Mission Accomplished: Mystery Anti-Muslim Film Sows Violence Around World

If the intent of whoever was behind the mystery film was to disrupt US diplomatic missions around the world, mission accomplished.

The overdubbed video clips have taken on a life of their own and it's no longer about the video, but anger directed at the US for no reason other than it's the in-thing to do in places like Tunisia and Egypt. At a time when the economic conditions in those countries isn't improving after regime change, protesting against the US (and throw in the anti-Israel sentiments expressed in some) is a safe way to divert attention away from the inability to improve the economic conditions as fast as everyone wants.

Blaming the US is better than trying to create jobs in those countries. Claiming that the US engaged in blasphemy or somehow supports blasphemy is easier than trying to understand that free speech is a universal right and includes the right to say things that other groups might not like or want to hear or see, but it doesn't give anyone the right to blow stuff up or riot and destroy property. Free exercise of religion means not imposing your religious views on others, or other nations for that matter.

Those behind the film are agent provocateurs who sought to sow discord and create conflict. They achieved those goals, and now the US and those regimes in the Middle East and elsewhere these protests/riots are going on have to deal with the fallout.

One has to also wonder who benefits from the repercussions of these protests/riots/attacks. Iran definitely comes to mind, as do the regimes that replaced longstanding brutal regimes that did not tolerate dissent. This is something that has to be explored at greater depth.

Riots and protests are spreading to other countries, and the list now includes Tunisia, Lebanon (which happens to be where Pope Benedict is visiting on a diplomatic trip), Yemen, Bangladesh, and the German embassy in Khartoum Sudan has been torched. Jordan has also seen protests. Here's a map showing where those protests are underway.

But you know who hasn't seen the film or the clips - most of those protesting. It's a ginned up controversy and the film's creators/backers are still not fully known. And what's known about those involved thus far indicate that the producer was a convicted criminal and a shady character - a grifter being a most charitable term, while the director was incompetent and may not have known the plot/dialogue and the actors didn't know what they were doing or that the film was overdubbed afterwards to completely change the meaning and context of the scenes.

This situation smells, make that reeks, of the trajectory followed in the cartoon jihad that cost more than 100 lives across the world and resulted in embassies of several countries being attacked.

Once again, we have an obscure publication that gets picked up and within days is turned into a rallying cry for rioting and protests by Islamist leaders decrying the blasphemous acts and portrayals - urging death to those involved. Instead of the targets being embassies of the Danes, the nation of the Jyllands Posten, which published the cartoons originally, it's US diplomatic facilities are being targeted (and also Germany). In some instances, it appears that local governments are backing protests, while others - as in Libya - the government is actively trying to block the attacks/protests.

It may also be useful to try and distinguish between the terror attack that killed Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans in Libya and the protests/riots in Egypt and elsewhere. The attack in Libya appears to have been a preplanned attack to coincide with 9/11, while the protests elsewhere appear to be more closely related to the outrage over the mystery film. The film outrage may have spurred protests in Libya as well that were exploited by the attackers, but the scenario has blurred together into one mess that will take quite some time to sort out.

Germany Shuts Down Nuclear Plants With No Plan For How To Make Up Energy Difference

In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster and the Japanese quake/tsunami, Germany made the rash decision to shutter nuclear power plants across the country.

I say it was a rash decision, because instead of figuring out whether the country could actually handle the decision to take that many nuclear power plants offline, it decided that it would take the plants offline and see whether the country could handle the loss after the fact.

Nuclear plants have long generated nearly a quarter of Germany’s electricity. But after the tsunami and earthquake that sent radiation spewing from Fukushima, half a world away, the government disconnected the 8 oldest of Germany’s 17 reactors — including the two in this drab factory town — within days. Three months later, with a new plan to power the country without nuclear energy and a growing reliance on renewable energy, Parliament voted to close them permanently. There are plans to retire the remaining nine reactors by 2022.

As a result, electricity producers are scrambling to ensure an adequate supply. Customers and companies are nervous about whether their lights and assembly lines will stay up and running this winter. Economists and politicians argue over how much prices will rise.

“It’s easy to say, ‘Let’s just go for renewables,’ and I’m quite sure we can someday do without nuclear, but this is too abrupt,” said Joachim Knebel, chief scientist at Germany’s prestigious Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. He characterized the government’s shutdown decision as “emotional” and pointed out that on most days, Germany has survived this experiment only by importing electricity from neighboring France and the Czech Republic, which generate much of their power with nuclear reactors.

Then there are real concerns that the plan will jettison efforts to rein in manmade global warming, since whatever nuclear energy’s shortcomings, it is low in emissions. If Germany, the world’s fourth-largest economy, falls back on dirty coal-burning plants or uncertain supplies of natural gas from Russia, isn’t it trading a potential risk for a real one?

The world is watching Germany’s extreme energy makeover, as politicians from New York to Rome have floated their own plans to shut or shelve reactors.

The International Energy Agency, generally a fan of Germany’s green-leaning energy policy, has been critical. Laszlo Varro, head of the agency’s gas, coal and power markets division, called the plan “very, very ambitious, though it is not impossible, since Germany is rich and technically sophisticated.”

Even if Germany succeeds in producing the electricity it needs, “the nuclear moratorium is very bad news in terms of climate policy,” Mr. Varro said. “We are not far from losing that battle, and losing nuclear makes that unnecessarily difficult.”

Experts are expecting to see blackouts, brownouts, and economic losses as a result of a power generation system that is now far less robust and far more susceptible to disruptions because so much generating capacity is being taken offline in such short time without any new capacity being brought online.

