The Western Word

Sixty-four years ago, shortly after the liberation of the concentration camp Bergen Belsen, U.S. army doctors became concerned at the rapid death of hundreds of the freed inmates. Disease, extreme malnutrition and despair were all mooted as causes of the rash of sudden passings until an army doctor noted how the survivors were having difficulty excreting. Soon it was discovered that the survivor death toll was being caused by the inability of severely malnourished metabolisms to absorb the rich quantities of food and drink with which they were being plied by their well meaning liberators. The survivors' bodies were simply incapable of coping with the overwhelming shock to their systems delivered by fatty foods such as chocolate and meat, that some had not consumed in years.

As we enter Holocaust Memorial Day this year it might pay us to remember how well-intentioned actions and beliefs can often lead to catastrophe. In a few days time thousands of human rights activists will descend on Geneva, in preparation for the U.N.'s Human Rights Commission's Durban Review Conference. This Conference, designed to review the results of the September 2001 World Conference Against Racism,Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance is an effort to renew the focus on human rights around the world, but will almost certainly transform into a hate fest as virulently antisemitic as its predecessor.

The full impact on the concept of human rights of the previous conference was never entirely examined due to the shattering events of September 11, 2001 which followed six days later.

But if ever there is 'a day that will live in infamy', at least as far as the human rights community is concerned, then, September 5, 2001 must surely stand as the favored candidate. That is because while the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DPPA) made nebulous pro-forma statements about discrimination and prejudice around the world, it singled out only one country for reprimand - the State of Israel.

"Concerning the Middle East, the DDPA expresses concern about the plight of the Palestinian people under foreign occupation and recognizes the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and the right to an independent state."

This relatively tame language belied the actual ferocity of the attack on Israel at the conference and the antisemitic language which was allowed to air freely within the Conference's workshops and plenary sessions.

But more devastating than this was the work of 3,000 NGOs, including most human rights group worldwide, who banded together in Durban to declare that Israel a "racist apartheid state" and guilty of "war crimes, acts of genocide, and ethnic cleansing."

They were aided and supported by many ancillary activities.

On the grounds of the U.N. conference itself, the Arab Lawyers Union distributed pamphlets filled with grotesque caricatures of hook-nosed Jews, depicted as Nazis, spearing Palestinian children, dripping blood from their fangs and with missiles bulging from their eyes. Attempts to have the group's U.N. accreditation revoked were rebuffed.

In a Palestinian-led march with thousands of participants, a placard was held aloft that read "Hitler Should Have Finished the Job." Nearby, someone was selling the most notorious of anti-Jewish tracts, "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion."

An Amnesty International press release, handed out during the NGO conference, cited several examples of racism and human rights abuses around the world, but mentioned only Israel by name.

While demonizing Israel, the Conference failed utterly to address rampant genocide and ethnic cleansing in the Sudan; the continuing slave trade in sub- Saharan Africa; the repressive Chinese occupation of Tibet; the eclipse of human rights in Cuba and the squelching of religious freedom and womens' rights in almost every Arab country.

Although Israel and the United States packed up their bags and left the conference, the general world governmental response to this vicious monument to racism and xenophobia was general silence.

And that is perhaps what we can expect again as the Durban Review Conference gets underway. The new draft document of the Conference deals in the abstract platitudes as the previous one, affirming, inter alia, the conclusions of the former conference, while not mentioning one word about its poisonous antisemitic atmosphere.

But more troubling is the acceptance of a rabid anti-semite and inciter of genocide, the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad to address the conference on Monday, April 20. He follows in the footsteps of Fidel Castro in 2001 who used his platform to denounce the United States and the West as apartheid-sponsoring imperialists and of Israel as guilty of genocide. His address was met by a rousing one minute ovation. Ahmedinejad will almost certainly use the legitimacy of the meeting to broadcast his own brand of anti-Zionism and racism.

What we are left with is the question of how the democracies will respond to this presumptive assault on human rights. Will the United States and the European Union eventually refuse to attend, just as Canada decided some months ago? Will they decide to support the organized protests revolving around Durban and draw attention to the curious fact that while the Durban conference falls on the memorial day for the gravest assault on human rights in world history, absolutely no provision has been made in the program to recall that atrocity? Will they stand defiantly behind the very concept of human rights and refuse to have it manipulated and recast as a weapon to be wielded against Israel and the West in the hands of anti-semites?

