belong to the Brotherhood appeared in military-style black uniforms and balaclavas. That prompted accusations that the group is establishing a military wing, which it denies.

The Muslim Brotherhood distances itself from groups like al-Qaeda and condemns their attacks. It runs charities and social services that help make it popular among many Egyptians. But critics charge that the group's strict hierarchy and opaque way of operating are at odds with stated democratic aims and that its conservative views would preclude freedoms, especially for women.

The new blogs by Brotherhood members are laden with political messages, largely adopting the organization's views and campaigning for the release of jailed members. A few refer to acts of violence, such as one that posts the will of a Palestinian suicide bomber. Mixed with the political messages are favorite songs, diary entries and vignettes on personal relationships -- some from well-known junior figures in the movement and others from relative unknowns, such as Ms. Essam.

Magdy Saad, a 29-year-old who works in marketing and is an active member of the Brotherhood, described in his blog how he anxiously awaited a response from the family of a girl whose hand he had asked in marriage. Two days later, he broke the news: He was turned down. "God, I accept your decision," he wrote. Readers responded with sympathy: "God willing, He'll give you someone even better," wrote one.

He has received support but also criticism from some Brotherhood members for blogging about personal details and thoughts. "The Egyptian society is conservative and has many areas that are out of bounds when it comes to personal affairs," he said in an interview. "The Brotherhood has more of these out-of-bounds areas because there's a great emphasis on the moral side, so some people think that talking about this human and personal side runs contrary to morals."

Abdou el-Monem Mahmoud, a journalist and a well-known member of the Brotherhood, was one of the first to start his own Web site. The site (ana-ikhwan.blogspot.com) says it has received more than 239,000 hits since it started in October. Mr. Mahmoud, 27, posts messages from the families of jailed group members and describes how their imprisonment is affecting their children. "Aisha started screaming: 'Father, father, can you see me?' She yelled and cried when she saw her father but wasn't able to kiss him," he wrote on Feb. 25. "These scenes have really left me exhausted."

The latest entries on the blog are not by Mr. Mahmoud, but by others giving updates on his own jailing. Mr. Mahmoud was arrested last Sunday, accused of belonging to the banned Brotherhood and of inciting students to stage a military-style parade, according to Abd el-Monem Abd el-Maqsud, a Brotherhood member and the group's lawyer. Mr. Abd el-Maqsud says no such parade was held. The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, a nonprofit group that defends press freedom, this week called for Mr. Mahmoud's release, accusing the Egyptian government of "increasingly repressive policies toward online dissent."

Julien Pain, head of the press group's Internet Freedom desk, said that in addition to a crackdown on the Brotherhood, the arrest is "also a way to tell other bloggers that from now on they should be careful."
Egyptian authorities wouldn't immediately comment.

Young Brotherhood bloggers say the effort is grassroots, and some even see it as a potential catalyst for change within the organization. "Our life is not all about arrests and politics...We eat, drink, get married, sleep...laugh and joke," Asmaa el-Erian, daughter of one of the Brotherhood's prominent members, wrote on her blog.
But some critics believe that blogging is part of a coordinated strategy by the Brotherhood to project a modern image and widen its support beyond its traditional base.

"They're trying to seize the imagination of the young and see this as an area that shouldn't be just left for the liberal forces," says Amr el-Choubaki, an expert on Islamic groups at Cairo's Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. "It's part of the group's strategy to infiltrate the different institutions of society." Even if the blogs were introduced by grassroots members, "the leaders up high at least didn't object," Mr. el-Choubaki says.
Mr. Mahmoud says the blogs are useful. "People don't know what a Muslim Brotherhood member is like as a person...and some are wary of the Brothers," he said in an interview before his arrest. "We want to tell them that we are ordinary Egyptians. We want our freedom, just like the seculars, leftists, socialists or poor Egyptians do. The only difference is that we have an Islamic identity."

Hamas TV prepares for Intifadah III

Hamas TV Prepares For Intifada III
The MEMRI Report
By STEVEN STALINSKY, April 12, 2007
http://www.nysun.com/article/52322

Some Hamas leaders have been speaking in Arabic of "a coming stage" against Israel. Many Middle East analysts are also discussing a possibility of an "Intifada III." Unlike the first two "uprisings," the Palestinian Arabs now have press and broadcast apparatuses at their disposal.

Leading up to the Palestinian Arab parliament elections in January 2006, and following the Arab satellite TV revolution led by Al-Jazeera, the terrorist organization Hamas launched its own TV network named after the Al-Aqsa mosque. Early on, most of the programming was devoted to Koranic readings and images of Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem.