The problems may not be felt immediately within Germany's borders, but they will be soon enough as other countries scramble to find generating capacity and are more likely to turn to gas and coal plants to make up the difference. The net result will be a worsening of air quality over Europe, and despite advances made on wind and solar power, there are times when those sources will not be sufficient to provide capacity.

Turning the back on nuclear power is a tremendous mistake, and one that Germans and the rest of Europe will come to regret.

Russia Backs Assad While Syrian Regimes Continues Brutal Crackdown

Russia is once again on the wrong side of history as it plans on blocking anything harsher than a weakly worded statement against Syrian despot Bashar al-Assad.

"Russia is against any UN Security Council resolution on Syria," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told journalists at a briefing in Moscow.

"We do not believe the Syrian issue is a subject for consideration by the Security Council, let alone the adoption of some kind of resolution," Lukashevich said.

Britain, France, Germany and Portugal have floated a new draft resolution condemning Syria as the United States and its allies seek to raise the pressure on President Bashar Assad's government to end its violent crackdown on protesters.



Lukashevich stopped short of saying Russia would use its veto power as a permanent UN Security Council member to doom any Syria resolution if it comes to a vote.

Some diplomats have said they thought Moscow could be persuaded to abstain, as it did in a March vote on the resolution that authorized military intervention in Libya.

A newly liberated Syria would be less likely to rely upon Russia for its military and long range strategic interests, so Russia is looking out for its own pocketbook interests rather than for the human rights of Syrians oppressed by Assad's brutal regime that keeps racking up the butcher's bill.

At the same time, the IAEA is about to hand down its own report about Syria's covert nuclear program. That report would include recommendations to the Security Council for action against the regime's nuclear program (including the covert nuclear facility bombed by Israel in 2007). Throw in the ongoing investigation of Syria's involvement in the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and there's more than sufficient reason for the Security Council to act against Assad, but Russia will do what it can to water down the response.

For those concerned about Assad's ongoing crackdown, one has to hope that the diplomats from France, Britain, Portugal and Germany among others, are able to convince Russia to abstain rather than an outright veto that would thwart any action.

Meanwhile, Syrians continue fleeing to Turkey to avoid what they fear would be a massacre of civilians following the incident in Jisr Al-Shugur where Syrian officials claim 120 Syrian security and police were killed by armed opponents. Convoys of tanks led by Assad's brother are reportedly heading towards the town.

Two American Servicemembers Killed at German Airport by Radicalized Muslim

German authorities acknowledge that their investigation continues into the motivations of a 21-year-old man from Kosovo, Arid Uka, who is in custody after two U.S. airmen were killed and two others were wounded Wednesday in a shooting on a U.S. military bus at Frankfurt Airport but believe that Uka carried out the attack because he was a radicalized Muslim who wanted to attack Americans.

He apparently shouted out Allahu Ackbar before opening fire on the bus.

The suspect's uncle, 70-year-old Rexhep Uka, said Uka was born and raised in Germany and was a devout Muslim who worked at the airport.

He said Uka's grandfather was a religious leader at a mosque in the village of Zhabar, near Mitrovica, Kosovo.

Murat Uka, who identified himself as the alleged shooter's father, says the only thing he knew about his son was that he hadn't turned up at work on Wednesday.

The Frankfurt airport refused to comment on whether the suspect worked there.

The airport, continental Europe’s second biggest after Paris, is routinely used by American soldiers based in Germany for arrivals and departures.

ABC News reported that when the gunman opened fire, he shouted 'Allah Akbar' which is Arabic for 'God is Great'.

The airport is routinely used by US servicemembers as it is a major hub near major US bases in Germany, including those that provide access to the theaters of operation in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The death toll could have been much worse but for the fact that Uka's gun jammed after firing nine times, allowing police to take Uka down.

Germans On Heightened Terror Alert As Authorities Find Suspicious Package In Namibia: UPDATE: Package Was Security Test?

German authorities raised alert levels throughout the country on the heels of warnings and increased chatter about terror attacks against the country. They appear to have been on to something since authorities in Namibia found a suitcase among luggage bound for Munich that contained a fuse, clock and wires.

A statement by the Namibia Airports Company said that “a suspicious parcel” had been found in the luggage screening area in the airport at Windhoek, Namibia’s capital, and that as a result a Air Berlin Flight 7377 was delayed and its 296 passengers and 10 crew members sent back to the terminal and asked to identify their luggage. The flight eventually took of with its passengers and crew, but its cargo was left behind, the statement said. The plane arrived in Munich Thursday morning.

The German Federal Criminal Police said that a scan of the suspicious suitcase showed batteries attached by wires to a fuse and a clock. The Associated Press quoted an Air Berlin spokeswoman, Sabine Teller, as saying that no explosives were found in the bag. Thomas de Maizière, Germany’s interior minister, told reporters Thursday that according to preliminary investigations, it appeared likely the bag with the fuse and clock was intended for the Munich flight.

”A lot speaks for the idea that the piece of luggage was supposed to be transported on a plane that was to fly to Munich,” he said in Hamburg, according to Associated Press. He said that the incident proved that “the checks worked” but he declined further comment.

Germany had already dispatched heavily armed police officers and bomb-sniffing dogs on Wednesday to its train stations, airports and key landmarks. In a hastily called news conference in Berlin on Wednesday, Mr. de Maizière, said the government had “concrete indications of a series of attacks planned for the end of November,” and German, Pakistani and American officials offered similar accounts of intelligence that pointed to imminent attacks by terrorists trained in Pakistan or Afghanistan.