The world has well learned the consequences of silence in the face of depravity. Sixty years ago, well intentioned men, determined to win a war against Nazism, neglected entirely the deeper danger to human survival represented by the Holocaust, in refusing to bomb the train tracks leading to Auschwitz and other concentration camps. Silence or willful blindness may lead our contemporary well intentioned men - who believe in the sanctity of human life and in basic human rights - to an awkward complicity in a 21st Century style assault on the very values they wish to preserve and protect.

The supreme irony that the very same genocidal atrocity that gave rise to the human rights culture, is somehow now being assigned to the people who were its victims and,in retribution, is being fomented against them - and at a conference that should be outlawing that very notion- should be lost on no one.

The Somali Pirates Are Jihadists
by Robert Spencer (more by this author)

This week, we celebrate the Navy SEALs’ rescue of American ship captain Richard Phillips. Their action, from the night airdrop that delivered them to the waiting warships to the split-second action in which three of the pirates were killed, was what we expect from our best special operations troops.
But while we praise their skill, let’s not lose sight of who Phillips’ captors were. His Somali pirate captors are Islamic jihadists, dedicated to the same goals as Osama bin Laden and other jihadists around the world. In August 2008, when the pirates became especially active off the Horn of Africa, Andrew Mwangura, head of the East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme, declared that Al-Shabaab, a group of jihadists in Somalia, use piracy to fund their jihad: “According to our information, the money they make from piracy and ransoms goes to support al-Shabaab activities onshore.” With ransoms for ships each bringing in at least $10,000 and some in multiple millions of dollars, and the pirates seizing ships at a furious rate (taking four in one forty-eight hour period last summer), piracy is a lucrative source of funding for the jihad. Journalist Stephen Brown noted in November 2008 that “security experts fear the ransom money the pirates are receiving will allow them to buy better equipment and weapons for larger operations.” And with astounding short-sightedness, European governments -- with the notable exception of the French last week -- have been paying these ransoms. In that light, the American refusal to do so, and the rescue of Phillips, is a welcome step in the right direction. (HumanEvents)

Now Somali insurgents fire mortars at U.S. congressman as they vow revenge over high seas hostage drama-Mail Foreign Service
Somali insurgents have fired mortars in an attack on a visiting U.S. congressman, just hours after pirates vowed revenge on America for killing three of their own during a high-seas standoff. The insurgents fired one mortar at an airport when Donald Payne's plane was due to take off. They fired five others after his plane departed. No one at the airport was hurt, but three people were wounded when one of the mortars landed in a nearby neighbourhood. Payne had taken the risky decision to fly to Mogadishu to discuss the problem of piracy with the government there. He flew in hours after a ship captain being held hostage was freed last night after a dramatic shootout with the U.S. Navy. The operation, which saw President Barack Obama twice give permission to use military force, left three of the Somali captors dead and a fourth in U.S. custody.
It emerged today that the pirates were taken out with technical precision, with U.S. Navy SEALS firing just three shots at their upper bodies. Asked how the snipers could have killed each pirate with a single shot in the darkness, a spokesman described them as 'extremely, extremely well-trained'. (Dailymail.co.uk)

Terrorism Threat in Netherlands Remains ‘Substantial’-NIS
THE HAGUE, 09/04/09 - The terrorism threat in the Netherlands remains 'substantial'. This means that there is a realistic chance that an attack will take place against Dutch interests at home and abroad, the National Coordinator for Counterterrorism NCTB stated yesterday in its quarterly report.
The greatest threat is posed by jihadist networks and organisations outside the Netherlands. "The Netherlands remains a 'legitimate' target for these groups because of the presence of Dutch troops in Afghanistan and the alleged insults to Islam in the Netherlands".
The threat posed by Dutch jihadist networks is unchanged since the previous report period. "The situation in relation to local autonomous jihadist networks in the Netherlands remains relatively quiet," but "a new development is that members of local autonomous networks develop more international jihadist contacts". (NIS)

