The Western Word

This Week's Editorial

THE CHARMED LIFE OF BINYAM MOHAMED
By Avi Davis

No one ever knew that becoming a terrorist would offer such an effortless path to fame and celebrity. Certainly not Binyam Mohammed.

Mr. Mohamed is today the center of British national attention, having acquired the dubious prestige of being tortured at the hands of both M15 and the CIA.

How did he do it? He was believed to be involved in a plot to detonate a radioactive bomb in an American or British city. Arrested in Pakistan in 2002, he was shackled, threatened, deprived of sleep, and questioned by officers from MI5. He was subsequently “rendered” by the CIA to a prison in Morocco, where he was allegedly subjected to torture. Mr. Mohamed thereafter spent six years at Guantanomo Bay before being repatriated to the United Kingdom in 2009.

He told investigators he had travelled to Pakistan and Afghanistan in an attempt to kick a drug addiction, but was accused of links to Al-Qaeda and charged with plotting to blow up a radioactive “dirty bomb” in the US. The charges were later dropped when the US admitted its case was based on confessions obtained using torture.

Ethiopian-born Mr Mohamed, 31, who was granted refugee status when he came to Britain in 1994, is now alive and apparently flourishing somewhere in Devon. But at least one MI5 officer is being investigated, and could face trial, simply for asking him questions while he was held in custody in Pakistan. And MI5 is under taack, not for what is did, but for what it allowed to occur without protest.

A U.K. police inquiry into the officer, which began last July at the request of Attorney General Baroness Scotland, is understood to be at an advanced stage, and lawyers have discussed whether the officer could be charged under the Human Rights Act, which prohibits torture. An MI6 officer is also under investigation over an unrelated case.

But Mr. Mohamed’s true elevation to star status arrived last week when the U.K. Court of Appeal ordered the disclosure of seven paragraphs of evidence which showed that MI5 knew Mohamed was being mistreated by the CIA.

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, had tried to prevent the publication of the material. But to no avail. In his judgement, (an unpublished draft of which was somewhow leaked to the press) Lord Neuberger, Master of the Rolls, and the second most senior judge inthe country, found that the Security Service had failed to respect human rights or denounce torture and had engaged in a culture of suppression about the information.

Now where have we heard this before? Read More

Best of The Intermediate Zone this week

Valentine's Day and the Authentic Life

One Man's Cemetery Is Another Man's Parking Lot

Anyone Want to Buy an Audi?

Boy Scout's Centenniel

Avi Davis is the President of the American Freedom Alliance.

Want to comment on this article? See Avi Davis’ blog The Intermediate Zone
Avi Davis is the president of the American Freedom Alliance in Los Angeles. He can be contacted at adavis@americanfreedomalliance.org

Army warned about jihadist threat in '08-Bill Gertz
Almost two years before the deadly Fort Hood shooting by a radicalized Muslim officer, the U.S. Army was explicitly warned that jihadism — Islamic holy war — was a serious problem and threat to personnel in the U.S., according to participants at a major Army-sponsored conference. The annual Army anti-terrorism conference in Florida in February 2008 included presentations on the threat by counterterrorism specialists Patrick Poole, Army Lt. Col. Joseph Myers and Terri Wonder. The meeting was organized by the Army's provost marshal general and included more than 350 force protection and anti-terrorism professionals who came from major Army installations and commands from around the world, according to participants. Mr. Poole, a counterterrorism specialist and adviser to government and law-enforcement agencies, said his presentation and that of the other two counterterrorism experts "attempted to instruct these anti-terrorism and force protection professionals not just in the indicators of Islamic jihadism, but also the strategic deficiencies in the military comprehension of the overall jihadist threat." (Washingtontimes)

New aerial NYPD photos of 9/11 attack released-ULA ILNYTZKY and COLLEEN LONG
NEW YORK (AP) - Newly released aerial photos of the World Trade Center terror attack capture the towers' dramatic collapse, from just after the first fiery plane strike to the apocalyptic dust clouds that spread over lower Manhattan and its harbor. The images were taken from a police helicopter—the only photographers allowed in the air space near the towers on Sept. 11, 2001. They were obtained by ABC News after it filed a Freedom of Information Act request last year with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which investigated the collapse. The chief curator of the planned Sept. 11 museum, which is compiling a digital archive of attack coverage, said the still images are "a phenomenal body of work" that show a new, wide-angle look at the towers' collapse and the gray dust clouds that shrouded the city afterward. The photos are "absolutely core to understanding the visual phenomena of what was happening," said Jan Ramirez, chief curator at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. The images of the dust clouds rising as high as some downtown skyscrapers "are some of the most exceptional images in the world, I think, of this event," Ramirez said. (Breitbart)