The officials said that American military drone strikes in those countries had killed some of the plotters and disrupted the plans, but that others were at large and might still strike.

Concern about the possibility of international flights being targeted by terrorists rose last month when two mail bombs were discovered while being sent on cargo planes from Yemen to the U.S. One of them went through a German airport before being found in Britain.

Further tests will be necessary to determine whether the device was actually a live bomb or not. The luggage didn't have a destination address.

The Windhoek-Munich flight was delayed by six hours as all 296 passengers and luggage were subjected to additional checks before takeoff. They arrived in Germany overnight.

Thousands of German holidaymakers travel to Namibia, a former German colony in south-west Africa, each year using Air Berlin.

A spokeswoman for Air Berlin said the package, thought to be a freight item, did not bear a destination address.

The suspicious finding was disclosed at the same time as the interior ministers of Germany’s 16 federal states were discussing new evidence of possible terrorist attacks in Germany, at a meeting in Hamburg.

If they weren't a live device, the items found in Namibia could have been part of a test run to determine how thorough screeners are in other countries or it could have been part of a wider plan to send dummy items through to divert attention from where the real attack is headed. Either plan means that air security experts have to be on their game and security screeners have to be thorough on all luggage passing through their airports lest a terrorist manages to send a bomb on a flight that could not only kill all those on board, but has the potential of killing many on the ground.

If the item didn't bear a destination address, how did it get on board the luggage/cargo manifest in the first place. Is there someone at the airport who managed to stow the item among legitimate cargo? This sounds like a breach of the air security cordon at the Namibia airport or perhaps the suspicious item was delivered to Namibia from another source and Namibian officials spotted the suspicious package.

UPDATE:
Reuters is reporting that unnamed German sources are claiming that this was a test package:

One German source said the package may have carried a label indicating it was a security test, though it was not clear who would have been responsible for carrying out this procedure.

Police in Namibia, a former German colony neighbouring South Africa with a population of around two million people, would not comment on this possibility.

"We can't confirm or deny it was a test. We will communicate the outcomes of the investigation to the public as soon as it is finished," said Namibian police inspector Jay Nangolo.

Germans Raise Terror Alert Warnings For Airports and Rail Systems

The German government has raised warnings for rail and air travel based on increased chatter about a possible attack through the end of the month.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said the government felt compelled to issue a warning of a “new threat level” after receiving intelligence from an unnamed foreign partner and gathering evidence domestically from Islamist groups.

“There is cause for concern, but no cause for hysteria,” de Maiziere told reporters today in Berlin. He said the public will begin to see an increased security presence, though “there are a large number of measures they won’t be able to see.”

The warning follows a worldwide terror alert prompted last month after bombs were found in air-cargo shipments. One bomb, packed inside a printer cartridge, was timed to explode on a flight as it reached the U.S. East Coast. That bomb, which originated in Yemen and was discovered at the U.K.’s East Midlands airport on Oct. 29, had passed through Germany via Cologne/Bonn airport.

A second bomb was found in Dubai. Both were addressed to synagogues in Chicago.

De Maiziere said Germany received additional intelligence after the incident and compared the threat level to the weeks before September 2009 federal elections, when a series of video messages emerged on the Internet warning of terror attacks in Germany. German authorities attributed those threats to an al- Qaeda-inspired campaign that aimed to influence the election, which gave Chancellor Angela Merkel a second term.

As always, the public has to remain vigilant and if they see something out of the ordinary in transit hubs, they should say something to the authorities. If you see something, say something.

Some of this may be the result of ongoing investigations into the failed Yemeni bombing campaign to take down aircraft with cargo bombs. However, there is a concern that active terror cells are operating out of Hamburg Germany.

A group of jihadists from the German city of Hamburg was alleged to be at the heart of the purported plot, European intelligence officials said.

Western intelligence officials say they learned about the alleged plot after Ahmed Sidiqi, a German citizen of Afghan descent, was arrested in Afghanistan in July and taken to the U.S. air base at Bagram for questioning.

"You are aware that the federal security authorities have been presuming a stronger threat situation from international terror for a considerable time," de Maiziere said. "In spring 2009 and in the time thereafter, there were detailed indications of possible attacks in the U.S.A., in Europe and in Germany as well."

US Predator airstrikes continue to target al Qaeda and Taliban targets along the Afghan-Pakistani border, including a strike that killed 20, which included at least four al Qaeda members (foreign fighters).

Yet, there are more pressing concerns with Yemen being a terror haven. Anwar al Awlaki has been insistent on carrying on the jihad against the West and exhorting jihadis to engage in war against the US in particular. His latest videos epitomize his strategy of carrying out attacks by any means necessary. Awlaki's followers have been more active in carrying out attacks against the US than those directly linked to Osama bin Laden of late - the Fort Hood shooter, Times Square bomber, and several other plots were linked to Awlaki. It would seem that Awlaki's al Qaeda affiliate branch in Yemen is best positioned to carry out attacks to the US, and it continues to represent an ongoing threat to US security interests around the world.

French Police Arrest 12 In Terror Sweep

At least 12 al Qaeda suspects arrested around Europe in a plot to attack targets in France.

Three of the men allegedly linked to man caught with bomb-making kit in Naples; arrests come as US, France, other European nations have stepped up terrorism alert vigilance.