Revealed: Terror suspects in 'Easter bomb plot' worked at Manchester airport-James Tozer, Ryan Kisiel, Sam Greenhill and Sophie Borland
Members of the alleged Al Qaeda cell suspected of plotting a Bank Holiday terror atrocity worked for a firm based at Manchester Airport. At least one drove vans for a cargo company which has access to sensitive locations. A further two had passed security industry checks which enabled them to guard premises overnight, further raising fears that members of the gang - all but one of them Pakistani students - were planning to infiltrate high-profile targets before an attack. The revelations came as police continued to question the 12 suspects and search properties across the North West, including one being examined as a possible bomb factory. It was further claimed that some of the men have links to the terror group accused of the devastating Mumbai attacks in India which left more than 170 dead. The group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, or Army of the Righteous, was also blamed for the Lahore cricket atrocity. The investigation in Britain, which began with daylight raids on Wednesday following anti-terror chief Bob Quick's Downing Street gaffe, was launched over fears of a devastating terror attack as early as this weekend. (Dailymail.co.uk)

Mexican Drug Cartels Leave a Bloody Trail on YouTube-Manuel Roig-Franzia
MEXICO CITY -- Bloody bodies -- slumped at steering wheels, stacked in pickup trucks, crumpled on sidewalks -- clog nearly every frame of the music video that shook Mexico's criminal underworld. Posted on YouTube and countless Mexican Web sites last year, the video opens with blaring horns and accordions. Valentín Elizalde, a singer known as the "Golden Rooster," croons over images of an open-mouthed shooting victim. "I'm singing this song to all my enemies," he belts out. Elizalde's narcocorrido, or drug trafficker's ballad, sparked what is believed to be an unprecedented cyberspace drug war. Chat rooms filled with accusations that he was promoting the Sinaloa cartel and mocking its rival, the Gulf cartel. Drug lords flooded the Internet with images of beheadings, execution-style shootings and torture. Within months, Elizalde was dead, shot 20 times after a November concert. His enemies exacted their final revenge by posting a video of his autopsy, the camera panning from Elizalde's personalized cowboy boots to his bloodied naked body. (WashingtonPost)

Muslim father orders daughter killed over short skirt-Mosnews
Petersburg has hired killers to rid him of a daughter who disrespected Islamic laws by wearing short skirts. The police detained Gafar Kerimov, 46, after he reported that his daughter went missing, but blurted out that the girl was dead already, Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper reported Monday. The family, ethnic Azerbaijanis, used to have frequent arguments about how the daughter should dress and behave. Rashida Kirimova, 21, studied medicine at a St. Petersburg school and waved away her father’s criticism when he said her clothes weren't modest enough and were unfit for a Muslim girl. During winter, Rashida wore high-necked sweaters and long trousers, causing no problems in the neighborhood, but when spring came, she put on a skirt that left her knees exposed. The father’s Muslim friends again started reproaching him for being negligent and allowing his daughter to walk around dressed like a fallen woman. They said the insult could only be washed away by blood, and introduced Gafar to a killer, who agreed to help him for around $3000. The killer, Kadyr Suleymanov, seized the girl on April 8th as she was hurrying to classes. He and two accomplices drove her out of the city to a suburban dump, shot her dead and covered her body with garbage. The body was found by the police after the father confessed he had ordered the killing. Two of three criminals have been detained. (MosNews)

The Inroads of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Obama Administration-Douglas Farah
First, a note updating my pessimistic view of the Somali pirate hostage taking. I stand corrected, and thank the Navy Seals and others who carried out the rescue operation. Well done! But, as the the Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report (free subscription required) makes clear, the news is not all good. The Muslim Brotherhood legacy organizations have recently made tremendous strides in occupying positions of influence within the Obama administration, at the same time the FBI and other law enforcement officials have move to cut ties to the very same organization. The MB has only one political agenda-its own. Its organizations strongly backed George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, (remember the famous picture of Bush hugging the al Arian family?). Hoping for friendlier pastures, the groups switched their support to the Dems in '08. So far, it appears to be paying of. Big time. The architect is Dr. John Esposito, a long time defender of the MB and the head of the Saudi-financed Georgetown University Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the Walsh School of Foreign Service. (Counterterrorismblog)