Female genital mutilation remains problem, group warns
Between 6,000 and 8,000 women in Austria have been forced to undergo genital mutilation, according to Social Democratic MP Petra Bayr. Bayr, a member of the Austrian Platform against Female Genital Mutilation, said today: "Many parents believe they are doing their daughters a favour by forcing them to undergo it." She said the only way to change such thinking was to engage in awareness-raising and make it clear to parents that genital mutilation was neither called for by religion nor a pre-condition for finding a husband. Rather, she added, genital mutilation was a violation of human rights that left its victims mentally and physically damaged for the rest of their lives. (Austriantimes.at)

Copenhagen: Prison imam guides husbands on wife-beating
The Jihad i Malmö blog points out that Soudari-Hansen is employed by the Saudi World Muslim League (AKA Rabita) at their Danish office at Vodroffsvej 8 in Frederiksberg. WML being the main Wahhabi mission organization. According to a book by a Copenhagen employed prison imam, it's OK for a Muslim man to beat his wife. If a Muslim woman publicly behaves in a way which conflicts with Islam, according to the Copenhagen prison imam Jan Leon Soudari-Hansen, it's OK to beat her. The imam counsels Muslim inmates at the Vestre prison, Blegdamsvejen prison, Politigården prison, all of which belong to the Copenhagen Prisons. Further he wrote the reference work "Råd og vejledning om ægteskab & samliv” (Advise and guidance on marriage and cohabitation), where, with the help of koran quotes, gives the prescription for how to live together properly in a Muslim marriage. (Islamineurope)

France to issue citizens' handbooks to every child-Kim Willsher in Paris
French children are to be given a "citizen's handbook" to teach them to be better republicans, as part of national identity measures announced by the government today. Schools will be ordered to fly the French flag and to have a copy of the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in every classroom. The measures, announced by the French prime minister, François Fillon, are the first to emerge from the country's controversial debate on national identity. Under new rules, immigrants who come to live in France, who since 2007 have had to sign a contract of welcome and integration, will have to take part in a more solemn ceremony to become French citizens. They will also be expected to demonstrate a better command of the French language and a greater knowledge of the "values of the republic". All candidates will be required to sign a "charter" outlining their rights and responsibilities. Lessons for immigrant parents, currently being tested in 12 regions, will be introduced across the country from September. "The emphasis will be put on the respect for the values of the republic … notably the principle of equality between men and women … and the level of knowledge of the French language," said Fillon. (Guardian.co.uk)

Muslim bus driver locks passengers aboard as he stops to pray-Heidi Blake
A Muslim bus driver knelt in the aisle to pray for five minutes leaving bemused and anxious passengers trapped in ther seats.
The driver pulled over without warning and rolled out a high-visibility jacket as a makeshift prayer mat before removing his shoes, turning to face Mecca and starting to chant in Arabic. Passengers said they looked on in stunned silence, fearing the driver may be preparing for a terrorist attack on the bus. No one was able to get on or off the vehicle during the five-minute prayer session. Gayle Griffiths, 33, complained to Transport for London (TfL) about the incident on the number 24 bus in Gospel Oak, north London, last week. The mother-of-one from Camden, north west London, who had boarded the bus minutes earlier on her way home from work, said: “Everyone was looking round in a mix of shock and amazement. “When he had finished, he just got back up and set off again – all without any explanation or apology. It was truly bizarre, ludicrous and aggravating.” (Telegraph.co.uk)

12 arrested for disrupting Israeli ambassador-Gary Robbins
Twelve people were arrested Monday evening during a raucous lecture at UC Irvine where Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren came to talk about U.S.-Israel relations. The university said today that the arrests involved 9 UCI students and 3 students from UC Riverside. They were cited with disrupting a public event. UCI refused to release the names of the students arrested, which is a violation of the law. The Register has requested the UCI Police Chief Paul Henisey release the names and provide an explanation of why they were withheld. Oren was interrupted 10 times Monday while trying to give his speech before 500 people at the UCI Student Center, where there was heavy security. Oren took a 20 minute break after the fourth protest, asked for hospitality and resumed his speech, only to be interrupted again by young men yelling at him every few minutes. Many members of the audience also applauded Oren. (Collegelife.freedomblogging)