French authorities arrested twelve men on Tuesday morning on suspicion of involvement with al-Qaida and terror plots, news agencies reported.AFP reported a police source as saying the men were detained in the southern French cities of Marseille and Bordeaux. According to an official, police seized "some weapons, including a Kalashnikov and a pump-action shotgun, as well as ammunition."

Also on Tuesday, French police arrested three men said to be linked to a man of Algerian origin taken into custody by Italian police in Naples on Saturday, who is due to be extradited to France. Police reportedly found the phone numbers for the three men in the mobile phone of the Algerian man.

The man, 28, had been under a European arrest warrant when he was caught, allegedly with a bomb-making kit.

Depending on how you read the numbers, we're looking at least at 13 (9 arrested in one sweep in France, 1 arrested in Italy, 3 arrested in France in connection with the Italy arrest).

Intel was gathered from another captured terrorist in Afghanistan, which led law enforcement and intel services to disrupt and arrest this group. CNN provides more information on the source of the intel:

Western intelligence officials say they learned about the potential attacks after Ahmed Sidiqi, a German citizen of Afghan descent, was arrested in Afghanistan in July and taken to the U.S. air base at Bagram for questioning. He has not been charged, and intelligence sources in Germany said he was cooperating with the investigation. According to German intelligence officials, Sidiqi and 10 others left Hamburg in 2009 for the tribal areas of Pakistan -- where most of the group joined a jihadist group fighting U.S. and coalition forces across the border in Afghanistan.

Sidiqi told American interrogators that at least one member of his travel group was to be a "foot soldier" in the plot, with other members of the group helping to plan the attacks, a European counterterrorism official told CNN.

Sidiqi's sister says that he had attended the Hamburg Germany mosque where 9/11 collaborators attended. Other relatives are in denial, claiming that Sidiqi would not get himself involved in terror ops, but his actions apparently betray that notion.

Anti-Semitism Watch In Germany

German thugs attacked a Jewish dance group at a street festival in Germany. Several in the group of thugs shouted anti-Semitic slurs with a megaphone.

A Jewish dance group was attacked with stones by a group of children and teenagers during a performance at a street festival in the Germany city of Hannover, police said Thursday. One dancer suffered a leg injury and the group then canceled their performance.

The teenagers also used a megaphone to shout anti-Semitic slurs during the Saturday afternoon attack, Hannover police spokesman Thorsten Schiewe said.

Police said the incident is under investigation and that they do not have an exact number of attackers yet. Schiewe said there were several Muslim immigrant youths among the attackers.

Two suspects, a 14-year-old and a 19-year-old, were being questioned, he said.

Alla Volodarska, whose Progressive Jewish community of Hannover group held the performance, told The Associated Press in an interview that members were still in shock.

The number of anti-Semitic attacks around the world has been on the increase in recent years, fueled in large part by anti-Israel sentiment. However, as Meryl Yourish points out, these attacks have been increasing even without any references to Israel. Also, Meryl noted that the thugs were using the old Nazi standby of "Jews out" in their chants.

Attacks against Jews doubled in 2009, and they're increasing still. The world is becoming an ever more dangerous place for Jews to live - particularly in places like Germany and Poland, let alone in the Middle East.

The anti-Israel sloganeering and rhetoric is barely cover for the real underlying truth - that these people would much rather see the Jews disappear since they aren't tolerated anywhere - let alone in the State of Israel, for which they consider to be the source of all the current wave of anti-Semitism, even as it was the very anti-Semitism that fueled the Nazi genocide of Jews in Europe that led to the founding of Israel because there was a realization that there would be no place truly safe for Jews to call home.

Helen Thomas could not be reached for comment.

They Should Have Named Him Sue

A German court affirmed two lower courts in finding that a family had the right to name their son Djehad.

German authorities who register births had objected to the name, saying it could be harmful for the child given the associations with Islamic terrorism.

But the court said in a ruling Tuesday that the name's meaning is rooted in the requirement to spread the Muslim faith, although it has recently become linked - especially since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks - with radical Islam.

German law restricts parents from giving their children names that could be interpreted as harmful.

German law, and European law, is littered with restrictions such as this to prevent against hate speech, Nazi propaganda, and the like, and yet the court upheld the ruling allowing the parents to name their son after the jihad, which is their sworn obligation to spread Islam. Also, bear in mind that several of the 9/11 hijackers and other members of al Qaeda lived in Hamburg, Germany prior to coming to the US.

Still, they would have been better off naming the kid Sue.

Israel Bashing From Amnesty Int'l, Jordan and Germany

Israel bashing from the usual suspects, and one who should know better.

The US went ahead and increased US foreign assistance to Jordan by $150 million (from $363 million to $513 million), and this is the claptrap that their former Prime Minister comes out with? Classy.

Former Jordanian prime minister Abd Al-Raouf Al-Rawabdeh delivered a speech recently in which he called Israel “a cancer that must be eradicated.” His comment were aired on Al-Jazeera TV on June 27 and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). “Israel is a cancerous body. This is agreed upon,” he stated.

“Usually, you confront a cancerous body in one of two ways: If you have the power, you use it to eradicate the cancer. But if you don't have the power, you try to contain the danger, until you obtain the power you need in order to eradicate it,”said Al-Rawabdeh.

Meanwhile, all the media outlets are busy screaming that Israel killed Palestinians with reckless abandon during Operation Cast Lead. Amnesty International, which has never been known to cast an objective view on matters relating to Israel, issued the report, and the rest of the media jumped on the bandwagon.