Shortly thereafter, Hamas officials were quoted saying it would be emulating what Hezbollah did with its TV network Al-Manar and that it would also aim to spread the ideology of Hamas worldwide.

The director of the board of Al-Aqsa TV, Fathi Hamid, told Islam Online in January 2006, "It's only fitting that the Islamic movement, Hamas, should have a TV station where we can explain our hopes, our Islamic culture, and counter the widespread and incorrect stereotyping of struggle and resistance as terrorism. Ultimately, we hope Al-Aqsa TV will be a bridge between Hamas and the entire world, so we can have our own voice in the international media."

Programming developed to include calls by Hamas leaders for Palestinian Arab viewers to become suicide bombers, as well as segments in support of the killing of Israelis. One example includes an address at a rally led by Sheik Fayyadh Al-Akhdhar, a Hamas leader in Nablus, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on December 23.

The Hamas religious figure said, "The Hamas of the Revolution of the Mosques, of the War of the Knives, of the car bombs, of the great martyrdom-seekers, of the Al-Qassam missiles, of the Zionists' death tunnels, of the kidnapping of the soldiers and the settlers is the same Hamas of the government, of the legislative council, and of the ministries. … It will continue to march along the path of the martyrs and to follow in their footsteps until the liberation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the filth of the aggressive oppressors."

Message of hatred against the United States

A lack of knowledge about the Muslim Brotherhood is evident on the part of U.S. officials who are now cozying up to the organization. The Brotherhood's leadership is vehemently anti-American and has gone on the record calling for jihad against America.

One notable example includes Brotherhood lawmaker Ragab Hilal Hamida's speech during a parliamentary session between January 28 and February 3, 2006, which focused on the Inter-Arab Agreement on Combating Terrorism. The Arab press reported on his statements saying the Koran encourages terrorism and that he supports the activities of Osama bin Laden, Ayman Al-Zawahri, and Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi. The report also stated that another Muslim Brotherhood lawmaker, Sheikh Ahmad Askar, agreed with Mr. Hamida's statements.

Another example illustrating the problem with the Muslim Brotherhood can be found in the ideology of its current leader. When Mr. Akef took over in 2004, he gave a series of interviews to the Egyptian press stating — among other things — that America, which he referred to as "Satan," would soon collapse. Regarding the attacks of September 11, 2001, he claimed there was no real proof that Al Qaeda was behind them and stated that in the future, Islam would take over Europe and America.

An unidentified senior official in the American government was quoted by Newsweek as saying the invitation of Brotherhood members was "cleared" by the State Department and represented the highest-level contact with the organization since September 11.

As some members of the American government pursue talks with the Muslim Brotherhood, it must be understood that this organization is no friend of America. Just two weeks ago, its leader spoke at a Cairo-based conference called "The Struggle Against the U.S. and Zionist Occupation." He stated that "the devil Bush" and his allies were really behind "sowing terror worldwide."

http://www.nysun.com/article/52777
Mr. Stalinsky is the executive director of the Middle East Media Research Institute.

Taqiyya

Tariq Ramadan is "disclosed" in this good video from a French journalist:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdrxx_envoyespecialquiesttariqramadan

Tariq Ramadan is at the forefront of Europe's Islamization

Tariq Ramadan, the grandson of Al-Banna (the creator of the Mulsim Brothers), is a propagandist that used the double discourse: Taqiyya. His father was at the head of the movement for Europe. He denied being a member of the religious movement, even if he claims that he accepts the heritage of the Muslim Brothers.
Scholars reject his explanations.

He wants to Islamize Europe, notably through the pressure of Muslims.
Numerous books and articles are underlining his scheme.
Among others, one should read:

Faut-il faire taire Tariq Ramadan ?, Aziz Zemouri
Frère Tariq : Discours, stratégie et méthode de Tariq Ramadan, Caroline Fourest;
Le sabre et le coran, Tariq Ramadan et les frères musulmans à la conquéte de l'Europe, Paul Landau, 2005,
Lionel Favrot : Tariq Ramadan dévoilé - Lyon Mag'.
Jack-Alain Léger, Tartuffe fait Ramadan, Denoël, 2003,
À contre CORAN, Jack-Alain Léger, mars 2004, « Hors de moi », éditions HC

and
http://www.icapi.org/tariqramadan
Who is Tariq Ramadan?