Florida Students Petition to Make Mandatory Sustainability Course Optional-Ashley Thorne
Remember Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU), the Earth Charter U? It requires all students to take a course called the University Colloquium: A Sustainable Future to instill "an ecological perspective" and “community awareness and involvement” (two of FGCU’s nine university-wide student learning outcomes) in students. Required reading for the course is a 2008 FGCU publication, the University Colloquium Reader, as well as State of the World 2009: Into a Warming World. Students take field trips to places such as the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, and they must participate in ten hours of mandatory service projects. Upon completion of the Colloquium, students take an assessment to measure how well they learned “an ecological perspective” and “community awareness and involvement” for the university’s student learning outcomes (SLO) records. FGCU thus teaches the highly contested idea of anthropogenic global warming; engages in voluntyranny; mandates student action on behalf of the “imperative for ecological sustainability”; and buys in to the self-justifying mediocrity of the outcomes movement. (NAS)

AccuWeather's Bastardi Warns New Federal Climate Service Effort to 'Shut Down' Debate-Jeff Poor
Time after time, the Obama White House has demonstrated a desire to control the message and flow of information, whether it's issues on health care, the economy, bailouts and the latest - climate science. With cap-and-trade legislation waiting in the wings that would come at an estimated cost of up to $200 billion, or $1,761 per household [1], according to the Treasury Department, the federal government recently announced a new service to "help businesses adapt to the impact of climate change." But AccuWeather.com's chief long-range and hurricane forecaster Joe Bastardi, who appeared on the Fox Business Network's Feb. 9 "Cavuto," [2] warned there are other implications with the government having an expanded role in climate forecasting. According to Bastardi, it could lead to an effort to shut out other opinions. (Newsbusters)

Success of Tea Party Forces Media To Show Some Respect-Christian Toto
The mainstream media (MSM) spent the last year treating the Tea Party movement as if it were a cancer on the body politic, not an organic outcry from a citizenry that had enough. That was before the movement helped elect three GOP candidates -- particularly Scott Brown's stunning takeover of the so-called Ted Kennedy seat in Massachusetts. Now, the MSM knows better than to tar and feather tea partiers -- or use a derogatory sexual term to describe them. Instead, the press treated this weekend's premiere National Tea Party Convention in Nashville as it would anything else outside its liberal bubble -- with grudging respect mixed with mudslinging. The media memes from the convention coverage weren't hard to find. Infighting. Palin's big speaker fee. Is the party doomed because of said infighting? And reporters couldn't help lumping in the few crazed protestors at the event with the bulk of the people hoping for Change 2.0. For some outlets, the movement's growing pains overshadowed the content of the convention. USA Today ran a story headlined, "Tea Party label invites discord," while CNN.com bemoaned "infighting plagues conservative group on one of its blog reports. (Humanevents)

Amnesty chief suspended after attacking group's links to 'Britain's most famous Taliban supporter'-Daily Mail Reporter
A senior Amnesty International official has been suspended after attacking the human rights charity for allying itself with 'Britain's most famous supporter of the Taliban'. Gita Sahgal, head of the organisation's gender unit, branded Amnesty's links to former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg a 'gross error of judgment'. She was removed from her post within a few hours of her criticism emerging, and now a bitter war of words is raging between the activist and her employer. Both have angrily defended their position over Mr Begg, 42, a Briton held at Guantanamo for three years until 2005 because of suspected links to al-Qaeda. Miss Sahgal insists Amnesty, which is the world's biggest human rights organisation, should not be closely associated with Mr Begg because of his role as a figurehead for a campaign group called Cageprisoners. This group highlights the plight of Guantanamo inmates and other suspects held as part of the war on terror.
(Dailymail.co.uk)