Israel bashing has always been in vogue, and it results in all manner of inane statements, particularly when it comes to the construction of communities in the West Bank. German Chancellor Angela Merkel jumped on the settlement bashing train, claiming that it was an obstacle to peace. Merkel should know better.

Sorry, but the obstacle to peace is the fact that Hamas will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state and remains at war with Israel until such time as Israel is destroyed. As I've repeatedly pointed out, Israel has removed Israelis from communities in Gaza and Sinai as part of the disengagement and the Camp David Accords, respectively.

Hamas controls Gaza since 2005, and it has been free of all Israelis save one - Gilad Shalit. Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza, and all that has done is enable Hamas to arm Gaza for future conflicts, including the ongoing rocket war against Israel. Operation Cast Lead was a response to the thousands of rockets fired against Israel. In other words, but for Hamas firing those thousands of rockets, Israel would not have tried to go after Hamas in well populated areas that Hamas used as human shields.

Instead, Amnesty International and others claim that it was Israel who used human shields. It turns the facts on the ground on its head, but that's what the propagandists do. It's what Israel-haters do. Israel rejects the claims, but now that they're out there, the Amnesty report will be taken as the final word, regardless of what Israel says.

UPDATE:
Elder of Ziyon continues debunking Palestinian claims and has a running count of Palestinian terror attacks against Israel for June 2009 - including the mortar and kassam attacks. Those continue to be underreported in international media, and barely get a mention in Israeli outlets. Yet, every last one is a violation of international law and a war crime for the intent to murder Israeli civilians.

Playing With Polar Bears Is Not Such A Great Idea

In Germany, Knut the polar bear still brings the crowds. Not all of them are so obsessed that they have to get into the pen with him though. A woman with serious psychological issues decided to do just that. She apparently didn't understand that getting into a polar bear pen with polar bears that have no problem mauling people to death was not a good idea.

Well, it went as predictably as it could. The woman was mauled and yet was able to be pulled to safety. She suffered serious injuries but is expected to recover.



The polar bears were not hurt and nor will they be punished. The Daily Mail has more photos.

There's a reason that zoos build security fences around the enclosures. It's for your safety.

German Police Take Down Lawfully Displayed Israeli Flag Because Hamas Supporters Might Riot

10,000 people were demonstrating their support for Hamas, the Islamic terrorist group in Duisburg, Germany. Two pro-Israeli apartment dwellers near the demonstrations hung an Israeli flag in their window. Police then entered that apartment to take the Israeli flag down.

Here's the video and photographic evidence, courtesy of Jewish Odysseus (HT: Ace):

The statement of the police was to de-escalate the situation, because many youth demonstrators were on the brink of breaking into our apartment house.

Instead of doing what it could to stop protesters from breaking the law, it chose to break the law and infringe on the rights of individuals to support Israel by flying a flag in their own home.

Keep in mind that Germany has anti-Nazi laws and more stringent speech codes than here in the US. Yet, the police chose to break into an apartment to take down a flag while ignoring people dressed up in full Hamas garb and waving Hizbullah and Hamas flags, despite the fact that both groups are terrorist groups that seek nothing less than the genocide of Israel.

It's absolutely dispicable that the German police would take down the flag, all while ignoring the calls for genocide and the destruction of Israel which are part and parcel of the anti-Israel demonstrations around the world that have cropped up as a result of Israel defending itself from the incessant terror attacks by Hamas, the Islamic terrorist group whose raison d'etre is the destruction of Israel.

From the Hamas Charter:

The day that enemies usurp part of Muslim land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Muslim. In face of the Jews' usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised. To do this requires the diffusion of Islamic consciousness among the masses, both on the regional, Arab and Islamic levels. It is necessary to instill the spirit of Jihad in the heart of the nation so that they would confront the enemies and join the ranks of the fighters.

This isn't the spiritual jihad or enlightenment, but a call to arms to destroy Israel by brute force and any means necessary. Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, whose goals are to establish an Islamic regime around the world, starting in areas that were previously under Islamic control - a region that spans from India and South Asia to Portugal and into Southern and Eastern Europe.

Israel is the focal point of the jihad, but it isn't alone. We repeatedly hear references to Andalusia (Spain) in al Qaeda's video and audio propaganda tapes, and Islamists the world over are taught to carry out jihad to spread the word of Islam by any means necessary, including the usurpation of existing laws to further their own goals.

Germans Thwart Air Terror Attack

Score one for the German authorities. They arrested two men just after they boarded a KLM plane from the Cologne-Bern airport bound for Amsterdam. One of the men was confirmed to be a Somali man aged 23, and a German who was born in Somalia, aged 24.

The two men had been under observation for several months. A search of their apartment had turned up farewell letters in which they declared their readiness to die in a jihad or holy war, the police spokesman said.

In Amsterdam, KLM spokeswoman Ellen van Ginkel confirmed the arrests, but denied that police had stormed the aircraft.

"After the doors had closed and the plane was ready for departure, the German border police re-opened the doors and arrested two men," Van Ginkel said.

"Then, all passengers were let out of the plane and all luggage was also taken out and checked outside," Van Ginkel added.

The plane ultimately left 70 minutes behind schedule and landed safely in Amsterdam at 9:17 am.

Why would the Germans wait until the two men boarded the plane? Perhaps it was to make the case that they had taken concrete steps in furtherance of the conspiracy to commit murder and terrorism - it's easier to prove intent when actions are taken, rather than attempting to claim that the plot was underway but no tangible evidence can be proffered. It's a dangerous way to carry out this kind of surveillance, but it is more likely to result in convictions.