Proven Commitment to the Climate-Ashley Thorne
It’s good to be right. ...Or is it? During this past year, NAS has been saying that as the leading dogma in higher education, sustainability is becoming the new diversity. We’ve projected that as “diversity” melds into uniformity, sustainability’s turbines will get pumping. And sure enough, Inside Higher Ed now reports that colleges are ready to use a “climate action litmus test” in hiring new campus leaders. “Diversity,” of course, enjoyed its heyday. Six years ago, Peter Wood noted in “Proven Commitment to Diversity” that “for almost a generation, large numbers of colleges and universities...have stipulated that every senior administrator declare himself or herself ‘committed to diversity.’” Back then, a group of university presidents and higher education organizations urged President Bush to file an amicus brief supporting racial preferences in the Gratz and Grutter Supreme Court cases. At the time career ads for colleges’ top executive positions openly specified that qualified candidates must possess a “demonstrated commitment to diversity.” They didn’t mean a principled commitment to making the university open to all. (NAS)

COLUMBIA'S NEW LOW-New York Daily News
There is a deeply disturbing report that Columbia University has granted tenure to a teacher who used his classroom as a platform for propagating offensive teachings about Jews - and bullied his students to boot. Joseph Massad should have no place on the faculty of a world-class institution of higher learning, let alone a university located in New York. He showed himself to lack the quality of mind and temperament necessary to serve among the Columbia professoriate. Massad is a Jordanian-born Palestinian who teaches in the department of Middle East and Asian languages and cultures. That he does not belong in Morningside Heights became clear in 2005, when a university investigation concluded he "exceeded commonly accepted bounds" of teaching. How? By threatening to banish a student who had asked a question that challenged Massad's Israel-is-evil point of view. "If you're going to deny the atrocities being committed against Palestinians, then you can get out of my classroom," he said. (NYdailynews)

Media Bias

Bernard Goldberg: Liberal Media Bias Detector-Christian Toto
Bernard Goldberg isn’t the most popular name in today’s newsrooms, and that was before he wrote [1] A Slobbering Love Affair: The True (and Pathetic) Story of a Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media. Goldberg reinvented himself from long-time CBS newsman — with six Emmys to his credit — to liberal media bias detector with bestsellers Bias and Arrogance. Needless to say, mainstream media types didn’t take kindly to his criticisms. CBS mainstay Bob Schieffer [2] echoed the thoughts of many of his colleagues regarding Goldberg’s complaints, rejecting his arguments and stating the former CBS employee now makes a living off of criticizing his old network. See no bias. Hear no bias. Speak no bias. Today’s MSMers may be a lost cause. But what about journalism school professors? What do they think of Goldberg’s books? Do they take his criticisms to heart? Or can they successfully poke holes in his arguments? These professors are molding the minds of tomorrow’s media gatekeepers. What could be better than for them to engage their students with Goldberg’s thesis? Even if they disagree with Goldberg, they could spark the kind of healthy debate all budding journalists should consider. So I decided to ask some journalism professors myself. I spent the last month directly reaching out to more than 20 professors from across the country, as well as several university PR divisions, to get their take on Goldberg’s critiques. I even turned to my Facebook and Twitter accounts to seek out anyone who might comment for this article. I should have expected the result. Silence. (Pajamasmedia)

The Killing Fields of Kosovo- Baron Bodissey
There was no profound geopolitical rationale for the war that Bill Clinton initiated against Serbia in 1999. The Europeans were unable to contain an ethnic conflict in the Balkans, and needed the United States to screw the lid back onto the pressure cooker. Mr. Clinton got to burnish his global multilateralist credentials, and the media obliged him with a wealth of grotesquely one-sided propaganda designed to make the Serbs look like bloodthirsty racist demons. It provided justification for the United States and NATO to violate the territory of a sovereign Christian nation on behalf of the Muslims of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) — which was at best a ruthless guerilla force, and at worst a gangster mob with extensive connections to organized crime, Al Qaeda, and other unsavory players throughout Europe and beyond. Ten years have passed, and the narrative has remained largely unchanged. Nonetheless, there always was another story behind the war in Kosovo, but the media outside Serbia largely failed to report it. The TV news reports set the Serbs up as neo-Nazis and made the KLA look like a brave band of freedom fighters, but that was not the end of the story. (GatesofVienna)