The chilling effect of 'lawfare' litigation-Alan Dershowitz and Elizabeth Samson
Radical Islamic groups in the US are intimidating the media with the cost of defending defamation suits in order to stifle criticism
Recognising that British courts have become a prime destination for "libel tourists", the House of Lords has recently established a government panel to look into the possibility of amending its laws to make it tougher for foreigners to bring defamation suits in Britain. The UK is notorious for its plaintiff-friendly libel laws which have been accused of being "contemptuous of free speech" and making a "mockery of British justice" and because they silence writers through expensive litigation. But even as Britain attempts to prevent frivolous libel suits, the battle continues in the US. American courts are being utilised by radical Islamic groups to stifle writers through "lawfare" – the use of law as a weapon of warfare – a tactic that has had a "chilling effect" on free speech. In contrast to the British laws, American libel law favours defendants. However, plaintiffs in the US have learned to sue their critics for defamation, not with the intent to win the case, but with the hope of imposing an unaffordably high cost on criticism of their actions. (Guardian.co.uk)

Benny Morris talk stirs uproar at Cambridge-Jonny Paul
See also: Cambridge allows event with supporter of suicide bombing
University's Israel Society called off talk "for fear of being portrayed as a mouthpiece of Islamophobia." LONDON – The Israel Society at Cambridge University has succumbed to pressure and canceled a talk by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev historian Benny Morris after protesters accused him of “Islamophobia” and “racism.” Morris was scheduled to speak to students at the university on Thursday, but following a campaign led by anti-Israel activist Ben White the Israel Society canceled the talk. Instead Morris was invited to speak at an event hosted by the university’s Department of Political and International Studies. White, who graduated from the university in 2005 and authored the book Israeli Apartheid: A Beginners Guide, set up a protest page on Facebook in which he claimed that “on different occasions, Morris has expressed Islamophobic and racist sentiments towards Arabs and Muslims.” He added: “We find it offensive and appalling that an official student society would want to invite such an individual.” Following the Facebook protest, a letter was sent to the student union by the university’s Islamic Society, other students and two staff members from the English Department asking it to take a stand and show it is serious “in opposing bigotry and Islamophobia.” (Jpost)

Menace in mad march of the thought police-Janet Albrechtsen
THE dark spectre of illiberalism is slowly poisoning Western liberal democracies. You won't hear about it from much of the left-liberal press. It is part of the problem and its silence only confirms that basic liberties integral to Western liberal democracies are under threat. That is why you may not have heard about the trial of Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who is being prosecuted under hate laws in The Netherlands for his opinions about Islam. Agree or disagree with Wilders, this is the thundering march of the thought police. And don't for a moment imagine that Australia is immune from this menace to democracy. In a trial that began last month, Wilders is being prosecuted for offending a "group of people", for incitement and discrimination against Muslims. The summons describes scenes from his film Fitna as reason enough to put the leader of the Freedom Party in prison for up to two years. In a sign of how twisted our Western antennae have become, the violence incited by Fitna is not against Muslims. Instead the film shows footage of Muslims preaching violence against the West. Yet Wilders is on trial for his opinions. That said, Wilders does have harsh things to say about Islam. . (Theaustralian)

Record number of anti-Semitic attacks in Britain
A record number of anti-Semitic attacks took place in Britain last year, according to new figures. More than 924 reports of bigoted violence and abuse were received last year by the Jewish Community Security Trust (CST). The charity, which monitors anti-Semitism in Britain, said the figures marked the worst year since records began in 1984. Gordon Brown said the findings were ''deeply troubling.'' The incidents included violent street attacks, arson, egg-throwing, racist graffiti, website hacking and hate mail. Researchers said the surge was fuelled by the ground invasion of Gaza by Israeli forces in January 2009. Almost a quarter of incidents (23 per cent) included some form of reference to the controversial conflict. The fighting was marked by protests around the world, including ugly confrontations outside the Israeli Embassy in London. In a statement released through the charity, Mr Brown condemned the attacks and said more must be done towards securing Israel and creating a Palestinian state.