German authorities are also looking for at two other men, though it's not clear whether it's related to this particular set of arrests.

UPDATE:
Islamists have been real busy in Cologne today. Three teens, aged 15-17, were arrested after trying to set a trap on police there as part of their jihad against the West:

The teenagers, born in Germany of Turkish parents, have been in detention since the attack. Wolf said they did not appear to have links to a terrorist organization.

Police said the youths lured a 26-year-old policewoman and her colleague, 38, into an ambush by making an emergency call to police.

When the officers approached one of them who was lying on the ground, the other two came out of hiding and threatened them with pistols.

The youths fled after the officers fired two warning shots, but turned back and shot several times at the police from what later transpired were guns that fired blanks.

The Obama World Tour Rolls On

I'm less than impressed with Sen. Obama's current trip, but when you start digging deeper into what he's said and his speeches, you find a seriously disconcerting lack of substance.

He refused to talk about the issue of Iran's ongoing and repeated apocalyptic threats against Israel while visiting Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust museum. Obama claimed that it was inappropriate to discuss the matter there.

Israelis didn't get all warm and fuzzy from his empty platitudes either. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he decided to meet with Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. Fatah's thugs have continued their war with Israel despite the media silence over repeated terror attacks against Israel. Well, Israelis have good reason to be wary over Obama since he continues to flip and flop all over the place about the status of Jerusalem and blatantly lying about his position to curry favor with whichever group of people he is speaking in front of at the moment. Even journalists like Katie Couric are beginning to pick up on this, which is all the more entertaining since they enabled Obama to get away with this nonsense for far too long (funding Democrats by a 100-1 margin).

After his mess in Israel, he went on to Berlin, where he gave an speech that was full of words, but signifying nothing. He chose to give his rally before a crowd of Germans, which is curious given that he's running to be the President of the United States, not Germany. Spiegel Online notes that Obama says that Berlin is a symbol of the victory of hope.

Nice. Too bad he ignores how and why Berlin came to not only be free, but unified. It was the steadfast determination of the Americans to outlast the Soviets and President Reagan's decision to win the Cold War. The Berlin Wall came down not because of hope, but because of determination and force of will backed by force. Empty platitudes did nothing.

Obama's also busy prepping for the day he becomes President, even though we're still months away from the election, to say nothing of the fact that he isn't the official nominee of his own party. Hubris and ego. That too, has gone under the bus.

Obama chose to give a speech before a crowd of Germans, and yet didn't even have the courtesy to meet with US soldiers operating in the field in Afghanistan.

The text of his speech from Berlin is here. Yippee. The sound and the fury, signifying nothing.

UPDATE:
So, what was the crowd doing in Berlin? Were they all waiting to hear Obama talk, or were they there listening to a free concert (via Gateway Pundit) that Obama's people had arranged in conjunction with the speech. The BBC also gives in to the media bias by informing that the crowd gave rapturous applause.

Apparently, Obama's busy schedule left him no time to meet with US troops, particularly those who were injured while fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. He had been scheduled to meet with the troops, but that appearance was canceled.

UPDATE:
Obama calls on the world to stand as one. Stand as one for what? Much of the world is opposed to human rights, personal freedoms, and is dominated by dictators, despots, totalitarian regimes, and thugs. Billions of people are under the thumb of such governments, and yet we're supposed to stand as one?

The world will not lift a finger to stop the genocide in Darfur, let alone the catastrophe in Myanmar. China, Russia, and South Africa have stood to block action to force the thug Mugabe from office after stealing the election in Zimbabwe.

How again are we standing as one? Who are we standing as one with?

UPDATE:
Newsbusters wonders whether the media will report that the large crowds were due in part to the Obama campaign scheduling his appearance in conjunction with yet another free concert.

Small World

It would appear that one of the German Islamists arrested earlier this week may have had ties to Mohammed Atta. Will wonders ever cease?

The prime suspect in the alleged German terror plot to blow up hundreds of people may have had contact with Mohammed Atta, the suicide pilot who smashed a hijacked plane into the Twin Towers.

German police reports are vague about the encounter, but it has helped investigators to trace Fritz Gelowicz’s path from average Bavarian schoolboy to Islamic radical. His case has also highlighted the curious and sinister role of Neu-Ulm — a small township in the Roman Catholic heart of southern Germany — as a cradle of Islamic extremism.

The connection between Gelowicz, 28, who was arrested this week, and Atta seems to date back to 2000 while the suicide pilot was studying in Hamburg and already preparing the 9/11 attack with a group of devout accomplices.

The Egyptian student visited a small mosque in Bavarian Neu-Ulm, which had already gained a reputation for radicalism. Firebrand preachers were passing in and out of the town and it had become a magnet for angry young Muslims.

Atta wasn't just the pilot, but the ringleader of the cell of al Qaeda terrorists who made 9/11 happen at the behest of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Osama bin Laden. This is potentially significant, and makes one wonder whether Atta's other contacts have been put under surveillance.

The article goes on to suggest that some of the dissatisfaction among the people in that area of Germany was the result of US nuclear policy to station Pershing missiles there.

Germans Hunting For Additional Suspects

German investigators were searching today for 10 suspects in connection with a foiled terrorist attack on German and American targets by Islamic militants, officials said.

Joerg Ziercke, the head of Germany's Federal Crime Office, left, and German federal prosecutor Monika Harms at press conference in Karlsruhe Wednesday with hydrogen peroxide seized from the suspects.