Tales from Obama's Grand Tour -- Did You Miss These Stories?-Susan Easton
For two centuries, the upper classes of Europe -- and eventually wealthy Americans -- engaged in a requisite journey to the great capitals of the continent. This was known as “The Grand Tour.” The goal was to imbue the traveler with a respect for history and the cultural achievements of previous civilizations. It was a test of one’s social graces. How did President Obama do on his Grand Tour? Here are some media markers.
A reporter in the Netherlands likened the reception Obama received to the way Gorbachev was initially -- enthusiastically -- welcomed by the Warsaw Pact countries in the late 80’s. The BBC surprisingly probed “Beyond the Obama Magic.” The German publication, der Spiegel, observed that the visit did not portend a new world order. A French pundit, referred to Obama’s desire to end nuclear proliferation as naïve “theology.” And Turkish TV News anchor Gokhan Taskin -- known as “the Glenn Beck of Turkey” -- created quite an uproar when he delivered a message to Obama in black-face make-up. Translated from Turkish, what Taskin said was: “Welcome Mr. Obama. You took our hearts with your hospitality. We appreciate your kindness. We will do whatever America asks of us, as friends. Now we ask the same of you.” Not exactly incendiary satire. (HumanEvents)

War By Any Other Name-JOE QUEENAN
Obama's new terminology has started a trend.
The Obama administration has come under intense criticism for replacing the term "war on terror" with the emaciated euphemism "overseas contingency operations," and for referring to individual acts of terror as "man-caused disasters." This semi-official attempt to disassociate the administration from the fierce rhetoric favored by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney has enraged Americans on both the right and left. Many feel that such vaporous bureaucratese is a self-emasculating action that plunges us into an Orwellian world where words have no emotional connection with the horrors they purport to describe. Yet, if the intention of the Obama administration is to tone down the confrontational rhetoric being used by our enemies, the effort is already reaping results. This week, in a pronounced shift from its usual theatrical style, the Taliban announced that it will no longer refer to its favorite method of murder as "beheadings," but will henceforth employ the expression "cephalic attrition." "Flayings" -- a barbarously exotic style of execution that has been popular in this part of the world since before the time of Alexander -- will now be described as "unsolicited epidermal reconfigurations." In a similar vein, lopping off captives' arms will now be referred to as "appendage furloughing," while public floggings of teenaged girls will from here on out be spoken of as "metajudicial interfacing." (WSJ)

The Free World Bars Free Speech-Jonathan Turley
For years, the Western world has listened aghast to stories out of Iran, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern nations of citizens being imprisoned or executed for questioning or offending Islam. Even the most seemingly minor infractions elicit draconian punishments. Late last year, two Afghan journalists were sentenced to prison for blasphemy because they translated the Koran into a Farsi dialect that Afghans can read. In Jordan, a poet was arrested for incorporating Koranic verses into his work. And last week, an Egyptian court banned a magazine for running a similar poem. But now an equally troubling trend is developing in the West. Ever since 2006, when Muslims worldwide rioted over newspaper cartoons picturing the prophet Muhammad, Western countries, too, have been prosecuting more individuals for criticizing religion. The "Free World," it appears, may be losing faith in free speech. Among the new blasphemers is legendary French actress Brigitte Bardot, who was convicted last June of "inciting religious hatred" for a letter she wrote in 2006 to then-Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, saying that Muslims were ruining France. It was her fourth criminal citation for expressing intolerant views of Muslims and homosexuals. Other Western countries, including Canada and Britain, are also cracking down on religious critics. (WashingtonPost)

ANTISEMITISM

Saudi Cleric Khaled Al-Khlewi Teaches Children to Hate Jews-MEMRI
Following are excerpts from an address by Saudi cleric Khaled Al-Khlewi, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on January 11, 2009.
To view this clip, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/2061.htm.
"The Jew is Treacherous, Disloyal, Deceitful, and Belligerent By Nature; Nothing Works With Him But Force"
Khaled Al-Khlewi: "The [Jewish] Qaynuqa tribe betrayed the Prophet Muhammad. A woman went to a Jewish market to buy a piece of jewelry. The members of the Qaynuqa tribe were the most ruthless and wealthiest Jews. When the Muslim woman reached the market, what did they do to her? "A Jew sneaked behind her, and tied her gown to her headdress, so when she tried to get up, her private parts were exposed. She cried for help, and one of the Prophet’s companions came and killed the Jew. Then the Jews ganged up on him and killed him. When the Prophet Muhammad learned about this, he fought the Qaynuqa tribe and banished them. This is the only way to deal with them. "In the case of the Qurayza tribe - or rather, the Nazir tribe - the Prophet Muhammad went to them, and learned against a wall. Some of the Jews said: 'The Prophet Muhammad is leaning against the wall. Someone should go to the top of the roof and throw a rock on his head.' "Then the Angel Gabriel appeared, and informed the Prophet in advance about this treachery. So the Prophet Muhammad banished them. The Prophet carried out the greatest killing among the Qaynuqa tribe, because they had violated their covenant with him. "So, my friends, the conclusion we may draw from this introduction is that with the Jews, nothing works but force. Memorize the following parable, just like I learned it from others: 'Kiss the head of a Jew, and he will deceive you - deceive him, and he will kiss your head.' The Jew is treacherous, disloyal, deceitful, and belligerent by nature. Nothing works with him but force. (MEMRI)