Oxford student at Israeli minister: 'Kill the Jews'-Marcus Dysch
Watch the protest video here: http://www.thejc.com/videos/news-videos/oxford-students-attack-danny-ayalon
Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister was met by a protester screaming “slaughter the Jews” as he spoke at the Oxford Union. Antisemitic and anti-Israel abuse was shouted throughout Danny Ayalon’s speech on Monday evening, with students causing numerous disruptions to the event. During the hour-long session one student ran towards Mr Ayalon shouting the Arabic phrase “Itbah Al-Yahud” [Slaughter the Jews]. As many as 10 others, carrying Palestinian flags, made attempts to attack Mr Ayalon but were intercepted and removed by security. Outside the hall protesters chanted: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” The Oxford Union has released a statement aplogising to Mr Ayalon and promising to launch an investigation and disciplinary proceedings against those responsible. It said: "Whilst the vast majority of the audience behaved in an orderly and responsible fashion, some members continually interrupted the speech, and one individual in particular appears to have made a directly anti-Semitic remark. These individuals exceeded the principles of free speech that the Society upholds. (Thejewishchronicle)

Police launch investigation into anti-Semitic Facebook group-Exclusive by Chloe Markowicz
Police have launched an urgent investigation into a horrific Facebook group that gave graphic details of anti-Semitic incidents perpetrated by its members against Ilford's Jewish community. The group, created by a student at Loxford School of Science and Technology, attracted more than 500 members in two weeks following its launch last month and featured teenagers boasting about engaging in anti-Semitic behaviour. It featured messages from youths using language rife with spelling errors, profanities and teenage colloquialisms. One girl wrote: "Jews are the ones that killed prophets in the past. Dirty filthy scum-bags. No wonder they have the curse of Allah upon them. Burn Jew burn." Another stated: "OMG! ii Saw a Jew Todaii ii Swearr downn Weariingg Dahh Hatt He Lookedd At Me Liike Man Knowsz Me [sic]." She went on to describe screaming obscenities at the man and rudely telling him to go away. In a further disturbing post, a girl bragged about aggressively confronting a Jewish woman in Argos after she was "looking at me". She wrote: "Looool i Had a Fight Wif 1 Urgh in Argos [sic]." (Totallyjewish)

Kalashnikov children groom young killers-Jonathan Kalmus
Children are being encouraged by Jihadi terror supporters to say that they will kill Jews, while handling guns, according to Greater Manchester Police. The revelation came this week as the North West’s Counter Terrorism Unit released a video of children playing with a Kalashnikov. The video was seized from an undisclosed address in Manchester during a raid on terror suspects. Police say the footage and other downloaded material are being used to “groom” children in the North West with terrorist propaganda from an early age. Parts of the video show a child aged around three pointing a semi-automatic handgun, while a girl aged five or six walks into view holding a Kalashnikov. The cameraman is heard repeatedly telling the children “you will kill the Jews” while he also translates the girl’s Arabic exclamation: “I want to kill the infidels.” Assistant Chief Constable Dave Thompson, who oversees terror investigations in Greater Manchester, said the antisemitic references in the footage were “shocking,” but took pains to stress the “very, very, small proportion” of the Muslim community who espouse these beliefs. He said: “We strongly believe this footage was filmed outside Manchester and probably outside this country, but what it shows is the challenges the North-West Counter Terrorism Unit face to stop young children being groomed.” (Thejewishchronicle)

Something Rotten in ... Sweden-Diana West
Ilmar Reepalu is the Mayor of Malmo, Sweden, but he could well serve as the Mouthpiece of Eurabia, having crystallized its essence in a recent interview about rocketing Antisemitism in his city. Malmo (pop. 250,000), a confortable train ride across the Oresund strait from Copenhagen, is Sweden's third-largest city, a Leftist-jihadist territory where like-minded Leftist "antifa" Swedes and Muslim immigrants, the 21st-century's alliance of Brown Shirts and Black Shirts, effectively arm "civilized" Socialist rule with the under-flowing threat and as-necessary implementation of violence. You may recall the March 2009 Davis Cup match between Sweden and Israel that was played in Malmo sans spectators after the City Council voted five to four to hold the match in an empty stadium. As the Jerusalem Post noted at the time, this made "winners" of the "Stop the Match" campaign "which prevailed on the council's Socialist-Left majority to quarantine Israelis and Jews behind an apartheid police cordon to protest israel's action in the recent Gaza war." Six thousand Palestinian partisans marched on the stadium in a protest that, naturally, turned violent, resulting in 100 arrests. (Dianawest)