The suspects are believed to have provided support to the three main suspects in the plot, according to August Hanning, the deputy interior minister and a former head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service, the B.N.D. Their arrests were announced Wednesday, a day after they were captured in a raid in western Germany.

While some of the suspect still at large are believed to still be in Germany, Mr. Hanning said the arrests Tuesday had ended the security threat.

“There is no danger coming from this concrete cell,” he told German television station ARD on Thursday. But he also warned that Germany remained a target for Islamic terrorists and in that sense the risk remained high.

Security services were “concerned” about what he described as “the order to undertake attacks in Germany,” Mr. Hanning said.

Terrorist Attacks Averted In Germany: Three Arrests Made

A group of three Islamic terrorists were arrested by German authorities before they were able to carry out plans to bomb the Frankfurt airport and Ramstein AFB along locations frequented by US soldiers stationed or transiting through Germany.

The suspects — two German citizens and a Turkish resident of Germany — were within days of carrying out bombing attacks, said a German security official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Germany’s defense minister, Franz Josef Jung, said on state television, “There was an imminent security threat.”

The arrests were made Tuesday evening at a vacation home in Oberschlendorn, a sleepy village in the state of North Rhine Westphalia, north of Frankfurt. The suspects were mixing chemicals to make explosives, the official said. Police also found a van that they believe was to be used to transport the explosives to Frankfurt and Ramstein, in southwestern Germany.

For months, German officials have warned that the country was under threat of a terrorist attack, in part because of the German military’s deployment in Afghanistan. Officials said that they were particularly worried by reports of Germans taking part in terrorist training camps in Pakistan, near the Afghan border, and then returning to Germany with a goal of carrying out attacks.

“The modus operandi looks pretty much like the one we had warnings about,” the security official said. “There is some evidence that the people arrested took part in training camps.”

The German federal prosecutor said that the arrests were made during a series of police raids across the country. The mayor of Oberschlendorn, Heinrich Nolte, told the German news agency DPA that one of the suspects was shot by police during the raid, which he described as dramatic.

Allah wonders whether these three arrests are connected with the terrorist suspects captured in Denmark earlier this week.

UPDATE:
Here's what the three men were brewing:

The men, two Germans and a Turk, had amassed more than 700 kilogrammes (1,500 pounds) of hydrogen peroxide, the same chemical used by suicide bombers in the 2005 attacks on London's transport system which killed 56 people, Harms said.

The chemicals had been stockpiled in a town in the Black Forest and drums of it had been moved to a rented holiday home recently.

Harms said the men, who were arrested on Tuesday, belonged to an organisation with ties to Al-Qaeda called Islamic Jihad Union, which German authorities have suspected for several months of planning attacks.

The men were aged 22, 28 and 29.

Bob Owens is skeptical that these guys could have pulled off the large scale attacks envisioned based on the quantities of materials recovered. He thinks that they may not have had the technical know-how to mix up the TATP in the proper manner.

I don't know what the technical prowess of these terrorists were, but I haven't seen whether these three were intent upon creating a fuel air explosive such as that attempted in the UK gas car bombing attacks.

UPDATE:
They were picking up government unemployment checks while working on their bomb craft:

The three had no steady work and were drawing unemployment benefits while their main occupation was the plot, officials said. “This group distinguishes itself through its profound hatred of U.S. citizens,” Ziercke said.

Also:

A leading member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union, Wolfgang Bosbach, said the men had probably been planning attacks to coincide with the sixth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Tear Down This Wall

Twenty years ago today, President Ronald Reagan challenge the Gorbachev and the Soviets to tear down the Berlin Wall. Several years later, the Germans did just that. The irony is that Reagan's advisors suggested cutting that line from the speech.

The 1987 speech is "a moment that sums up for me a great deal of what I so loved and admired about Ronald Reagan," Mr. Robinson said during a telephone interview from Stanford University, where he is a Hoover Institution research fellow.

"There was quite a lot of contention" among top Reagan administration officials about whether the president should deliver the line asking Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall," Mr. Robinson said.

"I wouldn't have written it for anyone else, and it's hard to imagine that any other political figure of that day would have insisted on overruling the advice of foreign policy professionals to deliver that speech," he said. "He alone could have given that speech."

The occasion of the speech's 20th anniversary reminds him of Mr. Reagan's "sense of purpose, his sense of conviction," Mr. Robinson said.

"Whenever I hear a clip of his delivering that famous line, I'm reminded of just how good he was," he said. "He took every aspect of the presidency seriously: the convictions, the policy, but also the skills required to move people."

Yet if Mr. Reagan "were with us today, he would be recognizing the role of ordinary people in Eastern Europe," Mr. Robinson said. "He called on Gorbachev to tear down the wall, but it was ordinary Germans who finally did."

via Hot Air.

The Longest Day

In to the breach:

63 years ago, elements of the American, British and Canadian forces landed in France, opening up the Western Front against Nazi Germany. It was D-Day for Operation Overlord - the invasion to liberate Europe from the Nazis:

A great invasion force stood off the Normandy coast of France as dawn broke on 6 June 1944: 9 battleships, 23 cruisers, 104 destroyers, and 71 large landing craft of various descriptions as well as troop transports, mine sweepers, and merchantmen—in all, nearly 5,000 ships of every type, the largest armada ever assembled. The naval bombardment that began at 0550 that morning detonated large minefields along the shoreline and destroyed a number of the enemy’s defensive positions. To one correspondent, reporting from the deck of the cruiser HMS Hillary, it sounded like “the rhythmic beating of a gigantic drum” all along the coast. In the hours following the bombardment, more than 100,000 fighting men swept ashore to begin one of the epic assaults of history, a “mighty endeavor,” as President Franklin D. Roosevelt described it to the American people, “to preserve … our civilization and to set free a suffering humanity.”