New York: Herculean efforts-Allison Hoffman , THE JERUSALEM POST
Last week, during a regular pre-Pessah security briefing with Jewish community leaders, the New York Police Department confirmed that it has counterterrorism plans ready to go in case Israel decides to bomb Iran. Any escalation in tension between the two countries would trigger the immediate deployment of the NYPD's elite Hercules commando units to Israel's consulate, as well as to synagogues and institutional headquarters throughout the city, Mitch Silber, a top intelligence analyst, told the crowd.
Silber said that he believed it was his duty to "prepare for any retaliation that might happen with the region, but more specifically in the West, and more specifically New York City." IT'S STANDARD practice for the NYPD to send out regular patrol units to guard as many synagogues in the city as they can cover on Yom Kippur; the Hercules teams show up in random locations, looking tough rather than looking for patterns. They cause a commotion; the idea is to remind anyone who might be watching - like a sleeper cell member, or an Iranian spy - that someone is watching back. (Jpost)

WASHINGTON - Prominent members of the Jewish community and survivors of racially-motivated torture from Africa, Cuba and Burma have joined an unprecedented campaign, led by a coalition of 40 human rights groups from around the world, to present human rights and discrimination issues that the world community should address when they gather next week. Known as 'Durban II,' the conference is to be held in Geneva next week. The events will be held alongside demonstrations various Jewish groups are expected to hold in protest of the conference's agenda, which is expected to be anti-Israeli in nature. One of the organizations behind the summit is UN Watch. (Ynetnews)

Swastikas found at Holocaust memorial near Paris-EJP
PARIS (AFP)---Large black swastikas were found painted on a French memorial at a Holocaust deportation site outside Paris Saturday, the interior ministry said, condemning the desecration and vowing to track the offenders.
They were daubed on a railway wagon used to deport French Jews and on a commemorative pillar. "A 1.5 metre (five foot) swastika was painted on the wagon, another one metre high was found on the pillar and a third was painted on the wall of a shop about 500 metres away," in Drancy, the ministry said in a statement. Police later said that two slogans had been found on the pillar and one on the wagon, as well as two others on a nearby restuarant and a bakery with no links to the Jewish community. Surveillance cameras show a man daubing the slogans, police said, adding they were examining the images. Drancy's deputy mayor Jean-Christophe Lagarde said the slogans had been erased. He said that "unfortunately" it was not the first time such acts had been carried out. Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie "firmly condemns the anti-Semitic inscriptions on the wagon and the pillar at an emblematic place paying homage to French Jews who were deported and exterminated," the ministry statement said. The ministry vowed to "use all means possible to identify the perpetrators of this unspeakable act and bring them to
book." (EJP)

TERRORISM, INTERNET, JIHAD

Some 70 miles north of Lahore, in a 200-acre camp that also houses a large mosque, swimming pool and fish farm, volunteers are taught how to assemble bombs, fire weapons, create terrorist networks and communicate covertly using the internet and mobile phones. They are also instructed in resistance to interrogation techniques and how to create cover stories in the event of being captured. This is the headquarters of the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) – which in Urdu translates as "army of the pure" – the organisation widely believed to be responsible for the Mumbai massacre in November which left 172 people dead. LeT, which professes to be a peaceful organisation, is known to have close links with al-Qaeda and is understood to train around 40,000 young men every year at its madrassas (religious schools) and military bases. Some of the trainees at its base in the Punjab are British. (Telegraph.co.uk)

An unpleasant shiver coursed down my timbers as I saw the pictures of a party of terrified French yachters being held at gunpoint by Somali pirates. Like them, I too have had the chance to study the business end of a pirate's Kalashnikov close-up. Back in November last year, while in northern Somalia reporting on the piracy problem for the Sunday Telegraph, a gang of them kidnapped my photographer and I, holding us hostage in caves for six weeks. During our time in captivity we lived on goat meat, received occasional death threats, and dodged bullets round the cave one day when the pirates fought with a rival gang. But in general, we were lucky - we were released before anybody felt it necessary to risk an armed rescue on our behalf. (Telegraph.co.uk)