TERRORISM, security and policy

Threat from 'Generation Jihad' could last 20 years-Daily Mail Reporter
Britain is facing a generation of 'jihad' from extremists which could last up to 20 years, one of the country's top police officers warned last night. Sir Norman Bettison, chief constable of West Yorkshire Police, said the Muslim community could do more to help identify would-be jihadists. 'I think it's a generation of treatment to prevent the infection spreading and I think that will take us probably 20 years,' he said. Sir Norman, the Association of Chief Police Officers' representative for policy on tackling violent extremism, said he was conscious that there was a fine line between winning the Muslim community's support and alienating it. But he warned there was also a need for the community to work with the police. 'I'm looking for the community to work much more closely with the police in identifying young people that they have concerns about in terms of the people that they're mixing with, the sort of websites that they're going on to and the material that they're reading,' he said. 'That information can only come from the community itself.'
Sir Norman was speaking during an interview for the BBC2 series, Generation Jihad. (Dailymail.co.uk)

How the Christmas Bomber Spent his Summer in the United States-Steve Emerson
In August of 2008, an Islamist student made his way from London to Houston to attend a two-week program put on by the AlMaghrib Institute. This was his third course with the Institute, including two in London. On Christmas Day 2009, the very same student, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, tried to blow up a transatlantic flight with a suicide bomb he had sewn into his underpants. AlMaghrib's Houston-based director of the 2008 program and national Dean of Academic Affairs, Yasir Qadhi, expressed immediate concern for the aspiring terrorist's feelings of alienation and hatred of the West. The AlMaghrib program offered "mainstream Islamic stuff," Qadhi told CNN, which did not challenge the claim. "At some level," he added, "we did not convince him of the validity of our views, and that is cause for regret." An examination of the views expressed by Qadhi and others at AlMaghrib, however, shows that they are far from moderate and the institute exhorts followers to carry out jihad and not integrate with the West. Such views are exposed to a wide audience, as the CNN report noted that 30,000 students have attended AlMaghrib courses throughout the English-speaking world. (Familysecuritymatters)

Our view on war on terror: National security team fails to inspire confidence
Officials’ handling of Christmas Day attack looks like amateur hour.
Ever since the botched Christmas Day plot to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner, the Obama administration's national security officials have struggled to assure the public that they know exactly what they're doing. So far, they're achieving the opposite, and they're needlessly adding some jitters in the process:
-- CIA Director Leon Panetta and other top officials agreed last week that an attack by al-Qaeda is likely in the next three to six months. The warning is bound to frighten the public, with no obvious benefit beyond the ability to say "I told you so."
-- Top administration officials revealed last week that bombing suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was again cooperating with authorities. Great. But the news pretty much negates earlier claims that no intelligence was lost when Abdulmutallab was prematurely read his rights. (Blogs.usatoday)

Binyam Mohammed: Is That All There Is?-Andy McCarthy
Binyam Mohammed is an al Qaeda terrorist who planned, with his would-be partner Jose Padilla (the "Dirty Bomber") to carry out mass-murder attacks in U.S. cities as part of a 9/11 "second wave." (More here.) Unlike Padilla, who was prosecuted on (tangentially related) terrorism charges and is now serving a lengthy (albeit not lengthy enough) sentence, Mohammed was released by the Obama administration, under great pressure from British authorities. Mohammed is a cause celebre in the U.K. — where he is living free and clear — because he made "torture" allegations against the CIA. Our military prosecutors wanted to try him for war crimes, but the Brits did not want a public trial — and neither, I imagine, did parts of our intelligence community — for fear that they'd be branded "torturers" in the press (which, naturally, happened anyway). So we released him, and of course he has had the vigorous support of the ususal suspects in pursuing civil suits demanding that details of his "torture" be revealed. The lower British court tried to force the release of seven redacted paragraphs in an internal British memo, describing what that government learned about his treatment in 2002. The Foreign Office rebuked the court for not respecting the assurances of secrecy that are the foundation of vital intelligence sharing between nations. (Nationalreview)