In the Guardian, Tariq Ramadan, a Muslim preacher and advocate, has condemned the London attack of 7th July, as indeed he did 9/11 and the attack on Madrid. But even as he spoke of these attacks he expressed doubts that they were caused by Islamist groups. We have reason to doubt his good faith.

We have reason because here in France where he is in the limelight, he says one thing in public and something entirely different to his followers. A website of his partisans, Mejliss.com, is actually full of messages approving the London attacks, arguing that it was the fault of the British. Some messages even claim that the attacks were perpetrated by a Zionist conspiracy against Muslims. Is Mr Ramadan, a model among internauts, involved in it? Not if you listen to the numerous interviews he gives, very politely, to the western press. Yes, if you study his books ands tapes selling in Islamist bookshops, as I did for nine months.

Although many intellectuals, among them Arabs and Muslims, have been warning against his influence for the past 15 years, there have always been others, more often than not western progressives, who have been tricked by his duplicity to the point of taking his side. Particularly so, of course, when he claims to be a victim of "Islamophobia" or a Zionist conspiracy. But in France, several books have now shown that Tariq Ramadan is guilty of "doublespeak": a speciality of Muslim extremists called taqiyya: the use of apparently moderate language outside (with non Moslems) while continuing to use extremely radical language inside (with Moslems). It is Tariq Ramadan's favorite sport. Under cover of an apparently moderate and peaceful discourse, this preacher has been converting a growing number of Moslems to radical political Islam.

For example, he calls himself "reformist" leading certain journalists present him as the “Martin Luther King of Islam", but his kind of fundamentalist reformism is closer to Jerry Falwell than Luther King. He calls himself the partisan of an "Islamic feminism" but forgets to mention that this involves opposing Western feminism point by point. His feminism leads young girls under his influence to veil themselves. He hates being reminded that he is the grandson of Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Moslem Brotherhood, the doctrinal matrix which inspires all Islamists, including the most radical, such as the Hamas and al Zawahiri, yet he himself gives courses on his grandfather as “one of the greatest reformists of this century" in his cassettes and books (sold in tens of thousands of copies in Europe).

In Muslim circles, he is known not only as the deserving political heir of his grandfather but also of his father, Saïd Ramadan, the founder of the Islamic Center of Geneva, from which vantage point he coordinated the international branch of the Moslem Brothers until his death. Suspected of having succeeded to his father’s position, Tariq Ramadan was forbidden to stay in France from 1995 to 1996. Only outside the Moslem community does he deny any organic link with the Moslem Brotherhood (as do 90 % of the activists of this essentially secret organization). Nevertheless, within the Moslem community, he clearly claims the ideology of the Brotherhood. Furthermore, he remains an administrator of the Islamic Center of Geneva, the Brothers’ European Center, frequently accused of links with terrorists and placed on the list of organizations suspected of having helped finance Al Qaïda. Faced with these charges, Ramadan presents himself as a peacemaker. Nevertheless the theological references he gives to his partisans are none other than those of the star theologian of the Moslem Brothers, Youssef-al-Qaradhawi, the only Moslem dignitary to have dared proclaim a fatwa authorizing kamikaze attacks! Tariq Ramadan and Qaradawhi regularly give lectures together. All this of course is known to the American authorities who revoked his US visa by decision of the Homeland Security Department.

Tariq Ramadan openly supports Hamas as a “resistance” movement. When he’s asked whether he approves of the killing of an 8-year-old Israeli child, he answers: “That act in itself is morally condemnable but contextually explicable” because the child will grow up to be a soldier. True to the Muslim Brotherhood’s new orientation, Tariq Ramadan has pronounced the West to be “dar el shaada,” the land where he is to undertake his religious mission. He takes advantage of his charisma to tell young women that a good Muslim should be prudish, and hence veiled; to describe homosexuality as a “mental imbalance”; to justify polygamy, and to discourage mixed marriage between Muslims and non-Muslims.

There are liberal Muslims who really were shocked by what happened in London and who fight, day after day, against radical Islam. But Mister Tariq Ramadan is not one of them. To cast him in this role instead of the real liberal Muslims is dangerous and a course that Britain should avoid at all costs. The British need reconciliation and to fight together against not just terrorism but religious radicalism.

Caroline Fourest
Activist, feminist and specialist in religious extremist movements, Caroline Fourest has published an in-depth analysis of the books, tapes and speeches of Tariq Ramadan ( Frère Tariq. Grasset), not yet translated into English. Frère Tariq : Discours, stratégie et méthode de Tariq Ramadan