Pirates Test the ‘Rule of Law’-Andrew C. McCarthy
To be civilized, we must be strong.
When Somali Muslim pirates raided the Alabama on Wednesday, the U.S.-flagged cargo ship was cruising the Indian Ocean en route to Mombassa. The 21 Americans in the crew were trying to deliver tons of food and other agricultural materials for the World Food Program, to be distributed among destitute Muslims in that Kenyan port city, and beyond. “Hearts and minds” — that has been the theme music of the anti-anti-terrorism chorus for eight years. George W. Bush freed 50 million Muslims from tyranny and gave them a chance to make better lives even as the rigors of doing so devoured his presidency — all the while launching, for Africa, the most generously funded program for AIDS prevention and treatment in history. For his trouble, he was branded an unfeeling, unilateralist cowboy by Democrats and the international Left, the erstwhile champions of nation-building and universal health care. (NationalReview)

Obama's unreal nuclear agenda-Frank Gaffney, Jr.
When it comes to security policy, it seems everyone wants to be a "realist" these days. If that term has any meaning at all, though, Barack Obama's nuclear weapons and missile defense policies certainly would not qualify. To the contrary, these examples of what some call "progressive realism" constitute a near-parody of the ideologically driven disarmament agenda of the radical left. If the implications were not so serious, the discrepancy between Mr. Obama's plans and real world conditions would be hilarious. Take, for example, Mr. Obama's announced intention to rid the planet of nuclear weapons. The truth is that, no matter how many world leaders, elder statesmen and other advocates champion this goal, it is not going to happen. The associated technology is too widely available, the strategic value of nuclear weapons too great and the possibilities of concealment in closed societies too immutable for all nations actually to forego the temptation to retain covert arsenals. (Centerforsecurity)

Our World: Iran's Western enablers-Caroline Glick
Egypt's recent actions against Hizbullah operatives are a watershed event for understanding the nature of the threat that Iran constitutes for both regional and global security. For many Israelis, Egypt's actions came as a surprise. For years this country has been appealing to Egypt to take action against Hizbullah operatives in its territory. With minor exceptions, it has refused. Believing that its operatives threatened only us, the Mubarak regime preferred to turn a blind eye. Then too, now seems a strange time for Egypt to be proving Israel correct. Senior ministers in the new Netanyahu government have for years been outspoken critics of Egypt for its refusal to act against Hizbullah and for its support for the Hizbullah/Iran-sponsored Hamas terror group. By going after Hizbullah now, Egypt is legitimizing both their criticism and the Netanyahu government itself. This in turn seems to go against Egypt's basic interest of weakening Israel politically in general, and weakening rightist Israeli governments in particular. (Jpost)

Student visa scam allowing terror suspects into Britain-Andrew Norfolk and Richard Kerbaj
A suspected terrorist linked to an alleged al-Qaeda plot to attack Manchester was a student at a bogus college that sold places on fake courses to hundreds of Pakistanis seeking entry to Britain. Manchester College of Professional Studies acted as a gateway to Britain for foreigners willing to pay £50 for the letter of admission that earned them a student visa. Abdul Wahab Khan, 26, one of ten Pakistani nationals still in detention after terror raids last week in the North West, was registered at the college as an English-language student. A former employee has told The Times that more than a hundred young Pakistani men, most from the country’s troubled North West Frontier Province, came to Britain after being enrolled as students at the college. He said that no classes were taught at the college. It had only two classrooms, no genuine teachers and sat among a cluster of Asian businesses on a busy suburban road. The college, which operated for two years, shut down last July after a Home Office raid prompted by “concerns about irregularities”, according to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. (Timesonline.co.uk)