The attack had been long in coming. From the moment British forces had been forced to withdraw from France in 1940 in the face of an overwhelming German onslaught, planners had plotted a return to the Continent. Only in that way would the Allies be able to confront the enemy’s power on the ground, liberate northwestern Europe, and put an end to the Nazi regime.

The outcome of the landings was in doubt until the beachheads were able to be established and reinforcements could be landed.

While the landings at Sword, Juno, Utah, and Gold beaches were largely successful, Omaha Beach nearly became a fiasco of monumental proportions that could threaten the landings at the other beaches. The Sherman DD tanks were launched too far out in the choppy waters and 27 of the 32 tanks sank, leaving the infantry without the needed support. German forces were able to pin the troops that did make it ashore in a killing field that turned the ocean red.

The military briefly considered shifting assets from Omaha Beach to Utah in order to exploit the landing there, but the survivors at Omaha managed to open up pathways to behind the German lines, where they could be attacked, cut off and destroyed by follow up attacks.

Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower had written two versions of a statement on what happened this fateful day 63 years ago - one if the landings succeeded and another if the landings failed. The version for if the landings failed read:

Our landings have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops.

"My decision to attack at this time and place was based on the best information available.

"The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do.

"If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone."

Thankfully for all involved, Eisenhower would never have to give that version.

In the hours and days after the landings, tens of thousands of Allied troops would come ashore and link up with the remnants of the Airborne units that landed inland to help prevent reinforcements from heading to the beaches. Those units suffered serious casualties for several reasons including being dropped immediately on top of St. Mere Egliese, flooded fields, and were dispersed over such a wide area that it made it difficult to link up the individual Airborne units.

The following is a special video that includes footage recreating the events of the fateful hours of D-Day:


d-day

UPDATE:
Eisenhower's speech as it was delivered.

Others blogging the 63rd anniversary of the D-Day landings: Hot Air, Charles at LGF, Pajamas Media, Paleo Lithics.

UPDATE:
Slublog posting at Ace has a good posting on the events of D-Day, including a link to the opening scene from Saving Private Ryan (very violent). As violent as that scene was, the reality was so many times worse. Dave in Texas also has a very thoughtful posting.

UPDATE:
It is somewhat fitting that the Fighting I - the USS Intrepid was pushed out of dry dock and headed to a berth at Staten Island's Homeport today.

Anthony Lorenzo looked out at the freshly-painted USS Intrepid docked at a Staten Island pier this morning and was transported to 1961.

"I'm thinking about when I was 19 years old, carefree," said the 65-year-old Staten Island resident who served on the Intrepid from 1961 to 1963. "It brings back the youth in you."

Lorenzo was one of dozens of former Intrepid crew members who welcomed the aircraft carrier to Staten Island from Bayonne, where it had undergone a $5 million facelift, at a ceremony planned to coincide with the 63rd anniversary of D-Day, when Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy.

They talked of old times and admired the new paint on the 41,000-ton ship.

"She finished her drydock extreme makeover," said Bill White, president of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.

The Intrepid hosted a ceremony marking the D-Day landings. The ship had been undergoing repairs, painting, and will now be fitted with new exhibits. The ship will be towed back to Manhattan and reopened on Veterans Day 2008.

UPDATE 6/7/2007:
This is simply brilliant - it's exactly how the media would cover the invasion had it occurred today:

HT - Wretchard.

Yom HaShoah 2007: Holocaust Remembrance Day

Today is the day that we remember the atrocities committed by the Nazis during World War 2. Six million Jews were slaughtered by the Nazis, and each passing year means that there are fewer and fewer survivors who are around to retell their stories and account for how they were among the few to survive the death camps, concentration camps, and the persecution of Jews throughout Europe.

Israel comes to a standstill and marks two minutes of silence each year on this solemn occasion. This year, there were protests in Israel to bring attention to the fact that quite a few survivors live in impoverished conditions.

The Knesset began its Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony, "To Each a Name" at 11 a.m. Monday in which ministers and members of Knesset read names of victims of the Holocaust.

Participants, which included acting President Dalia Itzik and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, went up to the main stand and read out names of members of their families who perished during the tragedy.

Earlier, sirens sounded throughout the country, bringing life to a standstill as millions of Israelis observed the moment to honor the memory of Holocaust victims.

The two-minute siren at 10 a.m. (0700 GMT) is an annual tradition marking Holocaust Remembrance Day, which began Sunday evening and ends at sundown Monday. Pedestrians froze in their tracks, buses stopped on busy streets, and cars on major highways pulled over as the country paused to pay respect to the 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis.

What has many concerned is that another Holocaust is quite possible. Rabid anti Semitism is present around the world and fueled by the likes of Iran's Ahmadinejad, whose national pursuit of nuclear weapons is a danger of existentialist proportions for Israel.

Never again is supposed to mean that we never allow another Holocaust to occur, and yet people ignore the genocides and ethnic cleansings that occur throughout the world - from Darfur to Congo, and ignore the words of Ahmadinejad who calls for the annihilation of Israel. The failure to heed those words make "never again" ring hollow.