He ‘aspired to be a suicide bomber’, but law requires a direct link-Charlene Sweeney
Mohammed Atif Siddique was released after being acquited on one of four charges. But the case has called into question how the Terrorism Act 2000 was drafted
Mohammed Atif Siddique went from being a “model pupil” at Alva Academy, in the shadow of the Ochil Hills, to a low-achieving loner who was obsessed with jihad and fantasised about becoming a suicide bomber. The 24-year-old was detained at Glasgow Airport in April 2006 as he waited to board a flight to Pakistan with his uncle and was arrested eight days later after police searched his home. His trial in September 2007 heard that he spent hours at his computer, accessing al-Qaeda-supporting websites and chatrooms. Among the thousands of files recovered from his laptop and home computer were manuals on constructing explosives and footage of suicide bombers promising holy war against the West. Officers said he could not have joined some password-protected sites unless regarded as committed to the cause. The court also heard of how he had frightened his fellow students at Glasgow Metropolitan College, where he had been studying computing, by showing them images of beheadings by terrorists and by making threats to blow up the city. One student, Razia Hussain, recalled that Mr Siddique, whom she said had been nicknamed “Suicide Bomber”, was reluctant to talk about anything that did not involve Islam. (Timesonline.co.uk)

Saudi Arabia defends al-Qaeda rehabilitation scheme-Richard Spencer
Saudi Arabia says it will not give up a controversial rehabilitation programme for Islamist radicals heavily criticised in the US after former inmates set up an al-Qaeda cell in neighbouring Yemen.
One former Guantanamo Bay inmate who went through the programme, which features "positive thinking" classes, art therapy and video games, is now deputy leader of Al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula, the cell behind the Christmas Day "underwear bombing" in an airliner over Detroit. Four others from the same group of Guantanamo inmates handed over to the Saudis in November 2007 are among more than a dozen inmates who have returned to terrorism, including one who was shot dead while wearing a suicide vest under a burka last year. But senior officials including an Interior Ministry general and the cleric and psychologists responsible for overseeing the programme's "religious re-indoctrination" courses told The Daily Telegraph it had been an overall success. "We are confident in our system," said General Mansur al-Turki. "Part of that is the rehabilitation programme, and when we say that we are considering one thing - the results we are getting. We are not giving up because a few people decided to go back and share al-Qaeda activities." (Telegraph.co.uk)

Failing at force protection: The misguided Pentagon report on the Ft. Hood massacre-Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser
“On November 5, 2009, the United States Army was viciously attacked from within by an ideologue bent on pursuing an agenda of Islamist extremism. This ideologue fell under the separatist influence of political Islam while serving as an officer. It is incumbent upon our force to begin to understand this theo-political ideology that threatens our soldiers internally and externally.” These critical lines are completely missing from the Pentagon’s 84-page report [1] reviewing the massacre of 13 U.S. soldiers and contractors at Fort Hood. Yet this is only one of many omissions that the Pentagon should pursue from this incident. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire on Nov. 5 because his adherence to extreme Islamism overrode his allegiance to his country and his sworn oath to protect it against all enemies. While issues of post-traumatic stress will surely be pursued by his defense team, Hasan’s defense is not the job of the Pentagon. The Pentagon has a duty to honestly assess the root of the attack and to ensure that the military is adequately protecting our forces from the threat from within and without. As a former lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy, I know the culture of the U.S. military. While I served my 11 years pre-9/11, the culture of political correctness was pervasive. This travesty of a report is front and center evidence of that paralyzing culture. (Dailycaller)

I Prefer Local to Global-Alan Caruba
Perhaps it is just the product of the times in which I grew up and my experience with the events of the world. Or perhaps it is the spin that has been added to the word “global,” endowing it with an almost spiritual quality. Mostly, though, I think it is my utter disgust with “global warming,” having spent the better part of three decades striving to defeat this plot to enable all forms of governmental intrusion into people’s lives and choices. A bit of personal history: As a child, I recall riding the train to and from the Jersey shore when it was filled with young men in uniform, all destined to fight in far-off places whose names even then seemed exotic to me – Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal, Normandy, and Sicily. It was the harsh geography of war, but to a youngster it only meant someplace far away. By the time I was a teenager, an older brother was already in Japan at the headquarters from which the Korean conflict was conducted. There were new names to deal with, Seoul, Incheon, and the Yalu River. By then the Cold War was well on its way. (Familysecuritymatters)

Climate makes money move in mysterious ways-Christopher Booker
The British Government has been pouring millions of pounds into 'climate-related' projects all over the world, says Christopher Booker
In all the coverage lately given to the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and its embattled chairman, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, one rather important part of the story has largely been missed. This is the way in which, in its obsession with climate change, different branches of the UK Government have in recent years been pouring hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers' money into a bewildering array of "climate-related" projects, often throwing a veil of mystery over how much is being paid, to whom and why. To begin with a small example. Everyone has now heard of "Glaciergate", the inclusion in the IPCC's 2007 report of a wild claim it was recently forced to disown, that by 2035 all Himalayan glaciers will have melted. In 2001 the Department for International (Telegraph.co.uk)