When the Inmates are in Charge, Science Takes a Back Seat to Ideology-Alan Caruba
If you ever wondered what it would be like if seriously deranged people were close to the seat of power in America, you can stop wondering. In January, the Competitive Enterprise Institute issued a three-page memorandum. William Yeatman, the author of the memorandum, had serious concerns about the nomination of Dr. John P. Holdren to be the White House Science Advisor. This position heads the Office of Science and Technology Policy which, in official lingo, “serves as a source of scientific and technological analysis and judgment for the President with respect to major policies, plans and programs of the Federal Government.”
“John Holdren’s 40-year record of outlandish scientific assertions, consistently wrong predictions, and dangerous public policy choices make him unfit to serve as White House Science Adviser,” warned Yeatman.
Just how crazy is Holdren? On April 8, according to the Associated Press, Holdren said that “global warming is so dire, the Obama administration is discussing radical technologies to cool Earth’s air.” Holdren suggested that one option includes “shooting pollution particles into the upper atmosphere to reflect the sun’s rays.” (Familysecuritymatters)

Stem-cell injections could help heal fractures and treat bone diseases-Fiona Macrae
Doctors may soon be able to patch up broken bones with a simple shot in the arm.
British scientists are testing injectable stem cells that can be guided around the body with a magnet.
Once they reach the diseased or damaged bone, they turn into new bone and cartilage.
Researcher Professor Alicia El Haj, of Keele University, said: 'The ultimate aim is to repair cartilage and bone. 'We have been able to grow new bone in mice. Now we will look at whether we can repair damaged sites in goats. 'We should be able to move to human trials within five years.' The treatment centres on stem cells - 'blank' cells with the ability to turn into other cell types - drawn from a person's own bone marrow.
They are then coated with tiny magnetic particles before being injected into the body. A magnet, in the form of a cuff or a bracelet, is used to guide them to where they are needed. The magnetic field also provides the trigger needed for the stem cells to turn into bone and cartilage. The treatment could be used to mend fractures as well as to provide an alternative to joint replacements for osteoarthritis patients. (Dailymail.co.uk)

Russell Crowe tells it like it should be-Mary Riddell
Russell Crowe's brilliant turn in the forthcoming newsroom thriller 'State of Play' makes a compelling case for the importance of reporting in exposing lies
Whither newspapers? With Russell Crowe as the champion of the downtrodden reporter, good endings seem possible for an industry often portrayed as morgue-bound. The new thriller, State of Play, in which Crowe stars, is so mesmeric that it may, in the optimist's dream, do for the print media what Florence Nightingale did for nursing. Such an image makeover would, however, be a slog. Give or take estate agents and bankers, few trades are held in lower esteem. Still, if anyone can sell the hack as hero, it is Crowe. A late choice, he was persuaded to take the role by Kevin Macdonald, director of Touching The Void, after Brad Pitt pulled out. While Pitt would have been wrong in the part – too silky and sanitised – Crowe is perfectly cast as Cal McAffrey, the shambling journalist whose investigative methods no longer fit the cash-starved newsroom of the Washington Globe, run by an editor (Helen Mirren) desperate for cheap sensation and fast scoops.
Although the film, based on a BBC series broadcast in 2003, features murder and conspiracy on Capitol Hill, Crowe looks British to his stick-on boot soles. On the one hand, his performance is pure nostalgia; a trip down the memory lane of newsrooms inhabited by reporters wearing unfortunate hand-knits and slugging whisky from paper cups. (Telegraph.co.uk)

Vermont Lawmakers Look To Legalize Teen 'Sexting'- WCBSTV
Under Current Law, Teens Who Text Message Explicit Photos Could Be Prosecuted As Sex Offenders
Text messaging graphic pictures of yourself could soon be legal for teens in Vermont. Lawmakers there are considering a bill that would make it legal for teenagers 18 and under to exchange explicit photos and videos of themselves – an act that's come to be known by teens as "sexting." Under the current law, teenagers could be prosecuted as sex offenders if they get caught sending graphic sexual images of themselves, even if it was consensual. A state House committee will hear more testimony on it later this week. In a recent study, 18 percent of female students nationwide say they've tried sexting. New York City student Stefanie Garcia is only in high school, and says sexting happens all the time. "Girls in underwear, guys completely naked, muscle pictures, stuff like that," Garcia told CBS 2. Actress Vanessa Hudgens is still trying to live down the scandal of her nude pictures ending up on-line, when they were meant for her boyfriend. "It'll get there in like 30 seconds. The world can know about anything," high school senior Juli Ssacontreras said.
Ssacontreras says sexting is like paparazzi for teenagers and it's not just nude pictures that are being sent.
"People using drugs, of people being drunk, maybe doing some other illegal activities," she said. (WCBSTV)