The Royal Society: The unstoppable spirit of inquiry-Professor Martin Rees
On the eve of the Telegraph's annual 'Scientists Meet the Media' party, hosted by the Royal Society, its president, Martin Rees, celebrates 350 years of one of our greatest institutions.
The Royal Society began in 1660. At its regular meetings, experiments were performed. Samuel Pepys became a Fellow in 1665: he recorded in his diary that at his first meeting he enjoyed demonstrations on "the nature of fire, and how it goes out in a place where the ayre is not free, and sooner out where the ayre is exhausted". He also recorded discussions of designs for a new type of coach, improvements to gunpowder, and experiments in which the blood from one dog was transfused into another – the first dog died quickly, the second lived, at least for a time. The significance was not lost on Pepys, who noted that the procedure "may be of mighty use to man's health, for the amending of bad blood by borrowing from a better body".
From the beginning, the wide dissemination of scientific ideas was deemed important. The society started to publish "Philosophical Transactions", the first scientific journal, which continues to this day. The society's journals pioneered what is still the accepted procedure whereby scientific ideas are – subject to peer review – criticised, refined and codified into "public knowledge". (Telegraph.co.uk)

Internet 'rewires our brains' and makes teenagers vulnerable to mental illness-Daily Mail Reporter
Young people are losing the ability to concentrate because of the internet, a controversial new study suggests. Researchers say the digital revolution may be 'rewiring' the brains of children and teenagers - making it easier for them multi-task, but making it harder to pay attention for any length of time. The findings add to the growing concerns that the rise of the internet and the proliferation of electronic gadgets isn't just changing people's behaviour, it is also changing the way they think. Prof David Nicholas at University College London tested the ability of 100 volunteers to answer a series of questions by surfing the internet. Early results from the study found that 12 to 18 year olds spent less time searching for information before giving their answers than older volunteers. On average they answered a question after looking at half the number of web pages - and spent only one sixth of the time viewing the information - than their elders. (Dailymail.co.uk)

Genuine emotion or shameless spin? It hardly matters. This cult of sentimentalism demeans public life-Melanie Phillips
Yesterday, jaws up and down the land dropped to the floor as Alastair Campbell appeared to lose his composure under questioning by Andrew Marr on his BBC TV show. The arch media manipulator, whose hitherto impregnable armour had withstood serial public inquiries and innumerable interrogations, appeared for a few seconds almost to lose it altogether when he was pressed over Tony Blair's evidence to the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war. Marr asked insistently whether, if the inquiry concluded that the pre-invasion intelligence had not established 'beyond doubt' that Saddam had possessed weapons of mass destruction as Tony Blair had claimed, it would follow that Blair had misled Parliament. Campbell got out the words 'As I said', then stopped dead and heavily blew out his cheeks, remaining silent with his eyes lowered for some time before finally answering the question and claiming to have been 'upset' by it. Some will see this as establishing beyond doubt a shameless new low in spin, trying to get out of trouble when faced with a killer question by playing the sympathy card.(Dailymail.co.uk)

At Long Last, Sade Is Back-Jim Fusilli
'Soldier of Love' doesn't pander to current trends
In "Soldier of Love" (Sony), its first new disc in a decade, the British band Sade adds to its reputation for making music that's supple, sensual and pensive. Throughout the 10 tracks, Sade Adu's voice floats over a light, meticulously rendered jazzy pop mix. Much like Sade's previous albums, which have sold more than 17 million copies world-wide, "Soldier of Love" doesn't pander to current trends. It presents itself and allows us to nestle in. Once we do, it seems like only yesterday that we last welcomed these old friends. It didn't seem like a decade to the quartet's members either, said Andrew Hale, who plays keyboards and contributes to composing the music. When we spoke by phone recently, in advance of the album's Feb. 9 release, he told me they spent a while in the studio reconnecting after their long hiatus. "To be honest, we were catching up," said Mr. Hale. "In the beginning, it felt like a four-week holiday with best friends." But much has changed in the past 10 years in how pop records are made.